PLEASE back up your PC

Within the last couple of weeks, I have had two colleagues contact me asking for an email to be sent to them again as their PC's had crashed and they had lost all their work because they hadn't backed up recently. Can you imagine the disruption that this will have caused to their business? How long would it take them to get back up and running?

At the moment, I have a recurring appointment scheduled in my Outlook tasks every Friday afternoon to do a full back up of all my work for that week onto an external data storage device. If anything should happen to my PC, it won't take long to restore all of my work.

You don't need to spend a fortune on your back up device, have a look at EBay for some bargains.

Also remember that you can back up your Outlook! Follow these simple instructions to make sure you don't lose any important emails or contacts.

• Select File - Import and Export
• Select Export to a file
• Select Personal Folder File (.pst)
• Select items you want to export (e.g. inbox) and tick the include subfolders box
• Select Browse to find location of your back up device. TIP: Choose a file name giving reference to date of back up for ease if having to do a restore (e.g. Inbox 22.02.06)
• Select Finish

By backing up regularly, you will minimise disruption to yourself, your business and most importantly, your clients.

Until next time,

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Power of dreams - Part 2

Last week, I told you about my own 'power of dreams'. This week, I thought I would share another example of how following your dream can change your life.

By Preethi Nair

After three years of working as a Management Consultant, I decided that there was more to life so I told my boss I was resigning. “Leaving? To write a book?” she asked incredulously. She paused to give me a moment to retract what I had just said. I don’t really remember much else about that day, except that it was raining and I was crying all the way home and that people on the tube were trying hard not to stare at me. The hardest step for me I think was resigning and I had this blissfully naïve notion that the rest would follow effortlessly.

Enthusiastically buying all the Jiffy bags and affixing the pre paid stamps, I sent off my manuscript to various publishing houses thinking that soon I too would be holding a glass of red wine in one hand and signing copies of my bestseller with the other. It was not to be so. The first Jiffy-bagged copy came back with a “thank you but definitely no thank you” letter. It was swiftly followed by another and another, some Jiffy bags didn’t manage to find their way home and made their way to corrugated heaven with no acknowledgement.

Trying to put into words what I did next is not easy, as it seems the work of a mad woman so I will explain my reason for doing what I did first. Three years had gone into my manuscript; written from snatched moments on tube journeys, lunchtimes, weekends. Overcoming writer’s block, developing a passion for cleaning, only I knew how much of my heart and soul had poured into my book. To accept rejection from some people who hadn’t even bothered to read it or those who couldn’t manage to put the correct title on the rejection letter didn’t feel right. I think I felt so indignant to be just a part of someone else’s system and so completely at their whim that I decided to go it alone, I dislike the word but it is to self publish. I was in the process of buying a flat and instead of exchanging contracts I put the whole of the deposit into publishing my first book Gypsy Masala; a story of dreams.

Very early on, I realized that publicity was important but I didn’t have enough money to hire a publicist. So, I set up a PR company “The Creative House” and found a good feisty character to promote my novel. I created and developed a competent woman by the name of Pru Menon who did her job brilliantly. Pru secured many interviews and Preethi was busy doing them. Changing voices, making weird sounds in the background so people would think they were being connected through the offices of the multinational that was my back bedroom, we heard all sorts of comments about the book. My Pru character handled it all incredibly well. A few commented on the similarity of our voices “that’s what happens when you work so closely with someone.” She/I joked. Having not developed a severe personality disorder, I thought surely the rest would be plain sailing; not so.

The creative source that was responsible for putting this crazy venture into my head had other designs for me. The first print run (the whole of my savings) arrived with page 179 missing, the printer had made an error and it took weeks to sort out, press were waiting for review copies and things got so desperate that I had to give them copies with p179 glued in. When press articles finally appeared, there were no books in stores as I had overlooked the entire distribution network, I just assumed that copies would magically appear on the shelves. Rapidly, I had to learn the art of door to door selling and armed with a travel card, I pounded most of the bookstores in London and pleaded with store managers to stock the title. A few of them looked at me strangely and sent me packing promising that they would stock copies, only to put the sample copy that I had left safely under the counter. Others actually read it and placed orders. Then finally when it all came together, when interviews with the press coincided with bookstores supporting me, there was the oil protest. The creative saboteur had sent an oil protest complete with a lorry blockade so that the books could not move from the warehouse as orders came in. Momentum, so hard to capture had escaped me.

