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Here is the next blog post in my series of tech hacks for assistants. Yup, we are looking at PowerPoint today. I LOVE PowerPoint. There are so many wonderful things you can do with PowerPoint and the software really does allow you to be incredibly creative. As most of you will be asked to put together a slide deck for your Executives it is important that you are pretty confident on PowerPoint – hopefully these hacks will help.
“You’re heart looks beautiful. The valves look great and everything is functioning exactly as it should.” These were the magnificent words I heard from my cardiologist on February 3, 2016 when I had gone for my 5 month follow-up visit after having open heart surgery August 14, 2015. Yes, I said open heart surgery! This was necessary surgery to repair a Mitral Valve Prolapse that had worsened.
When it comes to building your list, it is not a one-and-done activity. Marketing your business is one of the biggest challenges for any solopreneur – it’s a task we all find quite daunting, and are simply overwhelmed by all the information that’s available. However, list building is something that should be happening year-round in your business via a mix of online and offline marketing strategies.
You rarely sees the words "interesting" and "academic paper" in the same sentence. But despite its title, Coworking: A Transdisciplinary Overview is one of the best and most interesting articles I've read on coworking. Key quote from the paper's abstract on what it covers: It argues that coworking is a complex social phenomenon that can be differentiated from other spatial concepts that relate to work, learning and social interactions.
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.
This probably isn’t a question that you ask yourself often, but: just how eco-friendly is your furniture? As a matter of fact, what is eco-friendly furniture anyway? In the simplest possible terms, eco-friendly furniture is furniture that is created in a manner that has minimum negative impact on the environment. For example, where wood is used, it has to come from renewable sources, and any chemicals used in the process do not pollute or otherwise harm the environment.
We are a month into the New Year which is about the time the local gyms stop being quite as packed with resolution makers. By this time next month, the elliptical machines and treadmills will once again be available to the ‘regulars’ who frequent the gym regularly. We all know we should be exercising regularly, but the failure rate of resolutions is proof that trying to force ourselves into a healthier activity level seldom works.
Has anyone ever been happy about a mandatory meeting at work? Many people feel that they are not productive at all and that meetings are in fact keeping them from doing their actual work. They might even seem obsolete in times of digital communication. Nevertheless, they probably won’t be disposed of altogether, but luckily there are ways to make them worth your time.
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Has anyone ever been happy about a mandatory meeting at work? Many people feel that they are not productive at all and that meetings are in fact keeping them from doing their actual work. They might even seem obsolete in times of digital communication. Nevertheless, they probably won’t be disposed of altogether, but luckily there are ways to make them worth your time.
Love yourself. In honor of the month of love, I am going to offer some great info I wrote a few years ago with my BIG Life project. People often describe their self-esteem like a thermometer. It goes up and down. If someone is complimenting them or they have done a good job, they have high self-esteem. But if someone belittles them or their work, they tend to have low self-esteem.
As exciting as working from home can be when you first start out, after a while it can become very isolating. Even though I’ve been doing this for over 14 years, there have been times where I’d wished for the office environment again just so that I can be with people and have face-to-face conversations. Over the years I’ve developed some tricks and strategies to help combat the isolation that we can sometimes feel: 1.
CB Insights The United States Of Startups: The Most Well-Funded Tech Startup In Every US State illustrates that there are tech companies all across America. The article chart below (click to enlarge) shows the tech startup that has raised the most money by state. In addition to pointing out there are tech companies everywhere in the U.S., the article also shows how quickly things move.
Anastasia wrote to ask about charging rush fees. “I haven't charged it before but just got a new client with whom I feel it would be very appropriate. But I am not sure what's the best way to do it - flat fee, or raising the hourly fee or something else, and what's a reasonable percentage.” Oooo.unfortunately, I don’t actually have an answer to the question you posed because I don’t support VAs doing “rush” work.
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.
by Last week, I wrote about setting up a way to sort your incoming mail. That’s step one of handling the mail. It paves the way for the more important step of doing something with all that mail. This means getting it to its final destination rather than letting it stack up on the counter or in lovely labeled file folders. The biggest mistake I see people make with mail is that they open it, glance at the contents, then set it down again “for later.” Sometimes they’re eve
I’m originally from San Diego, California, but I have been living in Dublin, Ireland for the past six years. I have a Bachelor’s degree from Mills College in International Politics & Economics and a Master’s degree from Trinity College Dublin in International Development. Before Dropbox, I worked for a tech start-up and was the executive assistant (EA) to the CEO of an aircraft leasing firm.
Do you LOVE your admin career? Or have you lost the love for your career as an administrative professional? We love the administrative profession and we hope you do too. But, it doesn’t matter which camp you reside in. Join us this month for our Love Your Admin Career Challenge from February 1 – 14, 2016. We’ll be sharing a challenge each day to encourage you in your career as an administrative professional.
List building! It’s something we, as business owners, obsess over. It doesn’t matter whether your list is on a hand-written piece of paper with all of your contacts & colleagues information on it. Or it’s something more advanced, such as part of an automated online marketing system. The point is, without a list of potential clients available at your fingertips, it’s going to be very hard for you to build your business and generate the kind of revenue that you want to
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.
