Category Archives: Clerical / Business Services

Back to School at COD

Tracy Helps You is Going Back to School

It is mid August, summer is winding down … and that means it’s Back to School time 🙂

The stores are full of school supplies and backpacks/book bags. BTW, Tracy Helps You would be happy to do your Back-to-School shopping for you 🙂

Going back to school is not just for the young … more and more, adults are taking classes too. Some are finishing a degree they starting working on … some are changing careers … some are updating their skills with continuing education.

I will soon be joining the ranks of mature (part-time) students 🙂 I have an appointment scheduled with an adviser at a local college to discuss classes I should take to offer services as a Virtual Assistant. I’m also looking into training programs offered as online courses, tutorials, and webinars.

In the future, I plan to offer some Virtual Assistant services such as, Social Media Management, Online Research, Customer Service, and Email Management. These will be in addition to the Clerical / Business services that I currently offer.

Of course, this is all in the planning stages right now, but it is my hope that I will soon be able to offer some VA services 🙂

What type of services would be helpful to you ?

Getting Organized - Email

Getting Organized ~ Email

I’m old enough to remember the days before email was even a word. In the mid 90’s I set up my first email account through AOL … like as in “You’ve Got Mail” (love that movie, btw). Remember the weird ringing tone as the dial up connection to the internet was made. It was fun sharing jokes and stories with family and friends. However, important things were still mailed through the Post Office … affectionately known as “snail mail”.

In today’s world, email has made snail mail practically obsolete … practically, but not totally. We all receive plenty of “junk mail” to attest to that. You can read about my tips about organizing paper clutter here.

These days, our electronic inboxes are overflowing with emails … some are from family & friends, some are business/school related, some are household related, but many, a great many, are advertisements.

I try to “organize” my email accounts monthly. I have a couple … personal and business.
Today, I’ll concentrate on my personal/household account. I’ve had the same email address for many years. That being said, I’m on many mailing lists that are no longer important to me. Here’s an example, as many of you know, I homeschooled my kids. My youngest graduated in 2011 … and I still receive emails from homeschool textbook companies 🙁 Instead of just deleting them, I unsubscribed so I won’t receive future emails from them. I also made adjustments to the frequency that I receive emails from companies that are still relevant to me but I don’t necessarily want to hear from on a daily basis. I also usually just delete all those forwarded jokes (sorry) … I just don’t have time to read them all, especially since I’ve probably seen many of them floating around on Facebook or Twitter.

I created separate folders and “filed” important emails that I may need to refer back to in the future. I have also created a new email address that I use strictly for signing up for free giveaways and following blogs, etc. I don’t have to check this daily, only when I have a little time for some leisurely reading. It is there when I need it and then my other email inbox doesn’t get clogged up so quickly 🙂

After my initial inbox clean up (which I admit, took awhile), I now delete and file stuff from my smartphone whenever I have a few minutes of downtime between clients and appointments.

Hopefully, I’ve inspired you to take a look at your inbox & get it more organized 🙂

Photo credit to SeanMacEntee

 

Help With Your Clerical / Administrative Work

Help With Your Clerical Work

In the past, I’ve blogged about various ways to get your household paperwork organized. I’ve suggested ways to get a better handle on managing those piles of paper clutter that seem to accumulate so easily. I’ve even shared the filing system that I personally use. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction helping people get their personal household offices more organized.

Since joining the Carol Stream Chamber of Commerce, I’ve started helping other small business owners with some of their clerical / administrative and general office type tasks in their businesses.

Here are some of the ways I have been able to “help” them:

For one client, I am helping him to digitalize his filing system. He has supplied me with a scanner and laptop so I can work from my home office. He gives me batches of loose papers and files for me to scan & save into the appropriate computer files on the laptop. It’s an ongoing, long-term project.

For another client, I stuff information packets (catalogs, order forms, hostess incentives, etc.) she passes out to guests who attend her home party direct marketing business. Again, I work in my home and we meet as needed to exchange finished packets for more supplies.

Another client is a financial advisor who has me send out hand written thank you cards to all the leads he has met at meetings each week. He emails me their names / contact info and I get the cards into the mail for him. This is a portable type of task, so I can do the work anywhere (while waiting for my oil change or at the doctor’s office, etc.) … or at home in my own office 🙂

These are ongoing projects, but I also do one time types of tasks. I’ve had several different clients that have hired me to send out their annual Holiday cards to their customers. I have also filled in as an office assistant/receptionist to cover for vacations and/or sick days.

There are many different ways Tracy Helps You can “help” you with your clerical type tasks! As always, just ask … we are always happy to customize our services to meet your needs.

Give us a call today 🙂

Tracy Helps You ~ Your Personal Assistant

A Personal Assistant ~ What It Is & What It Isn’t

 As I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed this morning, I came upon a status that very simply asked “would you rather have a personal chef, nanny, housekeeper or a personal trainer?”

It sort of got me thinking … Which would I choose? Since I have adult children living at home, I definitely don’t need a nanny – and my kids help out with the housework (a requirement of living here) … so I narrowed it down to between personal chef and personal trainer (btw, since it’s only a dream, why can’t I have both?). Anyway, I decided to choose the personal chef because – to my way of thinking, he or she would prepare healthy meals and snacks for me. I wouldn’t have to shop for food or even be in the kitchen with all its temptations 🙂 Also, maybe the idea of me actually working out might not be such a burden (again, in my dreams). Continue reading →

Customer Service Business Wisdom

Great Customer Service is #1 at Tracy Helps You

Customer Service skills have been a part of me for as long as I can remember.

