Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’
Understanding Virtual Assistant Relationships
September 9th, 2008
Is Your Business Saving Money?
September 4th, 2008
I love to help people whenever I can so I try to share my tips and tricks for various things that affect business and life in general. My tips for today are for saving your business money. I know this is a topic that is important for everyone and sometimes the solutions for saving just seem impossible. Believe me I know how you feel! So with the price of gas and the way the economy is going now a days and the heat of the Political Conventions I thought I would share some of my tricks on how I manage to save in the office.
Go Paperless – Yes that’s right – one of my green tips saves you money too! Send an email and save .42 cents on a stamp. Send checks electronically via your bank or Quickbooks and save another stamp! Pay your bills online – you can do that for home and work! Send electronic statements in email from Quickbooks or PayPal or create your own statement in Word or Excel (there goes another stamp!). Try not to print your emails too. The less you print the less paper you have to buy, the less supplies you have to purchase in order to store all your printed items too.
Have a Video Conference – Are you always stuck traveling someplace? Try to set up a video conference instead. If you have a webcam there are plenty of services that you can hook up to like Webex.com, Videoconference.com and Skype.com. If you don’t have a webcam they are easy to get a hold of and usually range in price from $9.99 to $199.99. These are also great green options as the less flights that are taken the less of a carbon footprint from airplanes!
Get A Travel Agent – Yes you are reading right! Sure there are plenty of great travel websites that can save you a couple of dollars but nothing is better then a travel agent. A travel agent usually charges a fee anywhere from $35 to $100 but it is worth the investment. The secret with a travel agent is that they develop relationships with the airlines and hotels that is not possible for the average traveler to create. Those relationships equal savings for you! A travel agent usually has access to unadvertised sales and/or discount prices that you would not be able to find on a travel or airline website. And if you are someone whose travel does not always go as planned - making a change can be easier and usually cheaper than a travel website. Your travel agent will also be much easier to reach in an emergency then a travel website and in an effort to get repeat business they are dedicated to you having a good trip.
Free / Low Cost Software – Software is a fortune now a days. But if you are a small business or entrepreneur; the free software version of some programs is just as useful as the pay versions. There are free versions of Quickbooks, eFax, Adobe Acrobat, and countless others. If you are just starting up this is a great way to save some money. The free versions may not have all the features of the paid version but they are pretty useful nonetheless – and when you are trying to keep your overhead down useful is good!
Buy Used Office Equipment and Furniture - Not only is it cheaper but again another green option! Besides Craigslist and eBay there are also companies that sell (and buy in case you want to unload some stuff) used office equipment. Check out websites like www.officeguild.com or www.officezone.com. A few extra tips – sometimes you can buy the floor sample of an item at large chain stores like Staples and Office Depot. Also, if you have a membership to BJ’s, Costco or Priceclub – they always carry office supplies; even registers sometimes! Be sure to check them out too and save yourself a few dollars.
Go Virtual – This is a new feature of business that I am happy to be a part of. Going virtual not only saves you money but it also saves you time which is just as important when you are a business owner. If you are a small company, non-profit or a start up – hiring a virtual assistant can save you money on overhead. It can also help you to get those tedious little things done that I am sure you hate doing and free you up for the more productive things that make your business grow and flourish. It helps with customer service too – imagine the benefit of having a quicker response to customers and clients! If you are thinking of going virtual – check us out at www.FabulousHelp.com.
So how do you save money in your office? You know we always love to hear from you – leave us a comment and let us know your tips.
Make it a great day!
Thinking of going “virtual” but do not know where to start?
September 2nd, 2008
Ready to change? Ready for success? Want to help the environment by going paperless? If you are reading this, then you are absolutely ready!
It’s scary to change anything about your business if you’ve been profitable with your current way of doing things.
Remember that “going virtual” is a positive change –a change which will enhance your business, make you more productive, and give you the ability to streamline your day-to-day activities of running your office.
Take a minute to download and print your own complimentary copy of FabulousHelp’s Hire a VA Checklist located at:
http://www.fabuloushelp.com/files/FabulousHelp_VA_Checklist2.pdf
Once you compile your list of tasks and projects based on the checklist, you will be ready to outsource… So, give FabulousHelp a call to discuss your checklist and how FabulousHelp can help you achieve your administrative goals – RIGHT NOW!
It’s time to move your business forward and experience a level of Customer Service unmatched in the Virtual Assistance industry.
Can your office go green?
August 26th, 2008
One of today’s most important and most talked about topics is going green. I really don’t know of anyone who isn’t trying to be more earth friendly. I do know that not everyone is doing all they can to go green. If you are one of those people – or just someone stuck in a work environment that is not green – here are a couple of simple tips you can use to help save our environment.
- Recycle, Recycle, Recycle! – This is so important and by far the easiest thing to do. The list of things you can recycle is endless! Here are just some things that I recycle in the office: paper, paperclips, file folders, hanging folder tabs, divider tabs, and binders. I bet you are now thinking of some things you can recycle!
- Buy earth friendly office supplies – There are plenty of great companies now as well as your local stationary stores that offer green alternatives when it comes to office supplies. www.thegreenoffice.comoffers some great office products that are eco-friendly. You can also have your business cards printed on recycled paper. Companies like MZ Berger & Co. Inc. in Long Island City, NY and Wal-Mart in Bentonville, AR print their business cards on recycled paper as well as making them smaller then the average business card so less paper is used. You can check out www.greenerprinter.com for business cards.
- Print less and go paperless - I know a lot of people keep paper files and in some industries it is imperative. But when and if possible keep electronic files instead and read your emails on your computer monitor instead of printing. It will keep you more organized and easier to find things. Email systems like Outlook and Lotus Notes as well as free email services like Yahoo and Google also offer folder systems to keep your emails organized and easily accessible. Plenty of companies and banks now offer paperless billing and statements also. Another great way to keep your important documents organized and easily accessible. And if you are worried about loosing these files in case your computer crashes you can always back them up on disk, memory sticks or external drivers. For those small business owners, you can make electronic invoices on PayPal and Quickbooks and they will save you money on postage!
- Use reusable containers – do you brown bag lunch when you go to the office? Drop the brown bag and just bring lunch! There are some great reusable lunch bag options out there that you can pack your lunch in if you can’t fit it in the bag you already carry. L.L. Bean has some great adult options and you can even have it monogrammed! Use Tupperware too instead of plastic sandwich bags.
These are just a few tips and I hope they have been helpful and put you on the road to doing business the green way! Do you have any ideas about going green at work? If you do we would love to hear them. We are trying to be greener too and are always looking for new ideas.
Make it a great day!
Cold Calling
August 13th, 2008
Hello all,
I just wanted to share with everyone another blog that I came across during my time on the web. The blog is by Wendy Weiss – The Queen of Cold Calling. I am not a huge fan of cold calling but in some industries I realize that it is just part of the process of generating business. If you have a hard time bringing yourself to cold call (I know I do) or you just want to sharpen your skills – this blog is definitely worth checking out. Feel free to let me know what you think about it. Hopefully it will be as good a resource for you as it is for me.
Have a great day!
Posted in Business Support, Educational Corner, Event Planning, Real Estate Support | 
Tags: Educational Corner, Real Estate, Small Business | 
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