For many the idea of a life on the road is a dream that they long to fulfil. Perhaps they are thinking of traveling the world or touring in a famous band. For others it might be driving a truck across a country or continent.

Many people that have a life on the road can find it tough. They may well be in a band or working in a business that requires them to travel often. The life on the road might be overall enjoyable but difficult to stay organised.

Image courtesy of nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Just imagine spending time traveling from one town to another in a band and all the work that is involved. No doubt before setting off on tour a lot of work has been done. Venues arranged along with accommodation and other things. What happens if changes need to be made? How will you take care of other matters whilst you are away? A good PA helps but can be expensive to have someone travel with you or be full time back in an office elsewhere.

Here is another scenario. A sales representative is spending his or her life on the road. Whilst out there making sales it is difficult to complete all the necessary paperwork and keep in touch with customers. Phone calls and emails can pile up whilst they are in meetings or driving. Once again having a good PA would be great. For many sales people on the road means working either when they get home or at their hotel room. A very long day is quite normal.

Life on the road – modern gadgets

In today’s modern world there is an answer for those that have a life on the road. Certainly the Internet, smart phones, laptops and electronic tablets have helped. However there are still only 24 hours in a day and no one wants to have to work too many of them. There also needs to be a word of warning that sadly some have tried to work whilst driving by taking phone calls, texting or emailing and as a result lost their lives. Please don’t be tempted to try using your smart phone or tablet. Switch them off and concentrate on driving. There is a limit to multitasking.

How can you get help without having to employ your own personal assistant?

Life on the road – A Virtual Assistant

A virtual personal assistant could be the answer for you. A good virtual assistant without being with you or in your office can answer phone calls, deal with emails, make appointments, handle emergencies and much more. A virtual assistant is used on an “as needed” basis and will be self employed cutting out the need for you to have the commitment of someone on your own staff.

The modern methods that we have today means that you could use a virtual PA to work on documents and spreadsheets using tools such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Your phone can be placed on redirect whilst you are in a meeting or driving so that calls can be personally answered. Such a service means that you can get on with your work and not have any interruptions or worries whilst your Virtual PA takes care of all those tasks that would slow you down.

To make your life on the road easier please talk to me, Emma Windsor and we can look at how my services as a Virtual PA can help you.

This week was my Twitter birthday. I’ve now been tweeting for 4 years! 4 years, 2 days, 23 hours, 34 minutes, 51 seconds to be precise. Oh my gosh! Wow, I know, I can’t believe it either but I have to say I LOVE Twitter!

I remember those very early days joining in with #elevesestime, sat all alone in my little office at the beginning of my business, drinking tea and sharing virtual biscuits. We would chat about anything and everything and often stay until lunch oops! My business has now grown and the nature of my work means that it is only on the rare occasion I can stop by but the beauty of Twitter is you can reply to a tweet any time, tea breaks all day!!

At the end of last year I stumbled across my first problem with Twitter, something caused me concern and made me question my presence on Twitter. I changed my name, I locked my account….very rarely tweeted. Then something told me to carry on. Twitter welcomed me back and I have fallen in love again.

Now this #FF isn’t just because it is my birthday, I am currently undergoing a business review and part of my homework was to gather information on my client base. I did a bit extra to gain some house points and found out, surprise surprise, a lot of my work comes from Twitter. I was actually quite astonished and this is what led me to write. Not only has Twitter found me new clients but it has been a way of obtaining information, learning new things and also played host to some fun chitchatting! But without you it couldn’t happen. Thank you to everyone for all the fantastic tweets, links, pictures, RTs, Follow Fridays, recommendations and also the chats when I haven’t seen a single person for days – the joys of working alone!

I would love to hear your views on Twitter, what makes it special for you and of course the followers you recommend.

If you would like to find out how long you’ve been on Twitter go to http://www.howlonghaveyoubeentweeting.com.  Whose been on longer than me?

Luckily for me only my backup drive died last night and not my laptop.  However, all day I have been worrying that if my laptop went so would everything else.  Anyone – heaven forbid – who has not got a backup up and losses their computer would just be devasted.

