Affinity Virtual Assistance LLC

Thud!…There it goes

speel — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:00:39 +0000

It’s Friday and it’s been a week full of client meetings. You’re so exhausted you can’t even remember where you’ve been. Your recliner beckons, but suddenly, it hits you…you forgot to book flights to that meeting on Monday. Thud!…there it goes…that sinking stone in your gut when you realize that you’ll be paying exorbitantly high fares and that you won’t be giving into your recliner. Instead, you’ll be trying to figure out which of the less than desirable flights left with open seats will get you where you need to be and on time.

In my experience with business coaches and corporate executives, this scenario or others closely similar happen quite frequently. Business owners simply can’t remember everything…and they really need to focus on what makes them great…the help they give to their clients.

Having a trusted and detail-oriented Virtual Assistant (VA) who knows your travel preferences is your best defense against missing out on those advance booking discounts and the best flight options. However, if retaining a VA isn’t in your business plan right now, there are some techniques that can help.

OPTION ONE – Use a competent local travel agency. As soon as you know where you need to be and when, call them immediately with your details and requirements and then let them do the work for you. Nothing to remember. Your e-ticket and travel itinerary will arrive in your email for printing out and the fees will go directly to your business credit card. Done. Done.

The perception use to be that using on-line travel aggregators, like Travelocity.com; Kayak.com and others, was the most economical way to book your flights. This isn’t as true anymore. If you travel frequently, I highly recommend using a competent travel agent for a variety of reasons:

Online travel prices are not much less now, if any, than booking through an agency. In fact, I’ve actually had a couple of occasion where the online price was significantly higher than the agency price. More and more travel agencies now automatically compare the pricing they receive from the airlines against the airline’s internet specials and booking accordingly to ensure they are providing the best price.
A reputable agency will charge a reasonable flat fee to book your complete itinerary – flights, hotel, and rental car. If you change or cancel your flights, there may be an additional handling fee. To give you an idea of costs, the agency I currently use for my clients only charges $32.00 per trip. What a low cost trade-off for the time and sanity saved by not having to do the research and comparisons yourself!
If you run into trouble or have questions afterhours, good agencies offer toll-free domestic and international phone numbers to put you in touch with an actual agent at no additional charge. You will want to shop for an agency that doesn’t charge extra for their afterhours service. If you’re flight is cancelled or delayed, a quick call to your agent can get you rebooked in less time than standing in a long airport line of frustrated travelers and harried counter personnel. Who will be there for you if you book through an impersonal aggregator?
A competent agent, especially one who’s been in the industry for a while, knows things like travel time from the airport to a city; how early you need to be at a particular airport based on its configuration and busyness. They can also keep you apprised of travel alerts and weather issues that may cancel or delay your flight.
A good agent keeps track of your paid-for but cancelled/changed ticket credits and will apply them as appropriate to future travel. If you book through an aggregator, you would need to request that these credits be sent to you as vouchers which, to apply them, will require that you book directly with the airline. Travel agencies, as a rule, can’t apply them.

OPTION TWO – If you use Microsoft Outlook or another task organizer and plan to research and book your own flights, the Tasks feature can become your best friend! Let’s say that you just found out that you have to travel to Chicago in 6 weeks, but you don’t have time right now to do the necessary work. Just invest a couple of sanity-preserving minutes to immediately set up two separate tasks, i.e. “Book Chicago travel for 21-day discount” and set a reminder for 28 days before the travel date. On the second task, enter “Book Chicago travel for 14-day discount” and set a reminder for 18 days before the travel date. This accomplishes three benefits. If you can’t get the work done in time to get the 21-day discount, you can still reach for the 14-day discount. Also, the more times the reminder pops up on your screen, the less likely you are to forget that it needs doing. Third, once you set up reminders, you’ve dumped the worry of remembering from your brain, freeing you up for more lucrative pursuits.

OPTION THREE – Tie a string around your finger AND stick a reminder note to your forehead! Seriously, choose one of the two techniques above and use it consistently to reduce your stress and allow you to keep that Friday night appointment with your recliner! Good Travels!

