Tag: virtual assistant

Punctuality How Important It Is for a Remote Worker

Punctuality: How Important It Is for a Remote Worker

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Have you ever been late at work? Do you find yourself frequently missing your kick-off meetings? Probably, it is time to reflect if these happen to you, for punctuality is an essential trait of a reliable remote worker. In other words, if you fail to possess this habit, it may also cost your job.

There are various reasons why punctuality is something employers look for in a virtual assistant. It may be trivial for some, especially to those, who highly favor flexible schedules. However, it is not the case for the rest, who value professionalism, which encompasses one’s careful consideration of work schedule.

To begin with, punctuality is a very important characteristic of a remote worker for it shows how committed you are to your work. Simply think of it in this way: were you ever late for an appointment with your wife or husband? There is a possibility that you failed to show up on time, but it costed you big time, either by an argument or long-term guilt. This only implies that you will never be late to something that is of import to you.

Employers believe that a punctual person is someone they could rely on. Obviously, for instance, your shift starts at 8:00 A.M., so it is quite anticipated that tasks, either urgent or not, will be available for taking as the clock strikes at the said time. If you are often tardy, your employer would not even consider you for projects, given he or she would not be certain if you would show up early or the contrary. Somehow, it is a gamble for him or her to depend on you all the time.

Moreover, punctuality shows that you are someone, who cares about your co-workers. If you are on time, you would not be delaying the tasks, which may be needed by your team members before they could proceed with their part of the project. Being punctual is not limited to going to work on time. Instead, it could also cover instances, wherein you ensure that you do not miss the deadlines of your activities.

Professionalism is greatly conveyed by punctuality as a remote worker. It shows that despite the convenience of being at home, you respect the rules set upon by your employer. This includes showing up on time based on the schedule agreed upon by both parties.

Being punctual is not difficult, only if you put your mind into it. Be reminded that as a virtual assistant, you have fewer reasons to be late. Your workspace could only be a few steps from your bedroom. You do not have to battle traffic and pollution outside. As a virtual worker, you are often not required to don a professional attire, which may take much of your preparation time. Plus, it is not too time-consuming to open up your PC and set up the materials you need for the day.

Be reminded that despite working home-based, you should still maintain your professionalism in every aspect possible. Never let comfort ruin your reputation as a steadfast virtual assistant.

Avoiding Client’s Trust Issues as a Remote Worker

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Being a remote worker entails a lot in terms of sustaining the trust of your client. With the difference in working virtually or not personally interacting with your employer, it is nothing but expected that he or she would have episodes of trust issues. However, fret not, for there are ways for you to avoid these.

You could begin with the situation of you working without the client supervising you personally. Apparently, this is the point wherein your employer would likely think about how active you are during your working hours. There are cases that virtual assistant encounters assumptions from their clients that they are not carrying out their tasks, as necessary.

In order for you to prevent your employer’s trust issues in terms of your activity during your shift, you may simply maintain your responsiveness. Most clients surmise you are doing something else aside from the tasks he or she assigned if you do not respond to his or her messages immediately. Responsiveness has always been effective in ensuring your client would not have any problem with coordination. Even if there are urgent activities up ahead, your employer will never worry relying on you to be there, whenever needed.

On the other hand, in terms of assuring your client would not have any doubts relative to your productivity, a full report would be most helpful. Every end of your day, a list of your accomplished works would be efficient in showing your employer that you are not stagnant. You would also be helping your client to understand how efficient you are in terms of time and project management. Your report somewhat serves as your validation to contest how contributive you are to their organization’s growth.

With the virtual environment for your entire work with your client, taking advantage of technology is one way to ensure he or she would not doubt your work result. For instance, he or she is having reservations as to whether you are looking for the materials needed or not (since you were not able to provide it given it is unavailable), then you may give him or her proof of where you have sourced it. At present, you could provide links, attachments, or even screenshots to your clients, giving them a better understanding of how you carried out your work. This will keep them from thinking that you slack off.

Lastly, in terms of leaves and absences, clients tend to develop trust issues whenever they do not have further proof of your reason for not reporting. For instance, you have been gone for too long due to sickness. Then, it is best to submit a medical certificate, which could somehow avoid their clouded thoughts on what keeps you away from work. Transparency and honesty are keys here.

