Something odd struck me yesterday as I strolled through the produce section of my local supermarket.  I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner when my eyes locked onto some onions.  Now, they just weren’t your average, everyday bag of onions.  These were single onions, yellow or white.  And they were peeled.  That means that all that lovely paper skin that tends to get on my kitchen floor and never leaves  was gone, removed by someone else so that all that was left behind was a shiny, clean, ready-to-slice onion.

Well, I immediately thought “that is just silly.  Who can’t peel an onion?”  And then I walked on, grumbling to myself about all the other ready-made items – pre-chopped veggies, bags of heat-and-eat mashed potatoes.  What is this world coming to?  Can’t we do anything for ourselves?

It wasn’t until I got about half-way through my shopping trip that I had a “OH! I get it!” moment.  Somewhere between the coffee aisle and the butter, it all began to make sense.  Some people can’t peel onions.  Some people can’t mash potatoes.  Perhaps they have arthritis.  Perhaps they’ve just gone through surgery.  Perhaps they are so overwhelmed by so many other things, that they have decided to gift themselves a small thing like pre-made mashed potatoes.

And then it really hit me.  We, Your Gal Friday, are your peeled onions.  We are your heat-and-eat mashed potatoes.  We’re you’re one-stop, don’t have to think about it, let us do all the work and you take all the credit, product.  You’ve got so many things going on with your business that it must be making your head spin.  And you know you need to continually be building and nurturing your business relationships.  But you’re putting it off because you're doing so many other things.  You don’t have the time.  You’re not sure what to do.

And that’s exactly why we’re here.  Give us your thoughts and we’ll do the rest.  Research, transcription, documentation, customer service... ( I even make pretty mean bowl of mashed potatoes!)

Contact us, and sit back and relax!
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Running 01/02/2012
 

Guest author Christie is jumping in here and offering some great advice.
A few weeks ago I decided to beat the New Year’s rush and begin my resolution early. Although because I tend to think on a grander scale, I would like to think of it more as a revolution than a resolution. But the point is, I am now getting up off my backside and going for a run every day.

For me, running is therapy. It gives me much needed time to think; to find my center. I’ve found many lessons from my running that can be applied universally in life- to business, to relationships, to our personal lives.

Perseverance: With running, there will inevitably come a point when you hit a wall.  You’ll find that your energy is fading fast, and you’ll begin to doubt whether or not you have the strength to continue. We hit walls in the business world, too. It’s at this point, whether running a mile or running a business, that we need to make the decision to persevere; to push through the tough part regardless of how difficult it may seem. It’s only upon doing this, and reaching the other side of the wall, that we realize we are stronger than we thought.

Goal setting: I quickly learned that if I didn’t set goals for myself, I wouldn’t get very far. The goal can be as big as “I’d like to be able to run a 5K race by Spring” or as small as “I’d like to run the entire mile without stopping to walk." The important thing here is just to have a goal.  If I set out on a run saying to myself, “I’m just going to run until I get tired” then I won’t make it very far. But with a goal, I’ll continue to run even once fatigue sets in, and I’ll go much further than I otherwise would have.

Conditioning: When I first started running again for the first time in years, it was…..well, let’s say it was a less than Olympic performance. There was a lot of gasping for air, a lot of pain, and a lot of “What am I doing to myself?!” type thoughts going through my head. The second time was better than that. The third time was bordering on something I could be really proud of, and so on. This is one of those universal principles that go far beyond running. There are times in our workday when we feel maybe we’ve taken on too much, or we’re not pleased with our performance. Sometimes there’s no special magic answer to perfecting our work. Sometimes the magic lies in simply doing it again and again, and you’ll find with each passing day, you’ll begin to consistently get results you’ll be proud of.

Enjoyment: Perseverance, goal setting, and conditioning all require a bit of hard work and tenacity, but don’t forget that there is enjoyment in those things as well. Getting from point A to point B is important, but for goodness’ sake, don’t forget to lift your head up, look around you, and enjoy the run!

Unlike my solitary runs though, in business you don’t have to go it alone. If you're at a point where you're hitting the proverbial wall, talk to us.  We're here to cheer you on and help you push through to reach your goals.

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When Black Friday comes around, you will typically find me sneaking out of the house around 4am to stroll blissfully around town in the cold, crisp air.  But not this year.  I wasn’t very motivated to head out, so instead, I slept in (all the way till 7am!) and then curled up on the couch with my laptop to shop with ease.

My husband and I decided that we were going to purchase an X-Box that was on sale at Target for our son.  Not for Christmas, but for his birthday several weeks after.  It was a good price, and fortunately for me, they were selling it online.  So I got out my shiny little Target card and ordered up one X-Box.

