Did you know that today is Fun at Work Day? Me neither, but it is.
So, what do you do for fun at work? When you need to clear your head or calm your brain for a few minutes?
This game has been played on my computer a few times lately and has been a hit with a few of my clients. Ball
If you’ve ever wondered how a VA could help you check out this article: Why You Need to Hire a Virtual Assistant. There are some great tips on how a VA can help you. I really liked tip #3. There are so many VAs out there, it really is a good idea to find someone who specializes in your field. For example, I know a lot about the construction field and have a number of clients in that field. I don’t know a lot about the legal industry so having a client in that industry would require a learning curve on my part. Why pay someone to learn your industry when there are so many others out there that already know it.
On the flip side, if you meet someone and you “click” with them and they can do the task then the learning curve might be worth it.
The news these days is doom and gloom. I’m not recommend you make unwise financial choices, but you should be making wise financial choices all the time — no matter what the media is telling you.
I read this today on a forum. It hit home for me. How much is the media affecting the economy? I’ll leave my political views out of this. But, I am curious, how much is the doom and gloom making things worse?
The Man Who Sold Hot Dogs
There was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes so he read no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs.
He put up signs on the highway telling how good they were. He stood on the side of the road and cried; “buy a hot dog, mister?”
And people bought.
He increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. He finally got his son home from college to help him out.
But then something happened.
His son said, “Father, haven’t you been listening to the radio? Haven’t you been reading the newspapers? There’s a big depression. The European situation is terrible. The domestic situation is worse.”
Where upon the father thought, “well, my son’s been to college, he reads the papers and he listens to the radio, and he ought to know.”
So the father cut down on his meat and bun orders, took down his advertising signs, and no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his hot dogs.
And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight.
“You’re right, son” the father said to the boy. “We certainly are in the middle of a great depression.”
Or are we?????
This week is National Take Back Your Time week. (I don’t make these things up, I promise.)
What are you doing to take back your time? What is your time? My time is the time I spend doing things I want to do. That usually involves doing things with my family, going hiking or to the lake. In order to make money to be able to do things with my time I have to be organized. I mentioned last week some of my organization tips. I also make it a point to know when to leave the office so I have some down time. I schedule activities into my day/week/month so I have things to do that is MINE.
What do you do to take back your time?
A colleague of mine, Cortni of Essential Excellence, was featured in a recent article in entrepreneur.com which has been picked up by MSNBC, Fox Business, The Washington Post, and Yahoo Biz. The article has great ideas on cutting business costs without sacrificing your business. Take a look.
How are you cutting costs without sacrificing your business?
As I mentioned yesterday I’ve made some big changes in my productivity. First was my to do list overhaul and the second big change was organizing my e-mail. What I do goes against what so many people tell you to do with e-mail. So, it might sound strange. I know it won’t work for everyone but it definitely works for me.
First off, I have my e-mail to NOT automatically download. I don’t need the notifications coming every time I get an e-mail interupting my work. At set times during the day I do an e-mail check. I usually check after I complete each project I’m working on and if I’m expecting something related to the project I’ll do a check then.
The second thing (and this goes against what a lot of people have told me in the past) I do not use rules to organize my e-mails. Every e-mail I get comes in to my inbox. At the time that I receive all my e-mails I IMMEDIATELY deal with each one. (That may seem weird but hear me out.) If the e-mail requires a quick response or delete then I do it right then. If it’s something that can’t be handled immediately I create a subfolder for it and move it there to be handled then. Later, when I’m working on that client, project, or issue I deal with it, delete or file the e-mail then delete that subfolder. At any given time I usually have about four subfolders with things waiting to be done.
At the end of the day I do a quick review of all my pending e-mails. That way I know I didn’t miss anything urgent. Occassionally I need to write something on a certain day and put it in my daily file. But, usually it’s just my e-mail.
And, don’t forget, don’t hit delete too quickly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go back and find an old e-mail. I do have another folder for old e-mails that have some subfolders for better organization. I try not to go in to those e-mail but it happens.
With the start of the new year I prepared and had fully implemented a new organization routine for my business. I started in December and had the bugs worked out so it runs like clockwork now. Without a doubt this new routine has transformed how I work.
