5 tips for boosting your resiliency

Part of an admin’s job is knowing how to handle unexpected, uncomfortable and sometimes downright awful situations. This means being flexible, patient, and expert trouble-shooters. Yet even the best, most experienced, and innovative admins can get flustered or lose their concentration in times of extreme chaos.

We are admins. But we’re human, too. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed when an unforeseen situation comes up. However, there are some best practices that can improve your resilience and help you weather difficulties in a proactive and productive way.

1. Build your personal and professional networks. 

If you need to troubleshoot a problem at the office, find someone with more expertise, get a quick recommendation for something, or find a new job, your network is one of your biggest allies. Connect with people on social media, attend networking events, and talk to your colleagues. You never know when you might need to rely on your network for help, so it’s important to start expanding it now…before you need it.

2. Develop your personal advisory board. 

Whether you need advice, feedback, or just someone who will listen, your personal advisory board can provide valuable support. These people can help you make difficult decisions, evaluate new opportunities, toss around ideas, and more. Your board should include trusted confidants who have an interest in your professional and personal success.

3. Implement systems that will support you. 

If something happens and someone has to fill in for you, do you have the systems in place to make the transition as seamless as possible? Developing systems – at the office and home – makes it easier for someone to step in and take the reins. They also reduce your stress level and provide reassurance that things will be taken care of if you have to be away from work or home.

4. Develop the habit of intentional self-care. 

You have to be strong and healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally if you want to be as prepared as you can be for the unexpected things in life. This means practicing intentional self-care consistently. If you don’t take care of you, you can’t take care of others in the moments and situations when they need you most. This doesn’t just improve your resiliency; it improves your overall quality of life, too.

5. Have faith. 

In my opinion, this is the most important one of all. It doesn’t mean you have to be religious. It’s more about believing that there is a reason or purpose for everything that happens. And knowing that while the reason or purpose may not always be apparent, it’s something you can handle. Having faith can get you through the peaks and valley of your personal and professional journey – often with incredible results.

By implementing these best practices, you can navigate the unexpected, bounce back more quickly and get things headed in the right direction for yourself and the people you support. You can bring calm to even the most tumultuous situation and maintain some semblance of order, which benefits not only your career, but your life, too.

Source: Office Dynamics

101 tasks you can outsource to Virtual Staff to grow your business

One of the biggest misconceptions of working with virtual staff is that one employee can do everything for you. It’s just not possible. Not in the real world, and not in the virtual world.

In order to effectively use virtual assistants to grow your business, you need to hire for the role, not the task. That means building a team. A team that will work together to achieve what you’re aiming for as a business owner.

It’s with this in mind that I decided to put together this list of tasks that you can outsource to virtual staff to grow your business more effectively. You’ll see that I’ve broken it down into the following roles:

• General Virtual Assistant (GVA)
• Audio / Video Editor
• Content Writer
• SEO / Web Marketer
• Graphic / Web Designer
• Web Developer

It’s important to acknowledge and appreciate that no one person can handle all of these different roles. It’s about using what you’ve got at your arsenal, to get what you want out of your team building and outsourcing.

So, let’s begin with a look at the one person that I feel every single entrepreneur on the face of the earth should have at their disposal – the General VA (GVA). This is that one person that you can lean on to help you, day to day, more so than any other employee.

They are true time savers – and therefore, as an entrepreneur, they’re your life savers, too!

ROLE: GENERAL VIRTUAL ASSISTANT (GVA)

Email & Schedule Management Tasks

One of the biggest time-suckers in the land of entrepreneurship is email. Working with a GVA to handle your email, as well as things like your calendar is essential to becoming more productive as a modern-age entrepreneur.

1. Filtering Emails / Managing Spam

2. Database Building / Updating Contacts or CRM

3. Answering Customer Service Emails /Tickets / Chat Support

4. Sending of Greetings eCards, Event Invitations, etc.

5. Calendar Management

6. Appointment Scheduling

7. Travel Arrangement and Planning

8. Reminder Services

File Storage & Organization Tasks

We live in a world of flashing lights, buttons and other things that distract us consistently throughout the course of our working day. Being organized is about as important as being productive. If not more. VA’s can help you systematize and put processes in place to help your business become more organized.

