If you haven’t heard, the European Union has new rules on value-added tax (VAT), which took effect on January 1.
To put it simply, ANY businesses selling digital goods and delivering them electronically to customers in European Union member countries will be required to collect and pay VAT based on the VAT rates of the country where the customer is located and does apply to businesses based outside the EU who sell to consumers in the EU.
So what does that mean to you? Well, if you are selling digital products to European Countries, it might be something you want to have us setup in your tax settings to collect the tax for those specific countries.
What are the consequences if you don’t? This is a new thing, so we are not sure on that and would probably advise asking your accountant.
If you want help with us setting up your shopping cart so that you are in compliance, contact us at assist@smarttofinish.com, we are happy to help.
written by our guest and client Elizabeth Marshall of www.elizabethmarshall.me
Not seeing enough progress with your message?
“It’s complicated!”
You may have used this phrase to describe family dynamics or intimate relationships, but the same can be said for the business of thought leadership. As a thought leader, the relationships you have with your audience, message and market are constantly changing. As a result, there are a lot of moving parts to manage and a seemingly endless number of decisions to make along the path to creating a lasting impact.
Some days, you can feel confident in handling what’s in front of you. On other days, you can feel overwhelmed, frustrated and, yes, even ready to pull your hair out.
It’s All About the Approach
While frustrations and setbacks are part of the journey, you can often make matters worse by how you approach these situations. When you’re facing uncomfortable challenges, it can be tempting to react in one of these two ways:
#1: Deciding To Do It All Yourself
With this approach, it’s easy to get stuck. In some situations, you just need an outside perspective to “see” the solution. In other situations, you may lack the skills and experiences you need to solve the problem.
#2: Hoping Others Will Do It All For You
With this approach, the end product is never what you want. Why? There is a big difference between delegating intentionally and abdicating ownership of a situation or project. To succeed in the thought leadership world, your work has to come from you. No one can just “give” you a ready-made platform, book concept, or network of relationships.
In either case, you lose sight of this important truth: you are the CEO of your book and business.
It’s All About the People
As with successful CEOs, experienced thought leaders know the importance of building a great team around them. They use their network to find experts to augment their skills and experiences. More importantly, they know the value of finding people who will tell them the truth – instead of what they want to hear.
Pick one of the current challenges that’s standing in your way. Ask yourself:
Do I need a fresh perspective to solve this problem?
Do I have the expertise and skills to create the caliber of results I want?
Who do I know that can recommend the expert help I need?
Whether it’s joining a mastermind group, finding an intern or hiring the right expert, the sooner you surround yourself with the right people, the faster you’ll move forward.
Are you overwhelmed by your To Do List? Is there so much to do that you don’t know where to start? If you are doing tasks that someone else can do, then who is doing the tasks that ONLY YOU CAN DO? The answer: ???? Effective time management = The ability to delegate.
For most everyone, regardless of position, the cliché is true: Time IS money. If we don’t manage our time correctly, the business won’t run smoothly and there will be things, important things, that don’t get done or aren’t done correctly. If you are like most people, there is always the temptation to do it all yourself, because it is easier than delegating it to someone else and trusting that they are going to get the job done right. However, if you are stuck in that mind set, you are also stuck in the rut of “too much to do and not enough time to do it”. There are steps you can take to bring focus to your life, both professionally and personally, and organize your day so it doesn’t disorganize you.
The first step is to realize you need to delegate. Without the willingness to delegate, learning about time management is like cooking a delicious meal and then just sitting at the table and not eating it. Sound ridiculous? Yes, is does. But so is trying to do everything yourself. Delegate, delegate, delegate. You may ask, “How do I decide what to delegate and what to do myself?” Here are some tips:
Surround yourself with people you trust and who can do things you can’t do. Having a team you can rely on, a team with skill sets that you don’t necessarily have, is vital to any organization’s success. You personally don’t have to know or learn everything about everything. That takes a lot of time, energy AND money. You don’t know HTML? When you need your website updated, it is a wonderful thing to have an HTML diva on your team who can do it for you. You’re not a good copy writer? Delegate it to someone who has a way with words and knows the ins and outs of today’s market place. You can decide to delegate and then have the final approval and, yes, control the outcome.
Make a list of what needs to be done. This is a complete and comprehensive listof tasks – from answering the phone to making bank deposits and everything in between. Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly things. Things like checking emails, calling clients, picking up and dropping off the mail, doing annual inventory, sweeping the floor, setting up a webinar, arranging travel to a quarterly conference, etc. The list goes on. The important thing here is to make sure the list is complete. Write down the things you do as you do them and how often you do them and how much time it takes to do them. This is an excellent way to get an overall time snapshot of your world.
Mark the things on that list that ONLY YOU CAN DO. Not the things that you WANT to do, mark the things that only you can do. These are things that are unique to your position, whatever that is – functions that only you can perform. This can be the hard part, though, because there are probably things that you have been doing that you like doing and want to do, but someone else can do them. You need to let go of those things. You need to focus your time and effort on areas where you are most effective. That is usually doing the things only you can do.
