Unwanted Fees

Since I do a lot of personal assistant work for many individuals, I tend to pay many of their bills. One thing that I find to be a common occurrence amongst many of them is they are charged many unwanted and unnecessary fees from varies companies that they owe whether it is from credit cards or utilities bills. Some reasons why this occurs is because they haven't had time before, just forgot or just didn't want to pay the bills at that moment they think about it. That is why they hire me!

Many of the individuals love it when I am saving money for them because they usually have at least $40 extra spending money, if not more just by me taking the effort to pay their bills for them ON TIME. The key is to pay bills on time in order to dodge a boat load of unwanted fees. Besides incurring late fees by not paying your bills on time, you can also ruin your credit. By having bad credit it can cause you many problems later in life when you want to make certain purchases.

Just by taking 30 minutes or less out your day and taking the effort you can lead a healthy financial life free of fees and bad credit.

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Always Follow Up

I am constantly meeting new people on a daily basis, whether I am just out and about or it's a new client. One thing that I have found is always important after meeting with a new client is to followup with them regarding your meeting. Whether it is just a quick hello nice to meet you or a phone call following up with them.

By following up people, they are usually more likely to remember you and go back to you for continuing business. Besides establishing a good reputation for you and your business, it also shows them that you care and are willing to to take out to go that extra step.

I try to always follow up so that my possible new clients knows that I truly am there for them and will do whatever it takes to make are business relationship pleasurable. The more happy your client is the more likely is that they will refer you to their friends and colleagues in the future. This is exactly how my business has continued to grow to new heights.

Handwritten Notes - What Happened to Them

Handwritten notes are something that I find to be a lost art in this day in age. With email and everything electronic, I try to stay more personal whenever possible. Yes, I am constantly emailing others, but I think it is so much better if you can sit down and take the time to write something by hand. I always try to write a thank you notes, occasions, just because and for many other different reasons. I always like getting that nice surprise of a note in the mail.

Some ways in which you can make writing a note more fun and interesting would be:

• Get fun stationary. One person who I love to use is Avie Designs on Etsy.
• Use return address labels who represent you and aren't plain and boring. I get mine at Avie Designs as well.
• One special touch that I like to use is sealing the letter in someway whether it is a sticker seal or a wax seal. I use a wax seal more often because it personalizes it more and people usually know it is from me.

Remember, if you use an odd size letter (mine are usually square or rectangle) or have a wax on the back that is thick you may have to use the 64 cent postage.

Try to write at least one handwritten note a month if not more. Whether it is a thank you note or a just saying hi note, whomever receives it will probably be pleased and grateful and you never know whose day you may have brightened.

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Plagiarism is WRONG

One thing that I have had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with recently is plagiarism. I post ads on varies sites and one that has been more or less successful for me is Craigslist. Several weeks ago I was talking with someone that I organize for and she asked me if I had heard of another girl she has used in the past. I said yes and didn't think too much of it after that. When I decided to go repost one of my ads I decided to go look at my competitors and see what services they were providing, pricing, locations they worked, etc. To my dismay and surprise another organizer copied my whole entire ad word for word with her own content here and there. Come to find out after researching she has a blog as well and copied some of my content from my blog. After a little more research I saw that she made some presentations with info from my ad for personal assistant work I do. I was VERY disappointed by all this. I work hard to say the right things when I am creating a new ad don't want it to be copied word for word. Moral of the story is plagiarism of anyone's work is WRONG WRONG WRONG no matter who you are or what you do.

So if anyone is ever looking on Craigslist and sees one of my ads and happens to come upon another person who has the same ad as me, please flag immediately. I can see if you want to get ideas from others ads, but please never copy word for word.

www.ecomodernconcierge.com

My Office

The last post I talked about was about office organization and I thought that I would share with you what my office looks like. I try to keep it very organized so I do not procrastinate, but sometimes that becomes very difficult to do.

There are many things in my office that I LOVE here are a few:

This is the clock my boyfriend, Bryan, made me several years ago.

This is an eco calendar from Cat Seto

I found these paintings by an african artist in a resale shop for only $10!

This is my helper Rothko.

Some other things that I love about my office are the pictures of my family whom I am really close with and the amount of natural light that comes in, those things really inspire me to keep doing what I do on a daily basis.

Dog Walking

Most dogs liked to be walked. If you are the type that just lets them run around in the backyard, instead of walking them than try something new. We are all guilty of doing this when we think that we don’t have time, but truth is we all do we just have to make time. One thing that my dog, Rothko, loves to do is go on walks. Whether it is just down the street or to a dog park try doing something with your dog that you normally wouldn’t do with your pet, they will love you for it. Check online to see if your city has local dog parks/runs nearby because most do.

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Office Organization

One thing in my house that gets cluttered super fast is the office. I help people all the time get organized, but many of times it seems like I have the hardest time myself staying organized. Lately, I have been doing really well though.

Here are some tips to keeping your office organized

• Have bins, baskets, trays or whatever it is that you need to help you stay organized. Just don’t get used to putting anything in them to get stuff out of the way. Make them designated for specific things.
• File cabinets are a must. Keep up with your filing. This makes things so much easier when you are trying to look for something whether it is bills or stuff for your taxes.
• Shelving. This is great to put notebooks, binders, supplies, etc on.
• When mail comes in do something with it right away. Whether that is shred, file, recycle or needs to be paid bin. Don’t let it get piled up.
• Keep it clean. For me when my workspace is clean I tend to be more productive and don’t get distracted as easily.
• Make your supplies easily accessible to you so you don’t have to scramble when you are looking for something specific and in a rush.

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