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12 Simple Ways to Enjoy Your Work More

There are plenty of career opportunities for someone who provides virtual assistant services these days. However, many of these jobs and clients require similar sets of skills and tasks. Even when you take on more clients, a lot of your duties will probably be centered on a single skill of yours.  At some point, your work as a virtual employee might seem too repetitive, mundane, unfulfilling or just plain boring.

To avoid being disappointed with your job, you need to be proactive in seeking ways to be happier on the clock. You don’t even have to make any major changes to do it. Here are 12 simple ways to enjoy your work more.

 

• Treat yourself to a healthy, delicious breakfast everyday.

To feel great about the rest of the day, you need to start the day right! Don’t settle for a cup of instant coffee; treat yourself to a hearty and yummy breakfast each day. It is the most important meal of the day after all.

 

• Improve your workspace.

One good thing about working at home is that you get to do whatever you want with your desk or home office, so decorate it and make it your own. Let your personality shine through your workspace and you’ll find yourself becoming more motivated to work.

 

• Set small, achievable goals.

You’ll be stressed if you just have one huge goal to accomplish by the end of the week or month, so break it down into smaller, more achievable goals. This way, it’ll be easier to see your progress.

 

• Reward yourself for a job well done.

Don’t hesitate to reward yourself for doing a great job. Have a spa day, go to a movie, or dine at a fancy restaurant. Do whatever makes you happy and treat yourself.

 

• Help someone.

Helping someone truly makes you feel good about yourself, so don’t be stingy when it comes to offering your assistance.

 

• Find meaning in your work.

Sure, this isn’t really that simple, but it’s very important to find something meaningful about your work. This way, your job won’t just be a job to you but something that you’ll be proud of doing.

 

• Eat something comforting.

Treat yourself to your comfort food every now and then even if it’s something sinful like candy, pizza, or chips. Everything in moderation is totally fine!

 

• Listen to music that makes you feel good.

Boost your mood with a great playlist that never fails to lift your mood and set the tone for a rocking day ahead.

 

• Gamify your work day.

Love earning points for small achievements? Then try to do the same at work. Reward yourself some points for completing something and you’ll feel more inclined to get going.

 

• Go for some mindless humor on the internet.

You can always count on websites like Buzzfeed or Bored Panda to give you access to quick, mindless fun, so take advantage of them. Just don’t spend hours on these sites! Set a timer so you don’t forget to do the rest of your tasks.

 

• Do some window shopping – or real shopping!

During your breaks, do some online window shopping or buy something you’ve got your eye on for weeks. Retail therapy really does wonders when it comes to improving the mood.

 

• Take a nap.

What better way to enjoy your work more than to wake up refreshed from a nice, long nap? Take a nap during break to feel much better and more energized.

As with all things that make you feel good, do everything in moderation so you can stay balanced and focused. Got some happiness-boosting tips of your own? Share them with your fellow VAs by leaving a comment below!

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5 Ways to Set Your Mindset for Success

Whether someone is an intern or a CEO, setting themselves up for success should always be a priority. For virtual assistants or anyone dabbling in online work, the same thing applies. No matter what field you’re in, it certainly pays to shoot for the stars.

Want to aim for success? Whether your goal is to be promoted, have a hoard of clients, or become successful enough to hire a remote office assistant yourself, you need to train yourself to have the right mindset.

Here are 5 ways to set your mindset for success.

 

• Always have a goal.

 

If you want to reach your dreams, it only follows that you need to set your goals first. Without something specific to aim for, it’s practically impossible to move forward. Don’t settle for a goal as arbitrary as wanting to be successful. Have a clear, well-defined goal and set a timeline for achieving it.

Say you’re a content writer VA who wants to have their own content writing company with a pool of writers. First, you need to build a regular client base. Then, you need to ensure that these clients are impressed enough to refer you to their friends. Having specific goals like these will help spur you towards action.

 

• Cultivate a thirst for knowledge.

 

Successful people never stop learning, and neither should you. Just because you’re already an established VA doesn’t mean that you can’t learn anything new or have something more to offer. Don’t limit your knowledge and skills, and be open to new opportunities as you go along. If possible, proactively seek out knowledge by taking on online courses and joining interest groups.

 

• Be excellent at time management.

 

Successful people don’t make excuses when it comes to their goals, and that is largely due to their exceptional time management skills. If you keep on putting things off because you “just don’t have the time right now,” then how can you expect yourself to be motivated enough to follow through on your goals? Learn how to manage your time wisely, and you’ll find it much easier to carve your path towards success.