Exhausted, disheartened, jobless and completely blocked and in debt, I needed to take stock so I went away to reflect on the two years I had spent on the project. My greatest fear was rejection but I had put myself in a position where I was rejected time and time again. The extent of doing what I did was so I could be myself but the greatest irony was that being Pru had taken up most of my life. I did not regret a single moment because chasing the dream had made me stronger in ways I could never have imagined; I finally believed in myself in a way I never thought possible, I came back to London with clarity and confidence putting aside all that had gone before, I let everything go and I began writing again.

My second novel 100 Shades of White poured out of me in six weeks. I have always believed that when you decide whole heartedly to do something and follow it through by action, things happen, the creative source conspires to help you along the way and yes it lays down a few obstacles but this is merely to test resolve. A few weeks later, a literary agent by the name of Diana was sent my way (I assure you that she is real, not fictitious or any part of my alter ego). I won’t say that the story ends happily ever after because experience has taught me that this whole process is an adventure; it’s not necessarily about reaching the destination, it’s a cliché but it is about the journey and so it can’t always go smoothly but for the time being it ends happily. I won the Asian Woman of Achievement award for her endeavours and was also short listed as Publicist of the Year for the PPC awards. 100 Shades of White was sold as part of a three book deal to HarperCollins and the BBC have bought it for a 90 minute adaptation. Beyond Indigo, a fictionalized account of the whole adventure has just been released with a reissue of Gypsy Masala.

So I still maintain that dreams come true but only if you really want them to. Preethi also works as a freelance travel writer for the Sunday Times and is a contributor on Radio 5 Live's book panel. You can read more about the amazing Preethi at http://www.preethinair.com/

I thought this was quite an inspiring story and thought I would share it with you. Until next time,

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Power of dreams - Part 1

I was working as an Office Manager / PA on a full time basis and hated the company I worked for. I used to come home totally drained and weary from having to tolerate the behaviour of the directors of this particular company.

I dreamed of escaping but didn't want to jump out of the pan into the fire by going to another employer. The only option was to go self employed and start a business - but what on earth could I open a business in?

I then, by accident, heard about Virtual Assistants and thought that this could be the answer to my employment problem. I carried out some research and learned as much about the industry as I could so that I could make an informed decision. To see what a Virtual Assistant is, have a look at our website.

I decided to take the plunge, leave my employer and start my business in July 2005, and haven't looked back since. I am now my own boss running a successful company with a wide variety of clients on board. I am achieving a better work / life balance and am the happiest I have been for a long time as I love my work and my business.

My message, dreams can come true. If you have a good business idea, go for it (even if it is only part time). What have you got to lose and even more to gain.

Watch out for an inspiring story in part 2.

Until next time,

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Focus on what YOU do best

How many times do you complete tasks that you don't want or have experience to do? How many routine tasks do you do that you DON'T NEED to do? This is where outsourcing comes in handy!

Ask yourselves these questions:

• Would you contemplate doing your annual tax return if you weren't a qualified accountant?
• Self diagnose medical conditions if you weren't a doctor?

The answer is a big NO, but we do this all the time in our businesses. I am now working with marketing and PR companies to work out strategies for CKPA as I am not an expert and believe that you 'have to spend money to make money'. I am utilising their specialist skills so that I can concentrate on what I do in my business which is to provide secretarial and administrative support to clients as a Virtual Assistant.

The same concept applys to all types of business and a Virtual Assistant can help with the administrative side of things so that YOU TOO can do what you do best.

What can you outsource to a Virtual Assistant (VA)?

• Diary management
• Telephone answering
• Desktop publishing
• Website support
• Accounts support
• Word processing
• Contacts maintenance
• Virtual office

This is just a few examples of work you can give to your VA, but please have a look at our website to see exactly how we can help you.

Until next week,

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Use your VA to Guarantee a Successful PR Campaign - Part 2

As promised last week, here is the concluding part for this article. To view part 1 of the article, please click here.

By Emily Gordon of Do Your Own PR (www.doyourownpr.com)

Placing Articles
Writing articles is a great way to promote your business and present yourself as an expert in your field at the same time. You can get your VA to place those for you on various free websites that publish articles. There are hundreds of these websites around and you could have your VA research the most prominent ones. We list top ten sites in our Promote Your Business by Writing and Selling articles ecourse. The more often your name, business and website are promoted (because of course you will have these listed at the end of every article), the more likely potential clients are to find out about you and to visit your site - leading to more potential sales.

Follow up Calls
Once all the press releases have been sent out you can get your VA to follow them all up with a telephone call about a week to ten days later. It is quite useful at this stage to have a personal contact (i.e. your VA) and she can ascertain the general level of interest in your product, business or service as well as make a note of when to re-call as and when necessary. Editors will often be interested in your business but not feel that they have the time at the moment to discuss things further. They can let your VA know the best time to call them back and she can keep an up to date record of who to chase and when, building up a rapport with various people and publications on your behalf. When they are finally ready to talk, she can set up the time for both of you.

