Are you saving every record/document since Noah? -- Don't

Are you saving every document, e-mail, correspondence, and receipt accumulated since you started business, or feel guilty because you don't? Well, stop. Should you face legal issues for you or your client, that carefully saved napkin from 1989 could trigger lots of irrelevant questions.

Don't cry "but, but I might really need that." Yes, there are records you should keep, must keep, keep briefly, or don't keep. Your solution to having what you really need and getting rid of what could be a problem lies in creating  a records retention plan.  Do contact your financial planner, accountant, and/or business attorney for guidance. Find samples of plans on the internet. Then put together a plan for your business to save time, space, and headaches.

Here is my plan as a sample of a records retention plan for solopreneurs.
Happy planning.

Type of Record	Retention Period
Accident reports and claims (settled cases)	7 yrs
Accounts payable ledgers and schedules	7 yrs
Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules Inventories of products, materials & supplies	7 yrs
Audit reports of accountants Invoices to customers	Permanently
Bank reconciliation	1 yr
Capital stock and bond records; ledgers, transfer registers, stubs showing issues, record of interest coupons, options, etc.	Permanently
Cash Books	Permanently
Charts of accounts	Permanently
Checks (canceled, but see exception below)	7 yrs
Checks (canceled for important payments, i.e. taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc. - checks should be filed	Permanently
Contracts (expired)	7 yrs
Contracts still in effect	Permanently
Correspondence (general)	3 yrs
Correspondence (legal & important matters)	Permanently
Correspondence (routine) with customers or vendors	1 yr
Deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale	Permanently
Depreciation schedules	Permanently
Duplicate deposit slips	1 yr
Electronic Messages (email)	30 days
Expense analyses and expense distribution schedules	7 yrs
Financial statements (end of year, other months optional)	Permanently
General & private ledgers (and end of year trial balances)	Permanently
Insurance policies (expired)	7 yrs
Insurance records, current accident reports, claims, policies, etc.	Permanently
Internal audit reports (in some situations longer retention periods may be desirable)	3 yrs
Invoices from vendors	7 yrs
Journals	Permanently
Notes receivable ledgers & schedules	7 yrs
Property records, including costs, depreciation reserves, end of year trial balances, depreciation schedules, blueprints & plans	Permanently
Sales records	7 yrs
Scrap and salvage records (inventories, sales, etc.)	7 yrs
Tax returns & worksheets, revenue agents' reports, and other documents relating to determination of income tax liability	Permanently

Use the holidays to LOWER stress.

The holiday season is frantic and bustling for retailers and businesses providing holiday-related services. However, for those businesses not very involved with the holidays, activity is often slow. So I try to use those non-producing hours to get my tax records up to date, clean out files both paper and electronic, service my computers, and plan business and marketing for next year. It sure makes the new year, especially tax season, much more relaxed.

Are you leaving the key under the doormat?

As we can have trouble remembering all our passwords and usernames, we often write and hide them - but are they really hidden. Alan Henry gives some vital information on protecting these.http://lifehacker.com/5852667/the-most-common-hiding-places-for-workplace-passwords

I Get It Done, But I Don't Do It All

Working as an Administrative Specialist, aka Virtual Assistant, I support my clients completely. Does that mean I am an expert at everything? No, but what I am an expert at is getting the task/function accomplished either using my own expert skills or finding the best resource to do the task at hand.

The Oct 18 post in Anastacia Brice's Virtual Moxie explains the concept very nicely. If you are wondering how Virtual Assistance works, read this article. You will be glad you did.

Networking ponderings

These past few months I have been trying new networking opportunities. Following is a quote by June E. Gabler that describes true networking for each person:

Until recently, the "old girls" did not know how the "old boys" network operated. Women didn't know they needed to have a network to capture a top-level position in an institution or organization. They thought that all it took was hard work; eventually the organization would recognize worth and promote able people. Women now know that, besides hard work and lots of skill, the move to the top requires a supportive network.

BTW, I'm really liking Successful Thinkers, a new kid on the block but seems to have the right mix of ingredients for great business relationships.

Make New Friends but Keep the Old

A girl scout song I learned eons ago had the lines "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." It's a truism that stands throughout life.