Trimming Your Travel Costs – PARKING

speel — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:52:33 +0000

Over the past several years, parking costs at most airports have gone through the roof. This is especially true at major hubs, like Boston, New York and Chicago. Frequent travelers and those who park their cars for a full week or more, get hit with sticker shock every time they get their car out of hock…Oops, I mean out of the garage. Fortunately, there are some steps that can be taken to reduce the impact to your bottom line. If your travel costs are billable to your client, your care in minimizing their expenses will mark you as a conscientious professional.

Fortunately, there are several options available to trim those parking costs. Doing the necessary research for each option below will take some effort and time. However, once you are armed with the knowledge, you’ll be able to calculate the best option to use based on each trip’s duration. This research would be an excellent project for your internet-savvy Virtual Assistant; thereby saving your valuable time for the client work you enjoy.

Step one will be to check online or call your home airport to get their parking rates. For example, if you were to park at Logan Airport in Boston, you will pay about $24.00 per a 12-24 hour period. Thus, if you were to park and fly out on Sunday afternoon for a Monday through Friday event and then return home on Saturday morning, you will be paying approximately $168.00 for the week. Using the parking rates of your home airport as a benchmark, research the following options for the one that best fits your travel needs and schedule and maximizes your savings.

• Airport Shuttle Services – Many mid- to large cities have what are generally known as “park & rides”. These are established parking areas (usually lighted) that located just off certain highway exits. Travelers can park their cars (usually free) and pay a low fare to catch a regularly scheduled bus or shuttle service into the airport. Your city’s transit department should know if these are available in your area.

By being willing to take shared transportation and to leave home a littler earlier, your costs are much lower – not only do you save on parking, but also on gas and less driving frustration, leaving you time for work or rest. Some shuttle services also offer a more expensive non-shared point-to-point service, picking you up at home and dropping you at the airport terminal.

• When you check on your home airport parking rates, be sure to ask if they have an economy parking garage. If so, these usually offer lower rates as they are located further from the terminals, often requiring you to catch the airport’s shuttle to the terminal.

• Some of the major car rental companies located just off-site of an airport also offer long-term parking on their lots with regularly schedule shuttles to the terminal. These rates are often quite competitive.

• Using a limo service is no longer just for the affluent. If your trip is for a longer duration and your home airport parking rates are high, having a sedan pick you up at home and returning you from the airport, can not only save you some cash, but will also give you quiet time to work or catch a snooze. This option requires calling several local companies to get the best price. Be sure to ask if the driver’s tip is included in the quoted rate. Also ask if the rate includes any tolls or airport fees or will these be added as additional charges. If you are a frequent traveler, it might be worth asking the limo company to negotiate a better rate.

When calculating the savings available for each option, be sure to include tips for drivers if they are not included in the quote rates. Also, be sure that, when using a shuttle or limo company or using a car rental company’s parking lot, that they are going to available or open if you are coming in very early in the morning or very late at night.

Maximum travel savings can be achieved by balancing your trade-offs (time, money, effort) in the combination that best meets your needs. Enjoy!

Transforming Dreams to Goals & Goals to Reality – Part IV

speel — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:41:04 +0000

Last week, we worked on taking the ”Macro View” of our goal down one level deeper to arrive at the next to the last step…the “Micro View”. Here in Part 4, we’ll bring each of our micro view items down to the deepest and most important view…the “Task View”. To create the task view, we need to ask the same question of each of your micro view items that we had previously asked of each of your macro view items…“What do I need to do to accomplish this?” This time, your answers will be specific actions you would need to take and then assign each action a definite date by which you will complete it. It’s important to note that, at the Task Level, setting a date by which to complete each of the tasks is critical to your success. If it doesn’t have a deadline, it’s still a vague “I hope I do this….” item. With a date, it becomes an “I will do this…” item. You could just keep your list handy at your desk, but I recommend adding each task to whatever system you use to manage your work, i.e. MS Outlook Tasks or your calendar so that alerts and reminders will pop out at you regularly.

