How to use a VA. Pt. 2

Last week we talked about five ways to use a Virtual Assistant for administrative and secretarial assignments. Today in Part 2, we'll address five more tasks and projects you can easily outsource to a virtual assistant. Feel free to contact us for details on how we can help, or leave a comment with further suggestions!

Let's get right to it:

1. Blog updates. Are you currently on tour? Have speaking engagements criss-crossing the country? Want to write some "words from the road" to keep your fans updated? Have funny backstage stories to share? Or do you simply want to keep an on-line diary of your travels to keep your family and friends in the loop? Blogging may be your answer! We will happily update your blog on a daily/weekly basis, or as often as you'd like with pictures and stories and even the latest press coverage, whatever is happening that you'd like to communicate. Don't have a blog? Let us set it up for you!


2. Holiday & Thank you cards. Have a few hundred (or thousand) cards to send that you would like to personalize? Or just a few thank you cards? Let us do the work! We have delightful penmanship. We can even send the cards from our office. And we can set up reminders for upcoming celebrations in your life so you'll be prepared for the next round. It's time for you to relax and enjoy the holidays, let us do the work on your behalf!


3. Internet-based research. Have an upcoming role you need researched? Are you a costume-designer and need some in-depth design mysteries solved? Looking for that perfect prop? Do you have an idea for a new business or a side business but no time to investigate and research? Relax! Let us do it for you. We can provide comprehensive internet-based research and reports directly to your inbox.


4. Vacation coverage and workload overflow. Do you have an existing team to help you manage your time? Already work with a personal assistant you just couldn't live without? We often work directly with your existing staff to aid in vacation coverage, research, special projects, and workload overflow just to name a few. We step in when the going gets tough. And the tough gets going. On vacation.


5. Website maintenance. Ok, so your website is up and running. And there it is. Just sitting there. You have absolutely no time at all to update it, to keep it fresh. You're simply too busy. That's what we're for! Let us do that work, let us worry about keeping it fresh and interesting, while you can get back to doing what you do best! We can simply update with newsflashes, update the blog, post the latest press releases and tour dates, the list goes on. Don't neglect your site - let us stay on it!

There it is, neatly wrapped up for you. Five more tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant - to us!

Have an idea of something else you'd like to get off your plate? Give us a jingle and let's see how we can work together to help ease your mind...and schedule!

How to use your VA. Pt. 1

Have too much to do and not enough time to do it? Don't know what exactly you can clear off your plate, but know that something, anything, must be done to give you more time?

Well, here's a couple of quick tips on what you can delegate to us to help ease some of the workload:

1. Email screening. Do you have hundreds - or thousands - of emails sitting in your inbox? Let us clean it up for you! There are various programs available where we can work remotely and directly with your system to get rid of spam, unsubscribe you to lists you ended up on (or subscribe you to what interests you!), and create a filing system that automatically puts email in the folders they belong. We can also continue to manage your inbox after it's tidied up.


2. Mail screening. Believe it or not, people still get snail mail. And some people we work with get thousands of pieces weekly. Let us screen your mail. We can simply have it redirected to our offices and look after it all for you. Everything from autograph requests and endorsement inquiries to managing and screening fan mail, to simply weeding out the junk...we look after it all.


3. Calendar and schedule maintenance. Are you one of those people who finds themselves missing important meetings or trying to juggle your personal appearance schedule when you really have more important things to do? That's where we jump in! Let us look after the details - we'll even set up systems to remind you of what's coming up. We can work directly with you or with your personal assistant/management team to get you to where you're supposed to be. And on time!


4. Online reputation management. We are your eyes and ears on the Net. We'll watch for news about you and your business and strategize on response messaging.


5. Social Media Management. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, the list goes on. Do you have a piece of real estate where your audience is? Where your fans are? Where your target market hangs out online? We'll make sure you do. We'll set up profiles in the top networking sites and can even manage on your behalf.

See? Not so hard to delegate after all. Anything else you may be wanting to let go of? Give us a jingle to discuss!

Stay tuned for part two where we discuss 5 more tasks you can easily delegate to your virtual assistant.

Going with the Flow

You know, I wanted so desperately to have my policies and procedures manual completed before heading to Vegas for the Andre Agassi Grand Slam for Children event, if for no other reason, than just to have it done. Not for the event, but just for me. It was a deadline I set. A goal.

But it’s not done.

It’s getting there. I have alot of information jotted down (and in a way that actually makes sense to more people than me!), but it’s not done. And I was mad at myself. I meet my goals. I exceed my goals.

And yet not this one.

Why?

Because it’s a working document. An organic process. Forever a work-in-progress. New ideas will pop up. Things that I might have forgotten about will suddenly appear. I’ll come up with new strategies to streamline certain processes. It’s ever-changing and ever-developing and moving forward. As small businesses should be.

So I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I actually have met my goal and can simply save it as “version 4” and continue growing and developing and moving forward!

So I can stop sweating the small stuff, know that I am, in fact, moving forward and add to it as needed. It's a great thing!

Scratchpad Secretaries has been selected to be in the celebrity gift bags for the 13th Annual Andre Agassi Grand Slam for Children to be held at The Wynn Las Vegas, October 11, 2008. As such, we will be hosting in the Backstage Gift Lounge. If you are attending this prestigious event, pop by and say hello!

Stay tuned for press updates, pictures and video from the event in the coming weeks.

Finding your Niche

Having trouble finding your niche? You know who you want to target, just don't know quite how to get to them?

It's simple: go where they go.