Dumb Little Man

AUGUST 11, 2015

Have you ever had a boss you didn’t crib about? Or a boss you really really wanted to be like? Or a boss you did not abuse the moment he/she turned around? Have you had a boss you stood up for when your colleagues were gossiping lame stuff about him / her? Have you had a boss that really inspired you? If the answer to the above questions is Yes, let me tell you – you are among the lucky 0.001% on the Corporate world existing on planet earth. Congratulations! You may now thank you stars Yes.

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2015 Gossip UPS 216

Practically Perfect PA

AUGUST 17, 2015

What are the main aspects of your role? My role is very varied and probably doesn’t sit within the ‘traditional PA’ job description that many would think. Having been with Absolute Taste for 14 years there are lots of jobs that I do which are a hangover from when we were a very small company with 10-15 people so we all mucked in, saying that I still do these tasks because I enjoy these aspects and I don’t want to relinquish them!

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2015 Travel Restaurants Gifts 196

Virtual Moxie

AUGUST 17, 2015

Waaaay back in the day, I was Cheryl Richardson 's Virtual Assistant, she was the new president of ICF, and we were deeply engaged in working on the first-ever International Coach Federation conference. Although instructions had been given to attendees about how to handle their own special dietary requests directly with the hotel, one woman decided she HAD to talk with me about it. And she went on and on about how she needed ME to handle it for her.

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2015 International Phones 186

Office Organization Success

AUGUST 27, 2015

Website traffic is not a problem. Getting it to visit YOUR website is! There are an abundance of your ideal clients out there all searching for the solutions that your services offer. But the problem is they don’t know about you … yet! As a solopreneur, one ingredient you need for a successful online business is traffic… and lots of it! But there are so many websites out there, all competing for the same traffic, that it can be difficult to attract visitors to YOUR website!

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2015 Promotion Stress Email 169

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 27, 2015

Pacific Standard's Who Really Runs the Airbnbs  looks at the boom in Airbnb rentals in New Orleans with a focus on better understanding whether or not Airbnb hosts live in the space they rent. In New Orleans, most don't. Key quote: Only 34 percent of rentals are for rooms or shared rooms; 66 percent of listings are for an entire home or apartment. More than two-thirds (69 percent) are rented year round. Almost half of all hosts operate at least two rentals.

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2015 Promotion 165

Eat Your Career

AUGUST 2, 2015

For those of you who haven’t met me in the real world, let me first explain some of my character assets and liabilities. I’m what every personality test on the planet would describe as “highly dominant” in a workplace setting. (In In a personal setting, I’m quite different, but that’s a story for another day…). At work, I’m extremely task-focused, almost to the detriment of my professional relationships. I do everything fast—from walking to talking to achieving.

2015 147

2015 Stress Learning UPS 147

Dumb Little Man

AUGUST 20, 2015

Picture this: you open your eyes as you wake up to a sunrise. Without a moment’s delay, you get out of bed and stretch. It’s an exciting day ahead and you can’t wait to get started. You quickly get changed into your gym clothes and head outside for a nice jog in the quiet, peaceful morning. When you get home, you take a shower and come out refreshed. By the time you finish eating breakfast, it’s still early outside. Yet you feel energized and fully awake, ready to take on the day.

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2015 UPS Clothes Health 208

Virtual Moxie

AUGUST 25, 2015

This past weekend was really wonderful. Here in Baltimore, we had rare August weather (not hot, not humid), and as a result, we were up and out each day really early, and back long after dark, exploring places near home we'd not seen before. I love road trips--long or short. I actually prefer them to any other sort of travel. And I prefer taking road trips with Dominic over anyone else.

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2015 Environment Travel Email 174

Office Organization Success

AUGUST 14, 2015

Not enough clients? Not enough profits? All it could take are a few tweaks to your business management systems and you could easily turn this around. I know the thought of creating systems in your business doesn’t sound very appealing or exciting. But what if I told you that having the right systems in your business can make all the difference between having all the clients you need or not having clients? Or making all the money you need, and not making money?

