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In the next series of posts on tech hacks for assistants we are going to look at MS Outlook. Outlook is the absolute key piece of software for assistant and all of us should be advanced users on this one. As an assistant juggling a number of diaries and inboxes I was practically on Outlook all day. Having a few hacks in my back pocket meant that I was able to navigate the software slightly quicker and I also looked like a total Outlook genius in front of my boss which made him much happier letti
In business, it sometimes pays to take a risk. But in the face of natural disasters, like floods and fires, or criminal activity like cyber hacking, your Recovery Procedure Plan needs to be as safe as houses. After all, everything is on the line. The PwC’s recent Global Economic Crime Survey makes for scary reading. While reporting that over half of British businesses will suffer cyber-attacks by 2018, a third of UK organisations admit that they have no response plan in place to protect themselv
For many people, working at home is a dream come true. In addition to saying farewell to long commutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic, remote workers can pretty much wear whatever they want and often schedule projects around their families. Come tax time, they may be able to deduct a lot of their home office-related expenses. Of course, there is a flip side to the often glorious world of telecommuting.
According to the Brewers Association , small and independent craft brewers continued to gain share on beer industry giants in 2015. Key quote from their press release: In 2015, craft brewers produced 24.5 million barrels, and saw a 13 percent rise in volume and a 16 percent increase in retail dollar value. Retail dollar value was estimated at $22.3 billion, representing 21 percent market share.
Payroll compliance is a cornerstone of business success, yet for small and midsize businesses, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations. Mistakes can lead to costly penalties and operational disruptions, making it essential to adopt advanced solutions that ensure accuracy and efficiency.
I’ve heard a lot of sad tales about failed attempts to work with a virtual assistant or other virtual service provider. In some cases they are valid, perfect examples of why you shouldn’t just trust some virtual assistant service to find the right kind of help for your business. In other cases, bad experiences could have been avoided with attention to one thing.
The Build Your Brilliant Business: Spring Giveaway is now OPEN! I’m excited to be one of the business professionals participating in this special spring giveaway. We’re a group of business coaches and professionals who want to support entrepreneurs like you by providing the tools you need to ensure that your 2016 gets off to a brilliant start. These tools are available absolutely FREE – but only if you act now.
What are the main aspects of your role? As First Mate to the Captain, my primary responsibility is to maximise his efficiency. If James isn’t working at full capacity, then the business isn’t being driven at full capacity. I think one of the reasons that BrewDog is so successful is because it operates at light speed. There aren’t the bureaucratic layers.
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What are the main aspects of your role? As First Mate to the Captain, my primary responsibility is to maximise his efficiency. If James isn’t working at full capacity, then the business isn’t being driven at full capacity. I think one of the reasons that BrewDog is so successful is because it operates at light speed. There aren’t the bureaucratic layers.
For some small businesses corporate hospitality can often be overlooked as an unneeded jolly. In this article we will be examining how in fact this can be an easy preconception and that corporate hospitality can actually bring a wealth of benefits to any small business. Growing as a team: Within a small workforce it is extremely important to have happy, harmonised and engaged employees.
Do You Have An Owner’s Mentality? Hello from my office to yours. Did you know that you do not have to own your own business to have an “owner’s” mentality? Did you know there are benefits to thinking like an “owner” vs. an employee? Do you know the key characteristics of owners? “Owners are fundamentally different from employees,” says Daren Martin PhD and author of A Company of Owners.
Every so often a report comes across our desk that makes us go "wow!" McKinsey's Digital Globalization: The new era of global flows is such a report. It claims that "soaring flows of data and information now generate more economic value than the global goods trade." That's a pretty stunning statement, but not the one that got us to go "wow" What got us to go "wow" is their view of the growing role small businesses are playing global trade.
A good one, this! Maquisha, a new VA, wrote to ask: "Some days I feel like I get nothing done! It’s so wasteful. I start the day with a plan, and somewhere, I find something else that catches my attention and I do that, instead, procrastinating on everything else and blowing up my whole day. And when I get to the end, I have more thoughts in my head than I started with, but nothing to SHOW for the time I sat there.
Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions
Join this brand new webinar with Tim Buteyn to learn how you can master the art of remote onboarding! By the end of this session, you'll understand how to: Craft a Tailored Onboarding Checklist 📝 Develop a comprehensive, customized checklist that ensures every new hire has a smooth transition into your company, no matter where they are in the world.
Cloud Productivity, anyone? Years ago, the word “cloud” had an entirely different connotation. But now, in the business world and beyond, almost everyone is aware of cloud computing services. With the cloud becoming ever more popular, there’s a good chance it’s become a part of how you do business. Cloud Productivity Hacks You may even have heard that the cloud can increase productivity for you or your business, but maybe you weren’t sure how.
Following her Q&A at the Assist Conference, Bonnie Cookson, EA at Hailo, talks about her experience talking at the event and her relationship with her Executive – the CEO of Hailo… When I was approached to do a panel session with my boss at Assist Conference initially I felt nervous about going on stage and talking about my relationship with him – in front of him!
Being an Executive Assistant is more than just a title. When you get to this level it is expected you will take on leadership responsibilities. I am in an Administrative Assistant role again and am really enjoying it, but having just finished my career as an Executive Assistant, I am appreciating the work that they do, but am glad to leave it for someone else.
I spend a lot of my time in the training room with administrative professionals all over the country, I am often taken by the words of wisdom that are shared by the savvy assistants in my classes. In fact, I was struck by the words of one particular assistant who seemed savvy beyond her years. She was a reminder to me – and to us all – that wisdom in the best companies and organizations resides in the support staff as much as, if not more than, members of the management team !
Unlock your full potential with our comprehensive guide on productivity. This detailed resource explores the three fundamental pillars of effective task management: Todo List Mastery, Time Management, and Habit Optimization. Learn to capture and prioritize your tasks effectively, schedule them using proven strategies like the Pomodoro Technique, and maintain your productivity through consistent habit tracking.
One of the most persistent myths about the Internet is that it's eliminating the need for middlemen. Since the early days of the Internet when Bill Gates wrote in his book The Road Ahead that the "information superhighway" would become the "ultimate go-between" and that "only the humans involved in a transaction will be the actual buyer and seller" there's been a constant theme that middlemen are finished.
From high levels of carbon emissions to absurd amounts of waste production, the auto industry is often associated with rampant disregard of environmental concerns. While there are many areas in which the industry as a whole would do better to reconsider certain aspects of its processes, a step forward can be seen in the area of tire manufacturing. Enter airless tires.
Thanks to Shakisha, I recently learned a powerful new term. It's, “stalking your email.” She used it in a conversation we were having to describe what she had been doing while waiting for a reply from me, but then later the same day, I serendipitously got this question from Mya that used the same term. I love when that happens, don’t you? Mya asked: "I want to have Moxie standards for my business, and I have a conflict.
On March 26 th I joined some of the PA community’s most motivated and inspiring representatives at the annual Assist conference, speaking in a case study slot on “Future proofing your career” One of the best ways to add value, progress, and drive change is by creating a handbook for assistants at your company. Having led the development of a handbook for two global organisations, my session focussed on the process from start to finish: Systematically planning the handbook.
Sharing your authentic self in a virtual interview can be an unwanted challenge. How do you break through the digital barrier when conducting a virtual interview and share your exceptional self? Think in unconventional ways to elevate the virtual interviewing experience.
In preparation for the AdminPro Forum on June 15-17, 2016 in Orlando, Florida, here is an article with some Question and Answers about Minute taking. For more information on AdminPro Forum 2016, please click on the website and if you are able to join us, please register at this link. I hope to see you there!
