Author Archives: Jessica Granish

9 Reasons Why You Should NOT Host A Webinar

Just like hairless cats, habanero peppers, and neon blue hair, webinars are not for everyone. Granted, they usually see more universal appeal than those three, but I repeat. They. are. not. for. everyone.

Webinars can be an extremely effective business growing tool, but before you jump on the webinar bandwagon, consider the reasons you shouldn’t be hosting one.

You lack the technology. If your audio/video will look and sound more like a blurry
tape from a police interrogation than a professional quality service, rethink a webinar. Proper equipment is the first step in making a solid webinar, and is a nonnegotiable one. If you’ve got a decent set-up, you may be equipped to host a webinar.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Okay, this is highly unlikely. But you’d be surprised at the number of webinars failing to offer any insight or substance. If you know your industry well and can provide value, you may be ready to share your expertise with the world in a webinar. Some of you are not there…YET!
You don’t possess that golden radio voice. You know how some people’s voices sound so charismatic you could listen to them talk about anything? Yeah, those are the people that should be hosting a webinar. It sucks, but if your voice sounds more like nails on a cheese grater, people will be too distracted to focus on your content (which means you won’t get the great benefits of a webinar). If you can speak confidently, slowly, and clearly, you’re in a good position to host a webinar. If you are net yet confidant speaking, don’t be that nervous person, “ya, um, uh.”
You lack the time to promote your webinar. You need to devote time to marketing and selling your webinar-otherwise it’s like planning a party without having time to make invitations. If you’re marketing resources are already stretched too thin, now’s not the time to host a webinar. If you can prioritize promoting your webinar, then you’re at a good place.
You’re doing it because all the other cool kids are. This was a bad idea in high school, and it’s a bad idea now. Webinars work great for some, but it doesn’t mean you’ll benefit from hosting one. Be sure you’ve got a solid idea of what you’re trying to achieve and why a webinar is the best means to do so. If you can clearly articulate how a webinar fits in your business strategy, you may be ready to host one.
You’re as boring as that teacher from Ferris Bueller. Again, highly unlikely. But you do need to commit to engaging an audience. Remember, you’re not monologuing, you’re teaching. It’s a different ballgame that requires engaging slides, powerful stories, easy application, and more. If you can captivate an audience, you may be a great webinar host.
You’re a one-man band. While there’s an “i” in webinar, effective webinars are not a solo effort. Think WE-binar. Even if there’s only one speaker, other people still play a role. You’ll need staff support in marketing the webinar, working out the sound details, and following up with the webinar attendees. You’ll be stretching yourself too thin if you try to handle all the details. If you’ve got a solid support staff, you may be well equipped to host a webinar.
You don’t want to reach thousands of people. If you’re not ready for the brand awareness explosion that comes with hosting a successful webinar, then now’s not the time for you. A successful webinar can put a small business on the map. If you prefer your “little known” company status, shy away from webinars. If you’re ready for a large number of people discover how great your business is, a webinar might be right for you.
You don’t want to grow your list. A webinar is networking on steroids with the number of leads and connections you’ll come away with. It’s a valuable tool for effective and efficient business building, so if you’re ready to expand a webinar may be the perfect choice.

If these do not apply to you, then you should seriously consider hosting a webinar. It can serve as a great service to your target audience as well as a killer business building strategy. If you’d like help creating or marketing a webinar, ASBS is here for you! Our experienced staff would love to assist with any aspect of building your business, so send us an email or give us a call today.

What You Need to Know 5 Differences Between a General and a Technical Virtual Assistant

Looking for a lifesaver in building your business? A virtual assistant is the answer, with their ability to help you achieve work life balance and the variety of ways they can help grow your business. Virtual assistants perform tasks business managers do not want to do or should not be focusing their efforts on (like handling customer service inquiries), lack time for (like email marketing), or are not as knowledgeable in (like social media). A virtual assistant costs less than hiring an in-person employee given they do not come with employee related expenses (like paid vacation or insurance) or require you to provide and office and supplies.

