Monday 29 June 2009

Virtual Assistants

At the Business Mum's Conference I attended a session conducted by Kylie Short of Tilda Virtual Services. The session was all about documenting processes.. Sensational Systems, as Kylie puts it!

One of the things that I walked away with from the session was that if anything were to happen to me, I don't have my systems documented. Even as a WAHM Crafter, if might be worthwhile to document a few things:
  • Have an order board or folder which clearly shows which orders are in progress and contact details of the person in case my hubby needs to get in contact with them.
  • Document who I have trade accounts and who my contact people are?
  • Who do I do my banking with? Passwords?
  • Who is my accountant? My ABN? My business registration?
  • What process do I go through when I get an etsy order? How do I wrap things, what do I include? Even the simple things like checking the address with the paypal one.
  • If I need to get someone to finish a sewing job because of sickness, who would I ring?
Kylie recommended that you take the time to document things and produce a document which outlines these (everything except the passwords). That way you can also store this document off site (or on a secure web site).

The idea of course is that if I am sick, or I have won Tattslotto and taken off, my significant other can finish my "orders in progress". This means that after you create your user manual for your business you would also test it! Check out her blog, it really is very good.

One of my new financial year resolutions is to develop a systems document for Konstant Kaos ... perhaps after the Sonny and Coco Market next Sunday!

3 comments:

Kylie Short said...

I'm so glad you are taking action to set up some sensational systems of your own!

Well done :)

Kylie Short

Jennie said...

Thanks for sharing. Either this stuff isn't included in my small business book, or I skipped that chapter! Definitely a top new financial year resolution.

Cathy {tinniegirl} said...

Really interesting stuff. Thanks for passing it on.

Was lovely to see you at Nikki's last week.