Planning for 2010

I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. It’s like going on a diet. It changes how you feel about things. I believe in transformations and goals. What’s the difference, well, I work on goals all year long. I started my 2010 planning in November. It makes sense that to make a success of next year I need to start making changes this year. Hopefully, by next year, my changes will have become a habit.

So, what are my goals for 2010? One is to make the most of networking, especially social networking. I’ve joined groups on LinkedIn and even created one for administrative professionals. The past few weeks I’ve started sending connection requests to the members. After I received a confirmation, I email the person to find out how I could identify good leads for that person. My next step is to read their blogs, status updates, and follow them on Twitter. All in an effort to expand my network. Now what?

Coffee or lunch meeting of course. But this won’t be like the ones suggested in closed networking groups or leads groups. This meeting will include at least one other person. This will give the two people I’ve met an opportunity to meet someone new. With one meeting, I’ve already helped my new connection. This meeting is officially called “Sip and Build”. It’s a service of Indispensable Assistants that we did when we first started our business but didn’t have the time to continue planning.

I look forward to restarting Sip and Build and connecting with as many people as possible.

To Volunteer We Shall Go

Recently my sister and I decided to re-evaluate our business plan. When we started our business, we wanted to devote volunteer hours to assisting non profit organizations. When we first tried doing this in 2005 and 2006 we sent emails and letters and followed up with phone calls. No one responded. I continued to call one homeless shelter and finally got a call from the Director. She was very busy and said she would call me back. It never happened.

Since then, we’ve volunteered with one organization but that was it. As we reviewed our orginal plan, we decided it was time to revisit this goal. My sister contacted Dress for Success Atlanta. She received an auto email that said for us to call them to schedule an interview. This auto response would probably have deterred me as I would have had the opinion that they obviously didn’t want our help. My sister followed up and scheduled an interview. She met with Christina, Director of Operations, and was excited when we discussed how we could help. Finally, we had found an organization that needed our help and was ready to receive it.

Dress For Success Atlanta does a lot of wonderful things. Like many non profit organizations, they have experienced financial difficulties due to the declining economy. Christina is currently fulfilling the role of three people. I understand now why she can’t respond to every request for volunteering; she simply doesn’t have the time.

My company, Indispensable Assistants, will continue to look for organizations that need some assistance. We’re returning to our roots. With this weak economy many non profit organizations have experienced an increase in the number of people who need help, but have experienced a decrease in donations and volunteers. I think that if you’re a member of a group, or have a group of friends, it would be great to see if you can carve out one day a month to give back to those who give so much. At Dress For Success, they’re behind on their clerical work, they need people to help sort their inventory, and a new system to capture their clients’ information. If we’re too swamped to help in their office we can always write a check to help with their declining donations.

Be Known

I met a man at the park on Saturday evening.  We were watching our children play.  I didn’t recognize him at first, but once we began to talk I remembered him. He recognized me from registration day at the school.  His daughter and my oldest daughter are in the same class.  He is a photographer and asked me about doing the school pictures.  He knew about I was on the executive board at school’s PTA and wanted to know how to get the PTA to hire him as the photographer.  My advice to him was to join the PTA,  get involved, take candid shots for the yearbook .   By building a rapport with the PTA he would be in a much better position to become the school photographer next year.  When we talked on registration day he mentioned the school principal had given him the same advice. Surely he had to know the decision had already been made for this year.  I was incorrect.  During the course of our brief conversation he mentioned that the PTA didn’t hire him.  I asked, ‘did u join the PTA? Are you involved, have you shown them your work, or did you just expect them to give you a check because you said you’re a photographer?  He responded with a no, and walked away laughing.  Sadly, he walked away thinking that what I suggested was too much work.  If I were given advice from someone who makes decisions for a client I want to work with, I would follow it.   I guess when he calculated the pros and cons he decided it wasn’t worth it.  He may be correct.  Regardless, he will be as unknown next year as he is this year.  As a business professional it is imperative to be as known to as many people as possible.  Join organizations, network, volunteer, create social networking profiles, just get out there.

