process management Archives - Life By Design Virtual Solutions

Life happens. Whether you are going to have a baby, there is a death or illness in the family, or some other unexpected issue that will pull you away from your business, life does indeed happen.

So it’s really important to have systems in place for your business.

Without systems in your business, you are the business. This means:

The business needs you to get things done.
This makes it difficult for you to scale up.
It also makes it difficult for you to take time off.

With systems, you can step back, delegate and your business will still run without you.

What do I mean by “systems”. Systems are the procedures you have in place to keep your business running. Think of it as standard operating procedures you give your employees as checklists so they can implement it, even without training.

Systems should be set up for the activities that you use to run your business.

If any activity is required to get things done in your business, it should have a system.

Getting systems in place may seem like a daunting task at first, but believe me, it’s better to have them in place BEFORE something happens, that way your business can keep on functioning while you deal with real life situations.

Where to start.

Write down what roles are required to get things done in your business.
Write down the tasks that these roles need to perform.
Document the procedures, create checklists or videos that show how these tasks can be done.
Specify the tools and software that are required and how they are useful.
Identify the handover points between tasks done by different roles. Document these as part of the systems.
Test the systems and refine them as needed.
Explore opportunities for automation.

Loom is a great tool to use for explaining systems. We use this tool at Life By Design and think it is a great way to show your team processes. You can make short explanatory videos for processes you follow in your day to day work. That way, if someone needs to step in for a day or two, there are instructions to follow.

You might also want to consider hiring someone to help you get everything in place. They can be your processes’ guinea pig if needed, help type up processes and give insight on instructions that need to be clarified.

So, not only are systems imperative for you to personally be able to step away from your business from time to time, but they also prime your business for sale or to scale up. Getting systems in place has GOOD benefits.

Life By Design Virtual Solutions is a team of experts when it comes to building systems and standardization of your business. Reach out with any questions, we would be happy to help.

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Organizing Your Home Office

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 Genean

When you work from home, your office space is sacred as it is where all of your important documents and information are kept. With all the paperwork and office items you have on your desk, it can start to feel overwhelming. Clutter can take a toll on your health by increasing stress levels, you may not even be aware that it is happening. One way you can help to reduce this stress is by decluttering. By cleaning up your office space and truly decluttering, you can not only decrease stress, you can also increase productivity especially while working from home. If you want to live your workdays stress-free, you need to GET ORGANIZED!

Here are a few steps to help you get started with the process:

1. Purge Paper

If you struggle with desk organization, odds are you have too many papers and documents taking up space both in and on your desk. First things first, as time-consuming as it may be, take the time to go through every single piece of paper on your desk and throw out, shred, or file each one. A lot of times, many of us are more visual when it comes to work and documents, however, for the sake of the environment and your mental peace, you might want to consider making everything digital. There are so many great tools you can use on your desktop and smartphone that will allow you to keep all your important documents and files organized and easily accessible. If it is not absolutely essential for you to print out certain documents, don’t do it!

2. Color Coding

Color coding is an easy way to organize all your files and notes. To organize, separate the filing system into five color-coded categories, and label each hanging folder according to your needs.

GREEN: Financial

RED: Client Work

ORANGE: Personal

YELLOW: Insurance

BLUE: Meetings

3. Keep Only What You Need

Many people like to keep special items on their desk space such as family photos, decor, and other accessories. Maybe you’re like Angela from The Office who fills her deskspace with cat figures and photos of cats. While it is a nice touch to add something personal to your desk space, you don’t need the extra clutter and it would be helpful to try and remove anything you

don’t absolutely need. This does not mean you need to remove all your personal touches, but your desk space should be oriented around your work, this is #1 priority, and it can’t be a priority if your work gets lost in your decor.

If you spend the majority of your workday at your desk, having it look nice and tidy can really make your workdays more enjoyable. If your desk is a mess, your mind will be a mess as well. This year, prioritize setting aside at least 1-2 hours per week dedicated to organizing your space. You will slowly start to see the effects on your productivity and mental health. If you still find yourself feeling overwhelmed by online documents and work, that’s what our virtual assistants are for! Reach out today and ask about our packages. http://www.lifebydesignvs.com

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Achieve Your New Year Goals With a Virtual Assistant

January 4, 2022January 3, 2022 Genean

We’re here! It’s officially 2022! Many people have spent a lot of time these last 2 years indoors, in pajamas, binge-watching all the shows to ever exist on every TV platform, but not busy business owners! The ones of us who have a strong vision and clear goals have been preparing for this new year! Are you ready to thrive in 2022?

