Is it really Thanksgiving in 2 weeks?

The holidays are coming up! Are you one who can’t wait for the festivities, or are panicking just thinking about it? Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away! When somebody told me this yesterday I was shocked that it snuck up so fast…and I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my house! Talk about unprepared! I realized I needed to get my ducks in a row and start working on my holiday plans. 

The first thing I did was verify my guest list. I can’t purchase the right amount of food it I don’t know who is coming. I asked everybody to bring something small so it doesn’t all fall on me. I recommend deciding in advance if you want to delegate some of your tasks, or if you are happy to take it all on. If you are going to somebody else’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, it would be a nice gesture to offer to bring something. Plan your grocery list before you go to the store so you can make your trip as painless as possible. If you are watching your budget, shop around the ads for the best deals on your major items, and coupons can be a great help when hosting. 

If Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away, Christmas isn’t far behind. If you haven’t started your Christmas shopping, now is the time! If you are working on hand crafted gifts, you need to get these started in advance. I like to sit down before the season really sets in and make a list of things going on in the area for Christmas. I go through the newspaper and look online to get my list. Then I get out my calendar and start thinking about which things we really want to do and pencil those in. I make a side note in my calendar with all of the activities that I would like to do if there is time so I know exactly where it is. This plan has proven successful for the past 2 years to keep my holiday season stress free. 

If you have family over or are going to somebody’s house for Christmas, make sure you have everything prepared for that. Make lists of what you need and cross it off as you go. When you have everything listed and checked off, it is much easier to relax and enjoy the holiday.

How do you prepare for the holidays? Do you have any great tips? If you need help with any of your business needs, give us a call at 202-469-6774. You can also visit our website at http://www.bizebeeconsulting.com. We can be your Business Professionals.

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Halloween Safety

Halloween is quickly approaching. It is time to start thinking about safety for Halloween. On this holiday it will be dark, sometimes scary, and a lot of fun. It is important to be prepared.

First thing is first: Costumes! I am sure you and your kids are searching for or designing the perfect costume! While you are doing this, consider a few things. Will you be able to see clearly through the mask if there is one? Does the costume have things sticking off of it that can be caught in trees or bushes? Are there parts of the costume dragging on the ground? Costumes can be dangerous if you don’t know what to look out for.

The next thing is your Trick-or-Treat route. Are you familiar with where you will be walking? Make sure that you know where the stop signs are and any busy roads. Going to an unknown neighborhood or area can be dangerous, so stick to where you know your way around.

While you are walking around it is vital to be alert to your surroundings. Stay off of your phone and keep your eyes on the sidewalk, road, and your children. It is very easy to lose track of your kids when they are very excited and running from house to house. Wear glow in the dark items and make sure your kids do too. This way you can find each other even if there aren’t any street lights on. Also watch the driveways for cars backing out. It is easier for you to spot the car than it is for the person driving the car to see kids dressed in dark costumes. 

If you will be driving during the hours where kids will be out and about on the roads, make sure to stay alert. As you should not be texting while driving at all, I cannot stress how important it is to avoid it during this time. Even talk-texting is a distraction. Keep your phone put away while you are driving. It only takes 1 second for a child to excitedly run into the road to go to the next house while you glance at your phone. Look around carefully before backing out of your driveway and before turning. Drive safely!

Please stay safe for Halloween! Do you have any tips to add? Our goal is to help you reach your goals while freeing up your time for things you really want to do. If you are interested in more information, or for a FREE Business Analysis, call us at 202-469-6774 or visit our website at www.bizebeeconsulting.com.

What Can a Virtual Assistant Do?

If you are reading this you probably know how much virtual assisting has grown over the recent years, and are wondering what exactly can a VA (virtual assistant) do? It really depends on what you need from a VA.

Every VA has a different skill set to bring to the table. There are general virtual assistants who can do basic computer work, scheduling, and even help you get organized with your computer files. They may even offer to do your email correspondence for you. This would be somebody who would have the same general tasks as an in-office assistant without actually being in office. 

You can hire a VA to do your graphic design, website, and digital marketing for you also. Graphic design, website creation and management, and digital marketing can get tricky. If this is something that is beyond you, why not hire somebody who knows what they are doing?

Another thing that you may not know how to do is SEO. This is Search Engine Optimization. This determines how many people see your website when they do a search on sites such as Google. There are ways to create a bigger online presence, and there are VAs who know how to do that. 

You may know how to use your social media sites, but it also may be something that you dread doing. A VA can use all of your social media sites for you, network for you, and get your more business in less time than you can. If this is their specialty, they can get your business thriving. Why do something you don’t enjoy? 

 A lot of virtual assistants also create great content for your website or blog. Some are great writers and can use SEO and topics to drive new customers to your site. Blogging weekly is a must in most businesses, so why not add that to your business plan and have a VA take it off of your plate?

No matter the business you are in, a virtual assistant can help you! Before hiring a virtual assistant determine which tasks you are looking to have done for you. This can help you decide if you should go with an individual with one skill set or a company like BizEBee who has a team of virtual assistants. If you need help, give us a call at 202-469-6774. You can also visit our website at http://www.bizebeerealestate.com. We can be your Business Professionals.

Sell Homes in the Fall

It is getting cooler, and in some areas leaves are already falling! You may have clients who are hesitant to sell in the fall or winter. You can prepare and reassure them that it is an ok time to sell, and here are some tips on how to be successful.

1. If possible, take pictures of the home before the leaves start falling. Spring and summer pictures of the home always look the best.

1. Make sure your clients know the importance of maintaining their curb appeal. Keep the leaves raked, the sidewalk clear, etc. 

1. Do an appliance check before it is too cold. If your heater isn’t working correctly, you don’t want it having issues during a showing.

