I’ve been chatting with several VAs over the last few months that desperately want to create structure and organization in their business.

I always find it interesting that we can easily brainstorm and implement all kinds of  systems, tools and processes to organize and automate in our clients’ businesses, but we have trouble doing the same in our own business.

As we move forward into these last four months of 2010 and strive towards  accomplishing all kinds of goals, let’s take a few minutes to review a couple of things that could make a big difference in our lives — both personally and professionally.

Tip #1 – Project Management Tool

It’s amazing to see how many of us use a project management tool of some kind with our clients, but we don’t within our own  business.  Why is that?

By implementing a program such as Central Desktop, you can input your various task items, build a running schedule of everything  you need to do and by when, and so each morning you can open it up and see exactly what needs to be done that day.  As you build  your business and introduce new team members, they can be added and easy organize themselves (and you) the same way.

This also is a great place to put “store” your own ideas – even if you won’t work on them for months – and your own business goals.   What happens when we don’t keep track of these things in a consistent system?  They get LOST and then we feel disappointment when we later remember everything we wanted to do but then forgot when things got  busy.

We use and fully recommend Central Desktop — it’s a great tool and has so many great features.  PLUS you can sign up for f’ree for 30 days — but at the end of the 30 days, you can continue using your free account if you’re not at a place where you need to upgrade  yet.

ACTION STEP — Get your own Central Desktop account.

Tip #2 – Your Own Online Calendar – including biz and professional items

You know when you’ve been doing something for a long time, that you just assume everyone else also does it too?

I’ve been recently surprised as how many virtual support professionals do not have their own online calendar.  The Google Calendar is free, easy to use and fantastic in so many ways.

My calendar includes EVERYTHING.

First I start by inputting all the times I’m NOT available – times I’m out to take the kids to and from school, after school activities,  holidays etc.   THEN I book in my client appointments, promotion calendar, block out times to work on my own marketing and note deadlines I need to remember (of course most of these are already in my Central Desktop).  Everything is color coded (that’s just the way I like to do it).

You can also connect your Google Calendar to an online scheduling took such as www.TimeDriver.com.  This way you can automate  the process of booking time with people – be it calls with regular clients or a chat with a potential client (SO much easier than going  back and forth trying to find a time that works for all!)

ACTION STEP: Sign up for your own Google Calendar — www.Google.com/calendar

*Note*  Another benefit to including all these items in your calendar is you can visually see how much time you REALLY have for  your business.  This may help you in confirming whether you have space to take on that new client, or if you can realistically  manage the clients you currently have.

Tip #3 – Unsubscribe From Some of Those Emails

I’ve done a lot of this lately and it’s amazing how much of a different it makes!

How many websites have you visit and subscribed to different reports, teleclasses and other resources?  Do you still find value in what this expert offers?  Do you read the emails?  Are you getting just too much email that you need to do SOMETHING about it?

Over the last 3-4 months I’ve made a conscious effort to take a quick look at each email I receive (other  than the ones from my clients/colleagues) and determine if it was information I wanted to continue to  receive.  Many I have decided to unsubscribe from and it’s amazing how much this has affected the  number of emails in my inbox!

See I’m one of these people that always thinks “I really want to read that — I’ll do it right after I finish x or I’ll read it later.”  We know  later never comes and before you know it, the email inbox is flooded with stuff you will never read.   A good rule of thumb – if you haven’t read it in the past 6 months, it’s time to unsub (kinda like getting rid of clothes you haven’t worn for a year.)

Make a decision next time an email comes in — will you stay or will you go?

Having said this, I hope you choose to stay in the V-Scoop community, but of course

ACTION STEP: Take a look at your current inbox — what can you unsub from?  As new emails come in, take a second to confirm if  you need to do the same.

So there you have it — 3 SIMPLE things to help you get your business in order and organized as we jump into September in full  speed.  We’ll have a few more to share with you in the next V-Scoop issue.

Your Final ACTION STEP: Which of these will you implement immediately?  What other tips would you like to share?  We’d love to hear from you – please add your comments and additional tips below… tell us what you’ll be doing to make  an impact in your business.

It's been a crazy summer ... and to be honest, I'm quite looking forward to getting back 'to normal' -- as normal as it can be in the life of a virtual support professional!

Tina and I couldn't help but want to share details with you about 2 calls next week that all virtual support professionals really need to take note of. Both calls are free, offer forward-thinking information, and are with some of our favorite, highly-respected experts in our online world.

Whether you are a Virtual Assistant, Online Business Manager or any other type of virtual support professional, you are more than just the services you offer to your clients - you are a business owner as well and need to be looking at how to continually grow and improve your service offerings.

Both of these ladies have amazing live events coming up this fall, and you know what means ... a fantastic opportunity to connect LIVE with potential new clients!  The #1 question we receive is "how do I find clients?"

As we've been talking about already a lot lately, we are HUGE fans of you "getting your buns out the door" to attend a live event, meet potential new clients and connect with them right when they're excited and desperately looking for someone who can help them implement strategies they've learned.  We've said it before and we'll say it again - there is no better way to find clients and build your business.

Keep this stored in the back of your mind as you consider which live event you just might want to attend.

Call #1 - Monday, August 30th with Sheri McConnell
Sheri McConnell is offering this exclusive call just for our Virtually Successful community! Sheri believes it will be the 'entrepreneurial' women that saves the world (and we happen to think she's right!).

On this call Sheri will share a few key teachings based on content from her upcoming Smart Women's Business Conference & Expo - designed to empower and encourage growth from within. Learn about what it means to live on purpose, live in passion and live profitably.

>>> Sign up for this free call with Sheri McConnell

Call #2 - Tuesday, August 31st with Andrea J Lee

Are you a thought leader? Do you struggle with trying to figure out how else you can make money in your business - aside from the services you offer and working more hours? But how hard is it to figure out what to do --- everyone seems to be doing the same thing and you might even wonder if your ideas would really work.

On this call, "Success Strategies for Everyday Thought Leaders: How to STAND OUT in an overwhelmed world of 'infocrap'", Andrea will provide you with key details on how to create content that gets heard above the noise.

Learn how to build your own entrepreneurial ecosystem ---- something that MANY more of us virtual support professionals should be doing!

>>> Sign up for this free call

We look forward to 'seeing' you on both of these calls. Of course we'll be there right along side you!

Stay tuned ... we'll be in touch again soon with more fantastic resources, tips and overall value to support you in building your virtual support business!