EXAMPLE

1. Learn about and get set up in LinkedIn (MACRO VIEW)

a. …

i. …

ii. …

b. Research possibly using a “Social Media Coach” to shorten the learning curve of actually applying LinkedIn to my marketing efforts. (MICRO VIEW)

i. Research web to get better idea of costs and services being offered. – By ____ (deadline)

ii. Send email to networking groups asking for recommendations – By ____ (deadline)

iii. Review recommendations and research, and then narrow to 3 best choices. By ___ (deadline)

iv. Write out my expectations for the coaching and develop questions to use in coach interviews. By ___ (deadline)

v. Interview top 3 choices. By ___ (deadline)

vi. Send email “thank you” to each of 3 top choices interviewed. By ___ (deadline)

vii. Make decision and, if go, then initiate the contract process. By ___ (deadline)

There you have it – the simple, one-question method of transforming your dreams to goals and your goals to reality! Remember…this is a living document. It will and must change as you learn more about a topic. It will also need to be modified as you make decisions. It’s very helpful to set an MS Outlook or calendar reminder to review your plan at least monthly to keep it current. I am still diligently working on my own “task view” items and have already seen a lot of progress towards my business goals. This blog is one of my accomplishments. In addition, I did engage an excellent social media coach (www.yourlifesimplified.com) and completed getting set up in and began using LinkedIn (http://tinyurl.com/73bef6k). Now it’s your turn!! What you want IS achievable, but only if you plan for it and then execute your plan!

As a last note to this series, my son once told me a very, very, old joke…”How do you eat an elephant?”…Answer = One bite at a time. This silliness is actually quite profound and really illuminates this goal setting method. By using the “One-Question” method to drill down from viewing the “whole elephant” of achieving a goal to cutting it up into bite-size pieces and then eating away at each task with diligence, you can and will get to the dessert…SUCCESS!!!

Transforming Dreams to Goals & Goals to Reality – Part III

speel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:03:45 +0000

Are you in limbo when it comes to the goals you want to achieve? Stuck on how to bring them to reality? Read on to learn how asking just one question will create a crystal-clear game plan for achieving any goal you’ve set for yourself or your business.

As I mentioned in Part II of this blog series, Transforming Dreams to Goals and Goals to Reality (see Archives for Part I & II), I first developed my desire into a specific goal with a deadline. Then, I used the one question – “What do I need to do to accomplish this?” – to brain-storm the high level items (macro-view).

Once I had developed the list of macro-view items, I then subjected each item to a level deeper analysis (Micro View) by subjecting each item in the list to the same question, “What do I need to do to accomplish this?” My first macro level item – “Learn about and get set up in LinkedIn” – began to look like this in the micro-view:

A. Learn about and get set up in LinkedIn

Use the internet to look at free LinkedIn tutorials that help me get a basic understanding of:

What is the purpose and reach of LinkedIn
How to set up an account
How to use the features within LinkedIn
Research possibly using a “Social Media Coach” to shorten the learning curve of actually applying LinkedIn to my marketing efforts.

2. Learn how to test the effectiveness of my LinkedIn in my marketing efforts

3. Read a book on viral communications to better understand the phenomenon of social media interactions.

I then applied the same question – “What do I need to do to accomplish this?” – to each of the other macro items in the list. Having gotten this far in the thinking process, I was beginning to feel real hope that I could and would actually make progress. So can you!

Part IV of this blog series will show how to take the developing plan from the micro-view to the final and most important view and to learn the secret for actually getting your plan into action. Be sure to join us.

Transforming Dreams into Goals & Goals into Reality – Part II

speel — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:10:00 +0000

In Part I of this 4-part series, we discussed that transforming your dream into an achievable goal requires that you articulate exactly what you want to achieve and assign a realistic deadline in which to accomplish it. For example:

“I’d like to become an “Organizational Development” coach.” becomes
“I will become a certified “Organizational Development” coach” by June, 2012.”

“I need to learn to use social media marketing for my business.” becomes
“I will learn to use social media marketing tools (LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook) to advance my business by February 28, 2012

“Writing and publishing a white paper would sure help my credibility factor.” becomes
“I will research, write and publish a white paper in an industry-recognized publication by March 15, 2012.”