About a week or so later there is a knock on my door.  UPS was delivering packages.  As I hauled them in, I noticed something odd.  There were two identically-shaped boxes from Target.  I was puzzled.  Did I order something else and I’d forgotten about it?  (It’s so easy to shop online, sometimes you forget!)  Or did Target do what I think they did?  My son was upstairs, so I quickly shoved the boxes into another room, opened each and peered inside.  Yep.  I had two X-Box systems.

Now, for many people, I’m sure this wouldn’t be a dilemma.  “Too bad – I get a free X-Box!”  But the minute I saw that second one, I knew I couldn’t keep it.  Because I believe in karma.  And right now things are really good for me and my family.  And I am not about to do anything to mess that up.  And quite frankly, I’m just no good at being devious and dishonest.

So, I took the extra “gift” to my nearest Target store to return.  When I explained what happened, the customer at the counter next to me stated “Wow!  That’s really nice of you to do that.”  Was it really that shocking?  Were these tiny “good deeds” so uncommon?

The Target CSR cheerfully clicked buttons, scanned paperwork and told me $140 and change would be credited back to my account.  Uh – no, that would be great, but then my other one would be free.  “OH!” she exclaimed.  Then she got on the phone and began calling and chatting with people in various far off locations.  After about 15 minutes of “what about this” and “what about that” she hung up.  “You have two choices,” she said.  “We can keep it, or you can keep it.  It’s too much of a problem to get it back into the system.”  (Apparently it throws all the inventory numbers off everywhere!)

So – I kept it.  Not really of course.  I’m going to donate it to a non-profit organization I’m associated with so that they can use it for a raffle or auction.  It wouldn’t be right to keep it or give it to family or friends.

Honestly can truly be the best policy.  My karma is in check, and organization is going to make some money for their needs, and someone will win a cool prize.  It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

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Hello.  My Name is Andrea.  And I am Different.

My husband tells me I’m not a woman.  I’m Andrea.  Because I don’t like to go shoe shopping, and I get angry if he spends too much money on a gift, and during the Fall and Winter you’ll find me glued to every football game I can find on TV.  (Go Bears!)

So, I’m not the conventional woman.  And as I begin to learn more about the VA world and talk with other VAs, I’m beginning to find out I’m not the conventional virtual assistant.

The US National Average median salary for an Administrative Assistant II at this time is $40,976 (www.salary.com).  That’s about $19.70/hr for an FTE.  For an in-house assistant.  To be there daily, 9 to 5, to be 100% dedicated to you and your business.

In 2007, VANetworking did a survey of VAs and found that 80% of virtual assistants had an hourly rate that was more than the FTE Admin.

(I want to add a disclaimer here.  I’m not talking about people who have a lot of knowledge and skill in highly prized and/or technical areas.  (Design, Accounting, etc.)  I’m talking your standard admin – data entry, responding to emails, internet research – that sort of thing.  Highly skilled specialized workers deserve the money they make.)

I am very surprised to hear what some VAs charge.  I'm even more surprised when I hear that businesses will pay these fees, because I think they could go to a local temp agency and get someone to be an in-house assistant for less, dedicated totally to them.  Most VAs have multiple clients, so you're not getting 100% dedication.  Why are you paying for it then?

 I charge “too little” according to the pay scales in the VA world.  If I went back to corporate life, I’d easily jump into a tidy salary, especially in project management.  But I feel that my clients provide me with a benefits package better than any business I’d have to drive an hour to get to.

Yes, you my clients (and hopefully soon-to-be clients, too) pay me benefits along with the dollars.  You allow me to not spend two hours a day in the car in traffic, yelling at people.  You allow me to work in my jammies.  You give me time to run to the store or have lunch with my mom.  You let me volunteer at my son’s school.  You let me sleep in when I want, and are just as happy to have me working late at night when I feel like it.

These are huge benefits to me and I consider them as part of the package that goes into my billing rate.  I hope it’s a win-win situation.  You get an extremely experienced assistant and I get to live a pretty satisfied life.

…but, if you’d like to pay me $50/hr, let’s talk.

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Of Mice and Cats 08/28/2011
 
Recently, and quite unfortunately, we discovered a mouse problem in our house.  You know – you see the “signs” of a mouse.  So, we set out a trap, and the next day, Mr. Mouse was on his way to mouse heaven.

Then we saw more signs, and set out more traps.  One morning I walked into the kitchen to see a little brown fluff peering out from beneath my stove.  At this point I started to get angry.  Not only because I had a nasty rodent in my house, but because, no more than 15 feet away, my two cats were sitting.  Hello, cats?  Isn’t this your job?  Of course it was, but they didn’t know because they really hadn’t been introduced to Mouse #2 yet. 