 

Hear It Don’t Say It

Entrepreneurship runs in my family.  My grandfather owned his own business for many years.  He was a mechanic, living in a small town in the south, and well known.  I remember seeing him come home dirty and dead tired.  However, when customers would knock on the door well past 9:00 pm he would drag himself outside to take a look under the hood.  My grandfather didn’t read or write, partly due to strokes and lack of education but he could count money.  My family would handle written documents for him.  Working for someone else was never an option for him.  The odds were against him, he was uneducated, had been a victim of strokes which affected his memory and he was an African-American man living in a small town in the south.  He didn’t allow these things to deter him from owing his own auto repair shop.  He was a very skilled mechanic, fair, honest and personable. He taught his daughters basic automotive skills, hardly any were passed down to me.  My males cousins were expected to learn how to repair cars.  Most of them were too lazy to pick up this skill.  For some reason they didn’t comprehend the significance of what my grandfather had done.  I find him inspirational.  He didn’t wait for someone to tell him he couldn’t do it.  He wasn’t looking for someone to tell him ‘no’, he was seeking those who said ‘yes’ and he found them.

A few years ago, right after I relocated to Atlanta and before my sister and I decided to start Indispensable Assistants, my cousin had a small bite of entrepreneurship.  Well not really a bite, it was a knee-jerk reaction.  He was upset with my sister and me because we wouldn’t lend him money to get back home.  Imagine our surprise when he announced he couldn’t leave Atlanta and go back home because he had too many customers.  My lazy cousin with absolutely no ambition or work ethic had started a makeshift mowing business.  He only needed a little money to finance his trip back.  He reasoned if he could mow a few lawns he would have enough.  In the process he inadvertently started a short-lived business.  The biggest shock of all is that he had no lawn mower.  He, out of desperation, knocked on doors of the neighbors and offered to mow their grass with their lawn mower.  It was a bold move.  He asked people to use their equipment to mow their lawn and shockingly he found several people to agree.  If he hadn’t felt so desperate I’m sure he could have easily talked himself out of even asking, as most of us would.  However, because he had to hear the ‘no’ rather than assume it he was able to generate revenue.  Whenever I think about this, I remind myself that I don’t know how people will respond to a new business idea.  Instead of assuming that they will say no, or worst saying ‘no’ for them, I wait for the results. Ultimately just like my grandfather and even my cousin, my goal isn’t to find people to say ‘no’ but to seek those that will say ‘yes’.

Enough is enough

I’m a member of a group for my industry and one of the members has decided to get out of the business.  He noted that his business never really took off.  He expressed that it was clearly evident that this was the next step.  The economy, timing, and the city in which he lived, contributed to the failure of his business.  I’ve never met this person but I sympathized with his situation.  I also understand it.  When one decides to become a business owner, visions of happy clients and independence flood your mind.  The very thought of your business not becoming the success you know it can be, doesn’t enter your mind.  A realistic person knows that if things don’t go well adjustments must be made.  I’m not suggesting that the decision to get out of business was unwise.  I’m not privy to the details and that’s not my place to judge.  I’m sure he considered all his options and decided that getting out was the right thing to do.  There have been many occasions that my partner and I considered getting out and returning to the workforce fulltime but decided against it.   For us the thought of giving up is not an option especially in this economy, there’s nowhere to go.  The job market in our area is horrible.  Instead, we do our research find out what is needed in our market and tailor our business accordingly.  During the drought years in Georgia we lost our landscape clients because they lost their business.  At that time we had to make adjustments.  Now that businesses are tightening their wallets we look for offer other services.  Through layoffs and downsizing virtual assistants can step in to complete tasks.  We have partnered with other business to enter into a partnership that benefits all involved.  We’ve joined groups, organizations and associations.  There are many different options available to small business owners.  We must think outside the box and be creative helps to sustain our small business.  We have a saying when things look grim, ‘we must hear our no, don’t say it’.  Basically, we don’t want to get into the habit of talking ourselves out of trying something.  If we want to offer a new service and are unsure if it will generate revenue we let our clients decide. 