Provide the details when you delegate to other people. How you delegate tasks to other people is as important as the actual delegating. If you don’t provide enough information when you delegate (details AND a deadline), then don’t expect the results to necessarily be what you want. Yes, occasionally there will be someone who “knows what you are thinking”, but most people don’t know unless you tell them. The degree of detail you provide is directly related to the level of success you can expect when you delegate a task to someone. Of course, delegating the task of sweeping the floor doesn’t sound like it needs much detail, right? But if you don’t specify that you want all of the furniture moved and swept under, then those lint balls will probably stay under the desk. If you delegate the task of organizing your filing system and don’t give any detailed instructions, then you probably won’t be able to find that file you are looking for when you need it. Always be sure to delegate with details and a deadline.
Trust them to get the job done. Micromanaging is NEVER a good thing. It will suck the time out of your schedule, and it can be worse than not delegating at all. If you have ever had to work with someone “looking over your shoulder”, you know that is uncomfortable and counter productive, so don’t do it when you delegate. If you have surrounded yourself with knowledgeable, trustworthy people, you can delegate and let it go. People tend to live up to expectations, so if you maintain a high standard of expectation, your delegation process should be a success.
Be willing to adjust your delegating plan. We always have the best of intentions when we start anything new, and this is no different. Once you have your list made, your tasks assigned (to yourself or to others), and your people and your plan place, be flexible and willing to adjust along the way. If you have a team with diverse skills, then you should have no problem in delegating to the right person to get the job done, on time, and the way you want it done.
Regardless of your situation, whether a solo business entrepreneur or a high level manager, your ability to delegate is a key to smooth work flow and overall business success. When you figure out what only you can do and delegate the rest, you are well on the way to the next level. Have a “Delegation Revelation” and take the first step: Let the Smart to Finish Office Solutions virtual assistant team come alongside you to implement your day to day operations and Infusionsoft support, so you can focus on your mission and your passion – DOING ONLY WHAT YOU CAN DO! Happy Delegating!
As business owners, we know that to grow our companies and to have a life outside of our businesses, we need others do some of the work for us. We have all heard how important it is to delegate. Volumes have been written on how to do this. How to decide what to delegate. How to find the right people to delegate to. How to manage our teams. With so much information available to us, why is it still so hard to delegate?
Here’s a familiar scenario. Sally, an overworked business owner, decides she needs an assistant. She hires Jean, a very experienced, highly recommended young woman. She assigns Jean a few tasks. Late one evening she is reviewing the ezine Jean has prepared to be sent out tomorrow. “Ugh, this just isn’t right,” she exclaims. “This needs to go out tomorrow, so I’ll have to fix it myself. It would have been easier for me to just do it myself!”
Sound familiar? I hear things like this over and over again from my clients and colleagues. In fact, I have lived them myself. I’ve spent weeks finding just the right person. Highly recommended. Motivated. And then my results are less than stellar. What’s a business owner to do?
Here’s the good news. We can all learn to delegate. I believe there are 3 essential components to delegating successfully. I am going to share those with you today and, of course, give you a few tech tools to make things go even more smoothly. Don’t worry – many of these tools are things that you should already have. And some are nice to haves that you may want to purchase to speed things along.
Component #1: Crystal Clear Processes
You know how to do things in your business. If you didn’t, you would not have a business. But all of those things are in your head. And you are so familiar with them, trying to communicate them verbally to someone else doesn’t work. I know. I’ve tried.
I know. I know….Writing processes takes time. But it is time well-spent. You may think that you are being clear. I always think that I am. In my head it sounds great. To everyone else not so much In fact, my life partner Chris often notes that when I start talking to him about something he feels like he walked into the middle of a conversation. Writing things down shows where the holes are. You will see many of them right up front. Then let someone who has no knowledge of your business read the process and ask questions. More holes will show up. And soon you will have a process that you can hand to anyone to do. And what I found was that by writing the process down and following it myself when I did not have anyone else to do the work, I saved time. So much, in fact, that I was able to take a few afternoons a week off!!! That is the power of having processes in your business.
The key is to just start. Done is better than done perfect. Adjust as you go. Here are a few tech tools to help you get started:
Create a document that is a list of steps using a word processor like Word or Pages.
Create a flowchart documenting your process in pictures using Word or Excel
Use Sweet Process (www.sweetprocess.com), an on-line tool, designed to help you create and share your processes
Component #2 Effective Communications
When we trying to do something new or do something in a new way, it can feel so difficult. It seems to take us twice as long. Doing it the old way would be so much easier. Make no mistake – things will feel this way as you try to delegate. If you are used to working by yourself, you can do things on your own timeline. When you involve others the rules change. No more flying by the seat of our pants. No more waiting til the last minute. No more writing copy on a Friday for a Monday launch. You’ll need to plan ahead. And you will need to clearly communicate what needs to be done and when.