About 20 years ago I joined Professional Secretaries International, now known as International Association of Administrative Professionals. It's a strong organization that educates its members and publicizes our profession to the world. For various business and personal reasons I had not attended a chapter meeting for over a year. Last week, however, I attended the Fresno, CA chapter's monthly meeting. How refreshing to  edify one another in our professional network. My peers and I have traveled many of the same roads in our careers.

Other networking groups such as Successful Thinkers, BNI, and Chambers of  Commerce are invaluable to your business; but keeping close with your professional peers is a treasure not equaled by any other experience. Remember - make new friends but keep the old.

The Power of Silence

One can often "say" more by saying less. I found this article today recommended by IAAP's OfficePro. I've found this is often a good strategy in meetings or networking gatherings.

I don't know it all -- But I can find the answer and/or solution

Working alongside clients to handle their administrative needs -- the roles, tasks, and functions that keep a business rolling along -- I often must find hi-tech products or services to fulfill a need. Often the solution is found in contacting experts I personally know and trust.

I admit to being extremely proficient in most administrative skills, however, there are instances when it is more efficient skillwise and economically to call on experts from my network. Sure I could learn "everything" but that would not be the best use of my time. I'm in business to get things done in the best way for the client not to prove I'm a master of all.

For instance, I can set up and maintain extremely good databases in Filemaker or Access. However, I have a client who had a need for very specialized reports generated from a very detailed and ever-changing Filemaker database. While I could have come up with the "macro" eventually, we hired a Filemaker expert, Gordon Johnson, who provided it in about one-half hour. His hours are more expensive than mine, but his 1/2 hour against my 6 or more hours of learning time -- well do the math.

Aloha!

One of the perks of working is getting away. My getaway this year was for almost three weeks with family who just happen to live in Honolulu. The weather was perfect every day. The flowering trees were beautiful, and the variety of colorful birds unending.

Pictures: (1) Approaching the Arizona monument, (2) Damage from Japanese bombing of barracks still visible. Repainting is allowed but repairing holes is not, (3) At the Dole Pineapple plantation, (4) Rainbows every day in Oahu and you can see both ends!

Keep ahead of the internet gremlins

Updates to protecting yourself online.

Veteran internet users are savvy about not opening unknown attachments. However, those that create and traffic in phishing, viruses, and malware keep evolving their craft. This article gives updated direction on keeping yourself safe.  4 Security Tips Spurred by Recent Phishing.

"Back Office" revealed

After seeing or hearing a definition for "administrative" or "back office" tasks, people often ask for more details. So glad to oblige - following is an incomplete list of what a VA would likely do for a client:

• Handle email or US mail, handling most and forwarding to you just those which need your attention
• Make appointments, keep a schedule
• Personal/business paperwork
• Make/receive phone calls/inquiries
• Send/receive faxes
• Research of all sorts
• Plan meetings and events
• Plan parties (business and   personal), weddings, reunions
• Make travel arrangements - business and personal Renewing passports Dining reservations (local and while traveling) Golf tee time reservations Theme park tickets Site seeing tours Worldwide weather information Turn-by-turn driving directions
• Handle reservations for seminars given by clients
• Coordination of web design/hosting
• Mailings
• Writing
• Proof reading
• Copy editing
• Canceling, creating, renewing subscriptions
• Desktop publishing, Newsletter publishing (print and internet)
• Coordination of web design/hosting
• Mailings
• Buy/send gifts/cards for customers of clients
• Addressing holiday cards
• Reminder service
• Transcription and Dictation
• Advocate for billing disputes
• Complaint handling
• Create/maintain databases
• Relocation services help and research

Of course everyone has a unique business and may need only a few of these tasks done, or there may be details to handle that others may never encounter. In any case, when you work in partnership with the Virtual Assistant who understands your business goals and approach to them, you have someone who works professionally and creatively to help you business succeed.

The Idea is My Ideal Clients

We all want that Ideal client, but do I know who that is? Recently while preparing to go to a networking function where I'd likely meet people who are looking for a Virtual Assistant, I asked myself that question. Looking in my oft-neglected business plan, I found this section on my ideal client. It really reflects those clients who have been the best. I'll share it to give you some ideas in case you're trying to define what is important to you.