1. Open curtains and blinds and let the light in. Also have the home’s lights turned on during a showing.

1. Inform your clients that there will be less showings, but the showings the happen will be good quality showings.

1. Let your client know that the offers that come in won’t be as competitive as they may see in the summer months. Some may be really low, while others will be good offers, but won’t go over the asking price. Don’t expect a bidding war unless your market calls for it.

1. With it being the time for holidays, it is good to decorate for the holidays, but not to go overboard. If your client normally has a haunted house in their home, maybe they should skip that this year.

1. With it being cooler out, show off the home’s good fall/winter qualities. Light the fire, bake some cookies, and accentuate what the homeowner loves about their home in the winter. 

Selling a home in the fall and winter can offer new challenges, but there are still plenty of buyers looking for homes! If you need help, give us a call at 202-469-6774. You can also visit our website at http://www.bizebeerealestate.com. We can be your Real Estate Professionals.

How Much is it Worth to You?

As you look around your office you may think for a minute you need help. You don’t need help every day, or maybe you do but you don’t really want to hire an in-house assistant that you have to manage every day. So you start researching people who can do what you need. You may find a virtual assistant who can write blogs, and another who can build a website, and maybe even another who can do transaction coordination. You may even find ones on Fiverr who will do it really cheap! And you will find companies that offer all of those services under one “roof.” 

In your mind you start thinking about how much time and money you can save by using multiple different virtual assistants who have one skill set each. So you sign up and start sending out tasks to these random virtual assistants because they are cheaper. What it a success? Did you hear from them in a timely manner? Was their work above par? How difficult was it to manage multiple people? Was it worth the money that you saved by using them? These are all questions you will ask yourself after your first transaction. And these are questions you need to ask. If you had a great experience and are ok with managing multiple people, then this is your path. 

If your experience wasn’t as good as expected, maybe it is time to look into spending a little more money on quality over quantity. When you are considering hiring any company to help with your marketing, your transactions, or even your database, think about what it is worth to you. Will the transaction coordinator make or break the deal? If they break it, how much will you lose? If your blog isn’t really representing who you are and what you do, how successful will it be? Having consistency and experience is key when outsourcing. 

You just need to think about how much is it worth to you to get new business, keep the past clients you have, and get their referrals. When you are ready to talk about keeping it all under one “roof,” give us a call at 202-469-6774. You can also visit our website at http://www.bizebeerealestate.com. We can be your Real Estate Professionals.

3 Step to Back to School Prep!

Whether your kids go to public school, private school, college, or homeschool, it is coming upon time for the back to school routine. Are you ready? I have some tips on how to get ready, organized, and excited about back to school!

1. First thing is first, get out your planner. Start by writing down everything that you know will be happening weekly. This includes any extra items such as soccer practice and games. Next mark off any days that the kids do not have school for holidays and teacher work days. Make sure you pencil in who will be taking care of them or if somebody will be taking off work as needed. Verify any days that you need to visit the school before school starts for meeting teachers and touring. Write these in and determine who will be attending. Now that your planner is all set, it is time for supplies.

2. You can get school supplies practically anywhere. Get your school list and go to your favorite place to shop. If you are short on time, Amazon is a great place to get things fairly quickly. If you have one going into college, make sure you have what you need for the dorm. There are different specifications for every dorm. Make it a one day shop if possible. This way it is completely done and you can put it out of your mind.

3. The next thing is prepping for food for the school year. This includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If both parents work in your household, being prepared in this area is a must! Start brainstorming good and wholesome breakfast ideas. Pinterest can be a great resource for food ideas! If you will be packing lunches every day, be prepared with a weekly plan. Dinners can be easy if you use a crockpot and prepare in advance. Meal planning is not a simple thing. It is best to start with recipes that you know and are familiar with and then add in extras as you feel more confident. 

These are the main things you need to cover for back to school prep. If these things are complete, you can be confident that your school year will start out great! You can visit our website at http://www.bizebeerealestate.com. Let us be your busy bee! If you are interested in more information, or for a FREE Business Analysis, call us at 202-469-6774.

Outsourcing IS Ok!

Owning your own company or being an independent contractor can mean that you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. You feel that you have built your world from the ground up, and nobody else can do it like you can. While that might be true, some things can be outsourced. To be successful and work smarter, not harder, you may need to expand your horizons and put trust into others.

There are some things you need to understand before you outsource any of your tasks. The first and most important thing is that nobody will do the job exactly like you, and there will be a learning curve for both sides. If you outsource to a virtual assistant or another company they will have to learn about you, your company, and what you like. It is different than hiring somebody in-house because you will not see this person every day. You may not even hear from this person daily. They are still doing the work you need them to. It is hard to trust in the unknown, but after the learning curve is over, you will be grateful that you continued.

The next thing is that there are some things you just shouldn’t outsource. This will depend on you. If it is something that you want done in a specific way only, this should not be outsourced. If you get anxious even considering giving somebody else access to this information, it should not be outsourced. Only you can decide what you definitely do not want to outsource. 

Another thing is that no one person can do all things. If you decide to outsource be sure to find out exactly what that person or company is capable of. You don’t want to get into a situation where you hire a virtual assistant to do a job, then realize that their skill set doesn’t cover an area that you would like covered. Know what you are looking for when you outsource, and you won’t be disappointed. 

The last thing is to outsource things that bog you down or you don’t know how to do. If you have a hard time keeping up with your marketing, social media, or blogging, those should be the first to outsource. If you don’t know how to create graphics or logos, that should be the next thing to outsource.

Once you get into a rhythm with whoever you outsource to, you will feel a weight lifted and your time will be freed up for you to do the things you really like. You can visit our website at http://www.bizebeerealestate.com. Let us be your busy bee! If you are interested in more information, or for a FREE Business Analysis, call us at 202-469-6774.