Dear Danielle: How Does the Shaky Economy Affect Us?

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 22, 2012
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Dear Danielle:

What do you perceive will transpire within the VA scene with the upcoming shaky global economy? What would you suggest, especially to new VA’s such as myself? We have not acquired an established clientele yet, we are scratching to get a first client! Thank you. –Marie-Brigitte Souci

Thanks for the question, Marie-Brigitte. :)

First, I do want to gently remind that we use the term Administrative Consultants here. I’m not concerned with the VA industry. I answer questions related to those who are in the administrative support business and for many reasons, we do not use the VA term.

I want to encourage you not to be concerned about the economy. First, because things really are on the upswing, and second, because it really doesn’t need to have anything to do with you. You’re looking at things from the wrong angle, and if you’re worrying about clients who are worried about the economy, you’re focusing on the wrong clients.

Here is a post I wrote in 2011 on this topic that I think will help you see that there is a different approach and why the economy have to relate to your business in any way:

Dear Danielle: How Is the Economy Affecting Out Industry?

Let me know if that helps!

1 Comment Posted in Administrative Consultants, Administrative PARTNERING, Articulating Your Value, Dear Danielle, Don't Use These Words, Earning, Financial Success, Getting Clients, Ideal Clients, Marketing, Positioning, Target Market, Why We Stopped Calling Ourselves Virtual Assistants, You Are NOT an Assistant

Keep Trying

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 21, 2012
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Keep trying. Imagine what life would be like without difficult things to challenge us and keep us sharp and curious and ever evolving.

2 Comments Posted in Inspiration, Personal

Dear Danielle: Should I Turn Work Away?

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 20, 2012
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Dear Danielle:

I’ve learned a lot from you in regards to Value Based Pricing by purchasing your system. Love it! The only question I have is, do you turn away any admin work that doesn’t fit into your packages? I sometimes have clients ask me to help out with a quick spreadsheet or troubleshoot why a login isn’t working etc. Do you have any tips on how this translates in value based pricing? –MD

Thanks for the great question! I’ll do my best to help.

Quick answer: It depends. But let’s examine why and where you may be wanting to take your business.

Personally, at my stage in business, yes, I typically do turn away small ad-hoc project work like that. It’s just not worth my time or attention. I make enough from my retainer clients that I don’t need to bother with penny ante stuff like that. And I have more time to devote to my retained clients and more time for my own life because of it.

This is something you begin to realize once you decide that you want to start earning better in your business. Lots of people think they need to take anything they can get, everything that comes their way. And that’s certainly their perogative. If someone is starving and they need to put food on the table, yeah, you’re going to take that work, and any work you can get.

However, continuing to operate in that mode will keep you in the position of what essentially amounts to picking pennies up off the ground. You’ll never create a better, more well-earning business that way. And project work like that will keep you from building a more leisurely paced business–and life. You’ll forever be on a hamster wheel in a business like that.

Getting to a place of earning better requires intention about the kinds of work and clients you take on. It means saying “no” to certain work in order to focus on getting the kind of work and clients that actually lead you from a hand-to-mouth existence to one where you are earning and profitting well and, in turn, creating the life you want for yourself.

Now, you use the word “clients” rather than prospects. I’m not sure if you meant people who are already retained clients or if you actually meant just random people (prospective clients) who don’t want to retain you, but just want this little one-off things.

If it’s retained clients you did mean, and they were asking for something outside the scope of their support plan, again it depends. For retained clients, I give the best of my time and attention. If they have a quick, little one-off thing that doesn’t fall into the scope of their support plan, a lot of times I will knock that out for them just as a bit of client love. Their ongoing business and relationship means more to me than a few extra bucks. However, if a pattern begins to emerge (which I will notice in my six-month review of their account) that they really do need ongoing support in a particular area, that’s when we have a conversation about needing to add that support area onto their plan (and the price goes up accordingly).

But, yes, if it’s just a random person who has found my site and just wants a little project, I turn those away. Just not worth the distraction or my time and effort. One of the reasons I’ve been able to build the practice I have today is by saying “no” to things like that.

