Tag Archives: virtual assistant

Tracy Helps You is Celebrating 5 Years of Business

Happy Anniversary to us !!

Today, March 21, is our anniversary 🙂 It’s hard to believe that Tracy Helps You is celebrating 5 years of being in business! I still remember all the time I spent dreaming and researching that cold winter season. I talked to many friends for their thoughts about starting a business. There were as many ideas as there were people I talked to (no surprise there). I would bounce ideas off anyone who would listen. Finally, I had the general idea of what my business would be, I wanted to help people.

Then came even more challenging decisions to make … not the least of which was the name of my business. My cousin was helping me brainstorm, I had a long list of possible names that we narrowed down to three I really liked. Of course, we then discovered that the domain name was not available for any of those 🙁 It was like 11pm, both of us beyond tired, we were at our wit’s end … We were like “how many other ways could we phrase “Tracy helps you” ?? Then a lightbulb went on … that’s it – Tracy Helps You !! I loved the sound of it, the domain was available, it was available on all the social media platforms … It was meant to be – Tracy Helps You was born on that cold night back in 2013.

Then came weeks and months of learning how to run a business (I love that learning is an ongoing process) and all things entrepreneurial. So many decisions needed to be made … so many things to learn.

Over the past few years, I’ve added and eliminated some services that I’ve offered. Two years ago, I added Virtual Assistant services. This year, I am adding Health & Wellness Advocate services as another area that Tracy Helps You can be of service.

As many of you know, I started on my “getting healthy” journey about 2 years ago. It started out with a weight loss goal and has now expanded into a yearning to live a healthy lifestyle. I’ve lost a lot of weight (still a little more to go), I try to choose real / natural foods (whenever possible) without all the chemical & preservatives. I feel my health is more important than the convenience of pre-packaged foods. I use intermittent fasting to cleanse my body of some of the environmental toxins. I walk at least a mile every day to incorporate more activity in my day. I feel fantastic, better than I have is more than a decade. I want to “help” everyone to feel as good as I do!

As a Health & Wellness Advocate, I plan to help by coming alongside you and “help you” as an accountability partner and give encouragement. I can help you with meal planning. I can share ideas for ways to burn calories doing fun activities. Since I have experience with several well-known weight loss systems, I feel I can help guide you. I can also coach you in my nutritional system, Isagenix. It has programs geared to help with Weight Wellness, Healthy Aging and Athletic Performance.

So now, Tracy Helps You can help in three different areas:

as a Personal Assistant
as a Health & Wellness Advocate
as a Virtual Assistant ?

How can we “help” you ?? Give me a call ?

Do You Need a Social Media Manager?

If you are a small business owner,the answer is most likely …YES!!!

Let me present some reasons why …

People start their own business for a variety of reasons. They want to follow their dreams. They want to work in a field they are passionate about. They want to make a difference in the world. For many (me included), they want to be in charge of their own schedule … not be told what/when/where or how to do their work. They want to be charge of their own time, and since they will be the “Boss”, they would hopefully have more “free time”. Free time … what is that?

As a busy entrepreneur, you wear numerous “hats” on any given day. You are the head of the Marketing Department, the Accounting Department, HR, Sales … you get the drift, you are the one in charge of everything. Every business decision lands on your shoulders.

What they didn’t realize is how time consuming the “running” of the business would be. They want to spend their time doing the work they love. Sadly, many get bogged down by having to handle the administrative side of running a business.

That is where having a virtual assistant comes into play. Having a VA handle certain tasks frees up your time to concentrate on doing the things your love about running your business. Tasks that you are the best person to handle … things that grow your business and make money. One of the best business decisions you can make is to delegate / outsource certain tasks to a virtual assistant.

