redboxoffice

I have 2 x £100 holiday discount vouchers to give away*.

I will be putting names into a very large straw sun hat & pulling out 2 lucky winners on 3 August 2010.

Please email me at ecrabtree@redboxvirtualoffice.com with the subject ‘Holiday Discount.’*

Feel free to pass this on to any potentially interested friends & colleagues.

Best of luck!

Emma xx

* Terms & Conditions:
1.The discount vouchers have been issued by Glen Travel & are redeemable against selected tour operator packages, usually sold through ABTA travel agents in the UK.
2. All email addresses will be added to the Red Box Virtual Office mailing list.  I hate spam, I guess you do too! Under no circumstances will your email be sold or distributed to 3rd parties.  Even for £1m!!

So you work from home?  Me too!  My decision to work from home was a relatively easy one as I used to live miles from anywhere and getting a local job wasn’t an option 6 years ago.

But you’re probably not in that situation and quit Civvy Street for a bucket full of reasons.  The commute, the lack of respect in the office, low wages or no job perks…  Or maybe you saw a gap in the market and thought ‘Oh, yes, I can fill that gap.’

There are many, many reasons why we work from home or start a home based business.  Even if it makes financial sense, there are things that you will miss day to day that can start you thinking whether working from home was the right thing for you.  Believe me, I’ve been there.

Being alone in the house can unnerve us.  Self discipline can evade us.  Talking to the cat all day only makes you feel even more batty and alone!  Staying in your pyjamas is easy and watching day time TV is worringly fun.  Motivating oneself to get on with work and earn some money can be tricky.  Being stuck with a problem is frustrating because who do you turn to?

I’ve written about working from home and not going mad before. My tips do work, well at least for me!

We all need social interaction, however much of a ‘Bah Humbug’ we may be!  Human beings are by nature gregarious and move in packs.  If you can’t get out of the office and socialise or go to business networking meetings, get on line.  There are going to be countless business forums for your industry on the internet and sites such as Linked In and Ecademy are great sources of inspiration.

Social network sites like Facebook can be a good way of ‘meeting’ people and are a great outlet for venting frustrations as well as having those ‘water cooler’ moments that you may miss from being in an office with other people.  I’m sure you will find others with similar frustrations as well as being able to build up a support network.

Being alone can work to your advantage.  It’s an opportunity to contact clients and potential customers, to call them or email them to say hello.  People like being remembered and not just as a potential sale.

Join a local Chamber of Commerce or another similar group in you area.  It’s a great way of developing business contacts as well as making new friends.  Set aside time to do something you like;  after all, you’re no longer commuting so there’s at least 2 hours a day you can play with!  And remember to reward yourself after a great day’s work.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

Aaagh.  Your inbox is full and the ‘to-do’ pile of work seems to have a life of its own.  Your phone won’t stop ringing, and you feel as though you are drowning in a sea of admin that you dislike doing, but there’s no-one else around to do it.

And tomorrow you’re going on holiday and you just KNOW that even if you hand over to someone else, they too have their own priorities and clients and it’s unlikely that the bottom of your in-tray will ever see the light of day again.

Sound familiar?  Panicking because you don’t know how to manage your time effectively? It’s not something that we are born with, but some come to organisation and systems much more easily that others.

Of course, there are courses that you can go on to help you understand how best to manage your time and deal with those days when all you do is procrastinate.  Improving your communication skills and dealing with interruptions should be part and parcel of any workers skill set, but a lot of the time they aren’t.  And this is because you don’t have the time to take these courses and learn how to best manage your time.  Also, there’s probably not €250 lying around to cover the fees…

However, there is a solution which is neither time consuming or expensive.  And that is to work with a Virtual Assistant.  In just one phone call you can:

• Identify your key areas of work that need managing.
• Prioritise your day to make it more profitable and work for you.
• Learn how to delegate and say ‘My VA can take care of that.’
• Help technology work for you using on-line calenders, Skype, file sharing systems & more.
• Select what tasks you’re experienced in and great at & leave the rest to your Virtual Assistant.
• Set aside time for socialising, on-line networking and taking the dog for a walk.

Just a 15 minute phone call could change your attitude to your paperwork forever!  This call will give you the power to delegate and gain a sense of control over what you do and when you do it.

Don’t get buried underneath the paperwork on your desk and e-mails in your inbox.  Call us now on Skype: coimbragirl or call + 351 965 454 775 and learn how working with a Virtual Assistant will save you time and make you money!