If you want to build a retainer based and more well-earning business, you have to say no to any client or work that isn’t in alignment with that goal. I realize there may be a balancing act some folks need to do when they are first starting their business. The caution (and where folks get caught up on) is that if all you ever do is taken on penny-ante project work, it will keep you from building the business that you’d rather have.

I know some people like to say, “But those little projects could turn into retained clients if they like my work.” Again, that’s not building a business based on intention. That’s trying to grow a business based on hope. Doesn’t work. And there’s a better way.

I’m sure you’ve heard me repeat the adage, “You will never get what you don’t ask for.” And this is exactly what this means. If you don’t ask and expect a commitment from clients, you will never get one. If you don’t ask for exactly the kind of clients and relationship that you prefer to have in your business, you will never get them.

The tail will forever be wagging the dog and you will never build the business you want unless you ask for it. That means not accepting just any ol’ work and clients. It means telling clients exactly how you work with them (e.g., by monthly retainer) and then only accepting those clients who are ready to work like that. You gotta stop wasting time on everyone else. It’s just delaying and distracting you.

And contrary to all the advice you hear out there on this, I do not recommend you take on a small project so client can “get a taste of what it’s like to work with you.” Would you go to a home builder and ask them to “just build me this little thing here so I can get an idea of what it’s like to work with you?” They wouldn’t do it (and they’d probably laugh behind your back). It’s just not worth their time to deal with dabblers. And you can’t make it worth your time either or you’ll be doing that the rest of your life.

Focus on the people who are ready to work with you. If you don’t expect the commitment, you will never get one. There are far better ways to allow prospective clients to “sample” you without you being distracted or wasting your one-on-one time. Heck, your entire website should be a “sampling” and demonstration of you and your skills, knowledge and expertise.

I want you to refer back to the Administrative Consultant business model blueprint you received with the Value-Based Pricing Toolkit. This outlines exactly how you can offer them “samples” without letting the “nibblers” take you away from your focus.

Let me know if that helps. :)

Leave a comment Posted in Administrative Consultants, Best Biz Practices, Business Management, Client Love, Clients, Consulting with Clients, Dear Danielle, Earning, Financial Success, Getting Clients, Project Work, Retainers

Dear Danielle: Do You Think Buying a Franchise Is a Good Idea?

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 15, 2012
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Dear Danielle:

I was wondering why you have not considered franchising an Administrative Consultant business? With everything you have in place it seems like something you may have considered. I ask because one of my clients is a franchise person and asked me why I had not considered it. Then I thought… well, if Danielle hasn’t done it, there must be a reason why. Just curious about your thoughts on the subject. –JL

Thanks for such an interesting question! I really appreciate those. :)

This topic actually has come up before in other conversations with colleagues, but I haven’t ever posted my thoughts about it here on the blog. To get to the quick of it, I’m against franchising. It’s hard to put into words and explain all the reasons why, but I’ll give it a try.

Fundamentally, I don’t believe buying into a franchise is good for Administrative Consultants. It might be good for the seller because they make money from it, but I don’t think it’s good for the people buying into them. Sure, I could package up my branding and sell it as a franchise and make money regardless. But if my core belief is that it only really and truly benefits me, I would not feel that I was living in truth and integrity. It would not sit well with my conscience to sell people something that I didn’t believe was actually any good for them.

Here’s why I don’t think it serves you as an Administrative Consultant. First,  you have to understand that providing a professional service is not the same as making and selling sandwiches for a living (e.g., buying into a Subway franchise). You can’t franchise personality, chemistry, critical thinking, unique experience, and higher level skill and expertise. These are exactly the  things that make what we do a craft and that differentiate one Admin Consultant from another and makes each unique to his or her own ideal clients. You simply can’t bottle that.

Second, when you apply a cookie cutter approach (which is what franchising does), you turn what is a craft into a commodity. And when something becomes a commodity, it loses its specialness and uniqueness. It becomes just another identical product the customer could buy from a million other places. When everything is the same, when it’s made to look like there isn’t any particular skill or expertise required and it’s not magical and unique, the natural inclination is to look for the cheapest provider. When that’s the case, you will be stuck competing on price and that’s a death knell for any business. If you expect to command professional fees and be perceived as an expert with valuable expertise and unique delivery, then you can not allow yourself to become just another commodity.

