Great decision! But this can be a very scary time outsourcing parts of your business but never fear Little Miss Useful has some great tips to make the outsourcing process a little smoother.

1. Start out small

I have outsourced myself and know first hand what it is like to feel like you are losing a little bit of control in your business (particularly hard if you are a control freak like me!) so the best way to do this is to start out small.

Once you have found a provider start by sending adhoc jobs and as you receive the work back and feel ready to hand over more, then do so. Starting out slowly helps to build the trust between your and your Virtual Assistant.

2. Be specific

Being specific about what you want and also what your deadline is will definitely make outsourcing easier. Your Virtual Assistant will more than likely have a few clients at a time so the more specific you are about a deadline the better your outcome will be.  It also makes your virtual assistant’s life a little easier when it comes to prioritising tasks.

The other thing to do is tell your virtual assistant which are your priorities, particularly important if you hand over a long list of things to do. Tell your VA which is the most important to you to be completed first and then work from there.

Quick Tip: Also be very specific with how much time you want spent on a task, which will avoid any high bills. My clients can quite often say keep going until you have done 2 hours work and then let me know where we are at. It is a great way to stay in touch about a project and also keep your costs under control.

3. Don’t choose a Virtual Assistant based solely on price

I know price (especially in small business) is a consideration, but please don’t let it be your only consideration. You are paying your Virtual Assistant not only for their time but also for their expertise and knowledge. My client’s quite often don’t only use me to do the work but also to consult for my ideas on how a process can work better. What you need to look at is the value you are getting from your Virtual Assistant instead of worrying about the price so much.

JUST FOR FUN! I saw this on Facebook the other day (can’t remember who shared it, so sorry to whoever it was!) and thought it was very clever and oh so relevant.

4. Do your research

Finding the right Virtual Assistant can take time, so make sure you do your research. Ask colleagues if they have ever used a VA and if they have any recommendations, I don’t think you can beat recommendations when working with a Virtual Assistant. There are also dedicated websites and networks that help you find the right VA’s companies like www.virtuallyyours.com.au can help you with your search. Companies like that usually have reference checks and certain service level standard they operate to.

5. Always sign a contract

There I said it and yes a lot of people don’t like to work using a contract but it is so important that you do. The contract protects you and tells you how your information is used. More often then not when working with a Virtual Assistant you need to give them access to a lot of sensitive information, whether that be passwords or actual information on your products. So a privacy policy and contract is a must!

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This month I will show you how to set up an autoresponder in MailChimp.

To view the video click on the image below.

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1. Can a page see my personal information if i LIKE them?

Pages cannot see the profiles of people who like the page. The only information they can see is your profile photo and name.

The administrators of a page will however, be able to see anything you’ve made available to public (should they visit your profile). So be sure that you have your privacy settings set up correctly.

Pages are able to communicate with you (once you like the page) by sending messages.

2. What is the difference between my personal profile and a business page?

Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organisation, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook.

In addition, Pages are managed by admins who have personal Facebook profiles. Pages are not separate Facebook accounts and do not have separate login information from your profile. They are simply different entities on your site, similar to how Groups and Events function.

Once you have set up a Page within your profile, you may add other admins to help you manage this Page. People who choose to connect to your Page won’t be able to see that you are the Page admin or have any access to your personal account.

3. I want a Facebook username for my business page. How can I do this?

You are able to claim your custom URL (or username) once you have 25 fans. For example the Little Miss Useful URL is www.facebook.com/littlemissuseful.  To claim your URL you go to http://www.facebook.com/username

You simply choose the username you would like for your page and Facebook will let you know if available. Make sure you choose wisely as once you set your username you are unable to change this.

4. How often should I post on my page.

This is a tricky one and no amount of posting will work the same for every business. As a guide I usually recommend at least once a day and maybe twice per day if you have really great content. Our view is that any more than twice per day is overkill and you may end up having a higher ‘unlike’ rate.

5. I would like to schedule my Facebook posts, do you recommend any tools to do this?

There are a few different tools out there that allow you to schedule your posts on Facebook. My favourite would be HootSuite which allows you to schedule your Facebook posts and also allows you to post to multiple social networks (like Twitter and Linked In). HootSuite is free for the basic account and is so easy to use.
If you do use HootSuite to schedule your posts, make sure you get onto Facebook and post in real time – nothing beats the real you.

Need Help?

If you need any help regarding Facebook, Little Miss Useful can help. We have several options available to help support your use of Facebook.

Simply email nicole@littlemissuseful.com and we can talk about your requirements and how we can help.

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1. Special Offer: Website and Facebook Package Little Miss Useful has some big plans in the pipeline...

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Although I can’t tell you what the plans are just yet… I am feeling very excited and generous.

So to celebrate, Little Miss Useful has a special offer for our Website and Facebook packages.

Confirm one of our website packages by Friday 13th May and you will receive a bonus Facebook Fanpage set up completely FREE! That is a saving of $199.

Our website packages** start from $695 for a 5 page website. You can view all the packages available here.

