I met someone recently at a networking group who was interested in working with a VA. He initially said he'd like his filing system sorted out and maybe some other work and as he's local I said I'd go and have a chat with him at his office.

During our meeting he said he was really looking to me to come up with some ideas of how to organise him as he's rubbish at time management. As I haven't come across this situation before (where the client doesn't really know what he wants) I don't think I was much help and said I'd have a think about what I could do and get back to him at the next networking session.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to where to go from there?! Has anyone come across this before or have any tips on how I could approach it?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

__________________
Karen James
Cloud VA

What kind of business is he in? Well, no matter what business, a filing system would be a good start! Then maybe connected his calendar to his cell phone or blackberry and then set reminders to keep him on time. What about organizing his work area? An inbox, to-do box, to file box, etc. Maybe something to keep all his bills in (will you be doing his billing too?) Just some ideas!

__________________
Kathy
www.theofficevirtuoso.com

I agree with all of these suggestions. Maybe what you could do, since he's local, is do an on-site visit to see how he's running things now and then jot down anything that you see could be improved upon. Creating some processes might be something to think about as well. Maybe you could get him set up using some or all of the Getting Things Done methods (or similar routines and processes) for getting and staying organized and stress free

Although, I've found that it can be really hard to get a client to adhere to processes. My client tries really hard to follow my back office process suggestions but she's still not very good at it all the time

Good luck

__________________
Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

I noticed you used the phrase"next networking session". Will you be charging for your time? I have had several potential client ask me to come up with ideas in the guise of finding solutions for their problem but after giving them the information they disappeared. I now only put around .5 hour into potential client proposals or "ideas" before I ask them to pay for my time.

__________________
Lisa Olinda of Olinda Services
Keeping you on the path to success!
www.olindaservices.com

Thanks for the suggestions - I was actually going to look into how to connect his calendar to his phone and I think the onsite visit is a good idea. I did also wonder about how much time I was going to spend on coming up with ideas as I'm not being paid for 'thinking'.

I might ask him to list the things he does regularly and then discuss the things he does that I can help with.

__________________
Karen James
Cloud VA