9. Dropbox / Google Drive Organization

10. Data Entry in Word, or Google Docs

11. Creating / Managing Spreadsheets

12. Preparing Powerpoint / keynote Presentations

13. PDF Conversion, Splitting and Merging

Administrative & Blogging Tasks

There is so, so much more your GVA can do for you when it comes to additional admin tasks, and generally helping you, day to day on the managing of projects, and your marketing efforts.

14. Transcription of Video and Audio Files

15. Simple eBook Layout / Formatting

16. Preparing Online Meeting Minutes

17. Report Creation

18. Forms Creation

19. Document Template Creation

20. Online Research

21. Data Mining & Development / Lead Generation

22. Blog Publishing Management

23. Moderating Blog Comments

24. Adding Tags & Images to Blog Posts

25. Receptionist Duties

26. Voicemail Checking

27. Sending Client Invoices

28. Basic Bookkeeping (MYOB, XERO & Quickbooks)

29. Personal Errands (Purchasing Gifts Online, etc.)

30. Project Management & Training Tasks

31. Project Management Between You and Team members

32. Preparation of Training Materials

33. Training of New Virtual Staff 

34. Deadline / Deliverables Tracking

35. Social Media Management Tasks

36. Creating Facebook Fan Pages / Groups 

37. Posting and Scheduling Facebook Insights

38. Promoting Facebook Pages

39. Collating and Interpreting Facebook Insights

40. Creating a Twitter Account

41. Managing and Increasing Your Twitter Following

42. Schedule Tweets and Track Mentions and Hashtags

43. Create and Manage LinkedIn Account / Profile

44. Create Pinnable Images on Pinterest

45. Scheduling and Tracking Pins

46. Create and Manage YouTube Account

47. Upload Videos on YouTube

48. Moderating YouTube Comments

49. Uploading Videos to other Video Sharing Sites / Social Media

50. Answer inquiries and Messages on All Channel & Profiles

51. Create Slideshare Presentations

Email Marketing

All this work is pointless if you’re not a) growing your email marketing list, and b) engaging with that list on a regular basis. It’s been said that for every name on your list, you should be making an average of $1 a month. So, working with a VA to help grow and market to your list is a complete no-brainer in my book! This takes the concept of choosing tasks to outsource to virtual staff to the next level – a level that equals money!

52. Creating a New List in Email Marketing Software

53. Adding and Removing Subscribers from Lists

54. Creating and Scheduling Broadcast Emails to Promote Content

55. Editing Follow-up Emails and Auto-responders

56. Creating Email Newsletters

57. Editing / Proofreading Emails

ROLE: AUDIO / VIDEO EDITOR

The use of virtual staff in audio and video production is still a little new – it’s only just started to emerge over the last few years. Not having to edit my own videos (even in a basic way!) has enabled me to spend more time developing my content, instead of worrying about the details. The same can be said for my podcasting.

58. Basic Editing of Audio Files

59. Removing Background Noise from Audio and Video

60. Adding Intro’s and Outro’s to Videos

61. Basic Photoshop / Image Editing (Not Graphic Design)

62. Powerpress (Podcasting WP Plugin) Installation

63. Podcast Setup on iTunes

64. Podcast Insertion on Blogpost

ROLE: CONTENT WRITER

Outsourcing your content is not something I suggest you do often. Especially if your brand is attached to it. However, if you’re doing a lot of online marketing, especially if you’re involved with niche site creation and promotion, or even bigger, more authoritative sites, it pays to save time on creating all that written content, by teaming up with a good selection of virtual writers.

65. Content / Blog Post Creation 

66. Guest Blogging / Ghost Blogging

67. SEO Writing

68. Press Release Writing

69. Newsletter Writing

70. Copywriting (Don’t Suggest Sales Copy)

71. Directory Submission

72. Article Spinning

73. Article Marketing

ROLE: SEO / WEB MARKETER

The SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world has changed drastically over the last couple of years. What used to work doesn’t anymore. And what works today might not work so well tomorrow. However, create solid content and you’ll be off to the races immediately. But, what happens after you’ve marketed and promoted your new blog post, or podcast episode via social media? The storm calms down, right? 

Having a solid SEO / Web Marketing VA in place will enable your content to be positioned and marketed in a way that will bring in consistent, long-term traffic.

