Is your New Year's Resolution to be more organised?

One of the top New Year's Resolutions is to be more organised, so if its yours here are three top tips to make it a reality.

1. Make your goal realistic by narrowing it down.  Instead of trying to organise every aspect of your life start on a small achievable goal and build on it throughout the year.  Your first goal might be to catch up on the filing by the end of January.  Once this task is completed focus on a new task such as setting up automatic payments for all regular bills/invoices by the end of February and so on. 

2. Write a plan - identifying each step will help make the goal achievable and easier to reach.  You will know what you need to do to reach your goal, and you have a plan to go back to if you happen to let your resolution slide during the year. 

3. Have a visual goal board of what you want to achieve.  Put photos or picture of what you want to achieve by being organised.  If you want more time with the family, put a photo of all the family together enjoying themselves.  If you want to save money by being organised write a cheque to yourself with your target savings.  The possibilities are endless and a visual goal board will help you stay focused on the end goal, especially at times of weakness.

If all else fails go back to the drawing board and refocus your goal.  While its great to have such an ambitious goal sometimes its not always possible to complete the goal in the time frame and having small achievable goals are still a step forward to reaching your ideal goal of being organised!

What is a Virtual Assistant?

So what is a Virtual Assistant?  To put it simply it is an assistant that works remotely to deliver services that you may not otherwise have access to.  For instance you might need assistant with specialty services, such as tender proposals, presentation and reports or helping you get on top of tasks so that you can focus on what you specialise in - running your business.

Some people might think "why engage a Virtual Assistant, it is only admin work and I can do that myself" - but don't underestimate the value of a specialist, a virtual assistant is not limited to general administration duties. Think of a Virtual Assistant as a right hand man that can compliment your business and help you meet your professional goals and ambitions. 

Just like you you might hire an accountant to do your taxes or accounts, a Virtual Assistant specialises in certain tasks.  Sure you could probably complete your accounts if you are not an accountant - but would you lose money that you didn't even realise you were missing because it is not your speciality?  Generally a Virtual Assistant has a specialty, education and experience in the relevant industry. 

The beauty of a Virtual Assistant is that they allow you to focus on what you specialise in - delivering services for your business.  If you are feeling overwhelmed by tasks, or just wish you had more time delivering your services instead of spending 4 hours formatting a presentation, a Virtual Assistant is a viable option.  Not only to free up your time, but in most cases a Virtual Assistant could complete a formatting task in half the time or less than it might take you.  

The advantage of hiring an assistant on an ad hoc basis also ensures you are employing someone on a project basis instead of full time employment where the employer is responsible for full time wages, super potentially sick leave and annual leave.  In the case of a Virtual Assistant you pay only for the time dedicated to your project, thereby reducing your project overall costs. 

If you have any further questions about Virtual Assistants or any additional enquiries please do not hesitate to contact me at hcrick@y7mail.com.