I managed to copy most things over to a memory stick (I wouldn’t like to use this on a daily basis) but it is only now that I have my new ‘External Hard Drive‘ that I feel relief.

I always stress the importance of a backup to my clients, I have heard so many horror stories.  I use ‘Time Machine‘, which once it has been set-up just runs by itself.  I always thought this would be enough.  I haven’t lost anything but the fear of losing everything has made me realise that I need more than one.  From now on I will have at least two separate backups.

My ‘Mac Man Who Can’ has just been round.  He tried to recover the data on my old Portable Drive but confirmed, what a friend on Twitter had said last night, that it was kaputt.  It is still under warranty so it will be swapped for a new one which I will use for a 3rd backup to be kept away from the office.

I’m back, back from our adventure on Shuna.

Those of you that read my blog or follow me on Twitter will know that I am a firm believer that a holiday should be a holiday.  No checking work emails, making work phone calls, taking paperwork or material to read.  Everyone needs a break and you’ll be back to work with a spring in your step and readiness of excitement if you do.

So just over a week ago I made preparations to leave my business, I turned off work emails on my phone and we set off on our adventure.  With a description as follows you’ll either be very excited or immediately turned off – I was very excited.

“a holiday on Shuna is a truly unique experience – imagine a holiday where there are no cars, no telephones, no roads, abundant wildlife at every turn and the romance of island life – all just 15 minutes from the mainland.  A holiday that gives you and your family time and space to relax together and enjoy our beautiful island and the surrounding seas in a boat which we provide. “

-  Shuna website

The week on Shuna was just amazing.  Our house was just on the edge of the island, right by the pier and every morning I woke to breath taking scenery.  The island was free to explore either by foot, kayak or one of the 19 foot long aluminum hulled open assault crafts with a small outboard motor.  We were blessed with good weather and had fabulous daily adventures.  Every day we saw so much wildlife – deer, sea otters, cormorants, seals, pheasants.

It really was a truly wonderful break from it all.  Funnily the couple who ran the Holiday Lets took their holidays in cities, I would love to hear how you enjoy time away from your normal working life.

• Bloggers like comments
• Chefs like clean plates
• Customers like good service
• Employees like cash and recognition
• Hostesses like thank you notes
• Mummies like hugs and kisses
• Twitterers like Mentions and RT’s
• Waitresses like tips

How will you show your appreciation today?

1. At the end of your working day write out your “To Do” list for tomorrow and prioritise the tasks using the MoSCoW System (see previous blog for further information – ‘Week 2 – Prioritising’)
2. Work out a timetable for the next day (see previous post – ‘Weekly Timetable – Upgraded’)
3. The night before prepare your things for the next day e.g. clothes, laptop, papers, tickets etc.
4. Ensure you have a good night’s sleep
5. Start your day with a healthy breakfast
6. Look at your “To Do” List and Daily Planner first thing. Get started straight away
7. Take regular breaks but keep them short
8. Avoid distractions like Facebook, MySpace, personal calls
9. Take a lunch break away from your desk
10. Be positive

Have a productive day!

The fact that my birthday comes on April Fool’s Day doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Yes, I have had my fair share of tricks played upon me but not so much now that I a big girl. To be honest I rarely take any notice of the April Fool’s jokes I am far too busy singing and dancing around.  However, today on my way to work I had the pleasure of listening to BBC Radio 2.  I love Ken Bruce, but hang on a minute I thought, something doesn’t sound quite right – was I right in thinking Rob Brydon was impersonating Ken Bruce?

It wasn’t until I was driving home, listening to Steve Wright, that my suspicions were confirmed.  For the whole show Rob Brydon WAS impersonating Ken Bruce.  Brilliant!  I even heard that Chris Evans was fooled.

I would love to know if you were fooled too.  Have a listen here if you missed it  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00g277y

So what services do I offer?

