Expanding and Growing

A big "Welcome to the OffAssist Team" is going out to Tom Beauchamp this month!

Tom, having recently closed his computer gaming center, has agreed to join the team on a full-time basis. 

As many of you know, Tom is my husband of 12+ years and has owned his own business for the past three years. His background is in computer technology and sales and marketing. We are actively developing the marketing side of OffAssist to enable us to offer even more services to our clients. He is also available for off- and on-site computer assistance in the greater Austin area.

We have worked together closely for the past few years while developing our businesses (haven't killed each other yet!) and think this is the best way to move OffAssist into the future. I am excited to have him join the team full time--with him helping out, I will be able to focus more on the big picture for our clients.

So don't be alarmed if a strange dude answers the office phone or you get an email from tom@offassist.com - he's ready, willing and able to help.

In this issue:

I hope you enjoy this year-end issue! I'm always on the lookout for articles, so if you'd like to contribute, please feel free to email me at candy@offassist.com

Are You Prepared For Your Own Success?
By Danielle Keister

“Self-employment is about freedom. I don't have to kiss ass, sit through stupid meetings, or play political games. I can shift my professional focus without having to get permission from anyone. I can work whatever schedule I want, charge what I feel like charging, and take off for a walk whenever I want. I get ahead primarily because of the quality of my work and not my hairstyle, my lifestyle, my politics, or my personality. My age and gender are not issues in any way. I have never heard of any job where all those things are true. Give me self-employment or give me death.”

A colleague posted this quote, attributed to author Marcia Yudkin, on an industry forum I belong to. I love it! And it got me to thinking… self-employment is indeed about freedom. Freedom to pursue work that most energizes you and brings greater meaning and fulfillment to your life. Freedom to work according to the pace and style that best suits your talents, tendencies and values. And freedom to make choices about the direction of your life, and how well you live and enjoy that life.

At least that’s what people envision when they first open their own business.

In reality, the truth is often much different for small business owners. They’ve all heard and taken to heart the mantra that “one should make a living doing what you love.” And they start their business full of those good intentions.

Unfortunately, they too often fail to realize just how many roles there are to fill in a business, and how each of those roles requires its own expertise.

For example, there's the technician. That's the person who works IN the business as its employee performing the actual work of the business. Then there's the manager, who must organize and supervise the work. And there's the owner or entrepreneur, the mastermind who must work ON the business and is in charge of setting goals, thinking creatively, mapping out plans and making strategic decisions.

Depending on the size of the business, it may take more than one person to fill each of these roles in order to get the job done. No one person can be an expert in every single area.

You may be an absolute genius at marketing and networking, but a complete dunce when it comes to bookkeeping or word processing. Or perhaps you have brilliant ideas that will take your business to the next level, but are an absolute mess when it comes to translating your vision into a presentation or spreadsheet. Do you really want to waste precious hours and days hunting, pecking and desperately struggling with software mechanics?

And even if you are capable in those areas, as the owner and chief visionary, is that really the smartest expenditure of your time and energy when you could be out there creating revenue?

For these reasons, roles are divided into further specializations to ensure that specific functions are performed properly, efficiently and by the right person.

Unfortunately, however, small business owners commonly attempt to wear all these hats themselves in the beginning. Sooner or later, though, they arrive at the inevitable truth - that it is simply not humanly possible to do everything themselves. Nor should they! Trying to be all things breeds inefficiency. It inhibits creativity. It drags down your productivity, and compromises your ability to deliver quality to your customers.

All of this costs your business dearly in more ways than financially. Going it alone does nothing to prepare you for your own success. Success, after all, is the natural progression and implicit goal of any business. Tragically, too many business owners never think to prepare themselves for the day when their business grows beyond what they can handle on their own. And business owners who are spread too thin come to resent and dread their business, and wonder what they’ve gotten themselves into.

All is not lost, however. The fact is, the small business owner doesn’t have to wait until the boat is sinking or already sunk. Even just a little strategic assistance can work miracles, and allow you to start running your business (instead of it running you) with more intention, clarity and greater results.

The Virtual Assistance profession exists to meet this need of the small business owner. Virtual Assistants provide those administrative services that, in turn, give business owners the freedom and flexibility they need to take care of more important demands, and allow them to direct their time, energy and expertise where those commodities are most intelligently focused.

So be prepared for your own success! Safeguard your freedom to live and enjoy your life as a self-reliant, independent business owner by planning ahead and hiring the help you need right now - you can't afford not to.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Danielle Keister is owner of The Relief, a successful virtual assistance practice in Tacoma WA that has been delivering expert, personalized office support services to small businesses since 1997. Ms. Keister has over 20 years administrative experience in both the private and public business sectors. Her areas of expertise also include bookkeeping, desktop publishing and web design. For more information, visit www.TheRelief.com

Quickie QuickBooks Q & A

S.C. from Washington asks:   Q: I had a client's check come back NSF, so the amount was withdrawn from my account. How do I record this in QB? I'd rather show it was returned, vs. just removing the original payment from my QB.   A: Instead of writing up a detailed answer, I'm going to send you to the source, the help file. It's actually pretty good for this question, just make sure you print out the instructions and follow them exactly: 1. From the top menu, click on Help and then QuickBooks Help 2. From the box that pops up, click on the Receiving Money folder 3. Under that folder click on Handling A Bounced Check From A Customer Again, make sure you follow the directions EXACTLY and all will be well.

Have an article you’d like to write for our monthly newsletter?  Would you like to be spotlighted? Have a QuickBooks question or something you'd like to see in the Tech Tip? Email candy@offassist.com.

***** A special thank you to our copyeditor and all-around-language-geek, Dyanna Larson of Ink Think - visit her website for more information about her services.