Virtual assistants are a great solution to your business building needs, but before you hire one it’s important to understand the difference between the two prominent types: a general virtual assistant and a technical virtual assistant.

Traditional Office Job Comparison

Think of a general VA as the traditional secretary, receptionist, and assistant position. This is the one who the office would die without, who knows where everything is an how it all works.

A technical virtual assistant is more like the IT staff, graphic design team, and marketing team. They have more specialize skills.

Typical Tasks

A general VA is a jack of all trades, offering a range of services. They can be assigned nearly anything (including tasks assigned to technical VAs), but typically include projects like bookkeeping, scheduling meetings and travel, billing and accounting, handling customer questions and concerns, database entry and building, document proofreading, and organizational tasks like file uploading and storage.

A technical VA is more of a specialized worker, offering a narrow selection of services with more experience in each arena. They often, but not always, received training or certification in a given area (like SEO optimization). Their tasks can include website creation and management, social media management, email marketing, graphic design, and hardware and software issues.

Number of Assistants Hired

Generally, an office will hire one or two general VAs to handle the administrative tasks.

Larger organizations may hire multiple technical VAs, such as a web developer, a social media manager, and a graphic designer.

Responsibilities

A general VA focuses more on internal business aspects, ensuring the company runs smoothly by completing day to day administrative tasks.

A technical VA focuses more on external business aspects, ensuring the company is portrayed in a positive way to the target audience by completing marketing tasks.

Compensation

The compensation for a general VA as opposed to a technical VA varies depending on the rates set by the individual or the VA firm. Usually, a technical VA sets a higher rate given they offer more specialization, training, and experience.

How to Decide

Smaller businesses just starting out with a VA can benefit from a general VA, since they offer a breadth of service options. As the company grows, you can add on a technical VA to handle more specialized tasks.

There are some virtual assistants that offer a mix of this, or have a team that they work to help you’re your needs. While it may seem hard to justify the high upfront cost of adding a virtual assistant, keep in mind virtual assistants are a better bargain than an in-person employee and they free you up to focus business building tasks (like developing a new product instead of spending hours going through emails). VAs allow you to be more efficient with your time and money, making them a solid investment in growing your organization.

Ready to hire a VA? Contact Alpine Small Business Solutions today. Our experienced team of VAs are ready to help you expand your business.

5 Free Tools to Build Your Virtual Team

When you manage a virtual team, the Internet is your lifeblood. Communication, collaboration, and completing projects all happens (at least in some part) online. Fortunately, there’s an online tool to assist you at every stage of work. Here are our favorite tools for building your virtual team.

Communication

Skype: You need to talk to your team, from going over project details to bouncing off ideas. Skype offers text, audio, or video communication for one-on-one or group conversations. You can tailor your communication to your team’s needs (oh and you can even send files!) Team members can download Skype for their computers, tablets, and/or mobile phones.

Project Management

Asana. Asana is great for organizing collaborative projects. Members can make a project, then create and assign tasks in a to-do list format. Tasks can be delegated to one or more team member and can include deadlines, descriptions, and files. Tasks can also repeat (for example, social media engagement twice a week for a certain client). Team members can also view only the tasks assigned to them. It’s a great way to keep track of the many tasks your team needs to complete. The free version allows unlimited projects and tasks for 15 team members. Need even more? Of course, they have an option for that.
Trello is a great visual tool for managing the steps within projects. It’s like a virtual board where you create columns (like “to do this week” or “blog ideas”). You add cards in each column, which you can easily move around. Labels, due dates, attachments, checklists, and other team members can be added to the cards. The free website and app allows for an unlimited number of boards, cards, and teams.

Document Sharing

Google Drive. Google Drive is so easy to use. Documents are autosaved and stored in a cloud. You can grant access to members of your team for different documents, and they can make edits directly into the document (and these edits can be viewed by everyone). No more downloading, uploading, and trying to remember which version is the most recent. You can easily organize documents into folders, and the free version provides 15 GB of storage.
Dropbox has several different levels of options from free accounts to business models depending on the size you need. There are easy sharing links available and you can make folders public or private. It is a great way to store all those files that are too big to put anywhere else.

