Tag: virtual assistant

Open Communication Means You Can Speak Up

Open Communication Means You Can Speak Up

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As a virtual assistant, people often think that it is all about following orders and carrying out the tasks expected of you. There are times that some employers even go overboard to the point that their remote workers cannot even speak up or open up their side in different matters. This should not be the way things are in work-from-home setup. Online work is still a job. The only difference is the setting of the contractor or employee.

Open communication has always been an integral part of an employer-employee relationship, which is inclusive of those working from home. In actuality, it is much more important since face-to-face conversation is no longer involved in remote work. All you have are your messaging channels, such as e-mail, conferencing, and messaging applications.

Both parties involved in a remote work relationship should understand that without open communication, nothing could be accomplished properly. It is given that an employer should be respected and complied with. Nonetheless, open communication also entails that a contractor or employee has the right to speak up.

One good example is in a situation of misunderstanding. Let us say the employer is disappointed over an unaccomplished activity. As a result, he or she decided to cut off the involved remote worker and this is without hearing his or her side. If only he or she allowed the virtual assistant to speak up, then he or she would have understood that it is not an intentional mistake. Instead, it is due to incomplete instructions given by him or her. This occurs often in a remote work setting. The remote worker does not receive the necessary materials for a certain task, resulting in delayed output. Take note that he or she made attempts to get in touch with his or her employer and exhausted possible resources to make things happen.

If only open communication was applied in the aforementioned example, the problem did not end with a person losing his or her job. Moreover, the employer may still have a reliable employee to work with.

Other than the given instance, open communication on the end of the virtual assistant should be used in terms of helping out your employer. By speaking up, you could help him or her improve his or her operations in many ways. It should not always be a “Yes, that is great.” You should also try saying, “What if we try this?” By applying open communication, you can be a valuable asset to your employer. Try correcting their possible incorrect handling of situation, giving them better options, and voicing out your thoughts on their plans.

Some are disinclined to open communication for they think remote workers would be way too disrespectful and may forget their boundaries. Relatively, if you are working with a professional virtual assistant, you would not have this kind of problem. A remote worker with integrity would know his or her limits in communicating his or her thoughts, ideas, and even disputes. There would always be respect and consideration involved in his or her statements.

Conclusively, only if open communication is applied properly, a remote work relationship would never fail even in the long term. There would always be understanding of one party to another. Hence, better execution of every activity or objective involved.

Time Management Make Your Day at Work Much Better

Time Management: Make Your Day at Work Much Better

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Remote workers failing to meet deadlines are most probably practicing poor time management. Yes, it is particularly comfortable working from home, but it also implies that there would be more factors that could hinder proper time allocation for work. You could start with the distractions, which would keep one from focusing on his or her job – the internet, television, house chores, unexpected guests, etc.

However, it is not an excuse for you to perform ineffectively at work simply because you are based remotely and you cannot keep yourself from being caught by home-related disruptions. There are various easy ways to ensure the time dedicated for your job would not be impacted negatively. Remember, despite being in your comfort zone, professionalism should remain intact. This is not for your employer alone, but your reputation as a remote worker or virtual assistant.

To begin with the ways you may follow to ensure your day at work is much better, here are some time management tips to keep in mind:

Identify most time-consuming activities during your day. These activities are the ones that would most likely keep you from spending sufficient time at work. Once you have found out these time wasters, you could already manage yourself better. Let us say you identified social media browsing as your major time waster, then while reporting, you should keep your accounts logged off. Though you may still sign in your accounts to kill time, once again, but being offline could be a start of disciplinary measure. It could keep you from constant notifications luring you into another time wastage.

Set a time for each task at work. Time would never adjust for you. Hence, what you need to do is manage yourself. Put restrictions to yourself while at work. You can do this for every task you will carry out. For instance, you need to accomplish a report for the month worth of sales. Set a couple of hours for it at a specific schedule, say, 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. Within those hours, you would only focus on the said sales report without succumbing to calls, texts, or e-mails.

Know what to prioritize. You have to consider the relation between your energy levels and how effective you can manage your time. Be reminded that at the start of your work, it is when you are most active. Hence, it is best to carry out the biggest and most important activities at the onset of your shift. This would also guarantee that you would not be compromising the quality of your output given you can pour out all of your resources to the said tasks.

