Originally Posted by nvela
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how do you plan out each client tasks/workload? Is it first come first serve basis? or do you stop to do another client job, and how do you track/bill your time.
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I'll try to give you an answer here.
A lot of my answers come from past experience (either as a VA [the past year and a half] or my 20+ years' prior work experience and education) on how long certain types of tasks take when you're planning your days/weeks. Don't be discouraged if you don't have the past experience - you will do fine and learn how to develop your plan of attack. I still consider myself a "novice" of sorts as a VA, even though it's been a year and a half.
Others may do this differently (would love to hear what they do), but here is a rundown on my process:
Client A (a new client) contacts me for a website design. I know this will take more time to do, so we do the initial back and forth emails to get the ball rolling (contract, etc.). (There is time in between to fit other clients' tasks or projects if need be.)
Client B needs a document edited and proofed and ready to go by the next day. The document is 10 pages of non-technical content, so I have a general idea as to how long this will take. This is not a rush job. I put this on my calendar for 'X' time slot in the current day (or the next day).
Client C has a major problem. Their website is down and they don't know why. This IS a rush job, so if I was working on Client B, I set this aside knowing that I have enough time to get it done before their deadline of the following day. (Even if this means working "after hours" to finish up Client B to meet the deadline. At no "rush job" extra cost to Client B.)
Client D also has a major problem, too. They need a financial spreadsheet ASAP for their accountant and are emailing me the paperwork I need, so I can to do this right away. I tell them that I can do this, but it will be after hours when I can do it (remember Client C and website that is down?), and there will be an extra charge for this. They are fine with that.
Client E has a newsletter they want designed and coded, including images that I'll need to create. This is more time consuming, so I give them an estimated time that it will be completed. They want it sooner. So, I juggle working on two non-urgent tasks at the same time. I might get the newsletter layout template finished, then go back to the web design project and tackle some of their project specs. Then...you guessed it...back to the newsletter.
So, that is how I schedule my time. In the beginning it was a wee bit of a challenge, and I felt like I was meeting myself coming and going as I juggled things, but it is much better now. I didn't have all my processes down pat yet; now I am getting there - but it will always be a work in progress as I grow and find new ways to be more efficient with time management, etc.
One thing that is very helpful is using Microsoft OneNote. Each of my clients have their own section, some with subsection groups, and pages and sub-pages. I also subcontract for other VAs, so they each get their own section group with sections and pages for each of those clients. When I get an email from a client I add that to ON so that I have any special instructions, login info, etc. at my fingertips. (To be honest, sometimes I might forget to do this and it causes a major headache searching through a ton of email to find what I need - even though each client has their own Outlook folder!) I would be lost without OneNote!
I track my time using
Timeless Time and Expense (it is not free). After trying a multitude of free and online software, I have used this for the past year and love it. It has a built in timer and a lot of flexibility for reporting. I can print my timesheets for various clients and email to them. Most often now, within about the last six months, I started using a big ole notebook (left-handed one at that - because I am left-handed when I write
). I then input my time to TT & E for those clients that I didn't use the timer for. TT & E also has an invoicing feature, but I use Peachtree Accounting so have no need for that.
Regarding the notebook, I tried various scheduling/calendar software, but find that I have my projects/tasks at a glance right in front of me now. If you don't want to go this route, there is a free calendar program called
Mozilla Sunbird that is pretty cool that you can download and use on your computer.
As a VA, I find that I am
always learning new things (I read a lot of books and visit a lot of websites to keep up on current trends in my niches). And there are always new ways to improve upon and implement processes that I have in place. Not sure you know how to do what a client needs? Tell them this is something new, but you would love to tackle it anyway - just make sure that you can actually deliver! E.g. don't offer to edit and proofread a medically technical document if you have absolutely no medical background. Or code an entire website if you have no idea what that even means.
Before I write a book here, I'm
. I'm thinking this could be a nice future blog post.
HTH a bit,
Can someone give me an example how you plan out and bill your time for each client?
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