I picked up Othello (who is our best hope for mousing issues because he loves to catch and eat bugs!) and pointed him in the properly direction.  As soon as he caught one glimpse of the mouse, he ran, pounced, and had a plump little mouse in his mouth.  Hooray!

Since finding that mouse, Othello has changed.  He patrols the kitchen like clockwork, scanning the floor, smelling all the corners – he’s looking for signs of a problem.  In the meantime, I work on the bigger picture – looking for holes, scanning the basement and foaming/caulking as necessary, cleaning and organizing.

A tiny mouse showed up by the fireplace.  Othello was on it.  And now he patrols the fireplace and living room with as much vigor as the kitchen.

So, why am I telling you the sordid details of mousing in my household?  Because this mouse problem isn’t any different from any other problem that comes up in your life.  And when it comes up, you have to know how to handle it.  And when you have a series of problems, sometimes you just can’t handle all of it at the same time.  That’s when you need help.  And that’s what having a virtual assistant is all about.

Little problems pop up, little inconveniences that you need to take care of but can’t get to, because you’re working on the big picture.  Hiring a virtual assistant for the small tasks is a great way to keep you forward-focused because you don’t have to worry about missing an issue that pops up.  Your VA is there to back you up and take care of things.

Everyone needs a virtual assistant.  Even me.  And here he is.
Picture
Othello the Cat. Master Mouser and personal VA to YGF.
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Honesty is a crazy thing.  We all expect each other to be honest, but only to the point where the truth doesn’t hurt.  Back in college I took a course in Photography.  (Yes, besides being an English major, I’m also an Art minor.  Please stifle the chuckling.)  Each week we received an assignment, went forth and snapped photos, and spent time in the dark room developing them.  (Remember film cameras?)  At the end, our photos would be pinned to a large wall in class and we would begin “critique mode.”

Only it never was critiquing.  It was a group of people saying things like “Well, I like it but maybe, if you thought it might work, you could…” or  “It’s nice.”  These were unhelpful.  I would be frustrated having to listen to my classmates skirt around the truth.  Where was the honesty in it?  It would be nice to think that all my photos were gems, but they weren’t.

One day I was fed up and after class I took my photos, went to the professor and said, “Please give me your real opinion.”  Without even pausing, he told me that the photos were dull and unimaginative.  They weren’t good.  And I thanked him for his honesty.  I was happy.  Why?  Because, for the first time I got constructive criticism.  I was doing things wrong, and no one else had mind enough to be honest with me.  If you can’t tell me what I’m doing wrong, how will I ever learn to do it right?

When we do something wrong, we need to be told that we’ve done wrong.  If we do something incorrect for our clients,  we should expect them to tell us we messed up.  Employer-Employee honesty is critical in having a successful relationship and getting the job done right.  It doesn’t feel good when someone points out your errors.  But it feels even worse when you find yourself in a bad business relationship because no one’s willing to be honest and talk.

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A lot of people ask me how I can work at home with a  child.  I have an eight year-old son, and when summertime comes he’s here “at the office” with me every day.  When my son is here, I have to be more on my game, because he is demanding of my time just like my clients are.  So, just like I give time and energy to my clients during the day, I need to give time and energy to him.  Of course, because he’s eight, he realizes that mom is working, so he lets me be when I make calls or am working on a task.  But as soon as I’m on break, he knows that’s his time and we goof off,  play games, etc.

 When he goes back to school, I actually feel a bit lazier, because I have the whole day to myself and I think I tend to slack a bit more knowing I have “extra” time.  If you’re thinking of trying your hand working from home or have just started out and are having a tough time syncing work time with kid time, here are some tips that can help.

 Wake up early –Now, I was never one to be an early riser.  I used to schedule my college classes to start at 11am at the earliest!  But now I see the  benefit of waking up early and getting to work.  My husband leaves for work at 5:30am.  If I get up when he leaves, that gives me 90 minutes to do whatever it is I need to do before my son is up.  It’s surprising how much work I get done in the first, early hour or two of the day.  Client work, house work, Your Gal Friday work.  Some days I feel I do more at this time than I do all day.

 Discuss work rules with your kids – With older kids, you can easily set ground rules for working at home.  Please don’t disturb me when I’m on the phone.   No playing in the office. Mom’s laptop is not your personal toy.  I know you can’t give boundaries such as these to a two year-old, but if you set up a nice routine of work, play, quiet time, noisy time, they’ll begin to understand and work with you.

