1. Working from home is considered a ‘luxurious” perk among almost any employee.

Working from home appeals to just about everyone whether your employees are commuters suffering long hours in big city traffic, or made up of busy parents with child-rearing problems. You can use it as a motivational carrot. Microsoft Small Business Resources claims that in 2010, 72 percent of employees say they prefer working from home — and 52 percent say they’re more productive working there.

2. Your company makes more money with remote workers.

The Telework Coalition data shows that businesses save an average of $20,000 annually for each full-time remote employee. What about that as a perk for you as a business-owner. Not only you save money but have a happier and more productive worker.

3. Working from home increases productivity.

Telework Coalition research shows the average business incorporating remote workers saw employee productivity rise 22 percent. We are telling you this so you do not think your staff is imagining things when they claim working from home improves their productivity – or lying to you.

Should you decide to create a remote work policy, I highly recommend you give it much thought and plan it in detail.

When you’re ready to do it, follow these steps unless you come up with something even better:

* Step 1: Develop a plan. Define who will be eligible? Are certain employees able to work from home full time? Do you allow others to have the option to do so part time? Are there any specific days, hours “off limits” for working at home? Is there certain criteria such as performance target before your staff earns these privileges? Figure out what is fair and reasonable before you start anything.

* Step 2: Get the right tools. Ensure your staff has what they need to accomplish what you need them to do. My guess is everyone probably has most of the technology they need to work at home, but if not, take care of it (i.e smartphones, headsets or inexpensive webcams). A simple but very important step is to make sure everyone’s email systems and IM work in harmony since these are necessary communication tools for any home workers.

* Step 3: Explore free or low-cost online options. There are more than enough options than ever for working in teams online. For example Google Docs, project management options like BaseCamp, or Skype for conference calls and videoconferencing. As cloud computing becomes more commonplace, your options will expand.

* Step 4: Communicate. Do not underestimate the possibility of miscommunications and misunderstandings happening more easily and more often when your employees aren’t under the same roof. Set clear guidelines for how people should communicate. You can surely use tools like IM to stay on top of things, but there is time to get offline and pick up the phone. Many bigger corporations use Skype conference calls as a faster way to resolve complex issues than a massive e-mail chain.

* Step 5: Trust, but verify. Out of sight, out of mind. Ensure your employees are doing what they say they’re doing is by monitoring results. If your specific goals, time lines and benchmarks aren’t met, have a talk with that person to find the source of the problem. If you are a very untrusting soul, you may comsider using a software that lets you monitor your employees’ e-mails, keystrokes and Web surfing or screen-capture their computer activity. You can also require employees to check in at a certain time. In some instances these options MAY undermine trust and backfire on you, but you must decide what works for you.

However, it’s imperative to get some face time with remote workers. Depending on how much your staff works from home, you may want to set one day each week when everyone has to be in the office or a meeting once or twice a month. I think it also pays off to encourage employees to get together informally to brainstorm and come up with great ideas.

A virtual assistant is an individual who provides business services to other professionals. They’re considered virtual because they perform their services from a remote location. Communications with their clients take place through telephone, fax, email, and snail mail. As a business owner, you can save time, money, and energy by hiring a virtual assistant. Best of all, you’ll have more time to do what you do best – running a business!

Step 1. You do not need to provide a physical workspace. A virtual assistant works from their own home or office. This is especially convenient if you are running a business from home or if you have limited space at your own office.

Step 2. You do not need to provide costly equipment. Virtual assistants use their own equipment to provide services to you. This can result is tremendous savings especially if the virtual assistant has access to equipment that you don’t already own. Also, you don’t have the worries of dealing with the maintenance and upkeep of office equipment.

Step 3. You save valuable time not performing tasks you don’t have time for or are not able to do. As a business owner, the highest and best use of your time is to work in your business. Delegating important and necessary administrative tasks like web design and maintenance, bookkeeping, writing, shopping cart setup, and other tasks will allow you to spend time developing your business and building relationships with your customers or clients.

Step 4. You do not have to deal with payroll, taxes or benefits. You can hire a virtual assistant as an independent contractor which frees you from spending time dealing with tax filings and compliance issues. You also have the added benefit of hiring them just for the task at hand, paying them at an hourly rate or by the project. This is much more cost efficient than having a full time employee who you might not be able to fully utilize.

Step 5. You can accelerate growth by finally having the time to focus on the most important issues of your business. The administrative tasks related to running a business are overwhelming, even for a one-person business! The best way to grow your business fast is to concentrate your energies working on your business and leaving everything else to your virtual assistant.