Keep in mind that multitasking is not always the solution. If you think you are accomplishing more by multitasking, then probably, you are wrong. A study done by David Strayer, Ph.D., University of Utah’s Director of Applied Cognition Laboratory, stated that 98 percent of people cannot multitask. It is not a surprise if you are part of the said percentage. Take note that this study is not based on observation alone, but in accordance to what Strayer found out in the brain region structure of multitaskers and the contrary.

Take a break. For certain, this is a surprise for some, since they may think that having a respite would require time. However, your mind and body also require rest. Human beings will never be machines and can only focus for 90 minutes before needing rest. This has been discovered by Nathaniel Kleitman and was named ultradian rhythm by other researchers. How would you know a break is necessary? There are signals, which include concentration loss, drowsiness, and hunger among others. Without break, you would not be able to function more effectively and even think clearly.

With the aforementioned tips, you can already begin your journey to better work days. Conclusively, it is more about managing yourself instead of chasing time. It is simply discipline to achieve your goal daily. With the changing setting of workplaces due to the pandemic, you should be more motivated to shape yourself into becoming a professional remote worker regardless of your location – either office or home.

How to Avoid Delaying Your Work Due to Absence

How to Avoid Delaying Your Work Due to Absence

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Working at home became a norm nowadays, particularly due to the pandemic. It is no longer a choice, but rather a system that has been pushed due to the incapability of people to return to their offices. Primarily, because of safety concerns and the unknown end of this worldwide crisis. With no questions asked, there is no business that would prefer to keep their operations stagnant.

Given the aforementioned facts, if you are a home-based worker, it only means that things are not literally different aside from your workspace setup. You are still an integral part of a company. Without you being at work, things could get affected. It may be a project due at a certain date or your co-workers getting the burden with your extra load.

How could you prevent this? Of course, before anything else, when it comes to getting ill, that is something that is uncontrollable. Even if you are following a healthy diet, there are certain times that you will be struck by a sickness unknowingly.

To give you a few tips on how to avoid delaying your work due to absence, here are the following:

Prepare internet connection backup. Being a virtual assistant means you should have a backup of one of the most important things you need to work from home – your internet connection. One source would never be enough. Disconnections can either be scheduled and often unannounced.

Though it is a great idea to subscribe to two internet service providers, backup in the form of mobile data can also work. As long as you can set up a hotspot and your applications are working just fine with your connection, then all is set. At times, it is all about the reception in your location.

Ensure your laptop is 100 percent charged always. If you are using a laptop, it is always best not to leave it low in battery. This is for the possibility of power outages. Some batteries may last up to eight hours or more, which gives you the assurance that even if there are blackouts, you can continue with your work.

Make sure your laptop or PC is pre-checked. Did you know that most home-based workers miss their work simply because of OS updates? There are updates that take hours. Due to that, virtual assistants can miss their reporting time or their entire shift (particularly, if they work for only a few hours for a certain client).

Instead of waiting for an update and unexpectedly face hours of processing it, schedule restart for updates at a time that would not interfere with your work.

On the other hand, there are also applications that take time to load before opening. Hence, make it a habit to open your laptop or PC at least an hour before your shift. This will help you avoid procrastination should your client require you to finish a task right after you started your shift.

The listed tips are just a few of the things you can do to prevent absences, resulting in delaying your pending tasks. Remember, being at home does not mean you are meant to be too comfortable, to the point that you will neglect your responsibility as an employee. It is always best to show that despite being in a convenient setting, your reliability remains intact.

Remote Work The Future of Workplace as Shaped by the Pandemic

Remote Work: The Future of Workplace as Shaped by the Pandemic

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Pain. Struggle. Anxiety. Depression. Uncertainty. These are the words that could top the list of adjectives for what happened in 2020. No one anticipated the vastness of the COVID-19’s effect on the world and not just on a small community. At first, it was taken for granted, mocked even. People were dubious of the fact that there could be a virus, which is unseen by the naked eye, that could stop the world. Unfortunately, whatever doubts there are, all were mistaken. COVID-19 became a part of the history of mankind as one of the most destructive viruses in the world.

The virus did not simply detriment the health of the people, but even their livelihood. With the onset of the killer virus, lockdowns were implemented, which resulted in the unexpected and unfortunate closure of most companies in the world. The businesses that you thought to be highly lucrative and impregnable for years to come suffered unimaginable losses.