74. Site Analysis

75. Keyword Research for Blog Content

76. Competitor Analysis

77. Landing Page Set-up/Creation

78. Web Master Submission

79. Sitemap Submissions

80. On-page optimization for a post / page

81. Off-page optimization for a post / page

82. Social Bookmarking (Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Digg, Delicious)

83. Creating a Social Bookmarking Tracking Sheet

84. Blog Commenting – Off Page Optimization

85. Forum Participation / Moderation

86. Creating Backlinks / Link Buidling

87. Weekly / Monhtly Google Analytics & Traffic Reports

88. Monthly Keyword Ranking Reports

ROLE: GRAPHIC / WEB DESIGNER

Tinkering around in Photoshop is a massive waste of time for every entrepreneur that doesn’t know what he / she is doing. We do it though, right? We love the idea of letting our Superhero Syndrome take over and we believe that we can do everything – including graphic design.

Please – c’mon people… Pay those that truly DO know what they’re doing, to do it right the first time – not only will it look better, but you’ll be able to spend time on a marketing plan, or putting together your next info-product!

89. Designing Logos, Banners, Icons, eBook Covers and Headers

90. Designing Infographics Images (Content Provided)

91. Designing Websites, Creating Mock-Ups

92. Designing Landing / Sales / Opt-In Pages

93. Basic Video Editing (Splicing Intros & Outros with Raw Footage)

ROLE: WEB DEVELOPER

While you’re putting together content plans and a publishing schedule for your site, get a super-skilled Web Developer VA to handle the coding and customizing side of things for you. It’s just plain smart!

94. Support and Develop WordPress (PHP) Websites

95. Install WordPress PlugIns and Themes

96. WordPress Theme Customization

97. WordPress Functionality and PlugIn Enhancement

98. Site Maintenance / Security and Troubleshooting

99. CRM Integration & Social Media Integration

100. Payment Gateway Integration

101. Install and Support an Email Ticketing System (eg. ZenDesk)

Conclusion

As you can see, the list of tasks that virtual workers can handle for you is about as diverse as the roles that are available at our disposal as business owners.

The fact is that working with VA’s has gone far further than most people ever thought possible. It’s more than just filtering email and managing your social media (although thats covered, too!). It’s about business growth. It’s about waking up and understanding that, as business owners, we shouldn’t be doing half the stuff that we are doing on a day to day basis!

I hope this list serves as a bit of a spring board for some of you yet to take the VA plunge, and perhaps a ‘go to’ source of additional potential, for those of you that are already utilizing the power of virtual staff in your business.

Source: Chris Ducker

7 video & voice chat tools to help you work from anywhere

These days, it’s common for administrative professionals to attend meetings and collaborate with colleagues from places other than offices. Whether you’re working from a conference room, hotel lobby, or the comfort of your own home, you need tools to help you work effectively in a virtual environment. These video and voice chat programs can help you do just that – and the best part is that many of them are free!

1. Google Voice– With Google Voice, you can get a free phone number that you can use to send free text messages, as well as customize your voicemail and read transcripts of voicemails – all you need is a Gmail account. You can also route your Google Voice number to your cell phone, office phone or Skype account free of charge. There is a charge for some calls that varies based on where you’re calling to and from. To learn more, check out this guide on how to use Google Voice.

2. Skype– Skype is a tool that allows you to make video and voice calls, send instant messages, and share screens and files over the Internet. The program uses Voiceover IP (VoIP), instead of traditional phone lines. Skype can be used on multiple devices, including computers, tablets, and smartphones, and offers both free and paid services.

3. Google Hangouts– This is Google’s instant messaging and chat program. Hangouts are private video chats between two or more people. You can also use Hangouts On Air to record sessions to your YouTube account ( which must be linked to your Google+ profile), and make them viewable by the public afterwards.

4. FreeConferencing.com– This teleconferencing service is used to conduct meetings and collaborate with others. (FreeConferenceCall.com is the flagship product, which we’ll get into next.) It’s free and does not require meeting registrations. You can record and mute calls directly from your computer screen. To sign up for an account, all you need is a name and e-mail address.

5. FreeConferenceCall.com– With FreeConferenceCall.com, you can hold online meetings and record and share calls. Up to 25 people can see the same screens for free, and more features are available with a paid subscription. You can also conference online with your tablet or smartphone.

