A Personal Assistant, or Virtual Assistant (the same thing – just not taking up extra space in your office!) is an invaluable resource for exponentially increasing your productivity.
A bold statement I know, but let me explain.
Let’s take last Monday as an example.
Prelude: The previous week was a fantastic week for business, everyone was back into the swing of things, there were a ton of enquiries and existing customers were focusing on the big plans for 2016. Friday came round crazy fast and before you could say 6 o’clock it was time to head off to get ready to travel to Wales for the weekend – family wedding! The packing was done (well… mostly!), but the Hotel wasn’t confirmed and nor was the suit hire. The car needed refueling and there were no plans for dinner. An absolute stressful nightmare – but it all got resolved with some last minute organising and a slight delay in arriving at the Church on Saturday! The rest of the weekend was brilliant, catching up with family and lots of celebrating. Back home late Sunday night, (check a few emails) and thoughts turn to everything that needs to be done on Monday…
So, last Monday. First things first – create a ‘to do’ list.
# Vet appointment for Archie
# Meet Dave re Website enhancements (+lunch) 10 – 1pm
# Get time booked in with Rachel this week – Thurs?
# Send Quotes – Forum Ltd / Harry D / Exom / Mark / Sarah H
# Chase flyer prints
# Organise team meeting for tomorrow – minutes from previous / actions!! / lunch??
# Dinner out this evening!!!
# Send Invs – Sam / Grover PH
# Emails!!
# Airport parking
By the time the ‘to do’ list was created, there’d been a couple of urgent emails and two phone calls. It’s already 9.15am and time to start thinking about travelling to the meeting with Dave. No real prep done for the meeting – there hasn’t been time! And need to call Dave to see where the meeting is.
10 – 1pm Meeting and lunch finished with lots of actions to take away regarding content gathering for Website enhancements. Now it’s time to get back to the office and take action on the rest of the ‘to do’ tasks.
1.30pm First things first, review emails and respond to urgent ones.
2.00pm Create and send quotes – can’t send Mark’s or Forum’s as need additional information, emails sent to request info.
2.50pm Call several venues looking for a suitable meeting room for tomorrow, lunch booked (a little more expensive than preferred). Actions from the previous meeting reviewed, several actions require others’ input – have not heard from them so it’s likely they have not been done either. Will select the most urgent and discuss / defer the rest for the following meeting.
(Several calls received in between)
4.30pm Booked restaurant for this evening, only early tables available as such short notice! Action several urgent emails. Finally make Vet appointment for Archie – this Thursday.
5.10pm Type up minutes and actions from previous team meeting, ready for tomorrow.
6.00pm Get ready and head out to dinner.
9.45pm Finish and send minutes and actions for team meeting tomorrow. Review and reply to a handful of non-urgent emails.
So, by the end of the day the ‘to do’ list looks a little like this ..
# Get time booked in with Rachel this week – Thurs?
# Send Quotes – Forum Ltd / Harry D / Exom / Mark / Sarah H
# Chase flyer prints
# Send Invs – Sam / Grover PH
# Emails!!
# Airport parking
.. with plenty more to add into the mix from today’s activities.
Does this sound familiar? Even a little bit? Long days no-where near as productive as you had hoped. It’s not a bad thing though, busy means business is going well right?
Unfortunately, no – we can all be extremely busy being ‘busy’. There’s a perpetual cycle here, with each day feeding the next with more disorganisation and personal disappointment at the tasks that have not been done. Having a Personal Assistant to delegate your key (but not necessarily highly skilled or bottom line increasing) tasks is a fundamental requirement for any business owner looking to grow their company.
If we go right back to the weekend away, even before the Monday ‘to do’ list was created, there’s a significant number of small daily tasks a PA can support you with, ensuring your personal as well as business plans run smoothly:
# Confirm the Hotel
# Confirm the suit hire
# Book a table for dinner
# Organise meeting venue with Dave
# Action and research majority of content gathering / requirements for website enhancements
# Respond to email enquiries and obtain additional information as required
# Organise venue, lunch and participants for team meeting
# Type up meeting minutes and actions straight after meetings – ensuring they are sent with plenty of time to for everyone to complete the actions
# Book restaurant for evening meal
# Book Vet appointment
# Reply to non-urgent emails and simple enquiries on your behalf
Not to mention the additional tasks on your ‘to do’ list that would have also been completed:
# Get time booked in with Rachel this week – Thurs?
# Chase flyer prints
# Send Invs – Sam / Grover PH
# Airport parking
When it comes to your business, nothing is more valuable than your time. A Personal (Virtual) Assistant will help ensure you stay focussed and on track by taking care of the day to day tasks that take you away from running your business.
If this is you and you’d like to find out more about how a Virtual PA can help you, then please get in touch – we’d love to hear from you. Our Virtual Assistant services are extremely flexible. You can have daily support or make ad-hoc requests as and when the need arises.