Scheduling

Trying to schedule a meeting can be a head ache. You send out an email with times
you’re available, get back five lists of times, and spend minutes trying to find the overlap. Doodle allows you to make a checklist of dates and times you’re available. Each team then clicks the bubble of times they’re free. At a glance, you can see which time slot fits every team member. Scheduling can now take seconds.

These five tools are a great starting point to growing your business while on a budget. But there are many more you should be taking advantage of! Check out my guide “32 Free Business Tools to Elevate and Grow Your Business When on a Budget” for a more extensive look at the tools you should be using.

As your team grows and your needs change, there are many paid apps that are wonderful additions to your business as well. Make sure you are forward-thinking and find tools that can grow with you.

Looking to grow your virtual team? Reach out to Alpine Small Business Solutions! We’d love to help with any aspect of business building, from administrative tasks to social media management. Give us a call or shoot us an email today.

Six Easy Steps to Becoming a Virtual Assistant

First you might ask what a virtual assistant is. Well let me enlighten you, a virtual assistant provides services to individuals, organizations, or companies, but he or she works online and remotely instead of going into an office. It allows you to live life on your terms. May entrepreneurs have realized the growing demand for a virtual assistant. You are able to set your own hours, goals, and priorities. You have flexible hours which truly is great when “life happens.” You have no commute, well aside from getting your coffee and walking down the hall to your office. You determine who you work with, and you get to meet and interact with some incredible people as you develop their business and client base. I could go on and on about the incredible perks of being a virtual assistant. But how do you become one? Let me share our Six Easy Steps with you.

Plan Your Business

This is the basic first step to making yourself a legitimate business. You need to know if you are going to be a sole-proprietor or an LLC, or something else. Most virtual assistants run an LLC. You need to make sure you have all your ducks in a row for your accounting and banking and have the general setup for legal requirements in your area. Go do the research. Develop your business plan and model. Get your business license and start diving in.

Decide What to Charge

This is likely the first question anyone is going to ask you. This is a very personal step that you have to be confidant in and fair. You are running the business and you are in charge. Don’t be ashamed or apologetic about people paying you to provide your services. You can charge by the hour, by the project, or have retained rates or even a combination of them.

Define Your Services and Keep Learning

You have to know what you are going to sell. What are you good at and what do you have to offer people. Once you know what your business is there for, you can learn more and expand your services. I cannot tell you how important it is that you keep learning and stay on top of new developments not only in your industry but with new technology and ways to work. If you keep your skills up to date then you’ll have a more varied ad valuable skill set and will be worth more money. Plus, there is always something to learn and keep learning within the virtual assistant world.

Get a Website

This is a no-brainer. In a world that revolves around technology and as a virtual assistant people need to be able to find you. This allows you to display yourself in a professional appearance, and gives you a chance to highlight your skills and an opportunity to display yourself in a more professional appearance.

Get Involved in Social Media

Social media is a common task you will likely be asked to help with or a service you want to offer. Join the groups, get in the conversations. There are some great virtual assistant groups out there to get to know. You can check out mine as well- Hell Yes Biz. As a virtual assistant you should submerge yourself in the latest trends of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Periscope, YouTube, Instagram, Blab, Google +, and so many more. Relationships are key, being involved in social media with your peers is one of the best ways to find clients and network.

Work for a VA Service

You need experience. If you are just getting started it can be tough trying to find clients, but consider working for a company that matches VA’s with clients. This is proven to be helpful again when you are just starting out and have not established your cliental base quiet yet. This can also go with working along with other VA’s. Checking out their website, seeing what they offer and get an idea of how it might work for you. Remember those groups you joined, make sure you connect with people in there. They may have some great recommendations for you.

Summary

Figure out what you are good at and what you enjoy. Notice how I said good, and not best at. The important thing is you have skills that your clients need and are willing to pay for, don’t doubt yourself. Becoming a VA allows you so much freedom and flexibility within your day to day life, who you work with, what you day looks like, when you are available when you are not. I love what I do. Make sure you do too! For more information or help getting started contact me today!

