Are you tired of answering the same email from 15 different people? Do you struggle with coordinating schedules for all your clients and networking partners? Is your inbox packed with 300 emails that you will eventually get too?

Stop wasting time on boring repetitive tasks.

Emails, schedules, data entry, and file organization are necessary, but time-consuming tasks for every business. There is a constant need to stay in contact with clients, coworkers, and networking partners. But doing so can be distracting you from further developing your business. 

It also takes your attention away from providing a great customer experience. People buy from people they trust and causes they believe in. Building relations ships is essential.

Outsourcing to take back control of your day.

Let someone else take over these jobs. You can hire a virtual assistant that works around your schedule and office hours. Hiring a virtual assistant instead of an employee can save you, on average, 78% of operating costs. You don’t even have to pay sick leave, taxes, or retirement.

There are VAs that specialized in things like video editing, Pinterest management, and website management. There are also VAs that specialize in fields like real estate, event planning, and e-commerce. I specialize in working with online entrepreneurs who need assistance in areas like web design, blog management, e-commerce and administrative tasks to keep them on track to grow their business.

To learn more about virtual asistants check out my post on 10 Reasons to Hire a VA and to learn more about working with me, click here.

By Keisha Boykin
CEO of Virtually Keisha
​Virtual Assistant/ Content Creator/ Marketer

These are tools that help me run my business, stay focused, and stay organized. They make you look like a pro even when you are just starting out. 

1. Asana
Asana is a miracle worker when it comes to task management and team management. I am a very visual person. Asana allows me to create my to-do list, organize my services, track my client follow-ups, set due dates and set reminders. Asana helps me keep up with what each team member is working on and how close we are to finishing a project.

2. Canva
Canva has templates for every marketing post you can think of. Design post for Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram for free. This site helps newbies look like professional graphic designers (even when we’re not). Create logos, website graphics, business cards, and other marketing materials all in one place.

3. Pexels
Pexels is a platform that lets you download photographers’ images for free. There are premium options that cost, but I’ve found a lot of great material in the free sections. Just remember to show your support through likes, follows, and/or donations. This is a great source to find captivating and relevant images for your website or blog.

4. Clockify.me
Clockify lets me track the time I am spending on each task. You can set each of your customers as a different project to inform them of the exact amount of time spent on their job for a service-based business. Personally, I use it to keep make sure that when I say I am working on a project, I am focused and working to complete only that project as opposed to multitasking or getting distracted. Clockify helps break down your day and optimize how you use your time.

5. MailChimp.com
Mailchimp is free for the first 2000 subscribers. If you are just beginning to grow your audience, then this autoresponder is a good place to start. It integrates with most websites including WordPress. Stay connected with your audience and promote new products or sales.

These five tools help increase productivity, make businesses look more professional, and save time. Use these to keep organized. If you have tried them let me know what you think in the comments below. 

By Keisha Boykin
CEO of Virtually Keisha
​Virtual Assistant/ Content Creator/ Marketer

Virtual assistants provide amazing benefits for business owners and I’m not just saying that because I am one. They save you time, money, and energy. However, no one virtual assistant is right for everyone. So, here are a few tips to help you choose the right assistant and decide if now is the right time to hire a VA. 
 
1. Communication
 
It’s important that you have a clear idea of what you want your VA to do. Set your expectations in the beginning and talk to them about what services you will need and which you don’t. Don’t hire a VA that specializes in top level website development, when your focus is boosting your social media presence. Maybe you need a jack of all trades and that’s fine too. There are a lot of general virtual assistants that can help you out. Be clear about your needs, your budget, your preferred method of communication, and how often you want to communicate.
 
2. Know What You Need Done
 
What are you really hiring this person to do? Hint: if you don’t know, they are going to struggle to figure it out. 
 
One mistake to avoid is hiring a VA too early. To avoid this, keep track of the tasks that you do daily that are repeatable and teachable. Develop a systematic way of doing each task that you can teach someone else. Then keep a running list of those tasks to add to a list of things for your VA to take over when you are ready. This could be scheduling appointments, listing items, answering customer service calls, creating monthly newsletters, processing returns or creating ads. 
 
3. Get a Contract
 
Contracts protect both business owners and virtual assistants. It also helps create a clear understanding of exactly what is expected from both parties. If you are using a freelance site, then pay attention to their terms of services (don’t just check the box without reading. Yes, I’m guilty of this too sometimes). 
 
4. Start Small
 
Most people have no clue how much time they need a virtual assistant to work for when they first start out. My advice is to either start them off on a small, independent project or hire a VA on an hourly or weekly basis until you work out how often you will actually need your VA. This also allows you time to build trust between you and your virtual assistant. 
 