I remember my very first after school job ~ at a dry cleaner ~ my manager, Elsa, told me to always be polite and treat each & every customer with kindness, patience and respect.

I’ve had numerous jobs working with the public since that first part-time job as a 15 year old. I worked in retail back in the day when “the customer is always right” motto was the rule, not the exception. I mean the days when the cashier actually punched the price in the register and counted out your change. I’m talking about the old days when a store clerk actually knew something about the department they worked in. The days when the employee would actually help you find the item you’re looking for, instead of just saying, “if you don’t see it, we must be out of it”. Please don’t get me wrong, I know there are some excellent retail employees that go the extra mile to give great customer service, but it saddens me that they seem to be so far & few between. When I find such an employee, I always make sure to thank them for their great customer service 🙂

I have also worked in several different venues of the travel industry. I’ve worked security at O’Hare airport (before 9/11, thank goodness) … I’ve worked the ticket counter, the gate, the ramp/bag room, and operations for United Express (a regional airline) at O’Hare. I’ve worked in the reservations department of Apple Vacations. I’ve been a online casino travel agent in several different agencies over the span of my travel career.

I also volunteer a lot. I’ve always been the person in the meeting that is first to raise her hand to help. Many times that urge to help has placed me in positions of leadership … like being the chairperson on the committee or being the Cub Scout leader when no one else wanted to take on the commitment.  

I’ve always worked with the public … all these positions require great customer service skills to be successful. All of this experience working over the years has honed my people skills, which of course, means that I have many, many (many – a lady never divulges such things) years of customer service experience.

As the owner of Tracy Helps You, I can assure you, my customer, that I (and/or my associates) will always do our very best to “help you” with kindness, patience and respect … a lesson I learned at my very first job, way “back in the day”.

How may we “help you” ??

Office Assistant Clerical Work

Personal Assistant to Help with General Office, Administrative Clerical Work

Do you have your own business? Could you use some office help? There is an incredible amount of time consuming work involved with keeping your business records organized. Even though so many things can now be digitalized on your computer, you still have to spend time “filing” your documents and reports into electronic files. You need to have an easy system in place to be able to locate those documents at a moments notice. Of course, there are still paper copies of things to file away for future purposes as well. As a personal assistant, I’d be happy to help you … I can take over some of the more mundane tasks of running an efficient office for you 🙂

Some ideas to get you thinking …

  • Courier Service – I’ll deliver your important packages in a professional, yet friendly manner (no offense grunted “sign here” FedEx driver)
  • Shredding – I’ll shred your stacks of documents, in your office with you present, using your shredder and you will dispose of the shredded material as you choose
  • Mass Mailing – I can fold, stuff, label your Holiday Cards or Customer Special Offers
  • Scanning – I’ll scan your paper documents and save them into their appropriate files on your computer system
  • Presentation Packets – I’ll assemble your printed material into packets to pass out during your meeting or presentation
  • Receptionist/Temp Help – Is your receptionist on vacation or out sick with the flu? I have decades of customer service experience in various industries … I can fill in here and there answering phones and greeting clients / customers for you.
  • Data Entry – I’ll enter all your info into spreadsheets for you so you can create reports to analyze and compare statistics for your company – or – do you need to create an opt-in email list for your upcoming email marketing strategy? (or help organize/clean up your existing contacts)
  • ????? – How can I save you valuable time? Is there something more specific to your particular business that you could show me how to do? I’ve been told that I’m a quick learner 🙂

 

Give Tracy Helps You a call … I’m open for suggestions of how I can help YOU.

Filing Cabinet Tips

Getting Organized ~ Tips For Keeping Your Filing Cabinet Organized

I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda glad the Holidays are over. Don’t get me wrong … I LOVE the Holiday season, but I’m the kind of person who does better having a routine. Part of me likes being in “vacation mode” ~ but the other part of me longs to get back to my routine / schedule 🙂

January is the perfect time to take a good look at your files. In the first couple of weeks of January, I like to purge and get my files organized. It’s a new year, and the perfect time to update your file cabinet.

I usually sort through and file my paperwork once a month, but I skipped November and December. You know how it is … decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, going to all those holiday parties … so I spent a few hours last week trying to get caught up 🙂

First I updated my household management file box. I purged all of 2012 papers, then moved all of my 2013 files into the last year folder to make way for this year. For a more thorough explanation of my filing system, you can check out my previous blog post here. I then had quite a large stack of 2012 documents to shred.

Then I had to take my own advice, and get my paper clutter back under control. In just those couple of months, my paperwork and junk mail really piled up.

Now I have a fairly full recycle bin (lots of holiday sale papers). Unfortunately, I was only able get partially through my shred pile because my shredder died … so I’m on the lookout for a great sale price on a new one.

Are you making progress on getting your paper clutter under control ? Share your tips and techniques with us 🙂

photo by: mrmanc
Filing Tips for Your Imortant Documents and Paperwork

Getting Organized – Tips For Filing Your Important Documents and Paper Work

Filing … I don’t know anyone who likes to do it, at home or at the office. However, it has to be done or you’ll have mountains of paperwork and won’t be able to find anything when you need it.

There are numerous different approaches and tips to setting up an organized filing system. You can probably spend the better part of a day searching Google for the best one. The trick is finding what works for your household needs. Once you decide which setup is right for your family, it basically comes down to the mundane task of ‘just do it’ 🙂

Here is what works for me … Continue reading →

photo by: 401(K) 2013