I was just perusing my favorite blogs and came across this marvelous post at Yvonne Weld’s Thriving Business blog.

As a virtual assistant that spends a lot of time explaining the benefits of virtual assistance, I had to share.

Thanks Yvonne!

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Allena Tapia of freelancewrite.about.com.

My writing business is moving into young adulthood, and instead of wondering where my next project is going to come from, I’m looking for more money, more projects and more clients. The only catch is, I don’t want to work any more hours.

Ahh, there’s the rub.

The “secret” here is not so secret at all. Of the 28 hours I spend behind the desk, only approximately 14 are billable hours. That’s a dismal 50% billable rate. I simply must increase my billable hours to 75% of my total time, which will increase my income by 25%, with no time adjustment on my part. How?

By hiring and training a virtual assistant.

Fully one half of my hours are spent on administrative tasks like seeking clients, pitching clients, producing Letters of Agreement or contracts, maintaining websites and blogs, invoicing, answering questions and updating spreadsheets. Look at that list again. Every single one of these chores could be farmed out to someone else.

There are a lot of hang ups when it comes to hiring virtual help. As a freelance writer, I understand that. But each of these issues can be solved.

1. Can’t afford it you say? Let’s look at it this way: if you bill at $70/hour and pay a virtual assistant $30-40/an hour, by regaining those billable hours, you’re netting $20-40 more per hour.

2. How can I be sure I’m getting quality help? Well, how do you help your clients to feel comfortable hiring you sight unseen? You probably provide a portfolio of work, with client references and a track record showing at least a couple years of service. Look for the same thing.

3. I want to pay a fair price. Virtual Assistants (VAs) work on much the same system as freelance writers. You won’t be the only client, and you’ve got to accept that. I’ve estimated a rate of $30 per hour to hire a VA. You’ll want to do your own research. Consider what administrative assistants make in your area, and take into account your own billing structure when setting your pay rate. Be open to what the VA suggests, or visit the International Virtual Assistants Association.

4. What about training? This question goes deeper than what’s on the surface. Another way to increase your productivity and your billable hours is to automate your processes. For example, once you’ve found a system that works for you in procuring new projects, or in invoicing and billing, document the details in what will become your business manual. This manual will then become your training manual.

5. I can’t deal with the down time. Down time should be built into your schedule. Successful businesses need a time to relax and recharge after completing big projects- think of the day after taxes are due at a CPA firm, or the day after Christmas in the retail industry. You and your team need to push and give to meet deadlines and bang out quality projects, but you also need to regroup after success. This downtime is the perfect opportunity to bring on your VA. Suspend new projects, and dedicate your time to high quality training, keeping yourself available for questions and doling out your VA’s responsibilities in manageable increments.

Investing in a new addition to your team won’t be easy. Syncing your schedules, dealing with miscommunications and ironing out expectations are all challenges that you will meet together. But doing so will take a load off your shoulders, increase production, and boost your bottom line.

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” - Henry Ford

Allena Tapia is a freelance writer and editor. She helps new freelancers get started in the business at freelancewrite.about.com.

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So Mark has done it again.  He has blogged about another awesome little tool that I am really loving.

It’s called Windows Pager - it’s an open source program that works with Windows XP to give you up to 4 desktops on your machine, all running at once. Open Source = free!

Right now, I have one desktop with my collaboration site open, one with my word processor where I’m doing some writing, one with my time tracking tool, and another here where I’m blogging, etc.

It’s a teeny tiny file, and even with my slow broadband I was able to download it and have it working in seconds.

Download it here:

http://windowspager.sourceforge.net/

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Being one of the lucky people in the world that gets to work from a home office, and in recognition of International ‘Work in Your Bathrobe Day’ (which celebrates work at home professionals) I thought I’d post a couple of tips that help me to improve my efficiency. I would love to hear what works for other ‘30-second commuters’!

First of all, having two children under the age of three means that I simply can’t be tied to a desktop computer every day. I purchased a notebook computer when I started my business and it has served me well. Where my office is ’stationed’ isn’t necessarily where I get to steal some time to work, so having my computer portable is a must. I can take my work to wherever the children are playing.

It’s time for an upgrade, actually, and I’m thinking of going with a MAC next time…anyway…that’s neither here nor there!

My filing cabinet is nowhere that little fingers can reach it. It’s better that way. But I found it very inconvenient to have files stacking up on my desk and having to go to a different room when I needed something quickly.

I purchased a cheap black plastic file box that I can carry around with me. It has tons of letter-size hanging files and I have one set up for each of my clients, my own business and personal items. It makes it much easier to reach down into this tote for the files I need, rather than making a trip to another part of the house.

I’ve recently read about a new product in the February issue of ‘Entrepreneur’ magazine. It’s called CloudPrint, and it’s an HP product, in beta. CloudPrint downloads and installs a virtual printer driver to your computer. Then you can print from your word processing program or email it to CloudPrint to retrieve later. Sounds like a bit of a fancy PDF converter to me, but they have more sophisticated plans for CloudPrint in the future. Might be worth checking out.

I truly love being able to work from home. As I sit here in comfortable, casual clothes (no bathrobe even though it’s the holiday for it - I’d never get anything done!) watching the snow accumulate outside my living room window, watching my daughter play and listening to Etta James, it’s hard to imagine working a traditional 9-5 job again. If it weren’t for this huge pile of work staring at me and my 30 item to do list for today…this is almost relaxing

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One of my fabulous VAs, Victoria, is just the best at finding cool software solutions. Yesterday she sent me a link to a program that has resulted in the freeing up of a ton of my time and it’s keeping me on the ball like nothing else!

It’s called Toodledo, and you know it has to be good because of the name.

What it is, is a program to manage your daily/monthly/weekly/yearly/wheneverly ‘to-do’ items and goals- hence the name ‘Toodledo‘.

So, you might be thinking, “ya, big deal, another to-do manager”, but listen up! This one is different. It has a super cool Firefox add on so right now, as I type, my list is staring me in the face on the left hand side of my screen.

I’ve asked Victoria to take over my email management because it eats up way too much of my time, and because I upgraded from a free ‘Toodledo‘ account to a Pro Version (for the hefty sum of $14.95/year) I can add Victoria as a collaborator. She can add tasks for me as things come up in my email, so I can deal with them.

I’m one of those people that’s very motivated by crossing off items on a list, so this is just perfect for me. Yesterday I accomplished an amount of work I didn’t think was even possible, because it was all listed right there for me all day. Tasks are organized by folders, which I have set up for each of my clients, Mann Made Time, and my personal items. Since I don’t necessarily need Victoria to know when I’m going for a physical or what grocery items I am out of, I set up my own personal folder as private so she won’t know what’s in there. Not that it matters, because she has enough information about me, including all of my passwords, to completely hack into my life anyway.

Anyway, It also has a very cool feature with the Pro Version that’s perfect for those that procrastinate or are easily distracted. You can tell Toodledo that you have some free time, let’s say one hour, and it will search your hottest or highest priority items and tell you what you could do for that hour. You can even choose one of your folders (or clients) for it to pick tasks from.

It really is a great tool, and you can get an account for free. Check it out!

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If you’re a real estate agent (or a REVA) and are spending a lot of time, effort and/or money on virtual tours, this will be of great interest to you!

There’s a fabulous tool called ‘Real Estate Shows‘ that does a great job of virtual tours for a low yearly price for unlimited shows. You just insert your photos, select the music you would like played, add some titles and property details and you’re done!

I think it’s a great value. For $125 per year you can create as many virtual tours as you like, and you can even use your shows to generate flyers.

You should check it out if you haven’t already.

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