6. AnyMeeting.com– This web conferencing service is geared toward small businesses. Choose from free and paid plans (all individual Pro plans come with a 14-day free trial). Free features include screen sharing and six-way video conferencing. A paid subscription also includes access to phone support.

7. GoToMeeting– This is an online meeting service with free and paid options, including an HD video conferencing feature.GoToMeeting lets you choose between phone and VoIP audio, and gives you the ability to share screens. You can even record meetings to send to people who can’t be there live. There is a fee for this service. However, you can test it out with a free 30-day trial.­

With colleagues – and sometimes executives – scattered all over the globe, these tools make it easy for admins to meet and collaborate with anyone anywhere. Give the free versions of these programs a whirl and figure out which ones work best for your needs. Put them to work and enjoy the flexibility!

Source: Iaap

Hiring a virtual assistant can refocus your business efforts

Hours upon hours can be spent trying to grow or develop a business. But how you spend your valuable time could actually end up hindering your company from becoming successful. Hiring a virtual assistant can free up some of the time you may be spending on administrative work and replace it with what you do best.

An extra set of hands can help with data entry, creating newsletters, posting content on your blog, answering emails from clients or responding to social media mentions. A virtual assistant, which is an independent contractor, can also take charge and become an all-out project manager for a campaign strategy or product launch.

A virtual assistant can be short-term or long-term, and an assistant can fill in for a specific project, or commit to a certain amount of hours per week or month. This can be especially helpful during a crunch time or a busy season like the holidays.

Determine your needs before hiring

“Start by figuring out what relationship you want with your virtual assistant, rather than starting by dictating to-do lists at them,” Bracke advises. Deciding in advance whether you’re looking for a project manager or someone with a more task-oriented role assures that you and your virtual assistant are on the same page and will prevent a lot of awkwardness and uncertainty.

“Not having clear expectations and clear boundaries around the roles can be frustrating and awkward and off-putting right (from) the get-go. So I think clients have to be really, really clear about that when they start working with a virtual assistant,” she adds.

How to find a virtual assistant

Ask around. Finding a virtual assistant via a referral gives you insider information on his or her skills and projects they’ve worked on.

If that’s not an option, various virtual assistant agencies exist and provide assistants’ specialties, skill sets, price range and so forth. 

Take it slowly

“I’d never recommend hiring somebody without that initial ‘get to know you’ phone call,” Bracke says. If you aren’t able to connect before agreeing to terms, at least make sure to start out on a trial basis instead of signing a long-term contract right off the bat. “I’ve seen too many people sign up for 6 months immediately because of a good contract. But once you sign that, then you’re stuck with them even if you’ve had a really bad experience,” she explains.

Specify any technical skill sets needed

A virtual assistant with a highly technical skill level can jump into a new content management system fairly quickly without a lot of problems, but the learning curve for another virtual assistant with shaky technical skills may be far more steep. If you have requirements or preferences, make sure you discuss them in advance. Ask the candidate if he or she can provide examples of prior work to help you determine if this is the right person for the job.

Manage — don’t micromanage

Once you find the right virtual assistant, the first few weeks of a project will be a learning curve for both parties. It is very important that you trust your VA enough to do the work you give them without second-guessing him or her.

“There’s a difference between watching the work that your assistant does for you to make sure it’s up to par and quality work and being a micromanager,” Bracke says, adding that micromanaging can lead your virtual assistant to think that you don’t trust him or her. “If you have to micromanage your VA, you hired the wrong VA,” she says.

Don’t delegate your pet projects

If you really can’t let go of a specific project or activity because you think it needs to be completed in a certain fashion, don’t assign it to your virtual assistant.

“Because no matter how hard somebody else works, no matter how hard they try to follow your instructions to a tee, they’re not you. They’re not going to do it exactly like you would do it,” Bracke says.

The VA veteran says that even though you delegated the task, you’re still going to be thinking about it and will continue to absorb your time and energy. That defeats the purpose of hiring a virtual assistant. Keep the tasks you’re attached to on your own to-do list until you reach a point of trustwith your VA.

Remember why you got a VA

Working with a virtual assistant allows you to delegate activities that are tedious, energy draining or simply time consuming, so you can spend more time doing work that inspires you and keeps your business moving forward. Keeping that in mind will help you decide what to delegate, what to work on and what to do with your new-found free time.

Have you worked with a virtual assistant? Tell us about the experience.