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How Good is Your Memory?

At first, you may try remembering all of your usernames and passwords.  But, it will not be long before you have so many that they get all scrambled up in your head.  Thus, you can spend a lot of wasted time trying to remember the right combination.  If the password cannot be sent to your email address, you may even have to set up a new account, which wastes your valuable time and is very frustrating.

Of course, a lot of people implement the infamous sticky note to keep track of their passwords.  It would be great, but there are two major drawbacks. What good does it have to safeguard your private information, if anyone can check out your sticky notes?  Second, what happens if you lose them?

Automation is the Key

Resources for entrepreneurs are meant for increasing productivity and making the job easier.  But, what good is it to have all of these online resources, if you cannot access them immediately?  If you can identify with this time consuming and frustrating dilemma of constantly searching for passwords, then you need Password Manager software that securely stores data in an encrypted form.

As far as software programs are concerned, this is one of the best small business resources available on the market today.  Now, you can let your computer be your memory, increasing productivity and simplifying your outreach to the online world. You can have as many accounts as you need.  It is like having an office manager without having to pay a salary.

If you’re an entrepreneur with an online business, you should always be looking for small business resources and strategies to get more done with less effort, increasing productivity and your profits. 

With great  Password Managers, you will have the ability to:

1.  Manage your login information
2.  Auto fill your forms
3.  Store Information securely
4.  Create a master password
5.  Have secure search engine access
6.  Have passwords set for you
7. Create safenotes (write notes that you can password protect)
8.  Bookmark (save and manage) your favourite websites

With a Password Manager, increasing productivity is easy  because it saves you  the time needed to access and make accounts.  The software will automatically remember your login information, so you no longer have to pause and try to remember how to access an account.  When you have forms to fill out in order to set up a new account, Password Managers can do that for you in the blink of an eye.

Password Managers can also set up a master password that will give you access to all of your accounts without a hassle; and the software will safely and securely store all of your pertinent information. Password Manager software can even generate secure  passwords for you which is absolutely critical to protect your data.  There are several elements  that are necessary to create a secure password – using your personal data is not secure. If you’re not using secure passwords, it’s like locking your door and leaving the key under the doormat.

If you want to simplify how you work, save tons of time and frustration, Password Manager software is one of the best small business resources available. You’ll have an automated assistant to remember all of your vital password details, create secure passwords to protect your data, create new accounts quickly and so much more! A Password Manager is a must-have tool for increasing productivity working online.
 
Copyright, Michele Hanson-O’Reggio. All rights reserved.

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A simple training process that I use is the  5 step PEDAF technique. Educational and learning theory shows that the use of all 5 senses along with spaced repetition, increases the trainee’s understanding and retention. The PEDAF technique reinforces learning by tapping into 3 of our 5 senses.  The reason why many entrepreneurs don’t get the results they want with delegating is because they only do 1 of the 5 steps.

Today, I used the “Demonstrate” component of the technique which reinforces the trainee’s visual sense. It may not be relevant to use this with every task you delegate, but use it as often you can.  Your objective would be to show your Virtual Assistant (VA) what you want the end result to look  like  and/or what steps they need to take to complete a task .

For example, if you need your VA to do paperwork for you, show her what a completed form looks like. Or if you want your website or document to be formatted to look a certain way, show her an example(s) of what you like – make sure that you’re both looking at the same thing.  Today, I created a video  of a task I did on my computer to train my VA on  a new task.  I recorded step by step audio instructions, using Camstudio (a free and easy to use software).

Note that if you hire your Best Fit tm VA, she/he will often know the process to use to accomplish many of your tasks (ie. article marketing, social media marketing). However, there are things that you will want done a specific way – your way, and demonstrating what you want done will ensure success.

This technique is included in my Delegation Success Formula that I teach in my ‘Leverage Your Brilliance Team Building Program’.  If you’d like to  grow your business by leaps and bounds and have more free time with team building,  schedule a Free consultation with me at:
http://www.bizsucccesspartner.com/consultation

Here are some of the benefits of using an online fax service:

* Simple: Send faxes to any fax machine (or virtual fax number) worldwide using the web or email. All you need is Internet access and an email address – no hardware or software required. Receive faxes directly in your existing email inbox.