Keeping You Informed
It is at this stage that your VA will really come into her own. You will have been carrying on running your business as usual and in the meantime your VA will have contacted everyone on the list that the two of you made at the beginning of the campaign. She can send you the outline database or chart and you can then get a good idea of how things are progressing.

It can take months for some publications to come around to even looking at your press release and having someone on top of who has read what and who hasn’t is invaluable.

Your VA can keep you up to date with who wants to know what, whether you need to write another article or call them yourself. Your VA can keep on top of all of these contacts by regularly ringing around and acting on the most recent advice such as ‘yes, I’m interested but won’t be able to do anything with it for at least two months’. In two months’ time you could have a regular feature in one of your most sought after publications.

Your VA can also keep abreast of developments in terms of how you are achieving your initial goals and targets. If you said that you would have contacted 100 publications by the end of the first month then she will be able to remind you of this goal and to ensure that it is completed.

If you said that you will have written another press release and 2 new articles then your VA can also act as your ‘conscience’ and ask you whether you have completed these tasks yet. Your VA can really help you to get on with what you said you were going to do in the first place.

Fielding Calls and Dealing with Responses
Let’s suppose that your PR campaign is wildly successful (and why wouldn’t it be?) and you are inundated with replies, questions and responses. You can’t handle the work load let alone the requests for interviews and appointments. Having your VA on board here can be hugely helpful in terms of fielding those inquiries that are really important and need tackling at once and those that can wait. Your VA can even be trained to help out with basic queries, and one of the benefits of building a long term relationship with your VA is that she will have an in depth and up to date knowledge of your business as well as an interest in seeing it succeed.

Sending out information
You can often find in business, especially where you are a sole trader or a small company that you are spending an awful lot of time in merely sending out information. Whether it be responding to initial enquiries, sending out promotional material or distributing your newsletter. Providing prompt responses and mail outs are vital to the success of any business but is one of the most time consuming tasks.

Running a PR campaign can involve loads of additional mail outs and having your VA on board to undertake this task can be absolutely essential. If as a result of a successful Press Release or article you are inundated with responses, it can prove invaluable to have your VA set up with an email address with your company name so that all enquiries are directed to her in the first instance. This will ensure that these are dealt with straight away and your VA can provide an initial personal response and enable her to sift out the more genuine enquiries while you spend your time dealing with those that are most promising in terms of leading to a new client relationship.

How to Get the Best Out of the Relationship with Your VA
Having a VA can be one of the most worthwhile investments that you make for your business. But it is surprising how many people actually under use their VA. If you think of your VA as a developmental tool for your business, a marketer, who can win more clients then you have made the first step towards a rewarding and beneficial relationship. Your VA could easily pay for herself many times over.

Copyright © Do Your Own PR 2004. All rights reserved.

I hope you find this article of interest and if you want to see how a VA can help your business, have a look at our website (http://www.ckpa.co.uk/).

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

What is a Lens?

I have recently come across the concept of lens' provided by squidoo. The idea behind it is great as it is like a one stop shop for something that you are passionate about giving useful information and links. Some examples of a lens could include:

• Your hobby
• Your business / industry
• Favourite celebrity
• Favourite recipes

The list really is endless, you talk about what you are you want to and it is opportunity to educate people!

I have created a lens all about the VA industry. Check it out and let me know what you think, any suggested links or articles.

Until next week.

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Use your VA to Guarantee a Successful PR Campaign - Part 1

By Emily Gordon of Do Your Own PR (www.doyourownpr.com)

Embarking on a PR campaign can be time consuming and nerve racking. So, delegating some or all of the tasks that you don’t like, don’t want to do or that you just haven’t got time to do really does make sense. Here we will show you how you can work closely with your Virtual Assistant to maximize your PR campaign’s success and create a long term partner to take some of the load off your shoulders and allow you to also get on with the business you started in the first place!

We’ll take you through ten ways to hand over PR activities to your VA, and ensure that both of you feel comfortable and excited about the whole thing!

How to hire the right VA in the first place?

Instant Rapport
This needs to be there. During the telephone interview do you get along? Does she give you the impression that she understands what your business is about and what she can do to help it grow? Does she make you feel at ease, and do you understand her and where she is coming from? Is she comfortable with taking on PR activities? If not try another VA.

Before You Begin
In general working over the telephone and internet you are relying on a ‘gut instinct’ but if you really feel that you want to meet your VA first, no matter how far away they live, most VAs will be totally agreeable to having at least one initial meeting face-to-face to get things up and running.