My ideal clients

My ideal clients will be entrepreneurs and small business owners. Here are many of the characteristics I will look for in my Ideal Client:

·            He/She loves what he does

·         He is good at what he does

·         He is not looking for a mom with admin skills

·         He conveys his support needs and guidelines then lets me do it in the ways I do best

·         He does not micromanage

·         He gives realistic lead times and deadlines

·         He is available/reachable if I have questions or concerns

·         He shares some of his personal life and is interested in some I may share

·         However, he does not inundate me with all his personal life, nor does he grill me on mine

·         He listens and considers suggestions I may have to enhance his business

·         He thanks me for what I do

·         He uses me as a sounding board

·         He can afford my rates

·         He pays on time

·         He is ethical

·         He is a person of integrity

·         He is flexible and adaptive

·         He views me as his business assistant, not an employee

That cloud is not a pirate ship!

When I was a little girl, we spent many summer days laying back on the lawn and watching clouds float over. We'd yell out "That's a pirate ship," "That's a dog,"or "That's a turtle."

Today, I hear almost daily "To the cloud!" However, we are no longer imagining ships and animals. The "cloud" today refers to working with and storing information from a computer or communication device to offsite locations.

Until I did some research, I was very intimidated by the very term cloud. I found that I am already using the cloud daily with my Yahoo-driven e-mail, my banking institutions, my Dropbox, and many other sites/tools.

I invite you to read Wikipedia's explanation to better understand the cloud concept and find its potential advantages and disadvantages.I believe the technology will be around for quite awhile, so educating ourselves about it can only be an advantage for our businesses.

Pointing to the Best Solutions

While I handle my clients' administrative challenges most effectively, the point is to provide the best administrative services at the best value. Some tasks are better handled by professionals specialized in their particular fields. Fortunately, I have a wide variety of skills available in my business network from which to draw. Let me share an example.

One of my clients who lives about 90 miles away is currently in the process of looking for a property to own from which to run her business. She asked me to inquire about and research properties in her locality and set up appointments for her to view some of them. While research and communication are a couple of my top skills, I am not educated in the buying and selling of commercial real estate. After I recommended that she needed her own real estate agent who knows the particulars of her local market and is skilled in research and negotiation, she agreed and directed me to find her such an agent.

So, I contacted a real estate professional in my locality who is very familiar with real estate organizations and agents in Northern California. He has trusted associates in her area and quickly located and contacted an experienced and well-reputed agent to work with my client. After connecting the two, he made a followup call to my client to ascertain whether she was confident in the agent he had connected her to.

Through my network contacts, I provided my client with a professional who is working with her in obtaining her goal of owning business property. Could I have earned lots of billable hours pursuing this task on my own? Yes, but it would not have been the most efficient and best value for the client. The business gain for me is that I have, as promised, handled this task by providing her the most appropriate service available.

Firefighter - A Bit of VA Whimsy

Firefighter (FF) or Virtual Assistant (VA)     Over the years of my administrative career, I often described my position as a firefighter (I was always putting out brush fires.) So I researched to see if that may be a legitimate parallel.


FF: Protection of life and property 

VA: Assisting clients in keeping their business alive and growing


FF: Emergency care for sick and  injured

•  More calls for medical emergencies than any other

VA: Resolving operations issues

• Like I did for a client who set up a professional organization meeting for a Thursday. Late Wednesday afternoon, the company where he had reserved a special type of microphone (e.g., not many vendors carry them) called to say that one of theirs had been damaged and none was available. I researched and found one in the same city and arranged for my client to pick it up at 3 pm on the next afternoon, Thursday.

FF: Fire prevention activities

•  Inspections
•  Educating school children
•  Presentations & educating community organizations

VA: Special incident activities

• Product and Service research for clients
• Purchasing
• Interfacing with professional organizations and government entities on behalf of my clients

FF: Maintenance of fire apparatus 

• Cleaning, repairing, replacing

VA: Day-to-day office activities

• Correspondence, - authoring, preparing, & transmitting both hard copy and electronic
• Database creation, maintenance & updating Invoicing and expense report preparation
• Proposal & Contract preparation

FF:  Drilling (practice) in new techniques & practices

VA: Constantly be aware of and ready to use and teach new

• Office techniques
• Software
• Hardware

Additional Firefighter Qualities
Good student
Continuing education
Team work/players
PR/public contact skills


Additional Virtual Assistant qualities
Good student
Continuing education
Team work/players
PR/public contact skills

So while Virtual Assistants are not universally recognized heroes like firefighters, we are heroes to our clients. Our professional goal is their business’s growth and success.