Step 6. You have the freedom to work on growing and improving your business/life skills, knowledge, and relationships. We have a vision for our business. We are constrained by time which limits how quickly we can move towards achieving the goals which underlie that vision. With the help of a virtual assistant, we’ll have more time to do the things that matter most to us, the things that will bring richness and enjoyment to our life.

Step 7. You are able to make better decisions by having a partner to “bounce” ideas off. Having an assistant is a great benefit especially if you are a solopreneur. Their strengths, background, and expertise can provide fresh eyes through which to view your business problems and projects. There’s a lot of truth to the saying, “Two heads are better than one.”

Step 8. You have peace of mind knowing that the details are being handled. Most business owners find themselves swimming in details. There are so many things to handle, from paying the rent, to returning calls, from updating the customer data base, to sending out products. There are literally dozens and dozens of details to remember and juggle which leads to mental and physical exhaustion. By turning over these tasks to your assistant, you’ll get more done faster and with a lot less stress.

Step 9. You are finally able to run your business instead of it running you. At some point during the progression of our business, we start feeling like our business is running us instead of the other way around. Feelings of overwhelm from the countless tasks we must complete can make it difficult to do anything at all. Partnering with a virtual assistant can help us avoid getting stuck. Instead, we can then stay focused on our goals and in control of our business.

Step 10. You have flexibility to assume new, challenging opportunities. With the administrative details handled by your virtual assistant, you’ll automatically be more open to taking on new projects that can benefit you and your business. Your talents and creativity can really shine when you aren’t bogged down in details, overworked, or distracted by things that aren’t directly related to serving your clients.© Copyright 2004 by Alicia Smith

I hear the term “Virtual Assistant” more and more in business. Did you know that you could possibly hire someone from another continent that works while you sleep and maybe for $8 – $12 Dollars. Mos t of the VA’s I work with have degrees and one an MBA in Business Admin. I pay her a pautry $15.00 per hour and what a bargain that is.

With the growth of virtual assistants has also been a change in what it means to be a virtual assistant. The leaders and founders of this particular entrepreneurial job have made distinctions between what it means to be a virtual assistant, and what it doesn’t mean. When you are explaining your business to others, you want to make sure to keep this standard.

Being a virtual assistant is becoming a distinct definition of a specific home owned business. It is expected that the standards will be upheld of a virtual assistant for all others who are working in this profession. This means that a virtual assistant is someone who provides a variety of services to businesses and individuals following the standard that has become formalized in the past decade.

The first angle that is taken towards approaching what a virtual assistant is includes the idea of being virtual. If you are not working out of your home, or remotely, then you are not considered a virtual assistant. Instead, it is considered to be a temporary job or a telecommuting job. One of the standards for being a virtual assistant is having the freedom to work where you want.

The second part to being a virtual assistant is the distinction that is made in the job description. Most virtual assistants will cringe at the idea of being called a secretary or freelance worker. Technically, a freelance worker is one who only does the job for extra income. At the same time, a secretary is one who doesn’t do the work continuously with only one client. A virtual assistant is provided in order to create a substantial and long term relationship with a business.

Here are 5 things you should consider in a Virtual Assistant?

Step 1. Professionalism. Does the VA answer her or his emails, voicemails and other correspondence in a timely and professional manner? It is important if this person is to work for you has the right skills to not keep you or a deadline waitng. Make sure you give a covert task to her or him to pass that shows comittment to deadlines.

Step 2. Project Management. Juggling tasks nowadays is vital. We now tap out feet in front of the microwave so things need to get done. If a person cannot work with a few projects on the go you might want to move on. I guarantee you will only find out that they have a project management problem when you lose “the big deal”.

Step 3. Availability. Many of these people work for several people at the same time. It is not uncommon for you as an employer to be in a funnel system for the VA. You slowly move down the funnel as they take on better contracts from new virtual employers. Be aware that you and your project will get dropped at the most time you least need it. You also need to be lining up new VA’s. Try to split your work between 2 or more VA’s to combat this problem.

Step 4. Test. Give the VA a mini project before going ahead with a contract. I also give a minimum of 2 tasks that cost no more than $30 -$40 to complete. I need them done correctly and to my total satisfaction before I even consider this person. It is simple to hire one of the first few people to come along but please shortlist at least 10 and give the tasks to 2 of the 10 you shortlisted. Obviously make sure these tasks are something you actually want doe, dont waste any money.

Step 5. Get References. Can the VA give you a list of people whom you can contact who will tell you about working with her or him?

