Playing Hookey

I had a lovely day a couple of weeks ago. 

Nothing complicated, just went off to visit a friend (who is also a client) in the wilds of Shropshire, on the Welsh border, and we had a lovely chin wag over lunch in her beautiful garden.  No boys, no husbands, just us. 

She lives in a large, old, red brick converted mill house in a small village.  The rooms inside are large, quiet, and cool, the walls simply painted in muted colours.  We had coffee in her bright kitchen which she’d recently given a makeover.  The transformation achieved by a pot of cream cupboard paint was amazing - I thought they were new units!

She then took me on a tour of her lovely, old-fashioned garden.  The many roses were in full bloom, and I had to stop and sniff each one as I passed.   I admired the enormous pink peony, and then we were in the veggie garden.  Her boys, such gentlemen, Harry, George and Peter, have their own raised beds where they each grow the vegetables they like to eat; George is a particularly keen gardener and his bed was neatly planted with sweetcorn and broccoli.  Harry was concentrating on lettuce and potatoes, and Peter had a bit of everything.  I again envied her large greenhouse where cucumbers were winding their way up the supports, and the tomatoes were so much further ahead than mine.  We wandered through the baby orchard, past the spot where she’d like to have some chickens, and back to the house to prepare food.

We took lunch, freshly picked salad leaves and cold meats, out to a sheltered spot in the garden, and carried on chatting.  There is a large Clematis Montana on the wall of her house, home to what seemed like 100s of sparrows, who swooped and twittered constantly.  A pleasant light breeze took away the heat of the sun, as we compared notes on running our respective businesses, our plans for them, between stories of her boys’ latest adventures, and news of mutual acquaintances.  We have similar family backgrounds, both having three sisters, and a similar outlook on values and life in general.

Sadly I had to leave before the boys got home from school, but it really was a lovely day, with a drive there and back through some lovely countryside where farmers were busy with the hay, so there was a delightful smell of hot cut grass.  Bliss. 

Why am I sharing this with you?

Simply because by choosing to play hookey from work for that one perfect day, I came back refreshed and raring to go.  My day of truancy broke the exhausting “so much to do, so little time” cycle of trying to do everything, achieving little, and feeling rubbish as a result.  Taking a break helps you to regain your focus and prioritise effectively instead of going round in ever-decreasing circles.  Playing hookey gave me my mojo back!

Astound your friends!

Something light-hearted this time...  I bet you've always wanted to know, and here it is

THE POLICE LETTERS ALPHABET

I've been meaning to learn the Police Alphabet for years -  "L" Lima does sound better than "L" for Lettuce, or perhaps I've just watched too many episodes of The Bill...

I expect I shall turn my attention to slightly more serious stuff in next months' blog, which I hope to post at the beginning of May.  Watch out for it on Twitter.

By the way... have you signed up to the Office Stuff Newsletter yet?  Until the end of May there's a chance to win a LARGE box of truffles from Montezuma.  Absolute scrumptiousness - and I am not the chocoholic in this household!  Sign up here.  Good luck!

Manners, politeness, courtesy, call it what you will…

This may seem like a strange subject to write a blog about, but I have witnessed a couple of incidents recently where much unpleasantness could have been avoided if only the parties involved had observed a little common courtesy towards each other, right from the start.

I'm going to sound like an old codger now, but my mother was a stickler for manners, and taught us to behave with courtesy to everyone.  She was, and still is, a great believer in "do as you would be done by".

To this day, I send a handwritten thank you note to someone who has hosted an enjoyable week-end, given me a nice present, wined and dined me well; in business, I write a thank you to someone who has referred a new client, or who has been particularly complimentary about the job I have done for them.  Little instances of thoughtfulness such as these brighten someone's day, make them smile, and think well of you.

It seems that today, society has little time for such niceties.  We are all too busy rushing around, trying to get an increasing number of tasks done in what seems to be a decreasing amount of time in which to do them.  We forget to say please, and thank you, to hold open a door for an elderly person, even to smile and say good morning, or hello, to someone we don't know but see every day in the bus queue, or at the till in the supermarket.

How do you feel when someone pays you an unsolicited compliment or simply smiles as they greet you?  Happy?  Less stressed?  Sometimes, the seemingly trivial acts we perform are the most important.  Courtesy is an example.  We refer to it in different ways, such as civility, good manners, politeness, decency, respect for others, thoughtfulness, consideration.  Whatever we call it, courtesy is NOT trivial.

Good manners cost nothing and can have a profound effect on other people.  We can literally make someone's day by paying attention to these little things, which then has a knock-on effect in our own lives.  Just take a few moments to think about it, and how you feel when someone has been "nice" to you.