 

• Be decisive.

 

Leaders, CEOs, and other highly successful people have reached their current status because they made plenty of good decisions. Sure, they probably made a couple of wrong choices along the way, but the important thing is that they actually made a call. Being decisive is a very important trait when it comes to success. If you want to reach your dreams, you have to be prepared to take risks and make big decisions. More importantly, you have to be mature enough to take full responsibility whether your decisions turn out to be fortunate or catastrophic.

 

• Don’t be afraid to fail.

 

Oprah Winfrey was fired from her reporter job before she became THE Oprah Winfrey. J.K. Rowling was rejected several times by many publishers for her initial Harry Potter pitch before going on to become a best-selling author. If these highly successful people didn’t let their failures stop them, then why should you? Remember, failure is just another chance to try anew.

Becoming successful doesn’t happen overnight, so don’t be too hard on yourself if it seems like it’s taking you such a long time as well. Follow the tips above and keep on pursuing your goals. Eventually, you’ll find yourself slowly but surely working your way towards success.

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3 Rookie Work Mistakes to Avoid at All Cost

When people hire a remote office assistant, they often have preconceived notions and expectations about the ability of their virtual secretary or virtual assistant. As the VA, you definitely want to do your best to meet and even exceed your client’s expectations. This is why it’s important for you to make as few mistakes as possible especially during your nesting period in your new job.

To avoid committing preventable mistakes, you need to learn what the most common pitfalls are for a new VA first. Here are 3 rookie work mistakes you need to avoid at all cost.

 

• Not asking questions because you don’t want to seem helpless.

 

It’s normal to want to show off how capable and resourceful you are especially during the first few weeks or months of being in a new job or working for a new client. But when you overdo it, you’re likely to end up doing the wrong thing or missing out on something important because you were too afraid to ask for help or clarification.

While you should definitely avoid asking questions without thinking, you also shouldn’t rely on guesswork when simply asking for help could have solved the issue. To make sure that you’re asking the right questions at the right time, give yourself enough time to research the answer to your questions. If you’ve spent over 30 minutes to an hour and still came up empty handed, it’s time to ask for help.

 

• Not updating your client about what you’ve been doing.

 

You might be thinking that because of how busy your client is, they wouldn’t want to receive email updates about your tasks and responsibilities. However, sending your client regular updates actually saves them time and effort. Instead of calling you to ask how you’ve been doing, they only need to refer to your emails to stay on top of things.

Don’t bombard them with updates for every little thing you’ve finished, but try to send them a daily email telling them about what you’ve accomplished for the day. Aside from keeping them updated about the status of their project/s, a daily update email from you also shows initiative and good communication.

 

• Not saying no to impossible tasks and requests.

 

You should know your limits as a VA. As much as you want to impress your new client, you don’t want to make promises that you can’t deliver. If you’re absolutely sure that what they’re asking for is impossible, then you should tell them that you won’t be able to do it. Pushing yourself too hard and trying to meet impossible demands will just result in poor workmanship, stress, and dissatisfaction with yourself and your job. Don’t worry about coming off as pessimistic. As long as you properly explain why you won’t be able to do something, your client will surely understand.

Whether you’re new to the virtual assistance industry or already have a long list of clients under your belt, taking on a new job always presents a challenge. Don’t forget to avoid the rookie mistakes mentioned above for a smoother, easier nesting period.

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4 Money Saving Hacks for Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, you need to make crucial, if risky, investments to build your business. From finding credible suppliers and fulfillment partners to hiring quality virtual staff, every choice you make influences the progress of your company.

With such huge stakes, you definitely want to go with the best option out there. However,  well-loved premium tools and the best firms and consultants to help you with your business needs often come with exorbitant rates. If you’re not careful, your expenses can rack up and you won’t be able to fulfill your inventory or other daily business essentials.

It’s time you take a closer look at your expenses and brush up on your financial skills. What better way to do that than by learning these 4 money saving hacks for entrepreneurs?

1.       Take advantage of free tools.

A great perk of starting an online business today is the wide array of free marketing and business tools available. Why pay recurring monthly fees when you can get the job done without spending a cent?

Here are just a few business tools that you can use for free:

 

• MailChimp – get your own company email and grow your email list to up to 2,000 subscribers to get the free service.
• Nelio AB Testing – for AB Testing experiments creation, management, and monitoring.
• HubSpot CRM – all-in-one platform where you can manage and track your sales and marketing processes.

 

2.       Streamline your inventory.

Amazon Marketplace and other sales channels make it tempting to sell different products at once. With such a diverse selection of categories and a wide audience exposure to offer, it’s easy to go overboard and sell different products at once.