This communication can start with two very simple tech tools – first a shared calendar. You can use Google calendar for this and share the calendar with your team. Plan launches and deadlines well ahead. For example, I had a copywriter working for me a few years back. She polished the copy for my monthly newsletter and put it into Constant Contact for me. I was always late getting the copy to her. Mainly because I would get writers block. And therefore the newsletter did not go out consistently. She and I had a meeting and I determined that I wanted the newsletter to go out on the first Thursday of every month. From there I had her tell me what date she would need the copy by in order to meet that deadline. We determined that I needed to have the copy to her by the last Thursday of the previous month. Those deadlines went on a shared calendar. We both knew what was expected of us and the commitment that we made.
Next use your email to assign and communicate tasks. I am as guilty as anyone about telling someone via phone call or a quick stop by their office what needs to be done. What I have learned is that I need to follow up those conversations with email. People are very busy and distracted. Writing things down (just we did with processes) can help to serve as a reminder to both you and your team member of what was discussed and what is expected.
As your team grows, project management software becomes a must. The advantages of using a project management package is that tasks can be assigned with deadlines, notes and questions about each task can be tracked with this software, and documents and calendars can all be shared in one interface, thus allowing all team members one place to effectively communicate.
Component #3 Smart Tracking
We go into the process of delegating expecting miracles. “Ahhh I finally have help!” What a relief to be able to say “Here — you do it!” Then we move on to our next 25 tasks on our own task list. And then the realization sets in that things either not getting done or are not getting done the way that we want. I like to call this ‘dump and run’. Once again, I am just as guilty as anyone of this. A few years back, I hired a bookkeeper. I would send her my Quickbooks files and scanned copies of my bank statements and she was to balance my accounts. Pretty easy task for a bookkeeper ( or so you would think). After all, I had done it myself for years. I paid her to do this for about 8 months. And then came the end of the year. Tax time. And I realized that my accounts were off –significantly. I ended up going back and reconciling all of the accounts for the entire time she had worked for me. I could have caught this earlier if I had checked her work for the first few months. And I could have saved myself a lot of money by letting her go sooner.
When you delegate, you need to ask yourself the question “How will I know?” How will you know if something is going to be completed on time? How will you know that things are being completed correctly? How will you know what team members are working on each day?
Reporting or tracking is the most important key to the success of delegating.
For software like Quickbooks there are reconciliation reports that I could have run. If you decide to use project management software, take into consideration what kind of reports can you run on tasks completed or outstanding tasks before making your software choice.
A lower tech solution is the 5-15 report. I use this in my company. I created an Excel spreadsheet where employees are to track daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. The report takes them about 15 minutes to fill out and me 5 minutes to read.
Remember to keep asking yourself “How will I know?” as the final step to delegating any task.
It’s time to make an iron-clad commitment to delegating even a few hours worth of work per month and not go back to doing things yourself.
Commitment to getting the essential components right. Commitment to finding the right team members. Will it take more time at first?
Absolutely! But the growth of your business, the ability for you to serve more people and the freedom to live the life you want demands it!
“Amber is a rockstar. Not only does she have years of experience as a VA and knows more than many others in our industry, she also has something that can’t be taught – dedication. Once Amber commits to something she is in 100% and will do whatever it takes to deliver. I highly recommend Amber and her team for the brilliance and knowledge.”
Many clients have posed this question lately during our weekly strategy sessions. Amber “what is your honest take on InfusionSoft since you have had a few clients switch over?”
I love sharing my feedback with clients on my opinion of programs, including InfusionSoft. Coming from my extensive knowledge of 1ShoppingCart, I have to say there are several distinct differences. Both programs have pros and cons and I enjoy working in both of them. So…I have to say I haven’t decided yet which I would recommend over the other. But, I will share with you here what I tell my current clients when asked this question about what I have found that I like about and what I am not to crazy about with InfusionSoft.
PROS:
InfusionSoft does has EXCEPTIONAL broadcast and segmenting abilities. That is what it is known for. I absolutely love the way it allows you to segment and send very very targeted emails. Let’s say you want to send an email to those on your newsletter list and EXCLUDE those who have signed up for your teleclass or product you are promoting already. Piece of cake.
I love the way you can create a follow up sequence task. For example, you can create a “task” via an email that will prompt a team member or even yourself a to do item after a purchase has been made. Love that. Automation at its best.
They have free technical phone support. Gotta give them thumbs up for that. Seriously. Especially as a Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager it is critical to get immediate support…and FREE.
Very detailed customer record section. You can see what emails were sent to each contact, which were opened by them and more. Very very cool.
CONS:
Interface is a bit more confusing than most. It has a much harder learning curve (but then again, free support to help you with it!)
Shopping cart is not as easy as I would like. I find there are several steps to take in order to get it setup. (But love the fact that you have shopping cart abilities)
Support documents are hard to read. Much easier to just call support again, which is free.
I will continue to share with you as I learn more. There is so much about this program – but for now, I am still on the fence as to which is the best…
Mark the things on that list that ONLY YOU CAN DO. Not the things that you WANT to do, mark the things that only you can do. These are things that are unique to your position, whatever that is – functions that only you can perform. This can be the hard part, though, because there are probably things that you have been doing that you like doing and want to do, but someone else can do them. You need to let go of those things. You need to focus your time and effort on areas where you are most effective. That is usually doing the things only you can do.
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