As I am preparing myself for getting my virtual assistant business off and running...I was wondering...how many clients do you have and how do you schedule your time if you are working with several clients? Do you block off times in your day for those clients, or if you are doing similar tasks even for different clients, do you group the tasks together? Do you have a limit of how many clients you will work with?

Appreciate the help...thanks!!

Good morning nicnac49.

I think you will receive a different answer for every person who responds. At this time, I do not offer telephone answering services, so I am not tied to the desk. I will arrange projects based on urgency, difficulty and personal preference.

Right now I have some research to do for a story. I need to use my public library, which opens at varying times each day. I will work on smaller or less demanding projects on days the library opens early, so I can stop and go. I'll work at the library a couple hours, come back and get into something that needs a little more dedicated concentration.

To be successful as a VA, you are going to have to have good multi-tasking skills and prioritizing abilities.

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Robin A. Holstein
Robin's Desktop Virtual Administrative Services
My Blog

Hi nicnac49,

I usually schedule clients for particular times of the day to get there work done, perhaps 1-4 or 6-8 or something like that. I try to block off hours at a time to work with one client at a time so that I can get into a groove with what I am doing. I also have to take advantage of when my son is taking a nap or my husband is home from work so it varies from day to day but I do try and schedule in blocks.

As Robin has stated your success will be based on your ability to multi task. I am sure you will get a wide variety of answers here.

You just have to decide what works best for you and try it out.

Good luck
Kim :=)

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Kim Beckers
Online Business Manager

I have what I call a default diary (calendar). I have saved as reoccurring events things like my networking events, when payroll is to be done, when to make my calls etc. I then fill in my family stuff too. When to pick up my kids, when they have after school activities etc. Then for the clients that I actually look after, I block out time and only work on their project. The blocks are arranged in order of deadline and priority.

Oh and I colour code everything then sync it to my palm treo.

HTH

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Kylie Short
Tilda Virtual Services - Making virtual personal

For me it depends on the client and what I'm working on for them. I sort of have set blocks of time for each client but they are very flexible because if something comes up they get moved around. I also prioritize based on how urgent something is. Every day is different. Yesterday I worked on nine different clients, today I'll probably only work on one.

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Lanel Taylor, CVA ~ Virtual Bookkeeper
Taylored Office Solutions
Custom fit solutions for all your office needs.

Well, as you can see, the response does vary. I think you do what works best for you and keeps your clients very happy. I do try to block specific days/times for each client, yet am flexible. Sometimes a client won't have work for me for a while and then it comes in all at once. So being flexible and being able to prioritize and multi-task are very important for a virtual assistant. I haven't had to limit the number of clients yet but can see that happening in the future. As I told one prospect, I'd never accept more work than I could actually handle.

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Sue L Canfield
AwesomeAssistant.info
My Blog

At the beginning of the week I email a request asking what the priorities are for the week, based on that I schedule my week. I schedule in blocks of time -- at least an hour for each client a day -- right now that fits into one day. If that clients tasks doesn't take a full hour I am "ahead" and use time at the end of the day to do things like participate in this forum, linked in, etc.

Also, because I am dual career, some of the graphic work I cannot do during the workday because my full time job does not have the necessary software for me to handle those requests. So, sad to say, I do work most evenings on graphic design projects and things that don't require 9-5 attention.

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Tamika R. Johnson, MBA, Principal
administrative partners, llc
www.administrativepartners.net | http://adminpartners.blogspot.com

Thanks everyone for your responses...it is greatly appreciated...and will welcome additional responses or advice...

I follow suit to Tamika but I email the clients on Friday and get a list of priorities for the following week.

I set my schedule up over the weekend but it generally turns out that I block out specific days for each client. I also make sure that I have a full 4 hours each day to work on my business itself (primarily marketing, further education, business books, etc.) as well.

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Dawn Riley
A Virtual Assistant in Paradise
Our business is about making yours better

I work with three companies right now. 1 legal document preparation company and 2 attorneys. I get a variety of business by each of them daily. It doesn't mean I have to finish all the projects that day, but I generally deal with all three pretty much on a daily basis.