Outlook Productivity Tools Part I: SpeedFiler

If you receive tons of email messages every day like I do, you probably find it hard to keep up with it all. I use MS Outlook as my email client, and my inbox is never empty. I’ve set up at least 50-75 folders in an attempt to organize all of my messages; I have folders for each client, each vendor, each team member, each networking group, and the list goes on. Email is the one area in my life where I would be considered a packrat―I throw nothing away! I have been known to dig up year-old email messages so I can review my correspondence with a client, a vendor, or a team member.

One thing that has always irked me is having to search for the email messages I’ve sent. Weeding through the thousands of messages in my Sent folder is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, especially if I’m looking for a message to someone whom I email frequently. This doesn’t take into account the enormous number of email messages I send and receive, which bogs down Outlook fast!

Recently I found not one but two pretty awesome add-ons for Outlook that I now cannot live without. Besides helping me reduce my email overload, they also allow me to organize on a whole new level and to keep my email account under control much more efficiently than before. This week, I’ll tell you all about the first tool I found. Read more

You’re Invited to the Visionary VAs Launch Party!

If you missed the pre-launch of the Visionary VAs website at the OIVAC last month or you haven’t had time to check out the site yet, this is the PERFECT time to visit. Through the rest of June, Jaime Lee Mann and I are hosting the Visionary VAs Launch Party, and we’re kicking things off with a BANG!! We have teamed up with some pretty amazing VAs to bring you a launch party to remember. By joining the party, you’ll have the opportunity to win great prizes, claim freebies, and take advantage of special bonuses and discounts. Visionary VAs has something for everyone, whether you’re just thinking about starting a VA business or you’ve been in business for years.

By the way, EVERYONE who registers will receive a FREE door prize!! Read on for details… Read more

June 2007 Business Spotlight: Jaime Lee Mann

Besides being a business partner and co-founder of our latest venture with Visionary VAs, Jaime Lee Mann is also one of my clients. I reserved this month for her because in addition to being an outstanding virtual assistant, a business partner you could only imagine in your dreams, a wife, and a mother, she is also expecting another child—well any day really—and she still manages to do it all. She is the Super Mom we talk about and wish we were. I am proud to call her my business partner, my friend, and my client. And if all that isn’t reason enough to sing her praises, she was just named the recipient of the 2007 Janet Jordon Achievement Award a few weeks ago.

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Jaime Lee Mann Mann Made Time

As an administrative assistant, Jaime had no trouble finding work, but every job she was hired for ended up being a term position. She held several different upper-level administrative positions, including real estate office assistant, scheduling administrator of a business college, office manager of a non-profit organization as well as a real estate office. She loved what she was doing but was tired of the unpredictability of working for other people. When she became pregnant with her first child, she knew she would not be able to return to the “corporate world” after the baby was born and her maternity leave ended. She started researching ways that she could supplement her income, and came upon the VA industry. Having already considered freelancing as an administrative assistant, she immediately knew this was the perfect fit for her—but it was an amazing feeling to discover an actual industry full of people doing just what she’d imagined! Jaime has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and her years of providing administrative assistance gave her a huge pool of experience to draw from. Read more

Ultimate Guide to Productivity: A Tip That Worx

I’ve been tagged! One of my very good and long-standing clients, Gillian Hood-Gabrielson of Healthier Outcomes, has tagged me once again. The last time she tagged me, I didn’t have a chance to participate because I was busy launching two new products: a resource site for the virtual assistance industry and a series of books I wrote with Jaime Lee Mann of Mann Made Time. As you can imagine, these projects took every spare second of my time, and then some. I didn’t want to miss out on this topic, although it is a little late. But better late than never, right?

The topic for this tag is favorite productivity tips, which was started by Ben Yoskovitz at the Instigator Blog. I have to admit that I haven’t been as productive as usual for the past few months, so this will be a hard one for me, especially after just returning from a much-needed vacation. I’m very good at helping my clients get organized and get things done, but lately I’ve had a harder time getting MY stuff done! My business has grown so much—and I’m certainly not complaining—but I often find it hard to keep up because I’ve taken on too much or overextended myself, even after adding several subcontractors to my team. For months I have been searching for that perfect system which will allow me to communicate with my team members and clients in a cohesive environment, and nothing seems to fit the bill. I am now testing yet another system and have high hopes that this will be THE ONE! Read more