I love to share, so share I’m doing. I can’t take the credit for coming up with this (and to be honest it’s so basic I’m almost embarrassed to say I just started it). I have been reading the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. (The book is amazing by the way.) I’m slowing implementing things because I’m just having trouble getting through the book (it’s good, I just am overwhelmed reading it). So, here’s my transformation step.
My two organization steps are in regards to e-mail and my “to do” list. Today I’ll discuss the to do list. In the top drawer of my file cabinet I have 45 files. Personally I use the hanging file folders because it works for me. Each hanging file folder has one folder in it. The first is for random stuff that I use ALL THE TIME like address labels, stamps, and other misc. blank labels stuff. The second is just temporary (because it’s January) and has 1099 envelopes and forms and some sample supplies for tax preparation work. After that are folders (one in each) for 22 – 31, February, 1 – 21, March – January. 22 because I’ve already cleared out my 21 folder and moved it to February’s section.
Each morning when I arrive in the office I empty that days folder and move it to the back for next month. Within each folder I have pieces of paper and folders. My clients each have a folder with their work or other information and random things I need to work on are on pieces of paper by themselves. After I complete a project I move it to the next time I need to work on that client.
For example Monday I worked on Client A and knew I needed to do some updates today so after I was done I put it in today’s folder. After I complete that work I’ll move it Friday’s folder.
Simple, I know. But it really works for me. That’s not to say that something doesn’t come in that makes me pull something from a different day or things don’t get added to that days pile but I don’t overlook things any more.
If I’m confusing let me know and I’ll explain better.
I was interviewed recently for an article on Virtual Assistants for a state-wide business journal. I’m pleased to share my moment in the spotlight: Virtual assistants offer off-site alternative
My cell phone, office phone, and home phone are all through Verizon’s wireless and land services. I recently found a new tool available for Verizon’s land line services call Call Assistant. This tool is AWESOME and it’s FREE. It’s still in the new stages but some of the features that will be added soon look amazing. Just as it is now is great.
There’s a Desktop VCA Software that you can download. This allows a small screen to pop up in the corner of your monitor letting you know when a call comes in
(It’s kinda of neat because it actually rings a couple seconds before my phone rings.) I don’t need to grab the phone because I know right away who is calling and if I’m in the middle of something and can’t take the call I don’t have to.
Then, if they leave a voicemail I get this message
So, I know who left the message and I can go in to listen to it. I don’t usually not take phone calls if I’m at my desk but occassionally I do need to send something to voicemail.
Most often I need to check missed calls or voicemails after being out of the office. When I come in to the office this is the first thing I look at:
Which tells me I had three calls and have one voicemail. I’m a little neurotic about watching which calls I’ve missed so I clear them out after I’ve taken are of what needs to be taken care of so the red bubbles aren’t usually there.
Since I see that there’s one new voicemail I’ll click on that icon and get this:
Which tells me I actually have two new voicemails. I can listen to them on my computer and delete them from here which will delete them from my voicemail system.
I LOVE this thing. It keeps my hands free when I’m listening to voicemail so I can write down information. It’s super easy to see what calls have come in and to listen to and delete voicemail. Seriously, this thing ROCKS!
There’s also a webbased panel so if I’m out of town or at home I can log in to check calls.
I’m super excited about some of the new features that they say are coming:
Call Forwarding Forward your calls on demand or use Selective Call Forwarding to automatically forward calls from specific people or during a certain time frame.
Call Block and Do Not Disturb Block calls from specific people, send them directly to Voice Mail or only allow certain numbers to get through.
Real Time Call Management Decide which calls reach you and which you can ignore by using your Verizon Call Assistant desktop software. A click of your mouse lets you immediately forward incoming calls, send them to Voice Mail, ignore, block or answer your calls.
Calendar Use the new Calendar feature to schedule Call Forwarding or keep track of appointments and tasks.
Contacts Keep track of Contacts by adding them from your incoming calls and Voice Mails. You can also import numbers from other address books you use, like GMail or Outlook so all of your Contacts are in one place.
Have More Than One Phone Number? Use your Verizon Call Assistant to manage several phone numbers at once, even your Verizon Wireless phone.
Other Features You can even use Verizon Call Assistant to display a map of the location of your Contacts and Incoming Calls.
If you have Verizon telephone service check this out. I hope you like it as much as I do.
