Little Miss Useful

Outsourcing and what I am learning from my own experiences

Little Miss Useful — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:30:41 +0000

I wrote this article for my August newsletter but I felt like it deserved a blog post all on it’s own.

August was a huge learning period for me as I started outsourcing some of my own work, which is part of my master plan with baby number two on the way. I need a team around me to help give me that support over the months when bub has arrived. It will not only mean I won’t be a stressed out crazy lady and it also means that my clients have the best support possible as well.

I have been experiencing first hand the hesitation to let things go within the business. Ironic in the sense that it is one of the things I preach about being a Virtual Assistant. So I am actually taking my own advice that I give to clients and starting out slowly and building on things as I go. I think that this experience will also make me a better Virtual Assistant as I am going through the same situation/s that my clients go through on a regular basis.

I have to say that even though I am going through a big learning phase I am LOVING it. I really do love that I have people to back me up and help me out when I have too much on my plate. It feels amazing to send the work out and know that it is going to come back completed and ready for me to quality check prior to sending back to the relevant client. It is giving me more time with my clients and also giving me more time to spend with my family. I am proud to say that over the past two weekends I have been able to keep completely work free and isn’t that what outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant is all about… gaining time back for YOU.

The hardest thing about outsourcing is that feeling you are losing a little bit of control over your business, but it doesn’t have to be the case at all. So I wanted to share my top tips for working with a Virtual Assistant.

1. Start out small

Don’t dive in head first straight away, test the waters before hand. This might seem obvious but it is very true. Building a relationship and trust takes time so start by handing over smaller tasks first. This will help on several levels, you are able to gage the work ethic of the VA, you see the standard of work they produce, and you get to see if you are compatible in the way you work together. Not all VA’s will be right for you, so you need to choose one that fits in with you and your business.

2. Provide specific instructions and deadlines

Again this might seem very simple, but the amount of work that I am sent that doesn’t specify deadlines is amazing. This really helps to eliminate misunderstandings, the more specific the better!

3. Letting go

VA’s understand this point we really do. Your business is your baby, we completely understand as out business is our baby as well. So relinquishing that ‘control’ can be really difficult at first. Be open with your VA about how you are feeling and they will be able to guide you through this stage. The points I made in number 1 also help with this point, starting out slowly at your own pace will definitely help ease this feeling. I promise once you do let go and hand over the work you will feel a huge sense of relief.

4. Always remember why you are Outsourcing

Always keep in mind exactly what you are trying to achieve by outsourcing. Perhaps you want to work less hours or you want to focus your time on other projects but always keep this in the back of your mind and it will help you to achieve your goals.

5. Stay in regular contact

Communication is essential working with a VA. Set up a schedule of when you want to be in contact with your VA. Perhaps you want to be in touch once a week or as regular as once a day, but be up front from the outset and both you and your VA will know what to expect.

6. Your VA is a professional

Remember your VA has done this before and they know what they are doing.

Working with a Virtual Assistant could be one of the best decisions you could make for your business.

What would you do if you could gain a few extra hours back each month?

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Unfinished Business – How to get the job done!

Little Miss Useful — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:35:23 +0000

My office has been in shambles lately with not enough time to actually clean my office. So I asked one of my lovely clients Adele Blair of Green Apple Organising to give us some tips on how to organise your office.

With the new financial year upon us, wouldn’t it be great to start the new year with a clear conscious by having all those unfinished work tasks/projects completed?

I’m talking about those tasks/projects that play on our mind, weighing us down and preventing us from feeling like we are on top of things. They are almost always thought of in a negative frame of mind and make us feel like we are failing.

Let’s get started and make it a reality!

Think about (or actually stand in) the room that you do your most work in, whether it be at your office, in a home office or a space in the home where you spend the most time working. Picture it in your mind or if you are there, look around and get a really good feel for exactly what your office contains. Pay close attention to the following:

The ambience – is it too dark, musty, unventilated?
The layout of furniture
Miscellaneous items and their placement
The many piles of paper all over the desk
The contents of drawers and cupboards

Now ask yourself the following questions:

Do you like this room?
How do you feel being in this room? Choose a word that describes your feeling.
Does your office function well?
What changes would you make if you could make them?
What unfinished projects are here, pulling at you?
Do you know where everything is? Can you find the things you need?
Is this room clean?
Is this room decorated in an inspiring way? If not, what simple changes would help?
Are you able to get work done efficiently in this room?
Could the furniture be moved to be more functional and appealing?

If your work space is tidy, functional and clean … fantastic! If you love being in this room, even better! You are fortunate and should be able to get stuck into those unfinished projects right away.

