Interesting discussion arose recently on one of the VA forums and I thought I’d bring the topic here.  How do you handle things if you’re not well and have client work to be done?

I guess the answer really depends on the timing for that work and the relationship you have with your clients. Also, just how sick you might be?

If I’ve had a day where I’ve felt a bit ‘off’ but not needing to be in bed, I will work at half capacity, completing anything that might have had a deadline for that day and putting aside non-urgent items.  I might even let the phone go to voicemail and check that periodically.  I’ve been known to go lie down on the couch in the loungeroom for an hour or two and then go back to check on things in the office.

If I’m worse than that and know there are jobs that need completing I’ll check with some members of my Virtual Assistant team to see who is available and can take on the jobs for me – that way the client is still being looked after.  At this stage there still isn’t a need to notify my client of my illness – their work is being carried out and it will come back to me before being forwarded to the client.

What about if it’s more serious than that and I can’t be in my office for a few days and away from the phone? Then obviously I need to let my clients know that I’ll be unavailable for a few days but that I have organised for others to look after them and will make the necessary introductions to get that happening.

Ultimately, as business owners, it is our responsibiilty to make sure that commitments we’ve taken on are being respected and looked after and we should be making sure that alternative arrangements are made to ensure that deadlines can be met.  Handing things back to a client and saying “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it for you…” is not something that should be considered unless all other options have been tried.  Evenso, I would be very reluctant to do this, irrespective of the reasons. Clients need to know you’re dependable, even when life isn’t.

My hubby gets Scientific American and he photocopied an article for me from their June edition. The full article isn’t available online but some of it is and I thought I’d share it with you.

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.

Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.

You can purchase a copy online at the link in my first para.

How about that? Now you can say blogging is a healthy activity!

blogging, healthy, therapeutic, writing, blogosphere, Scientific American

I had an epiphany recently. Here I am, a VA of many years standing and I own and run a network of VAs. But I still try to do everything myself!

A few nights ago I had dinner with a possible new client. I say ‘possible’ because I actually had tried to pass her on to my team members but she kept coming back saying she wanted me – she’d been referred to me and the person who referred her spoke very highly of my abilities. That’s good, most of the time, but when you’re stretched to the limit, you really just want to be able to pass clients on, as I’ve been doing for years.

And then she said to me, after I’d told her for probably the 3rd or 4th time in a week that I just don’t have the time, ‘can’t you just manage it all and then get some of your team to do what you can’t?’. It kind of hit me between the eyes and I thought perhaps I could and when I got home I responded to her original job request email with a list of what I could do and what I won’t do.

And then overnight comes a message that only really could have come from God. I receive daily devotionals from MarketPlace Leaders (I get Volume 2) and this one is on Time Management. I’ll let you read it for yourself:

David accomplished a great deal in his lifetime. However, he also understood life had an end to it and he wanted to make the most of it. He learned to use his time wisely. And so should we.

Peter Drucker was a renown management consultant to major corporations and authored many bestselling business books. He suggested three activities that might help busy executives better manage their time.

“First, do not start with the task. Start with your time. Determine where your time is going. Then, attempt to manage that time and cut back unproductive demands on your time. Consolidate your ‘discretionary’ time into the largest possible continuing time units.

Drucker refers to the second step as time management. After listing the activities to which we devote our time, he suggests that we ask three questions about each of these activities to help us minimize the amount of time we waste: “What would happen if this were not done at all?” And if the answer is, ‘Nothing would happen,’ then obviously the conclusion is to stop doing it. Next, which of the activities on my time log could be done by somebody else just as well, if not better? What do I do that wastes my time without contributing to my effectiveness?*

Drucker closes by saying ‘Know Thyself,’ this old prescription for wisdom is impossibly difficult for mortal men. But everyone can follow the injunction ‘Know Thy Time’ if you want to, and be well on the road toward contribution and effectiveness.”

Why not evaluate how you are spending your time and ask God how to better use your time.

I think I’m being told to hand some things over and I suddenly realised that I don’t have to do all of what I’m doing and yes, I can outsource it. I have the team to do it! duh!

I was watching Sunrise whilst putting in a bit of time on the treadmill this morning and it highlighted a recent news article that I heard over the weekend but hadn’t really thought about. They had an expert talking about the importance of getting sunshine on a regular basis to prevent Vitamin D deficiency. They mentioned people most at risk are those who are constantly covered up (perhaps due to cultural or religious reasons) and the long-term sick, or the aged who stay indoors all the time.

As soon as they said that last one I immediately thought of us in the VA industry. How many of us are inside day after day, not venturing out? The health of a VA has been mentioned via various forums and we’ve often covered the increase of weight, the bad eating habits, lack of exercise (hence the reason for a treadmill at home) but we’ve not touched on this aspect at all.

I had to do a mental think about how much natural daylight I go out in at the moment. The report showed for the eastern side of Australia (sorry, it didn’t cover the other areas) that between May – August we should get 2-3 hours a week and in the summer only 7-8 minutes per day – and not at the hottest part of the day. We are, after all, the skin cancer capital of the world so it’s important to protect our skin but we also need that balance of fresh air and natural sunlight on our skin.

I do go out every day to pick up the mail from the post office, run errands, and so on so I’m out there for at least a half hour daily, sometimes longer, but now I’m conscious of the Vitamin D deficiency problem I’ll make a conscious effort of getting outside more during the day too, particularly if there is some sunshine.   We all need a break from our computers and home offices anyway so this is a good reason to make sure I do that.  KMT