Your Virtual Assistant
I don’t know about you, but I feel busier now than ever. This wonderful age of technology seems to have added to the sense of “too much to do and not enough time to do it.” Add to that is the feeling that I should be doing more: more volunteering, more vacation packed with more activities, more work. Arghhh!
Of course, we know that this sense of overwhelm can lead to stress and stress is the foundation for health problems. In steps the virtual assistant that is as close as your nearest smartphone. In other words, when you can’t afford the services of a virtual assistant, then take advantage of the many ways your smartphone can help you better manage your time and your business.
Here are some tips for using your smartphone as your virtual assistant. I am mostly referring to the Apple iPhone, but other smartphones do pretty much the same thing. Use your phone for the following:
Call your ride by giving the name of the destination. Uber and Lyft (or any car service) are your friends. When you “catch a ride,” you eliminate your need to pay attention to the road. Now, you can handle needed phone calls or catchup on your emails while riding to your destination.
Pay for goods and services from your phone using any of your debit or credit cards. No more pulling out the wallet, then pulling out the card. In addition, you can use the phone to send money.
When expecting a reply to a message, but you must move on to other tasks before the message gets to you, on the iPhone, tap notify and you will be alerted when the message is in.
Don’t forget to add extensions to your contacts in your phone; this can save a lot of time and hassle.
Facilitate collaboration with colleagues via your smartphone.
Manage your calendar by including reminders, alerts and even timers. (Do I really need to remind you of this?)
Scan your documents from your smartphone. There are apps that will take care of that for you.
If you are using Siri on your iPhone, you can voice text on command and you can ask for your texts to be read. Invaluable if you are trying to find out the last text that came in while you were driving.
Of course, you are using your phone for searches. It’s always a hand away!
There are so many more opportunities to put your smartphone to work as your virtual assistant. Take the time now to explore your options. There are specific apps that will enhance what you are doing. It takes some effort before the many ways using your phone as a virtual assistant becomes habit. But believe me, you will save time in the long run.
If there are other business solutions we can help with, don’t hesitate to contact us at Exceptional Transcriptions and Business Solutions. Got a problem you can’t handle because there is just not enough time? We can help you with that!
