July 2008 - Posts
Small business owners, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and even corporate executives more often than not have some sort of computer system, desktop or laptop which they use for business. The latest technology kits are virtually within reach at continuously lower costs than they were 5 years ago. IT hardware packs a lot of power in smaller physical cases while software is becoming ore powerful and easier to use every year.
But have these companies taken advantage of information technology to get more work done? Or have they missed the opportunity to achieve the ROI they envisioned for their annual turnover due to out-of-date and unreliable technology?
Sadly, business owners and managers spend too much time on mundane tasks in a normal working day rather than spending more time on growing their business and increasing their productivity.
Small Business Server 2008 provides one of the best solutions to technology challenges that businesses face at a low cost budget. “It is called the Swiss army knife of business computing.”
Businesses today look for ways to do things quicker, to work smarter and to produce more professional looking documents. They are no longer taking unnecessary risks of losing important business information by putting in place a reliable and dependable back-up system.
Tim Long of TiGra Networks provides free consultation on the advantages of the Small Business Server, how best to address your IT problems , save you time and money. You can download this very useful 20-minute guide to technology for smaller companies here.
Relationships of all kinds are often perceived as very delicate things, that require extra effort to maintain. However, a relationship can also be something that can provide security and can also be long lasting despite many trials.
Building effective and lasting relationships is a necessity for several reasons. The well being of the people in an organisation depends on how efficient and effective that group or organisation works.
The group or organisation is also dependent on how the members work well with the management. ![MPj04225290000[1]](http://community.tigranetworks.co.uk/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/grace_5F00_long/MPj04225290000_5B00_1_5D005F00_thumb.jpg "MPj04225290000[1]")
An ineffective group or organisation can really be very frustrating. An effective group or organisation can also ask so much on their members, that sometimes the members would be having no life outside the walls of the area where they work or sacrifice the other aspects of their life just to meet deadlines. For an organisation or group with this kind of scenario, relationships can be stressed or suffer from breakdown.
People or other entities who depend on these groups or organisation also suffer.
Society is defined as a web of relationships, which requires all parties to work and contribute their share in order to achieve a common goal. Having a relationship that is good, where cooperation and respect are manifested, can make society work better. In this way each member works for the good of the whole and towards achieving a common goal. This can only be attained with effective and efficient relationships.
Understanding the other parties' feeling and position creates an effective and efficient relationship. The easiest method to understand what is important to another party is to ask them what they want and listen to what they have to say. When the other party realizes this, they would feel the importance given to them
Effective and efficient relationships require parties to openly express their feelings and positions on all matters pertinent on the relationship. Assuming that the other party understands our needs and give us when we need it without asking for it is not a good practice.
Respect is the key to relationship. In order to create a more effective relationship, parties should treat each other with respect. We can show respect just by listening to the other party and by trying sincerely to understand how they function. You can also show respect to other parties by confirming that they are doing everything they can.
The opposite of respect is quick forming of judgements based on unfounded facts and prejudice. Respect is the very foundation for a great relationship. This also means respecting yourself and respecting others.
Another key area in forming an effective relationship is to tackle differences of the other party directly. Differences between parties or people are quite interesting. For example in a conversation where each party listens to the other party, you may observe that each is having two different perspectives.
Work towards a win-win solution for both parties.
This can be done when at least one party acknowledges that the relationship is important. That party would then exert more time, effort and energy to understand the other party's needs and deal with it to get it out of the way. Should they fail, it is comforting for that party to know that they tried.
Effectively listening and no pre-judging. This is important if parties are to understand each other.
Informal discussions are conducive for parties. They bring out issues and concerns comfortably. They also feel more relaxed making them think more clearly.
Developing an atmosphere where the other party can express their feelings when they need to.
When parties fail to express whatever is on their mind or their feelings, it can get in the way of building an effective relationship.
Parties should be aware that certain things exist naturally but should be controlled in any dealings in any relationship. Human nature is one. Some of these things found in a relationship also include a history of stereotyping or mistrust, blaming the other person or party for a strained relationship, excluding the other party's feelings when focusing on a task, no clear and defined objectives, roles and expectations of each party in a relationship is also unclear.
Relationships are important to anyone, addressing issues and problems right away is a must to further improve the relationship. As they say 'No man is an Island'.
