HLS Business Solutions

The blog has moved

2011-07-17T12:22:00.001+01:00

We've moved our blog from the Blogger platform and you can now read my blogs at these locations:

http://www.helenstothard.com - my personal views and opinions

http://www.hlsbs.com - HLS Business Solutions

http://www.trainingforvas.com - intelligentVA blog

I'm Certified - not certifiable!

2010-06-01T22:42:00.001+01:00

I am absolutely delighted to have achieved Xero Certified Partner status, but what does this mean for you?

It means I’ve been trained and tested by Xero to enable me to give my customers confidence about my ability to make Xero work to the best advantage for them.)

So what is Xero?

Xero is an online accounting system where your important financial data is stored securely in one central place – meaning there is only one version and with automated bank feeds it is always up to date. With Xero you can choose to invite us to work with you online – in real time. No more cumbersome transfer of data that can be corrupted or is out-of-date.

I recommend Xero for small businesses. Designed from the ground up with small businesses in mind, Xero is an easy to use online accounting system that gives you access to your financial information anytime, anywhere. Xero allows you to monitor financial performance in real-time - so you always know the state of your cashflow. It lets you share information online and collaborate with trusted advisors such as your accountant or ourselves.

As a result of becoming certified we’ve been able to extend our client services to include the following functions, which are exclusive to Xero Partners:

Xero Cashbook. Manage your cashflow online with Xero, but leave the rest of your account management in our hands. Contact us any time using the “Ask My Accountant” button on the Help menu in Xero Cashbook if you have any queries.
Managed Client Role. If you don’t have time or feel uncomfortable about managing every aspect of your accounts, but still want to have visibility of your cashflow then the Xero Managed Client function is for you. This lets you make comments about your bank reconciliation whilst we manage it.
No VAT Cashbooks. We can offer reduced rates for businesses that are not GST registered. This is perfect if you are just starting out or a non-profit organisation.

We also work closely with a Xero Certified Accountant and a Xero Certified Trainer to ensure that you get the best service possible.

So check out our website today for more information on Xero or contact us for a demonstration.

A force to be reckoned with!

2010-05-28T13:32:00.001+01:00

Since I started my VA business just over a year ago I have had an amazing success. I started just one day a week, six months later I went full time and six months after that I now work with a great team of Associates.

This could so easily not have been the case if back in the early days I had fallen into the trap that awaits unsuspecting VA wannabes.

I researched the subject and I asked lots of questions, not least because I am a canny Northern Lass and very tight with my money (not that I had any when I started up), but because I am a cautious girl as well.

I came across a multitude of sites that offered me qualifications, directory listings, training and more, all in exchange for my hard earned cash. If I hadn’t been so canny I could seriously have spent thousands at the outset thinking that was the only way to get my VA business up and running.

Then I made an amazing discovery. Delving deeper into the world of VAs and you will find this huge community. They don’t compete against each other in the way that a standard industry would and they have the vision and the foresight to collaborate with each other. Working as a team makes the individual suddenly a much stronger force. You only have to look at the humble ant for example; on his own he can’t do much, but by working together look at the incredible weight they can carry.

I first came across SVA – The Society of Virtual Assistants, founded by Caroline Melville. Their forum was full of people doing what I wanted to do and helping others along the path. I had never come across this sort of help and support before, especially so freely given.

I then met the lovely @DeeVAS on Twitter and she took pity on me and invited me to join this amazing group called VASG on Skype. The difference this made to me was astronomical. All of a sudden there was this instant support by a complete group of strangers all of whom had something in common and believed that in order to achieve their goals, you had to collaborate. By being given access to a fantastic group of VA’s at all stages of their business from Start Up to many years of experience, my business has gone from strength to strength because we love to talk! A lot!

We talk about the latest software, the most efficient way to do things, answer tech questions and introduce each other to great ideas whether we are in start up phase, growing a business to get out of the rat race or being a full time VA with many years of experience.

You know how I feel about collaboration and this is a huge part of why the VA industry is so strong and growing. VAs are not targets to make other people money; they are smart, savvy, switched on Entrepreneurs in their own right. We ask questions, we make demands, and always ask for more than we have, and we like to test things to destruction. It’s in our nature. That’s way when we recommend a product or service to our Clients they know they can trust our recommendation.

I have been working with three companies lately in order to take some existing excellent products and to enhance them for the VA industry. They have listened to our feedback and responded accordingly, some things they have been able to do for us instantly and others will take longer, but what shines out is their eagerness to work WITH US. They understand that by collaborating with us it will enhance their products, make our lives easier, more efficient and allow us to share their great products with our Clients and make them more efficient and effective as well.

The support and feedback they have given us has been outstanding, their customer service has exceeded our expectations and they are genuinely a pleasure to work with.

I would like to publicly thank Xero, CapsuleCRM and MinuteDock for their efforts and support over these past few weeks. We aren’t always the easiest bunch to please that is for sure, but between us we have some great collaborative integrated solutions to look forward to over the coming months.

So, if you are a supplier out there and think the VA community may be able to further your company's interest please do get in touch, we will be happy to test your products and services to destruction. We are not for the faint hearted and we don’t endorse products from every company that comes our way. However, we will offer constructive feedback, to let you know whether we think it worthy of our Clients, to tell you what works and what doesn’t, we will even introduce you to our existing suppliers so you can talk collaboration and integration.

Feel free to get in touch, or leave your comments below on how collaboration has worked for you.

Follow Friday Recommendations 21st May 2010

2010-05-20T22:23:00.002+01:00

This week I am starting my Follow Friday blog with one of my newer Twitter friends, he just butted into a conversation I was having one night with @Totally4B about Xero and I have never looked back!

As well as being a fellow Xero fan @BriCallAssist is a fantastic find. He has been a great source of information, and we share so many ideas and values that at times it can be quite spooky. He has also freely shared his advice and knowledge in areas where our two businesses offer similar services.

He has entered his business in the Barclays One Small Step awards and he really does deserve your vote. It’s so refreshing to come across someone so passionate about customer service and the product that they offer. He has really thought about the service that he offers, and what his customers need. He is hard working, energetic, dynamic and an absolute professional. He certainly isn’t one to blow his own trumpet, he’s actually very quiet and reserved when talking about his business but he cannot hide that enthusiasm in his voice, he is so excited about his business and that really shines through.

Please follow @BriCallAssist and support his Barclays One Small Step entry here: https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/5925

And while we are on the subject of Xero (my favourite piece of software ever I believe) huge thanks go to @DazGlanville this week for his amazing stamina when faced by hordes of VA’s eager to sign up to Xero and for the insightful webinars and support he has shown us. He has a great sense of humour, always good when dealing with us VA’s, and has been fantastic to work with. Obviously @TeamXero are excellent at support but @DazGlanville really has gone out of his way to help us. I look forward to getting to meet him in person next week.

My next Follow is for @Totally4B who, before I even knew she shared my passion for Xero, jumped in to help me out one day on a bookkeeping issue I had. Since that day she has been a great friend, an invaluable source of knowledge, and one of the twitter friends who keeps me sane and grounded and tells me off when I don’t take care of myself. She is also a Certified Xero Partner now which means she really knows her stuff, congratulations on being one of the first to achieve that status in the country! (Plus I get to meet her next week as well!)

Another Xero convert, thanks to our 1am Skype chat one Saturday morning, is @justsimplyacc one of the nicest people you could ever tweet with, I laughed far too much for such an obscenely early time and even managed to forego watching my beloved Rocky Horror Picture Show that I had stayed up to watch. She has also achieved her Xero Certified Partner status this week, and I am thinking I am going to have to hurry up and catch up with her and @Totally4B now.

And lastly, no Xero Follow Friday blog would be complete without mentioning @LucyWhittington, who even though she is enjoying far sunnier climes than me right now will kill me if I forget to mention that it’s all down to her that I am such a Xero fan, without her recommendation I would never have signed up, probably going with a competitor instead. I will be forever grateful to her. Not only did she introduce me to a fantastic product but the people I have met as a result of it are truly remarkable and really brighten my day. Also she is a truly excellent author of http://www.hotelsuccesshandbook.com and with her hubby Andy creates some amazing Venda and Wordpress websites.

Have a great day! If you want to know more about Xero you can find more information here: http://hlsbs.eu/Xero.aspx and don’t forget to support @BriCallAssist here https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/5925

It's all about me...

2010-05-17T22:53:00.000+01:00

I am guessing that for a lot of of you who are self employed then 'Me' time is something you consider to be a luxury or an interruption that you don't have time for.

Do you get run down? Are you always tired? Do you wish there were more hours in each day? Do your friends compare you to a super hero?

Take a moment here to consider what utilising that 'Me' time could do for your business.

I put in a ridiculous amount of hours last year, firstly to get my business off the ground and then to move it from 5 to 9 to full time. Do I regret the hours or effort? Not at all, but I do wish I had taken better care of me.

As a busy working mum it's all too easy to come up with reasons why you can't afford to have precious 'Me' time. Kids swimming, dance, sports, play dates and parties not to mention cooking and cleaning and demands on your time from other family members.

But give, give, give is a recipe for disaster. You become run down, jaded, in my case it increased my weight even more, and also led to me sometimes not making the right decision for my fledgling business. It will be different for each of you, but I am sure you understand what I mean.

I took a long hard look at things recently and decided it had to stop. I now have a team of associates to help shoulder the work load, to cover while I take a well earned holiday and to look after my clients should I get ill again. I also reviewed my existing clients and services and made some changes there as well, now I can move forward in a much more positive, efficient and productive manner.

Then I realised that reviewing the business wasn't enough, I had to review me as well. I finally listened to my coach and realised that spending time with the family is important but so is having time for me, it's something quite different to family time and equally as important.

I took a day off, I know, heresy to some of you!, and I spent it with a friend, had my nails done, went for lunch and shopped. Really simple pleasures that had been missing for so long. And did I regret that missed day in the office? Not at all, granted the work was still there to be done but that day off re-charged my batteries. I felt so much better for it that I came back into the business refreshed and eager to get on.

Can I say the same for the weeks where I worked morning to night, fitted work around family stuff and housework in what little time was left? No.

So just take a moment and try and remember the last time you had some 'Me' time. Not family time, not doing a favour time, not housework time, not doing your duty time but time for you. Can you even remember?

Do me a favour, this coming week do something for YOU then come back and share it with us by commenting below, it doesn't have to be all day, can be anything you like as long as it's for you!

Don't feel you are being selfish, I am sure if you try it you will find it actually changes the way you feel for the better.

So come on, what have you done for YOU this week?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Follow Friday Recommendations Friday 30th April 2010

2010-04-30T13:03:00.000+01:00

I can't believe it is Friday again already, and certainly not the end of April! Wow, how time flies when you enjoy your work, that is for sure.

This week my follow fridays are VA's who have been a great help and support and just some of my fantastic clients. (I only mention the ones who admit to working with me on Twitter! If you are a client and want a mention do let me know, otherwise your secret is safe with me).

Huge huge thanks go to @sjabradley who has been a rock these past few months and is now chief assistant at Team HLSBS. Her work this past couple of weeks has been fantastic and invaluable. She has even taught me a few tricks as well, much to the delight of some clients.

My other fantastic VA friends who have been a real support this year are @ArborVS and @officestuff - they talk common sense and make me look at what is important to me, they also keep me grounded. Sometimes the solution to a problem is so simple you can't see it and it takes a friend to point it out. That's where these guys come in, and yes guys I do listen to you. They have been an incredible force in helping me take HLS Business Solutions to the next level and helping me choose my Team HLSBS members.

The whole gang at @callteam are fantastic and look after my calls and my clients calls brilliantly, sometimes going above and beyond the call of duty in order to help their clients. I don't answer as many of the calls on there as I should but am so grateful for the teams support.

And now for some of my lovely clients.

@LucyWhittington is now a published author, her book Hotel Success Handbook is a great read, I was lucky enough to do a small part of the proof reading and I have to say a lot of the marketing advice in there applies to many other businesses, not just Hotels and Guest Houses. Apart from being a hotel marketing guru she and Andy do the most amazing websites on Venda and WordPress platforms. If you are looking for a bespoke site do give them a call, they will be doing my new website later this year and I really cant wait! She is also winding me up right now with talk of her upcoming Australian venture and yes I am a tad jealous but at least I know I can keep adding to her to do list for her return lol.

@NikkiPilkington is a social media goddess, and yes, I have said it before, you can blame her for me getting my head round Twitter. She is the lady to go to for SEO, Google Adwords, blogging advice (she has a new blogging course about to start that I have subscribed to), facebook pages and is just the best person to go to for advice in all these areas.

@theefficiencycoach is more than just a client, she is a great friend and she is also my personal coach. She helps people who are looking for a new career, people who are starting out in business and people who are in business and wanting to make more out of their business, so I guess that is pretty much everyone. She offers loads of advice in her blogs, newsletters and teleseminars on a regular basis and also knows a lot of really cool people on Twitter. She is now offering social media training and has just started writing her book on networking as well. Not sure how she fits it all in!

I have only mentioned a few of my clients here today, my policy is I never shout about who my clients are. The people mentioned above have all tweeted about working with me previously. If you are working with me and are happy to be featured in a future #FF blog just give me a shout, and if you would like to work with me then just give me a call or drop me an email :-)

Do consider following the people above, even if you aren't looking for their particular services their tweets are useful and funny and informative, and they will introduce you to other great tweeters you would like to follow as well.

I hope you find some of this weeks follow friday recommendations useful, let me know if you take up any of my suggestions using the comments box below.

What's the difference between Call Answering and Call Handling?

2010-04-28T21:26:00.000+01:00

One of the tweets I sometimes post on Twitter is about having your calls handled and not just answered, one of my Twitter friends suggested that it would make an interesting blog topic. So what is the difference between call answering and call handling?

Answering a call is really just about picking up a ringing phone, taking a message and passing it on in its simplest form.

Call Handling is about knowing as much as possible about the business or person that the call is intended for, so that the person answering the call can manage it in as informed and effective way as possible. If it’s a simple enquiry quite often the call handler can supply the information requested, be it an email address, postal address, opening hours or even information on a particular product, without having to pass the call on.

Call handling is not about misrepresenting your business or implying you are bigger than you are, it’s about enhancing the service that you currently offer; call handling can be a very effective addition in terms of customer service.

Busy professionals have many demands on their time; is it really an effective use of time for them to be answering the phone themselves to every enquiry no matter how trivial? It’s no different to outsourcing other elements of the business such as accounts or admin.

By using efficient call handlers your sales orders can be taken for you, your delegates can be booked onto training courses, appointments can be booked directly into your diary, brochure requests can be taken and posted out direct with no involvement from you, initial sales enquiries can be taken when you run your new sales campaign – the list is endless.

Do you ever find that you cannot finish a project or report because the phone keeps ringing? Divert your calls to a call handler instead. Do you have the children at home due to teacher training days or unplanned illness? Divert your calls.

Your caller will probably be happier talking to a person rather than an answering machine; a call handler can put your caller at ease because they have knowledge of your company and/or service. Rather than just taking a name and number your call handler will take a detailed message, ensuring that when you are returning the call you have all the information you need to hand, you are not returning a call blindly, you have had chance to research the answers that your caller needs, making you appear more professional and saving both you and your caller time.

One of my Twitter friends had a great description of call handling, its more information driven, and answers are the voice of your business.