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

I had an email this morning from one of those companies that I really should have opt’d-out from ages ago.  I’m not even too sure why I started subscribing, but now I have mail each morning that just goes in the bin!

However, today there was one exception.  This guy had recently returned from holiday and was telling of the delights of outsourcing.  It seems as though he doesn’t have a regular, day to day Virtual Assistant, but gets people in to cover his stuff, like email and Twitter & Facebook, while he’s on holiday.

There were 3 sites he recommended, which all promote the idea that those on the site will do something for you for $5.  Seriously.

http://www.fiverr.com – Fiverr promotes the idea that there are lots of stuff that can be done for $5.  There are transcribers, bloggers, word press hosts, models  & writers on there, plus SO many more professions & professionals who are willing to trade their services for $5.

http://www.onlinebizlibrary.com – This site professes to help online marketers to build backlinks for their website at a reasonable price!

http://www.clickfive.net – Internet marketing services from $5, such as article writing, Facebook invites & directory submission.

Will these type of sites be the death of more rounded, one-stop shops like Red Box Virtual Office and social networking marketeers that I can think of, or do these sites provide the likes of me with an ideal opportunity to get myself out there, promote my skills at a silly price and get the potential client hooked?  I think I will give fiverr a go, at least to see what it’s all about and whether I get any feedback.  There’s an ad on there that really ought to have been proofread first!

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

It’s a steamy afternoon here in Portugal, so this is going to be short and sweet as I have a date with a pool!

If you’re not aware, I manage a group on Linked In for one of my clients.  I really like Linked In for its professionalism and ease of use and if you’re not familiar with it, you can find my tips for using Linked In here.

There are many groups you can join depending on your interests or job.  I am a member of lots of groups relating to Portugal as I want to develop my network here.

Three tips to help manage your Linked In group:

1. Check for new requests each day. I check for new requests, i.e. people who want to join the group, each day as waiting around for a response can be quite frustrating.  You may want to post a response to a message you’ve seen on a group, but can’t as you’re not a member.  By the time your request has been authorised, you’ve forgotten your point and moved on!
2. Check your Linked In in-box for messages from your group. If you’re managing the group the likelihood is that you will receive messages from group members enquiring about how to use the forum or from those wanting to join.  You may have rules about membership (my group members have to be members of an external organisation) or anyone may be free to join!  Answer queries and questions as quickly as you can and with good grace.  Remember, not only are you the face of your Linked In group, but you may also be the face of an external organisation and need to reflect that in your contact.
3. Regularly Check Posts – I hope it doesn’t happen to you, but you may have to remove someone from your group because of naughty behaviour!  Check what people are posting and discussing on your group and remove anything that could be seen as lewd or downright rude.  Of course, everyone has a right to their opinion and a right of reply, but there’s no need for anyone to go overboard!  You also need to keep on the good side of the Linked In Management, who have their eyes on what is published on their site.

Hope these help!

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

Monday mornings have to be the worst mornings of all.  They are for me.  Two days where the alarm didn’t go off and routine went out of the window.  Maybe that’s my trouble.  I take 48 hours ‘off’ and then have to start all over again.

I’m so thankful that from coffee pot to desk is only a few step and if I’m being really slobby, I can go to work in my pyjamas.  However, I know for a lot of you that isn’t the case and mornings can be chaotic; kids’ lunches, partner out of the shower, dog walked and fed…  My big tip?  Get yourself organised the night before.  Seriously.  15 extra minutes in bed were never so easily obtained.

1.  Before you leave your office in the evening, tidy up.  There’s nothing more depressing coming in to a messy desk.  A clear desk means you can get right into the swing of things without spending 5 minutes wading through the clutter for that important file.
2. When you get home, put your keys somewhere obvious, like a bowl or a key hanger.  And do this every day.   Your keys will then be where you left them and there’s no mad panic in the morning.
3.  Sort through your mail and answer machine messages when you get home.  Bin the junk mail in the recycling box and file the bills in your ‘to pay’ file.
4. If you have time in the morning, make a to-do list.  The mornings are better than the evenings, as I’ve discovered, as making a list before you go to bed just makes your mind whirl!
5. Tidy up and clear the dinner dishes before turning in for the night.  Dirty dishes left in the sink overnight? Really depressing first thing.  No thank you!
6. Decide what you will wear the next morning the night before for you and any small people you may have to attend to.  Love school uniforms!
7. Prepare gym bags, yoga kit etc. the night before.  Leave them by the door so you won’t forget it (though a friend left her baby by the door as a reminder & that didn’t work!)

Here’s to an organised you!