My services include Accounts, DeskTop Publishing, Digital Transcriptions, Email Management, E-Shots, Holiday Cover, IT Training & Advice, Lifestyle Management, Media Management, Systems and Process Management and Website Administration.

All I can say is clients aren’t scared to ask.  I’ve had some call me from their holiday unable to obtain the Formula 1 results, clients needing lifts or items picking up, even dogs that need walking!  I’m here to help and love nothing more than offering my assistance.

Where do I work?

My office is based at home and most of the time this is where I work but on occasions I am requested to go to a client’s office or home.  Most of my work is emailed, discussed over the telephone or even posted.  Clients give me access to their web mail accounts, web servers and so much can be done online with Web Applications.  I can even access a client’s computer remotely.

So what sort of person do I work for?

Well this ranges immensely; sole traders, small businesses, consultants.  Some of them I work for daily, some weekly, some monthly and the others dip in and out as and when they need me.  I offer a great deal of flexibility and this suits my clients.

Why do clients outsource to me?

I offer expertise that many clients do not have.  A sole trader may feel that they want to do everything themselves but why waste time learning a new skill when they can hire it in and concentrate on other things.

I save my clients time and money. A Consultant earning £100 an hour often spends 5 hours a week on admin – hotel bookings, travel arrangements, accounts, invoicing etc. By completing these tasks themselves they are, in effect, losing £500 a week e.g. 5 hours x £100 ph.  By paying me to do that admin work, at a lower hourly rate, they are then able to earn money they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

What are the benefits?

• My clients know that I am dedicated to helping them succeed
• Flexibility including out of hours work
• Clients pay for my time and expenses only: no tax, NI/PAYE or benefit costs
• I provide my own office space and equipment

Before I came across this piece of software I would keep a note of time spent on client’s work with pen and paper.  Then at the end of every month I would begin the laborious task of typing up the timesheets.  A whole day of paid work would have to be written off in order to complete this in order to get paid.

Fanurio time tracking software has saved me so many hours it is unbelievable.  Time saved that can now be spent on paid work and it really is a simple as clicking a few buttons.

In Fanurio each client appears on the left hand side and for each client you can enter different projects and within that different services.  Billing can be done hourly or at a one off price and it is also possible to bill for expenses.

When you sit down for work all you have to do is highlight the appropriate client, the project and service and then click to start the timer.  You then just either pause or stop and Fanurio keeps track of it.

The really fun bit is when it comes to billing, to invoice you just do the same – highlight, click invoice, type in the invoice number and then either print or export as a PDF.  Now how easy is that, so much better than slaving away with pen and paper, or filling in columns in Excel?

But wait there is more, invoices can be customised, reports run and the support I have received has been excellent.  No automated reponses – thank you for your email we will respond in 24 hours.  Nicu (yes personal terms) replies within hours.  Not that there have been any problems, just when I’ve moved address and I needed my contact details changing.  But on the new release this can all be changed yourself.

Oh yes and one last thing this isn’t just for Macs, there is support for other platforms, including Windows and Linux.

So what are you waiting for? Download your 30 day free trial now at www.fanuriotimetracking.com

Ok, so you probably do take a holiday but is it really a true break?  I can just see you now stopping at the service station to check tweets, at the airport quickly checking your email before the plane takes off, searching the guide book for wifi zones.  This is not a holiday and you really must stop this as it is not good for you.

Come on you work hard all year round and this is your chance to forget about work. With careful planning you can really have that break you deserve.

If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that the last two months have been madness for me.  Juggling a household full of sick people and a demanding work schedule there has been very little play time for me.  Feeling zapped of energy a break from the daily emails, calls and work load was well and truly needed.

I knew that there were certain client tasks coming up so a whole week was out of the question but with careful planning I was able to block out days to have two long weekends. And wow it was amazing, no emails, no calls, no daily task lists just pure freedom.  We enjoyed walks on the beach, trips to museums, lazy breakfasts, long lunches and lots more.

Not being tied to my desk, going from one thing to another, constantly checking the time was a chance to recharge those batteries.

I am back at work today and loving it!