Be Your Own Executive Assistant in 3 Easy Steps

How to Be Your Own Executive Assistant in 3 Easy Steps | zen habits

Aside from outsourcing your life via tricks in Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Workweek, the easiest and most affordable way to get some extra help for many entrepreneurs is to learn a few of the “master techniques” of EA’s. Zen Habits (via guest columnist Chrissy from EA Toolbox)has 3 steps to get you on the right path to becoming organized and reaping the benefits of having dedicated help. As EAs often fill the role of “professional organizers, time managers or simply “professional keepers,” here are 3 steps to help manage some of your time, tasks and life:

1. Schedule a specific period of time every day for performing these [EA] tasks.
   These are the kinds of tasks that are easy to put off, however, once they pile up become a daunting and overwhelming project. Schedule time (generally about an hour) each day (preferably in the morning) to complete the basic office maintenance that your business requires. This may involve filing paperwork, scheduling meetings, sorting through mail, or reviewing and prioritizing task lists. Simply sit down and take care of these things one by one, before you get busy “doing business”.
2. Utilize tools of the trade.
   As your own assistant, it’s critical to develop routines and standard procedures that are rigorously and consistently followed. This will help streamline your daily activities. As an Executive Assistant, I use a variety of detailed checklist to make most activities “standardized”. For example, when gathering materials for a meeting for my boss, I run through a checklist to make sure he always has the same things with him. Of course, there is some minor tweaking for each meeting, but the basics always remain the same. Taking the time now to standardize your processes will save you time in long run.
3. Establish a proactive tracking system
   Executive Assistants are great at making sure things don’t fall through the cracks. There’s nothing worse than having a client call you to ask the status of a request that you’ve let go by the wayside. As your own E.A, you will need to create a system for following up on client requests and other time sensitive tasks. These days, the best practice is to use some kind of electronic calendar system (such as Outlook). During your dedicated daily E.A. time slot (see number 1), do the following:
1. Review your pending task list.
2. Rank each by priority level.
3. Make note of the next action for each and create a firm deadline.
4. Review progress of established next actions and make note of what has been completed.
5. Gather your next action tasks for the day and rank them by priority.

Most of these are pretty close to the tasks and general principles of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (link to Merlin Mann’s excellent round-up on all things GTD) — but the additional metaphor of setting yourself up as your own EA may help you reframe your activities in those time slots, or help you shift gears from “big picture” to “next actions” and organizing/prioritizing.

Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites

Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites - Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Our list of the new and/or undiscovered Web sites that have grabbed our attention this year. Youll see a large collection of Web applications and tech sites, excellent blogs, offbeat social networks, and, as always, a handful of addictive Flash games for those slow days at work.

Some of these sites are completely under the radar and get very little traffic. Others are hugely popular within a specific demographic. But all of them deserve to be in your bookmarks.

Will post my favorites from here soon — but a great list of new and upcoming sites.

Networking tips

Alphabet Bash, Networking Event for Minnesota Marketing Communication Professionals

I just attended a great networking event in the Twin Cities last night. The event, in its second year, brought together a number of communication groups (IABC, AMA, AdFed, PRSA — hence “alphabet bash”) for the express reason to network contacts and generate leads, ideas and social networks.

Part of the site for the event, which was brilliant, was a section specifically on professional networking. Quick tiips to help you make the most of any business interaction. My favorites from the page:

• Have a positive attitude. It sounds cliché, but if you go in expecting to meet the right people, you will
• Follow-up after meeting with an email, note or call
• Find out how you can help others be successful
• Arrive early and stay late, so you make the most of your networking occasion
• Have a succinct and thoughtful 30-second commercial (to respond to “What do you do?”)
• Beware of holding both food and drink, it makes it difficult to shake hands or give a business card
• Approach people who are standing alone
• Approach informal groups
• “I’m here to meet new people. Do you mind if I join you?”
• “What is your specialty? …your area of expertise? What do you do? What is your connection to this group?”

I made a lot of great contacts, caught up with some old friends, and sent a few emails out today with my top prospects. I haven’t attended a true networking event in over a year, and it was fun to get back into the professional schmoozing vibe, and it was nice to meet up with a huge group (400 registered) of folks looking to do the same. After a while everyone fell into a pretty easy pace, talking and moving around, handing out cards… only broken when the band started playing and it became too hard to hear. Great experience overall.

In praise of Craigslist

Part of keeping my home office in working order has centered around trying to keep the surrounding area, you know, the house, in order. Like a lot of folks, we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff, and I challenged myself to do something about it.

So, I put up the biggest things in our basement for sale: The exercise equipment I never use, an electric piano I’ve never used, an exercise bike we just upgraded, the SIX DVD PLAYERS we have sitting around, unused (we went through a spell where we won a DVD player at every function we attended — weird), etc. I even sold the toddler bed that our son used until a year ago, and had become bedrock for toy-stack in the basement.

One of the keys to motivating myself to do all the posting, photo-taking, etc. involved in CL-ing properly was that I planned to buy a toy for myself (of course via CL) once I had enough money. And now that most of the above has sold, I just picked it up (at right): A Burley Canto recumbent bike!
Now I get to exercise on the bike trails around here and take the kids for some rides, all while looking like a complete goof (albeit a comfortable one).

Some links:

• Help-Key: How to Buy and Sell on Craigslist without being an idiot - No-nonsense tips, including “use common sense” and how to spot scams easily.
• Xinsight: Painless Selling on Craigslist - Great tips on setting up an account, taking photos, controlling your contact info, and helping folks find you easily. Great advice on terms: “All sales final. Cash and carry. First come first serve.”
  
• eHow: How to sell on Craigslist - Great how-to, focusing on common sense, neutral thinking and street smarts.
  
• Unclutterer: Lots of ideas to unclutter your life
• Get Rid Of Things: Clutter post - Great ideas for getting rid of the junk in your life