|
A Helping
Hand
I'm a virtual assistant.
My business exists because busy people need a hand sometimes
and I am able to provide it.
Now there are others, millions
of others in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, who need
help. I'm not going to ask anyone to do anything,
however, if you do want to contribute to relief efforts,
here are a few places to begin*:
American Red Cross
PO Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
(800) HELP-NOW
www.redcross.org
America's Second Harvest
35 E. Wacker Dr., Ste. 2000
Chicago, IL 60601
(800) 771-2303
www.secondharvest.org
Feed the Children
1-800-525-7575
www.feedthechildren.org
Habitat for Humanity International
121 Habitat St
Americus, GA 31709
(229) 924-6935
www.habitat.org
Salvation Army
P.O. Box 4857
Jackson, Miss. 39296-4857
(800) SAL ARMY
www.salvationarmy.org
World Vision
P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063-9716
(888) 511-6548
www.worldvision.org
*Verify any organization for
yourself before giving of your time, money, or material
goods.
In
this issue:
- "Tom's Tech Tip"
talks about remote access
- Learn a about multiple forms of payments in the QuickBooks
tips
- Our spotlight this month is
on Precision Assistant, a self-admitted perfectionist
of a VA.
- My usual collection of quirky office and accounting
humor.
- ... and those ever important upcoming tax
deadlines
I
hope you enjoy this month's issue! I am always looking for
articles. If you have an article you would like to write,
please feel free to email me at candy@offassist.com
|
|
|
What
does an accountant say when you ask him the time?
It's 9.18 am and 12 seconds; no wait - 13 seconds,
no wait - 14 seconds, no wait...... |
The 3 Biggest
Priority Busters
by: Cynthia Kyriazis
As a professional
organizer and trainer, I have come to recognize that unless
there is a focused effort to keep vigilance over priority
busters, our best time management efforts will go unrealized.
Our day-to-day lives demand more to resolving this than
just practicing better time management principles.
The
cost of a minute
Jim Miller of
U.S. West tells us we experience eight interruptions an
hour. American Demographics magazine says us we receive
23 paper and electronic messages an hour—each one its
own type of interruption. Regardless of the type or number,
remember that every time someone stands at the door and
asks if you've ‘got a minute?’ they invite you to climb
out of your priority and into theirs. Politely moving
them to an alternative time enables you to remain focused
on your priorities.
'Yes'
is an acceptable word
Learning to
say no and meaning it is difficult. Let’s face it…no can
sound like ‘yes’ and no and sound like ‘maybe’. Saying
it to supervisors or customers comes with its own cautionary
reminder. But identifying and being committed to your
priorities is what keeps us focused on when and if we
should be saying 'yes'.
Fight
against procrastination
A difficult
habit to break. When delaying decisions is how we handle
matters, we permeate our time management practices with
ineffective and frustrating scenarios. Not only for ourselves,
but for others as well. Making decisions to move things
forward is the only way to fight procrastination. One
mindful step at a time.
Today’s business
climate creates pressure to produce more work…with fewer
people…sooner…for less money. It demands more of us. But
there's major productivity gains to be realized by proactively
handling interruptions, keeping commitments tethered to
priorities and actively making decisions. That is when
we will realize productivity gains and less stress as
individuals and as an organization.
There are only
24 hours a day. It's how you use them that determines
your level of satisfaction with work and life.
cynthia@organizeitnow.com
Copyright 2001
Cynthia Kyriazis. All rights reserved.
About The
Author
Cynthia Kyriazis
is an organizing and time management consultant, trainer,
speaker, coach and author with over 20 years management
experience in multi-unit corporations. Organize it, a
division of Productivity Partners, Inc. is an organizational
training firm she founded in 1995 and has been serving
Fortune 500 clients ever since. Cynthia works with business
and their employees to help improve performance and realize
productivity gains.
Cynthia has
appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Kansas City Star
and the Legal Intelligencer. She currently serves as Secretary
on the Board of Directors for the National Association
of Professional Organizers (NAPO), member of the National
Speakers Association (NSA), member of the Kansas City
of the International Society for Performance Improvement
– (ISPI-KC) and consultant to the American Coaching Association.
| Quickie
QuickBooks Q & A |
| DK
from Tennessee asks:
Q: A customer is paying me part check and
part credit card. How do I enter this?
A: It’s
a multiple step process since QuickBooks doesn’t
offer a way to split the payment types in one
step.
In
the “Receive Payments” window, enter the Customer.
Their account balance appears with a list of open
invoices. Enter the amount and type of the first
payment type (ex., Visa). Apply it to the invoice,
click “Save”, and then “New”.
In
the new payment window, select the same customer.
Next, fill in the amount and type of the other
payment type (ex., Check). Apply it to the
appropriate
invoice (which has its balance reduced by the
previous payment you applied). Click “Save”
and repeat as necessary if you have more
than two forms of payment.