So next time you are thinking of switching on the answerphone to allow you to get some work done, think about using a professional call handling service instead.

So what are your thoughts on the difference between call handling and call answering and your experiences? Please feel free to comment below.

It's more than 140 characters

2010-04-13T07:53:00.000+01:00

As some of you will know I have had a particularly bad week this past week, between being ill and finding out my cat had cancer I wasn’t having a great time of it. It culminated yesterday in having to make the awful decision to have my gorgeous 17yr old cat put to sleep. Just over a week ago she had been fine.

I was absolutely overwhelmed yesterday by the sheer volume of well wishes, love and support I received from my Twitter friends.

But, I shouldn’t have been. Ever since I got into Twitter I have been one of it’s most vocal advocates, ask anyone how my face lights up when I am asked to discuss Twitter.

So what is so special about it? Yes Twitter is a great tool for business, but let’s focus on one of the words used to describe it – Social. It’s not all about business; it’s about building relationships, and also friendships.

I have made some great friends on Twitter over the past few months, these are people who I love to talk to about anything and everything, I am not pitching my business at them, I am genuinely interested in what they are doing and how they are feeling, and I am really fortunate to have been able to meet some of these people offline.

There are some great conversations that have been carried out just in those 140 characters, and many a fun Saturday night had by several of us chatting about something totally business free.

Twitter has examples everyday of people using it to share, the most recent example was that of Sartoti, a young girl undergoing a horrible operation, and Twitterers from around the world who have never met her sent her postcards to cheer her up after her surgery.

Sadly, most days on Twitter there is bad news, someone has lost a baby, a child, a loved one or yet another soldier has been lost and another family is suffering. It put's your own imagined problems into perspective.

But also there are the days where the good news is being shared, engagements announced, babies born and weddings taking place.

Twitter also recently helped one guy back into work after being made redundant, thanks to the support of Twitter he ended up with two job offers in just a few weeks, granted he got the jobs on his own merits, but would the opportunities have been there if it hadn’t been for Twitter.

Twitter is what you choose to make of it. Yes I use it for business, but more importantly and much more frequently I use it for Social as well. People love people, just be yourself on Twitter and you will be amazed at the new friendships and relationships that come out of it.

So thank you to those wonderful people who choose to interact with me on Twitter, you really do make a difference to each and every day.

Record-keeping by Amy Taylor, BSc (Hons), ACA (aka @amyaccountant)

2010-04-06T08:57:00.000+01:00

So you have just started up in business. Do you need to go out and buy an enormous filing cabinet to keep all the mountain of paperwork you are likely to be inundated with? Not necessarily.

HMRC guidance stipulates that you should keep your financial records for 6 years in case they ever come to investigate your tax return. In such circumstances, they would want to see the original records that went into the figures on your tax return. If you do not keep the records for the amount of time stipulated, you may have to pay a penalty.

You must keep the original documents for anything showing tax deductions, for example P60s, and bank statements, but for most other records you can keep them filed electronically, as long as they are legible and show all the information on the front and back of the documents. Such electronic files can be stored on CD, memory stick or any other suitable storage device. Thus removing the need for that enormous filing cabinet.

Examples of the types of records you need to keep to prove your income are items such as sales invoices, till rolls and paying-in slips. For expenditure, you should retain records such as receipts, purchase invoices and cheque book stubs.

If you are VAT registered you must also keep a VAT account, showing how you calculated the VAT due to or from HMRC, as well as VAT sales and purchase invoices and import and export documentation. If you are a limited company, you will also need to be able to show accounting records proving your assets and liabilities, as well as your income and expenditure. Your accountant will be able to help you with this.

There are further requirements for record-keeping if you are an employer, and these include all PAYE records, including employee benefits and statutory payments made.

Best practice is to reference every accounting record you keep to the relevant book of entry, so for example, your first item of expenditure for the year might be numbered 001, and you would then include this reference in the line of entry into your cash book and write it on the receipt itself. File each record numerically in a lever arch file or clear plastic wallet for smaller items so that they are easy to find in case of any query by suppliers or customers, or investigation by HMRC.

The HMRC penalty regime asks that taxpayers take reasonable care over their tax affairs, and in the event that you have made an error on your tax return, a clear filing system and helpful attitude to the investigators reduces the risk of a penalty.

If you would like any advice in this area or any other areas of accounting or tax, please contact me on 01767 260282 or amy@tayloraccountancy.net, www.tayloraccountancy.net.

Follow Amy on Twitter @amyaccountant.

Amy Taylor Accountancy takes every care in preparing material to ensure that the content is accurate and up to date. However no responsibility for loss to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of this material can be accepted by Amy Taylor Accountancy

Follow Friday Recommendation Friday 2nd April 2010

2010-04-02T20:56:00.000+01:00

This week my follow Friday recommendations are for the people who are working with me on several new and exciting projects at the moment. All will become clear over time!

My first #FF is for @efficiencycoach, working with Heather has made so much difference to my business and to me. The future is looking far rosier than I ever thought possible, and she is helping me make the transition from being self employed to running my own business. She is in incredibly intelligent woman, of which I am reminded every time we have a conversation, and her humour and common sense keep me sane. I really look forward to our Skype chats each week. If you are at or approaching a crossroads in either your career or your business don't hesitate to contact Heather, you will never look back.

My next #FF is @ReceiptAngel, working with Barry and Kay has not only introduced me to a fabulous product, but their support and friendship has meant a lot to me. They are always eager and encouraging and again full of common sense. Barry in particular has a habit of taking my ideas and stretching them, turning something simple into something so much more. And of course how could I not love a couple who are so hugely supportive of the VA industry and have the same goals for it as I do!

Another #FF is @ShoegalSedgwick who is always so wonderful to talk to, it's lovely to talk to someone who is as enthusiastic about their business as I am about mine, and who sees the bigger picture and embraces collaboration as much as I do as well. We have some interesting projects afoot with @Paula6thLevel who is such a lovely lady, and between us, working together, we are all going to have a fantastic future.

@Paula6thLevel deserves her own #FF, my lovely friend is always cheery and full of humour, and we have such a laugh together it really doesn't feel like work. Again she is so supportive of what I do, and when I recently got to meet her for real, was every bit as lovely as I had hoped, if not more. I am working on some exciting new projects with her, and every time we talk we come up with yet more ideas.

I must also give huge thanks to @sjabradley,my fellow VA, my voice of reason, my port in a storm and my buddy. I am so lucky to be working with her, and she keeps me on the straight and narrow on those days when I really need it, and is one of the first people I call to celebrate good news.

I feel terrible for not mentioning everyone, there are so many people that I love to talk to on Twitter, who add value to my day, and make it such a wonderful place to be, but the page would go on forever if I did. Please just know that if I interact with you on Twitter then I already feel you are worthy of a #ff of your own.

End of Year - Guest Blog by Toni Hunter

2010-03-29T23:59:00.001+01:00

The end of the tax year is a busy time for those administering the payroll function. There are a number of forms which need to be filed and it is a good time to check that you have been carrying out your payroll calculations correctly throughout the year and rectify any mistakes.

2009/10 is the first year that online filing is mandatory for all employers regardless of the size of the business. Paper filing of forms is no longer an option.

It has been mandatory for large employers to file their forms electronically for some time now but up to last year smaller employers still had the option to file in paper format should they choose to. Electronic filing has now become mandatory for the smaller employer too.

The deadlines which affect end of year payroll are summarised in the table below.

Late Payment of PAYE Penalties

Late payment penalties are being introduced from May 2010 if your PAYE is paid late. Currently interest is only charged when the final PAYE payment for the tax year is received either later than 19^th April for postal payments or arrives in HMRC’s bank account later than 22^nd April if paid electronically.

From May 2010 your PAYE payment will need to be received on time either each month or each quarter depending upon which basis you pay. The new late payment penalties will apply to all employers and contractors that do not pay on time.

Details of the new penalties will not be sent out until April 2011 but will apply for the whole of the 2010-11 tax year. Penalties will start at 1% of the late amount and will increase to 4% depending upon how many times you pay late. You will not have to pay a penalty if only one payment is late unless it is more than six months late. Payments that are more than six months late may attract a penalty of 5% and a further 5% if still outstanding after more than twelve months.

Businesses will have to ensure that HMRC always receive their payment on time to avoid the penalties. Postal payments will need to be received by HMRC by the 19^th of the month. Electronic payments will need to be received in HMRC’s bank account by 22^nd of the month.

If you have any queries regarding the preparation of your payroll our in-house payroll bureau PayScheme will be happy to help. Contact a member of the team on 01767 220199.

Follow Friday Recommendation Friday 26th March 2010

2010-03-25T22:46:00.000Z

Well, yet another take on a Follow Friday blog from me this week. Instead of me writing the blog I have asked the person I am recommending to write a blog for a change.

I love tweeting with @MissRosieDay, she has a fantastic sense of humour, manages to look after an enormous family, and is just a great person to interact with, as well as being a talented writer.She is also doing some amazing charity work with Project65 as well, and is soon to undertake a mammoth walk in order to raise funds for them.

I have had the pleasure of talking to her on the phone on several occasions over the past few weeks and we have had some great conversations about our respective businesses and we have shared a lot of laughs as well.

Rosie made a comment on the phone and I couldn't help pointing her in the direction of Evernote, some software I thought would help her out. It worked excellently for her and she even managed to show me a new use for it I hadn't come across. Then I introduced her to Tungle, another piece of software which she embraced, and finally I introduced her to the joy of Capsule CRM

She was joking that I had finally got her organised so I asked her to write a blog for us on what that felt like, and here it is:

Guest Blog from @MissRosieDay

I am a writer, that's not my job title, that is who I am. I cant remember a time when I did not write, from childhood I have recorded the world around me through stories and poetry. I love words, I love the way that the pictures in my head become organised sentences on the page, but sadly that is where my organisation ends. I make notes on scraps of paper and keep a track of things in my head, which on occasions gets me into trouble. I have, until now, never let this worry me, I call it my artistic temperament!

Recently two things have hit me almost simultaneously. The first was a change in direction and the second was meeting Helen. So, firstly I will address the reason for a career change. Before I left the rat race, I worked in business, where I was actually very efficient and productive, but I had staff to take care of the day to day organisation. Then 2 years ago events in my personal life forced me to re-think my priorities. I gave up the salary, the financial packages, the company car and became a full time writer. I work from home and don't miss all those things, I am happy and my children are happy to see more of me. It has taken a lot of hard work but my writing career has taken off in many directions and has given me a great many contacts. It is sadly the case that freelance writers are finding the current market very difficult. Commissions are hard to come by and those that are on offer are at a fee far less than those of just 18 months ago. Therefore freelancers are all diversifying, including me and I suspect a great many people in other industries. With the aforementioned contacts and my previous business experience, it has made sense to take a sideways step into PR & Marketing.

That's where Helen comes in, as an existing Twitter friend, she jumped on my tweets concerning my new business and lack of organisation and offered help to bring me up to date. Her help and advice has been invaluable. Working from home as a writer and working from home as a Professional providing a service are worlds apart. A writers life is very solitary, working pretty much to my own deadlines. In my new business I have to be far more polished, I have to make my clients feel special and confident in my abilities. I have to be organised. I am asking people to trust me and that trust has to be earned, missing a deadline or not calling at a pre-arranged time are not an option.

Organisation is not rocket science and there are so many people and online services that can help. My advice is to be honest with yourself about the things that you are not so good at. Seek help, a virtual PA is ideal. By taking away the worry of these things you can concentrate on the things that you are good at, you will become more productive and your business will become more profitable, thus absorbing the cost of your help!

Not Just A Newsletter - Guest Blog by Matt Chatterley

2010-03-23T07:52:00.000Z

Not Just a Newsletter..

Keep your eyes peeled as you navigate the web and you'll soon realise that almost every single website has a Newsletter which they'd love you to join. This cycle is self perpetuating - when creating a website for your venture, you know everyone else has one - so you have to have one too!

Before you dive right in, stop and think! There are several basic questions which are very useful in this situation (in truth there are more, but these five apply particularly well to Newsletters). If you can't answer them all satisfactorily then perhaps you should wait until you can before forging ahead.

I'll share my answers (on behalf of Mattched IT) with you - and try to give you some pointers to help you to reach your own conclusions.

WHO - do you want to subscribe to your Newsletter?

Our target audience is primarily small business owners (notionally extending to senior managers in larger enterprises) - people who are the "IT decision makers" in their organisations and to whom we can advertise and sell our products and services.

You may find you want to run a newsletter for a different demographic to your default customer base - you may even want to partition your newsletter list and send different messages to different people. Ultimately the key reasons tend to be Sales/Marketing related or to increase the level of engagement and communication which is sustained with clients.

WHY - should they sign up?

Because they've seen our website (or engaged with us via social media - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) and want us to keep them updated on new products/services which we launch as well (or changes to existing services). Occasionally we also offer discounts or other promotions exclusively to Newsletter subscribers.

I often feel that the incentives for joining our newsletter are quite weak, if I am honest. Partly because of the nature of our business - which is service orientated - as well as nature of the services we offer - which very rarely change. It's likely to be very different for you, depending on what you do. If you update your products regularly then you've got a killer reason right there - they can be the first to find out when you start selling widgets in blue as well as red!

WHAT - is in it for me?

Increased engagement with the audience, and the opportunity to periodically remind them that we are here, and that we can help them should they be facing any challenges in the IT department. We also try to encourage our subscribers to forward our newsletters on to their friends and colleagues if they feel the content might be of interest.

There must be a clear benefit to your business for it to be truly worthwhile running a newsletter. If you sell a tangible product then your newsletter can be a very exciting and powerful tool - it's an opt-in list which you can market to, as long as you are sensible and courteous when doing so. Otherwise you may have to look closer to find a good reason!

WHEN - are you going to send Newsletters?

We aim to send one each month, although we do occasionally skip an edition if there is absolutely nothing to report. Mainly because I personally believe it's somewhat frivolous to use our client’s time reading a message - when really we have nothing to say to them - and certainly nothing of value to offer.

It's key that you don't send newsletters out too often. Your unsubscribe rate will tell you immediately if you're too vocal - because it'll be high! People are accustomed to once a month, but that doesn't mean you can't send them out bi-monthly or even fortnightly if it is appropriate for your audience.

Don't save up a colossal amount of information and send out a novel once a month if really you could be sending out relevant messages which have meaning and value to your subscribers on a weekly basis - there is a limit to how much information people can (and want to) absorb in one go!

HOW - are you going to manage your email list and newsletters?

We use MailChimp. It's great - and has a brilliant free trial, too. This lets us manage our lists through a handy user interface, use their API to automatically add subscribers from our website (we can easily integrate yours too, if you like) - and means that we don't have to worry as much about making sure people have opted in, legal requirements and handling bad addresses which get onto the list. The reports have just the right amount of information to help maximise performance too.

Enough of selling someone else’s product! My point is that you probably don't want to just keep a list in a text file - there are strict requirements you need to follow under various pieces of legislation (not least of all the Data Protection Act) - and if nothing else you need to exercise the same due diligence that you do in all the other areas of your business. Plus you need the tools available to work out what happens when you send a message and to help you make the most of your list.

And where does that leave us?