3 Tools for Virtual Assistant’s to Send a Contract

Isn’t it exciting?! Whether it is your first or 100^th client it always feels good to get that relationship started. You know you sealed the deal when that contract is signed.

Although a contract won’t always prevent a client from reneging on your agreement, it definitely helps to prevent any confusion as to what you have been hired to do. This not only helps cover you but it also protects them. This can be anything from timeframes, your payment agreements, what your fee does and does not include as well as defining confidentiality. Having a contract is a concrete way for you, or your client, to review the original agreements if there is ever a misunderstanding or need for clarification.

So how do you have someone sign something if they are thousand miles away? What if you need it in a timely manner? There are several great tools out there to send contracts. Here are a couple that we would recommend.

E-Signature

E-Signature is an easy-to-use tool that brings a multitude of benefits to businesses and consumers. This software enables users to fill out and sign documents online, from your home, office, or using any web browser. This saves time, helps with the efficiency, limits the paper trail, saves your money and hassle on postage, and protects security and privacy, and so many other benefits. This can be anything from a contract, non-disclosure agreements, employment applications, forms, to dozens of other business documents. It is a simple upload and send to your new client.

Hello Sign

HelloSign allows you to sign documents, request signatures from up to 20 different people, and once the document is fully executed, everyone gets a copy delivered to their inbox. This is one of the best if you need multiple people in different locations to sign. You are able to see and track your document progress with status notifications that keep you in the loop. They have a team management tool that allows you to add professional touches such as branding, a logo, taglines and so much more. To keep documents safe, secure, and private, they use SSL encryption during the transit. So there is nothing to worry about except how to knock the socks off your new clients.

Right Signature

right-signature Right Signature enables you to close more deals in less time, reduce paper and in expenses, avoid fax (who faxes anymore!) hassles, cut cycle time from weeks to just a few hours. This allows you to create a robust digital professional document. With its easy-to-use design, it allows you to fill out the form and sign with a handwritten mouse signature, mobile signature, self-service documents, reusable templates and much more.

You can see that the main idea between all of these services really is the same. You can see which one fits your needs best. These are just a few of many tools you should implement to your business for your protection as well as your clients. Not only does it make you look professional, but the contract is a key to your safety as a new business owner. These resources allow you to send your contracts or terms and conditions to clients all around the world, so set your sights high. When you take your business seriously others will as well.

Onboarding your First Virtual Assistant Client

Congratulations on landing that first client! Now what do you do with her? Good question. It is smart for a virtual assistant to have a systematic approach to how he or she handles clients. Make sure you have everything set up in a way you feel comfortable and can explain the process to a new client who may be working with a virtual assistant for the first time.

Get to know your client. I have a profile sheet that I have all my clients fill out. It helps me get to know what they like, how they communicate, and all the details I need to do my job. I need to really know their business. This profile sheet helps me get to know clients business, how to access their account (passwords and login info sheet)

Assess the client’s assets. One of the most critical parts of your onboarding process is assessing your new clients existing campaigns. You’ll be able to get a good understating of what they do and do not have in place. The more prospects you work with, the more you’ll realize every client is different. Despite if they are in the same area of work, each one is at a different point in their maturity continuum, and they each have a wide range of assets to work with. You will want to make sure you have ALL access necessary to review their assets. This gives you a great chance to test those passwords and access. Organization is going to be key, but making a list of everything you find, both positive and negative will lead to opportunities for improvement (think upsells in the future). When you are able to review your findings, look for opportunities to position yourself as an expert.

Schedule a kick-off call. This could be a great platform for you to give a good first impression. It is important for you and your team to come across as experts and confident. You want your clients do feel confident not only with you but with the team as well. This call is a great time to review whatever package or service they have purchased now that you have had a chance to really dive in to their assets. Make sure you have any clarifying questions answered and information available. Tell the client what to expect from you and what you expect from her.

Get to work. Usually now is when you can really start to dive in and show your client how awesome you are. Here is where I will remind you to under promise and over deliver. Do not over extend yourself, and deliver on what you promise.