The jobs of the society being the focal point, you can clearly see that companies were not prepared for what took place. They have seen how they failed to create a shell for their businesses to keep further losses at bay. Most importantly, entrepreneurs realized and regretted the fact they could have at least saved more only if they have welcomed the idea of remote staffing. Nonetheless, this is no longer the time to keep on pressing the issue. This is the moment to open the possibility of welcoming home-based workers.

If you believe that your business would not operate effectively with virtual assistants or remote staff, then what occurred during the pandemic may convince you. Companies were able to continue their operations by deciding to set up remote workplaces for their people. Indeed, it is undeniable that cutting manpower has been far-flung. However, one cannot refute the fact that businesses managed to salvage their work by keeping their core employees functioning despite being at home.

From the given reality, you can see that establishing a team of remote workers could be your future defense. By simply setting up communication means and applications for your people to use, everything could be done as usual as it had been.

For instance, you are a restaurant owner, you could keep things in order by having your administrative work handled by your employees remotely while keeping just the right number of people in your physical store. This may be a partial setup, but still a good preparation for the possible extension of this “social distancing community.” On the other hand, if you have an accounting firm, then you should know that all of your functions in the business could be done from home. If everything has been all paper in your company, do not fret, for there are various software applications that could convert your company into a paperless one. The process may be tedious, but it is worth it.

It is not yet late to prepare your company for what is coming, and it is incontestable that the future is remote work. Do not let another unforeseen damaging force ruin your livelihood. Start making a change; a change that will not simply protect you and your people, but keep you in pace with what the world demands.

Initiative and the Different Ways of Showing It

Initiative and the Different Ways of Showing It

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One question you should ask yourself if you are planning to improve your work performance is, “Do I have initiative?” Many virtual assistants may be skillful, but not all of them could have the initiative in many situations in the workplace. Some may give you useful business material, but cannot be relied on whenever you are not present. Hence, a lack of initiating an efficient action when deemed necessary.

If you want to develop yourself as a well-rounded virtual assistant, you should practice your initiative. This is one distinguishing feature that clients look for, given the fact they hired you to assist them both when they are around and the contrary.

There are different ways you could show that you have initiative, and these are surprisingly simple. Given below are a few examples:

Taking charge when necessary. Your client is not always available to handle the tasks in the workplace. There will be times that you will decide on his or her behalf. Nonetheless, of course, there are limitations to this. You have to confirm with your employer if you can make your own decisions regarding certain matters when he or she is not available. Although there would be surprising instances that you suddenly have to take a step without further approval, clarifying things out beforehand is a safe move for you.

One good example is when you have to provide a certain quotation for a customer. If you often get approval from your employer regarding this, but there came a time that urgency was required, you may provide a quotation as you considered fit. Simply ensure to put yourself in the shoes of your employer. Consider what he or she would decide to do in case he or she is in the same situation. This is when knowing your client’s personality matters a lot.

Understanding vague instructions smartly. There are clients, who would often provide you instructions that are quite difficult to understand. Due to rushing and upcoming meetings, some of them would leave you with unclear orders. In other words, you have to use your intellect to ensure that the output you will provide is what they need.

For instance, you were required to search for lamps, which could be offered by the company in the next quarter. Instead of providing your client a research, comprising all kinds of lamps, you have to consider the nature of your business. Does the company offer office supplies? If that is the case, then you may only focus on lamps that could be used in a workplace or home office. On the other hand, if your firm is focused on home improvement, then you could work on a broader search for lamps, which could be both for offices and house furnishing.

Avoiding procrastination. It is also an initiative when you work in advance to ensure that cramming would not get in your way. Be reminded that most clients prefer that you do not let things pile up. Urgent tasks will come sooner or later, resulting in more things to manage. Do not let delayed work ruin your reputation, which is more likely when you postpone activities unnecessarily.

Take advantage of your free time, whenever the season is not hectic. Furthermore, effective time management will help you be productive every day. Simply prevent distractions and keep yourself focused during your work.

Understanding your client’s situation. If you are an executive assistant for your client, you have to accept the fact that you will organize him or her instead of the other way around. Should there be a time you noticed that he or she is often struggling in keeping up with his or her appointments, initiative comes in by how you could solve this. Instead of letting your client simply ask you to input appointments for him or her, you may also create a system of reminders, so he or she would not miss any activity during the day.

Additionally, if your client is already burdened with tons of documents to complete, offer your help, even if he or she does not require you to assist.

The aforementioned ways are effective means to show your client that you can be trusted and relied on regardless of him or her being focused on other matters of the business. Simply practice taking initiative and you would soon be accustomed to the trait.