Easy to make editable maps

I have a client who provides reps to her clients, almost like an employment agency. It was getting to the point she couldnt keep up who was where. She called and asked if I could map out, where her clients were located in a general area, and where the reps were located, in reference to these clients. I found a fun site called mapbuilder. Map builder is a mashup map creator. In other words, you can add your locations with different colored icons and save it for future reference. You give client 'A' locations a blue icon, client 'B' locations a red icon... and so on, they have made it that simple. They also have a link called booming maps, which gives you all the maps that have been created with the highest hits.. Do you want to map out your route for garage sales this weekend? you can do it here. Real Estate agents find this tool priceless. They can map out every home they have for sale, print it out and hand to buyers. It will also give you the HTML if you want to share the map on your website. The only down side I found is it does take time to enter all the addresses. That is why my client called me to do it. I spent the time on her map, while she worked on her business.

Time is so precious!

The past 2 weeks have been so busy for me! Time management seems to be a subject that gets brought up frequently when I am talking with people. I don't know about you but I do not like working at midnight. I know alot of business people do this, work at odd hours, when the kids are sleeping, after dinner "just for a little while", weekends. Being a VA I hear it every day. "I need to enter a whole guest book into a database but when am I supposed to do that, 2 am?" or "I have this great idea for a marketing campaign but being able to actually sit down and do it is another thing." Another one I hear, "I have this business meeting to go to but I can't find time to get on the phone or computer long enough to book my flight, hotel, car, everything else I am going need!"

Well, here's the scoop on this, hire it out. As small business owner we CANNOT do it all. We all may think we are super skippy but, reality is, there are only 24 hours in a day and we cant order more. If you are trying to build your start up; getting clients, to actually pay the bills, is the number one task that you should be focusing on. That is the reason you started that business in the first place. I hire people to do tasks that I don't know how to do (or don't have time) and that is a really good practice. I am one of those people who enjoys the mundane office tasks, (no comments from the peanut gallery!) that is why I started Sage, so I could do what I enjoy doing, for other folks who are doing what they enjoy doing. Everyone wins.

As a small business person, I'm guessing that, actually having someone work IN your office is not an option because your office is most likely in your house (like mine). I personally would not want someone coming here every day. Its business casual every day of the week! That's what is great about my profession, I can 'be' in your office, without actually 'being' in your office. We can work side by side on different sides of the globe. Its great. Another plus is having me work 'with' you, I am an independent contractor, you don't have all the paperwork and expense of hiring an employee. I charge by the hour and only work the hours you need me, you don't have to worry about finding work for me around the office because if you don't need my assistance, I won't cost you a dime.

So, when you are in need of some office labor, think about hiring a virtual assistant. You wont have to supply a computer, desk, coffee pot, staples, etc.. you get my drift. I have all of that (plenty of coffee). I wont ask you to pay for my vacation or sick days either!

Just a quick note

I have been reading some information about WHEN is the best time to 'tweet'. Seems anytime will do but logically most people are on their computers during the daytime hours so........ Im going to go TWEET!