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I took my second one-on-one Mac class at the Stamford Town Center Apple Store last Friday at 8am, before the mall even opened. I love that! I didn’t get caught in the middle of rush hour traffic, I didn’t have to hunt for a parking space and there wasn’t much activity in the store. I could concentrate on my lesson better than the afternoon session I’d gone to two weeks before when it was noisy and crowded.
I learned two very cool things that I hadn’t figured out on my own–how to download a photo without going into my picturetrail.com collection (6 steps) and how to download video into i-movie, edit it, bring it into youtube.com and upload it onto my blog. Years ago, this would have been a semester-long course.
I had a staff member click this image of my hair stylist, Donna Lysobey of Noble Salon, and me before Donna fixed me up for my new headshot. You’ll see the afters as soon as I get the proofs back from Kate Eisemann. Deryll, my one-to-one instructor walked me through the uploading steps. Voila!
One thing I know for sure is that I want to work with professionals when it comes to my image. I’ve got Scarlett Debease of Scarlett New York styling my wardrobe and Donna to do my hair and makeup for the photo shoot. That helped me to relax and look my best when smiling for the camera.
Last month I received the NEWBO Woman of Distinction Award. Right before the awards presentation portion of the meeting, I handed my digital camera to Don, my client Jill’s significant other, and said, “Could you record this?” I didn’t even know how to instruct him to zoom in, but he did a valiant job. Deryll taught me how to zoom in while uploading this to youtube, so the quality isn’t perfect. I’m most pleased with the audience’s reaction. I’d love you to watch this first minute and let me know if it translates.
Every year at this time my accountant asks me who I paid more than $600 to over the course of the year. Every year I cross my fingers and hope that I had already created a list with each of their names, addresses, and Social Security #’s (or EIN’s). And each year I search in vain for that list.
But a week ago I bit the bullet and created a spreadsheet to carry me through this tax season and forward. I looked through my Quicken records and came up with my list. Then I went through my database and got their addresses. In a few cases, and I congratulated myself here, I had recorded their SSN or EIN. I still have some calls to make for that info. But I will now have it forEVER moving forward.
Even though it was tedious and time-consuming, the thrill at the end came from seeing the great team I have working for me. I’m grateful I don’t carry a payroll of employees, but am delighted to share my list of subcontractors who keep me totally professional:
- Steve – Webmaster
- Valerie – Virtual Assistant
- Jennifer – Writer
- Farah – Graphic Designer
- Sean – Computer Guru
- Michele – Coach
- Tonya – Marketing
- Lena – Blog Maven
- Laura – PR
- Louise – Writer
Thanks, Team!
I’m often asked what kinds of tasks I delegate to my Virtual Assistant (VA), Valerie. Clients and colleagues want to know exactly how a VA might save them time and money. I’ve long been an advocate of delegating any task that I can pay someone else to do while I spend my time doing the work that only I can do. So, here are a few of the items I recently took off of my desk and put onto Valerie’s:
~Send out email reminders to my current Mastermind Group participants letting them know what goals they need to be accountable for in our upcoming sessions.
~Handle all registrations and inquiries for upcoming day-long goals workshop
~Create a spreadsheet with contact information for attendees of the workshop
~Continuously pass on information to inquiring members of ASID who’ve seen my CEU (continuing education units) seminar on the ASID home page and want to know how to find out more about my course
~Update flyers for my fall Mastermind Group sessions
and more…
Valerie, who is adept at administrative details, can handle these jobs swiftly and efficiently. I tend to get sidetracked when I’m doing this kind of busy work, so it takes me longer than it should and distracts me from the work that is income-producing. The mantra here is stay productive, not just busy.
Looking for a VA? In addition to word-of-mouth referrals, try assistu.com.
It may be possible to divide the world into those who do and don’t believe in The Secret. Starting with my marriage, we fall into the two different camps. I believe that if you can conceive and believe it–it being anything you want in your life, you can achieve it. Thank you, Earl Nightingale.
My husband sits squarely on the non-believing side. However, he does hear me out every once in a while. I’ve explained the concept of carrying around your goals, in writing, with you on a daily basis. That act alone has made enormous differences for me personally as I continue to meet my goals.
So this morning, after having had many frustrating outings on the golf course, he asked me again about this “thing” I do. I said, “Why don’t you write on a piece of paper, ‘I am a scratch golfer.’ and carry it around for the next 30 days?”
Clearly that was not going to happen. He said, “Why don’t you carry it around for me?!”
It doesn’t work that way.
I believe that doing the work of fulfilling your life’s goals and purpose is a radical act filled with scary moments–What if I actually get what I want?! He didn’t pursue the conversation any further.
Being aware of The Secret, for me, it’s the only way.
This lesson from my book, Soul Proprietor is: Getting advice from an expert is critical. You’ll save time and money.
Clients and colleagues have been telling me for months now that it’s time to start a blog. “It’s so easy. You can set your own up in an hour, really!” they said. Somehow I never found that hour.
But, I trust the wisdom of my friends and supporters and was fortunate enough to get a referral to an expert, Lena West who had recently spoken at EWN (Entrepreneurial Woman’s Network – Norwalk, CT). After a couple of introductory discussions I became clear, motivated, and willing to take on this new communication. Yes, it costs money for this expertise, but I always ask myself, what is the cost of not doing it and how many coaching hours would it take for me to figure it all out on my own.
Lena walked me through the process, got my blog up and running on my site, and is there to answer questions as they arise. Without her help, and my trusted webmaster Steve White, I’d still be promising to get started. Now I have.
Welcome to my blog!