Anything taken too much is bad for the health. A little stress is actually good, as it could serve to help you function at your best. However, stress that seems a little too much could take a physical, as well as mental, toll to your body. Stress should be managed in order for depression or anxiety to be prevented.
So how should you do it then? The following are tips and advice to help manage stress.
Write it out, schedule it out.
It is best to write down everything that seems to be overwhelming. You will find that a to-do-list is much easier to manage than having errands all crumpled up in your head. Writing down the tasks, and putting a specific schedule and time to do them, helps anyone manage activities one chunk at a time. Crossing out an activity that has already been accomplished is very rewarding and could actually help you feel more relaxed when doing the other tasks at hand.
One at a time works.
Focus and put all your attention specifically on one task at one time. It does not help to feel panicky about the other undone or to-do tasks. Thinking about them only adds unnecessary stress and could even hamper in doing the task you are attempting to accomplish at present.
Relax and take it slow.
At least, try not to expend too much energy on activities that are currently not priorities. This is in order for your energy to be not easily expended on the tasks that are not that important, at least for now.
Delegate, delegate, delegate.
You need not do everything all at once, and you need not do everything on your own. Ask for help, get help, or pay for help. When there is a feeling of being overwhelmed that is cropping up, hire someone to mow the lawn or get a sitter for your children. The feeling of being pressed to finish something on time will somehow be eliminated if tasks are delegated. It takes a load off unnecessary worry and anxiety. Moreover, it is easier checking up on how things are, than worrying yourself sick doing everything on your own, all at once.
Give yourself a reward.
You deserve it. Acknowledging your accomplishments, no matter how big or small, is an effort that is necessary before getting on to the next tasks and activities. It reduces stress and could even make you happier in doing the next task.
Give yourself a break.
You need it to be more productive. A ten to fifteen minute break during your work is necessary. Go visit a café nearby, take a quick brisk walk, or do anything to put your mind off work, at least for a while. This is necessary to refresh and recharge. Believe it or not, you can also stay in your work and sit with your eyes closed as you visualize a peaceful landscape or a relaxing scene. This frees the stress from your muscles and your mind.
Relax and be cool. Doing so makes you healthier, happier, and a lot more productive.
The Microsoft Office Tips and Tricks Gadget was created by developers at Windows Live Gallery and is released as part of the Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget which is available for download here.
It delivers a new tip or hint every day for using Microsoft Office. Click the Gadget and a flyout will appear giving a complete description of how to use the new technique which will make your life a little easier when you use Microsoft Office and its applications. Try it, it is very useful.
When establishing a VA practice, what seems to be the most important activity that a VA needs to spend time on - is it improving your skills and getting a VA certification - or is it marketing and attracting clients?
This is one of the many question many VAs or would-be VAs are asking themselves. In my opinion, learning and improving skills is a must-do activity. It should be incorporated as a process in our business plan as a progressive entrepreneur seeking and using feedback strategies to learn and improve; it is part of reviewing and evaluating how well we are doing in performing and providing the services we offer to our clients. Acquiring a VA certification is physical proof of the effort we have put into studying the concepts and principles of how to handle a VA business. However, learning and improving our skills is not something we do once and forget about it. It is integral to our normal approach to work and study throughout life and our career.
Marketing and attracting clients is a daunting thought to a small business owner. You can almost imagine pouring a large amount of your hard-earned savings into marketing activities that we are not comfortable with. The term marketing is normally associated with sales and promotion techniques. Marketing and attracting clients encompasses so much more than advertising. It is simply studying our products or services from the clients' perspective. Before deciding on what advertising and promotion techniques to adopt, we need to carefully consider the branding and the kind of image we wish to project to our clients. Our prospective clients' perception of our VA practice will dictate whether or not they will approach us for support. A very important foundation for successfully marketing and attracting new clients is a creative flair for words while conveying a complicated message in a small space of a postcard, a top-notch command of the English language, including a mastery of grammar and spelling.
Bernadette Doyle's report on Attracting Clients with Ease describes several low-cost ways to attract clients and position yourself as an expert in your field.
Colin Campbell of Colin Campbell Consulting holds CJ Hayden's Get Clients Now! 28 day marketing workshops, Guerrilla Marketing Coaching and Sales training in Wales and Bristol. I know Colin personally and had attended his workshop and learned a lot about marketing.
