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| www.itsvirtuallydone.com |
An ezine of invaluable business tips for independent business professionals.
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In
This Issue: Welcome
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I've shared
with you before how fitness is important to me. I've had a great
week of varied and fun workouts: You might be chalking this up to January madness, but I lift weights and dance tap all year round. I take tennis lessons every year at this time. My secret? Pay money. If I sign up and pay for something, you can count on me using it. Guess who benefits? Everybody. |
Character
cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of
trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired,
and success achieved. |
When Trouble Strikes the One Person Office
Last month I found myself dealing with a family crisis, a very ill family pet who needed round the clock care. Sleep was hard to come by, emotions ran high, and it was difficult to find the time and focus to concentrate on client work. It got me thinking, what happens when you're a one person office and you find yourself unable to fulfill your client obligations?
I've thought of several possible prearranged scenarios to offset trouble hitting the one person office. Let's take them one at a time:
Cross train with back-up staff
In my VA training, we were taught to explore having a back up person for our practice, someone who can take our place in emergencies. Whereas this is a great idea conceptually, except for the most rudimentary tasks, it would be difficult and time consuming to implement.
Expand your business with employees or subcontractors
Growing one's business is an excellent way to provide coverage during emergencies. But taking your business to the next level needs careful consideration and shouldn't be decided solely as a way to offset possible emergencies.
Don't let clients get too dependent on you
VAs establish their own boundaries between themselves and their clients: some give their clients their home and cell numbers and are available 24x7; others set strict hours of availability and take long preplanned vacations with no interruptions. Small business owners must strike a balance that suits themselves and their customers while weighing the full consequences.
Do nothing
Everyone knows that emergencies happen and people can be very understanding to a point. If a client is left in the lurch too often though, they may need to find another provider. In the future, the client may look for a service provider with more resources and back up plans.
Establish an understanding before working together
Alternatively, we can educate clients during the interview process about the characteristics of the client-provider relationship. By discussing the fact that you're a one person office and that occasionally in emergency situations there will be a disruption of service, you can get a sense of whether or not this is acceptable. It's useful to talk about the "what ifs" in any case because it will serve the client and the provider well.
Which approach works best for you?
Contact Management Program
I use Act! contact management program. When I want to produce envelopes, I just select a few names and print them off: no typing up the addresses. I've even initiated mail merges from Act that seamlessly works with Word. Does this sound like something that would help your business run more efficiently?
For more information, please contact me at: kristy@itsvirtuallydone.com.
Will Rogers
Quick tip: Microsoft Templates
Need an invoice created
in Word or Excel? How about a mileage chart or an event flyer? Don't reinvent
the wheel. Instead, check out Microsoft Office online templates. They
have hundreds of the best templates that people have submitted. Users
rate them too so that you know if they are even worthy of clicking on.
Here's the link to keep handy:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx
Upcoming articles
Next month look for
the following topics:
--Get the publicity
that you deserve
--Quick Tip: Web decal for your car
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Kristy
Schnabel, |
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