I love PowerPoint! It is by far my favorite Office program. It is a “Power” program that if used with creativity and purpose can produce enjoyable and informative slideshows. I believe because I have such an affinity for PowerPoint I bring a nice perspective to client ideas when it comes to putting a presentation together.
I have had such an interesting PowerPoint journey that I want to share some ideas that I have come to rely on when producing a client presentation. This series of posts will focus on how you can utilize PowerPoint to achieve the slides you envision.
1. Think Outside the Box
If there’s one thing that can be a determining factor as to the level of creativity you can bring to PowerPoint it’s to Think Outside the Box!
I want to offer two examples of this idea.
1. Templates serve a great purpose for many MS Office users. Most users are simply trying to make a presentation with few slides and no frills, bells or whistles. However, if you want to really “Wow” your audience you need to move beyond the barriers of the template.
Starting with a template can be a good jumping-off point. That should be all it is though – a place to begin. The mind is very capable of creating a presentation with a personal touch that can scream “This was MY idea. I thought of this design, brought it to life and was able to move the audience with its message!” This can be a very rewarding experience.
2. You can do a great many things with PowerPoint - import graphs, charts, images, etc. However, if you have a graph or chart that your client faxes to you in handwritten format, you must rely on your “outside the box” creativity to produce that graph/chart.
I once worked for a company that relied heavily on PowerPoint presentations to convey their message to clients, co-workers, vendors, government agencies and others. When I arrived for my job interview it consisted entirely of creating 5 PPT slides from scratch. They consisted of text, clipart, graphs, charts, symbols and more. There weren’t any additional documents from which to gather the data. So I quickly went to work making my graphs from rectangles, lines, arrows, text boxes and more.
One slide needed a red to green shaded bar to show a gradual progression towards an end. I could not, for the life of me, find that bar in the clipart. I was having a hard time creating this. I finally decided to create the bar on my own. I made three rectangles and filled them with a two-color shade that made a gradual red to green fade.
Finishing, I completed the 5 slides, printed them and gave them to the interviewer. She was very happy with the results. I personally wasn’t so impressed because they could have been much better if I wasn’t pressed for time. Suffice it to say, I got the job and ended up making countless PPT’s from hand-drawings that my bosses would fax and mail to me.
When I left the job I discovered why my boss was so impressed with the slides I created. The possible replacements for my position could not even get through 3 slides. As I watched each of them working on the 5 slides I noticed how automated their movements were. That’s the thing with Microsoft – all the MS programs are so similar and the toolbars so uniform that you can practically perform each function the same way you would in the other office programs - Word, Excel, Publisher, etc.
This integration can be a great thing, but it can also stifle that urge to Think Outside the Box. You get caught in the cycle of moving through the toolbars and processes that seem natural but in the end you can’t make a chart or graph without having the data to import. You can’t create an image that isn’t located in the Clipart Gallery.
You have to be able to build from the ground up any element you want on a PPT slide. This can be done if you Think Outside the Box.
I guess I should say I’d like to have a new and more productive year. On a professional level I hope to achieve self-sustaining levels by the end of the year. I don’t want to work for anyone else and I need to push myself to reach this.
So, for 2008, I have baby step goals for my business:
1. Have 2 new clients by February 29 - Kudos to the Virtual Assistant Forums for this one. Because of their future perspectives I have this goal in place. They are currently running a contest for VAs to reach a goal they set by February 29. So, I post on my thread the progress I’m making, any setbacks or issues I face, etc. Others can post and comment on my thread and I can do the same for other contestants. Great Idea, Tess!!!!!
2. Quit my job by March 1st. I cannot stand working for someone else. I don’t like being made to feel less than others. Bosses can often times do this to their employees. It may not be a conscious thing, but they do it nonetheless. So, being able to get out from under an employers eye will be a tremendous relief.
3. Join and stay active in at least 3 networking groups. I am looking to join BNI and NAWBO in my area and join a few chamber groups. Western New York offers a plethora of small businesses with which to offer my services. I am looking forward to beginning this one by the end of the month.
4. Update my blog at least twice a week. Either with articles, tips & tricks, or other pertinent VA info, I will set out to share with others the knowledge I have acquired throughout the years. I hope to offer something as a token of my appreciation of having the opportunity to learn from many I have met.
5. Redo my brand/logo/website/marketing material. If I can enlist the assistance of someone else I will. This can be costly so I will probably have to do this on my own. But I will have a new look by June.
6. Submit a press release once a month.
7. Post to the forums every day. VA Rev, VA Forums, VACOC are the top three that I plan to post to. I need to get out there and “meet” other VAs and volunteer my services when I can. Posting on the boards helps to achieve this.
This is it for now. I know there are more but I am going to stick to the most important ones for now. I will post my progress here and I hope that 2008 is successful and productive for all of you.