The main distinction that most virtual assistants will work towards creating is the idea of being in a relationship with a business, and making this their business. This goes beyond the Expectations of any temporary work or telecommuting job. It also means that the services a virtual assistant can provide will go outside of job descriptions that are made in the office. By understanding the standards for being a virtual assistant, you can best approach this in your own relationships with businesses.

Step 1 Ask

If you want to know what your customers think about your products and service ask them. If your business if a physical business, you can simply stop one or two of them and inquire about the service and the goods and services. Customers are all to happy to let you know what needs improvements. Even if your business is online, you can still request that customers fill up a complaint about service form to let you know how you are doing. Visit godaddy.com to find out how you can add a customer complaint form to your site.

Step 2 Survey

One of the best ways to gather quick information about customers or receive feedback from them is to use a survey form. You may be familiar with this method as statisticians use it all the time for market research data collection. Surveys provide a quick way to ask general and pointed questions about your business and find out how they think about your goods based on a scale of 1 to 5. Visit aplus.net to find out how to add surveys to your site to get customer responses.

Step 3 Use a feedback form

Unlike a customer complaint form, a customer feedback form is a form where customers can assign points to evaluate the usefulness of your products and your business. This form allows your clients to state specific pros and cons about the quality of service, the value of your business, what they would like to see, and how you can make such improvements. Visit networksolutions.com to have a customer feedback form attached to your checkout online. If you business is offline, you can order feedback forms from networksolutions.com and make copies for your clients.

Step 4 Get a pro

If you are serious about customer feedback, you can hire a pro at elance.com to help you customize a customer feedback mechanism that will help you understand your customers and their thoughts about your firm.

Step 5 Visit social networks

Customers may not always tell you the truth. Remember the last time you filled out a customer feedback form? If you are like many people, you rushed through it and was suspicious so you put only good remarks to avoid being asked further questions. Go to Twitter.com or Facebook.com and even LinkedIn.com and do a search on your business name. Read the comments. If none are there, inquire if anyone has heard of your business and review the feedback. The most honest feedback is the best kind.

Remember, receiving customer feedback is only half the battle. Be sure to implement their comments to improve service and product lines. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

Step 1. Forget salary

A virtual assistant does not need to be paid a salary. You can pay your VA on an hourly basis. Best of all, you will only need to pay him or her for the time spent assisting you with your business. Although most employees spend 8 hours or more in the office, think about how much time they actually work. With a VA, you will only pay for hours spent on productive activities. Think about this before starting your own business.

Step 2. Ignore benefits

A virtual assistant will be an independent contractor. You will not need to provide insurance, vacation time, sick days, overtime or personal days. An independent contractor will take care of that on his or her own.

Step 3. Spend more time working on your business

Making money also means doing a lot of paperwork and administrative activities. A VA can take care of all your administrative duties so that you can focus on activities that will make your business grow. In other words, you will be able to work on your business instead of in your business. This is a crucial distinction to learn before starting your own business.

Step 4. Get more space in your office

A virtual assistant will work from a remote location. This means that not only will you not have to spend money on office furniture, but you will also have more space in your office. You will also save money because you do not have to purchase computers, software, printers, or copiers. This means that you can cut down on IT staff and maintenance if necessary.

Step 5. Have flexibility and support

Because your new assistant will not have to be physically in the office, you can ask for and receive support anytime you need it. This will allow you to cut down on either the number or hours of your support staff.

People who are self-employed or work as independent contractors are responsible for paying their own taxes. This will not only save your bookkeeper headaches, but will save your business money in the long run. Before starting your own business, make sure you plan ahead. Reducing costs by hiring a virtual assistant will improve your profit margin and will keep your business running. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

Imagine you are going to give out your entire business process to be handled by another organization. I am sure you will want to know all you can about this particular aspect. You will surely not want to be caught unaware; if goes wrong with the entire process. Research and more research is the answer for you to meet such eventualities.

Step 1 – Choose the right outsourcing company to do your accounting outsourcing work. Numerous outsourcing come up with attractive and lucrative offers to do the work for accounting firms like yours. Find out carefully as many things as you can about the company before you actually let them do your work.

The internet is a storehouse of information and utilizing it in the best possible manner is in your hands. Check out the services provided by the various companies. Also try to get testimonials from firms who have already done accounting outsourcing from the particular outsourcing company.

Step 2 – Check out the various security measures put in place by the company to protect your company and customer data. This is an important aspect of with which you must take special care. In this internet age, people have become increasingly skeptical about giving out information about their financial details online. Security measures must be stringent enough to deal with this issue and to also bring back the faith of customers to the entire process of accounting outsourcing.

