Okay, so may be ‘Going Nuts’ is a bit over the top, but it got your attention, right?!

I started working from home when Red Box was born 5 years ago and couldn’t afford to rent any office space.  To be honest, I didn’t know whether Red Box would see out the Summer of 2005 and finding office space was way down my list of priorities.

Now I work from home out of choice, but it’s been tough to get it right.  I thought I would share my tips on keeping a sound mind and healthy body while you work from home.

1. Get up at a reasonable time. Yes, really, it helps.  Set the alarm each day for the same time and get into the habit of getting up and starting your day off in a positive way.  Lie-ins are for the weekend.
2. Develop a routine or structure to your day. I tried doing any old thing at any old time and that didn’t work.  But getting up early, going for a run, shower, breakfast & in to the first tasks of the day really put me on the right footing.  If I have a bad night and don’t run or take a yoga class, the rest of my day is screwed. Não vale a pena faz nada, as they might say here in Portugal.
3. Allocate an hour to each task. I tried just working through on a project or a task, plodding on with it even when I was bored or banging my head against the proverbial brick wall.  Not the way to succeed.  So now I allocate time to each client through the day, revisiting tasks if I need to.  Some days a job will come in that throws this plan out of the window, but generally I split my day up into sections and won’t check my emails or allow other things to distract me.  It works 90% of the time!
4. Tell your Mum you’re off limits 9-5. And not just your Mum.  This includes anyone that may think that working from home equals being around for a chat and a cup of tea at any hour of the day!  You are working.  Would your Mum call you up when you were on civvy street and expect you to be available for 10mins while she discussed Aunt Rose’s hip replacement?  Well, maybe, but you get my drift.
5. Take regular breaks. It’s a strange one, this one.  I’ve found I’m less inclined to take a break now than when I was working for someone else.  But it’s important to have lunch somewhere other than your desk each day.  Try and not sit at your PC for longer than 40mins without taking a break.  Just getting up and making a cup of tea is useful; even better is walking to the letter box to check the mail or going around the block with the dog.  See my blog post on a healthy work environment.
6. Do chat to other people. Yes, engage in conversation with strangers in the Post Office.  Working from home can be a lonely existence and some days I may not speak to anyone except my husband.  On-line forums and networks are a great way to expand your social community and can be a source of new business, too.
7. Exercise. Yes, dull, but as Alex James recently said, the thought is worse than the doing.  It’s a mood lifter, stress buster, heart attacker stopper all rolled into one.  I’m a yoga bunny by nature but have recently got into running.  And I feel great for it (and have dropped a dress size!).
8. Plan your chores. When I first started out as a VA, I read somewhere that if the thought of a stack of washing up was going to drive to distraction or that not getting the laundry done each week would end in divorce, then I should hire a cleaner.  Lovely idea, but with what?  Eggs?  I didn’t have the money then and now I’d rather spend it on a horse riding lesson or an evening at the cinema than pay for someone to clean my floors.  But the chores do need doing, so plan time in your day for them.  The bathroom on Monday, kitchen floor on Tuesday & so on.  And delegate tasks; I’m sure you’re not the only one in your household that creates dirty dishes or wet towels…
9. Reward yourself. It is important to remind yourself that you are fab and what you are doing is worthwhile.  If you’re your own boss, giving yourself a raise because a client loved your project is hard to do, but do take some time out for yourself and do something you enjoy that isn’t work related.  If I’m broke, I’ll have a cup of tea in the sunshine on our patio; if I’m feeling flush, I may buy myself a new lippy.  Little things that reinforce the message to yourself that you are great.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more

I recently read an article in a Guardian & Observer supplement entitled ‘Speed up a PC,’ that advised how to clean out old, unwanted files on your PC, as well as reducing the number of applications loaded at start up and tidying up your hard drive.

I never knew how to do this; I have so many bits of rubbish that I don’t use each day that start up when I start up my PC that it seems to take forever to get going in the morning.  It was really easy to do!

Now, my PC starts up and is ready to go even before the kettle has boiled.