Happy New Year!
It is a challenge for me when I’m asked to explain what it is I do and why it is best to hire a Virtual Assistant. Not that I can’t explain it and not that I don’t believe that hiring a VA is the most cost-effective action a business owner can take, it’s trying to break the mindset that owners have about working with someone from a distance.
I’m pretty good at knowing if I like someone from the moment we speak. For most of my life though, this has been in face-to-face conversation. Whenever I met someone new there was body language, facial expressions, and those little nuances we get from the first handshake.
Now that I am a VA, the first meeting is usually an email. From my experiences with online introductions, you really don’t know what a person is like from an email message. Words are hard to ”read” sometimes as meanings can be different for different people.
So then we move on to a phone introduction.
Now we move into a learning to trust relationship.
1. Communication in the age of technological innovation
VAs by nature, thrive in a virtual environment. We are used to long-distance business partnerships. The technology, resources and information available to conduct this type of service is what keeps us excited and striving for success. The Clients, on the other hand, often times find themselves at a loss when it comes to a virtual partnership. It is not a common practice for most. Many business owners find comfort in having a warm body in the chair to answer phones, file papers, and simply be there in case they “need” something. Computers, the internet, email and all the other technology innovations are on the back-burner for them. It’s hard for them to truly understand just what it is their assistants are doing for them when it comes to this side of the business. Helping business owners understand these tasks that are necessary to conduct business could just as easily, and more cost-effectively, be carried out from a Virtual Assistant’s remote location continues to challenge the education process for Virtual Assistants.
Trusting that a Virtual Assistant is skilled and capable enough to handle the technical distances in a VA/Client relationship is a paramount point to solidify in the minds of business owners.
2. Learning to trust and give up some control
Here is a tremendous barrier to cross. Most business owners are used to a process when it comes to working with an assistant. They place an ad and the applicant’s interview for the position. The owner makes a judgment call by what they see and hear in the interview. They take a resume and sum up a person by their experience, education and references. They then proceed to make a substantial investment in this person and hope that they will be with them for the long-haul. It is easy to overlook a key specific point however, when carrying out this process.
The Cost Difference – This is quite substantial when comparing an in-house employee with a VA. It is quite possible the investment made in hiring a full-time employee could be money down the drain. It may turn out that the business owner and the assistants’ personalities are not compatible. The employee may feel that they are not being paid enough to carry out the tasks they were hired to do. The employer may feel that they are not getting their money’s worth in the work carried out by their new employee. There are other scenarios, but they all lead to the same outcome - either firing the assistant or the assistant quits. In either case the employer is out a large amount of money and time. The Return On Investment (ROI) does not balance out. And then they’re at it again - placing the ad, interviewing, and hoping for the best.
There is also the cost difference of lost time due to PTO, Sick Days, Various Break Times - Lunch, Smoke and 15-Min. Breaks, holidays, etc. With a Virtual Assistant a business owner only pays for the time actually worked to complete tasks and projects. Most VAs charge by 15 minute increments, and some charge to the minute.
Then there are the other expenses of Payroll Tax, Benefits - Health, Dental, Vision, 401k’s, bonuses, commissions, etc. Any taxes, benefits, or other costs of this type are handled by the VA. As Virtual Assistants are also business owners, they manage any costs of this nature.
Why the Fear?
What many business owners fear is losing the control they feel they have over the person sitting in their assistant’s chair. Not focusing on the differences in cost is due, in part, to their inability to realize that their assistant’s are very capable and skilled and do not need to be micro-managed.
When I took my last office position, I was perfectly clear about my intentions on pursuing my VA business full-time and the part-time position being offered was the perfect catalyst for me to make this a reality. My employer said he understood, appreciated my desire to be a successful business owner and thought being a Virtual Assistant was a great idea. I assured him I would keep him posted on my status and would give him plenty of time to replace me. It turned out that his needs did not fit my agenda and the tasks I was completing could just have well been completed in a virtual manner.
Sadly, when it came time for us to part ways, I could see a VA/Client partnership was not possible for us. Even though we had worked together for over 6 months, the obstacles of technological differences, trusting in my skills as a VA/business owner and giving up control were issues I could not help him overcome.
It was this juncture in my VA life that I came to understand the dynamics underneath these giant barriers. The physical presence of an assistant is no longer necessary and helping business owners to understand this fact remains a constant struggle for Virtual Assistants.
This is where it is incumbent upon us - the Virtual Assistants - to educate the community - online, local, etc. - about what it is we do. Education is the key. Positioning ourselves as experts in our chosen skills and services starts to create a foundation on which to build a strong bond of trust between Virtual Assistants and the business community at large. Getting out there and helping to build this atmosphere of trust will help propel our industry to the forefront of the business world.