* Reliable & Mobile: Never miss another fax again. Online faxing is available 24/7 and it goes where you go. Fax by email from work or home. Send wireless faxes from the road using your handheld device. You can access real-time reports online anytime, and receive email notifications of the status of your faxes.

* Saves you money: Online faxing has become one of the cheapest resources for small businesses available today. It eliminates the need for a fax machine, fax supplies, a separate phone line for faxing, and costly maintenance. You can sign up for an online fax service and pay as little as 8 cents per fax. If you go over the monthly contract limit, you’ll still pay only pennies on the dollar.

* Saves you time: Once you send your fax you can forget about it. No more redialing if the fax number is busy. Your online fax service will do that for you. You can send to multiple recipients at one time. Fax confirmations are emailed to you so you don’t have to walk back to the fax machine to wait for confirmations. Also, you can pre-schedule faxes. Schedule them to be sent at a time that is most convenient for the person receiving the fax.

Some other great features include:

* Store your faxes online.
* Fax from multiple email addresses.
* Get a real local or toll free fax number in cities throughout Canada and the United States, sometimes at no additional cost.
* Send a fax to many of your business contacts simultaneously.
* Voice Broadcasting: once you experience the ability to contact all of your customers or business contacts with a single voice call, you will never want to go back to a traditional fax service.

Several online fax companies offer similar services, but at the very minimum, you want to ensure the program you choose:

* Offers 24/7 customer support
* Offers toll free and local fax numbers
* Offers competitive pricing plans
* Offers a NO RISK trial period

So, now you know. Online faxing is one of the most useful resources for small businesses today. Time is money, and online faxing saves both. It’s one of those small business resources that is vital to your entrepreneurial success.

1. Make a specific positive comment.
2. Critique and/or suggestion for improvement.
3. Overall positive comment.

Here’s how I did it.  “VA Name, I can see that you put a lot of hard work and research into this and I really like how you presented the information (positive feedback). However, *all * my instructions for this task were not done – please read my email again (critique which may make her feel a bit deflated). I’m looking forward to seeing your results when you complete all the steps – you’ve always done excellent work for me, thanks!”  (overall positive comment to ensure she remains motivated).

I just hired a new Virtual Assistant to help me with marketing. I already have an experienced VA who does this for me but decided it was best to leverage her expertise for other marketing tasks. I could have hired an experienced VA who can hit the ground running, which is what I recommend to my clients. However, because I used to do article marketing and I evaluated my new VA as an ‘A player’, I decided to invest in training her.

Below is my feedback I emailed to her this morning about her first task. The level of delegated authority I am using as I train her is the lowest level of delegated freedom: ‘wait to be told/ do exactly as I say/follow these instructions precisely is’. Here’s why this feedback will result in a successful outcome :

1. Gives clear, specific details
2. Reinforces what she is doing right, will motivate her
3. Asks for her feedback
4. Reinforces check-ins
5. Improves systems

“Marie, for author resource box, you are correct in entering the default standard version for the GoArticles.com site since we can’t enter a different resource box for each article – great job! However, please note that you should have entered the HTML version since this site accepts html resource boxes.  I forgot to mention to you when we spoke that when opening a new article marketing account, you should look in the Publisher Guidelines to see if there are any specific instructions re submitting articles (apart from those I gave you).  The guidelines for this site said ‘URLs in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks.’  so  you need to enter the HTML version.

Also,  please update the submission process document with this step: “When opening a new article marketing account, check Publisher guidelines first before submitting article, to ensure that we comply.’ And as we discussed, if there are no instructions re html resource boxes, always enter the html version first and if it isn’t accepted ,  use the plain text version.  Enter this information about each site on our article submission report under ‘Comments’ section that we spoke about and use this revised spreadsheet to work from as I’ve entered some comments for you. If you have any questions, as usual, let me know and continue to email me updates daily. We are making great progress, thanks!”

So now, I can move on to other tasks, knowing that my VA has everything she needs to move forward. I don’t need to think about this anymore until I hear from her.