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2015 Management Stress Learning 159

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 31, 2015

The Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) - a leading, global analyst firm focused on the use of contingent workers by businesses - recently released a report on the human cloud. It's only available to their members. But since I called them a "leading, global analyst firm" and pitch them again at the end of this article, I'm hoping they'll be OK with me "borrowing" a bit from their report.

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2015 2014 Monster Filing 162

Simple Productivity Blog

AUGUST 1, 2015

In 2014 I decided I wanted to release monthly productivity forms with a seasonal theme. Fun tools make it more likely I will use them, and honestly, I get bored with the plain old print and line forms. In 2015 I decided to continue this tradition. So to that end, I will be releasing a […]. The post New Productivity Forms: August 2015 appeared first on Simple Productivity Blog. More great content can be found on the site at Simple Productivity Blog.,

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2015 Forms 2014 Twitter 146

Dumb Little Man

AUGUST 10, 2015

As a high school student, one of my favorite Nollywood movies was ‘The Senator’ In the movie, Larry the lead actor knew right from high school that he wanted to be a senator. In fact, he was so convinced that he made his friends start calling him ‘senator’ That was Larry, lucky him. Most of us on the other hand go through a large portion of our lives wondering what it is we were born to do. Heck, some people never get around to discovering it till they die.

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2015 199

Practically Perfect PA

AUGUST 25, 2015

This week I am concentrating on the tricky task of business travel planning. Today I will be writing about the first step which is ‘ waving goodbye to your Executive ‘ Firstly I think we all breath a sign of relief when our Executive pays that final visit to our desk to say goodbye before they head out of the office to start their business trip.

2015 167

2015 Travel Phones Skills 167

Virtual Moxie

AUGUST 4, 2015

How can you be sure that it's time to let a client go, time to change your business model, time to go for training or certification, or time for… well, anything, really? When do you really know that you're ready? You never do. Even when there's a problem that seems irresolvable and you feel pushed to do something different, you never can be sure you've worked at things hard enough, or looked for enough solutions, or even completely addressed things together (if another person's involved).

2015 164

2015 Training 164

Office Organization Success

AUGUST 12, 2015

A couple of weeks ago I headed out to Orlando for a 3-day fashion event. I attend this event twice a year, and I love that I get to unplug for a few days and focus on something completely different—it’s all about balance, right? For me, this is when I get the best ideas for my business. I’m away from my office, in a different environment, and I can simply let those thoughts and ideas I’ve been having percolate away for a few days.

2015 156

2015 Environment 156

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 11, 2015

CB Insights , a great source of information on VC activity and startups, has an excellent article covering the growing number of food startups.    The article chart below (click to enlarge) lists over 40 food startups by category.    The trends driving VC and startup interest in the food industry are pretty straight forward - the food industry is enormous and more people are taking more interest in healthy eating.

2015 158

2015 158

Step It Up VA Coaching

AUGUST 3, 2015

Softball is over for the summer. No more practices, games, try-outs, or workouts! I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all this free time, except hopefully spend some of it with YOU! I would love to work with you for a full day on your business! Announcing “before summer’s over” dates for VIP In-Person Intensives ! AND through this week (or until they’re gone!),

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2015 Calendars Email UPS 143

Dumb Little Man

AUGUST 12, 2015

Everywhere you look – haters. With social media so abundant in today’s day and age, and allowing people to cross communicate around the world at such high speeds, you don’t have to look far to find keyboard warriors and negative criticism, and even hate. The truth is negative people will always exist. The trick is instead of allowing them to give you their negative energy and allowing it to affect you, turn it around and allow it to motivate you positively.