Put plainly, a newsletter can be an enormously powerful business tool and can be hugely beneficial to both you and your clients if used properly. But if used poorly or badly implemented/managed, it'll achieve very little apart from using up your precious time. Remember - failing to plan is planning to fail!

Matt Chatterley

Director - Mattched IT

Mattched IT offer a wide range of Web Design, Web Development and Search Engine Optimisation services tailored to meet your needs and requirements.

What did we do before Technology?

2010-03-15T23:03:00.000Z

I sat and wrote this blog with good old pen and paper. Why? Because I took my lovely shiny netbook, with an 8 hour battery, along with me when I took small child for her swimming lesson last week so I could catch up on some work. And because I failed to check that lovely shiny netbook with an 8 hour battery actually had any charge in it before I left the house!

It got me thinking, how did we ever cope without the gadgets that we have today, and have they really made my life better?

I grew up in the age of the Spectrum ZX, the BBC, the Acorn and the Commodore 64. Printers were only found in offices and then they were the old multi-sheet lined paper feed dot matrix printers. The first computer I used at work was Windows 386.

Programmes like Word weren’t in every office, we didn’t have access to the internet, not that I am sure I had heard of it then, and I had never heard of email.

Mobile phones were only for yuppies, and came with a battery pack larger than my handbag.

Do I miss those days? Not in the slightest. I fully embrace technology and all that it means to me. I make my living from this virtual world and I would not be without it.

I work online, I shop online and I socialise online.

Thanks to the wonders of the digital technology I have masses of photos of my beautiful daughter, and can share them online with friends and relatives around the world. I can take two or three photos to ensure that I get the shot that is just right for me, no more waiting till the film comes back to realise that small child was sticking her tongue out, no more counting how many flashes were left on the flash bar, or how many shots were left on the film.

I can talk via Skype video with colleagues, clients and family and friends around the world.

I can use the resources of the internet to find the perfect family holiday, to figure out what small child’s maths homework actually means, and I can sit back in wonderment as my daughter researches the current topic at school, then writes up her report on Textease.

Thanks to the Nintendo Wii I have watched three generations of family laugh and play together from age 7 to 75, and have been pleasantly surprised at the interest it has re-kindled in the less active of us in exercise. Anything that makes exercise feel like you are playing a game wins in my book, though I have to say, watch out for those wii related sports injuries, they hurt as much as the real thing!

Whilst there are things that are anti social about technology, there are many advantages as well. Used in balance it eases workloads, improves communication, generates knowledge and makes life sweeter and easier.

I have made friends, learned new things and broadened my horizons all thanks to the internet and the technology that allows me to use it, from my laptop, my netbook and my mobile phone. It has also allowed me to win an argument occasionally as I googled the answer to some silly question, just to prove I was right. Not to mention it is perfect for when small child comes out with her latest curiosity - "Mummy why do nettles sting, what makes them do it?" Good old google to the rescue.

For someone who wasn’t the first to get a mobile, a home PC or a PDA, I am now at a loss without them. I crave access to my social network, email and internet when I am deprived of my wireless connection. Today I sat in a broken down car for over an hour waiting for a recovery truck. Thankfully, between my laptop and my mobile broadband I didn’t waste that hour but spent it productively instead.

So do you embrace technology or do you wish for the good old days? Your comments are welcomed.

How to successfully work from home - Guest Blog by Heather Townsend

2010-03-08T23:04:00.000Z

How to successfully work from home

Whether you are a start-up business, kitchen table entrepreneur, home worker or sole practitioner, your first office space is normally situated at home. After a nearly a year of a ten second commute, I admit the novelty of working from home is starting to wear a little thin.

Here are my thoughts on how to make working from home work for you.

Create a dedicated work space.

It doesn’t need to be anything as formal as a home office – although if you can do this, then great – but a space that is dedicated to your work. A dedicated workspace helps you to separate the two halves of your life – home life and work life. If you have young children, then having a work area that you can physically shut away is a must!

Create boundaries

When you start to work from home, the boundaries of work life and home life get very blurred. From personal experience, I know it can be very hard to switch off at the end of the day, and let my work seep into my quality time with my family. It takes discipline to keep home and business life separate – but as time goes on, it becomes essential to create that boundary.

Plan your day

It’s very easy to waste time when you are working on your own at home. When you finish for the day, make a list of what you need to achieve for the next day. This will help you mentally switch off at the end of your working day, and be ready and focused for what needs to happen when you start work in the morning.

Set expectations with your family

When I first started working from home, my husband thought that I could do all the housework while I was meant to be working. He also thought that on my ‘working days’ I could look after the children while he went to the gym. We knocked those ones on the head pretty quickly! Don’t muddle up your domestic chores and your business work. Set separate times to do your housework –and gain the commitment of your family to this new regime.

Put some structure in your day

Whilst you may love not having to get up every morning to go into the office, it is important to put some structure in your day. By this I mean, a time when you intend to be at your desk and a time when you will stop working. This will help you separate your work and home life – and help the people around you get used to your new routine.

Seek out people

Particularly if you are an extrovert, you will need people around you. Balance your times in the office with the quieter times in your household. Go out networking during the week so that you can meet people.

Keep your home and office tidy

At some point you will have some work people visiting your home. Make sure you keep your workspace tidy and free of domestic clutter, so that any visitors to your home office wouldn’t be alarmed at your untidy house.

Install a business phone line

If you can afford it, use a business answering service. I have found to my cost that my husband is a lousy receptionist and tends to forget to write down messages. An answer phone is an OK solution – but 8/10 people don’t leave a message on a voicemail. Can you afford to miss a potential new business enquiry?

Heather Townsend

The Efficiency Coach

Find out more about The Efficiency Coach and sign-up for her monthly newsletter & fortnightly efficiency tip

Find out more about The Executive Village

Get ideas & inspiration to achieve more

Think outside the box

2010-03-01T22:38:00.000Z

It’s been an interesting twelve months to look back on, apart from the fact that this time last year I was only toying with the idea of self employment; I have seen some interesting changes take place amongst the people around me.

Twelve months ago I had a difficult decision to make, either accept reduced working hours in my full time job or be made redundant, albeit with no real payout as I had only been there a couple of years. It was a bit of a Hobson’s choice really. I just had to work out how to pay five days worth of bills and mortgage from a four day salary.

Not one to sit back I decided to do something about it. I looked at the skills I already had, the knowledge that I had gained and the resources that I had access to. What could I do? The obvious answer was to set up over the next few months as an Executive Virtual Assistant and be fortunate to be able to
grow my business to full time status in September last year.

Now I wasn’t the only person in that position where I worked, and apparently not the only one to show some get up and go. Over the course of the next few months no fewer than six of us left and became self employed. We looked at the situation we were in and looked at what we could do about it. I won’t say none of us complained at times or felt hard done by, we did, but we got up and
did something about it, and I am pleased to report that we are all doing extremely well and not regretting our decisions at all.

Yes, I know there is a recession out there, but I made a conscious decision to stop listening to the news, it either depressed me or angered me. Instead I put my energy to better use. I made a conscious decision not to listen to the doom mongers, as I didn't want them to affect what I wanted to do, I could concentrate on what I believed in, which was running a successful business.

Be realistic about the situation that you are in. Talk it over with your Accountant or Financial Advisor; get their honest opinion on it. You probably have a gut feel for how things are going as well. Listen to it. I have watched Clients make some very hard decisions over the last few months, but I have also seen them weather the storm because they made the right decisions, believed in what they were doing, and worked hard to overcome the obstacles.

Take a good look at what your business offers. Rather than walk away from it is there something that you could add to that offering that would compliment what you do, without breaking the bank in the process?

I work with a team of other Virtual Assistants to offer our own bespoke call answering service, it compliments our other services, and by working together we are all able to strengthen the offering and our businesses.

One Client decided to compliment their services as an Independent Financial Advisor by adding a virtual estate agency service to his offering. He has real knowledge of the area he covers because he lives there, he can advise prospective buyers on the local schools, pubs and shops, how easy it is to
to get from A to B, what the local facilities are, and best of all he is practically a one stop shop now as he can also sort out the mortgage for both the buyer and the seller.

Another Client has formed strategic partnerships with other suppliers in the same field, by working together, in much the same way as Virtual Assistants do; they are now able to offer a broader range of services, including new products that they would previously not have been able to supply.

I have other Clients who I have introduced to each other, who traditionally would not have worked together, but by thinking outside the box, have formed strategic alliances that enable them to offer their existing client base each other’s services, again strengthening both their businesses.

Look at what is working around you, talk to the people around you and look at the opportunities out there for collaboration or out of the box solutions.

I would be interested to hear your comments on the subject.

Friday 26th February 2010

2010-02-25T21:35:00.002Z

Some of you may remember a blog I wrote recently that was a slightly different follow Friday, if you read further down you will find it. It’s the one from Friday 29^th January. I cried when I wrote it, and apologise for making others cry when they read it. But it needed to be said. It was about a very special girl, Carrie-Louise Robe who is the daughter of a very good friend of mine.

I am sorry to have to update you with the sad news that Carrie passed away at 4.00am on Thursday 25^th February, 2010.

Beautiful, brave Carrie was given just a few days left to live back at the end of January. She was only 14, and had a rare form of cancer called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Despite having a bone marrow transplant in 2007, she was told before Christmas she would have to endure more Chemo, have operations on her knees, and so much more. She was a very poorly little girl, and through it all she always thought of others before herself, never feeling sorry for herself, or allowing others to feel sorry for her. To put this in perspective, for nearly half of her short life she suffered. Life stinks sometimes, it truly does.

She battled to the end and went out smiling; every photo of her I saw had the same beaming smile!

I am asking you to do something for me in Carrie’s memory. I’d like you to consider joining the British Bone Marrow Register

http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/bonemarrow/

It’s easy to do, you just let them know next time you donate blood. It’s as simple as that. Both my husband and I have been on the register for years. There’s a chance that you could be a match for someone who is seriously ill. By joining the register you have the chance to save a life. It’s too late to help Carrie, but there’ll be someone else’s daughter or son, wife or husband out there who desperately needs your help. I know that some of you would love to do this, but for health reasons are unable to join, if that’s the case please just share this blog with your friends and family.

If you would like to support Carrie’s memory, I have set up a JustGiving page in her name in support of one of her chosen charities, Clic Sargent, with all money donated in Carrie’s name, in an effort to help other children and families suffering from cancer.

http://www.justgiving.com/carrier

I would deem it a great personal favour if you would consider joining the Bone Marrow register or make a donation to Carrie’s charity, or even both.

I apologise for copying sections of this from my original blog, but right now am too upset to start telling the tale totally afresh. I also borrowed the idea for the verse below from one of the facebook pages her friends set up for her, to show they loved her and wanted her to get better.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,

I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain,

I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,

I am in the graceful rush

Of beautiful birds in circling flight,

I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,

I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing,

I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there. I do not die (Mary Elizabeth Frye)

I would like to dedicate this blog to the memory of Carrie-Louise Robe, whose bravery, amazing outlook on life, and fabulous smile continue to fill me with respect and awe. Rest in peace Carrie xxx

Guest Blog: E Mail Marketing Overview by Phil Monk

2010-02-23T07:04:00.000Z

What is Email Marketing?

Put really simply it’s the use of electronic mail for marketing purposes. Of course it’s a little bit more complex than that. Email marketing is a form of direct marketing, it allows companies to easily and cost effectively communicate with their customer base and target and acquire new customers.

Email marketing is often used in conjunction with other forms of traditional marketing such as direct mail and newspaper and magazine ads.

The advantage of using email is that it’s a lot quicker to get your message to a large number of people, it’s certainly cheaper and more often than not you see the results of email campaigns a lot earlier than other forms of traditional marketing.

Let’s look at some of the basics of basics of email marketing.

Mailing Lists

If you want to send emails to people you need their permission it’s as simple as that. We’re not talking about emails you may send to a friend or colleague, we’re talking about regular emails you may want to send to your customers or people who visit your website and want to know more about your products or services, so if you want to use email marketing as part of your overall marketing strategy make sure you have peoples permission to do so – this is actually a legal requirement.

There are a number of ways you can do this. You could build your own opted in list via your website or you could buy an email list from a reputable data supplier to promote your list.

You can email those who people who have supplied an email address as part of a sale or if you are emailing them about a similar product they have purchased from you as long as you give them a means to unsubscribe at any time.

Take every opportunity to grow your email list. Make your sign up box prominent on every page of your website. So many companies fail in this. Keep it simple, first name and email address are all you really need, you can collect other data later.

Make sure you keep your email list clean, remove those you ask to be unsubscribed, remove hard bounces and incorrectly formatted email addresses – this is best practice.

Campaigns

Send regular email campaigns, at least once a month if you can, fortnightly or weekly is even better.

Use a reputable Email Service Provider (ESP) to broadcast your campaigns through. ESP provide the software to manage every aspect of a campaign from creating your message, through to managing your marketing lists and most importantly reporting on results.

Make sure you create both text and HTML versions of your email (ESP's often have easily customisable templates you can use) this is known as a multipart message, depending on your subscriber’s settings either the text of HTML version will be delivered.

The advantages of HTML include being able to add images to your message (don't overdo it) use different fonts and colours and generally make your message more attractive. HTML has the added advantage of being able to track the number of people who actually open your message.

Test, test and test again. Ideally you should test every campaign you send, whether it's subject lines, creative, landing pages, time of day, which day of the week.

Make sure your subject lines are relevant to the content of the email, it's tempting to write an attention grabbing headline to get your email opened but if the content doesn't match the subject line your efforts have been wasted.

Make sure your content is engaging and informative and actually fulfils the reason your subscriber joined your mailing list in the first place. Your content can be used to build awareness of your products or services, educate your customers and build your credibility, sell your products or keep them up to date with new developments or services but make sure it is relevant.

Measuring Results

The most common stats that everyone tends to look for when looking at the results of a particular campaign is the open rate, and while this is important to a point, it's not the only stat you should be looking at. Obviously it's important that your email gets opened, but it's also important that your subscribers act on the message it contains. Other important stats to look at include your click through rate – how many people clicked on the links in your email to find out about your new product or service, or visited your website; email is a great way of driving traffic back to your site.

You didn't open your email and why? Was the timing wrong? Bad subject line?

Also look at the links people clicked on, did they just click on the first link in the email and ignore the rest, which links and which content proved the most popular.

If your email was selling something, how much did you sell? What was your return on investment for that campaign?

All of this information can be used to improve further campaigns.

Phil Monk

www.galenawebdesign.co.uk

Follow Friday Recommendations February 19th 2010

2010-02-18T23:15:00.000Z

This week’s follow Friday is a website @toptentips. They are on Twitter so it’s a proper follow Friday, however, it’s really the expertise that is published on the site that I am recommending.

You know when someone shows you a really great idea and you sit back and think I wish I had known that before? Well this site is full of really great ideas I am recommending. Each contributor can only write once, so you get all their experience in one solid feature.

And the best bit? It’s free. This is a site written by the experts in their own fields. They are sharing with you their personal top ten tips to help you start, grow and improve upon your business. It is a fabulous resource, and I really wish it had been there when I started out last year.

As some of my followers will know, I have a bit of a pet hate, it’s people or companies who take advantage of small and start up businesses and want to charge them for information and services that frankly they could have got elsewhere for free or actually isn’t worth the paper it is written on.