Manners can be overlooked in business.  Who amongst us hasn't returned a 'phone call, or replied to an email?  How many of us have invested time and sometimes money compiling a new business proposal, or a report, sent a carefully crafted and polite letter or email with the attachment, and had no response?  Is this because businesses are rushing around too?  Do they ignore anything that doesn't produce a measurable return on investment?  Or is it because of the rise and rise of social media and the many communication options now available?  Perhaps we sadly just expect less these days.

Courtesy is about building relationships with people, and in the business world it is people that influence your success or failure.  If you feel comfortable with someone, as they do with you, better communication and trust will develop, leaving less room for misunderstandings.

There is a great opportunity out there for businesses that pay attention to detail, for those that can deliver and delight with polite, timely responses.  There is a chance to capitalise on their attention to detail, their ability to communicate, their prompt return calls.

Compared with the other challenges of running a business, this is easy!  You don't need qualifications, you don't need training, you don't need a coach.  You just need to remember the manners your mother taught you.

How important is administration?

I have been asked to do a presentation/talk to a group of mixed level NVQ Business and Administration students, with special emphasis on the "importance of providing a reliable administration service" and "setting up your own administration service".

I do this sort of thing through the Welsh Assembly Government's Dynamo Programme, which aims to encourage entrepreneurship in Wales by providing role models to present in schools, further education colleges, and universities.  The programme has been running since 2002, and has had really good results.  More information about the Dynamo Programme can be found here. 

The topic of the presentation has of course set me thinking about "administration" and what it means.  Because it's what I do for a living, I've rather taken it for granted that everyone knows what "administration" is.

What do you understand by the term "administration"?

The dictionary defines it as "the process or practice of managing".  If you think about it, simply by paying our bills each month, or organising a holiday, a meal out, remembering birthdays, or even the weekly shop, we all "manage" our daily lives in some way or another.  We have to be more or less organised, and make time available.  Sometimes we are so busy we can neither be organised, nor find the time, yet we still have to "manage" and we end up feeling we're going round in ever-decreasing circles.

If we find managing our home lives difficult, imagine how much more complicated it is to find time to carry out the day-to-day administration tasks necessary to keep a business running!  Marketing, publicity material, book-keeping, typing quotations/estimates, dealing with correspondence, issuing invoices, chasing payment, paying bills on time, answering the 'phone, managing staff... and now there's the internet and more ways of promoting your business such as web sites, blogs, newsletters, and social media such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more... more than 24 hours' worth, and I haven't even mentioned  doing what the business was originally set up to do!

Most business people I speak to set up their businesses because they want to work for themselves at producing a product or service that they know they can successfully sell and make a good income from.  What none of them ever realised was how much time they would spend on background administration, and now vital it is to the success of their business.  Without it, they cannot run their business, but whilst they are spending their time on administration, they are not producing the goods or the service upon which they rely for their income.

The canny "domestic executive" finds a way of delegating, or outsourcing, the less appealing or productive tasks - a gardener, or a window cleaner, a weekly cleaner, or someone to do the ironing, for example.

Delegating or outsourcing administration is more difficult in business because there are so many rules and regulations which have to be complied with.  If the business is large enough, it will employ staff to manage and administer.  However, not all businesses are in a position to take staff on board, and the canny business person will outsource the administration tasks to someone who has the training and experience to do them, as and when necessary, such as a freelance Secretary/PA or a Virtual Assistant.

So what will I tell the assembled NVQ Business and Administration students when I talk to them about the importance of a reliable administration service?

Firstly, that it is a vital function of any business, without which it cannot function.

Secondly, for the very reason that administration is so important, it is vital that the tasks are carried out efficient, correctly, and in a timely manner.

And about setting up their own administration service?  That I have found it immensely satisfying; that it has given me much pleasure to work with really nice people; that it has provided numerous opportunities for further learning; that no two days are the same; and above all that your business is what you make it - if you work hard and provide an excellent, dependable service, your clients will be happy, they will stay with you or come back to you when they need you, and they will recommend you to others.

A big Thank You

It has taken me a while to get around to writing a blog, and the happy excuse is that I have been very busy.

However, my New Year's resolution to get myself much more organised has borne fruit, and here it it.  My first ever blog.

As Office Stuff was 5 years old last month, I thought perhaps I should start blogging by thanking those who have made this possible.

First on the list is my husband, Huw, who has been endlessly patient and has hardly ever complained when I have worked long into the night because I had a bee in my bonnet, or when dinner was late because I had to finish something; and who was mostly willing to listen when I ran a new idea past him.

Then comes the best ever ex-bank manager who referred clients to me in the early stages of Office Stuff, and helped me get the business up and running.

And my clients, old and new, who have provided much variety to my working life and made it such a pleasure.

And last, but never least, my Virtual Assistant colleagues at the Society of Virtual Assistants and latterly at the Virtual Assistant Support Group, whose support and words of wisdom helped immeasurably in Office Stuff's success.

Thank you all, so much.