Third, when you buy a franchise, you are only building and strengthening the value of the franchise’s brand, not your own. For all the reasons that people buy franchises (they think it will be easier to get started, market and make money), the opposite happens. You are not special and different and unique when you are just another bottle on the shelf. If you want to skip the hard parts in business, then you should resign yourself to earning poorly because it is going to be that much harder for you to differentiate yourself from the rest of the clones and command professional fees–the very things you thought buying someone’s brand franchise was going to do for you.

Plus, if I were to ever franchise my brand, in order to maintain the quality and integrity of the brand and earning power of the franchise, I would have to be really picky about who bought into it. I’d also have to put resources and mechanisms in place to monitor franchisees to make sure they were observing the terms of the franchise. All of which would require a lot of time and energy and yet more details and work I have absolutely zero interest in. There’s just not anything in any of that I would derive any positive energy from.

The flip side of that same coin that if anyone is allowed to buy into the franchise without any qualification, everything those others franchise owners do affects your business and reputation as well.

My personal values affect everything I do in life and in business. I can’t divorce them from my work or relationships. It’s why I’m simply incapable of doing business with anyone I think is unethical or associating with people or groups I’ve come to learn are dishonest and unscrupulous. I can’t wrap my brain around how that works for other people. I mean, I think people are often fooled by false veneers and seduced by pretty words, especially when they are looking for an excuse anyway. But a wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf. And I think when it comes to self-interest, denial is very handy and makes it easier to rationalize and justify. But denial requires a level of unconsciousness and I am too highly conscious and uber-aware as a person. Of course, being highly conscious often doesn’t make it easy to get along in this world. But no one ever said choosing the right thing over self-interest was always the easy thing to do. (Just musing out loud here.)

At any rate, for me, values and principles aren’t things you can conveniently tuck away in a drawer just because you have an opportunity to make money or someone unethical has something you’d like to take advantage of. For that reason, I couldn’t ever be in the franchise business when in my heart, I honestly don’t believe it would really and truly serve the people who bought into it.

Sure, I could maybe make more money. But it’s not the kind of money I would feel good making. For me, making money is pretty much the last consideration. Not that I have money issues and don’t like making it. Far from it! It’s just that what energizes and motivates me primarily is the beauty and purpose of the work and engaging in my craft… practicing, honing and mastering it and doing good work for clients that really helps them move forward. I also value and respect myself and what I do and hold it in high esteem (and charge well for it) and expect clients to as well–or they don’t become clients. The money part takes care of itself after that.

What I truly think and believe is that Administrative Consultants are  much better served creating and nurturing their own strong, unique brand and identity. Buying into anyone else’s brand or franchise isn’t going to help them do any better, get ahead any faster or be more successful because skills and the ability to serve clients well and nurture relationships aren’t things that can be purchased or borrowed. They either can do well on their own, or they aren’t going to make it regardless, which brings us back full circle to the pointlessness of buying a franchise. Much better for them to invest their time and money in learning more about business and marketing and increasing their skills and knowledge so they can create and succeed on their own merits.

2 Comments Posted in Administrative Consultants, Administrative PARTNERING, Articulating Your Value, Best Biz Practices, Dear Danielle, Earning, Financial Success, Franchising, Getting Clients, Legal, Marketing, Positioning

Happy Hearts Day

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 14, 2012
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I hope you are having a wonderful Valentine’s Day and that you are luving up all the sweethearts in your life—including clients—and that you’re getting some awesome luvin’ in return.

Thank you for being my Valentine, letting me in your life and allowing me to share my business knowledge and advice in the hopes that it helps you have a kick-ass life and business! You’ve enriched my life tremendously. :)

1 Comment Posted in Personal

Dear Danielle: Why Would I Need a Confidentiality Agreement?