This site is such a breath of fresh air; it’s all about collaboration and that sharing of knowledge. And the contributors ask for nothing in return. As I said, they are experts in their field. There are already twenty features on there, with more to follow over the coming months. The next article to be released is all about Tendering, and is written by a member of the Institute of Directors who has been involved in bids with values ranging from several thousand pounds to tens of millions of pounds. I know a lot of small companies who will really benefit from this information.

I have been told by the site managers that they are currently accepting pre-registrations. It’s free to sign up, and your business will receive a free listing in the open directory that will be incorporated into the site. To me the best thing about registering is that they will email you the new features in advance of them being released, so you don’t have to miss out on any new releases.

There are some great features on there already, some of which are written by people I already follow and respect a lot. I look forward to following the other contributors and learning from them as well.

They have a hashtag on Twitter #TipOfTheDay

You know how I feel about sharing information and collaborating with each other, and this site fits right into my philosophy. So if you are in business and want some guidance or you just want to add to the project, follow @toptentips because it is all about collaboration for small business. And take a moment to read their Social Networking policy at the very bottom of the page. I think it’s a great description of Social Networking, not that I am a Twitter addict or anything! Oh yeah, forgot, I am!

The website can be found here: http://www.top10tips.co.uk/

Recruitment Agency Insight - Guest Blog from Kevin Wright

2010-02-16T09:25:00.003Z

Love them or hate them Recruitment companies are everywhere. When I go to my local newsagent or takeaway they get into conversation about what I do, so I tell them ,then they tell me “Oh there was one on every street corner in 2007” and then they tell me today they see none. I believe they get this impression from their rare trips to town but look up at shared office blocks and you will see that there are now more than 15,000 of us in the UK.

Every company has to hit targets and has to make sales, be this by way of cold calls, snail mail, television marketing, media advertising, the one thing all companies have in common is they are there to make a profit and to do this they have to sell their service. When I and my team have made what is known as a cold call I am often somewhat shocked by the lack of interest from the third party.

I am not going to guest blog about how fantastic recruitment agencies are now offering great deals, but what I am going to do is offer you a true insight into recruitment methods and why a recruitment company / agency is good for your business. At the right rate of course J

As I said all companies have a goal and that is to make a profit and to achieve this we market in different ways. A recruitment company does not really have much free marketing available to it. We have to pay our respective job boards a set monthly fee to post positions, then we have to filter these down into suitable candidates. Without being rude you can get responses from people that are not skilled to do the job – take a look at this example.

I sent a speculative CV to a potential company I wanted to do business with. When he received my email he mailed me back and said “Thanks Kev I have just paid £1,500 to advertise my position in the local paper, I think I will be ok Thanks” – Ok I thought this is a rejection for now so I will just file this accordingly. (2 weeks). I emailed the prospect back to ask how his advert went; he then got back to me and said “Is your offer still available? It seems to have been more hassle than it was worth” – Further investigation led me to no surprise, they had a small ad and the online free ad on the jobcentre was scary,it was lacking substance and the benefits of the position.

Without being rude, the Ad made it look as if anybody could apply, which of course you can, but let’s be realistic you need to have some experience especially in this £18,000 basic + *% comm role anyway and us recruitment consultants are fully trained in writing a good Ad to attract the correct applicant. With the boards we utilise and pay for we have ample space as the job centre limits you to around 800 words. 800 words is not enough if you are serious about attracting the correct candidate.

So there he was with £1,500 gone with a total of 1 placement from this, I offered him a deal, I explained a little more about what I do, how we do it, and how this would save him time and money in the long run, he quickly agreed to allow me to recruit for him.

Now back to marketing. We have to pay for all of our candidate and client marketing; however there is the Job centre which is cool. There are people who have been unemployed for long amounts of time and are looking for work and you can get some good people from there, but the chances of you filling your post to your specific requirements is dramatically reduced as opposed to using a recruitment agency. If I have not made it clear, we pay for our candidate marketing with companies who have invested in SEO to get their posts to the top of Google; this gives us a far better chance of filing your positions for you. We are able to select a shortlist of how many people you need and present it to you, and the best bit about it - what? They all match what you are looking for to the letter therefore whatever you pay an agency is worth it as opposed to pointless media advertising and Job centres ads (depending on the role)

Have a great 2010 everybody

@kevwr8

TimeEazy Recruitment

Follow Friday Recommendations 12th February 2010

2010-02-12T21:53:00.001Z

Firstly, apologies that the blog is so late today, but I have been very busy working with some of my great Clients and also spending some family time with small child and my other half.

So who would I like to recommend for follow friday this week...

I have so many great friends and people I follow on Twitter that this gets harder every week, the list could go on and on, but that's because so many great people interact with me on there.

You can always check out my lists on Twitter, they are a good indication, but this week I have decided to concentrate on people that have interacted with me this week.

@carolinewalsh2 came up with a great banking contact for me, who fits my requirements exactly, thank you, and I hope your networking event this morning was a success.

@efficiencycoach has been a great coach for me, and it's not all business you know (although she has transformed that), she makes sure you look after yourself as well, it's the whole package, it's kind of like when you are a kid and you have to think before you do something 'what would my Mum say?', well, before I do things now I think 'what would Heather say?', and because of that voice in my head I have taken better care of myself this past few weeks, and it is starting to have results. So yes, she could quite rightly say 'I told you so!' now. Thank you Heather.

@bradleyvast really made me laugh last week, and I love hearing about the projects he is involved in, it reminds me of the best bits of my old job. He is the perfect tweeter, a bit of personal, some interaction and some business as well, and I am sure you won't be disappointed if you follow him.

@thedervman and @MandeeCA deserve an extra special mention, they are my lovely neighbours, and if Carlsberg made neighbours, it would be these two. Dervman shares my love of gadgetry and geekiness and Mandee shares my love of crafting and scrapbooking, and for some reason they think small child is wonderful! We have had some great muddy walks, introducing them to the village, and Dervman has some interesting perspectives he likes to share with us.

@xingsmoothies deserve a mention, thanks to Twitter I have found loads of great people here in my home town, but Simon has done something I never thought possible and encouraged me into a healthy shop! Not only that, I look forward to my weekly visit and the 'Blueberry Hug' with anticipation. Only time will tell if he will ever get me to sample the wheatgrass, though he does seem to have made it his mission in life. I cannot say I am enamoured of the stuff after seeing him make it, the waste coming out of the machine looks like something you peel off the bottom of the lawn mower when you have finished cutting the grass. Tomorrow's visit should be rather interesting.They also do fantastic work with schools, teaching the kids about healthy options but also how to set up their own juice bars, teaching them vital business skills. How cool is that.

Special thanks have to go to @Studio4York for my new profile picture this week, he had very hard material to work with bless him, and has made me look very professional, but rest assured it's still good old Northern Lass underneath. And thanks to Jane from @confidentladies for the introduction. I hope to be able to work with Rob again, he has a great portfolio covering everything from weddings to model shoots and commercial.

Quick mentions and thanks also go to @NikkiPilkington, @LucyWhittington, @Shoegalsedgwick, @Paula6thlevel, @PennyAW, @Fulcrum_CR, @kevWr8, @TweetsbySkeet, @HumbersHomemade, @Rachaelblogs, @maximattitude ...

Outsourcing - Guest Blog from Colin Fraser

2010-02-09T08:26:00.000Z

Thanks to Colin Fraser from Maximum Attitude Business Coaching for this week's guest blog on Outsourcing.

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I thought I’d base this blog on outsourcing. Something that in principle business owners talk about, but in the case of small business, owners rarely do it. Why is that?

Why do small business owners feel that their main niche is to offer that personal service, to be at the end of the phone when required? Does this not breakaway from why you run your own business?

Many owners will defend themselves by saying that the customer likes it, it keeps them loyal, but then they would because you’re giving more than what they’ve paid for. The customer/client will know they can get more ‘bang for their buck’. They will push and push until you have to have the awkward conversation and say no more. So make sure you pre-set exactly what the client will receive and what they won’t and also what you will receive for that service.

Back to the subject why outsource, in some way or another whether it being by using a accountant for more than just your books, or just going on forums either giving or seeking advice and information, we all outsource. Do you outsource for the right reasons and in the right way?

How many people spend there day not doing their actual job of being a business owner?

I used to work for a manufacturing company where the managers used to spend their time sourcing kit and materials rather than managing their team. The reason for this was the person who was supposed to be finding the right kit wasn’t doing their job right. Did he know what he was expected to do? , was it in his contract, was he ever asked why he didn’t do it right , so he probably never knew or was he just playing the game. So what happens if this person doesn’t do his work, the next person in line has to pick up the pieces, but this means they won’t complete theirs, and so the trouble starts until it reaches the mangers, who end up doing someone elses role instead of there own.

For this reason owners are nervous about outsourcing and getting help, because they just don’t trust anyone to do it like they would. If clear roles and responabilities are laid down covering all aspects of the job, then there should be no reason for anyone to complain. When outsourcing and recruiting, communication is key to make sure they know what is expected of them.

Outsourcing is critical for any business owner to do, it has to be controlled and monitored but needs to be done to ensure growth within any company.

Think what you could achieve if you weren’t doing these small admin jobs that could be done by others.

Weigh up the costs of outsourcing work against business growth you could achieve by concentrating your efforts on the future rather than last weeks pay role, plus don’t forget about the time saved to allow you to spend more time with family and friends, which is by far the most important thing in life.

Outsource to maintain growth and balance in business and in your private life.

Colin Fraser

http://www.maxattitude.co.uk

Guest Blog: Undertake your own PR Campaign

2010-02-01T22:52:00.000Z

Thanks to @RachaelBlogs from Twitter for this week's blog on Undertaking your own PR Campaign

No one knows your business like you do and that makes you the perfect person to undertake your PR campaign.

Getting publicity is fun but remember at the end of the day it’s there to do one thing and that’s to achieve your objective. It’s great to see your name in print or be the one they come to when they need that all important quote but if it doesn’t get you more clients, make more money or raise awareness of your business then it’s a waste of time.

There are multiple ways you use public relations to get your message out but as press releases are still one of the most popular ways of getting your message in front of journalists and editors here are some top tips for writing an effective press release…

Create a headline...

That makes the reader sit up and take notice. Keep it short, active and descriptive.

Be Newsworthy and Creative…

Do you think your local paper cares that you’ve launched a website? Or that you’ve hired a new member of staff? Of course they don’t. But think of putting a creative slant on it, is your new team member doing something fun for charity, does your website have a function local people can use etc. if you can’t think of a decent news angle flick through the newspapers and see if you can tie in your story to an existing event. Whatever you do, make sure you make it interesting.

Know your publication…

This is vital, please get to know the newspaper or magazine to which you are sending your release and tailor it to suit that audience. As a journalist there really is nothing worse than wasting your time reading poorly targeted releases.

Put the most important information at the beginning...

The reporter should be able to tell what the release is about within the first two paragraphs.

Remember to use the ‘who, what, where, when, why and how’ structure.

Avoid hype and keep it real...

Your press release is not designed to be a sales pitch. If you submit a sales pitch the journalist will sniff this out instantly and you won’t get any further than the delete button.

Be creative; think of a newsworthy reason for your release.

Get to the point...

Use language that’s going to get your reader excited about you and your news. Don’t waffle, get to the point and give the reader what they want to know.

The one page rule

Writing a release doesn’t have to be an essay, in fact if you have to write more than one page then you are not getting to the point.

Contact person...

Never forget to include details of a person that a journalist can contact. You never know when they’re going to contact so make sure the nominated person is always ready and accessible. Journalists don’t have time to keep chasing you for quotes or facts so ensure that you know your stuff.

No jargon...

You may understand what you’re saying when you use jargon but your reader and the readers of the publication you are targeting may not. If you are aiming at consumer press stay away from all jargon. If you’re targeting specialist and business to business press it is acceptable to use jargon and technical terms but do keep these to a minimum.

Don’t just say it, show it...

Try to avoid just saying something is unique or the best instead push home the benefits of what you’re saying for example will save money, will save time, make life easier, etc

Be specific and add details...

Your audience needs to be able to know how your product or service works. It is far better to use too many details than too few. It is a fine line between waffling and giving the correct amount of information so ask someone unfamiliar with your business to read through and describe what you’re trying to say.

PROOFREAD and PROOFREAD again...

Don’t just trust your word processing program to catch the mistakes. Read and re-read to make sure that not only are your spelling and grammar perfect but your sentences make sense.

Use your blog!!

Blogs are a great way of getting your message out; journalists are now turning to bloggers to provide them with interesting stories so make full use of your blog and ensure you update it on a regular basis.

Slightly different Follow Friday Blog 29th January 2010

2010-01-29T07:03:00.000Z

I've never cried while writing a blog before. Mind you, I’ve never written a Follow Friday blog like this before either. I need to ask you for a Follow this week that is slightly different. The person I want you to follow isn’t even on Twitter for a start.

I have a friend who has been there for me over the past few months, offering moral support, good advice and friendship, while I have been juggling everything to set up my business. She’s a very good friend. I’ve just found out that her beautiful, brave daughter, Carrie, has days left to live. She is 14, and has a rare form of cancer called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Despite having a bone marrow transplant in 2007, she was told before Christmas she would have to endure more Chemo, have operations on her knees, and so much more. She’s a very poorly little girl, and through it all she has always thought of others before herself, never feeling sorry for herself, or allowing others to feel sorry for her. To put this in perspective, for nearly half of her short life she has suffered. Life stinks sometimes, it truly does.

I have cried, sworn, shouted and stamped my feet, but it hasn’t helped (It hasn’t made me feel any better either). I have given my own daughter extra hugs; she is only 7 and I can’t imagine a child that young having to go through any of this. I can’t imagine what it must be like for her mum, either.

As Carrie doesn’t have a Twitter page you can’t follow her so I’d like you to consider joining the British Bone Marrow Register http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/bonemarrow/

If you would like to support Carrie, I have set up a JustGiving page in her name in support of one of her chosen charities, Clic Sargent, with all money donated in Carrie’s name, in an effort to help other children and families suffering from cancer. http://www.justgiving.com/carrier

So please, I know I have great followers, this week, I would deem it a great personal favour if you would consider joining the Bone Marrow register or make a donation to Carrie’s charity, or even both.

Thank you.

What is networking? Guest blog from Confident Ladies

2010-01-25T22:34:00.000Z

I would like to thank Jane from Confident Ladies for writing our guest blog this week.

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Claire Young a Finalist in The TV series ‘The Apprentice’ was asked by a journalist recently, “If she had one piece of advice for someone starting in business what would it be?” Her answer was, “To get 50 free business cards printed, go off to a networking event and talk to people”

So what are the advantages, what is ‘Networking’ and how do you actually go about it?

Did you know that up to 70% of new business is gained through recommendation and word of mouth. The power of networking comes from the fact that behind every person you meet at an event there are hundreds of potential contacts that they know and may introduce you to. Most will only do this, regardless of how fabulous your business is, if a. They like you and b. They trust you.

As the old saying goes ‘It's not what you know, but who you know.’

The thought, for some, of going into a room full of people and talking to strangers is daunting to say the least but a good Networking group will make you feel comfortable and included. The other members attending will have had the same fears (guaranteed) on their first visit. I always feel it is a good idea to have a few questions ‘up your sleeve’ to ask if and when you find yourself having to speak to someone else. Questions such as ‘What type of business do you run? How far have you come to get here? What made you decide to start your own business? These types of question let other tell you about themselves; which is the key to networking!

