Being an admin superhero who just gets things done is what you’re all about. That’s why you’re a VA, because nothing’s beyond your organisational ability and no detail is too small.
But sometimes even superheroes need help and inspiration, so if you’re feeling like you’re in a bit of a productivity rut or just needs a little nudge to make your day a bit easier, here are 5 simple tips to help you streamline your work and maybe free up a little “you time” each day.
Tip 1: Develop Your Focusing Skills
In an ideal world you would find it easy to get your head down for eight productive hours a day, smash your way through your task list and switch off at bang on 5 o’clock for a perfect work/life balance.
But kids, partners, social media, phone calls, household chores and any one of a thousand other distractions can easily destroy your productivity, leaving you feeling overwhelmed, guilty and depressed.
If that’s you, don’t despair, this simple time management regime can work wonders:
- Set aside 30 minutes where you won’t allow yourself to be distracted and work on a single task.
Don’t look at email or social medial. Switch off your phone. If anyone else is in the house, put them on strict orders to leave you alone for half an hour.
- When complete, break for 5 minutes. Stand, stretch, get a cuppa.
- Do another 30 minute stint – again, on a single task.
- Break for another 5 minutes.
- Repeat the above until you have completed four 30 minute focus “sprints”, then take a 45 minute break to relax, have a short walk and check your emails and messages.
This method reduces the mental load of switching between tasks and means you are less distracted… you’ll get more done in the time allotted, making you far more efficient.
If you can complete four of these 30-minute distraction-free sessions you’ll be amazed at how how much you can get done in such a short time. It will quickly become a habit.
Aim to do six or eight of these sprints each day and you’ll soon find that you’re getting far more done in less time and you will feel more confident and positive too.
Don’t beat yourself up if you fail to get everything done, just put aside 30 minutes for another sprint and remember to concentrate on a single task or project – don’t chop and change.
Tip 2. Batch Similar Tasks
Another way to stomp your way through your to-do list is to group similar tasks together and tackle them in designated time blocks.
For instance, dedicate specific parts of the day to client communication where you’ll check emails, Slack, make phone calls etc. Beginning, middle and end of the day for tasks like this is usually enough and means you can then focus on your actual work. It really helps if you then switch off all comms so you don’t get distracted.
Make another block of time, maybe two or three times a week for general administrative tasks, and so on. If you think of new tasks between times, make a note of them, but don’t do them (unless of course they’re critically urgent).
This method reduces the mental load of switching between tasks and means you are less distracted. By time-blocking tasks, you can focus on one thing a time and you’ll get more done in the time allotted, making you far more efficient.
You can even use Kirmada’s Workspaces to create focused places where you concentrate on individual tasks or projects. A Workspace doesn’t have to be dedicated to a client; you can create a Workspace just for emails, another for financial tasks, another for social media and so on.
Creating Workspaces in Kirmada lets you chunk related work into their own containers – it’s a great tool to instantly boost your productivity. Why not give it a try?
Tip 3. Automate Routine Tasks
You may not think there’s much in your VA business that can be automated, but spend a few minutes thinking about it and I bet you’ll find some.
Invoicing, social media scheduling, website response handling and customer reports are all things that can be easily automated to varying degrees, minimising repetitive tasks and freeing you up to do client work.
But how?
There tools you can use for some of these tasks of course, such as QuickBooks and Xero to automate regular invoices, and you can schedule your social media posts days or weeks in advance using Kirmada.
But you don’t have to stop there. If you have more complex tasks that you’d like to automate but don’t know how, then investing some time into learning Zapier is a great idea.
For example, you can have a process for when someone fills in your website’s contact form; Form is filled in, the contact details get added to your CRM, a task is created in Outlook, a spreadsheet gets updated and, depending on the subject, the contact get’s added to a Mailchimp Journey – all tasks that will take you time to do manually, but can be done instantly using a tool like Zapier.
Invoicing, social media scheduling, website response handling and customer reports are all things that can be easily automated.
Zapier lets unrelated apps talk to each other and you can set conditions using an “IF THIS THEN THAT” rule base – in other words, “if this happens, then do that”. This means you can automate things like “if an email with this subject appears, then do these five things”.
It takes a little effort to learn, but don’t be put off! And if you really don’t want to learn it, you can find expert freelancers on Fiverr or Upwork to do it for you.
Tip 4. Set Clear Client Communication Channels
Establish specific channels for client communication, such as Slack for instant messages or email for formal communication.
This helps in organising conversations and ensures you don’t miss important messages spread across multiple platforms.
Don’t feel like you have to use tools you’re not comfortable with.
If you or your client prefer WhatsApp, there’s no reason not to use it instead.
You can load most of these apps into a Kirmada Workspace too, so if you want a Workspace dedicated to client comms, it’s easy to put it all in one place.
Be aware of bad habits so you’re able to acknowledge them in real time and change what you’re doing – in real time too.
Tip 5. Regularly Review Your Workflow
It’s a great idea to make your last task of the week a review of your week’s work and, in particular, your workflow and any problems you experienced with it.
Put 30 minutes aside to identify what’s working well and where you can make improvements.
Are you seeing bottlenecks? Times when you get interrupted by kids? Can you spot bad habits forming like avoiding tasks you don’t enjoy and end up doom-scrolling instead?
Meet it all head on. Adjust your strategies and your schedule for the following week to tune your workflow and get the tasks you’re dreading out of the way first. Be aware of bad habits so you’re able to acknowledge them in real time and change what you’re doing – in real time too.
It’s Not Magic, But The Results Will Be!
So there you have it, five quite simple but powerful tips to help you get more out of your day, every day.
None of what we covered here is magic or even ground-breaking, it’s just solid advice – you might even know it already or at least be able to come up with similar strategies given the time to think about it.
But that’s just it – having the time to make strategies to help you in your own business is crucial but often overlooked. You spend your days thinking about how to help your clients rather than yourself, without realising that by doing the latter, you are also multiplying the former!
So, if you can resolve to implement one or more of the strategy points above, I guarantee you’ll see benefits to your business in no time – and I wouldn’t be surprised if your clients thanked you too!