Check in call. Working remotely can make a relationship a little harder to develop. This just means you have to put effort in to making sure the client is happy and loving what you do. This call is designed to be a one-on-one conversation between you as the VA and the primary decision maker. You want to make sure you are able to talk too and are comfortable and have established with the person who is cutting the checks. Schedule this call with the purpose to gather feedback on the engagement and relationship thus far. Make sure you stay connected.

Business is human. People want to do business with people. Having a system in place will give you confidence, knowing you have a strong foundation supporting you; this will help put your clients at ease and make them more comfortable. Remember, by setting aside time to work on your business and create documented systems and processes, you are not only improving your business, but you are growing and importing as a service provider.

3 Ways for a Virtual Assistant to Get Clients

Woohoo! Congratulations on deciding to take the first big leap in starting your business. Now that you are all set and ready to go, it is time to get to work. What wait? You don’t have a client? No worries. We all start at that scary place of I really want to do this, but how do I get started? Here are my three favorite tips for new virtual assistants to get clients to start rolling through the door.

Freelance Sites

You want work? Go to the places where works is listed. There are many places that allow people to publish jobs they need someone to help them with. It may not always been the ideal position, but it does get some income rolling through the door and helps you build a little bit of a reputation. The best part, when you land that first small project, you can build that relationship for when they need more work, they know they can contact you directly to see if you are available. Check out some places like Upwork, PeoplePerHour, or 99Designs. Each freelance site has a bit more of a specialty focus, so shop around for what you have to offer.

Subcontract

Look in to other VA groups or agencies. There are many virtual assistants out there. Connect with them and start talking. Find out who is busy and if you might be a good fit to help support their business for a while. If you can take some tasks off someone else’s plate it will help build a solid relationship while you have more time to get your name out there. Remember, this may mean you might be making less that what you would originally charge. Be open to the opportunities.

Advertise

I know this sees a little cliché, but if people don’t know what you have to sell or market, how do you really expect them to buy it? If you have a specific clientele you are looking for, go talk to them. Send them some material about what you can offer. Being a virtual assistant can be a low overhead business, but don’t make me say it…you got to spend a little money to…well you know!

Make sure you have a website so you have somewhere for people to do their research on you. It is your business foundation and a lot of times it is the first impression to potential clients-make it a good one!

There are many ways you can advertise. Start with Facebook and Google Adwords and see your results.

Bonus tip—Don’t be afraid to use your network. Letting family and friends know what you are doing and letting them help make connections is the way many people start out. Once you have established yourself a bit this network is also great to have word of mouth start. The best advertisement is a happy client, so don’t be discouraged if you make some sacrifices in your pricing or other aspects at first. When those referrals start rolling in and people are seeking you out, you can really start to shine as the professional you are.

If you’re ready to seek clients, but could use some guidance, we’re here for you! We can assist with any aspect of business building and strategy. Simply shoot us an email or give us a call today.

6 Best Practices When Working with a Virtual Assistant for the First Time

Have you been thinking about hiring a Virtual Assistant? Are you at the beginning stages of exploring the idea of expanding your team to help run your business online? In this week’s blog, Jessica Granish, leading expert in the Virtual Assistant industry offers some sage advice on this very topic. Jessica has 13 years of experience in creative, social and technical Virtual Assistant tasks. Jessica helps heart-center and conscious business owners put all the pieces together for their business to run like a well-oiled machine in an online environment. She also is a Virtual Assistant trainer, as well as thought leader that educate online business owners about the power of delegation and how to successfully and efficiently build a team that is in alignment with your core values and in turn creating authenticity and trust for a long lasting partnership. In a nutshell, Jessica, helps you gets sh*t done so you can focus and shine in your zone of genius.