Just like friendships, networking is a mid to long term strategy that requires commitment and patience. Don’t just go along to a couple of events and expect to walk away with a small handful of clients from them. You need to get to know others and show more of an interest in them than ‘sell’ yourself to be effective. Networking is all about building relationships so that others feel comfortable either hiring you themselves or recommending you to their network of contacts. Always wait to be asked to tell people what you do. Some networking groups even have a space in their timetable for everyone to do what’s called their ‘Elevator pitch’ if this is the case then use this time to tell others about you and let them ask you about it later.

I can hear you saying, “What is an Elevator Pitch” well imagine you’re in a lift with one more or more people and one of them says, “What is it you do?” You need to answer him or her before the lift stops and so that they get out of the lift knowing exactly what it is your offering. Its takes work and practice to perfect.

This might help to start you off - The five W's- The first step is to develop answers to the following questions:

What does your company do? (For example, begin your answer with "We provide.")

Whom does your company do it for? (For example, begin your answer with "For small and midsized healthcare providers.")

Why do they care? Or, what’s in it for them? (For example, include in your answer "so that they can," "who can no longer afford," or "who are tired of.")

Why is your company different? (For example, begin your answer with "As opposed to" or "Unlike.")

What is your company? (For example, begin your answer with "My Company is insurance.")

At any networking event big or small you will meet people; some groups even give you a list of attendees and their contacts. Don’t waste this opportunity, keep in touch and if you say you are going to do something for someone do it as soon as is possible. Remember, you are trying to build a good relationship, letting someone down isn’t the way to go about it.

Working for yourself can be isolating particularly if, like me, you have been used to having lots of colleagues around you day to day. Networking can fill the social gap of working for yourself too and what better way than to socialise within a positive environment with a group of talented and supportive people a great way to combat that feeling of isolation.

Kind Regards

Jayne Twiddle (Director)

Email: info@confidentladies.co.uk

Web: www.confidentladies.co.uk

Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/confidentladies

Twitter: @confidentladies

VA's, Beauty and The Beast by Barry James

2010-01-18T21:07:00.000Z

Around ten years ago a dream died for me. From it's very earliest days I believed that the Internet could release people all over the world from work drudgery to do the kind of things they loved and were good at. That the resulting massive surge of creativity and energy could benefit everyone everywhere - and change the way the world works forever. I even put my money, company and career at the time were my mouth was. That's a story for another time.

I studied Psychology when I was at Uni and I know that factories are not a natural environment for people. Neither is the office (originally modelled on factories) or school for that matter. Nor is the 'traditional' company. For most people work is like hobbling around in painfully tight ill fitting shoes - at best. You just get used to it because you have to. Farm and village life were more natural - from a human and psychological point of view - based around neighbours friends and the extended family.

Eventually I reluctantly concluded that my vision - that the Internet could release our individuality and creativity - was a pipe-dream. That the monopolists were winning and the web was going to be (mostly) about branding and manipulating the masses after all.

Now I'm beginning to wonder again. The dream seemed to go 'pop' with the bubble, then nothing. Until now.

Sometimes even 'safe' assumptions are completely wrong. Just about everyone seems to think that the economy has a settled structure based around corporate culture (and SMEs - smaller businesses - trying to grow and become like corporates). Also that to become a corporation is success - anything else is failure, in some degree.

Really small, human scale, businesses have tended to be dismissed as 'lifestyle-businesses' or just 'micro-businesses'. This has tended to be perpetuated by governments - who find large corporate entities easier to deal with (you can ring up the Chairman).

Meanwhile the forces of globalisation (on everything from a global to a local scale) care nothing for such models. Their power is a brutal evolutionary one which thrives on creativity and efficiency.

Ultimately a hundred happy, creative, focussed, entrepreneurial people can achieve far far more than the same people herded into an office block every day, controlled from the top and made to toe-the-line, with all the misery that often results. Provided they have a way to network, collaborate and interwork. From this point of view the corporate culture (which took over the world only in the last couple hundred years we mostly seem to forget) works, but is strikingly inefficient.

But I've never seen a group of people (with one possible exception) really get this working in a new way. Using Internet tools as the glue to constantly connect, reconnect and combine everyone's efforts, skills and creativity in a constantly sifting landscape of projects to everyone's benefit. Until now.

(The one exception is the open source software community which has, so far, proved to be incredibly and unexpectedly powerful - but is more like an underground movement held in check by corporate forces - and probably self limiting - than the germ of a new model).

There has been a growing acknowledgement of the importance of SMEs and 'supply chains' for some time now - as a part of globalisation and the Internet. Some examples of this are bad. Many are expressions of corporate culture preying on smaller companies.

What I now seen developing and growing in the UK VA sphere is quite different. It's a vibrant community of skilful, inherently interdependent and cooperative (mostly single handed) entrepreneurs working together to great effect and with amazing efficiency. (This is not difficult to proove - just compare the costs of employing someone to getting the same job done this way and it speak for itself).

The range of skills are such that it seems to me that almost any function - back or front office - can be taken on in this community in a way that is many times more efficient than in the existing corporate / employee style. A kind of crowd-sourced business model. It's different to the 'open source' community because it is irrevocable intertwined with the 'old' economy - but is more efficient than it's host.

It's no coincidence that this phenomenon has mushroomed in a recession - when evolutionary forces slam into gear and deliver their brutal verdicts. It's a clear indication that this is a pioneering culture - and the shape of things to come.

I thought my dream had died. I mourned it a very long time indeed. I begin to suspect that 'Beauty' was only 'Sleeping' after all. Those evolutionary forces are hardly Prince Charming - and a recession is a rather brutal kind of kiss. But maybe - just maybe...

Follow Friday Recommendations January 15th 2010

2010-01-14T20:58:00.000Z

What a week this has been for me. It’s been so full of phone calls, Skype calls and Skype messages and emails. They all revolve around people starting new ventures or new projects and wow is all I can say. There have been some great ideas in there, lots of opportunities for bringing people together and collaborating with each other to make their businesses better. I love it when things come together. The future is looking bright and rosy so ignore the doom mongerers, 2010 is looking like a great year if you are prepared to put the hard work in as always.

I have to start my Follow Friday’s this week with an amazing company @ReceiptAngel, what a fantastic product they have released, I can’t believe no one has released something like this in the UK before. Read my last blog for more information on this (and a discount code), but do please follow them, I think they are really a company that is going to be going places this year.

I have had some great chats on Twitter and email this past week with @paula6thlevel, @shoegalsedgwick, and @kevWr8

@izzibag has given me the inspiration I needed to try and get back in size 12 jeans J and she is jetting off to New York today for an awards ceremony, help me out here and vote for her please (please note that votes wont count if you don’t put a comment on them)

@emmawarren1 has joined us on our Twitter charity run/walk 2010 challenge this week, , please do join us if you can. It’s all about setting yourself a small challenge and raising money for charity at the same time, and yes, it can be a walking challenge if you like! (Full marks have to go to @elizabethwells who took the opportunity to try and sell us all sports bras!!)

I am starting to feel like I am part of a little gang on twitter as several of us seem to end up tweeting conversations between ourselves, amazing what you can do in 140 characters, especially considering the length of some of these twitter names! Love goes out to @maximattitude, @creditmandotnet @tweetsbyskeet @rsarchery @kipfxdesign and special love to @katieforshaw for that amazing snow angel picture (I still say it was a picture of her collapsed in a drunken state but she says it’s a snow angel so who am I to disagree). These guys brighten my days and bring a smile to my face.

My twitter week has been so full and amazing I don’t feel I can do justice to everyone. I would like to mention some good causes that deserve a follow this week, and then apologise to everyone I haven’t mentioned.(You might well be on one of the lists I created this week though) @project65 @honourourforces and @kickcancer.

I reached over 1000 followers this week and 8000 tweets. Both milestones I thought I would never see. So thank you to all my followers and to all the people who interact with me on Twitter. You rock!

No more box of receipts...

2010-01-12T21:30:00.000Z

Last month I was introduced to Kay from Receipt Angel, who told me about a new service that they have launched. I found it a really interesting concept but didn’t really give it my full attention as Christmas was around the corner.

Anyway, we got together on the phone this week and had a good chat and I wanted to share Receipt Angel with you, it’s a solution for clients like my “box of receipts” man, which if any of you have seen my tweets regarding that project, will understand.

I also thought it was particularly apt that I mentioned it at this time of year, as some people frantically try and submit their Self Assessment in time for the end of January deadline.

Now I know that not everyone is like “box of receipts” man, some of you don’t throw your receipts in a box or a carrier bag and expect them to magically sort themselves out at the last minute and turn into information you can use for your self assessment. But you don’t have to be to benefit.

Receipt Angel has taken an age old problem and come up with a unique solution, I am not aware of another company offering this service in the UK at this time.

Using their special hand held scanner you scan your receipts, hit the send button and that’s it! At the end of the month you get an email from them with links to download the neatly sorted images (which are accepted by the VAT man and HMRC as if they were the originals) and importantly everything you need for your accountant, or to fill in your VAT form. They can even email the form straight to your accountant if you need. It’s so simple you can do it while you watch TV!

The more I thought about it, the more uses I could think of. For example how many sales consultants pile up receipts each month and need to submit expense claims? Do you really want to spend time finding them, writing it up, and filing it all? Receipt Angel could do all this for you.

As you will have seen from my previous blogs I am always talking about keeping an eye on your expenses, not wasting money, and making the best use of your time. This to me is a perfect solution for those people who don’t have the knowledge or even the inclination to do the task themselves; I mean how many of you out there really enjoy doing your books? I accept that I am an exception in actually enjoying it! You may not want to employ a bookkeeper to do it for you, or be able to afford an accountant, this way you do it yourself.

And because I am such a caring person I am going to give you a gift, a code that will allow you to save £99 on a 6 or 12 month subscription with Receipt Angel! Just click here to visit their online store and remember to enter the code AngelHS to get your £99 discount.

If you would like to read more information on their service it can be found here.

I would love to hear your comments on this and also for you to share your stories about “box of receipts” moments, and your ideas on who else can benefit from this service. Feel free to ask questions and if I can’t answer them I am sure the guys at Receipt Angel will jump in and do it for me.

Look after the pennies...

2010-01-08T08:35:00.000Z

...I know it's an old wives tale or some such but you have to admit there is a lot of truth in this old adage.

I was looking at a Client's bank charges yesterday and suddenly realised how much it cost him to write a cheque - his bank charges him 79p for every cheque he writes, add the cost of the envelope and the postage stamp and the remittance advice on top and you are well over £1.00.

May not sound a lot to you, but consider the alternative, an on-line bank payment is free of charge, an emailed remittance costs nothing. In just one transaction you have saved £1.00.

When was the last time you reviewed your bank's charging tariff?

Personally I use a bank that offers two years free banking, and will review it at the end of the two years. Mind you, I currently have no lending and don't anticipate the need, if you did then you would have to consider staying with your bank and building your relationship with the bank in the hope that when you did need them they would be there for you. Obviously this is something you would discuss with your Accountant or Bank Manager.

The point that I am trying to make is that too many companies fail to look at the little things. I have lost count of the number of companies I worked for who's stationery policy was decided by one person, who always ordered enough of something to get the latest free gift be it biscuits or a teddy bear, regardless of whether it was actually needed or cost efficient. One company I worked at had enough Tippex to last a decade!

Now some people may say it is my Yorkshire side, but I like to think I am a canny lass, I take my time deciding what I want to buy then I buy it from whoever gives me the best value. I don't buy toilet rolls and coffee from the stationers because they are cheaper from the Supermarket and I used to drive past on the way to work.

How long is it since you last reviewed your outgoings? Do you look at how much you pay for your phone, broadband and utilities? Or do you just stick with the same people for convenience?

I did a stationery review, okay it took me an hour to do, but the end result was a saving to my old company of over £350 year just on stationery.

Just spend a bit of time, sit down, look at what you are paying out each month, and why, its surprising how many companies aren't aware of all the small things that go out, and those odd £5 and £10 debits soon add up. Have a quick look, there are plenty of comparison sites out there, can you save money, and is switching going to be advantageous, sometimes the extra you pay is worth it if they offer fantastic customer service or something similar, but sometimes you could be saving money.

It's a new year, consider adopting this new approach, and hopefully you will end up better off financially, and with the satisfaction that you have moved your business forward.

Comments welcomed.

New Year, New You?

2010-01-04T22:14:00.002Z

It’s at this time of year that most people sit and make resolutions. It’s not something that I do these days, more to do with the fact I can never make them last, but I do think that there is a need to set goals for your business.

A year ago my business wasn’t even a dream; I was employed in a full time role, so asking me to make resolutions wouldn’t have made the slightest difference.

You have to set yourself goals or ideals but remain flexible enough to adapt and grow with them.

Set yourself a challenge that is going to take effort to achieve, it’s no fun if it’s easy, and the harder it is to achieve the more satisfaction you will gain from reaching it.

A New Year is a great time to review things, it’s a fresh start, I think that is why New Year is such a popular holiday, and it’s a chance to put mistakes behind you, to start again, another chance to possibly achieve that dream. Just look at how many people go back to work in January determined to look for a new job, or the divorce rate in January, the Xmas and New Year break seems to focus people much more than any other holiday.

So have I set my business goals yet? Nope, I have a rough idea of what I want to achieve, I need to put it down in writing though, I need to make sure that it is enough of a challenge but also achievable and realistic. It’s on my to do list!

I have acted on a couple of items though, I have booked my summer holiday, after all, it’s probably the only week of sun I will see all year, so I have something to look forward to and to work towards. I have also booked my place at the VA conference as well, a chance to meet my fellow Virtual Assistants and to learn how to improve and grow my business.

I have set myself a personal challenge of getting back on track with my running, I’ve already booked a 10k race to work towards, but as that’s not till August will find something a little sooner to motivate me for now. I am not going to diet, but I will try and be more sensible in my eating choices, I need a long term plan not a quick fix.

So have a think, be it personal or business related, set yourself goals, call them resolutions if you will, but ensure that they are realistic and achievable, it’s great for your morale if you can achieve them, and a downer if you can’t. Consider sharing them with someone else, it’s more of an incentive to achieve it.

Here’s hoping your 2010 brings you what you would wish for, may all your problems be small ones, and may all your achievements bring you rewards.

Don't forget the finances!

2009-12-28T12:41:00.000Z

Most people aren’t aware that when I started my business earlier this year I did so without any start-up capital at all. I already had the software and office supplies I needed so it was a case of doing the best I could on a budget of nothing, as I was already on a reduced salary from my employer.

So what lessons have I learned that will benefit others from this?

I have always been known for shopping around for a bargain, particularly since I first got access to the internet, and setting up my business was no different.

I hadn’t heard of a Virtual Assistant until this year, I just knew that I wanted to do what I do well, and ideally based from home. It was during a lot of internet research that I came across the term, and also a variety of sites wanting to support me as a Virtual Assistant, but all at a price!!

If I had signed up with all these sites and training courses I would have ended up bankrupt!

Instead, I spent time really researching what I wanted to do, found forums that were full of people already doing it, and listened to what they had to say. The majority of listing sites I came across were all American based, which really wasn’t any good for me.

