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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How do you rate your time management skills? Do you feel you get a lot done every day? Do you plan your day to the last detail or just “go with the flow” and deal with whatever landed on your desk/in your inbox? Whichever category you are in, it’s important that you take time to analyse what’s working for you and make adjustments where necessary.

I’m someone who’s fond of written to-do lists. I’ve got my hardcover diary where I scribble every day my lists and feel great emotional empowerment once all items on my to-do list have been ticked off. I add my meetings there too, any trivial household tasks like getting the shopping or doing the school run. In this way I know exactly how much time I’ve got between “fixed” commitments and can schedule and organise the rest of the tasks in between those.

Here are some tips from the born organisers (aka “virtual PAs”) for organising your day:

1. Write it down.
Make a list and write everything down – on paper, on computer, in Excel, on iPhone or Blackberry. It doesn’t matter where but it’s got to be written! You may be shocked, surprised and overwhelmed looking at your list of ‘to do’s’. But don’t despair – as they will all get done, if you follow the steps below. Also, don’t forget to schedule lunch in your diary, especially if you find yourself often working through your lunch break!

Another tip I’ve picked up from Nigel Botterill (UK top entrepreneur) – “this day isn’t over until tomorrow is planned”. Don’t stop the work until you’ve done the list. In this way you won’t waste time in the morning and you will be more likely to stick to your list/plan rather than changing everything because of an email that landed in the Inbox overnight. continue

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.

IT often gets categorised into two areas within a business, ‘urgent and not important’ or ‘important but not urgent’. The former gets done when things are going wrong and the latter is constantly put on the back burner for another day.

For those of you who have read Mr Stephen Covey’s work (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) you will know about these categories and their impact on business.
In summary, the categories are:
1) Urgent and important – must do now and can make a big positive impact
2) Urgent but not important – a fire fighting category (where IT is often placed)
3) Important and not urgent – strategic changes that can make a huge positive difference
4) Not important and not urgent – stay away as much as possible!

The ‘important but not urgent’ is where value add is as this is where all strategic and long term thinking lies.

One of the big issues that small businesses face is that they get trapped in the fire fighting scenario which can stifle growth and progression. Stephen Covey’s example is that of a team of soldiers hacking successfully through a forest and one soldier says “we are in the wrong forest” and the head soldier says “who cares! We are making progress”!

Likewise a business without long term strategic thinking can leave you working very hard but not always smart.

Working smart is figuring out how to save time and money in all operational areas, including IT so that every bit of effort you make is leveraged. Business coaches say this when advising business owners to get in staff so they can leverage their time. Similarly, getting IT to maximum efficiency is like having another staff member because the IT is working harder so you don’t have to! What you are left with is time to gear your business in the direction of your choice- or perhaps to spend an extra half hour a day reading the paper if you choose to!

This is why the ‘important but not urgent’ category is really the ‘urgent and important’ in disguise!

About The PC Support Group
The PC Support Group specialises in providing high quality, cost effective IT support to small businesses and home users throughout the UK. Whether it’s a one-off IT issue or you require on-going maintenance, we can help. Our sole aim is to remove all of our clients’ worries and concerns about their computers and anything that connects to them.
Rita Hemraj, Regional Director
www.pcsupportgroup.com