The software I used to clean up my PC is available through Piriform and they created the application CCleaner, which you can get here.  They also have a defragger available, which removes the gaps on your harddrive and puts all your files in order.  A bit like a super-duper VA!

I’d highly recommend that you clean up your PC every couple of months.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more.

EF & Partners Art Consulting

I would like to welcome a new client to the Red Box nest; EF & Partners.

Red Box is going to be translating their web site, marketing materials and press releases from Portuguese into English.

EF & Partners Art Consulting are art consultants based across Europe with offices in the UK, Italy, Portugal and Spain.  EF & Partners offer businesses and individuals, art galleries and collectors, a package of services including valuation, purchasing, sourcing, selling and insurance for works of art.

I am so excited about having EF & Partners as a client.  I have previously worked with one of the partners and being asked to join his new project is very flattering.  This will be my first large scale translation project, so I will admit to being a little nervous about getting it right.  However, I am very confident in my ability to understand and translate their reasonably complex text into understandable, readable and grammatically correct English.

If this is something that you too would like undertaken, please do get in touch.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more

How many of you use sites like People Per Hour (PPH), Elance and Guru etc?  Yes, I thought so!  And how many of you have been successful in obtaining work through them?  Me neither!  I’ve been contacted a couple of times after placing a bid, but I’ve never been successful in contracting work through them.

But still I persist.  Mainly because they are free to sign on to!  I also use them when I’m recruiting for clients.

I have some tips that you may want to consider using, either as a provider or as a buyer.  You may think, “What does she know if she’s not been successful,” but you never know and these may help you land a job.

As a Service Provider

1. Be specific in responding to the ad placed.  Two lines on how great you are doesn’t cut the mustard.
2. Set your bid at a reasonable level and consider justifying your bid.
3. Respond to individual points in detail.
4. Send (when possible) links to previous work you’ve undertaken or add files to your profile.
5. Be quick!  If there’s been 87 bids for a typing job, do you really want to be #88?
6. Sign up for email alerts on new jobs posted; it’ll save you time looking through each site individually.

As a Buyer

1. Think clearly about what or who you want to hire.
2. If the website doesn’t give you the catergories you need to be able to pigeon hole your requirements, list them in the job information section.
3. Be reasonable in setting your fee.  Either an hourly rate or by project and consider who is going to be reading your ad.  If you use PPH, for example, it’s UK based so the response is going to be mainly from UK based service providers.  They are not going to bid £1/hr for transcription work and you’ll be disappointed when no-one bids or you get a shoddy transcript.
4. Close your job after you receive 10-15 bids.  Are you really going to go through all 57 bids..?
5. Do choose your supplier carefully.  Ask for previous work and/or testimonials.
6. Shortlisting candidates makes it easier to finally select the right one and contacting them directly helps to get a feel for their skills and experience.  Do follow through, though and keep them up to date on what’s happening with the project.

Useful?  If you’ve got a thought on using these kind of sites, do get in touch.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more

I recently read Maggie Berney’s post on her reaction to the Radio 4 Woman’s Hour interview with Emma Walker, Justine Curtis  and eminent sociologist Dr Brendan Burchell.

While I didn’t hear the interview myself, the comments and reaction to this interview had me thinking.  I’d like to address a number of points that come up regularly for me and may be of interest to you, whether you’re working from home or not.

1. Missing personal contact with others.
I’ve said before that I do miss the water-cooler moments of a regular, office based job.  Saying that, however, there are so many forums and on & off line networks that one can join, being ‘lonely’ for me is not an option!  And if I’ve got Skype up, being alone can sometimes be difficult too!

2. Not being in a team or part of a work-based group.
Well, what’s not being part of a team when working with and for others is your bread and butter?  At least in my job, running my own business, I can pick and choose who I work with.  There are many examples I could give where I’ve felt as though I was excluded from the clique, (too high-school for words) and all the good gossip and office politics, as well as the hiring and firing, was done in the smokers room!  And I don’t smoke.