In terms of software again I searched the internet, listened to what people were using, and utilised the knowledge I already had.

Whilst I would love to upgrade various bits of my office equipment I am realistic, it’s more of a want than a need right now, and I am choosing to wait till I can afford it.

So what did I invest my hard earned cash in? Not a lot really. I ordered a small amount of business cards from Vista Print, but paid for the upgrades so that they didn’t look like Vista Print cards. Again, a small print run for your first batch is a good idea as you will probably decide to change something before they have even arrived. I changed both my trading name and logo quite early on.

I felt that one of my main priorities was a website, as I am marketing to a virtual market, this would be my main point of contact. Again, I couldn’t afford to go for the bells and whistles CRM site that I wanted, but I have a monthly rental website instead. When my business grows my website will evolve with me.

I decided that I didn’t need an additional BT line, I wanted the flexibility that a VOIP phone number would allow me, and the cost for this was minimal.

I shopped around for a business account that offered free banking and internet access. To me, it is important to keep my business and personal transactions separate.

I listed my business on free listing websites; again I researched this before choosing them.

I created my own letter head in Word; I don’t need to have reams of printed paper lying around. I do however print on to a good heavyweight paper, if I have to print, as most of my documents are issued in pdf format and emailed.

I attended several free Business Link and HMRC workshops covering everything from cash flow, marketing, business planning, VAT, and self-assessment.

Quite early on I created a cash flow and an invoice timetable to ensure that the business was a viable proposition, this became critical when deciding to take it full time back in September. I input my invoice projections into the cash flow, then allowed for all the business expenses that I could think of, as well as budgeting for the amount of money I need to put away each month for the tax man. When all these had been taken into account the figure that was left would hopefully cover my drawings and leave some money in the business moving forward to cover the costs of replacing office furniture and equipment.

The beauty of a cash flow is that it adapts as your circumstances change. As new clients come on board the figures in the income section are adapted, and as new expenses are incurred so are the expenses.

I tried to incorporate four weeks paid leave into the cash flow, just in case of illness or holiday. Holiday I hear you laugh, you’re self-employed you don’t get holiday, but as the mother of a small child I do have to allow some time off for out of school care. This was great until I fell ill too early into the cash flow! Luckily, I had built up enough of a reserve to cover the few days I hadn’t been earning. More importantly I had also built into my personal expenditure for income insurance, something I think many small business owners over look. Also in my personal expenditure were the National Insurance contributions I need to make.

As the business has progressed so have the expenses, I now have online accounting from Xero, file back up and synchronisation from Sugar Sync, an inclusive call package on my VOIP phone, and utilise my own call answering service for when I am out of the office with Clients. But they have all come on board slowly and when I could afford them.

I also regularly review my cash flow and invoice targets to ensure that I am still on track. It is vital that you keep reviewing this, how else will you know if it is working.

My next task is to write my business plan and targets for next year. My goals need to push me, yet be achievable. Without the constant desire to improve and move forward your business will remain static. Hark at me, self-employed for less than a year here and talking about businesses moving forward.

So what goals have you set yourself for next year and how do you propose to monitor them? I would be really interested to hear.

Microsoft Office Live Sync

2009-12-21T18:39:00.000Z

File Synchronisation

I visited a Client the other week and was surprised to see that he was able to network his machines without the benefit of a server. When looking into it further he was using Microsoft Office Live Sync. The files on his computer were being synced in real time with three other machines in his office.

All you need to do is download a small piece of software to your machine and create a Microsoft Office Live id.

Log into Office Live on the internet and add the folders you wish to share. One piece of advice here is to share folders on an individual basis rather than one folder containing everything as you may find going forward you want different people to be able to have access to different files.

Once you have created the folders on Office Live you can add other users, this means that you can share your folders with colleagues or clients. You can allow several people access to the files, and allow them different permissions. There are options for view only, amend, and amend and change permissions. If you grant someone ”amend and change permissions” option then they can share files with other users. It is important that you get this bit right, as you don’t want to allow everyone access to confidential files but may want to allow everyone access to particular files. This is all possible with Microsoft Office Live Sync.

Using this service I have access to this particular Clients files, because they are stored on my hard drive it is just like working on any other file on my pc, however, when I click save a few moments later the file is updated on the clients’ pc. No more worrying about forwarding files by email back and forth or file sharing services. It’s instant, and you really cannot tell the difference to working on a networked server.

You can use this to sync files between your desktop, laptop and netbook as well as with other users.

And best of all, this is a free service! Microsoft also offer Live Mesh, another syncing service which I am currently trialling as well, but as I have only just started using it cant offer any feedback on the service yet. It was recommended by someone via the comments on my blog about backing up your files.

I would love to hear how others use these services and what their opinions are on them.

My Follow Friday Recommendations 18th December 2009

2009-12-17T22:29:00.001Z

This week I looked at who I had interacted with on Twitter, as I always do to see who I should select to mention in my blog, and I decided to try something different, especially as its Christmas next week.

M - @maximattitude

E - @efficiencycoach

R - @rachaelblogs

R - @rebekahharriman

Y - @yourfirstpa

C - @creditmandotnet

H - @hlsbs (well it is Christmas after all, lol)

R - @richardwhite

I - @izzibag

S - @stu_art_ist

T - @tweetsbyskeet

M - @michaelmknight

A - @amyaccountant

S - @shaungisbourne

There are always so many wonderful people to select from on my Twitter feed, that it is hard to pick just a handful, apologies to those not shown on the list this week, but a huge thank you nonetheless. You all make twitter such a positive place for me, be it making me laugh, offering advice, educating me, entertaining me, sharing your knowledge, ideas or thoughts.

I would therefore like to take this opportunity of wishing all my followers, and all those I follow, a very merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous new year, and hope that your hopes for the new year come true.

Images: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Collaboration not Competition

2009-12-15T22:36:00.001Z

It’s all about collaboration!

I recently had the opportunity to meet up with several members of the VA Support Group in Birmingham for a bit of festive cheer. It was lovely to actually meet the real people behind the virtual personas I have been talking to on Skype and Twitter this year.

Through working closely with each other we have all enhanced our own businesses by being able to offer clients services that previously we would not have been able to offer just working alone. I have some great working relationships with the team and as a result my clients have benefited.

Starting out in the VA industry earlier this year I was surprised at just how helpful and friendly a bunch of people I found them. There was no competition, just a genuine desire to help each other, wherever I happened to come across them, and was even more delighted to be invited to join the VA Support Group, which is largely based on Skype.

How do I describe how it works? I guess that whatever it is I need, the group is there for me, be it some assistance at short notice on a client project, or just somewhere to drop in and chat for five minutes. I described the group today as being like a virtual office. You can have a chat around the coffee machine, discuss what latest trial the kids are putting you through, or just like in a real office, you can shout out and ask someone to remind you of that shortcut in word or check a formula in excel.

Someone also commented on just how similar we are in person to how we come across on Skype. I suspect that this is because it is a private discussion, not an open forum where you have to be more guarded in what you say, and so we speak on there just as we would if we were face to face, though it was quite novel not to have to have a typed conversation and constantly check your spelling!

It was even more hilarious when all the mobile phones came out and the Skype and Twitter activity carried on after lunch!

Sometimes in business, particularly for a sole trader just starting out, and working from home, it can get pretty lonely. Surely ours isn’t the only industry where people can support each other virtually, offering collaboration instead of competition. We are all the stronger for it both as individuals and as businesses. Yet all too often we come across forums and networking sites where everything is guarded and closed off, I’m not asking you to give away trade secrets, but perhaps there is someone out there that you could collaborate with, making your business stronger and better suited for the journey ahead.

Sometimes you just need someone who understands, someone you can bounce ideas off, or simply someone to listen when you have had a bad day, and to give you that virtual hug.

I hope for your sake that you find that support, in the meantime, I will carry on appreciating the support and assistance that my colleagues give me, and look forward to the next occasion when we can get to meet up.

Who would have guessed!

2009-12-11T07:25:00.000Z

Who would have thought that in just a few days since writing my last blog I would have become victim to a faulty computer!

That lovely shiny sexy new netbook I got as an early Christmas present less than a month ago developed a glitch. I thought the power pack had failed on Wednesday night, just in time for my trip to Birmingham today. Very unlikely I could get it replaced and even less likely that I could carry out the work on the train that I had planned.

Anyway, off I toddled to the shop where I bought it, and lo and behold there wasn't a single power adaptor in the shop that would fit that particular model. Just my luck. Then, and this was very lucky for me, one of the guys with some IT experience pointed out it wasn't the power pack at fault, it was my lovely shiny sexy new netbook. The power pack was fine till it went near the netbook which shorted it out.

Okay, so they had sold out of the netbook and couldn't do a simple exchange, they could send the old one back for repair, or they could sell me a new netbook but the only ones that met my requirement for an 8 hour battery cost more money.

So I am now the proud owner of a new new netbook with a 9 hour battery! (At a negotiated price!).

Anyway, what you really want to know is what has this got to do with my last blog?

Well you remember I told you all about backing up files, using SugarSync etc. Well it meant that when I left my old netbook in the shop I didn't need to retrieve any data from it. Not a jot. They can wipe the hard drive before returning it and I won't have lost anything. They seemed rather surprised at this, not sure if it's just because I am a woman, or more likely they are so used to people not ensuring their data is safely backed up.

The end result is that yes I did have to reinstall some software on my netbook, but I downloaded my SugarSync and now all the files are happily syncing with my laptop again.

I am also having a quick look at Live Mesh as well, as suggested by Mike Knight in the comments on my last blog.

Now how stupid would I have looked, extolling the virtues of backup to you guys earlier this week and not doing it myself, and how glad am I that I do backup. Who would have suspected that a netbook less than a month old would fail on me. But these things happen, and its even more reason to backup your files safely.

So no, it's not a traditional follow Friday blog this week, it's a reminder to not leave it any longer before sorting out your backups.

There are several ideas mentioned in the comments on the previous blog and for these I would like to thank @micahelmknight, @mattchedit and @creditmandotnet for the time they took to share their knowledge with you, and for commenting on my blog.

So what are you waiting for - Christmas? It's nearly here, don't delay backup today!!

Do you back up your files?

2009-12-06T21:43:00.000Z

here

Well do you? I should, I once had a pc crash on me and I lost three years’ work in seconds. To say I was mortified is an understatement, and I confess the language was pretty choice too.

Okay it was back in the bad old days of Windows NT, but I did learn an important lesson. Don’t store anything of importance in the My Documents folder. My profile corrupted and everything from My Documents was lost. I was advised that I should have stored everything in a folder on C drive. Don’t you just love hindsight advice. I was very good; I didn’t hit the poor man, even though it was all his fault for fiddling with my machine. After all, I had only spent three hours writing my beloved spread sheet in the first place. All my templates, reports, correspondence, training notes, gone!

I suppose I was fortunate in that I had shared several documents with a colleague in a different branch via email, so she was able to send me some of the work back, including my beloved spread sheet, and many of the training notes I had sweated blood over.

But did I learn? Did I do a weekly back up? Well partly no because there was no suitable media to back up on to. The server was so old you could only have a file name 6 digits long and I swear there was more storage on a blank DVD than on that thing. I wasn’t allowed a CD writer; it cost money you know, even though I offered to install it myself. I managed to obtain a USB drive and save some of the important things and eventually, my pleas were answered and I was allowed to install a CD writer.

But the problem with that was firstly remembering to do it, and more importantly finding the time to do it. Now tell me who hasn’t been there!

Now how many of you have automatic backup systems in your corporate environment, do you remember to check that they are working? I went on an IT course once and they logged on to my company server and advised me my backup hadn’t actually worked for six months! How embarrassed was I, despite me regularly swapping the tapes, no one had ever shown me how to check it was working.

Since then, I have had two hard drives fail on me. It’s not nice, it’s very inconvenient and you can guarantee there is always something you forgot to back up!

I have portable hard drives, CD and DVD writers, USB sticks and what good are they if you forget to actually back up!

So when I set up the business it was vital to me that I found some way of backing up without thinking about it. But I wanted more…I know, typical woman, never happy!

I tried a few systems and looked at costs and recommendations and then did my usual and went off and did my own thing anyway. I chose to use Sugar Sync. It does backup without me thinking about it, as long as I don’t do all my files it is within my budget, and best of all, it syncs files between my computers and my iPod Touch/iPhone. I can also share folders with clients as well.

I download a small piece of software on each machine I want to sync with. That’s all. I then set up the folders I want to sync. I personally chose not to sync music and pictures as these are all personal and take up a lot of space and try and remember to back them up to a portable hard drive every so often. Most of the pictures are on CD anyway or stored on Photobox website from when I ordered them.

I can access my files from any pc with an internet connection, I can email a file to a client from any pc. I am sat writing this blog on my netbook but the file will be there, in the blog folder on my laptop just a few moments after I hit save. I don’t have to mess around with usb memory sticks, cart around a portable hard drive or pay a fortune for it either. And it will sync files between a Mac and a PC. You can find more information on Sugar Sync here, including a free 2GB storage to start you off. Sugar Sync

I also have the Outlook add in for backing up outlook, which came in very handy after the last hard drive failure, which can be found here:

So listen to someone who has been there, done that and has the tshirt. Back up your important files. Write a diary note if you have to, stick a post it to your screen, do whatever you need to do, but back up!

Follow Friday Recommendations 4th December 2009

2009-12-04T08:40:00.000Z

Wow, I cannot believe that it is Friday already again! Where has this week gone?

Okay, let's see, who have I been interacting with this week on Twitter?

Firstly, an old friend has made herself known on Twitter, @Den_Interior , she is only just getting used to Twitter but is a great Interior Designer who has some amazing projects on the go including hotels and restaurants, and someone I really enjoyed working with, and who's cheery smile I miss each day.

I have to say a huge hello to some of my fellow York Tweeters, we had a mini tweet up last week by accident and it was great to see the real people behind the tweets. @elizabethwells @confidentladies @vhavercroft they also deserve a special mention as they have all done fantastic work for charity this year.

I had a lovely chat with @amyaccountant this week, following on from the teleseminar I did with @efficiencycoach, and she has shared some really good advice on Twitter this week.

Thanks as always to @kipfxdesign who is helping me sort out my newsletter which will be launched shortly, you can sign up for this if you would like using the link on the right of this blog.

I cannot end this blog without mentioning @toptentips, a new site aimed at getting the best experts in each field to share their knowledge with the rest of us, I really wish this had been available earlier this year when I was starting out, it's what I love best about social media, this great exchange of information. They now also have a group on LinkedIn as well as their website, I really think that this is going to be a fantastic venture, so experts be warned, get in now while it's starting out, don't miss the boat!

On the same note the concept behind the #12DOC on Twitter is fantastic, each day a new topic is proposed and we are asked to submit via email our best tips for that topic, at the end of the #12DOC these will be published, some of the contributions have looked really good and I for one am awaiting the results with interest. For more info on this follow @rebeccaintuit

I could go on forever about the people that I love from Twitter as there are so many, but I will just have to keep sharing them with you each week.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Call Answering Service launched

2009-12-01T22:37:00.001Z

Well as it's coming up to Christmas what better time to launch our new call answering service! We could have made you wait till the new website is launched, but we thought we would treat you to a sneaky advance peak of what is coming!

HLS Business Solutions has joined forces with Call Team, a group of professional Virtual Assistants, to offer a new call answering service.