Start thinking about expanding and getting assistance now: One of the biggest frustrations I hear from business owners is that they wish they would have hired someone sooner…or at least started the process sooner. It is daunting and overwhelming when your to-do list becomes a mile long. Get ahead of the curve; don’t let the stacks of tasks pile up. Don’t fall victim to being a prisoner in your own business where it stops you dead in your tracks. You know that feeling of being so overwhelmed that you just take a nap!? Try not to get to that space. A Virtual Assistant is there to help create less stress and more time for you to focus on your passion, you know, the whole reason why you went into business for yourself to begin with. All seasoned and reliable Virtual Assistants have processes and procedures to bring you on board with ease. You should feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from your shoulders when you start with your perfect VA.
Don’t feel like you have to hand everything off all at once: It may feel like you are handing the keys to your empire over and for some that might be scary. You and your awesome new VA should work together to identify and prioritize the most important tasks. I suggest starting at a foundational level. This is so that your business is sturdy and strong. You don’t want to play a game of Jenga with your business. In many cases, people don’t even know where to start with delegation. If you are one of those business owners who have no idea where to even start, I suggest using a great tool that I built called the “Delegator”. It is a way to help identify where delegation could help with your sanity. You can access the form here >>> https://www.alpinesbsolutions.com/the-delegator/
Let go of the negative mindset: I realize delegation can seem hard at first. I teach this and can get in the same mindset that many have. You know that negative mindset of, “I want to save money, so I will do it myself”, or “if it is going to get done right, I should do it myself”, or “it is going to take too long to bring someone on board and teach them the ropes”. Don’t fall victim to these statements. Growth is all about letting go of those blocks. The art of delegation comes with great rewards that you will soon realize and will look back and wonder why you didn’t seek support sooner.
Focus on your zone of genius and let your Virtual Assistant focus on theirs: If you are just starting out with building your online presence you will find yourself inundated with new tools and terminology to help run your business in an online environment. This can seem daunting and can be extremely overwhelming and time consuming. You don’t need to know how to do everything to be successful. Being able to let go, release and trust in the ninja like skills of your Virtual Assistant, can change your entire business in a very positive and wonderful way.
Make sure that your Virtual Assistant matches your core values: This is one of the most important things that a successful and long term Virtual Assistant relationships can have in my opinion. If your core values are in alignment everything else just flows so much easier. You can usually tell on the initial conversation with a VA if the synergy is there or not. I suggest to all my clients that you don’t focus on all business in your initial conversations. It is super valuable to talk openly about what makes you both burn with passion inside as well. You can learn quite a bit from digging deeper and creating a more personal connection too. Now, don’t get me wrong, passion is important, but their credentials are extremely important too. A nice balance is a wonderful way of matching core values. Having this alignment with your Virtual Assistant will in turn create authenticity and trust. It is a beautiful thing.
Communication is key: Need I say more? All great relationships let it be professionally or personally start with great communication. Creating expectations and sharing your communication style is super important. When starting your business you will want to set those expectations with your clients, your vendors and your team. Communication is a foundational piece to building authenticity and trust as you grow and expand in your zone of genius.

I hope that this was helpful for someone reading this that may be on the fence. I also just released a new blog recently titled” 5 Reasons Why Hiring a Team Will Cost Less Than Doing Everything Yourself”

Check it out, if you want to continue to explore and educating yourself on building a team you can also check out https://www.alpinesbsolutions.com/hiring-a-team-biz/, another blog on the site that goes a little deeper into the topic.

If you are ready to take your business to the next level, for a limited time, Jessica has opened her calendar to discuss your exact needs. If you would like to take advantage of her 30-minute no cost, no obligation consultation, please fill out the intake form and schedule your call today. https://www.alpinesbsolutions.com/contact/questionnaire/

How Do I Structure My Virtual Assistant Business?

There are many steps when starting a business. It can be overwhelming and scary at first. But you know that you want to start out on the right, legal foot. Some new virtual assistants start out not taking their business serious. If you want to be looked at as reputable, you have to walk the walk.

Every business, big or small, home based or not needs some form of business license to be authentic. You will also want to make sure you set up a business bank account and keep your finances separate. Rules and regulations vary depending on individual state laws, so make sure you research your area. It is very important you are clean on the type of business you have, or the one you hope to build in the future. This will help determine a lot of the legal steps you’ll need to peruse, since there are different types of license and permits. The Small Business Administration is a great resource to help build your business plan. Then you can start to implement those business plans.

So let’s start with the basics. Most virtual assistants operate their business as a sole proprietor or and LLC.

