Do you have normal business hours? If so, what are they? How often do you change your hours?

Spill the beans lol.

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Sheena M Cooper, VAA
Sheena's Virtual Solutions

Since I work a 9-5, Goddess hour are before and after work and Saturday mornings - not that my clients know this. I generally work 7-8am and 7-9pm M-F and 8-noon Saturdays. Sundays are sacred as everyone needs a break sometime!

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

My hours are 9-7 Monday thru Thursday and 9-3 on Fridays.....and then 11-3 on Saturday (though my clients don't know about the Sat hours...I use that as catch up for my stuff).

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Rebecca Thompson
CLR Virtual Connection * fanTABulous fan pages

Originally Posted by VA17_CS

Do you have normal business hours? If so, what are they? How often do you change your hours? Spill the beans lol.

Since I deal with clients on the East and West coast, my day is usually at least 12 hours long. I had more time when I was commuting and working a full time job!

In the beginning I had written business hours but never stuck to them. As my business grew, I realized that I was not giving myself any "me" time and not enough time to friends and family. So I set my business hours at M-F 10-6. I'm not avail for clients to call me outside of those hours unless its an emergency or some super important project that I planned to give myself to. Of course, as VA's we're still working 11p.m. at night sometimes, but my clients know not to call me after 6. If its an emergency, we set up a policy where they text me and we take it from there.

Since I did that, I realized that my days are way more productive.

-Anastacia

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Sincerely,
Anastacia Prince of Prince Virtual Assistant Services
www.princeva.com

Smart! I think I need to do that. My phone rings at night and on Saturdays!

Very nice post ladies.

My business hours are going to be 10a-6pm for clients and 12a-2a for my personal business affairs. M-F. No Saturdays (unless a extreme ER) that is the day for me and my children and NO Sundays at all.

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Sheena M Cooper, VAA
Sheena's Virtual Solutions

My hours are 9-5 and but I am flexible if the client has a rush order and wants to pay extra then extra hours are possible. Things usually wind down on Friday afternoons and have never had a call on a Sunday. I try not to open the e-mail before 9 and spend a few minutes at the end of the day getting organized for the next.

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Bernice
Energy Virtual Assistant

My biz line is through Ring Central...and I have it set up to automatically go to VM after 6:30 in the evening and after 3 on Fridays and the weekends I have it set up to auto VM. I know myself and that I would be answering my phone all the time if I didn't do that. My clients know that if it is TRULY an emergency, to email me....with the words URGENT in the subject.

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Rebecca Thompson
CLR Virtual Connection * fanTABulous fan pages

Great advice, I need to come up with firm business hours. Does anyone have any suggestions for a phone system to use. Currently I use various cell phones and one of my clients has her phone forwarded to me. I need the capability to be able to transfer a call back to her if necessary. Any thoughts?

Does anyone include your business and holiday hours in your contract? I just got my first client, who knows she is my first client. She is a referral. So I'm scrambling to get things together.

Thanks!

Holly

Hi Sheena! Did you get snow last night, too?

Now to your question...I do what Rebecca talks about above. My calls are set up to go automatically to VM at all times except 3:30-5pm on workdays. That's when my kids are napping and I can take a call without having to ignore them. Once in a great while I make an exception and take an early-morning call before the kids get up, but those are always prescheduled and ONLY if it's an established client who I know isn't just being demanding as a power play. Otherwise, it's email or (if I'm in the middle of a billable project) IM.

I'm trying something new this year also: giving myself a 4-day workweek. It's kind of odd--no Thursdays--but it's that way because that's what works for my family. So far no one has had any problem with it.

I do the kind of projects that lend themselves to any-hours work, though. I can't imagine that restrictive a phone policy would work for someone who's doing a lot of real-time clerical work or things that require contact with the client's customers. You may just have to experiment until you find where your perfect balance is. My hours have changed at least four times since I opened 3.5 years ago.

And Holly--yep, I just rewrote my contract last week, and it's ALL in there now. I have a whole section detailing my hours, days, and communication preferences. Nothing wrong with being upfront about it. In fact, I think sometimes clients really appreciate when you lay your cards on the table from the get-go.

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AnnaLisa Michalski, Sunny Words Writing Services

Great, thanks AnnaLisa! I am going to include that info too. I did include it in my welcome letter, but it could only be helpful to also have it signed off on!

I hadn't given much thought to hours yet as I'm not live yet but I currently work 7a-4p and am very spoiled with these hours. I'm thinking I'll do either 8-5 or 9-6 CT M-F and no listed hours on the weekends. I will, however, work weekends if I need to complete jobs on time.

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Sandy
www.eliteadminforyou.com

I don't talk about hours at all and especially not in my contract. But then again - I don't work with clients in real time. I block time to return calls and emails so that when I am working I am not distracted.

If a client needs a phone call I let them know during my initial consultation that I block time and why (it's to their benefit that I am not distracted or interrupted while I am working on their stuff). I let them know that I return all calls and emails within one business day, however I do recommend that if they need a phone call, the best thing to do is to schedule a telephone appointment with me via email. I also meet with them within 24 business hours.

Tip: follow up each phone conversation with an email summarizing any instructions, future appointments or action items. This way you reduce the risk of misunderstandings and have a paper trail.

And yes, I bill for all of this time.

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