 

This approach can actually harm your business. From a business and marketing standpoint, it’s more practical to find a specific niche and start from there. Once you gain traction selling from a specific category, you can gradually branch out by offering complementing items.

 

3.       Find alternative storage partners.

If you’re a Fulfillment by Amazon partner, you know how that monthly charges can easily eat up your funds – even if you’re offering the best-selling products on Amazon. With Amazon’s storage fee hike, it’s probably time for you to look into alternative storage partners.

 

Here are some fulfillment and storage companies you can partner with:

 

• ShipBob – can be used with Amazon, Shopify, Bigcommerce, eBay, and Magento. Offers warehousing, customized packaging, and international shipping. ShipBob doesn’t require a minimum amount or contract to use their service.
• Fulfillment Companies –  offers free fulfillment service guide. Has more than 12 years of research experience connecting vendors with the best fulfillment firms for their specific products and business requirements.
• Red Stag – offers a risk-free trial process for 30 days. Red Stag’s services include order pick-up, packaging, shipment, and storage. The company is also known for adeptly handling oversized, fragile, and heavy products.

 

4.       Don’t hesitate to get help.

As a business owner, it’s natural to want to shoulder most responsibilities in your company. However, failure to outsource specialized tasks will often result in substandard work that you either have to redo or revamp, thereby costing you more time and money.

 

From doing your taxes to designing your website, outsourcing high-impact and specialized tasks to experts will save you a ton of money in the long run.

 

Managing a business is one of the most fulfilling endeavors you can experience, but it comes with a literal price. Luckily, you can keep it to a bare minimum now that you’ve learned these 4 money saving hacks for entrepreneurs.

 

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How to Fund Your Growing Product Business

One of the most vital things to pay to attention to when learning how to start a small business is finding a sustainable growth strategy. After you’ve launched your products, your efforts should be focused on how to get your business beyond sustainability and into an actual profitable and continuously expanding business.

There are many reasons to want to scale up your company. Perhaps your online business marketing tactics have gained traction and you need to expand your virtual staff to accommodate mounting orders and inquiries. Maybe you have introduced a new product line or bundled up your best-selling items. Now, more people have taken interest and you need to work on a bigger inventory.

Wanting to grow your business is easy, but when you’re actually thinking about funding the expansion, it gets daunting. Don’t banks impose strict rules and require difficult requirements? Don’t loan institutions take hefty amounts of interest and collateral?

The good news is that you don’t need to be at the mercy of these financing options. There are other funding options out there. Learn the pros and cons of each one so you can make a well-informed decision.

Here’s how to fund your growing product business:

1.       Work in Progress (WIP) Funding

WIP or Work in Progress is a financing option that takes a riskier position to support a company’s inventory production. Leland Capital Advisors and WIP-Funding are two companies that offer this kind of eCommerce support to entrepreneurs.

PROs:

Fast application and approval is expected. Work in Progress firms understand the time constraints involved in inventory production, so loan acquisition is quick. Entrepreneurs can also expect financing support from WIP institutions after establishing a working relationship with them.

CONS:

Because they take higher risks, WIP financiers often come with higher charges compared to alternative funders. They are also invested in a company’s growth so they require firm guarantees from the business owner.

2.       Equity Finance

The philosophy behind Equity Finance is simple: you sell a portion of your company to get cash infusion, which you use to fund inventory production and existing operations. Equity Finance firms such as Circle Up and 500 Startups are institutions that invest in such projects.

PROs:

You get the chance to work with strategic and experienced investors. Because you’re collaborating with people who are invested in your growth, you can expect a deeper level of commitment to your business.

CONs:

Equity financing works only one time. That is, if you want to take advantage of this funding method again, you need to share another portion of your company. Valuations are normally low, so if you want to get bigger funds, you also need to give up bigger company shares.

3.       Merchant Cash Advance

Technically, Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) is not a loan but an advanced and discounted purchase of your expected revenue. On Deck and Kabbage are firms that purchase a portion of a company’s future revenue to finance current inventory production.

PROs:

Quick approval process – most Merchant Cash Advance providers shell out funds within 48 hours of application. The qualification requirements are also more relaxed compared to other financiers.

CONs:

Steeper payment terms. Some MCA providers may go after your assets as guarantee for payment and so influence your personal credit.

You’ve worked on improving your product quality and now see the fruits of your labor through a surge in inventory production. Luckily, you’ve learned three alternative ways to fund your growing product business.

 

 

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