Well-informed small business owners know the importance of having an online presence in today’s high-tech, 24/7 world. Social Media Marketing is necessary for all types of business, large and small. The difference is the large corporations have a Marketing Department. The small business – not so much. Unfortunately for the small business owner, social media management is one of those (very) time consuming tasks. On the up side, social media management is a task that many small business owners delegate to their VA. Your VA will work with you to put together a workable strategy and schedule for posting on your various social media platforms. You will decide what content will be posted to each platform, as well as, the timing and the frequency. After you and your virtual assistant have come up with the best social media strategy for your business, you can then hand that task off to your VA, knowing your SMM is in good and capable hands.

Delegating the task of social media management (or a multitude of other tasks) to a trusted VA will free up some time that you can then use to tackle the other tasks on your to-do list ?

Remember, “help” is just a phone call (or text, or email) away ?

Save Valuable Time ~ Delegate Social Media to Your Virtual Assistant

Owning your own small business is very rewarding … and, at the same time, quite exhausting! There is never enough time in the day. It is very time consuming to create relevant content for your audience and/or find inspiring quotes and tips to share. Hiring a virtual assistant to handle posting to your social media platforms is the answer to having enough time to manage all the other aspects of running your business.

Of course, you may be thinking that the VA may post something you wouldn’t like and/or you wouldn’t have posted. You may be thinking the VA wouldn’t convey your company’s “voice”. As a virtual assistant, I spend time learning my client’s personality and company “voice” via scheduled phone or Skype calls. My clients provide me with content ideas and relevant articles to use as reference for creating industry related posts.

You may be thinking it will be expensive to delegate your social media tasks. It is money well spent when you consider the time you will be saving (time that can now be devoted to growing and building your business) by taking this task off your plate every day (and you should be posting consistently/daily). It will give you peace of mind knowing that your social media posting is being taken care of by a trained professional. Tracy Helps You offers Social Media Packages that provide a certain number of posts per month, as well as, managing engagement (likes, shares, comments & messages) with your followers on your behalf. Think of it as you would any other necessary expense for running your business.

You may be wary of completely outsourcing your social media postings. The good news is that we can work together in creating and implementing your social media strategy. Tracy Helps You can create and schedule the bulk of the posts and you can add some personal content type posts. You can also respond to comments and messages. Another great idea is to post Live Streaming video. This gives your online presence a face and a voice for your followers to connect with. Interacting and building relationships is the main reason to use social media as a business tool … it’s social 🙂

Save some valuable time by delegating your social media posting to Tracy Helps You … help is just a phone call away! Call now!

Managing Your Email Inbox

Email is a wonderful thing. It’s so simple to use for fast and easy communication. It’s convenient. It’s inexpensive. Nearly everyone uses it.

Email is a great tool, and like other types of tools, it needs regular maintenance. Without regular maintenance, it can quickly become out-of-control and over whelming.

As your Virtual Assistant, I will help you clean up your email inbox. I will help you organize and maintain your emails:

By “filing” them into their proper folders and sub folders. If you haven’t set up a folder type system yet, that would be one of the first things I would help you implement. When you have all the related emails filed together, you can easily find the one you are looking for.
By deleting unwanted emails and creating tighter spam parameters to prevent future emails from that sender.
By “unsubscribing” to emails that you legitimately requested to receive but no longer find helpful.
By setting up an auto responder for those times when a quick reply is not available. An “out of office” type of message would be sent out as soon as the email is received explaining when you will be replying to them and who can help them if their matter is urgent and needs immediate attention.

Tracy Helps You can save you valuable time by organizing your email inbox for you. It is one of the many types of tasks that can be delegated to your virtual assistant, so your time can be spent on the matters that demand your expertise and/or personal attention. Call soon to schedule your initial appointment, then we can start to help you (in this area, as well as, in others) 🙂

Having an Assistant Can Be a Real Lifesaver

An assistant can seem like a lifesaver because they can save you valuable time. Everyone is busy, their calendars and schedules are full of appointments, events and occasions.

We all get 24 hours in a day. It’s a challenge deciding which activities take priority over the others. You may sometimes wonder “how in the world will I get everything accomplished”? Continue reading →

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 ?

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.

Tracy Helps You

~ A Personal Assistant Can Be A Real Lifesaver ~