Try Her Out
Suggest a trial period before signing a contract and make sure that there is a get out clause which you can use if things don’t work out. Make sure you understand and agree with the terms and conditions in the VA’s promotional literature and check that the contract ensures confidentiality.

Day to Day
Give it a while; start off with a few small tasks and see how your VA handles them. Does she respond swiftly or do you have to remind her (you can’t take this chance if she may be contacted by journalists – they need immediate action)?

Respect Her
Make your VA a partner in your business and share your successes and failures. Use her skills and talents and treat her as a sounding board for ideas too. It will make a noticeable difference to your business; helping you develop your sales, gain more clients and generally raise your profile.

How To Get Started
Once you have decided to use your VA as one of the key tools in your PR campaign the two of you will need to start off with a thorough briefing / brainstorming session.

Goals
Let your VA know the required goals and outcomes of your campaign. One way to make sure is to undertake a brainstorming session, either in person or over the telephone. Together you could come up with potential contacts and ideas that you hadn’t yet considered.

Setting up a Media Database
Your VA can do the research for this by acquiring a list of publications and finding the contact details for your target hit list of editors and journalists. Once you have agreed on the type and scale of the campaign you can have your VA set up a media database. If you use a database such as ACT already then you could ask your VA to simply transfer these details here. However, you could easily make one up from scratch and it could even include all of your goals, aims, objectives and timescales so that your VA can keep you up to date and informed of how the campaign is progressing.

Editing and Proofreading
Use your VA as an additional pair of eyes to proofread and edit press related copy such as press releases and tip sheets, as well as ebooks, ecourses and your own web site copy. How many times have you read websites or articles only to find spelling mistakes and punctuation errors? Sometimes when you write an article you can become so bogged down with the detail and the message that you want to convey that you simply overlook the final touches. Allowing your VA to go over it with a fine toothcomb will ensure that any errors are corrected and that your business is able to continue to portray a professional image.

Cuttings
Rather than plod through all the publications, trade and professional magazines that you may or may not have been featured in after your campaign has started (journalists rarely let you know when something is coming out, you have to find that out for yourself), a VA can keep on top of all this and inform you when you are featured in the press. But a VA can also clip any press articles that may be relevant to your business, even interview with competitors, or ideas for future markets, so that you are provide with a steady stream of useful information.

Sending out Press Releases
Physically sending out press releases is time consuming and can be stressful. What better way to avoid the tension than to get your VA to handle it for you? Your VA is one step removed from your business and so can provide a professional and much less emotional outlook. It also gives your business a much more professional look and feel.

Copyright © Do Your Own PR 2004. All rights reserved.

Part 2 coming next week.

I hope you find this article of interest and if you want to see how a VA can help your business, have a look at our website (www.ckpa.co.uk).

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Are you struggling with paperwork?

Running a small business can be a challenge and often paperwork becomes a chore. You are trying to build a business – who has time for paperwork?

You might not have space for a desk, can’t afford to employ a full time employee or just need holiday cover – that’s where a Virtual Assistant comes in. VA's work from their own office and provide all the support you need to clear the paperwork off your desk.

By outsourcing your administrative requirements, you can free up your valuable time to focus on what you do best!

Have a look at some of the services available to free up your time.

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Forward Planning

As 2006 has now arrived, I have been busy doing some soul searching within the business and I am asking myself the following basic questions:

• How has the business performed since formation in July 2005?
• What has worked?
• What hasn't worked?
• What do I want to achieve during the next 6 - 12 months?
• What do I need to do to make these happen?

By asking myself these questions, I am taking an honest and overall picture of where the business is now and where I want it to be in the near future. I can then draw up a realistic action plan to go about achieving all of my goals.

Why don't you take the opportunity to review your performance to see how you can improve on things for YOUR business.

Until next time,

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Christmas Break

Well Christmas is now officially over and on countdown to 2006. I am spending the 3 days in between to revamp our CKPA website for the New Year to take the business forward (so keep an eye out for the new look coming soon) and also working on business strategies.

I decided that I would use the quiet time to forward plan and identify exactly where I want the business to go by setting some specific targets - more of this to come!

So until 2006,

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions

Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to the Blog of CKPA. Here we will keep you up to date on CKPA, VA industry and any information we think will be useful for you.

Written by me, Emma Walker (Managing Director of CKPA and Virtual Assistant), this is an insight into how I run my business and my personal and business views.

I will endeavor to post to this blog on a regular basis to keep it fresh and up to date. If you have an item that would be relevant, please contact me.

I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.

Emma Walker
CKPA Office Solutions