Freelancing and consulting can often seem like an impossible juggling act, but if you keep these seven practical business tips in mind, your business will go from strength to strength.

Work out what you’re best at and express it clearly on all marketing material – niche marketing is a simpler and more profitable way to grow your business, rather than trying to be everything for everyone. The more detailed your customer avatar is – the simpler it will be for you to find them, connect with them and offer something of value. To start creating your customer avatar think of the following questions:

• Who is my ideal customer? Who would I like to work with?
• Are they able to pay my fees? Will they be willing to pay my fees?
• What problem do they have in life, that my offering will help them solve?
• Why is it important to get it solved?
• How many of those customers are out there in the marketplace?
• WHERE… (do they work? Where do they study? Where do they live?)
• WHAT… (do they eat, drink, read, listen to, are interested in?)
• HOW… (do they look for new products or services, do they choose their suppliers, do they pay the bills?)

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3-in-1 that work as One!

Over the past year we have been searching high and low for a super-efficient business system we can use in TJConsulting and offer to our clients. And finally, after trying and testing, reading 100s of reviews – it’s here.

It consists of 3 parts, but don’t despair – they all work as One, efficient, online, affordable solution. And they are…. Xero, Capsule and MailChimp.

Xero is the accounting system of the 21st century. If you are not an accountant and dread “reconciliation” or “P&L” – this is the system for you. It’s very simple to use, you can access it from anywhere with an Internet connection and it’s secure.

Capsule is an online Contact Relationship Management (CRM) tool that will integrate with Xero – so you only have to enter your data once. You can track leads and conversion, manage information, analyse sales and productivity, and (yet again) it’s very simple to use!

MailChimp is used to send your newsletters, mailshots and autoresponders. Without being repetitive – it’s simple, clean, straightforward. It can send regular newsletters and schedule a series of messages. MailChimp can integrate with a large number of social media networks, Eventbrite (for event bookings) and is a top-rated social media tool (according to mashable.com).

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Some people have 100s of messages in their mailbox – unread for weeks and months. Maybe they’ve already seen them via Blackberry or iPhone. Maybe they glanced at the subject and decided it’s not relevant. Nevertheless the ever growing Inbox becomes a source of frustration and stress. Are you really keen to tackle it, if you have only got 10 minutes and it says you have 578 unread messages?

However the problem doesn’t have to become so unmanageable. All you need to do is to employ some regular mailbox hygiene and efficiency rules and follow them daily. So we are sharing our virtual assistant’s secrets with you and offering our top tips of efficient email management:

1. Use folders: you can decide on the folder structure for your company and file emails in a way that you can easily find all communications related to your IT support queries, membership in BNI or a particular client’s project.
2. If space on your server is limited – download all relevant attachments from emails to your computer and preserve only the email message. Or even better – utilise document sharing systems like Zoho (free), SendThisFile or Basecamp and just email the link to the document in the system.
3. If you are using Outlook – you can drag and drop emails into Calendar and tasks to create reminders and diary appointments and then file the message.
4. Delete system messages straight away: Outlook diary notifications or attendance confirmations are already stored somewhere else in the system, notifications from LinkedIn or other social networks are available to read as soon as you login.
5. Unsubscribe from no longer relevant newsletters or lists . This will reduce the amount of “S.P.A.M” that you receive every day.
6. Use Rules and Alerts in Outlook – for example to automatically file emails from a particular recipient to read later (that’s what I do with Business Link newsletters).
7. Use the subject line wisely – help others understand what your message is about.
8. Apply GTD time management approach to deal with each message – see Step 2 below..

About “Get Things Done” – time management system:

Step 1: Gather up every single thing that requires action on your part: unopened mail, emails, voicemails, countertop clutter, reading materials, scary catch-all cabinets you can barely open. Make a list of those tasks, projects and items.

