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Administrative Professionals Week
By Janice D. Byer, CCVA, MVA, Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services

Since 1952, the last full week of April has been designated Administrative Professionals Week (formerly called Secretaries Week) by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (http://www.iaap-hq.org/), with the Wednesday of that week being the official Administrative Professionals Day.

Traditionally, bosses use this time to show their appreciation to their assistants for all of their hard work throughout the year.

To help bosses along (apart from giving the usual flowers and candy) we contacted several administrative assistants who were more than willing to give us some suggestion for bosses to show their appreciation. Each business relationship is different so you may want to talk to your assistant first, but here are some of the ideas that they came up with:

" Take her/him out for a nice, long lunch at a local fine restaurant
" Provide a morning at a local spa
" Give a gift certificate for a dinner for two or an evening at a hotel or resort.
" Arrange for the afternoon off to go shopping and throw in a little spending money
" Provide a long distance calling card
" Arrange for a housekeeper for the day
" Book & pay to have the car tuned up and spring cleaned
" Present a plaque for her/his years of valued work
" Provide a family pass to the movies and plenty of popcorn money
" Arrange to have her/his carpets cleaned or yard prepared for the coming season
" Arrange for groceries to be paid for and delivered
" Find out who is her/his favorite author and buy their latest book
" Offer a three hour lunch…..better yet…..THE DAY OFF!
" Outsource some of his/her work to an off-site administrative assistant

Don't forget that this isn't the only time of year you should show your appreciation to your assistant. Ensure that you make them feel valued throughout the year. You'd be amazed at how far a 'thank you' or kind word can go.

Now, if you are an entrepreneur without an assistant, don't let this day go by without patting yourself on the back for handling all of the administrative tasks. Why not outsource some of your work to a Virtual Assistant and give yourself back some personal or revenue generating time.

If you are a Virtual Assistant, feel free to pass on this information in your newsletter or on your website to help inform your clients and readers of this special event.

Janice Byer, owner of Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net) provides professional, creative and affordable virtual office assistance, small business website design, and website hosting. She is a Certified Canadian Virtual Assistant (CCVA), Master Virtual Assistant (MVA) and co-founder of the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection (www.CVAC.ca). She is also the author of many Business Building Ebooks at http://www.docutype.net/business_ebooks.htm.

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IAVOA Corner - Tutorials
By Clara Fyffe

You know, as a small business owner, I look for the least expensive yet high quality equipment, software, supplies, etc, for my office. And if I can find free tutorials on the 'net to help me learn how to use what I buy - especially software - I'll try to find time to practice them, as well.

Now, I've searched for, found, and tried lots of free tutorials, and most of them have been pretty good. It doesn't matter what software you need help with, there are tutorials on the 'net for every one of them!

I've noticed over the years that a few VAs, usually the newbies, write in to the group asking questions about an assortment of software applications. I do it, too, when I can't find an answer or if my question is urgent.

Many of the questions they are asking are with regard to Microsoft products. I want to remind all of us that Microsoft's own website, www.microsoft.com, has an extensive and excellent set of tutorials for all its software products. These tutorials are completely free and interactive. The explanatory portions of the tutorials are audio so that you can listen while you follow along with the diagrams and graphics. Then you are given a "hands on" lesson to do by yourself. When you're finished, you then have a short quiz to test your knowledge. If you still don't quite understand, you may re-take the lesson over and over until you do.

Microsoft also has an extensive Knowledge Base where you can type in your specific question, hit enter, and then are given an assortment of responses from which to choose the best answer to your question.
Again, the Internet provides hundreds of free tutorials on just about any topic. Just type "free tutorials for [whatever software you need]" and you'll be surprised by how many sites will pop up. Many of the free sites are developed by individuals who have become experts with the software and simply want to help others learn better so that they can enjoy that software program, too.

Sometimes I'll come across tutorials sites that aren't completely free, but the content is so extensive and well done that the minimal cost is worth it. I want to mention two of those sites in particular that I think are well worth becoming a paid member.

These sister sites are www.intelligentedu.com and www.educationonlineforcomputers.com. Some long names, huh? Each of these sites serves a different purpose. Let me first clearly state, though, that both these sites contain hundreds of free tutorials that you may use at no cost whatsoever. You are free to search the sites for classes of interest to you and pay nothing.

The main reason for considering becoming a paid member on these sites is that the courses are a little more in depth, and you can become certified after successfully completing a course. Updating the sites with new tutorial content and maintaining the quality of these sites are also paid for with the Membership fees.