I use to let a “desire”, like learning social media marketing, ramble around in my mind as a vague, ambiguous intention. A lot of mental energy was wasted on thoughts like “Where do I begin”; “What comes first”, “It will take too long!”, “Will I really get results from it?” or “Where will I find the time?” I also use to tell myself that I would add it to the list of everything else I hope to accomplish and I’d get to it eventually. If it was a highly interesting “desire, I sometimes jumped right on to the internet to begin looking into the process or taking tutorials. Unfortunately, the time spent on this new discovery expedition was very often a huge distraction from other more immediate and profitable tasks. At the end of all of this overwhelming mental exercise, I rarely moved even one step closer to what I wanted to accomplish.

After one of these fruitless mental exercises, I got pretty frustrated with myself and I remember thinking out loud “I can’t keep doing this! What do I really have to do to make this happen?” That’s when clarity hit me between the eyes…THAT’s exactly what I need to do to make this happen! That’s the one and only question I need to keep asking myself!

I grabbed my laptop and took off for the local coffee shop so I wouldn’t be distracted by the myriad of other thing clamoring for my attention. I had heard Napoleon Hill’s expression “A goal is a dream with a deadline” so I figured that was a good place to start. My goal became ““I will learn to use social media marketing tools (LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook) to advance my business by February 28, 2012.” There…I’d done it…put it in writing and gave myself a deadline…now what?

The “now what” turned out to be taking what I already knew about learning social media marketing and breaking it out into big bucket items (the Macro View). Again I asked myself the question…”What do I need to do to make this happen”?

My list looked deceptively simple:

1.   Learn about and get set up in LinkedIn
2.   Learn about and get set up in Twitter
3.   Learn about and get set up in Facebook
4.   Develop a marketing plan using these tools

As I looked at my list, I realized that these were things I already knew and yet had never moved forward on. Now that I’d articulated my desire into a goal and written a macro view of what needed to be done, I felt like I’d made progress.

Unfortunately, the next morning when I reviewed the list, I realized that, while I’d definitely moved forward towards my goal, I still didn’t have a clue what needed to actually happen to bring it into reality. In my next post, Part 3, I’ll share how using the “1-Question” method continued to bring the finish line into view.

What’s been your greatest struggle in developing goals or in trying to bring your goals to reality?

Transforming Dreams to Goals & Goals to Reality – Part I

speel — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:31:09 +0000

Like many, your New Year’s resolutions have probably been made and broken at least once in the first week. Most of us make our personal resolutions or set our business goals as big picture ideas like “I want to increase my client base” or “I want to get more organized.” At this point, a goal isn’t actually a “goal” yet, it’s a dream…a desire…and, while it may be a deeply desired dream, we probably haven’t applied much of a measure of intention to it.

Napoleon Hill defined a goal as a “dream with a deadline.” Assigning a realistic date to your dream(s) brings it into the realm of possible and stirs the mind to the question…”Okay, now what do I have to do to make this happen?”

Now that you’ve set a “fait accompli” date, let’s take a look at the goal itself. A goal of “I want to increase my client base” works, but it isn’t clear if you’ll consider that goal met with one more client or 100. A goal needs to be more specific than general.

Example: I want to increase my client base by 30% by June 2012

Once you have defined exactly what it is you want to succeed at and by when, there are a few additional questions that should be asked to test the achieve-ability of your goal.

1. How will you know that you’ve reached your goal? Will it be measurable? What measurement tools will you use to know how you’re doing?
2. I s this a realistic goal? Is a 30% increase in clients in this time frame reasonable in your industry?
3. Do you anticipate any external blocking issues (i.e. money, time, location, responsibilities, etc.) that will require additional time to remove, necessitating a push-out of your goal date?

Now that you’ve transformed your dream into a specific goal with a specific deadline attached and gave it a reality check, you’ve taken the very best and first step towards success. Join me for my next post, where I’ll begin a series on the “1-Question” method of bringing your goal to reality.

Have you set any new goals for 2012 and, if so, how specific did you get in defining it?

Sue

Sue Peel is an expert Virtual Assistant, and the founder of Affinity Virtual Assistance LLC, affectionately known as TheAffinityVA. With over 30years of experience in the executive care industry, Sue founded TheAffinityVA in 2005 to use her extensive array of executive administrative experiences and skills to improve the businesses of her virtually-based clients. Sue specializes in providing support and services to professional executive/business coaches. Sue can be reached by email at speel@affinityva.com. Visit http://www.affinityva.com.