For more information or to book please contact Little Miss Useful to see how we can help.

Terms and Conditions

1. This special offer is limited to three packages only and must be booked in by Friday 13th May.
2. Please allow 2-3 weeks turn around time.
3. All packages require a 25% deposit prior to any work beginning.
4. Little Miss Useful can offer advice on several options and recommend reputable service providers when it comes to graphic design, copywriting, themes and e-marketing companies.  Little Miss Useful also provides reliable and cost-effective website hosting.

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Emit Fitness is all about energising, motivating, inspiring and transforming people so I wanted to ensure that her website displayed those qualities.  I definitely feel like this was achieved.

The website had a large focus on the blog so the homepage is blog style and with a focus on fresh and motivating images.

A great graphic designer in Lamese from Words and Pictures definitely helped. Lamese created that beautiful banner at the top of Rhiannon’s website.

Here is the end result and I just love it!

What the client said

“If you need any kind of help with your blog, website or general administration, then Nicole Hammet from Little Miss Useful is the person to turn to. As a busy exercise professional, my days are filled with training and coaching clients so I rarely have enough time in my day to work on my website and administration. Nicole has taken the pain out of that experience by ‘taking charge’ of my website and taken it from basic to brilliant. My business leads have increased significantly and my whole business image is now very professional. Nothing is ever too much trouble for Nicole. Thanks a million!”
Rhiannon Lovell – Emit Fitness

If you would like to get online quickly speak to me about our WordPress packages.

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So you want to ensure your website is performing well and converting visitors into valuable clients.

Here are my top tips for creating a website that works.

Plan for success

I can’t tell you how many clients have come to me and said ‘I need a website’ but do not have a clear idea on what they are trying to achieve or the content they want to see. All they know is that they should have a website without much thought behind it.

Planning your website is an essential part of building a site. If you don’t plan, then you plan to fail. It is much easier to work out a basic site-map of your site rather than doing this as you go along.

This important step will not only save you time but also money. Web designers are able to give you a more accurate quote if you know what you want.

Inject some personality

You want to instantly capture your readers attention, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to bring out your personality in the website.

This is particularly important within small businesses. Visitors like to see a website and see who is behind the business. Including a photo of yourself or of your team on the website is a great way to not only build trust but also to start building a relationship with potential clients.

Keep it Simple

This comes up time and again in marketing and small business in general, and website design is no exception.

Ensure your navigation menu is simple and easy to navigate. Users want to know how to get from point A to point B without any fuss.

Ensure that you keep the content simple and easy to read, you want to ensure the majority

Make it easy for your visitors

I don’t know about you but I find it astounding the amount of websites that make it difficult for the user to contact them. I can only imagine the amount of business some people lose by not making their contact details visible or easy to navigate to.

Ensure that you have a page where people can contact you and include at least two methods of communication for people to contact you (mobile, email, Skype etc).  Some people like email and others like phoning, so it is a great idea to include both methods of communication and allow people to choose the method that suits them.

A contact form is also a great idea as you can use the form to get some information of where your leads are coming from.  I always include a drop down menu asking where enquiries have come from whether that is a search engine like Google or from word of mouth.

Lots of white space

Keeping with the keep it simple policy above, ensure that your website has a lot of white space.  It ensures that your content is easier to read and really gives your website an uncluttered feel.

The majority of users will click away from a website within seconds if they feel it is too overwhelming and busy.

Visitors don’t read they scan

You want to make your website copy so that people can scan the page easily and be able to tell what the site or page is about.

Simple formatting can assist with this. Make use of headings, bold text and also bullet points to make your copy easier to read. Go through each page and highlight the main points. It is also a good idea to hyperlink through to different pages when mentioning those pages, this is good for Search Engine Optimisation but also makes it easy for the readers to skip to sections they want to read about.

Images go a long way

Make use of images.  They can really spice up website pages and blog posts. You do need to be careful not to use too many images but using one per page is a good rule of thumb. Images can instantly tell a reader what the subject of the webpage is going to be about which also goes back to making your website easy to scan.

If you are unsure where to start it is a great idea to make a list of websites that you like and websites you do not like. Make a list of why you do or don’t like the site and use that as a reference and provide these to your designer.

And one final tip… make sure you check the spelling on every page! And once you have finished check the spelling again. You can never do too many spell checks.

Please contact Little Miss Useful for more information on our wordpress packages.

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I finally worked out what the issue is (and whilst really slow) it is actually fixing my problem.  WordPress seems to automatically add in a default link to the source of the image.  So when the image was clicked on you were taking to the image source.

I haven’t seen this in previous versions of wordpress and this seems to be happening only since moving to wordpress 3.1.

The manual way to fix the problem until the issue is resolved is to link your images as normal in your post, then manually update the link in the HTML editor.  You need to edit the image source and remove the

<a rel="attachment wp-att-3434" href

of the image and replace it with

<a href

Whilst not the best way to fix the problem it will help temporarily.

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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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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!

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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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