2015 196

2015 Keyboards Social Media 196

Practically Perfect PA

AUGUST 3, 2015

A few years ago I was working as a PA to a senior board director in an organisation full of project managers, engineers and specialist technicians. There were a large number of administration and support staff but we certainly didn’t make up the bulk of the business. As is often the case renumeration was structure around the staff who made the business money (or the folks who made the business more efficient and thus made the business money).

Salary 165

Salary Salary 2015 Promotion 165

Virtual Moxie

AUGUST 11, 2015

As you might remember, I had to have emergent abdominal surgery in April, and my recovery was difficult. To give myself some breathing room, I decided to not talk with anyone about new work or new opportunities till the beginning of July. Everyone who wrote to me about one of those two things received an email to see if talking in July would meet their needs, and I reached out in July to those who wanted to wait. One woman scheduled a time to talk with me, but didn’t call at the appointed time.

2015 148

2015 Email Learning Management 148

Productivity Bits

AUGUST 20, 2015

Offices were meant to be the best place to get work done. But between the people milling around, the allure of the internet to distract us and the general din that occurs when you stick hundreds of people in a big room together, sometimes it can be hard to be productive. We’ve got 10 tips to keep you going, even in the most distracting of offices. Thank you for subscribing! Please grab my free productivity ebook!

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2015 139

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 22, 2015

The Harvard Business Review's 7 Tips for Managing Freelancers and Contractors  provides advice on how managers can successfully navigate their relationship with contingent workers.    Talent shortages and the shift to hiring more contingent workers means companies are becoming more reliant on contingent talent - even for core and/or strategic jobs. This means freelancers are often just as valuable as full-time staffers.

2015 157

2015 Management Skills 157

Clutter Coach

AUGUST 25, 2015

by Originally posted 2007-03-05 12:46:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Last week I made a presentation to a group that included a visualization at the beginning. I wanted to talk to this group of nascent entrepreneurs about their home offices. For me, one of the best things about having my own business is my home office. It’s not fancy, but it’s mine! This visualization is about on how your office should feel, rather than how it should look.

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Home Office 2015 Phones Promotion 138

Dumb Little Man

AUGUST 3, 2015

“I think there’s a difference between a gamble and a calculated risk.” ” – Edmund H. North Taking a risk can be a scary thing, no matter what type of risk it is. And that fear alone can paralyze you before you even take your first step. You’ll tell yourself crippling stories and make up all the excuses in the world to play it safe. Yet you know playing it safe will get you nothing but safe. That’s understandable.

2015 196

2015 UPS 196

Practically Perfect PA

AUGUST 12, 2015

We have all experienced someone somewhere throughout our careers that just doesn’t want to make life easy. Whether it’s your new work colleague that’s worried you are going to take their job or a boss who has just taken a disliking to you, belittling everything you do, questioning every step you make or ensuring that you seem to get the blame for everything that goes wrong. I know I have been there, unfortunately for me it was my boss.

2015 148

2015 Confidence Interviewing Environment 148

Simple Productivity Blog

AUGUST 24, 2015

Planning is the basis of any productivity system. Yet many people struggle with the two extremes: under- and over-planning. Today we will look at why you shouldn't over-plan and how to make sure you are planning at the right level. The post Why You Shouldn’t Over-Plan appeared first on Simple Productivity Blog. More great content can be found on the site at Simple Productivity Blog., or you can find me on Twitter ( @SmplProdBlog ) and Facebook ( Facebook.com/SimpleProductivity ).

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2015 Twitter Facebook 138

Tips From T. Marie

AUGUST 12, 2015

I’m going to warn you, this blog post is me being honest. That probably means it’s going to rub some people the wrong way. So be it. If it helps another person who is struggling with some of the same questions, it’s worth irritating a few others. Sometimes you have an idea that just sets you on fire. You’re invested in it, heart and soul, not to mention time. Everyone says to do what you love and follow your heart and everything will work out great. But what if it doesn’t?

