Helping Businesses And Their People Thrive

As anyone who reads anything on the internet has probably noticed, “self-care” is a popular buzzword going around right now. In normal times (what are those again?), it’d be just a nice reminder to go for a vacation, go to a yoga class, or indulge in your favorite restaurant, but in 2020, the concept of self-care has become a bit different. Let’s talk a bit about how you can “put your oxygen mask on first before helping others,” as those old apparitions known as cabin-crew used to say to us when we still rode on planes.

What is Self-Care?

Self-care is just that, caring for yourself. It’s a conscious effort to engage in activities that enrich you in whatever, constructive way you feel you need. A lot of us are accustomed to helping others, keeping our clients happy, and doing what’s best for our organizations and can often forget about number one. Taking care of yourself can be extremely difficult, and I speak from experience; it has to be a conscious choice to take actions that are specifically for you. There’s nothing magical about self-care; it’s about whatever it is that is constructive and enriching to you, be it going for a run or baking cookies.

Take Time Off

Americans aren’t known for their vacation habits. The US ranks last of the 36 wealthiest countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, mandating zero, yes a big old goose egg zero, paid vacation, or holidays. The United States is the only country in the group “that doesn’t require employers to give workers annual paid leave, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.” Queue sad trombone… So once you’ve got your time off request approved, what to do in the days of Covid?

Travel?

Air travel isn’t as attractive as it was just a few months ago. There has been a whopping 73.7%: reduction in commercial flights in April compared to 2019 as tracked by Flightradar24. This isn’t the end of the world, in fact, the drop in CO2 emissions is a short-term silver lining.

Camping!

Gratify your itch to travel in the great outdoors. No need for TSA pat-downs or tiny liquids bottles! Now is a great time to explore your local area and camp out. Camping has boomed this summer, with camping gear and RV sales at record highs. Just be sure to be kind to the nature you’re enjoying, and practice self-care by not leaving trash at your campsite.

Enjoy Home

The staycation is maybe your safest bet for 2020. No matter where you live, you can be a tourist in your own town, or even in your home. There are bound to be parks and nature areas you’ve never seen before, restaurants you’ve never had take-out from, and shops you’ve not noticed. Get out the old Google map and have a look around your area for some solid me-time. And if you’re more of a home-body, why not get that garden going or work on some DIY projects around the home? You won’t be alone in your home improvement endeavors in 2020!

Indulge

Enjoyment of whatever sensible lark you love is radical self-care. Maybe there’s a series on Netflix you can binge for a weekend, or you could let yourself sleep in for once, or pop into your local massage therapist’s for a spa day; read that trashy book you’ve secretly wanted to read; buy those cashmere sweatpants you’ve been obsessing over. Do whatever it is you crave without guilt or judgment. Revel in indulgence. In the wise words of Retta, “treat yo sself!”.

Get a Hobby

Work, work, work, work, work. That’s the mantra it seems from grade school to the grave. With all this toiling, we’ve forgotten that we also need to do, well, other stuff, just for the enjoyment of it. That can be anything from training for a marathon, crafting, cooking, working on old bikes, birdwatching, or losing yourself in a jigsaw puzzle. It’s been shown over and over that hobbies make us happier, so enjoy yourself. Here’s a list of 20 hobbies to boost those happy hormones. So dust off that old craft box, learn a new skill, or take the time to explore your interests with wild abandon.

There’s no better time than the present to do something nice for yourself. Getting into the practice of self-care will allow you to be not only more productive and fresh at work, but also kinder and more patient with yourself and others. Gleaning more satisfaction out of life is what it’s all about, so cheers to you!

Uncategorized

I get questions from clients regarding inbox management quite often. Below are a few examples of what I’ve come across.

“My inbox is overflowing, help!”

“How am I ever going to get through all of these emails?”

“What if I miss something important?”

Does this sound familiar? Are you struggling to keep up with the overflow of emails coming through 24/7? Are important emails going unanswered because you didn’t see them among all of the others? If so, I think I can provide some easy steps that will allow you to manage your inbox with ease. I’ve helped a lot of my clients get their emails organized while keeping their inboxes at a minimum level.

Now, I’m not going to tell you that this will happen overnight, and I’m not going to tell you that your inbox will be empty all the time either. But, what I will say is that you will feel confident to never miss another important email again, you will never have to spend time sorting through your inbox to find those missing emails, and you will always be aware what is coming in and what is being sent out. As long you follow these steps:

Prioritize: This is the first thing I ask my clients to do. I like to have at least 2 priority levels, highest (most urgent) and lowest. However, this is not static and can change depending on the number of emails you receive. I’ve had clients with priority levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. It’s all up to you!

Action items (optional): This is an optional step that I like to include for special circumstances. If you consistently receive a lot of calendar invitations or certain messages that are highly urgent. Having an action category with a bright colored labeled will be very beneficial. I like to leave these emails in the inbox so they won’t be missed.

Color code: I feel that this is such a simple, yet valuable way to organize not only emails but calendars as well. When your eye is drawn to a specific color, you’ll automatically see the importance. I like to have my clients create color-coded labels (or folders) to help identify the priority levels. For example: Green= lowest priority, orange= highest priority, red= action item.