Office Dynamics International awarded two organizations its Star Achievement Series ® training program (Level 1) in support of Administrative Professionals. Office Dynamics International, the globally recognized authority for administrative training and development, made two sizable in-kind donations in the month of March. As a pioneer in the field, Office Dynamics has been a vocal advocate for the education of Administrative Professionals for over 25 years.
Regular readers know we like new buzzwords here at Small Business Labs and "fractional availability" is a new one to us. We found it in the GigaOm article The Game Changing Economics of Fractional Availability. The article covers the on-demand customer care company Directly. They provide on-demand apps that allow companies to recruit and pay power users to answer customer support questions.
by. Creating an organized space makes it easier for you to lay your hands on the things you need and helps you be more effective because you now have time for the important stuff. It's also an essential part of taking care of the most valuable person in your life, yourself. Christine Arylo, coach and author of the new book, Choosing ME Before WE , graciously took some time from her book promotion schedule (you can hear her speak on June 2nd at 7pm in Oakland at Great Good Place for Books) to
New vaccine mandates and testing policies will affect employers with more than 100 workers. Get Paycor’s free, customizable vaccination policy template to communicate critical details and new requirements to your employees. Get Paycor’s Template today!
Yvonne wrote a follow-up question to last week’s post. "Thanks, Anastacia. I too love the front seat. And in that particular instance, there wasn't a question or a problem. But what if there had been? Who navigates the bus while we're off duty? Will there be instances when we do need to break our standards to respond to a true problem?" Great question!
After speaking at the Assist Conference Heather Dallas from Dallas Development has written a great follow up blog on her popular Project Management for Assistants session… Taking on a project is a great way of raising your visibility and getting you the recognition you deserve. You may want to volunteer to organise the office move, the Christmas party, run a training course for the other support staff or organise an event.
The fight to bring.ECO domains to the general public began as far back as 2009 when Al Gore, the former US vice president, backed the efforts of the company Dot Eco LLC to allow ecologically friendly businesses to enjoy the new TLD. According to Al Gore, the new domain will provide a unique opportunity for environmental movements such as his Alliance for Climate Protection (ACP), to enjoy increased online visibility. 7 years later and the dream is about to come to pass as.ECO domain names are ex
Question: “Our admin team is compiling one list each month of 10 tips to get better at a certain skill. We simply post these on our walls at work to always keep us in learning mode. This month’s list is about time management. For the first time, we’re not filling up a list very quickly—we keep rejecting ideas because so many of them haven’t really helped us that much in the past.
Payroll optimization can be one of the most time-consuming and complex factors of small business management. Yet, organizations that crack the code on streamlining employee compensation often discover innovative avenues for growth. With the right strategies in place, outsourcing and streamlining payroll processes can result in substantial time and resource savings.
Every so often we need to remind ourselves that freelancing is neither just good or bad. We need to do this because most media coverage present freelancing and independent work as either really good or really bad. Only a few articles point out that freelancing has a good side, a bad side and many shades of grey between the good and the bad. The Huffington Post's Freelance - The Double Edged Sword is one of the few.
by Nagging is just another form of reminding, isn’t it? How you feel about the subject dictates whether you think of a reminder as a nag or as a helpful productivity tool. There are lots of ways to nag yourself; put books by the door that you have to kick out of the way if you’re not going to pick them up (and return them to the library), stick Post-Its on the mirror where they block your view, leave things out where they’ll visually bug you till you do something about them.
Getting paid via the Intuit Payment Network has been a real boon for the VAs at AssistU. With a fee of just $.50 per transaction, it beat using PayPal—hands down—with clients who wanted to pay from a checking account. But Intuit announced last week that they are shuttering IPN at the end of June, leaving lots of people wondering what the smart choice will be for accepting client payments moving forward.
After Jonathan’s fantastic motivational keynote at the Assist Conference I was keen for him to share his knowledge and experience. Here is his take on how unconscious bias can mean you miss out on the best personal and professional relationships. As a PA you are constantly meeting new people and how you connect with them is fundamental to your professional role.
Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions
💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!
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