What Happened to Etiquette?
By Angel Farrington and Gayle Buske
We?ve had a long running debate amongst our core staff about general worker etiquette. The ongoing topic is that some of the lack of etiquette we see on a daily basis is due to the Information Age itself. We?re so plugged in and turned on but somehow simple business etiquette is lost. Other core staff members make the point that right is still right and wrong is still wrong ? the generations and the Information Age just don?t matter.
Both points are right to some degree but maybe it?s time to go over what the rest of the world views as good etiquette and compare it to the emerging etiquette lapses of late. Things have changed, we totally agree. And for the most part, we like the changes. After all, were it not for the internet and all of the changes it brought, we would not happily work for the greatest virtual staffing agency in the world.
There have been several articles printed lately about ?the new workplace etiquette?. We?d like to explore some of the things many people find disturbing and see if we can?t meet in the middle. How about it? Shall we compromise and work together as a team?
Time Off
One item says you shouldn?t ask for time off ? you should just take it. As independent contractors, virtual assistants do have the right to take off whenever they want and shouldn?t have to answer to anyone. There?s asking as if you were a child asking permission of a parent to stay up late, ?Mr. Client can I take a vacation day??, which we agree, you shouldn?t have to do. But as business owners, we need to take the need of our clients into account and think about the inconveniences we might be causing them. Our job as successful virtual assistants is to take a personal stock in the success of our client?s company. If we don?t care about inconveniencing them, they are going to go to someone who will.
Why not try, ?Mr. Client, I plan on taking next Friday off to spend with my best friend. Will that cause you any inconvenience? If so, is there anything I can do prior to or after my day off to help you get through?? This way you are being considerate of your clients needs by informing them ahead of time. You are problem solving so that they are inconvenienced as little as possible, and your client feels like you care and is still considered the best business etiquette. The client is not going to say ?no, you can?t go?. They?re going to work with you because you worked with them. And it won?t leave a sour taste in their mouth over you. Try this approach next time and see if that client maintains a much better respect for you for it.
Meaningful Work
Okay, we can agree on this one. We don?t want to do anything that we don?t like either, and it can be challenging. As a virtual staffing agency, our company works hard to make good matches and find work that our independent contractors will enjoy, find meaningful, and want to stick with. We also fully describe each position to the best of our ability to give our virtual assistants the chance to turn the work down (before starting it) if it doesn?t appeal. BUT, if someone agrees to do something, good business etiquette dictates that you follow through and complete the task.
It?s still wrong to promise to do something, decide later that you don?t like it, and simply stop doing it. This is where opponents argue that wrong is still wrong. They?re totally right on this one. How would you like it if we said we would cook dinner for you, decide we didn?t want to do that anymore, and simply didn?t do it? You?d be expecting a nice meal, be ready to relax, and find out there is no food. You?d be upset. Think twice before doing the same to someone else ? either business or personal.
Feel Good
We?ve all heard someone say ?This work just doesn?t make me feel good?. That someone is probably right. Their not going to get warm fuzzy feelings from a hard days work all of the time. We?re not surprised. Especially working from home, sometimes we have unrealistic expectations of what our day is really going to be like. If you researched the internet before applying to work at home I?m sure that you found a lot of information describing working from home as relaxing and painting the picture of you, sitting in your favorite chair, chatting on the phone on occasion and watching TV.
Maybe you just found out that working from home is just as much work as working in corporate America and you?re a little disillusioned. Sorry. It?s a tough wake up call. Maybe you wanted to work in theory, but expected it to be easier than a ?real? office?
Try taking a step back on this one. Although we can definitely agree that our work doesn?t always cause those warm feelings, and it may not be as easy as you anticipated, you are providing a service that makes it possible for your clients to be able to run their own businesses, get clients, keep clients, and make money. That should produce a great feeling. You are making it possible for people to live their dreams while you live out yours. If that isn?t enough, even though it isn?t easy, you are making it possible for your family to earn money, raise children, and still be home. You are also not in a suit and tie every day trying to climb the corporate ladder, shipping your children off to daycare, and seeing them at bedtime. A friend of Angel?s says that ?If it feels like work, you are probably doing it right.?
Do you suppose your mom thought it fun to change the sheets on your bed? Wash your stinky gym socks? Run you around to every event you could find to participate in? Guaranteed she didn?t. But it?s all stuff that needed to be done.
Yes, work does need to be overall enjoyable; but there will always be aspects of any job that aren?t fun. Work is about making money, being responsible, and putting food on the table. Fun is what comes after work. Work makes fun possible not the other way around.