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 13, 2012
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Dear Danielle:

I recently purchased your entire startup package for Administrative Consultants and I’m finding it so useful. Thank you. I do have a quick question regarding one of the forms: It’s the customizable confidentiality agreement. I can understand why a prospective client would expect me to sign a confidentiality agreement, but how do I explain to them that I need one as well? I read the contract, but I still don’t understand exactly what it is I’m asking them to hold in confidence. Can you break it down for me in clear, easy to understand language? This would go a long way in helping me to help my clients understand what I’m asking of them. —CA

If you’re new, you might not want or need to use it right now. You might not have developed your processes and programs to the extent that they become valuable intellectual capital. But eventually you will if you’re in business for any length of time.

Intellectual capital can be your unique processes, systems, tools,diagnostics… all kinds of things that you develop yourself, that make your service unique. Many businesses find it important to protect that intellectual property. When that’s the case, you want to make sure clients understand that any of the proprietary information, processes, tools, etc., that they become privy to through your work together are intellectual property that they may not share with others or coopt or adapt for their own use. And that’s because you have a right to keep those things private for use just with your own clients and not make them public information, and you have the right to earn money from those things however you see fit.

Here’s one example… let’s say you come up with your own signature database system that you use with clients. And say you allow clients the use of this while they are a client. Since this proprietary and original database is part of your intellectual property and proprietary systems, and are a part of what differentiates your service from others and adds to your unique value, you obviously do not want everyone to have access to it. The client also does not have the right to sell your system or make use of it for their own personal gain. They also don’t get to use it if they no longer are a client, if that’s what you deem. You, as the owner of the system, are the only one with the right to say who gets to use it, how, when, etc. It’s proprietary intellectual property that you alone own and control however you see fit.

This is why you would have them sign that kind of confidentiality/NDA agreement. It’s for the same reasons that they might ask you to sign one as well. You are both businesses with intellectual property and proprietary information. ;)

For more information on this topic, check out the Confidentiality topic category of my blog.

Leave a comment Posted in Best Biz Practices, Clients, Confidentiality, Dear Danielle, Legal

Dear Danielle: How Much Should I Charge This Client?

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 8, 2012
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Dear Danielle:

I have a potential client I am having discussions with right now. He projects giving me various tasks requiring from basic assistance up to project management skills involving analysis and online business management. I have been asked to quote one rate per hour regardless of the complexity of the task involved. I have also listened to your recording of charging value added pricing which makes sense to me. Ordinarily I charge £25 per hour for basic VA services up to £65 per hour for more complex tasks inclusive of research, marketing and analytical tasks. This potential client operates internationally. How much would you charge based on value added pricing? I would truly appreciate your help in this. Thanks and regards —LG

Thanks for the question. :)

Unfortunately, due to antitrust laws, I can’t tell you what to charge. That’s really something you have to come up with on your own according to how you value yourself and what your business needs.

I will say though that anytime you start itemizing individual, line-item tasks and assigning a hierarchy of importance, it has the effect of commoditizing yourself and what you offer.

That’s not something you want to do in your business because it comes around and bites you in the rear when you need for clients to understand that the value isn’t in the tasks, it’s in how the tasks help them move forward in their business and what those tasks allow them to accomplish or gain or achieve.

When you understand that perspective, you see that there’s no reason to itemize or value one task as more or less important–they are ALL important to the big picture of the client’s business.

If you haven’t yet, be sure and download our Pricing Calculator and go through those exercises.

This will help you get clarity around what you need and want to earn in your business. Base your decisions around that, not bending over backwards to customize your entire billing structure and business operations for one client. The tail will forever be wagging the dog otherwise (that is, the business and clients running you, instead of properly the other way around). You’ll never build an ideal practice that way.

5 Comments Posted in Articulating Your Value, Best Biz Practices, Billing, Business Management, Clients, Consulting with Clients, Dear Danielle, Earning, Financial Success, Getting Paid, Ideal Clients, Pricing, Working with Clients

Dear Danielle: How do I improve my skills?

Posted by Danielle Keister on February 6, 2012
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Dear Danielle:

What do you recommend we do to keep on track and improve our skills? Conferences (online or in-person), classes? Do you have personal recommendations of some? —Stephanie Bateman

Great question!

