Productivity Tips for Virtual Assistants

Virtual Assistants are productivity boosters for their clients. They handle the stuff business owners just don’t have time for. However, that means Virtual Assistants often end up doing the time-consuming tasks that no one else wants to do. But you didn’t set up as a Virtual Assistant to spend all your time growing other people’s businesses.   If you’re going to maximise the number of clients you can work with, minimise the amount of time you need to spend working and maintain a good turnaround time for your clients, you need to optimise your time management. I’m here to help. Keep reading to get my top tips for improving your time management and productivity.

The Importance of Productivity for Virtual Assistants

Productivity is important in any workplace. Everyone wants to produce the maximum output in the minimum timeframe. Even more so when you work for yourself as a Virtual Assistant. You decide your hours so the sooner you finish tasks, the sooner you can clock off and do what you actually want to be doing. Like getting your hands dirty in the garden, kneading the perfect loaf of bread or, just as wholesome, going for cocktails with the girls.   The more efficiently you can deliver your services, the better. Especially as it also affects your profitability. You want to achieve your maximum client capacity and in turn your earning potential. Time efficiency can help you to earn more money in less time without taking on more clients. How?   When you start moving away from just the hourly rate (I am not saying ditch it completely) and include Packages you’re able to earn more in the time you have!   Package up your services instead of charging hourly and then set the price in line with the maximum number of hours it could take you to do the task – because it’s not just about the time it takes us, it’s about the change we make. Then as you get more efficient, you’ll be earning the same amount of money while spending less time on the job – ker-ching!   You might be thinking that sounds great but how do I actually get more efficient? A work-life balance can be hard to maintain with all the distractions and demands of the modern world.

Key Strategies for Maximising Productivity

Let’s dig into my favourite time productivity tips, whether you’re working on something creative like marketing campaigns or something repetitive like email management.

Time Management

Time management for Virtual Assistants is essential. You want to make the most of every hour you work. To optimise your use of time, use a time-tracking tool to see what you are actually spending your working days doing. Track ALL of your time over a two week period. All of it. It’s not a food diary, you can omit that Curly Wurly you had on your way back from the Post Office.   A few years ago I tracked all of my time for two weeks and saw where it was wasted. It’s eye-opening how much time we can lose in a day, especially if we’re on social media. I watched a baby chick slide down a slide this morning then sent the video to three friends. Utter waste of everyone’s time. I could’ve been writing this blog!   It gave me the insights I needed to create time-efficient daily schedules. I know when my most productive times of the day are so I schedule my top priority tasks for then to make sure they get done. You might find the accountability of using a time-tracking tool to map what you get up to in a day useful so use it on the regular if it works for you.

Avoiding Distractions

In your time tracking results, you’ll probably notice your biggest distractions – usually social media, incoming emails or if you have them, kids. Seeing as most VAs start by working from home, it can be hard to get your head down and do what you need to do as efficiently as possible. There’s the rest of that cake in the kitchen calling your name. The kids are screaming (or playing; it’s hard to tell) in the other room. And, oh, is that a new client enquiry in my inbox…   Did you know it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to recover full focus after a distraction? So it’s important to create an environment that minimises distractions as much as possible. If you can, have a space that you just use for doing your work. When you’re in that space, it’s time to get down to business. Make sure everyone living with you knows not to disturb you when you’re in there. It’s work time not play time!   Not everyone has room for a home office. Instead, you could rent a workspace or just head to the library. Whether you’re at home or in a public space like a cafe, library or coworking office, noise-cancelling headphones can help you to shut out the rest of the world.   How about turning off your notifications? Allow yourself to focus by turning off notifications on your laptop and phone so you aren’t tempted to look at anything else. You can set up ‘do not disturb’ in a way that allows calls and messages from chosen contacts to get through meaning you won’t miss emergencies, don’t worry.

Utilising Technology

We’ve already talked about the benefits of time-tracking software – one of my favourites is Toggl. Technology makes life easier in a multitude of ways. If there’s something you need help with, I can almost guarantee there’s an app for it.   Start with how you make your to-do lists. There are AI-powered schedulers such as Motion that will optimise your daily schedules for maximum productivity. Waiting for client briefs, approval and that kind of thing can cause frustrating delays in your workflow so look at your project management tools. Using something like Asana or Monday keeps everyone on the same page with what needs to happen next to keep the project moving. In the same way, messaging tools such as Slack allow you to bypass lengthy email chains.   Did you know on Gmail you can set up keyboard shortcuts? It makes repetitive email management tasks much quicker. Elements of client management (which can get quite repetitive too) can be automated using software like Dubsado.   If you just can’t stay off your phone, try something like Forest. On the app, you set a timer for how long you’re going to work and as you work, a tree grows. But if you go off the app, the tree dies! The more you stay off your phone and on task, the more trees you add to your forest. That’s motivation to stay focused for sure. Even better Forest partners with Trees of the Future to plant actual trees.

Continuous Learning

Your work on productivity is never done. There’s always a new app or software to try. There’s always something to upskill in to provide yourself with the best possible expertise to approach your work with efficiency. An open mind does a world of good, not just for doing tasks well but for doing tasks quickly. I think AI could play a big role in productivity. The better it gets, the more we’ll be able to rely on it for high-quality outputs.

Establishing a Healthy Work-Life Balance

The point of maximising time management and productivity is to have a better work-life balance. Everyone wants a lifestyle where they earn enough money that they don’t have to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Life is for living, right?   When running your own business, you do have to be careful. There’s no one telling you it’s time to clock off. You work as long as it takes to get your desired income that month. The thing is, overworking yourself can lead to a level of burnout that makes it really hard to do what you do best in a reasonable amount of time. So you have to look after yourself.   Have a maximum number of hours you’ll work every week and stick to it. Schedule regular breaks into your work day. Prioritise your self-care activities. Separate your home and work life as much as possible. For example, I don’t use WhatsApp for business. I only talk to personal contacts on there. Keep your mind fresh enough to do what you need to do. No productivity strategy is better than looking after yourself so you can look after your clients.     Really it’s all about finding your flow. What keeps you motivated? What keeps you organised? What keeps you on task? What helps to keep your mind razor-sharp? What tools just make life so much easier for you? Experiment and try it out. This is your business. Find your own way forward.   There is one productivity sucker that we haven’t talked about yet. I guess you could say I’ve been putting it off… I’m talking about the ever so deadly procrastination! My best piece of advice is this: The stuff we’re procrastinating doing is never as bad as we think it’s going to be so just do it (says me who’s been putting something off for two weeks now!)