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Month: March 2010

Business Management Finances Time Management Virtual Assistant

Wil Hart on March 26, 2010

Use Accounting Systems to Streamline Your Finances

Dealing with the accounting aspect of your business is a necessary “evil” of being an entrepreneur.  Whether or not you are a “numbers” person, keeping accurate records, billing your clients and paying your taxes are tasks that you will need to handle regularly in order to stay profitable.

These weekly processes can be simple if you set up a system to handle them.  What is a system? It is simply a matter of documentation.  A system is documenting the steps you take to complete a task. For example, when you get ready to bill your clients each month, you may tally up the hours/tasks you completed for them, compile a report, prepare an invoice and bill their credit card.  What else do you do?  What software do you use to track your time? Do you have a format for the monthly report?  How do you prepare invoices? What steps do you take to bill their credit card?  If you have systems for billing, you will accomplish this monthly task in a matter of minutes.  If no systems are in place, it could result in hours of wasted time and much frustration.  (You could be using that time to make more money in your business or take a well-deserved break).

Here are a few tips on creating systems around your monthly financial tasks that will save you precious time, money and sanity:
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Mindset Virtual Assistant

Wil Hart on March 19, 2010

Are you making these 3 common mistakes?

As Virtual Assistants, we tend to be really good at creating lists.  We create to-do lists for ourselves, our clients, our families, the housekeeper, etc.    These lists are created as a method for getting things done.  But,  how often do you go back and review your lists to see if “what” you’re doing is yielding the right results?  In other words, is how you’re spending your time supporting or detracting from the life and business you want to create?

If perhaps you aren’t making the money you want to make, or you’re working with clients who drain your energy, or you find yourself working far more hours than you’d like, it’s time to step back, take an honest, objective look at your VA practice and decide what adjustments need to be made.  Just as you would create an action plan for your clients, you need to create one for yourself.  The first step is to answer this question, “Are you making these 3 common mistakes?”
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Networking

Wil Hart on March 18, 2010

About your elevator speech – How’s it working for you?

I saw the following question on one of the forums I belong to and thought you’d find it interesting:

Q. Tell me About Your Elevator Speech… do you have one?

I live in an area where Virtual Assistant has yet to become a household word. I am interested to see what others in my field tell folks when they ask with a quizzical expression… O, what is that?

It is easy for me to come up with examples of what I do but unless it addresses the individual’s “pain points,” I am still not doing the job of educating them and properaly promoting myself – I usually turn it around and ask them how they run their business and try to find out how they might utilize a VA’s service. Either that or I just explain how using a VA can actually help them increase their income potential by allowing them more time to do what makes them money and how they can do it without the usual costs associated with hiring an employee.

I am interested to hear some ideas from this wonderful group about how you handle this issue. Continue Reading>>

Marketing Networking

Wil Hart on March 12, 2010