What’s YOUR story??

speel — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:20:27 +0000

I just got back from the outstanding A-HA Social Media Summit put on by Allen and Lani Voivod , in partnership with the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development at Gunstock Mountain Resort, NH. Talk about illuminating!! While I had “played” with LinkedIn and had actually set up a Twitter account, I never really “got” the understanding of how and why they worked or how to strategically maximize their impact. The speakers and video tips were phenomenal. This summit created such an exciting vision in me for my business marketing.

One of the best takeaway’s from the Summit was a point made by Nancy Clark (Chief Strategist and President of the Glen Group). Tell YOUR story. People need to relate to you and having your story worked into all your media marketing will help them do so. She said that it should be your story, not your history. When I said I didn’t know what my story would be…she asked me a simple question. I’d previously mentioned that I was from Oklahoma and had been in NH for a little over ten years. She simply asked “What brought you here? I explained that I came to NH because, when my daughter told me she was pregnant with my first grandson, I knew that I knew that I didn’t want to be an absentee grandmother. So I closed up my life in Oklahoma and came here. Nancy said “That’s your story!” What ever it is that brought you to this point in life, or business makes up your story. It’s not branding…which is the look, feel, message of your business. This is much more about making people want to do business with you because they identify with or find comradeship in your story.

Social Media – Why Bother?

speel — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:31:25 +0000

Hi Folks!

Just wanted to share a short video by Randy Schrum, Founder and CEO of MyCorporateMedia. In this video, Mr. Schrum provides a succinct, but clear insight into why we should engage in social media marketing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mSXFkDiGsI&feature=player_embedded

Stealing a Client’s Experience

speel — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:11:01 +0000

I am in the middle of reading one really excellent book, “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” by Michael E. Gerber. On page 105, Gerber shares an anecdote about going to a barber shop where, on the first visit, he got a great hair cut and was thoroughly impressed with the fantastic customer care and service that he received. On the second visit and third visit the haircut was still excellent, but everything else (service and customer care) was at best randomly applied or not at all. Because there was absolutely no consistency to the experience, he made the decision to not return to that shop. The essence was that the barber gave him a delightful experience and then took it away.

On the flip side, I recently stopped into a new natural bakery/sandwich shop that had just opened near me (http://www.greatharvest.com/). I LOVED it! The bread and the sandwich I ordered was beyond delish! I was tempted with small nibbles of their baked goods from the cutting board and given a card for a free loaf of fresh baked organic bread on a future visit. Everyone in the shop was warm and welcoming. I was already anticipating my next visit. I wanted THAT experience again. And I’m happy to say that I got it…each and every time I’ve been there since. It’s become my favorite lunch spot and I’ve begun to use them for catering orders).

Consistently great products/services matter! Consistent customer service matters! But pulling those into a consistently awesome and memorable experience for your clients – Priceless!

Welcome to my inaugural blog post!

speel — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:22:45 +0000

While definitely not new to the virtual assistance industry, having been in business since 2005 as a generalist, I recently discovered what I really wanted to be when I grew up – a VA to coaches who specialize in coaching top-level business executives. These coaches are highly instrumental in how well companies succeed and I’m looking forward to being part of that process.My hope for this blog is that it will become a place you will return to time and again to continuously get good “stuff” to lead you forward in your business. Some of the things I’ll be chatting and writing articles about are:

• Virtual assistance: What it is and How to Use It to Your Advantage
• Tips and tricks to running an efficient home office.
• Social Media Marketing
• Insights on executives gained from years spent sitting in the “inner sanctum” as an Executive Assistant.
• Plus I’ll be providing resources and links on a wide variety of business topics and tons more! (I have a very fertile mind…..)

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

Sue
TheAffinityVA

Sue Peel is an expert Virtual Assistant, and the founder of Affinity Virtual Assistance LLC, affectionately known as TheAffinityVA. With over 30years of experience in the executive care industry, Sue founded TheAffinityVA in 2005 to use her extensive array of executive administrative experiences and skills to improve the businesses of her virtually-based clients. Sue specializes in providing support and services to professional executive/business coaches. Sue can be reached by email at speel@affinityva.com. Visit http://www.affinityva.com.