Your work will be done very quickly and you will be able to meet customer deadlines with plenty of time to spare. Highly qualified professionals are always hired for doing outsourcing work. So this means that you serve your customer’s with the best possible service that you can afford with in your budget. Accounting outsourcing work is done faultlessly by the professionals.

Step 3 – Monetary wise accounting outsourcing works out just perfectly for your accounting firm. You do not need to undertake any additional financial investment for the process. In fact you can earn through accounting outsourcing. Imagine you do not spend an extra cent and yet end up earning profits. This is just incredible; you must not waste time pondering over pros and cons of accounting outsourcing.

Check to see if the outsourcing firm provides any offers for free trails. You can actually take up this opportunity to see for yourself the quality of the work done by the firm. Based on this work done, you can decide whether you actually want to work any further with the company for accounting outsourcing work or not.

Accounting outsourcing can turn out to be beneficial to you in many ways. All of these benefits are subject to your working with the right accounting outsourcing company. So try outsourcing your accounting and experience a faster and more efficient way of doing business today!

Step 1 Join the club

The first step in entering this field is to get certified (costs $100) and join the National virtual Assistants organization at ivaa.org and virtualassistantnetworking.com. By doing so, you will be promoted to many corporations and individuals looking for personal assistants. In addition, you will gain credibility as you will be part of a highly regarded organization.

Step 2 Get the right tools

You will be advised by the above organizations, however, you need to prepare to be a personal assistant. You will need a good scheduling tool, be able to take emails at a moments notice, have a good phone connection, and a fax machine at your finger tips. You should also invest in good software such as Photoshop and Microsoft Office.

Step 3 Organize

After you successfully complete the examination for certification and you start receiving some calls for work, get organized. This is a fast paced career path and you cannot afford to miss a beat. Once you begin working, the work flow is nonstop. It is harder to get organized later on.

Step 4 Lay the foundation

In the early stages of working with your clients, set up a specific schedule as to how the work you are assigned will get done. Let your clients know this schedule and what they should expect from you. Often, this step is ignored and results in chaos for the personal assistant. It is better to avoid unnecessary arguments due to lack of communication.

Step 5 Do the unexpected

Suppose you know that your client needs a productivity report each week on Friday at 5:00 p.m. Get it ready by 4:30 and turn it in. If you know that another client may need their lunch at noon, be sure to have it ready for them by 11:50 if possible. By taking a few painstaking steps to impress, you will secure your position and become a valuable asset to your client.

Remember, helping others is exhausting work so schedule a few minutes for yourself also. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

Take a look at these top six disadvantages.

Step 1 Lose your managerial control

By outsourcing, you are turning the management and control of the business to another company. The outsourcing company will not be driven the by same standards and mission of the company. They will be driven and motivated by the profits they want to make from the services they are offering.

Step 2 Keep an eye on hidden costs

The company usually signs the details of the services to be offered that the outsourcing company can provide. Anything not covered in the contract will mean an additional legal fee for the lawyer to review the contract in addition to any amenities that need to be purchased outside the contract. also consider logistic costs, or the costs to ship products back and forth. Even if you use an optimized trucking route or ship waterway, these added costs can outweigh maintaining an internal processing plant.

Step 3 Consider threats to security and confidentiality

If some confidential information such as pay roll is transmitted to the contracting company, then there is a risk that some confidential information such as pay roll is transmitted to the contracting company, then there is a risk that confidentiality will be compromised. Also, the contracting company will also know your modus operandi. As such, they will also know your secrets to profits and can undermine your market share.

Step 4 Watch for quality problems

The contract entered by both companies ensures that the stated price in the contract is fixed. Since the outsourcing company is driven by the profits, then, the only way to increase the profits is to decrease expenses hence compromising on the quality of the products through the use of cheaper labor and materials. If your firm has a brand name for quality, then this may compromise your standing in the minds of your customers.

Step 5 Bind your financial well being to that of another company

If the outsourcing company goes bankrupt, then your company’s operations will be affected negatively since the services will not be provided any more and another outsourder may charge higher prices and provide fewer services. Also, you can only succeed if your outsourcer is reputable and reliable and delivers on time. Any problems that occur within your outsourcer, then you also are impacted.

Step 6 Dodge Bad publicity and ill will

If the outsourcing company develop a bad reputation, be careful not to let your company name get affected since you use their service. Also, let your media department work to maintain positive relations with the outsourcer should such an event occur.