What is the difference between an LLC and a Sole Proprietorship?

As a business owner you will need to determine which way you want to drive your business. In a sole proprietorship the owner is personally responsible for business debts. If the assets of the sole proprietorship or partnership cannot satisfy the debt, creditors can go after the owner’s personal bank account, house, etc., to make up the difference.

By contrast, if an LLC runs out of funds, or is in other legal trouble, the owners are usually held liable. As an LLC owner, you are mainly putting your financial contribution to your LLC, not your other personal assets, on the line. However, as an LLC owner, you may still be personally liable for your own conduct or LLC loans in some cases. You will want to make sure you fully research how these different set ups can impact your personal financial needs.

Taxes

This is a huge portion of what you need to remember if being a virtual assistant or contractor is new to you. Taxes and business expenses are some of the “perks” that come with being the boss. Make sure you are saving and planning on a percentage of your earnings going to taxes. You will also want to make sure you look at all your business expenses, such as printer ink, website hosting, business cards, telephone cost, internet cost, etc., and keep records of them all. You may want to consult with your accountant on any procedures you are unsure of.

There are other business structures that may be a better fit, but these are the typical two that new virtual assistants start out with. Remember to reach out to your community, mentors, and support people to ask any questions.

There are several monotonous and tedious steps you will need to complete before starting your business that are important for the growth and wellbeing of your business, but revel and enjoy this planning time. Following your dreams and chasing a goal are exciting and rewarding ventures. You get to make your business what you want it to be. Enjoy the ride.

6 Success Secrets to Keep Your Business Successful While the Kids Are Out of School for the Summer

Summertime presents unique challenges to working parents. You still need to work, but want to enjoy this precious time with your kids and not be chained to your desk. With a bit of proactivity, you can make sure you prioritize spending time with your family without letting your business suffer.

We all know that work-life balance is hard to find, but summer makes it even more challenging. Here are a few tips to help make it more manageable…and make sure you comment and share your ideas with us!

Create a work schedule. It’s important to designate set uninterrupted work time and set no-work-allowed family time. Try to plan work time around times your kids are occupied, such as when they’re participating in a summer program or regular play dates. Each week you’ll know you’ve got guaranteed time to get work done and guaranteed time to spend with your kids.

Involve your kids with your work. Older kids can be taught complicated projects, but even younger kids can help with tasks like licking envelopes. Getting your kids to help you in the office is a win-win-win. You get to spend time with them, get assistance in your projects, and teach them valuable skills. And don’t forget your kids can teach you too (like how my 9th grade daughter is teaching me more about Snapchat!).

Connect with other work-at-home parents. Find other working parents and coordinate with them “shifts” for watching kids. Each parent can take an afternoon a week, which gives everyone in the group multiple blocks of uninterrupted work time.

Automate as much as possible. If you write a blog, create a batch of several evergreen posts you can use throughout the summer when you’re busier with family time. For social media, use a scheduling service like Hootsuite to plan several days’ worth of posts in one sitting.

Work smarter, not longer. Try to decrease your workload before summer hits or at the beginning of summer. Add a frequently asked questions page to your website to hopefully minimize the time you’ll spend answering the same client question over and over. Plan out goals and projects ahead of time so you don’t spend as much precious summer time brainstorming. Delegate tasks as much as possible to other employees. Consider hiring an intern who can work in exchange for college credit. They gain valuable work experience, and you spend less time working. Work a few less hours, but get back the lost income with these tasks to make money while you sleep.

Outsource. Are you using all your resources? Are you delegating task as you should be? If you have a Virtual Assistant, make sure you are using that service to the full extent, or maybe you need to retain more hours for the summer. If you haven’t tasks that you could outsource to a Virtual Assistant, make sure you hire yours right away.

Summer time is a great opportunity to connect with your kids and make lasting memories. With a few simple strategies you can make sure time with family does not come at the cost of your business. If you want even more help with growing your business over the summer, delegate those tasks to Alpine Small Business Solutions! We’re here to help you with any part of business building. Just reach out with an email or phone call today.