3. The client not being able to trust me & vice versa.
It is true that the majority of my clients, past & present, I have never met.  And this may be a restricting factor in hiring virtual personnel for some.  However, as someone who holds credit card details for a number of clients & has access to suppliers’ bank accounts, trust is something that is mutually developed over a period of time.  I wouldn’t ask a client to leave me his credit card details on day 1; instead I take the time to develop a relationship with them, showing them that I can be trusted in all matters and that hiring me & Red Box was a positive thing to do for them and their business.

It’s about mutual respect.  I have been stung a couple of times with late or non-payment from clients and so with new clients have a retainer system which is a win-win for all involved.

4. Juggling the work/life balance.
As you may know, I originally relocated to Portugal to regain my work/life balance.  It wasn’t as though I had a hugely stressful job; but I rarely saw my husband, who did.  We made the joint decision to move away from London and get our marriage back on track.  Having an incredibly supportive partner is a bonus and takes the pressure off being the bread winner/housekeeper/vet/personal shopper that many women face.  I greatly admire those who work from home and also have demanding children/parents/partner/friends/pets.  I’m not sure I would be as disciplined as needed to run a business from home and still be on speaking terms with my loved ones.

In the end, working from home is something that must be considered in the cold light of day and not something to rush into after a bad day in the office.  But it works for me and my family (all 3 of us) and for my clients, too.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more

It’s Christmas.  Again.  Where did 2009 go?  Almost in a blur did new year, my birthday, easter, summer fun and autumn rains rush past for us to arrive in December wondering where the year went and what one achieved.

It’s that time of year when you are expected to contact everyone you’ve ever known or done business with or shaken hands with and to send them ‘Seasons Greetings’ in one form or another.

But do you?

I’ve read some chatter about whether it’s absolutely necessary to send cards and gifts to clients and business contacts.  Do you at other times of the year?  It’s a great excuse to let old contacts know you are still around and still trading, but there’s always the thought that my card is just going to be read by some PA, stuck on a shelf and gather dust for 3 weeks and then hit the bin.  And maybe not even a recycling bin…

Do you send a ‘thanks awfully for being my client’ card & gift, but receive nothing in return.  Does that bug you?

I’ve had a change of attitude this year and instead of sending physical cards, I’m using an on-line e-card service to send my greetings.  I may just get stuck in an in-box, (although the majority of the recipients are subscribers to my newsletter, so I should be white listed and not treated as spam) and there’s no feelings of guilt as to how many trees have been chopped down in my name.

There may be an odd bottle or two going out to clients that have been with Red Box for a while, but I don’t have a fortune to spend that way.  So for less than lunch at Pret, and in less time than it takes me to walk to the post office, I can send my greetings and thank you’s to those that matter to me and my business.

How about you?

Festive greetings to you all!

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more

I’ve been at this working from home lark for some time now, although my home seems to change from one year to the next.  Setting up Red Box was very much a necessity, as when Lawrence and I relocated to Portugal in 2004, neither of us had a job lined up, nor could we speak reasonable Portuguese to go and find one.

So although my view from my office window has changed (and is about to again!), the positives and not so positive aspects still apply:

The Good

• There’s no commute! How I do not miss the Northern Line.  Tooting Broadway to Tottenham Court Road, Monday to Friday, wind, rain and shine.
• I get up when it’s daylight and not before.  Ugh, winter mornings.  Need I say more?
• The dress code is my own. Okay, I was never the type to use a power suit, but coming to work in woolly slippers definitely has its advantages.
• Household Chores are spread over the week, not just the weekend. How I managed to keep a clean, tidy house, prepare meals, be sociable and have a full time job, I’ll never know.  Maybe somethings slipped…
• The rent on the office space is very reasonable. There’s nothing to pay in overheads above and beyond what I’m paying for utilities & I can choose which room to use as my office instead of getting the cubby hole at the back of the building.