This
can also be used for someone paying in installments. |
| |
| Important
Tax Deadlines |
| September
15 - IRS Monthly payroll tax deposits due for
August
September 15 -
Final Deadline for Corporate Tax Returns
September 15 -
1040ES Estimated Taxes due for 3rd Quarter 2005
October 17 - IRS
Monthly payroll tax deposits due for September
News
Flash!
September
9, 2005
The
IRS announced today an increase in the standard
mileage deduction from 40.5 cents per mile to
48.5 cents per mile, for the last four months
of 2005 only! For more information, read
the
press release
at www.irs.gov
.
|
| |
| A
guy in a bar leans over to the guy next to him
and says, "Want to hear an accountant joke?"
The
guy next to him replies, "Well, before
you tell that joke, you should know that I'm
6 feet tall, 200 pounds, and I'm an accountant.
And the guy sitting next to me is 6'2",
225 pounds, and he's an accountant. Now, do
you still want to tell that joke?"
The
first guy says, "No, I don't want to have
to explain it two times." |
|
Spotlight On... Precision Assistant |
| Basking
in the spotlight this month is Precision Assistant.
Like
many new moms Sommer Cronck realized after the
birth of her daughter in 2003 that she wanted
to stay home but was unsure how to swing it
financially. What was the answer that
worked for her? She became a virtual assistant.
Thus, in early 2004, Precision Assistant was
born.
Precision
Assistant is a full-service virtual assistant
company whose notable strong points are website-related
services and graphic design. Their web
work includes site design, maintenance, hosting,
and even a nifty utility Sommer wrote that allows
realtors to upload new listings to the web without
requiring them to learn complex html.
Sommer has also been the visual genius behind
a number of company logos, ad campaigns, and
marketing packages for diverse clients ranging
from a yoga studio in her native Washington
State to a real estate team here in Austin as
well as other businesses around the country.
To
find out more about how Sommer Cronck and Precision
Assistant can help you grow your business on
the web or make a distinctive visual impression,
visit them on the web at
www.precisionassistant.com . |
| |
| Tech
Talk with Tom...
Work
at the office, from your home! |
| Office
and home computer networks have come a long
way in the last ten years.
Information
from one computer on the network can be made
easily available to any other
computer
on the network. But what if you need access
to those same files while you are on the road?
What if you are one of the growing number of
telecommuters that only go into the office once
a week, and need to access important information
that you left on your computer at home?
Remote
Desktop Connection is a tool that is built into
all computers that run Windows XP Professional.
With Remote Desktop Connection and an Internet
connection on both ends you can
access a remote computer as if you were actually
sitting in front of it. This month I am
going to go over what you need and how
to set up a connection using Microsoft Windows
Remote Assistance.
What
you need:
The
computer you wish to access remotely must be
running Microsoft Windows XP Professional.
The
computer that you will use to access the other
must be running Microsoft Windows XP Home or
Professional.
Both
computers need to be connected to the Internet.
How
to set up the Server (computer you wish to access):
Click
"Start"
Click
"Settings"
Click
"Control Panel"
Click
"Performance and Maintenance"
Click
"System"
Select
the "Remote" Tab
Check
the box labeled "Allow users to connect
remotely to this computer."
Click
the "OK" button
How
to set up the Client (computer you wish to use
to access the Server above):
No
real set up is required; just follow these steps
to connect to the remote computer:.
Click
"Start"
Click
"Programs"
Click
"Accessories"
Click
"Communications"
Click
"Remote Desktop Connection"
You
will need to enter the IP address of the Server
and click "Connect". The two
computers will then communicate and, if all
goes well, you will be asked for a user
name
and password to log in. Make sure you
log in with the account you set up in the "How
to setup the Server" section of this column.
Congratulations!
You can now use the connection to do anything
you can do while sitting in front of the remote
computer! Your files are now available
at your fingertips and you can even use any
hardware connected to that distant computer.
Ok,
folks, that's it for this month. If you
have any questions, please feel free to shoot
me an e-mail at
daystar@lansedge.com .
Tom
Beauchamp is the owner of LAN’s Edge in Austin,
TX. LAN’s Edge is a computer gaming center that
offers PC and Xbox gaming as well as a high-speed
internet connections, and PC sales and repair.
He can be reached at daystar@lansedge.com.
Visit http://www.lansedge.com
for more information.
|
|
 |
|
Networks
Made Simple??? |
| Letters |
|
Candy -
Your time off article
is timely - my hubby and I are taking off 4
days end of this week to recharge our batteries.
I am taking my laptop with me. But where we're
going there is no phone connected and because
it's in a deep valley, the mobile phone will
not work unless we climb up a hilltop. So peaceful
that way.
I plan to spend
some time reading and writing - I love writing
but get very little time for the creative side
of me to come out, so these 4 days will give
me that opportunity to think, plan, create.
Kathie M. Thomas,
AFAIOP, MVA, ASO
Award-winning "A Clayton's Secretary"®,
Network est. 1994 The Secretary You Need When
You Haven't Got a Secretary!®
Ph: +613 9585 5780 Web:
http://www.vadirectory.net
*****
|
| |
|
Have
an article you’d like to write for our monthly
newsletter or want 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. |
|
