Working from home has many advantages and also a sort of familiarity
that can become a downright pitfall in some instances. It is easy
and sometimes quickly discovered that away from an office your
productivity is not as high as you thought it would be. Working from
a home office can easily become a productivity killer when a business
owner doesn’t stay on top of things. However, don’t fret!

This can be changed with a few simple steps to get your business
organized, making productivity easier.

First of all, realize what you do is run a business.

Your business needs a permanent place to live.

It could be your dining room, a corner of your den or the entire den.
Some people set up shop in their garage or kitchen. Wherever you decide that your home office will reside, recognize that it is your work space and nothing else can share that spot.

Yes, that includes the laundry you forgot to fold last night, too.

Moving on, now that you have an office space, set some guidelines
for how you will run your business. These guidelines don’t run to
the particulars of your chosen industry but more to organization
for better operation of the enterprise. In plain terms, if everything
is in its place, you won’t waste time looking for it.

A filing system will be your best friend.

This includes a filing cabinet for important papers.
Every correspondence doesn’t have to exist in paper form.
Contractual agreements with clients and copies of past invoices
can be filed, but emails don’t need to be. Save yourself some time,
money and fresh air by not printing every client email that comes
to your inbox.

An electronic filing system keeps emails, project specs and proposals
organized by client without adding to the paperwork you already have
to handle. Electronic files are easy to organize and can be zipped
to clients in an instant if need be.

You won’t even have to use snail mail.

Also, keep an in and out box on your desk (we almost forgot about the desk).

Incoming mail is organized as soon as it hits the desk.
Junk mail is shredded, orders are filed in a box to be
filled and other mail is sorted according to purpose.

Dealing with mail first thing prevents anything from getting overlooked.

Along the same lines, create a priority box.

This is the box that will be checked first thing in the morning
and last thing before you leave your home office. In the morning,
the box contains all of the items that need attention that day.
In the evening, organize the contents to be ready for the next morning.

This makes it much easier to have your daily work tasks set
when you get to the “office” each morning. No more wasted time
planning your day while an hour or two of it is vanishing.

Low productivity in a home office arises mainly from disorganization.
We often aren’t sure what we want to work on or what is most important, so it takes a little while to get that together. If you are organized from the beginning and keep your priorities current, you won’t spend your time deciding what to do next – you’ll already know.

Good bye time wasters, hello productivity!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

Jan Tallent is the owner of Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance for 11 years, a marketing and small business online newsletter for going on 10 years, an internet marketer for my own digital products PLUS tangible products and an avid social networker . I also have an eBay store so stay pretty busy 10 to 12 hours per day, mostly on my computer and the net.

I am concentrating my VA biz on proofreading , editing and transcriptions as these are my favorite assignments to take on and where my strengths lie. If you are in need of these or any of my other Virtual Assistance services, send me a message and we can Talk about and schedule your project or projects .

For the potential Virtual Assistant

The life of a freelance worker before the Internet was very different from what it is today. In the past, any freelancer would need great mobility or spend hours on the phone, either asking for work or finding out WHO to contact for this endeavor. In order to get around to pitch yourself to potential customers, you would require boundless energy and an ability to deal with being told “no” face to face or over the phone. So much of freelancing is about speculation, after all. You could try to sell yourself a hundred times and could be told “no” a hundred times. Although the Internet offers no guarantees of acceptance, it does make things a bit more equal for the freelancer.

There are many sites on the Internet that offer the opportunity for freelancers to pitch to potential customers on specific jobs – a searchable database means that you can even check for jobs that match up perfectly with your own specific skills and abilities. You can name your price and tell the customer how quickly you can turn a job around. The days of having to get out there, pound the pavement and then be told “sorry, we’re not interested” are more or less over. Not to mention that the Internet provides a truly monumental research tool for the jobs that require a bit of extra knowledge. The internet is nothing less than a launch pad from which to set your career in motion.