Feedback, feedback, feedback – VERY  important when delegating! It’s one of the key components of my Business My Way Delegation Success Formula tm  that ensures you get the results you want every time.

Delegate your way to success!

Increasing Productivity

1.  Team Building- Build your virtual support team
Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule?  In business, 20% of your business activities yield 80% of the results.  You need to determine which tasks are in your top 20%, and eliminate and/or delegate the rest as a means of increasing productivity and experiencing better time management.  Unfortunately, many small businesses fail or don’t grow to the next level because  they don’t take advantage of small business resources like team building . An excellent way to get started is to work with a Virtual Assistant.

2.  Cultivate marketing relationships
Recruiting affiliates is one of the resources for entrepreneurs to increasing productivity and better time management. Affiliates spend their time promoting your products or services in exchange for a commission on the sale. In addition, find other entrepreneurs with complementary businesses and collaborate on services or developing new products.  You get more breakthroughs and unique perspectives when you are not working on business development alone.

3.  Leverage systems:  Any business can be broken down into two parts — Vision (what do you want) & Systems (how will you get it). Entrepreneurs are usually challenged by the “How will you get it” part and skip this crucial step. Increasing productivity by systemizing your business is one of the critical resources for entrepreneurs.  Systems will save you time, reduce errors, simplify tasks, enhance communication, keep you organized and help remember important things to get done.

4.  Hire a Business Coach or Productivity Expert
A business coach or increasing productivity expert are tremendous resources for entrepreneurs. These professionals will help you make things happen, develop steps to help you reach your goals, and provide you with the necessary support and structure you need to utilize better time management and realize your business goals.

5.   Know your high revenue generating activities
These activities provide valuable payoff in the long run. They are based on your priorities, values and goals, and are the activities you love doing and do best.  In turn, the tasks create immense value for your clients.

Better Time Management
You may have discovered  several ways of increasing productivity, but unless you know the keys to better time management, you may not achieve the results you want. You only have so many hours in a day; so, focus on specific areas consuming your time.

6. Handling Things More Than Once 

Do it, Dump it, or Delegate it! Handle things only once by evaluating every task that comes your way, decide what to do with it, and prioritize your to-do list. Once you’ve started a task, keep at it until it’s done. When you come back to an unfinished task, you need to take extra time to re-familiarize yourself with it and figure out where you left off. Successfully completing a task, no matter how small, gives you a great sense of accomplishment and encourages you to take on other tasks that come your way.

7.  Stop Multi-tasking

Many people try to do more than one task at a time. You kid yourself that you’re getting lots done. But you’re not.  When nothing gets your full attention, errors creep in. In the long run, you end up spending more time undoing those mistakes. Stop trying to do it all at once. By giving your undivided attention to one thing at a time, you’ll be much more productive.

8.  Manage the unexpected
Unexpected or unwanted events occur that demand your time and energy.  Practicing better time management means taking care of disruptions by scheduling time in your day for the unexpected. Give yourself a window of opportunity to face ‘surprise’ issues, and be open-minded about accepting support when needed.

9.  Ruthless time management
Practicing better time management means being ruthless with what you spend your time on and how you spend it. You need to set boundaries; identify the time wasters throughout your workday; schedule blocks of time to work on tasks; make and keep appointments; only do the tasks directly related to your small business goals and spend your time only on what you love and do best.

Ultimately, your goal should be to create work-life balance to ensure you are spending your time and efforts increasing productivity in a way so that you can take time off to rejuvenate and recharge your batteries without compromising your success. Creating a calendar of your ideal workweek is an excellent way to do this.

10.  Slow down to move ahead faster
Take the time needed, by slowing down, to evaluate your options and create a plan for your business goals and lifestyle. Then, design your business accordingly. Not only will this result in increasing productivity, but it is the epitome of better time management.

Now you know some strategies  for increasing productivity, and key aspects of better time management.  I guarantee that if you put this information into practice, you will work smarter and achieve greater success!  

Copyright 2009,  Michele Hanson-O’Reggio. All rights reserved.