Regular readers know we love pet trends here at Small Business Labs. The New York Times article Pet Amenities for New York's Lucky Dogs covers how NY landlords and developers are adding pet friendly amenities "to entice renters and buyers devoted to the four-legged members of their families." One of the leaders in dog friendly housing is Related , which has rolled out a concept they call Dog City to several of their housing developments. Key quote on Dog City from a Rela
Two weeks ago, I answered a question Anastasia posed about charging for "rush" work. As a follow-up to my response, she sent me this: "The situation I found myself in is when a new potential client contacted me and she turned out to be a really nice lady who was working with someone else and it didn't work out and she needed someone urgently to help her (with a potential for a long term relationship). .
by I had the pleasure of hearing the charming and witty Karen Salmansohn speak the other night at the Ladies Who Launch monthly meeting. She's promoting her new book, The Bounce Back Book , about "how to thrive in the face of adversity, setbacks, losses, failures, illness, rejection – you name it." Karen has a clever way with words.
Many of us will have no doubt at some level been involved in the Staff Away. Love it or loath it, they are events that we need to support. I’ve actually in the past run the entire event and it is such a large challenge. So when I came across this example of a Staff Away Day that Gallus Events ran I had to share it. It is a wonderful case study; if only all of our Staff Away Days’ could be so useful!
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.
Executives and Assistants Working in Partnership Takes Commitment. Office Dynamics released a new Guide in October called E xecutive and Assistants Working in Partnership: The Definitive Guide. This amazing Guide is the culmination of 25 years of coaching work with executives and assistants. We immediately sold several hundred copies and have continued to sell the Guide at a very good pace.
To many, the water crisis that is currently afflicting the residents of Flint, Michigan is nothing short of shocking. Surely such disasters are few and far between in the western world, where the resources and the technical expertise to prevent the collapse of a life-giving systems are in reassuringly abundant supply. While one could never refute the fact that those feeling the brunt of this disaster are the residents of Flint themselves , it’s nonetheless interesting to consider the impact that
Work intermediation platform expert Andrew Karpie has a series he calls the WIP of the week. Regular readers know Small Business Labs is G Rated, so no worries - Andrew's articles are not on that kind of whip. They're on "work intermediation platforms", which Andrew describes as: configurations of digital technologies that enable those in need of labor services and those providing labor services to directly engage in work arrangements, typically from sourcing to payment.
Apologies if you're seeing this twice; for some reason, technology failed me and sent out the post in draft over the weekend. But here it is again, complete, this time. :) Last week, I had the best time being interviewed by M. Shannon Hernandez for her Courageous Living show and thought that some of what we discussed may be applicable to your life and work.
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!
by I’ve been reading Timothy Ferriss’s blog, specifically his entries about the " low information diet." This is a powerful concept. It refers to not reading the newspaper, spending. less time on email and the web and generally limiting the information that. comes into your life. Here’s a great example of why you don’t need to follow. the news, from Ferriss’s interview with Drew Curtis of Fark.com: Ferriss: If you had to limit your information intake to less
The Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society are Golf’s great wanderers. The fourth oldest Golf Society in the world their Society dates back to 1761. The society originally played in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle before moving twice along the Edinburgh coast during the 1800s before settling (and I would imagine for good this time) on the very edge of Edinburgh looking over the Forth river to the rolling hills in Fife.
Last week, I was researching the pros and cons of today’s collaborative (open-space) work environment. I am preparing for a speech that I will give at our 23rd Annual Conference for Administrative Excellence: The Revolutionary Assistant later this year. Not only is this topic of interest because I am going to speak on how to be effective in this new work space, but because I am hearing administrative assistants and business people talk about the challenges they are facing in this new environment
Moving from one site to another is a sane business strategy. These days many business owners and managers are taking the bold decision to move out of the crowded city centers into a more rural environment. This brave decision may well have been powered by the desire to work in country setting and will obviously have major implications when it comes to cutting costs.
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.
Last week Intuit released The Five Faces of the On-Demand Economy , which covers 5 common profiles of on-demand workers. This is a follow on report to their On-Demand Workforce report from several weeks ago, which covers the motivations, attitudes and demographics of those working via on-demand economy (ODE) work intermediation platforms such as Uber, Upwork, Fiverr, etc.
As you’ve undoubtedly heard me say, I believe that a person’s standards can always be higher. Even when a person believes she has things nailed, something will come along—a situation she couldn’t have seen before, an experience that wakes her up to something she was asleep to, a challenge she faces and learns from, just to name a few possibilities—that show her that the standard she had simply no longer serves her and needs to be higher, or stronger.
by I worked with a client unpacking and setting up her kitchen this week. I corralled and sorted all her spice containers; jars, plastic bags, paper bags, plastic boxes, fabric bags; and we saw that there were duplicates and even triplicates of some spices. One problem is that spices don’t all come in the same kind of container and plastic bags don’t work well in a spice rack.
Many of us are often asked to find venues for team days or to organise corporate events. Sometimes these tasks can give us sleepless nights! Waitrose can offer a venue with a difference, at one of their three Cookery Schools. So, if you are planning a team day, looking for a venue for a private function or corporate event, then why not consider hiring one of the schools?
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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