With the aforementioned pointers above, you would understand that trust issues would never develop with the right management of your relationship with your employer. No matter how different your setup is compared to office-based employees, you could still make your remote work life ideal and valuable for you and your client.

Remote Work Life: How to Deal With Power Interferences

Remote Work Life: How to Deal With Power Interferences

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Laptops, smartphones, tablets, and PC have already been part of our everyday lives and these gadgets run on power. As a remote worker or virtual assistant, you may use all the aforementioned devices, but among your top choices would be desktop PCs. These are known for durability despite long hours of usage, convenience of use, and efficiency of operation. PCs rely on a consistent stream of power to stay on, but sometimes, your main supply may not be so dependable. In areas prone to electricity interferences, damaging a PC is likely.

To understand more about power interferences, here are its different types:

  • Blackout. This normally takes place due to uncontrollable factors, such as electrical lines damage and disruption in the power station.
  • Power outage. This is an interference that occurs during the summer commonly. With extreme temperatures and high demand for power, it is anticipated that electrical equipment may fail.
  • Power surge. This occurrence is characterized by electrical draw changes and interruptions. One good example that could cause this is whenever your home equipment or appliances share the same power supply.
  • Brownout. This is observed when power does not black out completely, which explains the name itself. There is simply a temporal drop in electrical voltage.

If you work from home, you would have certainly experienced an instance wherein a power interference occurred while your PC is turned on. Take note that this does not imply all is well simply by powering your workspace back.  A sudden loss of power in your PC could result in hard disk damage.

Should the said instance happen, it is best to run a system check when your PC completes a system start. Here are the steps you need to follow:

  1. Tap the Search button on the taskbar.
  2. Type cmd in the search box.
  3. Choose Command Prompt on the top.
  4. Select Run as Administrator.
  5. Type chkdsk to perform a hard disk check.
  6. When completed successfully, you would see whether there are problems found or the outage has not affected your hard disk.

In the instance of detected problems, Windows will prompt and automatically fix the issues. There will be an auto repair upon restart of the PC.

Otherwise, you would see the message, Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required.

There is an old saying that prevention is better than cure, so here are solutions to keep your PC from being damaged by power interferences:

  • Surge Protectors. These devices are used to keep your gadgets, such as a computer, from unanticipated blackouts. By simply plugging your workspace into these protectors, you would be able to change the direction of excess power to the ground wire of outlets.
  • UPS Devices. UPS stands for uninterrupted power source, which is a device that can protect your devices from all power interferences. What makes it more reliable is its additional five to sixty minutes of power in combination with the surge protectors’ functions. It gives your desktop PC a battery backup, providing you ample time to save your work and avoid sudden computer shutdown, in the instance of power interference.
  • Data Backup. One of the biggest risks of power interference with your computer is data loss. In order to prevent your work from getting lost, make it a habit to back up your files regularly. Apart from relying on your local system for file backup, it is also best to utilize cloud storage solutions. These allow you to save your data remotely via the internet. Even if you experience power interferences, cloud storage applications often save your work and corresponding changes in real-time. Hence, there is a higher chance for your backup to exist even if you fail to save your activity manually before your PC shuts down.

Dealing with power interferences should be done seriously if you are a remote worker or a virtual assistant. Losing your data could lead to missed deadlines and poor productivity, which are big factors that determine your work performance. With you being totally reliant on the internet and power during work, protecting yourself from associated problems with them should be among your priorities.

Understanding: What Does It Mean for a Remote Worker?

Understanding: What Does It Mean for a Remote Worker?

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As a remote worker, it is a common practice to simply exchange e-mails or make phone calls with your employer and team members. Some virtual staff even find it odd whenever they face a lot of calls in a position that should not require much of it. For instance, they are required to attend various meetings with suppliers, customers, and partners of their firm among others.

The aforementioned situation may be the reason why there are cases in the remote work industry that call for better understanding among professionals. When you say understanding, it means you have to look at a bigger perspective. It is not simply what you comprehend on the e-mails you have received or hear on the calls you are getting.

