Goodbye and farewell Billy….
August 31, 2007 by Kylie Short · 1 Comment
We recently laid to rest Billy “Billion” the ADSL router.
He lived a good life in the Short family household, provided us with VoIP and Broadband services regularly and faithfully. But we noticed not all was right these last few weeks with Billy. The lights were on but no one was home (aka connected).
On Monday at 9.15am, Billy connected to the World Wide Web one last time, coughed and was no more.
We will miss you Billy and wish you well in your next reincarnation. The recycling centre assures me you will be dismantled with respect and your innards will be put to good use.
Farewell dear Billy…. farewell.
I’ve been tagged!
August 26, 2007 by Kylie Short · 5 Comments
It’s Friday night, the kids are in bed including code monkey and so I decided to read and catch up on reading my favourite blogs (I’m Australian hence the Australian spelling). I have to confess that I haven’t been keeping up with my own blog never mind anyone else’s. Long story short - I’ve discovered that I’ve been tagged by Fiona at Moment by Moment and Melissa Khalinsky of Business Mums to share 8 things about myself. It comes at an interesting time for me. One of my listservs has been discussing the pros and cons of sharing too much information about ourselves and our personal lives and the impact that has on our professional branding/image. Yes there comes a time when that is possible but how can we build a collaborative relationship with our collegues, clients and suppliers without some kind of social discourse?
So the rules of this tagging game is:
- Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.
- The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.
- At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people, posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
So here goes…..
- I LOVE technology. I have gadgets galore and I can’t imagine going without them. Being a Virtual Assistant AND a WAHM (Work at home mum) it’s important to me that I can take my business with me and be mobile. This includes having a fax to email service (yay to Ozefax - I love you guys!!), a VoIP office phone number and my Palm Treo 750.
- We used over 300 metres of networking cabling in our house when we built it just under two years ago.
- My business was named after my daughter. I chose Tilda Virtual Services because my business and my daughter were born at the same time. I also wanted a unique name that ‘hinted’ at my Aussie-ness and one that was special to me.
- I started my business 34 weeks pregnant with my third child Matilda and after she was sent to a NICU 3 hours from home at birth with complications it became my mission to stay at home with my children while still retaining a little something for me. That something is my business.
- My appendix nearly burst when I was 15 and I had to have an emergency operation. I now have a scar 10cm long.
- Each of my children are 3 years apart in age and no we didn’t plan it that way!
- My husband aka code monkey and I have been together since I was 15 and we will be celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary this December and 13 years together this year. Yes that makes me 28 this year for those of you who are wondering.
- We recently bought a brand new car for the first time. It’s a Mitsubishi Outlander. After it’s first service, the dealership broke my bluetooth. I cried because I couldn’t use it to talk on my Treo while driving anymore. Consolation prize I suppose is the DVD player for the kids in the roof. Talk about a sanity saver!!
I now tag Carrie, Crystal, Kathie, Pam, Laurie, Lisa, Erin and Candy!
When people ‘get it’
August 24, 2007 by Kylie Short · Leave a Comment
I love hearing the success stories especially about those like IT Journalist who decide to use a Virtual Assistant based on hearing about it somewhere online or in a book or article. Because it’s when people venture to try out Virtual Assistance that they find out exactly what it can do for their business.
Virtual Assistance is a growing industry and just like any other industry you are going to have the mediocre, the ok and the fantastic or even outstanding. The key to finding the VA for you is to have an open mind, realistic expectations and being prepared to communicate effectively. Talk to other people using Virtual Assistants and ask them how they found them, what do they do for their business and if they are willing to share.
Just like finding an Accountant, Lawyer or Family Doctor, ask your business associates who they use and know that you may not find the right VA the first time. You and your VA should ‘click’ and be able to work well together.
My challenge to you is to take a look at your tasks or to do list and see what you are prepared to let go of. What is on that list that takes up your time or you have no patience for but still needs to be done? Do you need an expert administrator to assist you with those tasks? Start with a small project and see where it leads you. I promise… you won’t regret it.
Communication Channels
August 23, 2007 by Kylie Short · 2 Comments
The level of success of any project relies heavily on the communication channels you implement during the planning phase of your project cycle. How you communicate will determine the flow of information within the work group and to all stakeholders involved.
So why is it important to carefully consider your communication channels prior to starting your project. Quite simply, it makes it easier for your team to understand what is expected of them, when it is expected and how their tasks relate to others within the group.
To ensure your project remains on target you may need to consider implementing:
- Regular meetings
- Email communication
- Collaborative software
- Report writing
- Video conferencing
- Teleconferencing
- Instant messaging
Regular meetings are a great opportunity for your team to sit and discuss how their tasks are progressing and how their task relates to the overall success of the project. This is particularly important if you have tasks that are reliant on other tasks being completed first. As a team, you will be able to troubleshoot, brainstorm and exchange information in a positive environment. But what happens if your team is spread geographically? How do you meet regularly? This is where you can use email, collaborative software, video conferencing, teleconferencing and instant messaging. They are all good forms of communication that will allow you to communicate with far flung or virtual team members.
So before you start on that next project, take the time to sit down and think outside the square. How can you communicate efficiently and effectively with your team? How can you exchange information regarding the status of the project so that all members have access to it? How will not communicating effectively be detrimental to your project and to what level?
Time Management, is it real?
August 12, 2007 by Kylie Short · 4 Comments
Time management and multitasking are buzz words that have been around in the business world for years. My question to my fellow business mums is, are they real? Everyday we deal with children, spouses, friends and our family and their needs. But how does this impact on the management of our businesses and in particular our time?
Working from home still has the image of women ‘playing at business’ and unless we manage our time effectively, this is exactly what we are. So how do we manage our time effectively to ensure our families are happy, that our customers are happy, but most important that we are happy too?
I’m going to be radical and tell everyone to throw out their ability to multitask. And no, I’m not talking about how we cook tea with a baby on one hip, phone on one ear talking to a ‘needy friend’ having issues while refereeing older children and staving off blood noses. That’s just called being a mum. I’m talking about how we try to do too many business tasks at the same time. Personally, I just can’t do it anymore. Being a Virtual Assistant I pride myself on only charging my client’s for time spent on task. In fact I promote that’s what I do. But what happens when I receive an urgent email request or a friend pops up on instant messaging for a chat? I lose focus and I feel that I’m doing that particular client a disservice. I’m not living up to my personal standards that my business is hinged upon.
To manage our time effectively and efficiently it’s important to create a schedule of sorts and stick to it. Record your family commitments such as sport and other after school commitments, preschool attendance and date night. You also need to record times for doing housework, groceries and other blah tasks that need to be done to keep the household running smoothly. This will then help you to identify time slots that you have available for working in and on your business.
Your schedule doesn’t have to be strict and unattainable. It needs to be the opposite and allow for flexibility and for change. Personally, I know that after I drop my son’s to school and preschool, I allow an hour for tidying up, cleaning the breakfast dishes, to have my shower and to put my baby girl to sleep. As for the actual tidying up it might be sweeping the floors today, it might be cleaning the handprints off the fridge tomorrow. The key is to have some idea of when you are going to do certain tasks and then concentrate solely on that task to ensure it gets done.
When it’s time to work on your business, shut out all distractions including children. If need be, arrange play dates with other WAHM or SAHM so your children still get the play time they need and you get the business time you need. Work on one task at a time until it is done.
And finally, keep track of your tasks in a master to do list. Every night, transfer only what needs to be done the next day into your planner be it paper or electronic. Reasoning behind this is so it becomes easier to focus on what needs to be done immediately instead of becoming overwhelmed with EVERYTHING that needs doing.