Dearest Reader,
One thing I have had to learn in my years as a Virtual Assistant is the importance of maintaining organisation and planning. You can’t afford to be disorganized, it is a costly mistake. One that can have a great impact on your life and your clients’.
What are some of the benefits of maintaining organisation as a Virtual Assistant?
Why Should You Maintain Organisation as a Virtual Assistant?
There are a couple of reasons why it is important for you to maintain organisation as a VA, some of those include:
- Your thoughts are ordered
- It makes your work easier
- Your progress can easily be tracked
- Allows you to build a healthy lifestyle
- Your Clients are happy with you
As a Virtual Assistant, you have multiple clients with varying requests. Organisation helps you to put your tasks in perspective. At a glance, it is easy for you to see your progress and keep track of what you have to do. This way, prioritization and fulfilling your task are easier.
If you can keep a hold on your tasks, and manage your time well, you can set apart time for other commitments in your life. This leaves room for you to build a healthy lifestyle and manage your work well.
Prioritization helps you address your tasks when due, giving you a chance at prompt delivery. Consequently, efficient delivery of tasks grooms happy clients. Happy clients become returning clients who refer others within their circle.
One thing I have lived by and has helped me is that I never onboard multiple clients within the same window. I have tried it, and realized how draining it can be, both on yourself and on your clients. I simply employ delay tactics or outrightly cancel. Client onboarding is a process that takes a while from discovery calls to proposals to contracts to sign and shifting things around to accommodate new commitments in your schedule. The entire process usually takes about a week. Clients have individual specificity so, within that week, I have to understand the client to help serve them better.
Let’s look at some tips to help you maintain organisation.
Tips to Help Maintain Organisation as a Virtual Assistant.
There are other ways to help you maintain organization, such as:
- Batch working
- Starting immediately; avoid procrastination.
- Writing things out. Don’t rely on your brain to remember important details.
- Employing the use of project management software like Trello
- Letting prioritization be your best friend.
- Making use of time blocking.
- Getting familiar with calendar management systems
- Setting working hours with clients.
Batch work
If you ask most freelancers how they get more done in less time, they will probably tell you batch working. When you batch work, you free your time. You can afford to take on more clients while being assured of your previous clients’ satisfaction.
Avoid Procrastination
You’re most likely familiar with the saying, “Procrastination is a thief of time”. It causes you to push your tasks to a point when it becomes overwhelming and extremely close to the deadline. Under pressure, it is very easy for you to mix things up and deny putting in your best. Starting immediately affords you sufficient room to plan, and accommodate any surprises. Allowing you to sufficiently cater to your clients’ needs.
Write Things Out
Entirely relying on your brain for recollection is a mistake that is very easy to make. Have a system that allows you to put down important points that are required to be worked on in order to reduce the stress on your brain. That way, you are certain you are not missing out on important points to be considered. And your thoughts are better organized.
Use Project Management Tools
A personal favorite management tool is Trello. Trello allows you to see at a glance what your schedule is like. If you are working with other people, you can assign cards to members of the workspace. You can as well add due dates to cards, allowing you to be reminded when a due date is approaching or when a member of the workspace performs an action on the card.
Learn To Prioritize
Without prioritization, it is so easy to get lost in the endless cycle of mundane tasks. However, when you master prioritization, you are able to sort out important tasks. Eisenhower matrix is a prioritization grid that arranges tasks into four categories: Urgent, Not Urgent, Important, and Not Important. You should do the tasks that fall under urgent and important immediately, schedule the ones that fall under important and not urgent for a later time, delegate the urgent and not important quadrant, and delete tasks that fall under the not urgent and not important quadrant like mindlessly scrolling through social media.
Employ Time Blocking Technique
A very efficient method of time management is the time-blocking technique. It involves you dedicating certain periods of your day to specific tasks and allows you to focus on a single task within the period.
Be Friends With Your Calendar
I believe google workspace is a huge blessing to mankind. Every product in the google workspace. It is easy for you to take stock of your schedule at a glance with google calendar. This way, you can keep track of your activities for the day and get notified when a task is supposed to end and another begins. You can block your time on the calendar.
Set Your Working Hours
It is your responsibility as a VA to set your working hours. This helps you effectively manage your time and prevent interactions with your clients from intruding into the time set for other activities.
In conclusion, it is easy to get swamped, overwhelmed, and lose it if you bite more than you can chew despite the various tips,. It is important to know your limits, and the number of clients you can conveniently take on.
Is there a tip that helps you stay on top of your organisation game? Tell me in the comment section.
Bye for now,
Alexis.
