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Many small business owners struggle with taking time off as they would if they worked in a standard 9-5 job for a corporate employer. Well, here's some tips for how to make your dream a reality -- without losing your mind.

Every one of us only has 24 hours in a day. It’s what we do with those hours that creates the biggest impact on our quality of life. If you struggle getting clear time to work, we've got some tips for you to optimize your time.

You might like marketing. But that doesn’t mean you have to like everything that comes with building a marketing strategy.

Looking for the best bank for your small business? We ranked and sorted 9 top national banks to get you answers to the questions which matter most.

How do you stay productive? It’s not necessarily by doing what the conventional wisdom says. After all, productivity is all about results. Staying productive means that you not only make yourself more efficient, but that you spend more time on the big projects that matter.

Time is money, right? There’s a reason we use the word “spend” when referring to both time and money. It’s a common saying. But you’d be surprised at how few businesses actually take it to heart. And when you’re paying for the time and effort of your employees, it only makes sense to optimize how your company spends that time.

The ever-illusive 4 day work week. What really is it? What are the benefits of it? Who has tried it? How has it gone? We dug deep to find the answers and also highlight how and why you can achieve it for yourself or your company!

Are you a small business owner? Are you looking for inspiration? External perspectives? Guidance from those who have gone before? We've got some great reads for you to catch up on, whether during the summer -- or anytime! These will offer insight and wisdom from others who have blazed the trail before you.

Anyone who’s run a small business knows how it feels to play some modern version of phone tag. Maybe you have a thread of emails about a dozen long, each of them trying to get on the same page with your clients and customers. Or maybe you have three messages on your voicemail, each of them trying to figure out the best way to get in touch with you.

There's a lot of uncertainty when it comes to what the future workforce will really look like, but it's entirely possible that people who didn't work from home before will make the switch now that company leaders realize it can be done. If you're new to this approach, we've got some tips that may help make your life much easier!

Virtual assistants are typically skilled workers that offer an array of services including marketing, bookkeeping, and even office organization from a remote location. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field of administrative assistant work typically requires nothing more than a high school diploma. With a low barrier for entry and the average pay of nearly $19/hr, there are plenty of reasons to consider a career in this rapidly growing industry. But what are the top skills you need?

Since entrepreneurs have lots of reasons to feel stress, it only stands to reason that they can use lots of ways to mitigate it. But what are the most effective ways to reduce workplace stress, and which are most adaptable to the entrepreneurial lifestyle?

Whether we’re uploading data into excel or tabulating expenses on the company credit card, data entry requires focus, concentration—and sometimes inordinate amounts of time. And when we’re in charge of a business, there’s no doubt it feels like a waste of time.

Believe it or not, invoicing can be a major challenge for small businesses. It can be a major time drain. And if you don’t have an effective invoicing system in place, you’ll spend far more time trying to find old invoices than you ever do in generating new ones. Let us help!

The quality of your research will help determine the quality of your marketing efforts, your ability to help clients, and the value of the content your company creates. You may not have unlimited time to complete research - but virtual assistants can help you go the distance costing a fraction of a FT team member, or your own precious time. We'll show you how.

These will be tough times for employees who depend on your business. But if you can grow a more flexible workforce through the use of VAs, you might just be able to weather the storm. Here’s how.

Invoicing can be the bane of a small business owner or solopreneur, so much so that it's relatively common for businesses to lose money because bills were either incorrectly sent out or never generated at all. In fact, an estimated 82% of small businesses fail due to poor cash flow management. If you're getting tired of keeping track of who owes what, there are ways to start organizing it all.

Personal finance management doesn't come naturally to most people. Just like it doesn't roll off the tongue when you say it. But it's importance and benefit is paramount to long-term success and stability for many people. With that in mind, we've outlined a number of personal finance tips you can act on today, as well as things to consider long-term.

Let’s look through some of the top ways entrepreneurs waste time at work, then we’ll look at the statistics and find some ways to cut down on this wasted time through some simple, easy-to-implement steps.

Podcasts have come on strong in the past few years, and they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Listening to podcasts is a great way to passively take in information while accomplishing other tasks. Or to set time aside and focus in on learning something new or hearing interesting stories. Here are some top podcast picks for entrepreneurs and those looking to level up!

One of the most important tasks that every business owner must handle is invoicing. It's integral to your business for obvious reasons. After all, without an invoice, you can't get paid! It's likely not where you want to spend much time, if any, though. Here's some tips to help!

What does it mean to be a “good boss”? Whether it's your first time managing and delegating to someone, or your 100th time, you can get more ROI, and have a better relationship with the person you're working with by following a few simple practices that we'll highlight in this article.

When you're staring at an inbox full of unread emails, it's easy to just let them slide until tomorrow. Or maybe by this point, you've given up entirely on sifting through the backlog. But letting your email mount is a good way to get stuck in the proverbial mud, especially if you struggle with disorganization on a daily basis. If you want to free up a little extra room on your computer (and in your brain), we'll give you a few tips to get started.

Self-care has become a vague term in our social media culture, and it's often misinterpreted to mean giving into temptation (as a way to give yourself a break). But true self-care is often about doing things that don't always come naturally, like exercising before dawn or eating ordering grilled when you crave fried. The good news is that if you're trying to get more out of your day, practicing self-care can be exactly what you need to step up your game. 

Wasting your time refreshing your inbox isn't a great usage of your day. However, you can't simply ignore your inbox in favor of other tasks. Is there a practical solution to this conundrum? We sure think so. As it turns out, there are a few simple ways to make the most out of your day without sacrificing email upkeep.

Let’s face it: not everyone’s experience with virtual assistants is going to be pristine from the start. There are going to be mistakes. Adjustments. Outright miscommunications. And if you don’t have a plan for these, you may find the entire process disappointing. We've got you covered.

What can you accomplish with a virtual assistant? There’s no reason you have to discover it on your own. You can look to the lessons of established entrepreneurs who have already explored this avenue for their own business and incorporate those strategies into your own company.

Join the business owners of tomorrow with a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants can employ the skill set of a team at a single hourly rate. They'll help you scale and free time for more specialized skills to be focused on my you and your team.

Inbox zero is an important measuring stick to ensure that you’re managing your business life in a healthy way. Consider the statistics: 61% of workers list their heavy workload as having a “significant impact” on their stress levels.

It takes a lot of work to run a business, and it can be hard to know if you're always making the right choices. Are you wondering if you're running your day to day affairs well? Do you feel like you waste a lot of time at work? Does it feel like there's never enough time to get everything on your to-do list done?

The life of a small business owner is certainly not a dull one. You likely spend your days wearing many hats — switching from the role of executive business owner to handy person or clean-up crew or marketing superstar or customer relations specialist. Being able to maximize your time and improve your efficiency is paramount to your success.

There are multiple takes on disorganization, and not all of them are negative. Some people claim that the disorganized are more productive while others claim it's draining money from businesses left and right. But even if there are perks to disorganization, there's no doubt that it's frustrating on a number of levels.

We are currently living in the unbridled age of innovation. Thanks to the meteoric rise of the internet and its associated technology, the very landscape of our world has evolved. Naturally, this global evolution has impacted how businesses operate. Right now, there are more than 400 million self-labeled entrepreneurs in the world and that number will only rise going forward. 

Organizing and carrying out a large business project takes a lot of your time and energy. The good news is, that you don’t have to handle it all by yourself… you can hire an experienced project manager to take the responsibility of managing any project you need help carrying out from start to finish. Even better news is that it’s now a reality that you don’t need to hire an in-house project manager to manage your projects. You can hire a remote virtual project manager to make sure your projects run smoothly and are completed on time.

If you’re a busy business owner, you most likely have already hired help to assist in running your business. But, have you thought about getting assistance for your personal life tasks as well?

Master the art of effective delegation. If you're losing sleep because you’re constantly thinking about tomorrow’s endless to-do list, constantly checking your phone’s email to see if you need to respond back to a clients or team members, and feeling like nothing will be done right if you don't do it - this article is for you.

As your large or small business starts to grow, you’ll realize that you can’t accomplish everything on your to-do list by yourself. If you want to get more done, work shorter hours every week, be more productive, be more focused, and save money then this is when you should consider hiring a virtual assistant (VA) to help you out.

Should you have a virtual assistant? The simplest answer is: yes, of course you should. After all, who wouldn’t want a helping hand with some of the most difficult tasks in today’s working world: bookkeeping, accounting, scheduling, email management, marketing management, and more?

Virtual assistants are increasingly becoming more popular as online businesses have been growing over the past years. But some business owners might be hesitant about hiring a virtual assistant because they don’t completely understand why hiring a VA would benefit them.

Are you struggling to find a balance in having a job, making the money they deserve, and having enough time left to enjoy living your life? We live in a time where you don’t have to make sacrifices to be content with your job, income, and happiness. If you have the motivation to start your own virtual assistant business, you can work a job you are happy with, decide what you are paid, and work hours that fit your schedule best.

You’ve heard of a virtual assistant, but now you want to know what they can do for you and your business. Every business owner will need different types of assistance to help them grow and stay on track. Virtual assistants offer a wide variety of services, so you’ll be sure to find the perfect match for your business.

With the advancement of the internet and the ability to work remotely while still staying connected, there has been a change in the way individuals and companies are getting work done. You’ve probably heard the title “virtual assistant” but really don’t understand what that means. Let me help explain what a virtual assistant is, who they work with, and how they can benefit you.