A lot of times people will take classes willy nilly. They aren’t sure what they need so they sign up for anything and everything that comes along in case they might need those skills some day.

Or they’ll fall prey to manipulative marketing that tells them such-and-such are the “hot skills” that ALL clients need and if you don’t know how to do this or that, you won’t be as valuable, or you won’t be able to charge as much, or you will otherwise be a failure or just a “generalist.” (Complete BS and I hope you are smart enough not fall for those kind of sleazy sales tactics and messages.)

I’m a HUGE proponent of lifelong learning and always being in curiosity mindset! But going about things that way can get expensive fast, you may end up not even needing to use the skills you learned this way, and it’s the worst way to determine how to support clients.

Here again is where having a target market can really keep you focused and save you a TON of time, energy and money, all of which you have finite stores of and need to be smart about where you invest them. ;) .

When you have a target market, you know what kind of work you do for clients, how their businesses are run, what their common goals and objectives are, and you can get training to elevate, improve or modernize your skills accordingly. Let your target market needs and the work you do for them determine where you spend your skills training and continuous learning time and dollars.

For example, if you work with attorneys, learning all the various e-filing ropes is a wise investment of your time and attention because that’s knowledge that’s of great use in your support work. If you don’t work with bankruptcy attorneys, taking bankruptcy training would not be a good use of your time and attention. See what I mean?

Also, remember that just working with clients keeps you on your toes. All the time that you are working with them, you are learning new skills and improving upon existing ones as you learn new and better ways of doing things and new tips and tricks for the tools and software you use.

I think conferences can be fun, and they’re certainly good for networking, meeting new people and forging fonds. It’s really a personal preference, but I haven’t ever seen or attended any conferences that imparted any real learning. That’s not to say you shouldn’t  attend them. You may get some valuable business learning. I just doubt that you’re going to get the kind of skills training we’re talking about here. That’s not really the function or purpose of a conference.

It’s better to take skills training when the need arises, when you see there is going to be a meaningful use or purpose in your business and for your target market in the immediate future. That is, sort of like I mentioned above, you can waste a lot of time and money just taking classes you only think you might use later on. So, it can be a way to manage and be more discerning about where you spend that time and money by letting your business and client needs dictate any skills training you decide to take. You’ll take to and retain what you learn much better this way, and it will certainly help take the pressure off you thinking you have to learn everything RIGHT NOW.

Looking at things from another angle, it can also be energizing to take certain skills training just because it interests you and you get joy out of it.

For example, I really enjoy learning the ropes of video editing. Maybe it’s due to my love of filmmaking, but I just love putting video together and learning how to use editing tools to create nicely polished and professional transitions and effects.

I have not used this skill for any clients as yet and it would be a side, project type offering anyway (this would never be something they would get included in their administrative support, but rather be charged separately since it is both project work and a completely separate service and skillset). But the energizing effect it has on my creativity carries over into my business. Those things that enrich our spirit enrich our businesses by proxy. And there’s everything good about that!

Personally, I tend to do a lot more self-taught learning, at least in the beginning. I enjoy figuring things out myself. But even then, there comes a point in my learning curve where I need the help of someone more knowledgeable to attain higher expert levels or when I need to learn something faster than I can figure it out on my own. That’s usually when I take a class.

So keep in mind that self-paced, self-study is an option as well. There are all kinds of online, free and paid training and tutorials options out there for just about everything you’d like to learn.

The main thing to remember is this isn’t something you need to be stressed about at all. I find that everything always falls into place just as it’s meant to. Take what you need, when you need it. Take what you enjoy. Ignore the rest.

Hope this helps!

1 Comment Posted in Best Biz Practices, Business Management, Classes & Training, Dear Danielle, Making It Simpler and Easier, Time Management

Dear Danielle: What Services Do You Provide?

Posted by Danielle Keister on January 31, 2012
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Everyone is asking such great questions this week!

In response to my last post regarding how I structure my typical work week and day, several people have asked about services. Here’s an example:

Dear Danielle:

I am considering starting up my own Administrative Consultant business and was browsing through your website. I read what your typical work day looks like, but I have a quick question for you. What services do you provide for your clients?