For a business to prosper, it needs to be running smoothly and efficiently. Take time during the first month of the year to make a plan for how you will be more productive and efficient in the new year. Some popular resolutions for business owners include: ‘become more organized’, ‘improve my social media marketing’, and even ‘work less so I can spend more time with my family’. How are you going to make this happen?

Working on tedious and repetitive tasks can start to really take a toll on a business owner. What you really want to be doing is focusing on paying customers and clients; but how can you do so when all your time is spent answering emails or creating graphics for your social media pages?

Don’t start the new year feeling overwhelmed by small, tedious tasks. Start fresh and set new goals. This is a new beginning, and you’d be amazed by how much time you could get back by hiring a virtual assistant. If your goal is to work towards your passion, by outsourcing to a virtual assistant, you are opening up hours to refocus on the things that make you passionate about your business.

Social media is critical for all businesses. How will your consumers build a deeper connection with you and become more loyal customers if you don’t utilize social media? Through proper social media marketing, your business can reach larger audiences and grow your brand awareness. However, this can’t be done in a day.

Having a strong social media presence requires many hours to be put in working towards building that audience and engaging with it. Luckily, there are thousands of virtual assistants who specialize in social media management. They can take care of creating graphics, engaging with audiences, video editing, post scheduling, and so much more. If one of your resolutions is to grow your audience and social media presence, don’t spend countless hours a month doing it, hand it off to your virtual assistant!

Toward the middle and end of the year, we can start to feel so overwhelmed by our workloads that we begin to lose touch with more important things outside of our work life; such as family and friends. Make it your New Year’s resolution to take time for yourself. Enjoy your time away from work, take an extra day off, spend time with your loved ones, without the hassle of having to worry if work is getting done. Your virtual assistant is there to make sure that you are living stress-free while your business continues to grow and prosper.

A virtual assistant has your business’ best interest at heart. It is our job to watch you succeed and aid in the process. You will have somebody to bounce your ideas off and provide you with support, which is indispensable when you want to achieve goals. Your virtual assistant can give you opinions and suggestions for things you may not even notice about your business. They work to make your life easier. If you haven’t hired a virtual assistant yet, what are you waiting for? Now is a perfect time. It’s a new year. Start fresh! Hire a VA! http://www.lifebydesignvs.com

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Finding Clients in Your Niche

August 9, 2021August 12, 2021 Genean

Finding and marketing towards your niche audience can set you up for success in your business. Niching down may worry some small business owners due to fear of limiting services and exposure. However, as a small business, you cannot provide every solution to every problem, as larger corporations might be able to. By niching down, you can limit competition, become an industry leader, target your consumers better, and build a strong and loyal customer base. Once you become confident in your expertise, this will shine through in your product or service, which will attract new clients within your niche. The first step is analyzing your business as a whole and what you can offer to your customers.

To find your niche, analyze your interests and passions. What kind of problems are you able to solve in your business? Once you’ve established what your niche is and what you specialize in, how can you find more clients within your niche?

Identify Your Target Audience: In order to find new clients within your niche, it is important to consider your current customer base. What does this customer base consist of primarily?
Problem-Solution: What unmet need are you able to provide a solution to given this customer base specifically? Find gaps within the marketplace. The more you can hit on the pain points of your niche market, the more success you will have.
Research: As you narrow down your target audience, the process of understanding their needs and wants becomes much easier. As your niche may be narrowed down to a specific age group or category, you can conduct research in order to find out their needs, goals, motivations, frustrations and expectations. Evaluate the data on the demographics of your niche market and work towards solving the issues that these specific groups face and how you can be the solution to these problems.
Market: Once you’ve identified, researched, and created a plan for targeting your niche market, you can begin to market your business specifically to match the needs of these customers. Targeted ads, blog posts, social media branding and podcasts are great tools to use to find new clients within your niche.

Whatever it is that you do, perfect it. If you can do it better than others, market to those who value your product or service because it provides a solution to a given problem. With your confidence in your expertise, you will attract customers within the same niche. Finding your ideal client begins with you. Do you have a business plan? Do you know who you’re marketing to? What do they need that they cannot find in your competitors? Once you have answered these questions, you will be able to properly market your niche audience.

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The Importance of Branding Yourself

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 Genean

Whether you are an entrepreneur, or someone looking to get employed by others, branding yourself is one item in your personal portfolio that can make or break you.

Why Is It Important?
Over 70% of employers say they check social media accounts to see who “you really are”. They want to see if how you present yourself online aligns with the company’s beliefs. If you’re an entrepreneur/ small business owner, many people will probably Google your name and see what populates. We’ve all “googled” someone at some point. You want people to see positive things but also relate to you as a human being.