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2015 Learning Email Training 131

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 25, 2015

The 3D printing industry is at an interesting point, with both good and bad news coming out on a regular basis. The most recent bad news comes from the earnings (losses, actually) reported by 2 public makers of 3D printers. As reported in the WSJ article 3D Printer Firms Fall Flat , both 3D Systems and Stratasys reported ugly earnings due to "an increasingly uncertain outlook as many potential buyers hold out for what they hope will be better, faster machines."

2015 156

2015 UPS Google 156

On The Job

AUGUST 13, 2015

There’s no shortage of stress these days at work, which is why many workers have turned to yoga, meditation , exercise and even aromatherapy to handle the pressure. But what if we’re making a mistake by trying to look at stress as something to be conquered and suppressed in our lives? What if we thought about pressure as something that can energize and help us, instead of something to be feared?

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2015 Stress Phones 184

Dumb Little Man

AUGUST 28, 2015

“I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one.” ” – Gandhi So you want to try meditation? You’ve heard there are many health benefits: it boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, reduces depression and improves mental focus. Also, your favourite celebrity practices meditation, so it must be useful, right? I know what you’re thinking; ‘That’s OK for some people, but I don’t have time to sit around for 2 hours meditating.’

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2015 Health 188

Practically Perfect PA

AUGUST 21, 2015

What is Canva? Canva is a start-up based in Sydney which aims to make graphics design easier for small businesses and individuals. What does it do? Designing graphics for websites, social media platforms, presentations, and brochures can be a tricky business. It can be expensive to hire a professional and painstakingly difficult to do with inadequate tools and software.

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2015 PowerPoint Social Media Expenses 146

Simple Productivity Blog

AUGUST 14, 2015

I couldn’t write this blog without you, my customers. So to celebrate our relationship, I am having a Customer Appreciation Day. 50% Off Everything In The Shop I have been growing the products over in my shop. Productivity Form Sets I released productivity form sets (both in full-page and half-page sizes) this year. These include […]. The post 2015 Customer Appreciation Day appeared first on Simple Productivity Blog.

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2015 Forms Twitter Facebook 132

Office Dynamics

AUGUST 24, 2015

Must We Multi-task? Maybe It’s Better Not To. After all, multi-tasking is not what it’s all cracked up to be. As I deliver sessions at seminars and conferences throughout North America in every kind of business you can think of, I often encounter people who are pleased, even proud, that they can multi-task. What about you? Do you regularly multi-task, such as reading emails while someone is talking to you on the telephone?

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2015 UPS Project Management Phones 181

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 4, 2015

Life's tough out there for millennials (born 1980 to 2000). And several recent articles have extensive data illustrating this.    The New York Time's article We're Making it Too Hard for Millennials points out: "The most educated generation in history is on track to becoming less prosperous, at least financially, than its predecessors."

2015 155

2015 UPS 155

On The Job

AUGUST 10, 2015

Sooner or later, it happens to everyone. Some people go through it more than once in their careers. You fail to meet expectations. You may not discover that you've failed to meet a boss's expectations until a formal performance review. During the review, she tells you that you've dropped the ball, have not successfully taken on challenges and fallen short of goals. It's a terrible feeling to hear that your boss believes you've failed. But, deep inside, you may admit she's right.

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2015 Google Goals Promotion 183

Dumb Little Man

AUGUST 27, 2015

Do you remember how excited you were when you landed your first job, or your dream job? It may seem like a work of fiction now, a story about someone else, but those were probably among the most giddy and dream-filled days of your life. You were going to storm into your new company and make an impact they could not ignore. You would work nights and weekends on major, inspirational projects, and you would blast your way out of that entry-level job within just a few months.

2015 182

2015 Promotion 182

Practically Perfect PA

AUGUST 19, 2015

Practically Perfect PA is nearly four years old. The blog has come a long way since October 2011 and I’m really excited about what we have planned for the next few months, including Assist Travel and the next Assist Conference. The last few years I have conducted a reader survey that really helped me move the blog forward and I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions again.

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2015 2011 Travel Management 144