5. Find Someone that can Buy into Your Vision.
 
I understand that your business is your baby and in business you need reliable partners. Your VA needs to know what your business is about and why it’s important to you. Whether you need someone to knock out a specific to-do list or a partner to air out ideas with, this partnership works best when everyone is passionate about why they’re doing what they’re doing.
 
To learn more about how a virtual assistant can help you and your business, schedule a free consultation today. You will learn about the services I offer or other options that may be better for where you are now. Click here to learn how a VA can make your business more efficient. 

​By Keisha Boykin
CEO of Virtually Keisha
​Virtual Assistant/ Content Creator/ Marketer

Do you need more free time? Are you spending more time answering calls and emails than fulfilling orders? Is there an aspect of your business that you need to work on or think someone can do better? Then, you should consider hiring a VA. 

A Virtual Assistant, or VA, is someone who takes on tasks for entrepreneurs and business owners to help their business grow. Virtual assistant is the broad term that covers social media managers, marketers, web designers, general administrators and those that do a combination of it all. They work remotely. You can work with one that just does side jobs for you or find a dedicated assistant to help out on a regular basis.

10 Reasons you should Hire a VA:

1. Specialized Knowledge 
Let your VA take over handling jobs like your social media management, website automation, and funnel creations. VAs invest a lot of time, money and energy into becoming really good at these specialized skills in fields where technology and strategies constantly evolve and update. 

2. Saves you Time
​Instead of spending hours, days, or months on trial and error learning different skills to make your business work or grow, outsource it to someone qualified. There are only 24 hours in the day. Make the most of them.
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3. Cost Efficient
With a VA, you don’t have to worry about paying for office space, insurance, vacation, etc. You don’t even have to worry about someone getting stuck in a traffic jam to get to work. Simply email them the task you need done. When you add up all the expenses, hiring a virtual assistant is usually a lot cheaper with a lot less liability than hiring an employee.

4. Inboxing and Calendar Management
One of the most time consuming tasks is going through emails to find out what is actually important and what should have actually found its’ way to the spam folder. A VA can be trained to go through and organize your inbox. Then, they can let you know what’s important while updating your calendar for client deadlines, client schedule changes, business meetings, upcoming events and more.

5. Fresh New Perspective on Your Business and How It Operates
As business owners themselves, VAs look at the big picture and offer a different perspective. They also give advice on the flow of your business by pointing out some things that could be automated, updated or discarded. 

6. They Proves How Well Thought Out Your Business and Procedures Are.
There is nothing that will test your knowledge of how well you know and have organized your business than when you train someone else over how an aspect of your business runs. Many times in the training process, you work out potential problems and improve efficiency. Business is all about growth and optimization.

7. Blog Management made Easy
Engaging with potential customers is essential for every business, but it takes a lot of time to moderate and respond to the comments and concerns. A VA can take on this duty and send you a list of the concerns, what customers like and what thing customers want to know more about.

8. VAs Invest in their Own Businesses.
Good VAs will spend time investing in software and trainings to increase their skill set and productivity. This saves you time and money as you don’t have to purchase the software they need.

9. Speed Up Processing and Handling
Are you falling behind on orders because of inventory management, processing or handling time that could be easily handled by someone else? Then give that job to a VA so you can focus on making more sales and expanding.

10. Scale Your Business Faster
When a VA takes on the time- sucking tasks, it allows you to be more focused and productive. If you allow a virtual assistant to do the repetitive daily tasks then you can focus on optimizing, growing and scaling your business.

What are you Waiting for?

There are a ton of general virtual assistants out there to outsource admin tasks too. If you need help with a specific aspect of your business like web design, then look for someone who specializes in that field. If you would like to discuss how I can help you get your business organized and grow then schedule a free discovery call today.

By Keisha Boykin
CEO of Virtually Keisha
​Virtual Assistant/ Content Creator/ Marketer

Follow me on social media for a dose of daily inspiration and motivation.

Hello everybody!

I am so excited. I have been grinding it out to get this new site up and running and I can't wait to get back to helping other entrepreneurs get organized and grow their business. They say that life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% how you handle it. For me, this week is proof of that. I had distractions left and right from plumbing issues to severe weather to preparing for family to visit and a phone that wouldn't stop ringing. However, the idea for this business was two years in the making and I knew that no matter what there was no way I was going to let myself down by not finishing what I started.

This journey taught me that you can't just tell people about your dreams, you need to show them. Enthusiasm is contagious. Getting other people fired up about what you are doing pushes you to strive even harder to your goals.

It's time to change our mindsets to change our lives.

-Keisha Boykin