However if this is not you, making a few changes can make the world of difference to your productivity. What we so often observe is people try to do important work in a room that doesn’t work for them. This can be caused by a range of things, such as:

Unpleasant surroundings, eg old impractical furniture and lack of fresh air;
Poorly set up, eg also doubles as the sewing, ironing and gym room; or
Dark, dusty and cluttered eg not cleaned and no direct sunlight;

By now you might be realising there are some simple changes that can be made to your space to enable you to work with clarity and purpose. It is really important that you feel good in the space you work. Even if you work in an office and don’t have any control over the actual location or furniture, you can still make some positive changes to make your space more pleasant and functional. The first step would be to tidy up and organise your work into trays. Clean your desk surface and add a few personal touches such as a pretty photo frame and a nice plant.

Often people have a great space to work in, but their work habits and lack of organisation find them with a To Do List full of unfinished items and surrounded by piles of paper. Is it any wonder that they feel defeated at the end of each day?

Now that you are feeling happier about your environment and you have organised your desk space, compile a To Do list and make sure to put in the time each task should take to complete. Work your way through the list by starting with the most urgent items. If you have some long outstanding tasks, choose one to complete each day and before long they will all be done and your conscious will be clear.

Warm regards

Adele Blair
Organiser -Extraordinaire!

Green Apple Organising was created by Adele Blair of Blair Lifestyle Management Pty Ltd, a Brisbane, Australia, based Personal Concierge and Professional Organiser.

Adele is a Certified Concierge Specialist (awarded by the International Concierge and Errands Association) and an Accredited Expert Professional Organiser (awarded by the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers), so she knows a thing or two about organising.

We understand that sometimes you just need a little bit of help about a specific area you are organising, whether it is your wardrobe, pantry, paperwork, or just the plain “How to …”. We know we have the solution to help you achieve your organising goals, with fresh ideas sprouting all the time!

New Website – Green Apple Organising Adele approached me in September 2009 and wanted me to...

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The power of positve thinking

Little Miss Useful — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 06:36:26 +0000

This past fortnight have been quite a challenge for me and the business. Every business has it’s ups and downs and this time it was more down than up (or so I thought).

As a contractor to other small businesses my business really revolves around the work that comes in. Sometimes there can be a lot of work and sometimes not as much. I have been very lucky in my business that I always have an even amount of work coming in, and there is always something to keep me busy.

About 3 weeks ago I found out that I would be losing a contract (well not losing, reducing hours). This was due to the change in structure in my client’s business and they needed a more permanent staff member instead of a contractor (fair call). This was one of my main clients… and needless to say I was a little worried about the loss in workload (and income) but I am a very positive person and not one to shy away from a challenge so I saw it as a chance to go on to bigger and better things.

Sometimes being positive is hard but this time I was absolutely determined that it wasn’t going to affect me (or the business). I saw it as an opportunity to work with some new client. I am so excited to say that the amount of work and opportunities that have come my way in the past week has astounded me (and excited me) and all but make up for the loss of the contract. I am convinced that it is due to my attitude and keeping positive about the whole thing.

I could have easily taken this as something negative in my business, but instead I decided to turn it into a positive and wow what a difference that has made. I am now extremely motivated and re-energised which is a great thing for both myself and my clients.

Have you ever turned a negative situation into a positive? I would love to hear about them.

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Facebook Etiquette Tips

Little Miss Useful — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:51:33 +0000

I was chatting to a colleague about Facebook the other day about ettiquete for using Facebook and in particular when using Facebook for business.

Facebook is an extremely powerful tool for businesses but you need to use Facebook correctly. This is a list of things that should help you when using Facebook for business.

1. Disable all game application notifications

This is very important when you use your profile for business and personal use. Do you really want to bombard business associates everytime you win a game of Mafia Wars or fed your animals on Farmville. It is unprofessional and clogs up people’s live feeds. So the best way to avoid this is to disable notifications in the applications. Even your personal friends will thank you for this one.

2. Don’t send too many page requests

This is becoming a problem on my Facebook profile. It is really important that if you are going to suggest fan pages to people that they be relevant and not very frequent.

There are a couple of people who are constantly sending me facebook fan page requests. The majority of them are not even for their own business but for others. To be honest it really gets frustrating having to go through so many requests and declining them. It has gotten to the point where I am even considering removing these people as friends so I am no longer harrassed by fan page requests.