The Bad

• There are very few water-cooler moments. I do miss the camaraderie of an office.  Some of my greatest friendships have been formed through work and it’s where I met my husband.
• Self discipline is key.  I’m not so sure this is a bad thing.  However, working for oneself and by oneself does mean that I have to be very disciplined about the hours I spend working and billing and what can be classed as ‘down time’.  If I don’t work, we don’t eat.  Simple!
• Household chores can be very tempting. If I’m having a bad morning or have no taste for a particular job, it’s very tempting to think, “I can put the washing on,” “didn’t the cat need to go to the vet,” “I’m sure I can get some groceries” and so on.
• Once immersed, it’s hard to come up for air.  If I’m loving a project, 2, 3 hours can go by without me stopping for a cuppa or taking a walk.  Not healthy by any stretch of the imagination.
• Weekend working. I did promise myself and Lawrence that there would be at least one day a week where there’s no work.  No emails, no phone calls, no just-taking-a-look-to-see-if…  Yeah, right!

The Ugly

• Me in my pyjamas at 10am. There’s no way that I am getting a webcam!

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more

A short time ago I quoted for a job.  A nice looking start up company based in the UK, with what looked like enough daily tasks to keep me interested and enough contact with the owner and potential clients to help me learn about the business quite quickly.

So, I duly submit my proposal and quote and wait.

And wait and wait and wait.  Bearing in mind that I’ve been asked to quote, (rather than me banging on their door asking to quote for some work) I find this waiting rather irksome.

Just as I’m about to pick up the phone and ask what’s going on, I get an email.  Unfortunately, it’s not personalised, nor does it make any reference to the information I’ve already sent in.  It seems that I was one of “thousands” that responded to their solicitations!

There’s always so much noise about how we as providers have to keep on top of our game, answer emails in a timely manner, pick up the phone while we’re in the shower and be on call 24/7.  But I hear very little about the other side and how if you have asked for a quote or information about a particular company, the least you can do is say thanks.

That’s all I’m asking for.  A quick, ‘thank you, appreciate the effort, sorry not this time,’ email.  2 mins.

Am I being naive and asking too much?

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a 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 more

Never has it been so easy and cost effective to build your brand with a global reach. Social Media Marketing has made it possible to get your brand infront of your targeted customers, where ever they may be.

Have you ever heard this, ‘People buy from people they like and trust’? So how do you build trust and likeability over the internet when you can’t go and meet your customers directly?

Let’s take a look at some popular and effective tools you can use today to start marketing your business on-line.

1. Twitter. Yes, you can use Twitter to expand your business profile. It is expected that Twitter will have 25 million active users by 2010 – and I’m sure some of those users will fit your customer profile! Other Twitter apps, like Twellow allow you to find people to follow based on their profile keywords. This means you can pick out your target customers or clients to follow and because you have done your profiling, they will more than likely follow you back.

So now you have a Twitter account, what do you write?

1. OK, well by providing great value, establishing your expertise, your authority and building relationships with your honesty and integrity you soon become the ‘Go To Person’ in your niche, your area of business.
2. By continuing to build a rapport with your followers, you will find a growing community who will listen to what you have to say. You can achieve this using other tools such as Facebook by setting up a Fan Page and brand it with your business.
3. Keep all your followers and community members in touch with your business by connecting your Twitter account with your Facebook Fan Page. This will enable your tweets to be posted to Facebook without you having to do it manually.
4. Lastly, keep the developing the relationship with a regularly updated blog. You can add audio and videos too which adds a face to your name and builds a social connection.

So, to build a good network of qualified potential clients or customers, try opening a Twitter account and follow those people who fit your customer profile. Don’t forget to add regular tweets to build rapport and establish your expertise. Connect your branded Twitter account to your branded Facebook Fan Page and post regularly to a blog using audio and video aswell as written words to strengthen your trust with those who follow you.

This has been written by Annabel Meade – a successful Forex trader and race car driver. She teaches how to be a responsible and successful trader through her Forex Training guide which includes some powerful trading tips and strategies. Follow the link to read Annabel’s Forex Trading blog for the latest news and reviews.

This resonated with me as I’m in the process of moving.  I’ve packed stuff I later find I ought not to have and the flat is in chaos.

I just hope it will all be okay at the other end.

A moving story

Before embarking on the journey, I wondered why moving is said to be one of the most stressful things you can do. Shove a few things in boxes, put them on a truck – how hard can it be?

Read More