For the potential CLIENT

Outsourcing Using the Internet

Sometimes in business, as skilled as you may be, there are things that you are unable to do. A customer will come through with a very specific task and, although you will be able to do most of it, there may be a part of the job that poses you problems and prevents you from completing the task. In this respect, it may often seem that you will have to turn down the opportunity. But that is not necessarily the case. With the Internet at your fingertips, you have ready access to a skills base that means you can complete on that job even if some of the work is outside your own skill or time reach. Welcome to outsourcing or using a Virtual Assisant.

Thinking of it as a non-Internet situation for the moment, imagine that you are an interior decorator who specialises in hanging wallpaper, painting and plastering. It may just be that a job comes through that involves all of that, plus laying a hardwood floor. You’re good, but you’re not experienced in laying down floors. With the use of some contacts, you could pay for the services of a person who is capable and experienced in that part of the job. By paying them to take those duties on, you can accept the job and move forward.

There are many workers out there who do business via the Internet, and to contact them all you need to do is pick up the phone. If you cannot complete a job all by yourself, but it will pay well, there is no need to give up. Just log on, find a contact and get the job done.

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

Jan Tallent is the owner of Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance for 11 years, a marketing and small business online newsletter for going on 10 years, an internet marketer for my own digital products PLUS tangible products and an avid social networker . I also have an eBay store so stay pretty busy 10 to 12 hours per day, mostly on my computer and the net.

I am concentrating my VA biz on proofreading , editing and transcriptions as these are my favorite assignments to take on and where my strengths lie. If you are in need of these or any of my other Virtual Assistance services, send me a message and we can Talk about and schedule your project or projects .

The Virtual Assistant Bookkeeper

Keeping the books organized is a major battle for most small businesses.

Sure, the business receives money from clients and pays for equipment, but as far as the bookkeeping goes, it may be a drawer in the office with tons of paper receipts. The virtual assistant bookkeeper sorts through these papers to sort out the books.

Someone has to do record keeping. In a small online business,
that person is the owner. If he or she does not have time during
the day, it will be after he or she has dealt with other issues.

It is time to record some numbers. That makes for a long day – every day.

The Market

More than one business has ended up bankrupt because of bad
bookkeeping. One day, the owner looks up and sees that he or she has sucked the resources dry. Not keeping accurate records can lead to problems with the IRS and no one wants that.

When a business owner doesn’t possess a certain expertise, he or she can hire someone to do it for him or her. For small businesses, hiring a bookkeeper is not just interviewing and choosing one from many. An employer has to pay for health insurance and other particulars for each employee and that means money he or she does not have.

Another solution is a virtual assistant like you.

With a virtual assistant, businesses don’t pay for space, insurance or sick time. They only have to pay for services rendered. In today’s economy, that is a smart business move.

You might say that a virtual assistant bookkeeper is a hot commodity.
You provide a needed service for small and large businesses.
Keeping on top of business accounts is easy for someone with the knowledge.

Some of the services you might offer are:

• Payroll
• Reconciling accounts
• Daily record keeping
• Entering transactions in the proper ledgers
• Month-end statements
• Software bookkeeping management

or even backing up the business records.

Think of all of the time and energy you will save each business owner!

Clients can depend on you to record receipts and let them know how
much cash they have on hand. Bookkeepers invoice account holders
for work to be done and finished jobs.

There are a number of ways to conduct your business.

Local clients can mail their receipts to you for your expert help.
All of the information can be organized using bookkeeping software
and sent as an attachment to your clients. For online clients,
you can reconcile the software that they use with their account records.

A virtual assistant bookkeeper can feel good about the job that he or she does for businesses. Staying ahead in financial matters is at the crux of business success. Your management of the books gives them one less thing to worry about.

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assitance

p.s. No business is too small to need some help, at least now and then. This is why a Virtual Assistant can be so helpful to even the smallest business.