Is Someone Squashing Your Virtual Assistance Dream...

As you may very well know, I am a virtual assistance coach.  In one of my coaching sessions last week, I had one of my coaching clients tell me that although she is trying to start her business, she’s been told by some other successful virtual assistants that starting a business AND working full-time is just not possible and that she shouldn’t even try to do it.

Allow me to get up on my soapbox for a moment…

If someone in your life is telling you that you can’t do something or that something is out of your reach or too difficult, get rid of them!  That sort of behavior can not be tolerated if you want to do big things in the world and make a difference.  You need to look past perceptions and know that you are an amazing person who has so much talent and potential.

I remember about a year ago… I was having a conversation with two virtual assistants – offering them my expertise and instruction for free – and one of the VAs said (and I quote), “The only reason you are successful is because you don’t have kids.”  Had I listened to that advice and walked away feeling unworthy of my success (which came through hours upon hours of hard work, determination, focus, motivation and drive) I may not be where I am today.

Instead, I turned it into empowerment (and I removed that person from my business life).

For those who know me well, they know that when someone says, “You can’t do that”, they are instantly challenging me.  I don’t take well to people saying “can’t”, “won’t”, “impossible”.  You shouldn’t either.  When someone offers negativity like that in response to a challenge you are having or a fear you have, they are simply feeding upon those fears due to their own insecurities.

So, my fellow virtual assistants, stay proud and ignore all negative energy.  Instead, walk forward with pride, determination, focus and a willingness to succeed.  I promise you that having that confidence (even an iota) will be the difference between being a VA who shines and one who shies away, going unnoticed.

I digress and am stepping down from that soapbox of mine…

Five Steps to Clearing Out That Inbox...

If you’re a busy virtual assistant, you know what I mean when I say that I would L-O-V-E to see the bottom of my virtual inbox (ie: e-mail inbox) each and everyday. But… the sad truth is that I don’t.

It got me thinking… how on Earth could someone empty their inbox each and everyday and go to bed at night feeling less stressed and enjoy their next morning with fresh e-mails and fresh work. Well, you might be scoffing at me and saying, ‘Erin, that’s impossible!’ but… I challenge you to at least try.

To get you started, here are five tips to getting your e-mail inbox down to nil:

• Use David Allen’s rule (he’s the Getting Things Done author – a must read for productivity!) that says, ‘If you can do it in two minutes or less, do it now and forget about it.‘ Good idea huh? So, any e-mail that takes you two minutes or less to answer, answer it and move on.
• Create folders in your e-mail inbox to help you manage your thought process. In my inbox, I have the following folders: Done & Filed (for things not requiring further action), Subcontracted Work (for things I forwarded or gave to one of my assistants), To Discuss in a Meeting (for things I will discuss with a client on the phone) and finally Waiting on a Response For (for things I can’t action further before hearing from someone else.)
• Create an e-mail address (Gmail is perfect) for things like newsletter subscriptions, shopping cart notices, etc. That way, you don’t have to worry about sifting through the unimportant stuff and can focus on that when you are good and ready.
• Plan your time accordingly each day with as little distractions as possible. That way, you can actually get some of the work in your inbox DONE! Sounds simple but it’s one of the biggest hang-ups that VAs have – staying focused.
• BATCH YOUR WORK. Why is this in capitals? It is one of THE most important things you’ll ever do. I could re-explain, but my previous post says all.

If you implement these tips and they help, let me know! If you have other suggestions, let me know that too.

Productivity Tips for the Scatter-Brained Virtual ...

It’s 11:45 AM and you’re surfing around your RSS feed reader. Before that, you laid on the floor with your dog, you checked your personal Facebook account, you made some breakfast, you checked your e-mail but haven’t answered any yet, you wrote out some ideas for future blog posts and you made yourself a coffee.

You glance at the clock and feel frustration and anger at yourself for wasting so much damn time and energy on nothing productive (although, I’ll give you something – making a coffee for me is definitely productive!)

So, where did the time go and why does this happen to you day after day?

It’s because working from home means you have NO structure. There isn’t someone looking over your shoulder and you aren’t in business attire in a stuffy cubicle where you work to keep your mind off of how long you need to stay there. Your day is wide open for you to do whatever you want and you do what you want.

Becoming a super successful virtual assistant means cutting down on the non-productive things you do every day.

It’s true! I bill my clients, on average, eight-ten hours per day. My assistants are also billing between four and six hours per day. Every day, on top of client work, I am marketing my business, managing this coaching practice, taking client calls and balancing a personal life.

How do I do it? I stay focused. Focus for me is the number one reason that I have experienced such rapid, amazing success in such a short time. So, here are a few times for you scatter-brained VAs…

• Set a timer. I’m not kidding! What I do is sit down at my desk with my Red Hot Copy chicken timer and I say, “Ok, for the next 30 minutes, I am going to work only on client X stuff” and then I do. When the timer goes off, I reset it for the next client. I spend the day counting down intervals of time until I have at least eight hours of billable work in.
• Make a list. I use Basecamp to manage my to-dos but if you don’t want to pay for something, get a notebook! It’ll save your sanity if you know what you want / need to accomplish every single day.
• Think of the almighty dollar. This one sounds funny but it’s so true. If you think every single day, “How much can I earn today?” and you get motivated by increasing your income, you will! Remember, one of the Laws of Attraction state that what you put attention toward sees results so get your mind on raising those billable hours and creating more income for yourself!

What else do you do to stay on-task?