A new financial year....

As a new financial year commences, how many of us have worked out our budgets for the year?

Have we set up a marketing budget? A budget for staff? A budget for general outgoings?

It is something which is sometimes left or missed and it is a must for all businesses (small and large).

Look back over the previous financial year, how much did you spend in each area of marketing? What worked for you?

I guarantee that one element of marketing would have produced more business than another. Remove marketing this year if it is not, or has not been working. Why pay for something which is not assisting your business.

How much for general outgoings? We all need the standard items such as stationery and consumables, but is the outlay too large? Do you really need that extra printer, or does it just look good sitting in your office?

Now, what about your budget for staff? Sometimes you feel you need someone full time and permanent, but perhaps you need to look at this and work out your budget. Does that person have enough work to substantiate a permanent full time role? Can you provide extra work to that person, if they do not currently have enough to fulfill a full time position? Take a look at each position and evaluate it on an individual basis. Sometimes it is better to make a position part-time or outsource the work on a contract basis, it makes a lot more sense to a business to ensure that their profit margins go up, whilst still having the backup they need.

Think about your budgets - put them in place every year.

Assisting U Virtually

Social media and online marketing

Social media and online marketing is essential in this day and age. It is growing every day with new ways to link to other business owners and create a possible strategic alliance.

An example of how this has worked recently for me is I posted a job for a client on a number of groups through LinkedIn and had more than 5 positive responses in the space a day.

Two resumes have been sent through to my client and that is how word of mouth and use of any online marketing and social media can assist your business or other business entities you may know.

How else can it assist? You do not know everyone! Your connections do not know everyone! But by connecting to as many people as you can, you will have a much better opportunity to market to the greater population and become an entity which someone would prefer to deal with because of a connection.

Connect - connections - connectivity. These words are extremely important in building a trust and relationship with other business owners.

Take the time out to consider these words and connect.

Starting up your own business

There are a number of facets to starting up a new business, but you need to be 100% confident in yourself and your abilities - that would be the first step.

Are you?

Then, once you are sure that this is the step you want and need to take, then start writing down your ideas, your goals and your budgets.

Once this is done then comes the nitty gritty requirements such as a ABN, GST, accounts setup, legal documentation, bank accounts etc etc. The list is endless.

To overcome a lot of the worry for small business startups we have come up with a listo f how you can achieve your requirements without getting stressed and burnt out before you even start.

This is our plan for 2010 - to start assisting startup small business with out them having the headaches associated.

Time for everyone to make a change.

Assisting U Virtually
http://www.assistinguvirtually.com.au/bus_startups_13.html

Feel free to complete our quick survey.

It's free and worthwhile to make you begin to think about what you may need to outsource in your business.

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/78879/pqrxq

Assisting U Virtually

Admin is our Passion, Your Business is Yours.
Outsource your admin to us.

Building Blocks of Business - Outsourcing

Building a business is like building a home - it takes structure and a plan to ensure the correct systems are in place, otherwise a great idea can fall to pieces over time.

• What sort of building blocks/systems are needed to start a business?
• Registration of suitable business or company name;
• Research into the best business cheque account for you;
• Where to obtain a domain name, a website and email hosting?;
• Creating your own logo and stationery;
• Administrative systems and procedures including filing (online/paper), procedures manual, templates etc;
• Accounting systems - bookkeeper, Tax Agent, data entry systems; how to invoice, how to debt collect;
• A marketing and financial plan - where do you want to be, what goals do you want to reach?

When you have the initial structure in place, your business can begin.

Assisting U Virtually can assist you with the above necessities - just contact us to find out how. We specialize in assisting small businesses with all of their admin needs including: office setup, procedures manuals, typing, bookkeeping, presentations, newsletters, research, data entry.

http://www.assistinguvirtually.com.au

Coping with a range of business issues

Throughout my day I come across a range of varying business issues - across a wide range of businesses.

I wonder more and more why some staff in business are unsatisfied and do not feel that they even want to attend work on a daily basis, let alone enjoy their day once they are there...

Leadership is so important in all businesses, communication is a key element and must come from the top. If there is consolidarity between the partners of a business, it soon filters through to all members of staff and a happy environment prevails. If this does not happen, then it is no wonder that some businesses fall apart.

Ensuring that communication, paperwork and accounts for all businesses are in order is a major part as well of ensuring a stable business and good staff.

Take the time to ensure that you communicate with your staff, keep them informed on their performance, how the company itself is performing and most importantly provide them with support and backup so that they feel valued.

Catching up - Virtual Assistance

Hi everyone, we have not posted for a little while, but need to catch up. We are finding that there are more and more businesses who are needing part time/casual assistance but do not know where to locate this sort of assistance.

Using social media and joining local networking functions is one way but the main way is if you can locate a Virtual Assistant by word of mouth. Then, you know that the Virtual Assistant you employ will work with your business in a business like manner ensuring that your business runs smoothly in the background whilst you remain the forefront of your business.

In these economic times it is worthwhile seeking the services of a Virtual Assistant to outsource those admin needs to keep your business afloat.

Join the growing amount of businesses seeking out who to outsource their admin, accounting and IT needs.