This is always a tricky question for me to answer because it’s coming from the wrong perspective. I’ll do my best to try and clarify for everyone.

The problem with this question is that it’s thinking too transactionally. See, the first thing you need to understand is the difference between individual tasks/project work and support.

When you are in the business of support, you aren’t selling individual services or tasks because administrative support IS the service. Companies that are in the business of providing piecemeal tasks and services on an ad hoc basis are called secretarial services. That’s not the same thing as providing ongoing administrative support.

Ongoing administrative support is about providing a relationship and a body (or collection, if you will) of support areas all wrapped up into one. It’s not any one particular task or line-item service because the service that an Administrative Consultant provides IS administrative support. What that administrative support is comprised of is going to depend on your own target market. Do you see?

The best way I have come up with currently to describe administrative support is that it is the collection of tasks, functions and roles that keep a business organized, humming along smoothly and moving forward.

I created this video to help illustrate what that means (by the way, feel free to use it on your own website as it’s very helpful in educating clients in how you as an Administrative Consultant and expert help them):

Given that understanding, you can easily see that there is no way to come up with any kind of comprehensive listing of individual tasks and services that make up a body of administrative support because that support is going to be different for each and every one of us depending on each of our individual target markets. What I do for my clients administratively is not necessarily going to be the same thing you do for your clients, particularly if we have different target markets.

So, the more useful thing for you to be focusing on is determining who your target market is going to be and then learning all that you can about them. (A target market is simply a specific profession/field/industry that you plan to cater to.) How are their businesses run? Who are their clients? What kind of work is involved? What are their common goals, objectives and challenges?

Once you start answering these questions (by talking with them, surveying them, interacting with them online and off), you can begin deciding on what administrative support areas you can best help them with and tailor your offerings accordingly.

Let me know if you have more questions on this in the comments and I’ll be happy to elaborate a bit more. :)

PS: Pricing and structuring your packages is something I teach extensively on in my Value-Based Pricing & Packaging Toolkit. I also include so much more than just pricing and packaging–because these things affect just about everything else in your business:  how it is structured, your policies and procedures, marketing… everything. So not only do I teach you the foundational stuff and how to best frame and articulate your value in this self-study guide course, I also show you how to you map out your business to best frame your offerings, create additional revenue streams and make more money. Check it out!

5 Comments Posted in Administrative Consultants, Administrative PARTNERING, Dear Danielle, How to Say It, Relationships, Retainers, Services, Target Market, What Services Do You Provide?, Working with Clients

A Snapshot of My Typical Workday

Posted by Danielle Keister on January 28, 2012
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In our industry, conversations about combating feelings of isolation are not uncommon. While I’m certain there are people who experience and are more prone to feelings of isolation, I’ve never really felt isolated in my work or business so it’s hard for me to relate.

I’d wonder, don’t they have friends? Family? Other interests? Don’t they do anything else,  go anywhere? I’m sure they do… I know they do!

What I suspect is really going on in a lot of these cases isn’t so much isolation, but that they have structured their businesses and are working with clients in ways that lead to burnout, overwhelm, and turn the work into a grind. This is when people feel the need to escape. Hence, the feelings of isolation.

So, I thought I would share with you what my typical work day looks like. Maybe it will help you rethink how you view your relationship with clients and give you some ideas on how you might restructure things in your own administrative support business so that it can become or remain a joy rather than a daily drudge.

First, here’s what my work week looks like:

Monday: Closed/Admin Day. This is the day I reserve each week to take care of administration and bookkeeping in my own business, work on my own business projects, perhaps attend or review online classes… those kind of things.

Tuesday: Closed/Meeting Day. This is the day I use each week for weekly client meetings (although, my clients have been with me so long at this point, we only meet on the phone about once a month. I always recommend you meet with new retainer clients once a week for at least the first three months of your ongoing relationship. It really helps nurture and cement the relationship and get to know each other. At the three-month point, you can evaluate together how often to continue meeting on the phone each month).