Remember, there is always one drawback for every benefit. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

Live telephone operators who work in call centers and answering services need the same help that any live speaker needs. It’s the job of the call center operator to communicate the client’s business image to the caller, and this begins with the first few seconds of the phone call. Many small business owners’ needs never go beyond representatives answering their lines with “XYZ Company, may I help you?” and improvising the rest of the conversation to obtain the information that the client requests. When clients upgrade their accounts to more complex services, it’s important that they create a script that works for both the company signing up for the service, the operator reading the script, and the customer. Your sales representative is more than willing to help you create the best script to fit all of your sales or information inquiries.

Creating a call center script begins with the “answer phrase” and the same principles continue through the entire process of creating a logical script. H ere are some important items to keep in mind when you are creating your script:

Step 1 • Avoid tongue twisters. Make your greeting as easy to pronounce as possible. “Doctor Perkowicz Peoria Plastic Surgery Plaza” isn’t easy to say, even for the native English speaker. Make sure that your operators know how to pronounce every part of your answer phrase, and the rest of the words in your script. Keep phrases brief and avoid repeating consonant sounds that will sound awkward over the phone or might lead the operator to stutter.

Step 2 • Go global. A “Good Morning/ Evening” greeting can work for some businesses, but not for all of them. If your company is doing business across time zones, think about using a simple “Hello, XYZ Company” for your customer on the other end of the globe.

Step 3 • Humanize your greeting. Have an impartial friend or a trusted customer listen to your greeting, especially if it’s a long introductory message of more than a sentence or two. Do you sound like a recording? If you give that impression to a caller, the person on the other end of the line might just hang up because she wants to talk with a live person, not a machine. Keep all parts of your script brief and give the operator relaying your message time to breathe and sound like a live person when you create your script.

Step 4 • Less is more. There’s a temptation to try and pack all the information about your company into your call center script, including providing an operator a copy of your frequently asked questions list (FAQ) so that he or she can quickly scan the file and answer 99.9 % of your callers’ questions. However, this skill takes practice and training on the part of the operator and patience on the part of the caller. Long pauses to look up information, add expensive minutes to the call and are frustrating experiences for the operator and the caller alike. Extensive account training is available through most call centers, if your budget permits. If this resource is not an option for you, limit the information available to the operators to a few facts about your product or service, and let them know that it’s okay to ask callers if someone from the right department can return their call and answer their questions in depth.

Step 5 • Test. Call your account weekly and test to make sure that the operators are following your instructions, are handling your scripts the way that you expect, and are able to easily access the information that they need to take your calls. After the honeymoon period with a new account, operators often grow lax and shorten your script, or improvise far beyond the call of duty. This can be detrimental to your business. Make sure that you follow up with your call center to make sure they are serving your needs.

Step 6 • Tweak, and tweak again. Review your script from time to time, and see if it’s still leading to action. Ultimately, your script should lead to a sale, an appointment a request for more information or further contact from your office. Check your call logs and any statistics your sales representative provides you with on a monthly basis. If you notice a downward trend in your results, work with your sales rep to change your script.

These suggestions are only the beginning of creating a successful call center script for your organization. Work with your sales representative and listen to their suggestions, add your own, do your market research and your script will be a success. Clear communication starts with clear instructions from you, and clear voices on the answering end of your phone lines. Your call center will work with you to make sure that all of your needs are filled over and above your expectations.

Step 1. Talk to them! By involving, including, empowering and trusting your secretary, she will become more proactive and motivated.

Step 2. Share your expertise and knowledge. This way she will have a greater understanding of your work, your pressures and your objectives, and so be able to contribute more to the team.

Step 3. Ask for her thoughts on the working practices that just aren’t working efficiently: her experience and knowledge will probably save you hours of your valuable time.

Step 4. Introduce her to your clients and colleagues. The more they are known and seen to be part of your team, the fewer routine requests and tasks you will have to handle.

5. Don’t ask people to contact “your secretary” in correspondence. Use their full name! This will build relationships and trust – with your clients and with your secretary.

6. Consider your work objectives: what could they help you with?

7. Find out which areas of your own role your secretary would like to become more involved with. Work with her on these, and aim to delegate at least two new tasks a year.

8. Ask your peers how they work with their secretaries: you might be surprised at the range of responsibilities of other people’s secretaries.

9. Buy her a subscription to one of the professional secretarial magazines as an “anniversary” present or simply as a thank you.

Step 10. If you can’t work efficiently with your secretary consider your options: do nothing, or develop them. Doing nothing is the easy option. Developing your secretary needs your commitment, your time and your energy: the rewards are well worth the investment.