I was speaking recently with a woman we met while swimming at the pool. She is a housekeeper for a local hotel and mentioned that recently a group of motocross riders had been staying there. I commented that the extra dirt must have been awful. Her comment, ?It?s been really busy and yes, a lot more dirt, but at least its work and I?m making money.? Amen sister! She?s earning a living without asking for handouts.
A Little Notice Please?
Bear with us here, we?re old school. In the old days (back when we milked the dinosaurs before we walked up hill both directions to and from school) business etiquette said giving two weeks notice when leaving a position was the absolute minimum. Somehow we?ve gone from two weeks to zero minutes in nothing flat. Come on, this really puts clients in a bind. As we try to work with you and your unique needs, we give you most of the concessions you ask for: flexibility, more pay, more likeable jobs, and so on.
Give us a chance to get our feet under us and find someone qualified to take over where you left off before you take off on to a new venture? Thanks! We really appreciate when you do that.
But I Can?t Do It
Yes, you can. Don?t give up so easy. Read the help file, search online, and find a resource that shows you how to do what you need to do. You have the resources and the ability. We know you do. If you try to find out how to do it and can?t, ask for help. Email a mentor. Call a core team member. Call the software?s help desk. We don?t bite, we promise.
LOL BRB I?m OTP
We know it is easier to abbreviate everything and forget grammar, punctuation, and everything else you learned in English class. When communicating with a client, assume they won?t understand what you are saying unless you spell it out. You?ll save yourself time, frustration, and having to redo your work if you spell it out the first time. You?ve been typing since before you could write.
Understanding
There are several things about our new Information World that we can empathize with, understand, and totally agree with.
- Face Time. We hear you: We don?t do face time either. We?re certainly not going to show up just so you can see our smiling faces unless there?s something in it for us. We realize you don?t have to be face-to-face to get work done and get things accomplished. At Team Double-Click? we?re working hard to get our clients to realize you?re not going to play that game. You?re going to get your work done and move on.
- The Speed of the Internet. We?re with you. We want our information and we want it now. We don?t want to wait for it. When we?ve made up our minds on something, it?s time to act on it ? not wait for the ink to dry. Recently, someone actually told us that ?they couldn?t move at the speed of the internet?. Our first thought was, ?what? Are you kidding? Get moving!?
- Problem Solving. Generation Y has the technological ability to solve problems in ways we haven?t thought of before. We missed the computer programming class in high school and the typewriters were the kind that didn?t even use electricity. We were learning to walk up hill both ways to school and carrying water for baths. We know that you can fix problems in ways that we haven?t thought of and we appreciate it when you make suggestions.
- Thank you, you?ve been working hard and we appreciate it. It always feels great to be noticed, acknowledged and appreciated. We like it too. You aren?t alone on that one by a long shot.
- If my way takes an hour, why waste three days? Yes. Sometimes there are faster ways to do old stuff. It drives us nuts when someone asks us to type each email address individually when there is software on my computer that will get those same addresses in 5 minutes, and format them to look pretty. We love it! Be patient with your clients who have to be reminded how to send an email. You may have to explain how your way is faster if you want to do it that way, and it may take a couple tries.
- We want to be friends. It?s great when you can work with someone that you have a friendship. It can be nice to chat about your day and network. We like it too. Just remember, not all clients are going to be your friend. We don?t want you to get your feelings hurt by expecting it.
Thank you!
We know that you work hard for clients and we appreciate it. We know you are one of the best out there, that?s why you are here. Not everyone is guilty of forgetting etiquette rules, and we know we are guilty of breaking etiquette rules on occasion too. In fact, we?ve been guilty ourselves on occasion, LOL. But, work with us, we will keep doing our very best to find the right clients, give you the hours you want, in the jobs you want. You take note if there is an area you can work on and try to do better. After all, that?s what good teams do.
| Team Double-Click?The original and still the best:? Team Double-Click?s thorough virtual assistant screening process, outstanding customer service, and innovative approach to virtual staffing has earned the company mentions and features in such esteemed media as Entrepreneur Magazine, Staff Digest, CNN Money, NBC News, and even Woman?s Day magazine.? Team Double-Click? is truly setting the standard for the virtual assistant industry.. To find out More about our virtual assistants and service click on following banner: |
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Working With The ?New? Generation
By Gayle Buske
I’ve heard them called by many names as of late: Generation Y, Gen Y, The Plug-and-Play Generation, The Gotta-Feel-Good Generation. What they’re all referring to is the new young generation – our current 20-somethings. Every generation “deals” with the generation who comes after them. Their different views, their different ways of doing things, and so on; this generation is no exception.
