VA

Starting & Maintaining a New Home Office Checklist

Starting a Home Office Checklist 

Do It Yourself (Or Hire a Business Support Specialist!)

1.  Purchase Furniture necessary for your specific business.

2.  Design your workspace to accommodate your needs.

3.  Make a list of your business needs.  What systems do you want in place to make your workspace flow in a systematic manner? Ex. Types of shelving, cabinetry, etc. Take into consideration if you will be having clients visit your home office or if it is for strictly personal use.

4.  Draw a rough floor plan on how you think your furniture would be best laid out.

5.  Decorate. Make a list of possible decorative items/themes that would suit your personality and business best.

6. Purchase supplies necessary to run and maintain your business.

7.  Create an organizational structure. Decide where your supplies should be placed or stored for best use. Implement databases to track inventory of supplies & business maintenance databases such as a Lead/Client Activity Tracking Log, Marketing Tracking Log, Supply Inventory, Seminars/Continuing Education Logs, Sales & Expense Logs, etc.  (See attached examples).  Simplify your life and “Go Green” by consider putting into place an online filing system such as Google Docs for your business maintenance. Consult a Business Support Specialist for more ideas on what systems might work best for your particular business needs.

8.  Maintaining your organizational structure. Follow up on maintaining your business by inputting reminders into your calendar to check up on the status of your systems.  Or hire a Business Support Specialist to relieve you of this burden! The following are some of the systems that you will want to check and update regularly.

Databases/Spreadsheets – are they up to date with all pertinent information entered.

Contacts List – are all recent and past contacts entered?

Calendar – are all appointments and important dates entered?

Client/Lead Follow Up – go through your lead/client list and make sure that they have been followed up with appropriately and in a timely manner.

Email Manager – are all emails organized into files appropriately?

Supplies – is there an adequate amount of all necessary operating supplies?

Client Accounts – are all your clients up to date with their payments?

9.   Expenses – Are your bills paid and filed appropriately?  Are your expenses & income recorded in Quickbooks or other finance manager?

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MVBS March 2012 Client of the Month – Nancy Whitehouse-Bain, Realtor with RE/MAX Property Promotions in Leominster, Ma

This month’s Client of the Month is Nancy Whitehouse-Bain, Realtor with RE/MAX  Property Promotions in Leominster, Ma.  McClure Virtual Business Solutions assists Nancy on an ongoing basis with various administrative tasks. Nancy has been a full time broker  for over 18 years and as s Top Producer she specializes in Single family homes, Multi-families, Condominiums, New Construction and Land listings.

Nancy’s accomplishments extend to her being a Certified Distressed Property Expert – CDPE, Certified Buyers Representative – CBR, Member of 100% Club – Top Producer, RE/MAX Hall of Fame, 2009 Platinum Producer and 2010 Gold Producer.

In addition to her accomplishments she is affiliated with the Northern Worcester County Board of Realtors, Massachusetts Association of Realtors, Gardner Chamber of Commerce, RE/MAX International.

She is  married to a wonderful man named Scott, and has two children, Dean and Sabrina as well as two step-children, Ashleigh and Jordan.  Nancy enjoys playing basketball and racquetball when she gets the chance. For more information on your local real estate market, contact Nancy at nancw@propertypromotions.net and don’t forget to check out her website for real estate tips and trends at http://www.wykesandwhitehouse.com/.

Did You Know That McClure Virtual Business Solutions Offers Social Media Management Services for Businesses & Professionals?

McClure Virtual Business Solutions Social Media Management Services

At MVBS, in addition to our general administrative services, we also offer social media management services for businesses and professionals.  The following is a list of our services:

Daily posts  – on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or like sites. You provide the sources or we can do it for you! If you desire us to do the research we will submit a week’s schedule worth of content in advance for client approval prior to posting.

(We offer discounted monthly rates however, these packages may also be purchased on a weekly basis)

Blog Posts – We all know that blogs are the go to places for industry information these days and MVBS will work with you to manage your blog on a regular basis. Again, you provide the content (notes, outlines, etc.) or we will do it for you.

(We also offer discounts for multiple weekly posts!)

Social Media Combination Prepaid Packages – Combination packages are available at a discounted rate on a customized basis.

For example: 2 Facebook posts a day and 2 weekly blog posts could be available at a packaged price.

