Many Virtual Professionals go through phases of overwhelm in their business.

Anyone who owns a small business realizes that there are ebbs and flows of business, and there are also ebbs and flows of overwhelm as a result of that.

But a little bit of planning can go a very long way when you are working with your Virtual Assistant or other support professionals.

There will always be times that something has been ‘forgotten’ or is scheduled to do last minute, but in order to build a successful working relationship with someone, it’s important to keep the last minute requests to a minimum.

Most VAs work with multiple clients, and as such they work with many different schedules. It’s important to honor the time and schedule boundaries that are set when you start working together, so that you can both be productive and get the most amount of work done when needed.

Here are a few tips on how to manage your time regularly in terms of your support requirements.

1. Set deadlines to complete time-sensitive work. When you have a project or a task, be sure you set a realistic deadline for the work to be turned around. When you need something done, ask when you will get it back. Respect the scheduling of your VA, and if something needs to be turned around more quickly than they initially tell you, let them know. Work together to make sure your project gets done on time, and be sure to identify issues that can be corrected for the next project to make sure more time is allowed for the implementation or production part. For instance, if you couldn’t get registration started for an event because the graphics person you used was swamped, get a new graphics person or allow more time the next time.

2. Develop an editorial calendar. For ongoing tasks such as newsletters or broadcasts, set up a Google calendar that you can use to plan your writing, so you are not doing things last minute. By determining what you are going to write about each week you can get ahead and make your writing process smoother. For instance, if Thanksgiving is coming up, you have an idea what your personal note will be about. If you have a product launch coming up or a colleague is having an event, you have an idea what your ‘recommends’ section could be about. And if you develop a regular routine of what you will write to your audience about (ie week 1 marketing, week 2 business tips, etc.) then your articles will practically write themselves.

3. Plan product or service launches properly. This is one thing that a lot of people make mistakes with. It’s important to have enough ‘lead’ time to properly launch a new product or service to your audience. By trying to do things too quickly, you can often sabotage yourself in terms of sales. Decide what you want to do, when you want to do it, and then step back from your calendar to set up the launch process properly. Never rush something that you want to do well, and be sure you have enough time to set things up properly so you can make the connections with your audience as part of your launch. If you don’t allow yourself enough time to set up a group program, for instance, you could find that you have low enrolment because you start to panic when you begin to run out of time to promote. Or worse, you send multiple emails to your list in a short period of time because you didn’t plan correctly. By allowing enough time for your launch, your support team will be able to help you build momentum instead of panic!

4. Use checklists so nothing gets missed. Whether you are working with one team member or several, it’s a good idea to set up a checklist of things that need to be done (or have your VA set it up) so that you make sure nothing gets missed in the planning, production or launch phase. You can make an actual checklist or use a Google calendar that will track the tasks and deadlines for each piece. By determining deadlines for each part, you will know at a glance what needs to be taken care of during a given day, week or month. It’s a really simple planning tool that can work for so many applications, and it helps to keep everyone on task.

There are so many ways that you can keep yourself organized so that your team can best support you. These are just a few, but they are really easy to implement and will be sure to help you work well with your support team.

I’d love to hear your comments on this article.

In a recent conversation with my business coaches, I was talking about the fact that I keep my clients’ needs at the top of my list. I have regular calls and emails with them, I ensure that we have a list of things that we are working on each week, and I let them know what’s going on all the time as we navigate their Internet marketing and social media needs.

This sounds good, but I was, in fact, lamenting that although I do all of these things for my clients, I do not do pay enough attention to them for my own business.  Do you know what they said?

Stop Putting Yourself At The Bottom Of Your List!

They were right. The fact is that I constantly tell my clients how important it is to keep their service offerings current, their clients and their ‘tribe’ informed and in touch, and their networking contacts fresh. I tell them these things because they are TRUE! But I always let this area of my own business lapse. I focus on it for a while and then I get too busy and let it go again. Instead of keeping on top of it, I am always playing catch up.

I have decided that it’s time to take my own advice, and so as you know I am building my very first team of subcontractors, after working alone for about 13 years. I have decided that my business is just as important as my clients’ businesses. We are not apples and oranges (now you get it!). We all deserve the same attention.

The fact is, my client load right now is full. I have a waiting list for work in June and July. So really the attention needs to turn to my own business in order for me to be able to grow, and for me to be able to grow with my clients too!

Look for an exciting announcement from me early next week about a new program I am launching. It’s going to be great, and finally I am looking after my own business the way it deserves! (and thanks to my wonderful team members, it will get the TLC that I show my clients!)

Along with schedule adjustments and down-time to read, it is also time to renovate the office. Now that I am working from home full-time again, I am no longer running in and out of my office, dropping things where they may fall. Now is the time to clean the environment around me so that I can focus only on my work when I enter my office each morning.

I have already shopped for a new office chair, which I have needed for way too long. I have already set up my music selection which I love!

I have a great filing system for my email, computer files and paper files, but I am looking forward to purging, purging, purging much of this that is no longer necessary to keep on file. I’ll give my recycle bin and my shredder a workout, that’s for sure!

I will clear the clutter that has accumulated in my office. I have two desks in my office and one of them is a catch-all for all kinds of paper. I clean it off occasionally, but now I will want to work at that desk, so I will have to make sure that I have a better way of managing the stuff that ends up there now!

Of course as I purge, I am finding all kinds of gems that I have printed or saved over the last several months ‘to read when I have time’.  The collection of free ebooks and reports and mp3s is really mind-boggling. Luckily my computer filing system is good and I am having no trouble going through them, picking out the important pieces, and purging the rest. I will probably share some of these with you as I weed through them!

I always thought that electronic copies of things were more environmentally friendly, but my computer hard drive disagrees! I have recently done the same with email lists that I belonged to that were not serving me. It’s important to keep the flow of information that comes in front of you relevant and pertinent, in order to maintain your focus and clarity.

As I brighten the space around me by clearing the clutter in all of these areas, I am making really tidy room for the client work that is on the horizon! Looking forward to it!

You know what they say about the best laid plans … even the most carefully planned projects can throw you a wrench when you least expect it.

Picture this: it’s Monday and you set up your task list for the week. Looks good, you have fit everything in and you know you can deliver it all on time.  But what happens if something goes wrong? Do you have a ‘plan b’ in place so that you can still manage when something goes wrong?

Say on Tuesday one or more of the following situations comes up and threatens to mess up your tidy task list.

• you get sick or injured
• your child or a family members gets ill and requires your care
• a great client calls with a last minute project that they need you to find time for
• you have technical difficulty with a task that you only allowed a set amount of time to do
• you lose your internet connection for a prolonged period of time
• you get more than one referral or prospects call needing proposals

Do you have a backup plan?

If you haven’t thought about what you would do in any of these situations, now is the time to do so! By the time you need to have a contingency plan in place, it will be too late. The time to get your plan in place is when you don’t need it!

Your contingency plan doesn’t have to be complicated – just put together the basics when you have time:

• find someone (or more than one someone!)  who can help you out when you need it
• put together procedures for the tasks you take care of on a daily basis
• set up an intake process for new clients
• develop a project management protocol

Don’t wait until it’s too late!

As a solopreneur,you can sometimes go from 0-60 in no time flat. Make sure you are prepared for that before it happens by going through the steps above and developing your contingency plan.