Make sure your kids have things to do – Your work keeps you busy, but what are they doing during the summer?  It can’t all be about video games and TV shows.  Make sure they have scheduled time to go to a friend’s house. Let them run around in the back yard with sprinklers or other yard fun –grab your laptop and work outside while they’re out there to keep an eye on them.  Have engaging toys and projects for them.  Art kits, Legos, modeling clay, musical instruments.  For older kids, bring your laptop to the kitchen table and supervise as they prepare a simple recipe.  Let them have friends over.  Once, my niece came over to play with my son and they spent hours out on the back deck creating a massive Lego world.  Kids just want something to do, all of the time.

Make time for your kids – Work will always be there. Time with your kids is fleeting. Remember to take a break during the day and have some fun with your kids.  PLAY!  You’ll feel better, more relaxed, and actually be more focused when you return to work.

And now it’s time to play some Pokemon…

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Sometimes a client will ask me to do something, and then he’ll say “I know it’s not much,” or “it’s really boring stuff to do – I’m sorry.”  And my reply is “no problem.”  Because really, it’s not.

Over the course of years I’ve been working, I’ve always been amazed when I come across people who have a list of what they will and will not do at a job.  I’m not talking about what they can and cannot do.  If you ask me to do sales calls, I’ll tell you no – not because I won’t do it, but because I can’t – I’m horrible at it and you’d be better off burning your money than paying me to do it.  I’m talking about people who refuse to do work because they feel it is beneath them in some way.

Once I was working on several projects with my manager.  One project was tied to reams of legal paperwork.  I was busy with something else at the time, so my manager gave a task to a co-worker to do for this legal project.  She needed stacks of documents three-hole punched, put into binders and divided appropriately based upon document numbering.  Now, I’ll admit, it wasn’t the most exciting job in the world to do, but it was critically important to the project because these binders were needed by the legal department to proceed with their filings and such.

A day or so into it, this co-worker stopped by my desk and began to complain about what an awful task it was, and she shouldn’t be doing it because she had a Masters degree.  I let her rant, and let her walk away.  The next week my manager came up to me and asked if I would work on the binders.  The co-worker had set in the paperwork backward, upside-down, and labeled everything incorrectly.  (She no longer had a job as of that week.)

Whatever the job you do, shouldn’t you do it well?  Isn’t it a reflection of your work ethic and the type of person you are?  Who cares if you have fifteen degrees and speak 24 languages?  If your boss asks you to make a copy – make a copy…highlight those documents…refill the toner!  My husband and I laugh sometimes because we believe that if someone paid us $100/hr to staple paper together, we wouldn’t be complaining! Everything is important to getting the job done.  Data entry, research, management, printing, emails, invoices…bringing in the occasional box of doughnuts!

Bring me your boring, dull, have-to-get done tasks and I’ll do them with a smile!

“If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Some employers can work with a VA, and some need traditional help.  Which is best for you?

This may seem to be a foolish blog to write.  After all, I want your business.  But honestly, I only want your business if you  need me.  I can help you if you need me.  I can’t help you if you only think you need me. 

Working with a virtual assistant is very different from working with someone in the office.  In the office you can walk up to the person and chat.  You can look over her should onto her screen and discuss  things.  You can leave her sticky notes with information all over her desk.  You can see her functioning, so you believe that things are working.  And when you see she’s winding down, you give her more  work.

With a virtual assistant, you give your list of tasks to a computer screen via email or chat.  And then a few hours or a few days later all of the work is done and you have your deliverables uploaded or in your email.  You don’t know how it got done or where, but it’s done and you can move forward with what you need to do.

You, the employee, need to determine what kind of person you are.  Do you need to have visual confirmation of an
assistant?  Does it make you feel better to be able to see someone at a computer, at a desk, on a phone?  Do you need to micromanage?

If any of these apply to you, you should probably work with a traditional assistant.  When you hire a VA, you send
her work and put it out of your mind until the deadline appears.  Of course you can check in and see how things are going, but for the most part, you know she’s independently working and you can work on your own tasks.  When she’s done, she will wait for you to give her more work. 

Virtual Assistants are task driven.  Once the task is done, we cannot busy ourselves filling the copier with paper and cleaning up the break room to pass the time until the next round of work happens.  We have to wait until you supply us with another task.

We would love to be able to help your business, but make sure choosing us is the best thing for you, because in the long run, it will benefit us both.
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Just a quick note today.  As you can see, I have been extremely busy and haven't had time to post.  But that's a good thing.  Because it means it's time for a change.

Your Gal Friday is going to grow.  It's time.  I've got some wonderful people joining me.  I know them extremely well and trust in their abilities.  I couldn't do this without them.

So stay tuned.  The website is going to reflect all the new happenings very soon.  Thanks!
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