Wednesday 20 May 2009

The Perfect PA is Flexible, Hard-Working and Invisible!

As PCs make us all more self-sufficient, few small businesses seem to need the full-time help of a Personal Assistant or administrator. But what happens at those times when there's just too much work, or a special project requires dedicated help? - A virtual PA or remote assistant is what is needed!

Virtual PAs can work outside regular office hours, provide fast turn-arounds and when time is short, it's possible to have a whole team of people working on a project. The team at The Away PA offers an impressive and broad range of business skills: database management, internet research, editing and proof-reading, mail merge, general secretarial support, travel planning, and more. We can also assist with multimedia presentations (see our own fun promotional presentation on YouTube) , desktop publishing, web page design, and design for print work, and even the development of a full corporate identity.


A virtual PA is especially useful in times of need but it's also possible, of course, to employ one on a regular basis to deal with mundane administrative tasks that might otherwise waste valuable business time. Regular mailings, database management, web maintenance, invoicing - any of the dull, repetitive tasks that eat into workaday productivity can be safely outsourced.

To find out more visit: http://www.theawaypa.eu
or email: info@theawaypa.eu or telephone 08450 527565

The Away PA provides an "on demand" secretarial and business support service in conjunction with it's online office "Head Office". To find out more about how you can take advantage of a fully supported office, anywhere, any time, visit the Head Office website or The Away PA Website or email info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu
or telephone 08450 527565.

Tuesday 12 May 2009

Engage a Virtual Assistant / Off Site PA

You probably are a sole trader or an entrepreneur who started a small business sometime back. However, being on top of your game you have been growing consistently and growing fast. A typical problem that arises in such situations is that your focus now gets divided. In the initial stages, due to limited exposure and work, you could handle all the functions single-handedly or in-house. With the business expanding, the non-core functions start sapping away a lot of your time and energy distracting you from expanding your business - which should always be your prime objective.

The dilemma that many small and medium businesses face at this point is whether to employ an administrative assistant or secretary. You may not have the financial resources to afford one, especially given that as a full time employee you will have to pay a salary plus taxes, etc., but at the same time, you know that you cannot carry on without some help to deal with your administrative work. In such cases a Virtual Assistant, or off site PA is your best option.

Virtual assistants are resources that you can exploit online and who can help you with a lot of your routine work. They can be a substitute for an on site personal secretary. Virtual assistants are equipped to handle your appointments, schedule meetings, manage your calendar, sort your emails, filter out spams, send out notices, advertisements, brochures, and deal with general correspondence. In short, they can handle all the less important jobs on your behalf professionally and leave you to take care of the important ones. Imagine the time that you can save with such services and the time and energy you can dedicate to your core business.

Another excellent advantage with VAs is the payments. You can either hire a VA on a monthly subscription plan or pay for a one-off project by the hour - the key is you only pay for actual time spent, and VAs will utilise specialised software to record this time and can provide detailed time log summaries to support their charges.

Lastly, VAs are highly professional and organised, who usually have worked for some years at senior level in their career and specialise in providing such services. Reputable and highly rated VAs would have a track record of successful client engagements and good knowledge of their duties. They would also employ the best practices in the business giving you the optimum service. So what are you waiting for? Go look for a VA, and save hours from outsourcing your trivial work!

For more information about VA services, visit: http://www.theawaypa.eu or email: info@theawaypa.eu, or telephone 08450 527565.

The Away PA provides an "on demand" secretarial and business support service in conjunction with it's online office "Head Office". To find out more about how you can take advantage of a fully supported office, anywhere, any time, visit the Head Office website or The Away PA Website or email info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu
or telephone 08450 527565.

Sunday 10 May 2009

Why are you doing everything yourself?

Owning your own business requires wearing a lot of hats. But it seems that when many people leave their jobs to "go solo", they think they must work completely solo as well. They insist on doing everything themselves - even tasks that perhaps they know they're not really very good at.
They try in vain to design websites and brochures, write copy or manage mailing lists and personally respond to every call or mailing. Pretty soon, they find themselves running around like the proverbial "headless chicken".

What eventually happens is that their love for their work - the reason they started their own business in the first place - drowns in a flood of administrative trivia. Freelance PAs, Virtual Assistants, or self-employed Girl-Fridays - whatever you want to call them - can take care of all that "busy work" for you. What could you delegate?

Try keeping a log of all your activities for the next week or so, then sit down for a thorough review and decide which activities are TRULY ones that only you can do. As for the rest.......

Here are some examples of what a remote assistant (virtual assistant) could do to help you:
  • Respond to customer emails and make follow up calls
  • Schedule business appointments, interviews, travel
  • Keep your book-keeping up to date, reconciling banks statements, paying bills, tracking expenses, etc
  • Internet research
  • Organise seminars / speaking engagements / handle registrations
  • Create sales reports
  • Write blogs and other articles
  • Design powerpoint presentations
  • Personal stuff such as researching holiday destinations, purchasing gifts, organising workmen.
You'll have more free time to focus on marketing and growing your business, developing product ideas and income streams. You'll think much bigger and have much more creative energy. So what are you waiting for?

To find out what kind of projects can be completed by a virtual assistant in just one hour, visit: http://www.theawaypa.eu/one_hour_projects.htm

Thursday 7 May 2009

Cloud Computing - IT Modernisation and Lower IT Costs

Cloud computing is a great solution for small to mid size companies. Cloud Computing, otherwise known as hosted services, web services, Software as a Service (SaaS) and managed services, allows IT modernisation and scalability, and access to enterprise class systems. There is no better time to look at cloud computing services to save IT costs, enhance business services through technology and gain a market edge. Read more ...

Head Office is a an affordable hosted internet office and is a good substitute for a traditionally networked Microsoft Exchange environment.

To find out more about software as a service and the Head Office internet office solution, visit: http://www.head-office.net, or email info@head-office.net or telephone 08450 527565