Step 2: Process each and every item by determining a “next-action”: the very next thing you need to do, either to resolve an issue or at least keep it moving toward completion. Many items you’ll only need to file or throw away. Some hard-and-fast rules:

• Follow your action list. Address things one at a time, beginning with the top item in your pile and working your way down. Don’t move on to the next item until you have determined what next-action is required. Some items may require hard thought; take the time to do it now. If you leave it until later, it won’t be any easier, and meanwhile, it will continue to occupy valuable mental space.
• Two-minute actions. If a next-action can be completed in less than two minutes, do it right way, the first time you have the item in front of you. Not only do you get all the rewards of rapid turnaround, but you’ve also freed up your mind for whatever’s next.
• Delegate and defer. For any item longer that two minutes, you can either delegate it, or simply defer it to a “trusted system”- the combination of calendar, file folders, and action-item lists that form the backbone of GTD.

Step 3: Fill in your “trusted system”. Put your action steps into categories where you can review and complete them easily. Develop the combination of calendar and written contextual (e.g. to phone, to print, at home) action lists that will work best for you. Have a separate file for projects (tasks that require more than one step), “maybe” list and “waiting for others/something” list.

Step 4: Set aside time each week to review your action lists, so that no items go uncompleted, by going through Steps 1 to 3 and reviewing your lists and calendar.

Step 5: Get Things Done: consider your context, time available, priorities. Ensure that none of the 3 kinds of activities (pre-defined activities – things already in your calendar or on your lists; work as it shows up; and defining your work – planning, scheduling, making lists, setting priorities, brainstorming) overwhelms the other two. The key pitfall is letting seemingly urgent new items distract you from planning, as well as from equally important stuff that is already in your system.

So by applying 8 steps every day and by regularly reviewing your Inbox management practices you will be able to achieve the desired Result: lean Inbox, clear Objectives, completed Action lists, information at your fingertips and a lot less stress for you next time you open your emails. And don’t forget: email management is one of the core services offered by any good Virtual Assistant.

When you are talking to someone face-to-face, you have a lot of visual cues to help you – your tone of voice, gestures, movement, eye-contact. But with none of these visual cues present in our written communication, how do we earn trust and confidence when we write letters, reports or e-mails? In written communication, especially e-mail, we have to find other ways to evaluate the person who is ‘speaking’.

Style in written communication means attention to proper spelling and punctuation, proper sentence construction and full spellings instead of abbreviations suitable only for SMS messages. Style includes being creative in what you write and how you write. It also means making your communication look visually attractive. Finally, considering appropriate tone and structuring your message logically forms part of the business writing style.

Benefits of good writing style:

• Relevant, precise communication appropriate to the reader’s level.
• Logically structured.
• Easy to see what action is required and when.
• More approachable because our language is less formal and more friendly (unless you are writing a legal letter!).
• Saves your and your readers’ time and increases business efficiency.
• Enhances understanding and increases your professional image.
• Creates better rapport with customers and business partners.

Effective writing gives a professional impression of you and your company. It is perhaps the most demanding work we do on a daily basis. If you learn to pay attention to all the various aspects of style in your writing, you will increase the value of what you write, achieve better results, and gain a distinct advantage in today’s online world.

If a business does not develop people effectively they may decide to move on, taking with them knowledge about the business and its products, good experience and an individual link for clients to an organisation. In its place is the cost involved in recruiting a new staff member, put at £5,500 by recruitment consultant Angela Mortimer.

In order to create the right learning environment to enable your employees to benefit from Continuous Professional Development (CPD) you could follow the following steps:

1. Define a clear structure of what development solutions there are available and who they are suitable for.
2. Use development solutions that include a variety of techniques.
3. Agree the investment in development in terms of time and money.
4. Create visible ‘role models’, providing insight into the role of senior positions.
5. Help your staff develop both their strengths and their weaknesses.
6. Establish objectives around CPD and review.
7. Measure and evaluate continuously.
8. Remember the little things like ‘Thank you’ and ‘Well done’.

If you want to create an environment where continuous learning and development is an integral process, you will have to invest time and energy. In the long term the benefits can outweigh the costs. Spot and nurture talent as talented individuals can be an organisation’s biggest asset.