When we first started Indispensable Assistants tasks such as delivery and errand services were not on our list.  We weighed the pros/cons of running errands and at that time it wasn’t feasible. However, after carefully consideration and a more flexible schedule we are now able to offer holiday meal delivery for specific locations in Metro Atlanta.  Our clients order their prepaid holiday meal from their local favorite grocer, make arrangements with Indispensable Assistants to pick up the meal, and we deliver it to their home or office.  We’ve partnered with local grocers to offer the service to their customers.  This service provides options for the store that aids in customer loyalty.  The holiday season is rapidly upon us, time is a luxury most can’t afford, for an additional $7,  our clients can have their prepaid holiday meal delivered to their location of choice.  This service is offered to both residential and business clients.  Our business clients can have an end of year celebration for their employees without worry.  We handle everything for them.  We are more comfortable with making these types of adjustments rather than to end our dream of being entrepreneurs.

If you’re interested in having your prepaid holiday meal delivered, feel free to contact us via email or mobile phone.  The delivery cost is $7 and is only offered in select areas in Metro Atlanta.

Visit our website www.IndispensableAssistants.com, become a fan on Face Book, follow us on Twitter @TheAssistant4u, link with us on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/indispensable.

Meeting Minutes Made Easy (ier)

If you are facilitating a meeting for your company or group you want to ensure your meeting is productive and informative. The attendees were notified properly, documents distributed, the agenda was created, and the meeting ended on time. Now what? Those of us that have attended meetings know once the meeting has ended your chances of forgetting some of the pertinent information increases. As the meeting facilitator communicating deadlines and expectations during a meeting may not be enough. Before you begin your meeting, you should designate someone; usually the organization’s secretary or business administrative professional takes the meeting minutes. Whether your business is a small 2 person home office or a larger 500+ organization, keeping the minutes at the meeting keeps your business organized and attendees on task. Also, depending on your business status it maybe a requirement to keep the minutes for all board meetings. Minutes need not be a word for word transcription of the meeting; it should be synopses of the important information. Below are just a few steps to help to take the minutes at your next meeting.

1. Be prepared, have necessary supplies i.e. pen/paper, laptop, recording device, etc…

2. Use minutes template from your word processing application

3. Base minutes on the agenda

4. Make sure you know all attendees

5. Contact presenters if information presented is unclear

6. Pay close attention to deadlines, dates, proposals and votes

7. Transcribe the minutes as soon as possible

 8. Distribute minutes to all attendees

9. File a hard copy appropriately

After the meeting has ended the minutes will serve as a reminder for the facilitator and those responsible for providing follow up information. It also prompts the responsible party to meet their deadline. Keeping a copy of the minutes can also assist in future endeavors. If your organization has embarked on a new event the minutes can be used to determine what actions to take. If your organization would prefer not to be responsible for keeping the meeting minutes, you can partner with Indispensable Assistants. Your Indispensable Meeting Assistant can attend your meeting via teleconference, webinar, or in person. Our indispensable meeting assistant salary starts at $25/hour.

Staff meeting made easy (ier)

Staff Meeting 101

While not all staff meetings need to be formal, they should be professional.  Having regular meetings with your staff will ensure that everyone is on the same page.  It is also opportunity to update everyone on current and future projects. There are tools available on your existing word processing software that can assist you in conducting a productive staff meeting.  With careful planning you can conduct a staff meeting without wasting valuable time.  Below is a basic outline for formal business and staff meetings.