Fabienne Frederickson, the Client Attraction Expert, holds various webinars and teleseminars which I have attended and found to be very useful. There are also loads of resources she has made available through newsletters and articles she sends via email.
The answer to the above question then is to constantly improve our existing skills and learn more new skills to perfect our craft and balance it with a follow-up, review, evaluation and re-structure of our marketing strategies to gain new clients. Marketing after all is the life blood of every business.
For those of you who are not familiar with the term "virtual assistant," I define it succinctly as an experienced, highly trained and independent professional who provides a wide-range of business support services virtually from her/his own office with the use of the most recent technologies in terms of software from various vendors such as Microsoft, electronic devices such as fax, electronic mail and voicemail, and other web-based technologies to effectively support business owners, corporate executives and entrepreneurs globally.
Our unique service offering is that, in addition to what other VAs offer, we also provide business insight, resolve challenges, and influence stability and profitability through the smarter use of technology and our partnership with Microsoft.
There are several definitions that proliferate the internet and you can see more definitions as listed in the VA Networking Forum, managed by Tawnya Sutherland from Canada.
It would not be too difficult to guess who finally brought my blog masthead to the 21st century with the installation of Silverlight. Yes, you guessed right it is none other than, Tim Long, my husband, in-house systems administrator, programmer, and software engineer all rolled into one.
The first time I ever saw a Silverlight demo was early last year at Dave Overton's blogsite and at the Silverlight portal which for an advanced user and geek like me who loves and appreciates technology is totally awesome. Then it was used in Matt Macspirit's Hyper-V demo at the Microsoft Partners Pre-launch 'invitation only' event on January 2008 in London with no less than Bill Gates as the featured speaker. My interest was further heightened during the 2008 Launch Wave of the Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 technologies in March this year in Birmingham which I attended. For those who have not been fortunate enough to make it to the Virtual Launch experience you can visit the Virtual Event online where you can have a blast with all the information and sessions you missed at the in-person event.
But I digress, don't I. 
As a Virtual Assistant who makes her living in the virtual world, Silverlight technology is just totally amazing. What is Silverlight?
"Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web."
"Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, IronPython, and IronRuby, and integrates with existing Web applications. By using Expression Studio and Visual Studio, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively using the skills they have today to light up the Web of tomorrow. By leveraging Silverlight's support for .NET, High Definition video, cost-effective advanced streaming, unparalleled high-resolution interactivity with Deep Zoom technology, and controls, businesses can reach out to new markets across the Web, desktop, and devices."
In other words, the possibilities and opportunities for the use of this technology is unlimited. Check out the Silverlight demo showcase here.
At the rate it is going and In my limited technical experience, Silverlight is going to present Flash technology a run for its money. The ease of installation, memory, storage and interactivity it provides offers both computer users and application developers a variety of ways to showcase their imagination. Because Silverlight is built upon the .NET Framework, it enables developers to produce content using .NET languages such as C#, Visual Basic and XAML, eliminating the need to learn JavaScript or Flash ActionScript. Developers can therefore produce rich, interactive web content using exactly the same tools they use to develop Windows applications.
If you are interested in learning Silverlight as I am, this website is a great place to start.
One of the topics I am most passionate about is entrepreneurship and education. It is always most refreshing to be informed of new trends in education and what we can do to help government and educators to address the needs, challenges and opportunities to develop entrepreneurship education.
The third International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference is scheduled on 8th-10th September at the Brittania International Hotel overlooking one of the world's iconic business districts, London's Canary Wharf. The conference is led by the NCGE and EEUK. The conference programme will showcase workshops on various topics, innovative techniques and approaches to the delivery and shaping of entrepreneurship education and outcomes. All conference ticket types are of limited availability. Discounts are available to EEUK members and those currently on the IEEP programme. Book now and participate in shaping the future of enterprise education.
Hello everyone. It has been quite a while since my last post. I have undergone and overcome several challenges in the interim and now I am back filled with awe, excitement and positive energy. I have been through several trainings on Microsoft technologies and personal development - all of which has opened new opportunities for me and my business.
I have also this week finished a diploma in NLP in London. That was an awesome experience - another journey into what lengths I will go into to make changes both in my personal life and my business. I have also made arrangements to bring my NLP trainer to Wales because he is such a terrific trainer and allowed me to use and develop my innate abilities.
Watch this space - I am back in the saddle.