3. Regular updates… but don’t go overboard

You need to keep in regular contact with your customers and clients so utilising the facebook page can be very effective. You should be consistent with your updates and try to update everyone on a regular basis. That said do not go overboard and update your page 10 times a day. For the same reason as the applications it can become very frustrating when your live feed is constantly full of updates.

4. Make it personal

When adding new friends on Facebook why not personalise it. Tell the person who you are and why you want to add them. I never add someone (unless I know who they are) to my facebook profile unless they give me a reason to. If you don’t add a personal message be prepared for people to ignore your request.

5. Do not sync your Twitter to Facebook

Generally people tweet a lot more than they update their facebook page. It is accepted that on Twitter you will update your status a lot, but as already mentioned it is not on Facebook. I would advise against syncing your Twitter account to Facebook or you will clog up live feeds. A good tool that allows you to pick and choose which updates go to both Facebook and Twitter is Hoot Suite and I highly recommend it.

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Tutorial: Backing up your WordPress Website

Little Miss Useful — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:41:25 +0000

One of the most common questions I receive is ‘How do I back up my database?’.

Unfortunately a small number of people do back up their websites. There have been quite a few cases recently where people have lost their entire website with no back up.

So I wanted to provide you with instructions on how to do this to prevent or minise the damage if something goes wrong.

There are two steps to backing up your site;

1. Copying your wordpress files (this means your theme, uploaded media files and plugins)
2. Backing up your database (which includes all of your page and blog post content)

NOTE: These instructions are only for those who are using cpanel webhosting.

Backing Up Your WordPress Files

To do this you will need an FTP client (I highly recommend FileZilla which is free to download).

Open up File Zilla and enter in your FTP details (your webhost should provide these to you) but as a rule they are generally the same password for your cpanel access. On the right side of the FTP client you will see all files live in your website and on the left are files that are stored on your PC.
Create a file on your PC (called backup). This is where you will copy your files to. Be sure that you select this file within the left hand side of your page
Your website is usually hosted under the folder Public HTML so all the files that are relevant to your site are stored under this.
If you files are saved in the root directory of your website – you can just download all files underneath Public HTML. Or if your files are saved under a sub-directory such as Blog then you would just download all files under that directory.
To download highlight all files and then right click. Select the download option.
The FTP client will then start downloading all your files to your PC.
Once that is completed you can go onto the next step of Backing up your Database.

FTP Backup

Backing up you database

For this section you will need to login to your website’s cpanel area.

1. Go to the myPHP option

2. Select Database from the main options

3. Then from here you select the database you want to back up. For example “test_wordpress”

4. This will bring up a lot of different files that are in the database.
Click the Export tab, generally the 5th tab across.

5. In the Export box you will need to select all of the files that are to be copied.
(NB: If you have other programs that use the same database please unselect these files). All files to do with wordpress files should be wp_file name.

6. Ensure that SQL is checked!

The SQL section – Tick the following boxes:

Structure
‘Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION’
‘Add IF NOT EXISTS”Add AUTO_INCREMENT’ and
‘Enclose table and field names with backquotes’

7. The DATA section
Leave the boxes inside this section unticked, but make sure to keep the checkbox next to the “DATA” heading checked.

8. Tick the ‘Save as file’ option, and leave the template name as is.

9. Now click ‘Go’ and you should be prompted for a file to download. Save the file to your computer. Depending on the database size, this may take a few moments.

If you don’t want to risk doing this yourself ask Little Miss Useful how we can help you. We can back up and store a copy of your website in case of emergency.

WordPress 2.9.1 release WordPress 2.9.1 has been released, and is now available for...

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Balancing Act

Little Miss Useful — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:57:41 +0000

I am sure most business owners (at one stage or another) struggle with the work/life balance. Generally you have your own business so you have the freedom to work your own hours, but in reality you work more hours than you would like.

This is one area I really struggle with. Particularly as I work from home my business is always ‘there’ and I don’t really switch off. This has very much been the case over the past 6 months as my business has grown the whole “switching off” idea just doesn’t work.

I have my laptop and my iPhone and it is too easy for me to check my emails and make sure I am not missing anything on Facebook and Twitter. Even if my laptop is off my iPhone is there. Sometimes I find myself responding to emails at 11pm on a Friday night and I have even been accused (although not proven) of checking my phone at 3am when I wake up through the night (ok ok I am obsessed!).

I am also a mother to a very energetic two year old so the balancing act between being a mother, wife and business owner is difficult. Generally my routine is all based around my son. I cram as much work in when he is asleep and once again as soon as he is asleep at night. I do this so I can get everything done. And not even that, I love my business and it was I love to do so I don’t really find it work.