Where Do You Start?
Branding yourself normally starts with social media. As I’ve said before, you will probably be searched at some point and the first thing that will pop up is ALL of the social media accounts with your name attached to them. Make sure you’re posting appropriate content that speaks to who you are as a person. Social media is like a peek into what you do in your free time and/or your personal accomplishments. People want to know how you are spending your time and what you have to say about it.

Oprah Winfrey
Oprah has proven to be one of the best at personal branding, almost anyone in the world knows her name. With an estimated net worth over $2 billion, she (I am sure she has a social media manager) always is posting content that revolves around staying true to yourself and your passions. This kind of content brings people in and also empowers them- while benefiting her personal image and growing her following.

Outcomes of Personal Branding
Not only will you have a solid foundation of who you are as a person and your values on display for people to connect to, but also your brand will be able to evolve/adapt to the changing world. You may start a small business and the product is slowly going out of style- if you are attaching your name to that business and bringing your customers to your own personal image then they will be attached to not your business, but you. They have the potential to follow you around on your next business endeavor because people like to support like minded or positive people.

Personal branding is growing in importance now thanks to social media, and your entire life story can be just a click away. Most importantly, make sure you are portraying yourself in a connecting, encouraging, and honest way.

blogging, businessbuildingstrategies, personal assistant, process management, small business, social media management, virtual assistant services

Small Business Start-Up Tips

February 4, 2021February 4, 2021 Genean

So, you’re wanting to start a small business? Here are a few tips when it comes to figuring out the type of company you want to start and other important details.

Figure Out What Interests You

Identify how you’re spending your free time and what gets you excited to learn more. Maybe it’s a hobby you spend a lot of time doing, books you read, magazines you subscribe to, clubs/groups you’re a part of, or places you travel to.

Identity a Problem

Some of the most successful businesses are the result of finding the solution to a problem many people are facing in everyday life. These can make the best kind of products and/or services because everyone loves a solution that makes their quality of life better.

Research Your Market

A lot of markets are becoming oversaturated as time goes on and people make knock offs/ the same product with another brand name. Doing research in your selected target market is a huge factor in determining your possible success.

Build A Team

In order to run a business smoothly and deliver the best consumer experience, you may want to look into building a small team. During the start-up process cost is normally very important, so virtual assistants are your best bet. They handle most of the busy work while you can focus on making your product and/or service as great as possible.

Life by Design has numerous VA’s on standby to truly help you with the crazy journey of running a small business. Schedule your free consultation today!

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It’s a Good Year for Better Time Management

January 1, 2021December 18, 2020 Genean

Happy New Year! Here’s to an amazing and productive 2021!

How do we accomplish that in our business? We manage our time well.

Time management is a key skill in becoming/being successful and it includes setting aside the perfect amount of time for each and every task being thrown at you. Here are some tips to better manage your time, which will result in higher productivity in 2021.

Set Goals
1. A fundamental part of time management is not only setting goals for everything you need to complete, but also prioritizing them. One way would be to rank your goals by importance so you have a better idea of what you need to do first, second, third, etc.
Set A Time Frame For Each Task
1. Try to estimate the amount of time you will be spending on each and every task so you know when and where to fit in those tasks. It’s very important to have enough time to complete each one, leaving wiggle room in case it takes longer than expected. I can’t tell you how many times I have underestimated the amount of time a task will take me and I had already waited till the last minute to complete it- that doesn’t result in a good outcome.
Reward Yourself
1. No matter how big or small your personal reward is, you should have one. It not only gives you greater motivation to complete the task in a timely manner but also gives you something to enjoy and promotes self care.
Take Out Unnecessary Tasks
1. Cleaning up your to-do can have a huge impact on not just your stress levels but also your productivity. Having a bunch of unnecessary and just straight up time consuming tasks on your list will only slow you down.
Give Yourself A Break
1. Taking breaks are known to increase productivity as long as you stick to your set break time. Think of it as a recharging period to re-center and boost motivation. Examples include working for maybe 3 hours then giving yourself a 20 minute rest.
2. Delegate. Give tasks that you don’t want to work on to an assistant. Hiring a virtual assistant is one way to get rid of those extra tasks and free up more of your time for the things you want to do.

Productivity and time management are serious factors when it comes to not only your mental health surrounding the areas of stress, but also important factors to putting out quality work- no matter your area of expertise.

Here at Life by Design our team values time management and quality work. We focus on the busy work while you continue to run the business of your passion. If you want to learn more, schedule your free consultation here.