Did you know that 1 in 10 callers who hear an answering machine hang up? You could be missing out on calls while you are travelling, in meetings, away on holiday or simply trying to get some work done.

Can you really afford to lose out on these important calls?

Let us answer your calls for you, our experienced team will answer with your company name, portraying a professional image, and allowing callers to believe that they are talking to a member of your team.

Our team of experienced Virtual Assistant professionals, work together to provide a very high standard of call answering for our Clients. As Virtual Assistants we have experience up to PA level, and will add value to your business. Call Team offer an intelligent call answering service.

Remember, if you don’t answer your calls your competitors will!

So what does this cost you?

The monthly fee of £20.00 includes five phone calls, and additional calls are charged at just £1.00 each. We email your messages to you. If you would like to receive messages by SMS as well as email the cost is £1.20.

How it works

You provide us with some basic profile information on your company, and we provide you with your own telephone number to divert to.

When your clients ring your number they are greeted by our team of experienced call handlers, who answer the phone in your company name.Your caller will be informed that you are not available and they will be asked to leave a message. All the necessary details are taken and your message is relayed to you instantly via email and/or SMS.

Should you need more than just a basic call answering service we are able to take orders, bookings, manage appointments etc as long as we have the necessary information from you.

Want to Sign Up

Just drop an email to helen@hlsbs.co.uk with any questions that you have, or to request a sign up form.

So what is a Virtual Assistant?

2009-11-30T20:03:00.000Z

So what is a Virtual Assistant then? Lots of people ask me this when I tell them what I do. So how do I describe it? The best description I have ever seen comes from Barbara Adams website, ClassicVA:

“The term Virtual Assistant (VA) is an entrepreneur who provides administrative, technical and social assistance to clients from their own professional office”

Basically I like to think that I take your headaches away!

To me, a virtual assistant is like having your own PA; I just don’t work from your office. The majority of PA’s have years of experience as PA’s or Office Managers, they bring with them the knowledge they have acquired over those years, the contacts they have cultivated, the shortcuts they have learned, and an extremely professional attitude to business.

In my experience no two employers require exactly the same from a PA. It’s the same being a Virtual Assistant. You have a standard scope of services, but you work to the clients’ requirements and needs.

A Virtual Assistant can work for any size of company from a sole trader to a large PLC. I have been approached by all of them. From the traditional PA roles such as managing your diary and email, to writing your confidential mail, making follow up calls to your database, to more specialised skills such as managing your social media accounts and Facebook page, designing your website, and even managing your SEO for you.

You hire a Virtual Assistant for a specific project, a set number of hours per month, or on retainer basis. It’s a bit like having a pay as you go service, something you can switch on and off as you require, but I suspect, that like many clients, once you have tried it you won’t want to give it up.

Some Virtual Assistants have a particular niche, it could be specialized knowledge of a particular industry such as HR or medical, some have foreign language skills; others are expert at transcription, bookkeeping or credit control.

A group of us now work together for the benefit of our clients, the VA Support Group covers pretty much every skill you could ask for, so that if as an individual we don’t cover that aspect of your business, we can probably utilise the skills within the group to ensure your task is carried out, we can also call upon each other for assistance to ensure that urgent tasks are able to be carried out at short notice.

We even have our own call answering service which I will cover in a future blog.

Don’t be afraid to outsource, it can save you time, money and headaches. Look at the tasks that consume your time, are you working in your business or on it? Could someone else carry out that task for you in a more efficient or time saving manner? Ask yourself these questions, and then look at how much additional income you could generate for your business by outsourcing. Consider the impression this additional resource would have on your clients and their perception of your business. For example, when I make a call on behalf of a client I introduce myself as their PA or credit controller, immediately their business is perceived as more professional and larger than it actually is.

A couple of my Clients just like to know they can phone me when they need to and bounce ideas off me. They will still go ahead and do whatever it is they wanted to do, but they like the fact they have someone they can talk to, in confidence, who understands their business and their situations and is on call when they need me. I can also ask the odd question which they may not have considered.

Others like the fact that I am on the end of the phone when they are in a panic! Be it stuck in the middle of a shopping arcade and needing to find an urgent birthday present that day that is out of stock, or asking me to ring and arrange a surprise golfing present before they arrive at the golf course with their client, or looking at their diary and rebooking an appointment they can no longer get to. Remember what I said earlier, it’s like being a virtual PA.

So please feel free to contact me should you have any questions about how a VA could help you or your business, or if you would like me to help you find your own Virtual Assistant. Remember, because of the support of the VA Support Group we can now cover pretty much every requirement you ask of us – put us to the test today!

My Follow Friday Recommendations 27th November 2009

2009-11-27T09:23:00.002Z

This week my blog is all about collaboration.

I would like to start by repeating one from last week, huge thanks to @EmmaWarren1 for introducing me to @HiHoTweet who sent a very generous jewellery gift for the Help for Heroes auction in memory of Matthew Hatton, and helped us raise a fantastic £6,800.00 on the night.

I have come across a new site @TopTenTips via Twitter over the last couple of weeks which is a really refreshing site; people who are experts within their fields are sharing their knowledge freely in articles covering many topics. Their website states:

“Developing the best resource for UK small business through relevant, reliable and reputable information to build business success

www.Top10Tips.co.uk is an online resource for people interested in the “how to’s” from business.

Provided by independent UK practitioners written for the UK market. Donating to UK charity”.

It’s the sort of site I would have liked to have found several months ago when I was just starting out, but it is relevant to all stages of business so I will be following it with interest.

I have had a great deal of pleasure from supposedly having encouraged some fellow tweeters into blogging this past few weeks and look forward to reading their blogs, @kipfxdesign, @creditmandotnet and whilst on the subject of blogs and articles that are always of interest to me have to mention @lawyer_coach, @Richard_White, @mattchedit and @efficiencycoach

Another one that has been mentioned before is @oddjobswap, a site where people can trade jobs or services, its such simple idea but such a good idea as well, remember to join before the weekend and complete the survey for your chance to win a £30 gift voucher.

Huge congratulations to @NikkiPilkington who made it onto the Forbes Thirty women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter list this week!

In terms of someone who deserves a huge well done this week I have to mention @ElizabethWells, she has just completed her first year of trading from her lovely shop in the Shambles in York, and was interviewed by local radio this week, as an example of people doing well during the recession. I have had the pleasure of meeting her and she really is lovely, she has been very supportive of charity this year and is just a great example to us all when everyone else is moaning about recession, she has just gone out there and made a success of it.

Talking of being interviewed I had my first ever interview this week, in a teleseminar with @efficiencycoach (my first experience of a teleseminar as well). It was all about saving businesses money on their IT and marketing costs in the first year, and I would like to thank @efficiencycoach for her help and support. I will be covering some of these savings In my regular weekly blogs starting next week so do keep an eye open.

I would like to say thank you to some people, they either make me laugh, or RT a lot for me, or are generally just really nice people to follow and make Twitter such a nice place: @amyaccountant, @markbnorwich, @yourfirstpa, @confidentladies, @ToniHunter, @befabulous and @fuzzyduck

So enjoy your Friday, hope you have a great weekend and look forward to seeing you all on Twitter later!

To blog or not to blog?

2009-11-23T22:36:00.003Z

Okay, I am a relative new comer to blogging. I confess that I received some one on one coaching from @efficiencycoach which gave me a little confidence, and helped me focus on my blog more, however, I don’t claim to be an expert at it. I just feel slightly more comfortable with it than I used to.

So why should I blog? Well as much as I like twitter it isn’t always easy to get your idea across in those 140 characters. To me, my blog should be an extension of my website. It will be soon when I move blogging platforms. It’s a tool for sharing my ideas, my knowledge, my experience, my recommendations and my opinions with my audience. I would also like to think that it was a tool for two way communication as well. The blogs I have posted that have received comments really make it worthwhile, and reading the comments that have been posted is a great way of seeing things from someone else’s perspective, or reinforcing what I already believe.

I don’t always want it to be deadly serious; I would like to think that an injection of humour is allowable, when appropriate. After all, I am a northern lass!

And, I am sorry, I make no apologies for expressing my opinions in my blog, after all it is my blog, but I will listen to what you have to say, consider it, and still go off and do what I want anyway J

I would love it if my blog inspired someone else, perhaps to try something new themselves, to follow someone new on Twitter, or to consider an alternative opinion.

But most of all, I would like to think that people will enjoy reading what I have written, that it will add value to someone’s day in some shape or form.

So I look forward to your comments, to seeing you post your own blogs, to interacting with you on yet another virtual level.

And in the meantime… I hope you have a great day!

Follow Friday Recommendations 20th November 2009

2009-11-20T19:12:00.001Z

My follow Friday blog today really follows on from my blog earlier this week about community spirit.

I would like to say a huge thank you to @EmmaWarren1 for introducing me to @hihotweet who are about to launch a new range of exclusive Help for Heroes silver jewellery. The only person who has a set at the moment is the lady who runs the Help for Heroes project as it doesn’t actually go on sale until 30th November.

Imagine my surprise and delight today when I was asked for an address to send a full set of the Help for Heroes jewellery to for the auction on Sunday! What a fantastic auction prize, and how suitable for this particular auction. Matt is delighted with this very generous donation and I am sure the winning bidder on Sunday will be over the moon with it.

20% of sales from this range of jewellery will go to the Help the Heroes charity so I am more than happy to share a link to the website where you can pre-order these items.

I was really touched this morning when one of the mums from school came up to me, having read my post on my facebook page and handed me a raffle prize for Sunday night as well.

If you would like to still support this event and can't make it on Sunday you can either email Matt on matt_segar@hotmail.com or you can make a donation to the JustGiving page.

Between the lovely comments on the blog itself from : @TheWordWell, @MattchedIT, @SJAbradley, @kipfxdesign and @creditmandotnet and the donations from friends, Clients and @hihotweet above I am so glad that I have been able to help this great cause in some small way. It brings a warm glow to your day, you can have that too, just do one small act for someone else and for no reward and your week will hopefully feel as rewarding as mine has.

What's in it for me??

2009-11-18T07:23:00.003Z

Growing up I remember hearing a lot about the “good old days”. When neighbour meant more than just the person who lives next door to you, and people still had a sense of community spirit, you could leave your door open all night, and you could look to your local community for help and support when you needed it.

I didn’t have a particularly good start to the year for one reason or another, I was in a job I didn’t enjoy, I had some health issues and frankly life could have been a hell of a lot better. However, I got through this by realising that no matter how hard things get or how bad a hand of cards life deals you there is always someone worse off than you. Every day I got up I found some example of this.

In today’s society too many people think only of themselves. What’s in it for me? You know, sometimes it’s nice to just go out there and do something just for the sake of it. Okay you might not get paid or get anything out of it, but sometimes that warm fuzzy feeling you get from helping someone else is enough.

I think I have had this on my mind for a while now, as it seems to me that my Follow Friday blog last week resolves around the same theme. So what has prompted me to blog about this.

I had a conversation this week with Matt Segar, a local lad, who despite his young age, has really stepped up to the mark and it has impressed me greatly.

Sadly, Matt’s best friend Matthew Hatton was the first York soldier to be killed in Afghanistan earlier this year. A tragic and unacceptable loss for his friends and his family. However, Matt’s family and friends didn’t just sit and dwell on their loss; they decided to do something in Matthew’s memory to help raise funds for Help for Heroes instead, a charity that was close to Matthew’s heart.

They didn’t exactly go for anything easy either! As a group they decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in March next year. This has meant they are trying hard to raise the minimum sponsorship required. Matt has organised an auction which will take place this Sunday at the Hilton in York. Tickets are £10 each and are available from The Black Horse in Wigginton and the Dormouse in Clifton, or from Matt.

He has arranged live music from Jim Harbourne and Alistair Griffin, and the night will be led by Minster FM’s breakfast team and the Right Honourable Lord Mayor and Civic Party will be in attendance.

There are over 54 auction lots, with some pretty great prizes and I know from talking to Matt that this number is increasing daily, if you can’t get there on the night then pre-bids are welcomed so that you don’t miss out. There will also be a raffle on the night as well.

Talking to Matt was humbling, the amount of time and effort that he has put into this auction is amazing, and he still has his biggest challenge ahead of him in actually climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Just looking at the list of auction lots it was lovely to see how much the local community had rallied together.

More information can be found here on Matt’s Facebook page for the auction, or contact me and I will pass your message on to Matt.

Matt’s Just Giving page can be found here as well.

So today instead of asking yourself what’s in it for me, ask yourself what small thing you could do for someone else to make their day better instead. It may be something small, looking after a pet, baby sitting, going to the shop, or something a little bigger such as visiting an elderly neighbour to offer a bit of company and conversation. It may be helping a business colleague in some way. But trust me, when you do, that warm fuzzy feeling is worth it. Let’s bring the community back to our neighbourhoods.

It's all about sharing this week. Follow Friday recommendations 13th November 2009

2009-11-12T22:03:00.004Z

This week’s Follow Friday blog is slightly different in that my first two recommendations are more about the websites than the twitter personality.

The reason I would like to recommend these first two is that to me both concepts really get across the message that they are all about sharing rather than selling.

The first is a novel site which can be found at http://www.oddjobswap.co.uk

At first glance I mistook it for a site where you would look for a handy man or decorator, but it is so much more than that. Peter and Julie Bruce wanted to boost community spirit and beat the credit crunch at the same time, according to their website. I think it is this community spirit that attracts me to the site. I also had to laugh when one of the services being offered was air traffic control! I cannot see that I will ever need that as a service but you never know! There are plenty of services on there that I could be in the market for though, from marketing, accountants, athletics coaching, gutter cleaning and the rest.

What made this stand out to me is that there are so many professional services being offered. I understand that the site is aimed at work at home parents, perhaps this is why it hits a cord with me, but I can also see it being an excellent resource for a new start up to gain some work, and some Client testimonials as well, to help build their reputation.

The other site I would like to recommend is http://www.networkingnow.co.uk, a new networking forum set up by @kipfxdesign. It’s Twitter id is @NetworkinNow In its first few days it has had over 7000 page views. As a start up business myself believe me when I say I have trawled the forums looking for advice and assistance. It was a pleasant surprise to join this forum and find a group of people so willing to share their advice and knowledge. It’s a great atmosphere, lacking the petty bickering that is often found on forums, and is ad free, which means you are not distracted from what is being said. Okay, it could change over time, as sometimes happens, but I would hope that some of you will join now in its infancy period and help shape the forum, so that it remains an easy going, educational and enjoyable site for all.

To end I want to tell you about a Twitter success story! Someone I follow made a comment to @MissFitUK. I was curious as they weren’t the sort of person to follow what I assumed to be a bikini clad babe! (Spent ages trying to preen my followers of bikini clad babes and Britney’s). I was really pleasantly surprised to find out that she is actually a young entrepreneur who has a clothing and lingerie range for bigger busted women, and her bio also describes her as a skydiving fruitcake! Not only did I think this is someone I need to follow, I also thought I know someone who she should talk to, @ElizabethWells who has gorgeous lingerie shop in York, which caters for bigger busted women. One tweet later and they are working together! @MissFitUK has told me she is bringing out a range of Xmas dresses, I really look forward to seeing them, as have had some awful experiences trying to find Xmas frocks each year, and always seem to end up in trousers instead!