Wednesday: Work Day

Thursday: Work Day

Friday: Work Day

Saturday: OFF

Sunday:  OFF

As you can see, I effectively have a three-day work week, four if you want to count the Tuesday meeting days. That doesn’t mean I might not work here and there on any of the other days, but this is the formal infrastructure and systemization I have put in place in my business to help it flow smoothly. A system is really a routine. And systematic routines are what allow you to provide consistency and reliability to clients, which not only improves your quality and service, but also, ironically, gives you greater freedom and flexibility.

A quick note about my Client Meeting Day… Long ago, in a business galaxy far way, lol, I would hold client meetings whenever it was convenient for the client which could be any day, any time of the week. That was all well and good for the client (on the surface, at least), but it wreaked havoc on my concentration and ability to settle in and get work done. My work and service suffered as a result.

Establishing a standard by setting a regular routine for meeting clients on the phone one day of the week (same day/time each week per client) is what saved my sanity and ultimately my business and the level and quality of work I provide to clients. It is perhaps the single-most important policy that I instituted in my practice that is responsible for allowing me to triple or quadruple my productivity.

Typical Work Day

  • I wake up according to my internal alarm clock, which most of the time is around 5ish or 6ish in the morning but sometimes can vary between 6 to 9 a.m. depending on my sleep cycle or how late I went to bed.
  • Make breakfast, drink my first bottle of water for the day and dink around on the computer doing my first sweep of emails. Anything I can respond to quickly, I do.
  • I open that day’s folder in Outlook and begin working on client work. I like to get the quick and easy stuff out of the way first because it pares down the to-do list for that day and stops those little things from niggling at the back of my mind when I’m trying to work on the bigger stuff.
  • It’s important to mention here that all communication with clients is by email. This is a requirement for working together in my business. I do not take phone calls from them or anything else. For me, email is the very best tool for managing the workload. It provides a “paper” trail and documentation and with my folder system, I can easily prioritize and move things around as necessary. So, whatever they need taken care of, the request gets sent to me by email. Period.
  • At some point in the morning, generally before 11am, I go on my daily hike/run. I like to get this in first thing in the morning because I come back really energized and invigorated, it beats the heat in the summertime, and I can save my shower for afterward.
  • Lunch around noonish.
  • I tend to work on bigger work and projects that require more time and concentration in the afternoons.
  • Officially, I have a policy of checking emails 3 times a day (morning, afternoon and evening). Unofficially, depending on how busy I am with work, I do monitor emails. Any client emails that come in throughout the day are put into the next work day’s folder (I have a folder for each working day of my week). This is another key policy I instituted in my business years ago. I do not do any on-demand or same-day work for clients. They are informed of my work policies and procedures when we consult and begin working together so they are fully informed of how things work ahead of time. I don’t take on any work or roles that require me to check-in on any kind of daily basis with them (like managing their calendar or emails, for example). And I only provide business-related support, not personal support (i.e., “No, I’m not going to shop for your wife’s gift or schedule your hair-cut. You can get a concierge service for that.”) This is another way I save myself from getting bogged down in work I have no interest in doing and that I’m not in business to do because I’m not an assistant, I’m an Administrative Consultant. Anything that needs to be done immediately, they need to do themselves. It’s really as simple as that. Because they aren’t hiring an assistant and I don’t let them think of me like that. If that’s what they need, then they need to hire an employee. This is one of the great keys to my success and how I’m able to live a very flexible, freedom-filled life where I still love my work and clients after 15 years of doing this.
  • Throughout the day, whenever I need a little mental break and want to interact with others, or if I have thoughts or ideas I want to share that occur to me, I’ll pop into our Facebook group or post on my blog or check out forums I belong to. For me, these have always been great ways to reach out when you need a little company. I think interaction and participation is key, though. You can lurk, but you just aren’t going to get any real feeling of connection unless you actually talk to people by posting your thoughts and comments, contributing ideas or asking questions. A lot of times people will wonder how I have time to post on these forums and I have to chuckle because they don’t know what I know. First, it only takes a few seconds to post your thoughts. I’m not spending hours and hours in these places (like I’m sure many folks are doing). And second, and perhaps more importantly, I don’t operate my business or work with clients anywhere close to how they are doing it. They’re trying to be assistants instead of strategic administrative support partners. They have turned their business into a job and that’s not how I do it. Which is why I do have a bit more time to blog or check in with people on Facebook here and there:  I’m not working as a slave or indentured servant to clients. I’m an expert they partner with for administrative support, not a personal  assistant. I run my business on my own terms and that’s to their benefit.