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

I’ve finally made a phone call that I was dreading all weekend.  And it wasn’t so bad.  In fact he was very understanding and took my apologies without making me grovel too much.  Don’t ‘ya love my Dad!

You see, I’d sent an email to my parents without really thinking about what I was writing and it turned around and bit me on the bottom.  My email wasn’t particularly subtle, but it could have been (and was!) wrongly interpreted.

I know how easy it is to send an email.  Type and send, type and send.  That’s all you have to do.  But it doesn’t convey the nuances and subtleties that your voice does.  Unless you know the writer very well, many times the joy, frustration, sarcasm even can be lost in the written word.  I ought to have picked up the phone and spoken to him and then there wouldn’t have been 48 hours of ‘eeek’.  Hindsight. Should be banned.

My voice, I think, is my greatest sales feature.  In the majority of cases, my clients don’t know me from Eve and I have been recommended through a third party.  If I come across as flaky, disorientated or disinterested over the phone, I’m toast and they’re gone, leaving just a trail of telephone dust.  My voice instills in them the confidence needed to hand over bank accounts and credit card details, to leave me to deal with their customers and clients and be their business ‘face’ when they are not available.

Whatever your relationship with your clients, I’d recommend picking up the phone every so often and having a verbal conversation with them.  Hearing someone’s voice is the second best thing to meeting someone, which many times in this world of virtual working doesn’t happen.  I also think people in general and clients especially  appreciate you taking the time to make contact, checking in to make sure everything is okay and asking whether there’s anything else you can do for them.  Sometimes, there’s a light bulb moment and a ‘Oh, while you’re on the phone…’

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

This is a bit of a cheeky post as I’m up to my eyeballs in visiting relatives.  His, not mine.

Okay, so there are more than 3 people you could go to/follow/like across the social networks, but these are my Top 3 Social Media Gurus and if I followed their advise could probably keep Lawrence in the style to which he would like to become accustomed.  As it is, I’m a bit lazy at this sort of thing, but that shouldn’t stop you hanging off their every word.

1. Nicky Pilkington – This amazing woman has a new baby and still manages to tell it like it is.  Is one born of the other, I wonder?  I have come to know Nikki as she is the partner of Shaun Gisbourne and he and I were at school together.  Working out of Northern France, Nikki really does have the finger on the pulse of social networking.  Her blog is full of interesting, funny and above all useful articles.  Not only does she give good advice, but you can hire her to do the hard work for you!
2. Michael Stelzner at Social Media Examiner – I’m sure I came across Michael because of Nikki.  Anyway, there was a link in someone’s blog or on a Facebook page that I was intrigued by.    Michael and his team consistently produce insightful and useful information that you can use in your website and on your social media pages.    I especially like the tips for driving traffic to your website and how to use sites such as Facebook and Twitter to your advantage, without spending €€€ and lots of time in the process.  They have a newsletter that I subscribe to and wish I had time each month to implement their tips and tricks.  Maybe I need a VA…
3. Jessica Swanson at Shoestring Marketing – According to Forbes Magazine, Jessica is one of 30 women entrepreneurs in the US that offer great and good tweeting!  Jessica is a shoestring marketer and by that I mean she knows the way to the top without spending a fortune.  She is the one that has done the research and you can tap in to this knowledge through her tweets, Facebook page and her webinars.  I love her webinars as they offer some great advice and are free!

I would encourage you to check out at least one of these amazing people and tap into their knowledge base now!

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

I took myself off to A&E this morning. Don’t panic, I’m fine! But I have been in quite severe pain for several days now and last night made the decision to go and see the Doctor to have myself checked out.

All is well; I have drugs!

But while I was waiting to see the Doctor, I got to thinking what would happen to Lawrence and I if I was incapacitated for some time.  As a one-income household, what I earn is very important to us and while we have a nest egg, the nest’s not that big and only contains 1 or 2 eggs.

So this afternoon I’ve done some research.  I still need to speak with people here in Portugal (so if you know of anyone offering reasonable/low cost health insurance in Portugal, please let me know).  The information below is more than relevant if you’re in the UK or USA, are a freelancer or independent contractor and really ought to have insurance in case you can no longer work.

Where To Go?

For both UK and USA freelancers, your Chamber of Commerce is a good place to start.  They may have group policies that you can join and there is bound to be at least one other freelancer in your Chamber that is in a similar position.

In the ‘States, there is something called COBRA, which will cover your insurance needs for a fixed period of time after you leave paid employment.  This is great for short term cover whilst you get yourself sorted with insurance of your own.  There is also the National  Association of the Self Employed who will have information for you.