1. Send meeting invitation to all attendees via email to be added to their calendar
2. Create and send  agenda
3. Make copies of necessary documents and presentations for attendees
4.  Notify presenters of  timeframe for their presentation
5. Ensure there are plenty of  office supplies, seating,  and working audio/visual equipment
6. Set up the meeting room before attendees arrive
7. Designate someone to take minutes
8. Follow agenda as closely as possible
9. End meeting on time

Even if your staff is not in the office with you and your meeting is being held via a webinar, these steps can still be used in facilitating a virtual staff meeting.   Be prepared, follow your agenda, take minutes and be on time.  The agenda and minutes should be filed for future use.  If you need additional assistance with preparing a staff meeting, your company can partner with Indispensable Assistants.  Your indispensable meeting assistant can send out the meeting invitation, stay in contact with presenters, gather the necessary documents and distribute to attendees, create presentations, schedule webinar, attend the meeting to take minutes, and distribute the minutes to all.  Our indispensable meeting assistant salary starts at $25/hour.

Executive Support

For small business owners, the dream of owning your own business didn’t include the nightmare of managing your billing, researching on the Internet, mailing marketing material, or putting out the daily fires.  Just because you’re not a big corporation doesn’t mean your business shouldn’t run like one.  You may not have the funds to hire an executive assistant.  That doesn’t mean that the work doesn’t get done, at least it shouldn’t.  Don’t spend unnecessary time recreating the wheel; use your skills to make completing tedious administrative tasks easier.  There are many different aspects to creating and maintaining an office.  I’ll share just a few tips on how run an office like a corporate business.

1.  Create company stationary.  If your budget doesn’t allow you to have preprinted letterhead/envelopes, use a good word processing system like MS Word.  You can even add your logo to give it a more professional look.
2. Create form letters.  If you’re constantly sending out the same letter but to different people, creating a form letter will save you from recreating the letter.
3. If you have employees, create standard operating procedures.  Don’t wait until problems arise to explain to employees how you run your business.  Be proactive not reactive.
4. Keep good records.  You don’t want to look like you don’t know what’s going on.  Set up a system in which all client information is kept until needed.
5. Keep inventory of your supplies.  This will prevent you from making numerous trips to replenish your supplies. 
6. Keep a pad and pen near your telephone.  You don’t want to ask your caller to hold while you look for a pen to write information. While talking to a client or other industry professionals, write down key points. 
7. Use eye catching presentations when presenting your proposals to clients. There are several applications available to create a professional presentation. 
8. Create and maintain a good billing management system.{see blog: monthly billing management made easy (ier)}
9. When scheduling appointments, note the client’s expectation and documents needed for the meeting.  You want to look and be prepared.  Bring a copy of appropriate documents to present to the clients, if needed.
10. Follow up.  If you advised your client you would contact them, do it.

Corporations have bigger budgets and more resources than most small businesses.  They have available to them experienced administrative professionals that make their executives’ jobs easier.  This option may not be available to the average business owner.  Most of the administrative tasks are completed by the principal of the company. Business owners have to be the marketing representative, the executive assistant, and complete the core business tasks.   If you prefer to put presentations, scheduling appointments, and ordering supplies on someone else’s to do list, hire a virtual assistant.  Indispensable Assistants can help complete administrative tasks to help your run your business.  When you partner with Indispensable Assistants you enlist the help of experienced corporate executive assistants.  As the business owner you’re an executive, why shouldn’t you have an executive assistant.  Our executive assistant service starts as low as $500 a month.

Monthly Billing Management Made Easy(ier)

For most business owners billing customers is an undesirable task.  Receiving money is easier than asking for money.  However, billing is a necessary part of running a business.  If you have a bulk of customers that you bill on a regular basis it is important to have a good billing regimen.  If you are a QuickBooks user you can save time and make sending invoices easy.  QuickBooks is user-friendly and can be customized for your billing needs.  Below are a few tips on how to establish and maintain a monthly billing cycle for your company using QuickBooks. 

