One of the many skills required as a Virtual Assistant is organisation.  In this article we look at why scheduling recurring tasks will take your organisation skills to the next level and keep your business and your clients’ businesses running like clockwork.

How to Identify What Tasks Should Be Recurring?

Each business has tasks, no matter how small and thankless, that need doing regularly.  It is very easy to put something seemingly insignificant on hold if you are in the middle of a juicy project but over time they can pile up.  Think about your business or your clients’ business and this may encompass stock checks of office supplies, following up on meeting action points, regular website backups, the list is endless…

How to Manage Your Time Effectively

As a Virtual Assistant it is important to manage your time effectively.  Not only do you need to juggle tasks for multiple clients but also your own personal workspace.  Think about how you currently manage your time; is it a bit haphazard or do you have set times for each task / client?  Red Desk have been running for over 13 years and we’ve learnt the odd thing along the way: set times for dealing with clients helps us manage our workload and allows us to plan for holidays or increased workloads.  We also have time carved out to deal with adhoc tasks that pop up along the way

What recurring activities could a VA do?

Think about those tasks that you are always putting off and that seem to get out of hand.  These tasks are probably your least favourite but if you tackle them head on then then won’t be so unwieldy.  Maybe it is keeping files or emails in order.  Set aside time once a week to do a quick tidy up, so much easier than an hour in 6 months’ time!  What about check-ins with clients?  Do you have regular meetings or email updates?  Again, this is best to diarise regularly so you capture everything rather than something slipping away and then it becomes urgent.  As a business owner, make sure that payments to HMRC are dealt with in a timely manner as well as your bookkeeping!

Best Organisation Apps and Software

There are lots of apps and software out there to help you record your regular recurring tasks and keep you organised.  Toggl will help you analyse when you are most productive, CRM systems such as SalesForce have a tasks section, Asana is easy to use for project management (and their basic plan is free), Google calendar app (perhaps one of our favourites as it is so easy to use).  Do take a look at friday.app for some other ideas too.

We’d love to hear your tips for keeping your business organized – what is on your recurring task list? Email mel@reddesk.co.uk or tweet @RedDeskVirtual