In the UK, the Business Link website has some great information about insurance and what you need for you and your business.

Who Needs Cover?

Look at who in your family needs to be insured.  Are other people relying on you and your income?  If so, you need to have health and death-in-service insurance.  These subjects are never easy to talk about, but it’s a far easier conversation to have than one your partner may have to have with the bailiff at the front door.

What Are Your Health Care Needs?

Your age, your general health, whether you smoke, are pregnant, have a poor medical history will all affect your health insurance payments.   Can you make some positive lifestyle changes before taking out a policy that will benefit your monthly payments and your health?

Pay for High Premiums

As a freelancer, it is difficult to arrange reasonable cost insurance as it’s just for you.  Being an individual may not be a positive thing!  It’s  possible that you could get health insurance that doesn’t cost the earth if you are willing to pay high premiums.  Premiums are those payments that you make before the insurance company with cough up.  If your injury amounts to €25,000 in costs, and your premium is €5,000 the insurers will pay the additional €20,000 and not the full amount.

Group Benefits

Check out the business groups you already belong to.  There may be a group or a business link that will offer insurance or a discounted rate to other members.  I’m a member of the BPCC and offer other members 25% discount on my services.  There are insurance brokers, car hire companies and hotels that also offer similar discounts.   Check out the small print in your membership brochures.

Resources:

freelanceuk.com

finweb.com

Business Link UK

Chambers of Commerce

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

Hi there.  I didn’t write yesterday as is the norm as I was trying to stop my creaking PC from finally giving up the ghost.  And I did!

I’ve been having problems with my PC; running slow, programs slow to load and my graphics card kept blowing up (not literally) on me.  And then to top it all off, my PC would just shut down.  It was as though I’d asked it to go into ‘stand by’ mode without me actually making the request.  Not only that, I could not get my machine to power back up.

So from my experiences I wanted to let you know that there are some great resources out there if you are experiencing the same kind of problems and are thinking, ‘Yikes.’

1. Tech Guy Forums – One of the best help and support sites for PC, software, hardware, internet and networking available online.  It’s like having your very own tech support at the end of a ‘phone line.  I’ve had support with everything from malware issues to how to get into the back end of my PC without doing any damage!  5 Stars guys!
   
2. Spy Bot – Because I was having problems with my PC, Tech Guy recommended a system sweep of my PC and to use Spy Bot.  Wow!  Just amazing.  This fantastic piece of software will trawl your entire system, including all the temporary stuff you download from the internet, your hard drives and the hidden files looking for the nasties that pollute and corrupt your PC.  First time around, Spy Bot found stuff that I had never heard of and alerted me to programs that could be harmful if I kept running them.  Once the search is over, there’s the option to destroy what yuckkies it’s found, which I did.  It takes a couple of hours for Spy Bot to run the full search & destroy, so I’d recommend doing this while there’s a double bill of ‘Glee’ on.  But it’s worth it. Oh, and it’s free!
3. Irfan View Photo Resizer – Another free piece of kit, this time one that will resize your photos, including the DPI.  I’ve been working for a sales and marketing client and one of the tasks is to use different sized photographs in different settings; for print, email marketing, on-line viewers etc.  We were getting our designer to do that, but that cost!  I started off using Pic Resize, but while that was great for general resizing, it didn’t give the DPI resolution change options that I do needed.  After hours scouring the internet, I found Irfan View.  Really easy to use and does what it says on the tin.  It will do lots of other fancy tricks with your photos, as well as resizing and converting the DPI.  I was very impressed and again this is free!
4. I almost forgot.  Because I was having PC troubles, I looked in to what might be causing the slow running etc. and it turns out it was my anti-virus software.  Blimey.  Not having that running would be kind of scary, but I did remove it and exchange it for AGV anti virus software and my machine is running as though it’s on speed!  I kid you not!  I was running Zone Alarm Extreme Security, which has some good add-ons like off site back up, but it seems to be incompatible with my MS XP.  AGV have some free software, trial periods and their full packages are very competitively priced.
5. Give Away of the Day – If you’re a Red Box newsletter subscriber, you’ll know I talk about these guys all the time.  It basically does what it says; each day there is a free software give away.  Some days, it’s not of much interest to me, but on other days you can pick up some great freebies.  The offers are available for 24 hours and because the site’s based out of the USA, those of us on this side of the pond can pick up a couple of offers in the same 24 hours period.  Well worth droping by every couple of days, I’d say.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

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