  • My official work day ends around 5 or 6 pm. But you know what? Yeah, I sometimes do work in the evenings. Every once in a great while (which is rarely) it’s because I need to. Other times, it’s just because I’m on a roll or otherwise having fun and enjoying my work and don’t want to stop. That’s okay, people!!! You just want it to be on your terms, your choice, and NOT because you have set poor policies and standards and are working with clients in ways that are forcing you to work long into the evening and ignore your family, friends and other life needs. That’s a sure-fire way to kill your business.
  • Another thing I should mention is that I get out when I need to. I listen to my body, my heart, my spirit and if they tell me I need a change of pace that day, then that’s what I do. Sometimes that means taking the laptop somewhere I love, settling into a comfy booth and ordering something yummy and healthy to eat while I get work done. Sometimes it means not working during the day, but saving what can be done for the evening. Sometimes it means not working at all (as long as there are no pressing, important needs or commitments).
  • Which brings me to another key to my success that I touched on earlier. I don’t do any same day work requests. When a request comes in, it automatically goes into the next day’s work folder. I never get overwhelmed because I’m only handling the current day’s folder of requests. Everything else is put out of my mind because it’s already handled by being put in the next day’s folder. In my practice, I use what I call a 3/7 guideline. That means, only work that can be done within a 3-business/work day window from the time of request is work I will handle for clients. If they need it sooner, they need to do it themselves. That’s the 3-day part of my work management system. And let me tell you, people, you NEED to give yourself space like this around the work. You folks who are scrambling to get things done the minute they come in are putting out TERRIBLE work product a lot of times because you’re too rushed, too stressed and making mistakes, and you’re creating expectations in clients that set you up for failure. I guarantee you! The “7″ part of my 3/7 system is where the client and I touch base on larger, key or ongoing projects during our weekly meeting (i.e., every 7 days). For some things, this is also managed through our online collaborative office suite where they can log in and see for themselves where things are at on those larger/key/ongoing projects.
  • Another little tool I use to manage expectations and keep our relationship resentment-free is the feature in Outlook that allows me to schedule when my reply email is sent to the client. For example, there are occasions when I will attend to client work on a day when I don’t normally/officially work or if I’m ahead of things, I will start work on the next day’s workload. But that doesn’t mean I want the client thinking, “Oh, she’s working on that day now” or that I’m now doing same-day work requests. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I have absolutely no patience for having to constantly remind clients of my standards or policies or protocols. It doesn’t matter how many times you tell them how something works, as soon as you make an exception, they start thinking that’s the rule. Even the most ideal clients do this (there is no such thing as the perfect client because we are all flawed human beings). But it still drives me insane because I like grown-ups to be grown-ups and not little children constantly trying to test or needing to be corrected. So rather than try to change them (which doesn’t work), I just don’t ever email them back the same day. I schedule my reply email to be sent the next business/work day. So, I’m getting it done and out of the way and they’re getting the confirmation email that something has been handled or completed, but they never get the impression that I’m working on weekends or evenings or doing same-day requests. From their perspective, everything is flowing normally and consistently just as my workload policies and schedules have been presented to them.

So maybe this is helpful to you. Structuring your business like this does require you to get out of assistant-mindset. When you do, you start to view and understand your business, your role, your expertise, from an entirely new and different perspective. It’s an incredibly freeing way to live and work. If you have any questions, please do ask in the comments. I’m happy to help. :)

21 Comments Posted in Administrative Consultants, Administrative PARTNERING, Best Biz Practices, Best Communication Policies, Business Management, Clients, Consulting with Clients, Policies & Procedures, Professional Self Esteem, Setting Proper Expectations and Understandings, Time Management, Working with Clients, You Are NOT an Assistant