What have you learned for 2010?

As 2009 comes to a close and we prepare for the coming year, it’s important to stop for a moment and really evaluate the impact that the past year has had on us as individuals and as a company.

It’s been a tough year. The economy has been slow and a lot of businesses have suffered. As a result, many small business owners aren’t hiring virtual assistants. They’re doing the work themselves or hiring a family member who is out of work to do the job. It’s been a struggle and we’ve had to make quite a few adjustments to compensate for these losses. Luckily being a virtual company has made it a bit easier to tighten our belts and make quick changes in order to stay afloat in these difficult times.

It’s been a good year for us as well. You may be wondering how that’s possible but let me assure you that it is! The slow economy and loss of business has really made us step out of the box and come up with new ideas to attract and retain new clients. It’s caused us to focus more on the retention of our current clients and strategize more with our team.

We’ve also had plenty of time to evaluate our systems internally and ensure that all the basics are being covered. Phones are answered by a live person, emails are responded to immediately, follow up on new leads is occurring consistently 100% of the time.

Our team has decreased in size with only the best people remaining. Our entire team is focused on bottom line results and they’re all working together as a team to achieve those results instead of working against each other and fighting for sales and commissions.

Overall it’s been a very positive year for us. We’ve learned so much and we intend to take what we’ve learned with us into 2010. The economy will improve and we’ll be ready for it.

As we sit down to determine our goals for 2010 we already know that they are within reach because of the foundation of behaviors we’ve laid out in 2009. It’s that very foundation of behaviors that we’ll take with us into 2010 and beyond!

What will you take with you into 2010?

Welcome!!

Surviving the Storm: Creatively Staying Afloat During the Economic Crisis

By Cecile Hairston, Team Double-Click® Staff Writer

Layoffs; cutbacks; 401(k) savings accounts drained as the stock market plummets. The unemployment rate is announced to be at a 16-year high…

It is no wonder that the questions you ask yourself just about every day are, “Am I going to make it?” “Am I going to even have a job next month?” “Will my business be in business next month?” Business owners struggle to keep afloat. Against this backdrop, the daily headlines scream “Bailouts Will Push US into Depression,” “USA 2008: the Great Depression,” “Is the US Headed toward the Second Great Depression?”

Communicating With Your Virtual Assistant: New technologies make it easier than ever

By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click® and VirtualAssistingUSA

One of the most-often asked questions we hear is,

“How do I communicate with my virtual assistant?”

A very valid question but also a very easy one to answer. First, you must remember that your professional virtual assistant is a human being, just like you, and just like someone who may sit in the office right next to you. She has feelings, morals, standards, kids, pets, and a life – just like you.

While I can’t speak for other virtual staffing agencies, at Team Double-Click®, we go to great pains to be sure our clients can communicate directly and openly with their virtual assistants. This ability is vitally important to any business relationship and especially that of a businessperson and his or her assistant. Without that communication, there is no exchange of ideas and tasks.

Putting your virtual assistant to good use…helping you grow your business

By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click® and VirtualAssistingUSA

Want your business to grow? What kind of question is that, right? Of course you do. Unless of course you’re already making all the money you want and have all the free time you need. But then who in business ever has enough of either? That’s right – business owners are ambitious people who are always looking for more, more, more.

Finally, Business Process Outsourcing For The Small- to Mid-Sized Business

By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click® and VirtualAssistingUSA

For years the big guys have known how to cut costs and have known about business process outsourcing or BPO. Now, even small businesses can take advantage of what is essentially business process outsourcing. Virtual assistants are BPO for small businesses! The big guys have been talking about and doing business process outsourcing to save money and grow even bigger for nearly three decades. Isn’t it time your small business gained the same advantages of business process outsourcing by utilizing virtual assistants to their fullest potential?

Virtual Office Assistant = Cost Savings for Small Businesses

By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click® and VirtualAssistingUSA

In today’s economy small businesses are looking for new and innovative ways to cut costs yet still maintain their day to day business activities.

Many small businesses, self-employed individuals, and even large corporations are turning to a virtual office assistant to stay on top of administrative tasks while eliminating the need to fund a full-time staff. As USA Today wrote, “The savings come from being able to concentrate efforts on building the business instead of balancing the checkbook and typing envelopes.”

Setting up your Virtual Office

By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click® and VirtualAssistingUSA

At Team Double-Click®, our clients often ask just how to go about setting up a virtual office – in other words – how does a small but growing business owner avoid renting bricks-and-mortar office space – and with good reason. Even the tiniest of offices “in town” can run several hundred dollars a month. Add to that the cost of the commute (not cheap these days with the cost of gasoline well over $3.00 per gallon in most places), the furniture and computers to furnish that same office, and a full-time assistant (whom you still have to pay even when you don’t have work to keep them busy).

Choosing the Right Paid (or Unpaid) Job Service

By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click® and VirtualAssistingUSA

• Do your homework – be sure the site is not just pulling job postings from other sites and placing them on their own. In this case, you don’t stand much of a chance at winning the business because the client or employer is so bombarded with responses. *Case in point – Team Double-Click® placed ONE job posting and received over 1,000 responses!

How To Use Your Virtual Administrative Assistant

By Gayle Buske, President and CEO, Team Double-Click® and VirtualAssistingUSA

In short, a Virtual Assistant, or VA, can do just about anything a regular employee can do. You just won’t see his or her face every day and the manner in which you send tasks to him or her will vary slightly. Instead of walking paper files into the next office, you can simply attach those same electronic files to an email and hit send. Your virtual assistant will work on those files according to your instructions and return them, mail them, or do whatever else you request with them.