The business owner is responsible for generating new revenue for their business. As the business grows, so do administrative tasks. The more time spent IN the business on administrative tasks, the less time spent ON the business generating more sales and planning its growth.

Surely the business owner’s time is not best spent on all the small (but important) administrative tasks necessary in running a successfully business. More and more prudent business owners are delegating the less profitable tasks by hiring a virtual assistant, whose hourly rate is somewhat less than the business owner’s real financial worth.

Virtual assistants are the 21^st Century equivalent of the personal assistant of the 20^th Century. They provide administrative and secretarial assistance, when required. they are self-employed, so there are no employer’s responsibilities like PAYE, National Insurance, tax, sick pay, maternity leave, paid holiday or benefits packages. Best of all, because they work from their own premises, there’s no need to provide virtual assistants with any office space, desk or equipment, ideal for small business owners and entrepreneurs who operate their business from their home which means they don’t loose privacy or space.

As more and more businesses move their marketing and communications to the Internet, Virtual Assistants are becoming the obvious solution to staffing issues. For an hourly fee often less than the cost of temps or the real cost of employees, businesses can take advantage of professional assistance and a variety of skills at the click of a mouse.

Work assignments are communicated through email. The use of telephone, fax or post and web-based tools is also a means of keeping in touch.

Typical tasks outsourced include returning telephone calls, answering e-mails and drafting letters. They also run their diaries, manage event bookings, run marketing and email campaigns, design presentations, source and book flights, proof-read and beautify documentation.

Some virtual assistants are highly specialised in particular areas including marketing support, e-newsletters, web design, squeeze pages and e-commerce.

There’s no doubt that having virtual assistance is a time-management tool. With the support of a good one, business image is enhanced, the business runs smoother and more efficiently which means greater productivity. Business owners can focus on what is important, rather than urgent, leaving them more time to work ON their business rather than IN it. For some it means regaining their evenings and weekends.

The preview event was a taster for the 4 week programme that starts Tuesday 22nd June.

There’s enough information on the preview event that you could take away and apply yourself (or give to a VA like me!), or sign up for the programme to be hand held through the process.

check out www.salesleadgenerationtechniques.com for more information

Idiot’s Step by Step Illustrated Guide to Building a REALLY Great Website (and Save Hundreds and Thousands of Pounds)

This guide shows you step by step how to build your own website, using a free webhosting tool called WordPress. WordPress was originally designed as a free blogging tool, however a lot of web designers have come to recognise that its flexibility lends itself very well to building websites as well as blogs. WordPress has a number of features, like connections with social media and search engines so that you don’t have to manually submit your site to them, as well as mini-applications, called Widgets, which you can easily add to your website, making it look really professional and expensive.

After just 2 to 3 hours working through this guide for the first time, You’ll have a two page website, with the knowledge of how to amend existing pages and add more pages.

You don’t need any previous web experience or coding knowledge as it’s all provided in my step by step idiot’s guide.

Check out the Products page for more info

VAs are the new PAs | Life & Style.

So many tasks to do, no time to do them all and your head is just bursting trying to not forget all the things you need to do that you end up with a massive headache, you retire to be having done nothing!

This is the time to write those tasks down. In fact I find it useful to keep a notepad near my bedside to jot down the things I must remember when they pop into my head. It’s like removing the thought out of my head on to the pad, leaving me free to sleep easy!

Gather up all the tasks and to do’s and grade them into Important and Urgent, Urgent but not important, Important but not Urgent, and Not Important and Not Urgent.

Now turn them into a check list, with the Important and Urgent at the top.

This helps keep you focused when you get interrupted by phone calls or emails or other interruptions. Decide where on the scale that interruption is and add it to the check list at the appropriate level.

As you complete each task, tick it off. It’s very satisfactory at the end of the day to see how much you’ve managed to tick off.

Any tasks not completed that day can be put on a fresh list for the next day.

One great tip worth passing on, was smiling when you're speaking on the phone, because you can always hear a smile

Business Link have got lots of useful workshops and courses and best of all, they are free.

www.businesslink.gov.uk/east

PA Job Description

I can take 2 phone calls, set up an excel spreadsheet, book a conference call and
send several emails – all at the same time. Simultaneously, I can review 2
inboxes, update 2 calendars, book dinner for 7 with parking, location map and 2
vegetarian options, knock up a PowerPoint presentation, courier a package and
book three hotel rooms and three flights. I speak all languages and have
visited all the countries in the world: I therefore know every beach and every
hotel. I know all local customs and visa and vaccination requirements for all
nationalities and countries. I am personally responsible for  the state of
the hotel room (wallpaper),  the food on the flight, for traffic jams,
broken hire cars, overbooked planes, late taxis, the weather, possible war and
unrest, as well as the economic situation and adverse currency exchange rate
fluctuations. I possess magical powers which enable me to get a room in a fully
booked hotel and seats on fully booked planes and trains. I can also arrange
for planes to start and land at your desired destinations at your preferred
times. I know that – even though you asked me to book you a flight for Friday -
you really wanted to travel on Saturday. Also, if you arrange a meeting with
somebody over the phone and don’t tell me, I telepathically know and will book
and prepare a meeting room and arrange drinks.

I smile, am sympathetic, and am happy to replace his psychiatrist /punch bag as
needed – equally happy in turn to be ignored, insulted and blamed in the
interests of alleviating the frustrations of senior management in the workplace
- always calmly listening and trying to do better next time. I can act, sing,
dance and repair the printer. I replace the information desk, directory
enquiries and the post office. I am happy to get in early for meetings that
(may) take place and work late for no extra money. I hate having time off – as
I obviously have no family or other interests outside the joy and desire to
selflessly serve in the workplace.

I use them for my own call minding if I'm out and they answer the calls so professionally. I've signed up a few customers to them too, so that I be the first port of call and if I'm not around then it bounces to the rest of the team.

It's brilliant!

You can sign up here for a free 14 day money back trial

www.yourcallpartner.co.uk/mysuperva.html