pa

My secret to being the ‘most organised person you know’

MOMENTUM Business Support Administration
A written to do list on a notepad with a pen placed on top

Everyone always tells me I’m the most organised person they know. I get a lot of ‘it’s ok for you, you’re organised’ and ‘it’s easy for you, you remember everything’ or ‘you do it, you’ll remember’.

The truth is, I don’t.

I used to think I had a great memory and was super organised, but that was before I started my own business, and one role became every role!

A few years ago, it felt like my natural ability to remember ‘everything’ started to fade. The busier I got the more there was to remember and the more I began to fret about it. I’m not saying I did forget everything, and I certainly still managed to appear organised and well planned, but at a cost. Lots of late nights trying to cram it all in whilst it was still fresh. Restless nights in and out of sleep, conscious that I had: clients to support; business accounts to get up to date; invoices and proposals to get out; events to plan and manage; stationery to order; software updates to implement; and so on and more.

Sound familiar? Of course it does. You have just as much to keep on top of as I do!

So, what’s my secret to making sure I’m still  ‘the most organised person you know’?

LISTS!

I know. It’s probably not quite the ultimate all revealing ‘secret’ you were after but it’s true. Writing my to-do list and keeping it updated every day takes the pressure out of remembering. There’s so much else to do, I just don’t have time to remember any more. So every evening when I finish work, I update my to-do list. And every morning, there it is, ensuring I know exactly what I need to do to get the most out of my day – No more restless nights or undue stress!

If you struggle to remember everything, or have written your to-do list and just don’t have the time to get it all done, then get in touch. We have an amazing team who are excellent at helping others become ‘the most organised person you know’!

T: 01903 688789  E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com

What Do You Do With All Your Emails?

MOMENTUM Business Support PA
A laptop displaying an email inbox, lying on a bed in the dark

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Let’s set the scene:

You’ve set up your business and it’s starting to grow. It feels amazing that all your hard work and effort is paying off. Enquiries are coming in, your network and contacts are growing and everything is moving in an upwards direction … including your emails!

You try your best to deal with them all and sift through the junk to get to the most important ones on time, but somehow there’s still a couple that slip through the net. You really want to send a quick ‘hi’ and ‘thank you’ to the person you met at the event yesterday, and acknowledge the holding reply you have from the person you sent a proposal to last week. You also want to read through those subscription emails, take a look at your supplier’s latest offers and send a quick note to confirm a meeting next week. But of course, none of those are as important as the new orders, enquiries and existing customer queries that need resolving. So they get left to the way side.

The problem is, you don’t have time to do them today as you need to get the actual work done and you can’t catch up on them this evening either because you have a family engagement. This weekend is also out due to other (non-work related) commitments.

So, what do you do with all your emails?

What if you could just focus on the significant few emails and keep on top of your responses and junk? With our help you can. Our Virtual PA and Admin services can help you as you grow enabling you to keep your focus on what brings in the money and pass your time consuming (non-profit making) tasks to us! Get in touch today. Give us a call 01903 688789, or send us an email to makeithappen@mbsmih.com – We look forward to hearing from you.

You Need A PA – Here’s Why

MOMENTUM Business Support PA
A calendar notebook layed out on a table

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.