But the question is “when do I get ‘me’ time? Or when can I spend sometime with my partner?”

Quite simply I dont!! And I can’t stand that. As I said I love my business and it is the reason I do what I do. But I do hate that I feel completely exhausted all the time and that I don’t have time to spend with just my husband.

So this is something I am going to work on. I am making it my mission to stop (not every night let’s not get ahead of myself here) but at least two nights during the week to ensure I get ‘me’ time and also to make time for my husband. So that means no checking emails, no social networks and no checking my iPhone at ridiculous hours of the night. It is going to be difficult but I am going to do it!

I would love to hear your thoughts at how you manage the whole work/life balance.

This post was originally posted on the Central Coast Biz website on the 31st January 2010. Click here to see the original post.

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150 Free Premium WordPress Themes

Little Miss Useful — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:15:43 +0000

This little gem was sent to me by Nick Bowditch and I just had to share it with you all.

Living Digital has compiled a list of the top 150 free Premium WordPress themes. And there are some beauties on this list.

And best of all they are free! Check them out here!

I assure you that you will want to create a blog just to make use of some of these themes.

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WordPress 2.9.1 release

Little Miss Useful — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:23:11 +0000

WordPress 2.9.1 has been released, and is now available for downloads.

Upgrading your WordPress to the latest version is simple. You can either upgrade automatically by using the upgrade option in your dashboard. Or you can upgrade manually using FTP. Download WordPress 2.9.1 from here.

If you are not comfortable with upgrading to the latest version NHBS can help you. We can back up your website and upgrade your site to 2.9.1. All upgrades are done manually via FTP.

Contact Nicole to find out more.

*Please remember to back up all files and databases before upgrading wordpress

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New Website – Green Apple Organising

Little Miss Useful — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:10:57 +0000

Adele approached me in September 2009 and wanted me to help bring her new business venture to life.

Green Apple Organising was to be the ‘marketplace for fresh organising ideas in bite size pieces’. Adele wanted the site to be fresh, clean and uncluttered. The website was also to include an online shop using E-Junkie.

End Result

Sticking with the fresh and clean look that Adele was hoping for, I tried have as much white background as possible so that the site wasn’t cluttered. We decided on E-Junkie for the shopping. The online store has about 15 products with a mixture or e-books and physical products (my favourite would be the Purseket). We incorporated social media plugins and also an e-newsletter web form.

What the client said

“We are thrilled with our website, it is exactly how I imagined it to be. Our initial brief was quite “basic” however as the development of the site progressed the brief extended and Nicole was more than happy to accommodate our requirements. If we requested something that Nicole was not familiar with, she would do the research to ensure our requirements could be met in the most efficient and cost effective way. Nicole constantly provided ideas on how we could improve the site, if a new feature became available she would introduce it to our site, thus always improving the overall look and functionality of the site!” We are very happy indeed with our new website and will continue to work with Nicole on further development of the site.”

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Creating a Twitter Landing Page

Little Miss Useful — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:58:23 +0000

The other week I read a post on ProBlogger about Twitter landing pages.

Twitter landing pages are a customised homepage for those who come to your site via Twitter. I loved the idea so decided to create my own Twitter landing page. There are so many benefits to having a Twitter landing page.

Customise the information followers see

Your Twitter description is only 140 characters long and you have limited information you can include about who you are and what you do. So why not elaborate on your Twitter landing page?

You can give your followers a run down on who you are, what you stand for and information on the types of services you offer.

People are time poor

The majority of business owners are time poor and probably don’t have the time to search through you website to find out more about you. Twitter landing pages save your followers time. All the basic information they need about you and your business is right there in front of them instead of having to go searching through your site.

Create a special offer

You can use this page to create a special offer specifically for your new followers. Or you could include an e-book for them to download as a thank you for following. I really love this idea of an e-book on this page and it will save you from having to bombard followers with auto DMs, a practice that is loathed by the majority of tweeters. Make sure your e-book is relevant to you and your business and something that adds value for your new followers.

Promote your blogs

The majority of Twitter landing pages use of the page to further promote their blog. If you do decide to use the page to promote your blog be sure to include only relevant and useful links, you don’t want to include a link to every single blog post you have ever written.

Easy to analyse statistics

Twitter landing pages allow you to track incoming traffic to your site more efficiently. As this page is only coming for Twitter it will give you a better understanding as to how much traffic Twitter is generating for your website. If you aren’t using Google Analytics or any other website monitor I would highly recommend doing so.

You can be as creative as you like with your Twitter landing page just be sure to let your personality shine (and don’t forget a picture of you!)

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