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.