1. Keep good records.  It is imperative that your record of service and your clients contact information is correct.  It will save you time and keep billing calls down to a minimum.
2. Establish and follow a billing schedule.  Not only will this keep you on track but your customers will begin to expect their invoice
3. Set an appropriate due date and penalty terms. The due date and penalties for late payments should be inline with your contract.
4. Make sure payment methods are clearly stated, if instructions are necessary include that on every invoice.
5. Use invoice numbers.  This will help you and your customer in the event of a discrepancy.
6. Create your invoices at least 3 business days before you submit them.  This will give you an opportunity to make necessary changes and still get your invoices out on time.
7. Send out all invoices on the same day, even those sent via email.  If you are mailing your invoices make sure you allow sufficient time for delivery.  You want your record keeping to be as accurate and consistent as possible.
8. Send a message on your invoice.   You can use this to thank them for their business, tell them about an upcoming event, or make an important business announcement. 
9. Optional-mail reminder notices.  Your customer may forget about their invoice, a friendly reminder can be sent to help jog their memory and get you paid.
10. Optional-set up a billing inquiry email.  Most people don’t like spend needless time trying to reach you on the phone.  Give the option of emailing you when they have a billing question. Don’t forget to respond in a reasonable amount of time.

These basic steps will help billing your customers easier.  You don’t need a big accounts payable department to have an efficient billing system.  Expect customer calls for questions or disputes.  When your billing system is accurate you will be in a much better position to handle customer calls.  If billing customers is something you don’t want to handle in-house, hire a virtual assistant.  Indispensable Assistants can establish a new billing system for your company or maintain the existing one.  Our billing management services start out as low as $350 a month.

The Movies and the Generation Gap

My sister and I went to see Julia & Julie on Saturday night.  I have wanted to see that movie, and the opportunity presented itself on Saturday so we jumped on it.  The movie started at 10:30 pm, we arrived at exactly 10:30.  I paid the ridiculous price; (gougers) skipped the concessions, won’t be a twice baked fool, and headed to the theater.  I found the correct theater, not hard to find, with the red lettering on the marquee above the door. While I walked into the theater I could hear the surround sound, but once I reached the seats I was shocked.  There was no one in the theater.  My sister was lingering so she was unaware of the empty theater.  I sat there for what felt like an eternity.  The movie reel had some issues but was quickly resolved.  I began to wonder if I were in the wrong theater.  My sister still had not made it so I reasoned, that I hadn’t paid attention to the marquee that clearly stated, ‘Julia & Julie’ 10:30 pm, just above the entrance.  I got up and then my sister appeared. Either both of us read it correctly and they were wrong or we were in the right place, but alone.  The latter proved to be true except we were not alone.  I like to think of as we had the theater to ourselves. I knew the reviews were good so it wasn’t that I had picked a bad movie. I’m a big Meryl Streep fan and wanted to see her on the big screen.  Her talents have not gone unnoticed.  At first I was slightly embarrassed, I felt as if I had made a huge blunder, then I collected my thoughts and knew better.  Then we laughed about it during the 20 minute movie previews.  We came to the conclusion, one that I’ve known but denied for quite a while; we’re older.  I didn’t say old b/c I’m not.  I’m over 30 but under 35 so I know I’m not old.  My sister reminded me that all we saw when we came in were groups of teenagers.  Truthfully, I don’t want to watch a movie with them, eewww.  We picked the right movie for our generation.  It was entertaining not filled with sex or violence, or other tom foolery; we chose a feel good movie, one that we could relate.  Two mature women developing their career and the struggles they faced accomplishing their goals.  So where had we gone wrong? When we examined the situation we realized we were out on date night.  Date night is for teens and twenty something’s.  People in our age group are home with their kids or entertaining themselves at venues other than the movie theater. I imagine that they are at the High Museum of Art or Fern bank or at a great jazz club in Buckhead.  That’s where we should have been, with our generation, doing things real grow-ups do on Saturday night.  Real grown-ups don’t venture past 10:00 pm to watch a movie, it’s too passive.  We like to be active, get our groove on, see interesting art and plays, and do things that stimulate the mind.   We both agreed we had to share this experience with others and find out if anyone else has experienced this?  Note to self, don’t go back to the movies after 10:00 pm on a Saturday night with your sister, got it.  I should have known better anyway, I almost never pay full price for a movie.  Lesson learned.