Before I fill you in on each site's content, let me give you the Membership Fee Schedule for the sites, each being nearly the same. For IntelligentEdu, you have the choice of four Membership options: 2 months - $15, 4 months - $25, 6 months - $34, and 1 year - $59. The rates for EducationOnlineForComputers is only $14 for 2 months.
When I opened these sites, I was nearly as breathless as a little kid on Christmas morning! There were so many "gifts" to open! I guess I'm an old computer geek 'cause I get as excited about computer stuff as most women do with their designer jeans!

EducationOnlineForComputers offers a great selection of computer software and office applications tutorials. Some of the tutorials in these areas are: Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, FrontPage, Publisher, Photoshop, Visio, Dreamweaver, Flash, Web Development, and more. Remember, each title has more than one tutorial, carefully gathered from across the web. The Members Only area includes much more in depth training on the above-mentioned titles as well as QuickBooks, Quicken, WinZip, Lotus Notes, and so many more.

With IntelligentEdu, the tutorial offerings are more on the "behind the scenes" department. This site provides you with specialized training in these areas: Basic Computer Training, Software Programming, Web Development & Programming, Graphic Design, Computer Animation, Networking, Database Management, and more. The Members Only area on this site offers more than 2,000 high quality, in depth courses. You can learn such programs as Java, Linux, Flash, C++, and then earn your MCSE, CompTIA, or DBA certifications.

I hope you will all visit these sites and just cruise around to see all these sites hold in store for you. I don't know about you, but I'm going to put my fingertips to the keys and have a ball!

~ Clara Fyffe

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Outlook Productivity Tips: Task Regeneration & On the fly To-Do Lists
by Andrea Kalli

I'm going to show you a simple, yet effective way to remind yourself of recurring tasks. Right about now you might be saying to yourself "but I already know how to set up recurring tasks". While this might be true, I'm going to show you about the task regeneration feature. I really like this feature because, well let's face it, sometimes we don't always do the task we are reminding ourselves about. Task regeneration allows us the dignity of catching up without dealing with a multitude of task reminders that have backed up. It simply creates a new future task once we have finally completed the current task at hand. I know, this sounds a bit confusing. To see this process in action take a look at the video.

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Create On-the-fly To Do list with incoming emails, then use Search folders to work your flagged emails While normally I would recommend dragging an email to your task folder to create a new task, more and more I hear about people dragging emails to mail subfolders to separate out the emails they need to work on. One way to simplify this is by utilizing color flags on emails you receive in your inbox and need to do something with. Let's say you have 4 different departments sending you emails every day asking to perform some sort of task. By right-clicking on the email you can select any one of 6 different colored flags, which could mean different departments or different importance levels, you choose what works for you. Then by viewing the Search folder For Follow Up you can easily identify and work your to-do list. When you are done with one simply check-off the email as done by clicking on the flag. This action removes the email from the Search folder, but it's still in your inbox so you can reply to the sender letting them know you've completed their request.

Click here to view Andrea's helpful videos from these tips!
Andrea Kali is a virtual Trainer and virtual Assistant. Visit her website at virtualassist.net

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Editor's Corner
by Kathy Ritchie

Encarta: Secretary: (Noun) 1. Clerical worker: somebody who does general clerical and administrative work such as word-processing, filing, and arranging appointments for an individual or an organization.

Roget's Superthesaurus: Alternative words to Secretary: Office Worker, Typist, Word processor, receptionist, filer, stenographer, bookkeeper, *gal Friday, *desk jockey.

Alternatives for Office Worker: Desk jockey, pencil driver, bean counter, number cruncher, hacker, secretary, receptionist… well you get the idea.

Also from Encarta: 'Early Women Workers': In Babylonia, about 2000 BC, women were permitted to engage in business and to work as scribes (Scribe: Noun, a public clerk, professional copyist of manuscripts, writer or journalist, American Heritage Dictionary Third Edition (1994), P. 736).

It's interesting to see how far the profession has come from its earliest times. Just in the last century the title of 'secretary' has undergone numerous name changes. First, there were secretaries, then to administrative assistants, personal assistants, and now, virtual assistants.

At the risk of starting the virtual 'war of the world', aren't we all assistants of some sort? I like being called a secretary. Of course, I'm a techno-gadget-sooped-up-cyber-secretary… However, bottom line, I am still a secretary. "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

It doesn't matter that my office is home-based. It didn't matter almost 11 years ago when I started with one client, that my office was home-based. Cottage industries were the birthplace of entrepreneurship. Cottage Industries were businesses, mostly non-factory, which were operated from the owner's homes. Being a home-based worker, I'm very proud to be a part of a growing Cottage Industry society, in which more and more home-based businesses are started.

