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Virtual Small Business Assistant

Carmen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:39:20 +0000

What is a Virtual Assistant

Found this article in the business section and thought you would find it useful. The article basically discusses the economics of outsourcing your mundane chores. I have summarized the important points.

Did you think only celebrities and really wealthy people can afford personal assistants? Think again. There are many websites out there that can assist you with a wide variety of tasks ranging from writing thank you notes to following up on lost luggage.

One woman uses a site called AskSunday.com to deal with lost luggage, security issues with credit cards and reservations problems. When asked how she justifies the cost she said it costs about the same price as cable tv and eliminates so many of the headaches in her life, that it is totally worth it.

Prices and packages vary from site to site: On AskSunday.com users can pay 29.00 per month for 15 “requests” while the site GetFriday.com offers pay-as-you-go and monthly plans, in increments of 10 to 15 minutes. The monthly plans start at $120.00 a month for 10 hours.

Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Workweek, uses what he calls a “small army” of virtual assistants for everything from checking his e-mail to screening his phone calls and sending gifts to family and friends. He also uses a virtual assistant to find and schedule dates for him where he can promote his product. Ferriss says if you make more than $30,000.00 a year, you can afford to outsource some of your more routine tasks.

A marketing consultant uses Elance.com to find graphic designers for his website, find vegetarian-friendly restaurants, organize his Netflix account, plan a baby shower and bid for items on e-Bay.

Security issues are always a concern and Ferriss says that he has never had any problems. He does suggest though using trusted sites like PayPal.com when possible and using credit instead of debit cards to minimize potential damage.

Some sites, like AskSunday.com keep logins and passwords in a secured database so that its employees can use certain accounts but cannot see login or password information.

The article ends with a quote from the author of The Four-Hour Work Week which I thought summed it up well. “Ultimately, time is the most valuable, nonrenewable resource that we have.”

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Favorite Organizing Tools

Carmen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:39:16 +0000

Like any other job it easier to do if you have the right tools. Here are some favorites of mine and others I have come across in my travels:

Stackable bins – You can use these for toys, clothes, art-work, papers, school memos, shoes etc. You can buy them in different colors and color code them. A lot families use a certain color for each member of the family. They are cheap and plus you can stack them high and make use of vertical space.

Solid plastic bins on wheels - These are great for kids toys and art supplies because they can wheel them where ever they go and can be pushed into closets to hideaway. I like them for dirty shoes in the laundry room. When I need to mop the floor I just pile all the shoes in there and wheel them out and the floor is clear.

Multi-level organizers - These are free standing open shelf units which can come with or without wheels. In the garage you can use these for sports equipment, gardening supplies,outdoor game equipment and painting supplies. Indoors you can use them to store video game equipment and videos, boxes of craft supplies, magazines and art projects in progress and books. Again you can even assign each child a shelf and keep school items there.

Four drawer organizer – These are made of clear or colored plastic and can be with or without wheels. I use these in the garage to store painting supplies – brushes, gloves, paint stirrer etc. I also use them in the hall closets to store seasonal decorations, replacement light bulbs, and old pictures. These are great for kids toys and art supplies because they can wheel them out when they are needed, pull out the drawers to reach things easily and then put it all back in the easily because the drawers are on the floor at their level. You put the drawers back in the unit and you’re set. I use smaller versions of these four drawer organizers in the bathroom to hold flossers, pony tail bands and razor blade cartridge replacements.

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Paper Clutter Control — To Save or Not To Save Paper

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:18:11 +0000

Paper Clutter Control!

Do you hate cleaning out your files? One of the most difficult things about purging files is that we have to make decisions about what to clean and what to throw out. For many people (no shock here), those decisions can be stressful, even on a good day. So file folders continue to bulge, and then we don’t even want to file current papers, which compounds the whole problem.

In the case of paper clutter, the consequences of throwing away the wrong thing are more severe than in other areas. If you discard an item of clothing and then find you need it later, you can probably locate a replacement. If you accidentally throw an important document, the results can be disastrous.

One way to solve the problem is to purchase paper file cartons. These containers are usually prominently displayed in office supply stores during tax time, but are available year around. They are inexpensive and stack easilly. If you just can’t decide whether or not to keep a document, but don’t want it taking up space in your files, put it in your paper file box and store it in long term storage.

You’ll be able to retrieve the item if you need it, but it won’t take valuable space. Knowing you have the paper file box makes the decision making process less overwhelming.

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