So next time you come across someone on Twitter that will be useful to someone you follow don’t assume they will find each other, make a suggestion, and see what grows from it!

I hung up on Efficiency Coach...

2009-11-09T22:42:00.001Z

...obviously not on purpose! Honest Coachie! We were having one of our brilliant Skype video calls. I was flitting between the video call and an IM with an associate who was answering a technical query for us, and whoops, instead of returning to the conversation I killed it!

This brings me to the subject of this week’s blog. Skype. What a fantastic product for business. I am a true convert. If I had to ever decide between Skype and Twitter I honestly don’t know which I would choose.

So what is Skype? Well in a way you could ask what do you want it to be? It has so many uses.

You can IM – this is like an Instant Message, the sort you would get on Messenger etc. but you can also create groups for group conversations. Some of you may have heard of the VA Support Group. It’s a group of VA’s who are working together to help and support each other. We have a group conversation permanently on the go on Skype so we can drop in and out and ask each other questions, share work when needed, bounce ideas off each other, or just be allowed to rant about whatever has wound us up just now. I suppose you could compare it to the office coffee machine in a way.

Why would you IM rather than call or email.

Well if you have an email conversation with someone other emails will arrive in your inbox, your replies go to sent items so you don’t really see the full thread of the conversation. The beauty of Skype is that you can start a conversation, go off and do something else and the other person can reply in your absence. If you are both online at the same time you can have a live text conversation.

Did you know that your laptop, if it is pretty recent, probably has a microphone and speakers built into it. I don’t bother with headphones and speakers for Skype calls if I am in my office at home as I don’t need them. I can have a call using the built in kit and it is perfectly clear both ways.

Video calling is still something I am getting to grips with, purely from a comfort perspective, if you look at photo albums in our house I am always the one behind the camera not in front of it. It can seem a little daunting at first but trust me, it really is a wonderful invention. When Efficiency Coach and I are on our video calls it’s great to be able to see the expressions, the gestures etc, they make it so much more personal. Saying that I hardly ever switch the main light on so poor Efficiency Coach probably only gets to see a shadow (trust me that is by far the best view of me!), and all my hand gestures appear to be below the eye level of the camera! I do seem to try and explain things with my hands for some reason. It is worth spending a few moments just setting up your webcam properly, you can see on Skype what the other person can see in a small box at the bottom of the screen so it is easy to adjust.

Skype also has a fantastic share feature. In the VA support group we use this for sharing pdf’s, pictures etc all the time. However, I was recently introduced to the share screen function, something I was able to then share with Efficiency Coach (nice to know she doesn’t know everything!).

The person who is going to share their screen needs to initiate the call. They then click on share screen and the other party to the call can see what you can see in front of you. They can’t control your machine but they can see your mouse moving and the changes you make on your screen. My database developer has been using this to show me how my database works. I also think this would be ideal for designers etc. Why travel 200 miles to sit in an office with a Client and a laptop when you can share your screen on Skype and make instant changes dependent on their feedback. It works for any type of design, in terms of print, why email proof after proof when perhaps a five or ten minute screen share would allow the Client to comment on what you’ve done, and allow you to make a couple of tweaks to get where they want to be. Then send the proof for sign off.

It works the other way as well. Get your Client to share their screen with you and talk them through how they access a particular service or software. Most people learn more quickly by doing it themselves than watching someone else do it.

Skype isn’t just for business. Use it to connect with friends and family who have moved away. We have used it for video calls to family down south and friends in Cyprus. It’s great when you have small children as relatives can see them growing and interact with them in a way you can’t on a phone call.

So what does this amazing piece of time saving software cost you? Nothing. The download is free, and as long as you are calling Skype to Skype there are no charges. So go on, give it a go today, and if you need to chat with me on Skype my user name is hstothard

I won the Efficiency Coach!

2009-11-05T22:28:00.000Z

It's not a traditional follow friday blog this week as its all dedicated to one person!

You may have heard that I recently won a fantastic prize for my business which includes coaching and support and services from several renowned experts in their field.

Well since I entered the competition I have been joking with Heather, the Efficiency Coach that I wanted to win her. I am not sure she was as thrilled at the thought of being “won” as I was with the idea of “winning” her, however, many a happy tweet has been had on Twitter over the subject.

I received the email announcing I was the grand prize winner and tweeted poor Heather straight away. We arranged a Skype video chat the following afternoon.

I confess to being rather disappointed that she wasn’t bedecked in red ribbons and gift wrap as any real prize should be, but then again, I had hardly made an effort for her either! She did comment that my office seemed rather dark on this occasion, (I was working by the light of my table lamp) and of course I replied that bright light would only show up all my lines and creases and the bags under my eyes! I think she was a tad disappointed that I hadn’t run round finding my lipstick, hairbrush and heels this time in honour of our video chat, but hey, it was our second chat and like a second date, it didn’t require the effort that had gone into the first one! (Only joking – rest assured I will make more effort for our future Skype calls!).

I had already had a “taster” session with Heather last month, knowing how much I wanted to win her she kindly got in touch and gave me some of her time to see if it would be of benefit to me. We had a brief chat about the subject in question before having a much broader chat about how we could work together on an upcoming project (more on that in a moment), and it is amazing how much difference just that brief chat has had on my business.

Was it a painful experience being coached? Not at all! Heather asked me some simple questions which made me focus my attention, it actually felt more like I had come up with the answers myself, but I think that is the sign of a good coach. She knew which questions to ask.

I came away from that meeting feeling much better about the subject in question and got straight on with making the changes we had discussed. The effect was unbelievable.

I believe that between that video chat with Heather and some subsequent tweets with each other on Twitter I can say I have seen a massive improvement in my business. I am pretty sure that most of those improvements would never have happened without her influence, so huge thanks go to her. Just think what our future coaching sessions will lead to!

Anyway, back to that other project we discussed in our video call. Heather is holding a teleseminar at 8.00pm on Wednesday 25th November, and she is going to interview little old me! The subject of this seminar is how start up businesses can save money on their IT and marketing costs in their first year, though I suspect that it will also be of value to other small businesses as well.

More information can be found on Heather’s website

Have a little confidence!

2009-11-04T08:18:00.003Z

I have won an amazing prize for my business. It’s worth over £5,000.00. Some of the best people you could work with are going to be working with me over the coming months in terms of business coaching, business planning, sales training, and branding, social media and VAT training.

And whilst I am incredibly excited and proud I am also a tad pensive. They are going to ask me lots of questions that I am not sure I have the answers for. Where do you want your business to go, what do you want to achieve. It’s a bit like being introduced on a training course and having to introduce yourself, or those training courses where you have to analyse yourself.

Confidence is wonderful, but often it’s a mask we use. Are we really as confident as we portray. When it comes down to it, wouldn’t we rather curl up and hide in a corner than analyse ourselves or our business.

This type of training, coaching and support won’t guarantee my business will be a success, but it will help support it and give it that extra chance.

Like most people I am pretty proud of my brand identity, a lot of thought went into it. I did the best I could on a limited budget and I personally like my logo and my website. How will I react to someone coming along and commenting on them? Or the content of my website, I sweated blood writing that content! Do I want someone to come along and possibly change it all? Criticism is hard to take, but there are different types of criticism, there is the jealous type, where someone is jealous of what you have achieved and just puts you down to make themselves feel better, but then there is the constructive criticism. This is where someone who knows what they are talking about comes along and offers their unbiased feedback. They make suggestions or comments that will help your business move forward. Even though you know that what they are saying is right, it can sometimes still be hard to listen to.

The way for any business to grow is to seek out these coaching opportunities, to embrace new ideas. Don’t lose who you are as part of that process, quite often, especially with sole traders, who you are is key to what your business is, but be open to change and new ideas.

I had a trial session with The Efficiency Coach last month and it was amazing how a simple conversation suddenly made one small problem I was having disappear.

I guess this prize is really making me feel like I will be a business now, rather than just working at something I enjoy, there is a huge difference.

So huge thanks to Romany Thresher(Direct Assist Online), Richard White (The Accidental Salesman), Heather Townsend (The Efficiency Coach) , Mariéme Jamme, Ces Loftus (Creatively Minded Design), Robert Killington (VATark), and Robert Zarywacz ( Zarywacz) for providing these fabulous prizes.

Now whilst I am on a winning streak anyone know where I can win that netbook I am after...

Ineffective use of your bookkeeper!

2009-11-01T20:03:00.001Z

As a part qualified bookkeeper and owner of my own business I see many different variations on how people think they should keep their accounts.

There are those who keep immaculate records and, like the old joke, there are still those that put everything in a carrier bag and hope you have psychic abilities!

It's no laughing matter though, if you aren't on top of your books how can you possibly understand how your business is performing.

I therefore thought I would share with you just some of my observations from the last few months:

• keep your personal and business transactions separate -you may feel you don't have enough transactions to bother, but is scrutinising receipts for personal transactions really an effective use of your bookkeepers time, particularly if they are paid by the hour

• keep your paperwork in a reasonable order, again time spent sorting it out into date order or transaction type is not an effective use of time, and unscrewing receipts and sorting invoices from a pile dumped in a bag will not endear you to your bookkeeper

• do you know what you owe and what is owed to you?

• do you review your outgoings to make sure you are still getting value for money

• do you do a cashflow forecast so you know what is coming up and how change will affect your business

• if your bank charges you by transaction type look at how you pay people, is that cheque really easier than banking online, as it could cost you a lot more, switch to paying by bacs and it could save you money

• send your invoices out in a timely manner, if you don't issue them you can't chase them for payment, consider issuing them by email to speed up the process

• if you want to get money in your account more quickly make sure your bank details are easily available, again I often have to phone for this information in order to pay people

• make sure you chase your debtors regularly and enforce your credit terms, make sure your credit terms are made clear at the start of the contract

• if you are not sure what information you should show on an invoice check out the business link website, it is surprising how many people fail to show the necessary information

• if you are issuing an invoice under CIS remember to deduct the tax not add it back on!

• when you get receipts for goods or services if it isn't clear what it is for then write it on the receipt, you may not remember by the time you come to do your books

• if you do write cheques remember to fill out the cheque stub! Don't just write who to, write what for as well

• if you are not sure whether an expense is allowable ask your Accountant or phone the HMRC helpline

• do you hold management reviews with your Accountant? Do you discuss where you want your business to go and how you can get there

• even if you have an Accountant or Bookkeeper you should understand the processes, at the end of the day you are the person liable in a tax investigation

• check your bank and credit card statements when they arrive, mistakes do happen

• keep an eye on payment due dates and ensure payment arrives in sufficient time as penalties or charges may become due

• check out the free training courses available from both Business Link and HMRC

And most important of all remember that your Accountant or Bookkeeper doesn't have a crystal ball!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Twitter follow friday recommendations for Friday 30th October 2009

2009-10-30T07:24:00.000Z

So who has educated me, helped me, entertained me or just made me smile this week then?

Well this week I would like to start with @kipfxdesign who has redesigned my Twitter background for me, and I love it. He has done several backgrounds just this week, and I believe some were for celebrities, so get in there and get yours ordered now, before he gets too famous!!

Next up, a repeat from a few weeks ago, @Elizabethwells, she is raising money for Breast Cancer Awareness this week, her raffle ends tomorrow so grab a ticket while you can from her facebook page . If you ever get to the Shambles in York do have a look at her beautiful lingerie shop, she also has an online service if any of you were looking for that something special for a loved one for Christmas.

Well, I guess you probably missed it because he hasn’t exactly shouted about it in every tweet he does (much) but @BradBurton launched his new book yesterday. I haven’t quite decided to buy it but think I probably will as his articles in Real Business always make great reading, and just look at the 4Networking set up, he obviously knows what he is talking about.

@ToniHunter has been a source of useful advice this week, and has made some very good suggestions for some natural health products which should help me through a mini bad spell, I know @efficiencycoach has recommended @ToniHunter for this before, so there you go, a double recommendation now.

@neilryder has some really great advice on his tweets, and together with @efficiencycoach they have formed a new networking group, Executive Village, more information can be found here on Heather's blog

@efficiencycoach is a very busy lady who has still found time to tweet me from her holidays and always asks how I am doing. She is interviewing me for her upcoming teleseminar details of which can be found here which is all about finding resources to save you money on your IT and Marketing costs in year 1 of your business.

@LawyerCoach has really made me laugh this week, some of her tweets about lawyers are just so funny, and definitely worth a mention.

@markbnorwich is a fairly new follow of mine but he has sent me some really good information, and always interacts, as well as having some really interesting tweets.

@SJABradley is a VA who has just launched her new business Help Ahoy and who has been of great assistance to me since we were introduced on Twitter. She often casts a critical eye over my Tuesday blogs for me, and has a great way with words and keeps me down to earth as well.

That said a shout out should go to the whole of the #VASG (VA Support Group), there are so many members I would probably miss someone out if I tried to list them, but if you are a VA do please get in touch with @DeeVAS or @emilyrobe and I am sure they will be happy to speak to you about the group. I think that the VA industry is one of the most supportive industries I have ever come across, VA’s have been in the media a lot this week, and by working together as we do it can only mean we can offer an even stronger service to our Clients. (That said I would like to point out that the majority of us don’t work in our pyjamas all day and that we are our own bosses! Whilst the media coverage is good it has got it a little wrong this week!)

Have a great week everyone!

To Tweet or not to Tweet...

2009-10-26T18:52:00.002Z

... That is the question. Should you jump on board the worldwide phenomenon that is Twitter? What can it do for you? Perhaps, like me a few months ago, you just don’t ‘get’ Twitter.

So what is special about this 140 character medium? I confess when I first considered it when my business started earlier this year I wasn’t convinced. 140 characters was no good to me, if I wanted to see what my friends were doing I could go on Facebook. But, biting the bullet, I signed up and started reading articles and advice about Twitter.

Twitter is amazing, I am a true convert, in fact, I confess to being slightly addicted to it. I now have a circle of friends and networking contacts on Twitter who make me laugh, inspire me, educate me, entertain me and assist me in growing my business. To me that is the essence of Twitter.

Some people have one account for their business and another for their personal comments. It’s a personal choice. I have one account which I use for both. One thing to be aware of is that whatever you Tweet can be read by a worldwide audience, including your clients, so if you wouldn’t say it to their face don’t say it on Twitter.

To me, the importance of Twitter followers is not the number of followers you have, but rather the quality of your following. What’s the point of having thousands of followers if you don’t have time to interact with them? Some people seem to think that a high number of followers represents some kind of status symbol; it doesn’t work that way for me.

There are lots of training opportunities available to help with your Twitter experience. I chose to subscribe to Tweetmentor, a 100 day course via email run by @NikkiPilkington. In a couple of paragraphs a day she opened my eyes to Twitter and how I can make it work for me.

I digress, this was supposed to be about why you should give Twitter a try. Since using Twitter:

· I’ve found new suppliers

· met potential new Clients

· gained so much from the blogs and articles freely shared by the people I follow

· helped fellow Tweeters with their requirements

· realised there are people in my own village and town that I hadn’t known were there before

· received coaching from @EfficiencyCoach, and have even been invited to be part of a teleseminar she is running for start up businesses.

I know of several success stories where new business can directly be attributed to Twitter. With the help of Twitter, I am moving my business to the next level.

Have a look if you aren’t already using it and see where it can take you.