Posts Tagged ‘virtual workers’
Cyber Monday Meets Virtual Office Users
Cyber Monday and virtual offices go hand and hand—or at least they should. But the shopping doesn’t end on Cyber Monday. People are shopping online from their virtual offices throughout the Christmas season.
Fifty percent of American workers plan to spend time holiday shopping online at work this season. Of these workers, 34 percent will spend one hour or more shopping and 16 percent will spend two or more hours.
The problem is, many of these workers aren’t entrepreneurs working from virtual offices. So if you are among the employees using the company computer to shop for Christmas presents be warned: Half of U.S. companies monitor Internet and email use of employees.
“Most companies assume their employees use some of their break time on the Internet for shopping, checking social networks, and other general browsing, but when it starts adding up, workers need to be aware of company policies and any potential consequences,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “With more companies limiting or restricting online activity, e-shopping season is as good a time as any to be mindful of our Internet usage at work.”
The good news is you can cash in on some great holiday shopping deals if you are working from home in a virtual office. We all have those 10 minute breaks in between client phone calls or appointments. And we all spend time on hold. Those are peak times to do a little comparison shopping from the comfort of your virtual office. Everyone else—wait until you get home from work!
Check out this YouTube video on Cyber Monday:
Still looking for the truth about virtual assistants? In yesterday’s post, we looked at one of the biggest myths I’ve discovered. That is, “My business can’t afford to hire virtual assistants.”
Now that we busted that myth, let’s look at the second most common myth I’ve seen associated with virtual assistants…It sounds something like this: “My business isn’t big enough to hire a virtual assistant.” Even if you are a one-man show, and maybe especially if you are a one-man show, that is a myth of monumental proportions.
No matter how small your company is, it’s not too small for a virtual assistant. Think about it for a minute. How much time do you spend, or perhaps waste is a better way to look at it, on administrative tasks that could be outsourced to someone else who could do it just as efficiently as you – and free you up for revenue-generating opportunities? How much time do you spend? An hour, two hours, three hours?
Why should you spend, er waste, your valuable time on billing, appointment-setting, calendar maintenance, bookkeeping, travel arrangements, or expense tracking when a virtual assistant can easily handle all those tasks for you? The answer is…you shouldn’t. And you don’t have to when you hire a virtual assistant.
Virtual assistants free up your time so you can concentrate on your core business. In fact, if you want to grow your business, a virtual assistant can be the best way to spread yourself out without spreading yourself too thin.
The term ‘virtual receptionist’ may not be in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, but it’s certainly in the vocabulary of a growing number of companies, large and small.
Indeed, the virtual receptionist is a growing trend in today’s business world, from Corporate America right down to the bootstrapping start-up – and everywhere in between. In fact, you could very well be speaking with a virtual receptionist when you call your doctor, accountant, lawyer or other professional services firm. You might be speaking with a virtual receptionist when you place a telephone order for goods and services of all kinds. You might even encounter a virtual receptionist when you call the local offices of an international company you are doing business with.
The virtual receptionist can do more than answer the phone – much more. They can become an extension of your business, gaining an understanding of your company as they deal with day-to-day issues that arise around appointments, cancellations, executive messaging preferences, and various tasks that can be handled over the telephone. The virtual receptionist is always professional, always knowledgeable, and always ready to help callers to your business find a solution or get the answers they need.
If you are spending too much time answering your phones, if you need someone to screen your calls to avoid wasting time, if you need help setting appointments, a virtual receptionist can save you time coming and going – and help you remain more available for customers in different time zones.
Everybody wants the corner office. It’s the most desirable spot because it’s usually the largest space on the floor – and it often offers the best view.
The good news is when you tap into virtual office space, you (and all your employees if you have a distributed workforce) can brag about having the coveted corner office all to yourself. Of course, that corner office is in the comfort of your own home.
Perhaps even better than having the “corner office” all to yourself is the ability to do business from just about anywhere at any time without missing a beat. When you work from a virtual office space, you can work beyond the four walls of a home office. You can work from a coffee shop, a train depot, a doctor’s office, or just about anywhere else life takes you.
Indeed, there’s no need to lose productivity when you work from a virtual office space. So long as you are equipped with a laptop, a Wi-Fi connection, and a cell phone, your virtual office space can travel with you and keep your overhead to a minimum. Your phones can be answered by a professional virtual receptionist, your mail delivered to a prestigious business address, and your clients can meet you in a state-of-the-art meeting room when you work from a virtual office space.
One of the key advantages of the virtual office space is avoiding commute time. When you use a virtual office space, commuting to your corner office often means taking a few steps from the bedroom to the spare bedroom where your high-tech bells and whistles await. Even if your home office isn’t in the corner and doesn’t offer a view, you may decide that working in a virtual office space could actually be more coveted than the old-fashioned corner office.
Is your company growing? Opportunities abound in a recession for those who have innovative ideas, some elbow grease and an mindset to conquer – and a virtual office can help you drive your bright ideas into new markets.
When you opt for a virtual office, you opt for lower overhead costs. Let’s face it. Just because you have a shiny new business model doesn’t mean you need a shiny new office space that runs up a monthly bill before your fledgling business is ready to pay it. And it doesn’t mean you need to find all your talent in the local market, either.
A virtual office allows you to bring the talent you need to grow your business – or launch a new one – under one virtual roof, so to speak. In fact, you can actually attract better and brighter talent by offering them the flexibility to work from home and tap into your virtual office technologies. If you need a local man or woman on the job in Atlanta, New York or Miami, then, you don’t need to locate there physically. Just hire a virtual employee, set them up in a virtual office, and start building your local presence.
Again, it is possible to grow your start up or even launch a new business in a down economy. It just takes courage, a viable idea, and attention to cost-containment. The virtual office can save you thousands of dollars a month and help you grow into new markets quickly – and more profitably. Continued sales growth and increased profitability firmly demonstrate that businesses conducted virtually are a growing reality.
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