One good example is when a co-worker denied to assist you with an urgent project. You have to remember that simply because a message implying rejection was sent to you, the said team member takes things personally. For example, he or she does not simply want to help for you are new in the company. This is not the case most of the time. As mentioned above, you got to look at the situation in a different light. Possibly, your co-worker is caught up in an urgent task, as well, which resulted in him or her not being able to help. Moreover, due to the pressing importance of his or her activity, he or she failed to explain the situation well enough.

This is where understanding would come in. If you practice understanding towards your co-worker, you would never think negatively right away. You will consider other possibilities in the picture. Be reminded that prejudice is not often welcomed in a team, especially a virtual one. With the limitation of simply being able to coordinate via messages or calls, you do not tend to see your team member the whole time. You do not see him or her working on his or her tasks or making haste to meet deadlines. In truth, you will be deluged with tons of possibilities, which would most likely be false instead of true.

The same goes for your employer. Being a company owner or an executive imposes a lot of responsibilities. If he or she fails to assist you or answer your inquiry right away, this does not entail that he or she is showing a lack of care for his or her employees. Take note that this could connote that he or she is attending meetings or working on more important matters in the company.

To gain the said trait of understanding towards your employer and co-workers more effectively, you have to mull over the fact you also go through what they experience while working. It is simply a give-and-take process. If you are in their shoes (having to rush and work on critical activities), letting go of possibilities to support or communicate with your team members due to pending assignments, they would likely understand your situation and give you space, as well.

The most beneficial result when all people in an organization practice understanding is the lack of rift. Harmony would be maintained and there could be a more personal connection to one another. With the build-up of good relationships in a company, there will always be a promising success onward.

Remember, it is all about widening your view of the situation. Let understanding rule your thinking before being assumptive.

Are Virtual Assistants Difficult to Work With

Are Virtual Assistants Difficult to Work With?

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You may be among the business people, who are still hesitant to hire a virtual assistant. This is probably due to the speculations that you would encounter a lot of issues in having one. For instance, you may think that virtual assistants would not be similar to office-based workers in many ways, such as in productivity or performance in general. This is understandable since not all entrepreneurs or executives are still open to the idea of remote staffing.

Despite technology advancements, there are still businesses, which are behind what is expected of them. They will still prefer to stick to their traditional ways than go paperless. However, if you are among these companies, do you think that your conventional operations are still benefiting you or it simply got you stuck where you are since the beginning? If it is the latter, then a change in your firm may be the solution for progress.

With companies considering the use of digital solutions for their operations, they become more competitive in their industries. Additionally, they tend to simplify their once difficult activities, such as sales and marketing.  As a result, they save more and earn more. Why deprive yourself of the same leverage opportunity?

The savings in hiring a virtual assistant is given, but in terms of the difficulty in handling one, the whole picture may still be unclear to you.

Primarily, you should know that virtual assistants are not less competent compared to office-based workers. The truth of the matter is, some of them are even office employees previously. In other words, they are aware of how things work regardless of the environment. Furthermore, if being qualified is what you worry about, then you should know that virtual assistants are not short in degrees or fields of expertise. Due to lots of experience, some could even handle both administrative and technical work simultaneously. Conclusively, you will not have an issue in working with them if performance is your concern.

Moreover, virtual assistants will never be difficult to work with since communicating with them could be seamless. You simply have to open doors to make this happen. Apart from e-mails, you can simply allow your VA to get in touch with you even through messaging platforms. You could also set up a conference or direct mobile calls, when necessary. Hence, seeing them face-to-face would not be even difficult to achieve.

In the instance of ensuring they do not abuse their freedom of working without you being there to supervise them in the flesh, then you could simply rely on an agency or a supervising company. This virtual assistant firm will allow you to have peace of mind since they will guarantee your VAs will be supervised accordingly. In other words, every minute you pay for will not be wasted.

Furthermore, virtual assistants have the initiative to report their progress frequently. This is to give you assurance that they are delivering what is expected of them.

For the case of time differences, a virtual assistant is honed to work based on the time zone of his or her client. This is how the online industry works in order to provide the employers the utmost advantage. If you want to work hand-in-hand with your VA even if it is nighttime on his or her end, then it could happen.

With the aforementioned facts above, would you still think that virtual assistants are difficult to work with? Hopefully, your doubts have now dissipated, and you are now ready to take in remote workers.