Why is everyone talking about this new generation now though? They’ve been coming along for years. They’re in their 20’s now, after all! Because now they’re starting to impact the workforce and because we couldn’t predict their group characteristics until we saw them in action. In some ways they’re changing the landscape for the better, in some ways we oldies would say for the worse.
Regardless of the nostalgia we feel for the “old days” this generation is plunging headlong into the workforce and will impact you and your business at some point. There’s really no sense fighting it. No generation has ever changed the generation which came after it; not once that generation reached its 20’s anyway. These are the kids we raised and we did raise them this way, so let’s figure out how to work with them. To work with them we first need to understand them.
What makes this generation tick (or turn off) and what is the impact on businesses looking to hire them?
Problem: They’re not called The Plug-and-Play Generation for nothing. This generation grew up on video games and television while their parents were out working and making (what they viewed as) better lives for their families. This led to a whole generation of children, now entering the workforce, who need instant gratification in whatever it is they do. Whether its work or play, the satisfaction must be immediate.
Solution: What this means to the business owner looking to hire qualified workers is that you need to be diligent in assigning tasks to (or rather asking the worker if they’d be happy to do the tasks) that they enjoy doing. You must challenge this generation to the capacity in which they want to be challenged.
Problem: This generation waits for nothing and no one. If they don’t like the game, they find a new game to play and new people to play it with – now – not tomorrow or next week. Simple as that. Think pulling the PS2 game out of the player and inserting one they think they may like better.
Solution: This goes back to speed again. They’re used to moving at the speed of the internet, not the speed of the horseless carriage. You’re going to have to give this generation what it’s looking for or prepare to lose them. Regular check-ins individually to gauge their interest and excitement is critical to keeping this generation happy and working for you.
Problem: The Generation Y’s demand that they feel good about what they’re doing. If they don’t feel good about it, they’re not going to do it. Again, simple as that and no amount of money will convince them otherwise. Remember: they watched their parents work and work and work to earn a few extra bucks and what did it get them? Absentee parents who were rich. This generation wants quality, not necessarily quantity.
Solution: Sometimes the work just isn’t all that gratifying. However, you can combat that by showing your gratitude in the work being done. Often the sheer pleasure of helping someone else and that person being grateful is enough for the worker to receive the gratification they need.
Problem: The generation of ADD. Oh yes, this is where ADD became popular. The Gen Y’s are not going to pay attention for long. They want their information fast and to the point.
Solution: Don’t waste time with long drawn out memos and information. Just shoot it straight and fast!
Problem: A recent study suggested that the average tenure in a job for Generation Y’s is 18 months. Wow, what happened to life, or even a few years? Unfortunately those days are but a memory. As older workers retire and leave the workforce, we’re left with the generation we raised and we need to count on them to fill the open positions within our companies. Remember again that this generation watched their parents stick in jobs for life, only to be spat out by the very corporations and unions who claimed they’d protect them – when they were juuuuuusssst about to collect that pension. The Generation Y’s aren’t going to hang around to let that happen to them.
Solution: There’s no changing this generation’s stick ability. So as a business owner you have two options: 1) Make the work enjoyable or 2) Prepare in advance for every single worker’s eventual departure. If you opt with number 1, you need to figure out what it is that makes each and every one of your workers happy. They must be regarded as the individuals they are and with their own set of needs and instructions. Prepare to meet those needs or move on to number 2: The most crucial thing any business owner can do is to have instructions written for every task that is performed within their company. Put all those instructions in a safe place and hang on to them so you can pass them on to the worker’s successor. In staffing, one of the biggest complaints we hear from clients is the need to retrain the next person. I’m sorry – that’s the way it is nowadays. We train and we retrain and we need to be ready for it.
Problem: Lack of office etiquette. Check out this recent article on Yahoo! News about modern office etiquette (and lack of it) http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/careerist/40342. Unfortunately, as the article suggests, the new generation may not even know they’re breaking the rules! Etiquette in their world is far different than that of other generations.
Solution: As my husband and business partner says, “But wrong is still wrong and right is still right”. However, with the internet and a new generation, is this perhaps the new “right”. Maybe, maybe not. If most families are dysfunctional, doesn’t dysfunction become the new “normal”? Unfortunately I think the new generation has us beat in sheer numbers folks. In this writer’s opinion there’s not much we can do but learn to deal.
