Get Creating With This Neat Little Tool

I thought I would share this website with you which offers you the facility to visualise via your PC your driveway and garden using different features and materials.  This came about because one of my clients who are Civil Engineers are also involved in Driveways and Paths.  They asked me for some help with their presentation packs to prospective clients using this site. 

With this website – see below for the link – you can upload an image to recreate a driveway in different materials and colours.  The site also enables you to visualise your dream garden by taking you through different features you would like in your garden.   So you can see before you buy!  It has been very interesting to do and hopefully it will bring my client good results.

The website is www.marshalls.co.uk  Marshalls are a UK manufacturer of stone and concrete and have a register of approved and vetted installers of gardens and driveways.

Communication, communication, communciation………………..

I saw a trailer for the new film “He’s Just Not That Into You” at the cinema this week.  It looks to be quite a funny movie that throws up some interesting thoughts about the dating game.

Drew Barrymore gave a thoughtful quote about how exhausting it was having to check different portals of communication to see if a boy had returned her call.  Having to check her Blackberry, mobile, email, landline (home and office)…………..All the different portals of technology you had to check!   That applies to office business and home life business as well where we all have so much communication – add on Twitter and Blogging,  sometimes it becomes a communication overload.

So I have found recently that communication you receive by mail is really refreshing to receive – a letter which is clear and written well in a good style can be a great pleasure to read.  I know there is an advent of email marketing because of the low cost however, some of my clients have found going back to the old fashioned mail in the post has elicited a much better response.  The Office section on Microsoft.com also has some very good templates that you can use at home or for work, if you have Microsoft Office installed you can download these for free.

If you want to see the trailer for this film – the link is here http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=47096344

What does your font style say about you?

I was reviewing a document of a client this week which set me off thinking about the various font styles there are.  A few months ago I switched to Verdana for business correspondence and find this font style clear and neat on the eye.  I have since discovered that this font was developed specifically for easier reading on the computer.

Which set me off thinking – what does your font style say about you?  Are you a conservative Times New Roman (this used to be the standard font style historically) or a modern minded Arial (this font is now the more standard business font).   Or perhaps a stylish Trebuchet?   With such variety we can all create different documents and styles to suit different occasions.

New fonts are continuously being designed giving the marketing and corporate world much bigger scope when creating new slogans or new brand designs.  When you next go shopping look at some of the products on the shelves, companies will use different text/font style to make their products stand out differently on the shelves or give themselves their own unique “look”.

How organised are you with your filing?

How is your filing – either in paper format or on your computer/server?  I read this article a short while ago about bad filing and the cost to companies – http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2221293/bad-filing-costs-uk-smes-42m

I have recently been helping a client with indexing and cataloguing their portfolio of music and performances.  As this task has progressed it has been a rich journey for the client remembering back in time and has generated new ideas for the future.  If you have some files to organise and again either on the computer or in paper, the best thing you can do is to do it regularly, possibly you might find like my client it becomes more interesting than you think!  If you have a large amount, start small and then build in a regular routine.  The task might then be less of a big chore.  Also remember to file how you wish to search – for instance by date, name, category or number. 

January in the UK can be so gloomy and it is such a dark month.  The weather is cold and there is not much growth in the garden so if like me you have some paper admin tasks to do at home on these winter nights, then try it with some rich Irish Coffee or some warm frothy Hot Chocolate.  It will make those January blues go away!

Hello and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Welcome and hello to the new blog of Belinda – Business Owner of Your Admin Assistant.   Another year and another set of resolutions?  Well our resolution this year was to widen our business appeal and enhance our profile – hence our new blog! 

Have you a New Year’s Resolution or business goal you want to achieve?  One of the best ways is tell someone, or perhaps write it down, set a date to it but most of all act on it!  Whatever it is – good luck to you all for this coming year and if we can help you be more organised and efficient in making that goal or resolution happen, then please contact us.

On a seasonal note it has just snowed here in Bradford this morning, just a lovely dusting on the ground, looking very fresh and as if just like the start of this year there is a wonderland of opportunities out there.

www.youradminassistant.com