Think- Read, Categorize, Respond, Archive or Delete: Try to get yourself into the habit of going through your inbox at the beginning of your work day. This entails sorting through your emails and categorizing each email with its priority level, then respond (if needed, depending on priority and time). Once finished, delete or archive. By doing this you will get rid of any junk emails that may be filtering through, and you will be able to respond to your most urgent messages in a timely manner.

Trust me, these steps may seem like a lot at first but once you get used to the process it’s extremely simple. In no time you will have successfully managed your inbox, you’ll find everything in its place, nice and organized.

Do you have anything you would like to add that may have helped you get organized?

Administration, Finance, Helpful time saving tips, Marketing, New Strategies, Productivity, Travel

how-to-handle-mistakes

We all make mistakes, so how should we handle them?

Does the circumstance matter? Should our clients be privy to every mistake that is made? In my experience, it’s best to take these 4 steps when you find yourself in such an unfortunate situation.

Acknowledge it
Learn from it
Fix it
Move on!

Acknowledging the mistake means taking responsibility for the error that was caused, plus this will prove your credibility. Depending on the size of the mistake, you should consider disclosing it to your client as well. I’m not talking about a little mistake you can easily fix. No client wants to be bothered with every little thing. I’m talking about something that can be detrimental to the workplace. It is essential that you bite the bullet and spill the beans no matter how hard it may be. You don’t want to be caught in a lie down the road if you never disclosed the mistake in the first place.

Learning from your mistake. Now, this is important because you don’t want to be repeating the same mistakes over again. Write it down, set reminders, practice, etc. Do what you have to so the mistake is not made again. Remind yourself to double and triple check everything prior to moving forward. This will make it less likely for another error to occur.

Fixing the mistake. Since you were the one who made the mistake, it is now your responsibility to correct it. Sometimes the timing alone can be essential, so make sure to correct the error as soon as possible and go out of your way to ensure it has been fixed correctly.

Now you can breathe easily and move on! Take it easy on yourself, don’t spend time focusing on the mistake you made and the reasons why. That will just cause you to worry, and worrying can cause more mistakes. If you follow these 4 steps I guarantee the likelihood of making another mistake will decrease dramatically.

Remember we all make mistakes every now and then, but how you handle them is what makes all the difference.

Finance, Helpful time saving tips, New Strategies, Productivity

Are you facing the dreaded Expense report again this month? Check out my 6 tips

new-piktochart

I’ve done several expense reports for a variety of my clients. Things that are typically included are: flights, checked bag fees, dinner/lunch meetings, hotels, rental cars, Uber, taxi’s, concert tickets, misc purchases, credit card transactions, and much more. So, with all of the receipts that are acquired during a single trip, or on a daily basis, how can one keep up with the loot?

My solution, use mobile apps! There are so many available these days it’s hard not to take advantage of their services. These apps allow you to take a photo of your current receipt and it will automatically log that information into a single spreadsheet. Some will even match your credit card transactions, categorize receipts, track company policies & procedures, etc, etc. Saving you, or your Administrative Consultant valuable time. If you’re consistent, utilizing these apps is a great solution! However, there are some companies that do not offer these easy solutions or busy entrepreneurs that do not want to deal with using apps. That’s okay too! You know how it goes, there is a prefabricated spreadsheet that you must fill out manually, entering every receipt, category, or reason. Then you have to submit it to the correct department, attach receipts blah, blah, blah.

As a virtual Administrative Consultant, my goal is to make things easier for all of my clients. So I’ve come up with 6 simple tips to help this process go smoothly, regardless if you choose to go the app route or not.

6 tips for Managing Expense Reports with ease:

Take a photo of each paper receipt you receive: Even though the apps work great for this I would still take one extra step, and email those photos to yourself, or your Administrative Consultant. (Pssst- you can even text the photo to your Admin Consultant) Just so you don’t have to worry about losing the paper receipts. It’s better to be safe than sorry, and you won’t need a scanner.
Use your email to your advantage: You can easily set rules or filters to manage specific incoming emails. For example: If you receive Uber, or Google Apps receipts through email, then you can create a filter to put those emails in a specific folder. That way it keeps your newly received receipts organized, and separate from your inbox.
Create a folder for each month to house all of your emailed receipts and statements: This is important. You need a place to house all of your receipts, and credit card statements. Even if you’re using an app, you need a point of reference in case of a mistake. I would keep this folder in your preferred cloud storage system, or in a secured area on your computer. Your Administrative Consultant can also do this and share the folder with you, or vice versa.
Make time to compile the data: Now that you have a folder with all of your receipts and statements in one place, what’s next? Fill out the report as you go! I highly suggest this, because it will save you time in the long run. No one wants to go through a month of receipts all at once.
Submit your receipts: Companies usually like receipts in one nice PDF document. But, if your photos are in a JPEG format, how does this work? Well, you have some options: you can use a program to convert these for you (sometimes for a small fee), or delegate this task to your Administrative Consultant. I usually have the task of converting these for my clients, it also allows me to double check the entered data as I go.
Double, and triple check!: Before submitting your monthly expense report, just go through and check everything once again. If you’re using a spreadsheet make sure all of your formulas are correct, showing the right amounts. If using an app, check to make sure all receipts are included in the correct amounts. There is less error when using apps, but sometimes a mistake can be made.

Hope this list helps you to become more efficient and productive when managing expense reports. If you need some additional help, contact me at info@crowned.us