Problem: As another article http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/careerist/38889 on Gen Y’s by Penelope Trunk suggests: “They won’t play the face-time game.” That means they’re not going to sit in the office just to make you happy. They know that work can be done from home (or from the beach) just as well as it can be done sitting in the office.
Solution: Let ‘em work from home! Why not!? Working from home offers the ultimate in flexibility (something this generation demands) and helps keep this generation of workers happy and working for you.
As a virtual staffing agency, we deal with the same things as you do day in and day out. We’re not immune to the caveats of Generation Y. We deal with the unique issues of this generation through increased back end staff which checks in with and coaches our virtual assistants regularly. We also take great pains to make good matches between clients and virtual assistants and quickly offer to change assignments if it doesn’t “feel right” for the virtual assistant.
?
Yes, this (generation’s issues) results in a higher turnover of virtual assistants but no higher than what you’d experience in the bricks and mortar world. In many respects we shield our clients from the impacts of turnover by quickly locating new help, interviewing and screening for the right skills and attitude. But even as a virtual staffing agency, we still can’t change a generation or their attitudes so we can’t stop the turnover – we can help our clients get through the turnover.
Even with a high-turnover generation, companies can still benefit from all of the pluses of virtual assistance and virtual staffing. The cost savings over hourly in-office staff still exist; office politics is still absent; the speed of bringing in additional help is still present; the benefits of not having someone sitting in your office holds ground; start up capitol needed (desks, computers, phone lines) of hiring help is not a concern; and ultimate flexibility still exists.
In many ways, hiring virtually is a great way to deal with the issues businesses must face with this generation. This generation wants flexibility. Working virtually offers the ultimate in flexibility, which helps keep the generation happy. Virtual staffing fits this generation like a glove and is one of the best ways to put them to work for you.
Team Double-Click? provides virtual assistance for small and home-based businesses. Visit Team Double-Click?s Web site at http://www.teamdoubleclick.com or click on the banner:
Does A Down Market Mean You Need To Downsize Too?
Let?s just say it ? the real estate market is down and the mortgage industry is, well, a smidge messy right now. It?s no secret. The question is how to survive during a poorly performing market. What do most companies cut first when things start to slide? If you answered ?marketing? or ?staff? you nailed it.
Why is that though? It?s human nature to cut the ?extras? when business is rough. Marketing is usually out the window first because the bills are typically huge. Followed shortly by staff members that may be dead weight or not as good as they should be. And quite often, especially for small businesses, the owners decide there?s a lot more they can pick up and work on; things that the assistant used to do. There are a couple of great lessons here. There?s downsizing and there?s taking yourself out of the market.
Let?s first explore the idea of cutting off your marketing efforts in this down market. If you chuck your marketing, doesn?t that just cut off your nose to spite your face? A down market is precisely when you need marketing. If not for your marketing efforts, how will those few buyers in the market know about you when they?re ready? Maybe it?s time to look at some old fashioned guerrilla marketing tactics and free marketing. Yes, I said free. Of course we all need to spend some marketing dollars from time to time but what happened to all of the great free opportunities out there? Let?s explore some of them.
Article submissions. One of the greatest things about the ?net is that you can almost instantly become the expert in your market/community/area by writing and submitting articles. A quick search on the ?net will unearth dozens upon dozens of places to post your articles. Of course, that?s what I?m doing right here ? writing an article which my virtual assistant will post to as many free article submission sites as she can find. What does this do? It positions me as an expert. It sends links back to our company web site (thus increasing search engine rankings). It tells people we exist. It drives traffic (and hopefully customers) to our web site. It keeps our marketing alive and fresh. AND ? it doesn?t cost any more than my time to write the article and my virtual assistant?s time to post. Cheap!
Blogging. Wow, what a beautiful thing blogging is. Similarly to article submissions, blogging gives you a voice, makes you an expert, sends links back to your web site, and allows you to engage in conversations with potential customers. Another quick search on the ?net will unveil a hoard of free blogging sites.
Partnerships. In a down market, aligning yourself with complementary companies that can funnel business your way becomes paramount. Do me a favor; sit down and think of the products and services that compliment your business. Don?t look for specific companies just yet. Look for the kinds of products and services. Maybe they?re roofers (who may know that someone really needs to sell), maybe plumbers (who may also know who needs to sell or someone looking to buy), lenders, banks, and so on. Once you have this list together, find all of the companies who fit each category. In other words, find all of the plumbers in the area, all of the roofers, etc. Once you?ve got that list together, call them up and see how you can work together. Can they send referrals to you if you send referrals to them? Which of the plumbers can send you the most referrals? Then start setting up partnerships with these folks.