Credibility doesn't necessarily come from a storefront office or gold plated nameplates. Credibility comes from doing the job right, and being of great assistance to our clients. Credibility comes from exercising the highest possible quality of work, and the highest ethical conduct we can. Just because my office is located in my home, doesn't make me less credible. If your clients aren't satisfied and are leaving, and your business isn't growing, then it won't matter where you ran your business, because you'll be out of business.

Having said this, if you run a business from an office other than in your home, more power to you! I maintain that the single most important aspect of this profession is that we have a choice of how to run it. We can choose to take work or pass it on. We can choose to specialize or be a one-stop-shop.

I believe in our industry, Virtual Assistance is certainly gaining momentum as we grow. The more we educate the public as to the benefits of virtual assistance the more we all benefit.

Best wishes on a Great Administrative Professionals Day.
~Kathy Ritchie

Is your disorganization Costing you Money?
by Cheryl Callighan, MVA/Mentor/Coach E-Office Assistants

According to the Wall Street Journal (March '97) the average U.S. executive wastes approximately 5 hours per week searching for misplaced information. At an annual salary of $60,000 that equals a loss of $8,000 per year! Can you afford to be disorganized?

Is your office efficient, organized and productive? Or is your office in a state of chaos and confusion? There are four key areas that you can make immediate improvements in that will take your business up a notch in efficiency and productivity.

Time Management
Time management is not about working faster; it's about prioritizing your tasks and spending the majority of your time working on the right things. Develop a time management system so you'll know where to start and won't be running in circles.

First, you need to be able to recognize the different between important and urgent.

Important tasks have long-term significance. Urgent tasks need crisis intervention but are not necessarily important in the long-term.
To increase your productivity and decrease the chaos turn the following five strategies into habits!

Set priorities. Write down specific goals. All of your goals should be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Tangible.

Be specific about what you want, when you want it and what steps you will take to achieve the goal. Break each goal down into manageable steps and specific tasks.

Make a to-do list. Limit your list to 6 items or less. If your list is too long you will feel defeated before you start. Prioritize the items on your to-do list and expect to devote 80% of your time and energy to the important tasks. Remind yourself that there will be days when urgent tasks dominate and you will likely get nothing completed on your to-do list.

Eliminate distractions. Be aware of your distractions and learn to filter them out. People, phone calls, clutter, emails, surfing the Internet, all can eat an entire workday. Take care of any details before you sit down or start on a project and remember the important versus urgent rule.

Schedule time to plan. Develop the habit of planning for tomorrow the night before. At the end of your workday clean up the clutter, put the files away, and create your to-do list by bringing forward any leftover tasks. Mentally prepare for tomorrow's workday.
Set Up a Filing System
Each business has its own filing needs and each business owner has their own work style. Develop a system that is appropriate for both needs. The goal is to find a document or piece of information in 30 seconds or less.

Your system should be able to manage working files as well as permanent files. The permanent files need to be labeled with a specific retrieval system in mind, either by category, alphabetical, numerical or whatever is appropriate for your needs. Be sure to choose filing cabinets that will accommodate your files as well as storage needs for special items such as photographs or large volume files.

A perfect filing system will only serve you if it is maintained on a regular basis. Schedule time every week to manage your files, both paper and electronic. Strive to create a habit of handling a document only once. Deal with the document when you receive it then file it right away. The same principle can be applied to managing your email.

A Bookkeeping System
Efficient bookkeeping practices are essential for a number of reasons. You will need exact numbers for your financial statements when applying for business credit or business loans. You will pay less tax when you track all of your business expenses and deductions. With accurate records you will be able to forecast your business' trends and have accurate information when you decide to sell your business and determine the highest possible value.

Clutter Control
How can you sit at your desk with the remains of yesterday's lunch, newspapers, files and piles of paper and know where to begin? It's not only distracting but very expensive when you consider the time you will waste clearing and cleaning, not working.

Set up your desk so there is a specific place for everything. Working files need to be accessible, not piled or scattered. Use a business card file or Rolodex or electronic equivalent for contact management. Set up and schedule time to maintain your contact management system. Don't let your office become a dumping ground. Sort your mail over your waste basket or shredder. Eliminate junk before it becomes clutter.

The health of your business is directly related to the organization of your office. With an organized and efficient office you will be more productive with your time and less stressed overall. You will be proud to meet and consult with your clients in your office because it will reflect your high level of professionalism and smoothly run operation.

© 2007 Cheryl K. Callighan, MVA/Coach and owner of the University of Virtual Assistants (www.uofvas.com) , has more than 30 years of executive administration and 17 years as the owner of eOffice-Virtual Assistants LLC (www.eoffice-virtualassist.com). Contact Cheryl@uofvas.com or Cheryl@eoffice-virtualassist.com.