11 reasons to LOVE Canada Day!

Have you ever wondered what having a virtual assistant was like?

Now's your chance to find out!

In honour of Canada Day, Scratchpad Secretaries is having a special promotion. Until July 15 we are offering five (5) FREE Two-Hour Testers of our services! That's right, I said FREE! Bundled with a free 30-minute consultation, this promotion is valued at over 100.00. And you're getting it for FREE!

Here is just a snapshot of some things we can help you with:

1. Blog creation & submission to social bookmarking sites
2. Brochure creation
3. Excel spreadsheets
4. Ghostwriting (blogs, articles)
5. Internet-based research
6. PowerPoint presentations
7. Proofreading and editing
8. Website updating and maintenance
9. Writing bios
10. Writing business letters
11. And more!

Feel free to check out our Services for a comprehensive list, and please, feel free to ask if there is something you need help with but don't see it on our list. There's a good chance we can do it!

Just think... not only are you saving two hours of your time AND money by taking advantage of this limited-time offer, but you could be making money with these two hours as well. Imagine what you can do with two free hours in your day!

Remember, we're only giving away five - one per customer - and only until July 15. So call us or email us today.

We look forward to helping you get your valuable time back!

The Day Outlook Saved my Sanity.

So Google saved my life, and now Outlook saved my sanity.

I'm getting spammed big time by a few websites. As a virtual assistant, I'm all for learning. Learning new skills, new secrets, new tools, so I signed up on a few different websites to receive a free ebook and a free newsletter, and two of them are sending me, seriously, 3 emails a day. It's annoying. It's spam. I clicked the unsubscribe button but it just took me to a blank page. I had to email them directly to get taken off their lists, but I'm still getting emails. ARGH. Perhaps they just didn't get the emails yet, that could be it.

Either way, I found a delightful tool in Outlook Express.

Go to Tools, Message Rules and the click on Blocked Senders List. Just type in their email address and voila! Their emails go directly to the Deleted file.

Got any tips and tricks for Outlook Express? Feel free to leave a comment!

Pink is the new Green.

It's easier to go green than you think. We're making small strides here at Scratchpad Secretaries, but they're strides nonetheless.

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's the smell of harsh chemicals. Wiping counter tops with Lysol all-in-one and then putting FOOD on there? I don't think so! There are many recipes on the net for homemade cleaning products, but I've been using a product for years that's just amazing.

Pink Solution.

It's a fantastic product. I use it to clean my bathroom, to wash my car, to clean the fridge, getting mildew off of the patio and steps, to get nasty stains from grubby hands off of door frames (that nothing else got clean, I might add), and anything else that pops up. It's totally non-toxic and biodegradable.

And I love it. I love the fact that it has no harsh chemicals, that it's biodegradable, that it doesn't hurt your skin (no gloves needed!), and that it's safe around pets (hopefully your child doesn't lick the baseboards when you're cleaning... but my dog used to!).

What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint and lower your environmental impact? Ever think of hiring a virtual assistant? This alone will get you started on the right track. Call us for your free 30-minute consultation!

Scratchpad Secretaries is striving to become a green office. We will continue to post about the latest green products we've found, tips for saving energy and hints for lowering your environmental impact. If you have any tips or tricks, feel free to leave a comment!

The day Google saved my life.

I love Google. I mean I love Google. Did I tell you I love Google?

What's kind of funny though, is up until the end of 2007 whenever I heard various business owners and executives quote Google as their essential website, I never really got it.

Until I totally got it.

I've wasted so much time flipping from one Google application to another. From Google search, to Gmail, to Google Calendar, to Google Reader.. the list goes on. And having so many screens open! It was confusing and incredibly time consuming. And as a virtual assistant, I don't have the time! I'm busy helping you get your time back!

And then I discovered iGoogle. You can completely customize the page to suit your needs and wants. It's fantastic! I have everything I need in one place (now, if they only had a Google Submit to get my articles and blog posts directly to syndication with the simplest click of the mouse. Speaking of which, perhaps I should check out Google Labs to see if they have that up their sleeve.)

So, back to iGoogle. I have Google Reader up front and centre. This saves me probably 30 to 40 minutes a day right there. I no longer have to search my favourites for, well, my favourites. Techcrunch, Duct Tape Marketing, Seth's Blog, Entrepreneur.com, etc etc; I've set up Google reader to automatically show these sites when they're updated. I can quickly zip through for headlines that interest me. My finger is, literally, on the pulse.

Gmail: I've added Gmail to my iGoogle homepage. It saves me from trying to remember to check twice a day. It automatically shows me when I have new mail; I have it right in front of me. Same goes for Google Calendar. I simply click the link and it pops open for me. No more having to log in, open more windows, etc. It's right there.

I have some fun stuff to: local weather, local news, Facebook. There are so many widgets you can add to your iGoogle homepage, I'm still discovering them. It does take a while to set up, to get everything you want on your homepage, but boy, it's worth it! You get that time back in the first day.

How are you managing your time? Or is your time managing you?

This is just one small service that Scratchpad Secretaries can provide to help you get your valuable time back. Check out our list of services for further ways to help you ease your workload overwhelm!

Success. Are you Ready?

What if, just what if, you wake up one morning to find yourself inundated with inquiries for your product. What if your inbox was full with requests for your services. What if you landed a huge client...the huge client? And your ideal client at that!

As a small business owner, are you ready? Sure, you've done well so far, business is trucking right along, you're making money, you're happy with the way things are going. And then out of the blue (or not!), you're business takes off overnight. Massively. You have more business than you could dream of. It's fantastic! It's what you had envisioned from the get go!

But are you set up for handling it? Do you have a plan for this scope of success? Are you ready to move on it now?

Can you imagine if you had to say, "Sorry, your order is just to big for my company." "Sorry, we can't handle the volume." Can you imagine?

So what's your plan for success?

This concept kept me awake all night.

I have a potential client who is interested in outsourcing various special projects and niche marketing initiatives to us. Also the majority of her administrative projects. The scope of this project is huge. I quite enjoy her, I like how she operates, I like how she does business, we have a great rapport, I can see us working very well together, it could be a wonderful partnership. I'm surprised an opportunity of this magnitude presented itself so early in the business. Pleasantly surprised, yet still surprised none the less (why do we always think we have to work ourselves almost to the bone, and slave away 25 hours a day for any sort of success? That sounds like another topic for another day!).

How am I going to handle this workload? What are my plans for this sort of success, that may very well happen ages before I had envisioned?

Well, one thing in my plan is to outsource! When I started this business, I started social networking right away and made some great connections, built some great relationships with other virtual assistants around the globe. This is the perfect opportunity for me to outsource some of my own administrative tasks that are taking up valuable time that would better be served building relationships with clients and potential clients. It will also free me up to take on more work.

Another plan is to have a multi virtual assistant (Multi-VA) business. Partner with another virtual assistant/assistants to be able to handle the workload not just of this potential client, but to continue to grow my business. To take on more clients. And again, I've made some fantastic contacts in the industry, some extremely talented virtual assistants are out there, and I'm looking forward to partnering with some of them as the need arises, to have a long-term working relationship.

Not just for my business to grow, but for their business to grow, and for your business to grow. It's all about how we can better serve our clients.

So what's your plan? Success may be closer than you think!

In Da Club

A few years ago I went to a 50 cent concert.

You know what he was wearing?

Sneakers, sweat pants and a sweatshirt, and he had his ball cap on sideways.

You know what I thought?

"I paid $80.00 to see him, at least he could have dressed better."

How do you look when people are paying their hard-earned money to see you? Oh, you don't do public appearances, speaking engagements, webinars? It doesn't matter. It's your website I'm talking about. People are taking time (and time = money) to check out your site. To see what you're up to. To see your products. TO BUY YOUR PRODUCTS. How does it look?

It is simply a static, informational page? Or does it engage the user? Does it pull them in and make them want to stay for a while? Do you switch it up once in a while? I'm not talking a complete overhaul here, just switching it up, moving things around. Do you update the content regularly? Not only does this keep your website fresh, it helps with search engine positioning.

You've got to create a web presence, not just a web site. Engage the user. They're taking time to show up, so you should too.

Scratchpad Secretaries offers blog writing and website maintenance and updating as part of their offering of services. Contact us today for your free 30-minute consultation!