Co-Advertising. Are there complementary companies (such as the ones you found while seeking partnerships) whom you can work with to create and implement advertising pieces? Advertise both of your services in the same ad and cut advertising costs?
Teleseminars. Check your contacts both locally and nationally ? if you can be creative enough about your presentation topic, you can come up with dozens of things to discuss that others would like to hear about. Solicit your contacts for speaking engagements on teleseminars and plug your wares while you?re there. If you can?t get onto someone else?s teleseminar, do your own. They?re very inexpensive to produce (check out www.freeconferencecall.com) and you can invite your market area to the teleseminar to share some great bit of information. You?ll be the first person they turn to when they?re ready to buy. Try a teleseminar on ?improving the curb appeal of your home to get it sold more quickly? and I?ll bet you?ll have local sellers flocking to listen to you talk. Try ?getting the biggest bang for your buck in a buyer?s market? and the buyers will be knocking down your doors. Be sure to grab their contact information so you can use them as leads!
Radio and TV. Even local real estate companies and agents can position themselves as experts in their field with the local media. Send them your press releases, your articles, your information. Keep working to land a spot or two on the local news and you gain immediate credibility and recognition in your market.
Podcasts. Podcasts can work similarly to teleseminars in that you can solicit to be a guest on others? podcasts. However, you can also put up your own podcasts. Again, cheap, easy, and great lead generators. Check out www.talkshoe.com, which is a great, free podcasting site. Share similar information and think about topics similar to those we discussed for teleseminars.
These are just a few ideas for free (or almost) marketing that you can do even during a good market. But especially in times like these, you can focus on free and cheap marketing tactics without spiting your face. Be creative and I?ll bet you can think of dozens of others.
Firing your staff. They?re always the next to go after marketing. Sure, getting rid of dead, useless weight is always a good idea ? even when you?re prospering. But during lean times you need to be sure that you?re getting what you pay for from the help. What disturbs me, however, are comments I?ve heard recently like ?hired help is a luxury we cannot afford right now? and ?well, I?ll just do a little less selling and take over the administrative functions again? and then there?s ?I was an assistant once, I can surely do it again and save a few bucks.? Wrong, wrong, all wrong! I?ll tell you why.
The best place for you during lean times is out in front of clients and making money ? not setting up drip campaigns in the mailing software and directing phone calls. And how can you set up all of those referral partnerships if you?re preparing post cards for mailings?
So do get rid of those who aren?t helping your business ? that?s good advice even in the best of times. But keep those who are producing for you and who are making your job (selling and getting in front of partners) possible.
What about hiring a virtual assistant? Bricks and mortar produces huge wastes just by its nature: you pay for time you don?t use, you spend more on gasoline, as does your assistant, you pay rent (or a mortgage), you heat the place, and you electrify it, and so on. Have you considered going virtual? Believe me, it can be done. We were once a bricks and mortar business in a previous enterprise. But after going virtual, we?d never go back. Think about it: you only pay for what you use, you don?t pay rent, you don?t have to heat the office, you don?t have to provide desks and computers. You save tons! One of our virtual staffing clients, Jo Ellen Nash, recently said, ?Having virtual assistants handle the majority of my administrative paperwork (and me!) has cut over $100,000 from my payroll and given me better skills and talents, better accountability, better organization and better stability in working from two locations, now in Vail, Colorado AND (as of April this year) Naples, Florida!? Check it out ? you can downsize without downsizing how much your company accomplishes. If you need to downsize, do it smartly ? keep the staff that?s working well and replace the others with virtual assistants.
As this down market cycles through and works itself out, please, don?t let your marketing fall to the wayside and don?t downsize what your company accomplishes! Just go about it a little differently.
Team Double-Click? provides virtual assistance for small and home-based businesses. Visit Team Double-Click?s Web site at http://www.teamdoubleclick.com or click on the banner:
Going Paperless
Going paperless. Sound a little scary? Nah, not really. At least it doesn’t have to be. As few as 10 years ago, we kept box upon box of archived paper files. At one point, we had at least 100 of those boxes stuffed to capacity with trees. Unfortunately, it was a necessity. Back then, though, the technology (at least affordable technology) to go paperless wasn’t there. It would have cost thousands of dollars in labor and services to retroactively make all those paper files into electronic files. Fast forward to today and going paperless is quite simple and inexpensive. But why go paperless?