Content Writing for Online Publications – Need a ghost writer because you’ve been meaning to write that industry article for some time now and just can’t seem to find the time to do it?  Send us the information or topic and we will research and write it for you! Now is the time to get working on your plans to becoming known as your industry’s expert/go to person.

For more information and pricing on our social media and blog management services, contact us at mccluresolutions@hotmail.com.

McClure Virtual Business Solutions August 2011 Client of the Month – Gayle Morales of Keller Williams North Central

Our August Client of the Month is Gayle Morales, Realtor with Keller Williams North Central Massachusetts.  MVBS assists Gayle with business development services on a project basis. Gayle decided to become a Realtor because she extremely enjoys working with people.  It gives her great satisfaction helping her clients with one of the most important decisions in their life, the purchase of a home.

Her work experience has helped her to prioritize and be organized in the work place. She has a great understanding of the importance to remain calm in crisis situations and work well with people. She is talented and resourceful in handling any situation that comes her way.  Gayle’s  focus is always on a win – win outcome. She has been college educated in the Business industry has been told  that she is hardworking, thoughtful, patient, practical, sincere and honest. (and we at MVBS can vouch for that! 🙂 )

Gayle’s motto is “My goal is to help you achieve your goal”.

To find out more about Gayle’s services and your local real estate market, contact her at Gaylewithkellerwilliams@yahoo.com. She’d be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Share this post with your friends! 🙂

MVBS Welcomes Anne Blake Our New Executive Assistant & Business Support Specialist

McClure Virtual Business Solutions is pleased to announced our newest team member, Anne Blake. Anne has recently joined McClure Virtual Business Solutions as Executive Assistant & Business Support Specialist to the company. She brings with her, many years of work experience, most notably more than 17 years in the manufacturing environment. She has also provided administrative support to a painting company as well as more recently, to non-profit organizations.

She earned her Associates Degree in Business Administration from Mount Wachusett Community College after being laid off from her job of more than 15 years. It was here she discovered her love of business and wanting to be involved in an administrative level.

Anne currently resides in Baldwinville, Massachusetts, with her daughter and assortment of animals. In her free time, she spends it with all 3 of her children as well as her cherished granddaughter. Working for McClure Virtual Business Solutions is (in her opinion), the ultimate win-win employment opportunity. We are pretty excited to have her aboard as well. 🙂 For more information on the services Anne Blake offers, contact her at ablake1616@gmail.com.

How to Utilize a Virtual Assistant for Maximum Results

So you have signed on with a Virtual Assistant, now what? Having a VA can be  one of the best financial decisions you do for yourself and your business but if you do not approach it in the right way, you can end up wasting both you and your VA’s time as well as your financial investment.  The following is a few ideas to keep in mind when utilizing your Virtual Assistant to ensure you, the Client are receiving satisfactory results:

1.  Make sure you are utilizing a firm with a team of Virtual Assistants

This is important in order to eliminating any possibilities or circumstances where you may have an urgent task and your assigned VA is unavailable unexpectedly.  A firm that works within  a team structure has other team members to direct you to and fall back on when they are unavailable. No missed deadlines makes everyone happy and ensures peace of mind.

2.  Give precise instructions

Communication is key when interacting with your Virtual Assisstant. Since you do not interact with your VA in person and they are not in your particular business’ office setting, it is important that you give your VA as much information as possible. Once you have a task for your Virtual Assistant, make sure you are clear and to the point when requesting assistance from your VA. One good way to avoid miscommunication  is to request your VA respond to your request with their game plan on how they will complete the task at hand.  It is also important to let your VA know what the task is for or about so that you both are on the same page as to what is expected or needed.

3.  Conduct Damage Control

When assigning tasks to your Virtual Assistant, it is important to set deadlines or give desired completion dates/times. Another good damage control system to implement is to request status updates every few hours/days, (depending on the type of task), or request that your VA submits updates at specified times that work for both of you.

If you keep the above items in mind when utilizing your Virtual Assistant, you can be confident that you and your VA are on the same page and you both can feel comfortable and strong in the results of the Client/VA relationship. McClure Virtual Business Solutions understands that the idea of hiring a Virtual Assistant can be a little unnerving as you have to trust someone you never met (most likely) with the details of your business and livlihood. We are sensitive to this fact, which is why it is Team MVBS’  philosopy  to approach our Client’s businesses as if they were our own.  For more ideas on how to get the most from your VA and what to expect from a VA relationship, contact us at mccluresolutions@hotmail.com.