Less physical storage space necessary – save on file cabinets, paper, and folders
Locating files becomes more efficient – it’s as easy as “edit” “find”
Paperless, or electronic storage, is more cost-effective than printing everything and storing it on paper copy – electronic storage space is cheap!
The “ink” on an electronic copy of that important whatever won’t eventually fade like a paper copy will
Files are more easily transferred from your archives to an associate who may need to see it
You don’t need to pay an assistant to constantly do your filing for you. With electronic storage, it’s a snap to quickly “save as” into the appropriate folder on your hard drive
Of course, there can be some disadvantages to going paperless too:
Because electronic media is susceptible to power surges, scratches, and the like, there is a risk of losing that data
You MUST remember to back up your disc drives and keep a copy of that data in a safe place – off premises preferably
You’ll likely have to do your own filing unless you want your assistant to access your computer
Even if you’ve been a long-time packrat of paper files, there’s no reason you can’t start going paperless now. Start by making a conscious decision NOT to continue printing and filing everything that comes across your desk. Just as you would keep your paper files organized by setting up folders for various topics, do the same for your electronic files by creating folders in Microsoft Explorer
Depending on your filing system, set up folders for things such as “Clients”, “Prospects”, “Form Files”, “General Information”, etc. Within those folders are more folders. For example, your “Clients” folder should contain a folder for each client. Your “Prospects” folder should contain a folder for each prospective client and so on. Then, when that prospect becomes a client, you can simply drag his or her folder over to your “Clients” folder
Save all files that seem important.
Before the virtual world, business people were conveniently divided into 2 categories: filers and pilers. Filers kept things that they thought they might need, but dumped the rest. They could fill up a wastebasket of paper in half a day. Pilers, on the other hand, saved everything. Their wastebasket was for decorative purposes only. They’d save the most trivial of things “just in case”.
The virtual world has ended this distinction. Now, you can (and should) be both.
For the Pilers:
Keep all of your files; or most of them. Just create more folders to store them in. If you require more hard drive space, just go out and get it. Hard drive space is ridiculously cheap compared to even a decade ago.
For the Filers:
As soon as you’ve received or created a new file, save it to the appropriate folder. Naming your files appropriately will facilitate retrieving those files easily later on. Your filing system should first and foremost be one that you can understand and easily remember – it should make sense to you. When you name your files use as many characters as you need in the file name so you can search on a portion of that name later. It should give a good, but brief, description of what the document pertains to. Most people have used Windows Explorer’s search feature. If not, practice with it until you can easily locate your files. It’s a pretty powerful tool and very user-friendly.
There are a few other tools that will help you with your goal of going paperless:
eFax (http://www.efax.com) is what we use here. For a nominal monthly charge, all of your incoming faxes will come to you by way of email. Yep, they’re dumped right into your inbox as an attached picture file.
Adobe Acrobat (the full version – not reader (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/main.html) allows you to take almost any file, select the “print” option, and print to the Acrobat Distiller. This will turn the document into a .pdf file. A very easily transportable and easy-to-file file type, almost anyone can read a .pdf file. This makes sending your documents (and protecting them) a breeze. As a side note, when I receive an eFax document, because the file type isn’t so universal, I print from my eFax viewer to my Acrobat distiller, making the fax into a .pdf file. I then file the .pdf version, making it more transportable and viewable.
Scanners are another tool that is indispensable in the paperless world. Virtually any piece of paper or photo that you receive can be scanned and made into an electronic picture file. After you’ve created that picture file, you can email it to anyone you’d like as well as store it in your electronic files on your hard drive
LapLink Everywhere http://www.laplink.com/products/lle/overview.asp can facilitate having your virtual assistant do your electronic filing for you. It includes remote desktop search from any Web-enabled device (powered by Google Desktop Search) Laplink Everywhere lets you choose how you want to work and which device with internet access you want to use to access your PC. It?s easy and fast to set-up and simple to use
LapLink ShareDirect http://www.laplink.com/products/sharedirect/overview.asp is another great tool for going paperless. It allows instant sharing any folder on your PC with one or thousands of users, without ever having to change or manage your Internet, firewall, or router configurations. And it is 256-bit encrypted.
Hopefully you can see how going paperless can benefit almost any company or individual. The cost savings alone are enormous; reducing the amount of paper, ink, and folders you need to purchase.
Team Double-Click? provides virtual assistance for small and home-based businesses. Visit Team Double-Click?s Web site at http://www.teamdoubleclick.com or click on the banner:
