REAL ADMIN NEWS FOR REAL ADMIN WORKERS
May 2011
THE ADMIN REPORT
THE ADMIN REPORT WELCOME NOTE Welcome to the official newsletter written by admin workers for admin workers every-where.
Well I have to say this month has been an actionpacked and very exciting month for me and for my fellow colleagues in the VA This newsletter discusses Industry with International the admin world, office VA Day, OIVAC & Awards issues, and any other office won by some of the best related topics specifically VA’s in the Industry. written for administration workers, virtual assistants, I hope you will find some of clerical officers, office the articles interesting and managers, receptionists informative and please if and any other admin/ you’d like to feature in an office based profession. article section by all means let me know.
To contact me for any comments you have on any articles or topic submissions, please don’t hesitate to contact me: reneech@westnet.com.au
Enjoy
☺
Renee Chapman The Admin Chick www.theadminchick.com.au
For article submission or comments, contact Renee at reneech@westnet.com.au
In this Issue: • Welcome Note • Operating Systems • Productivity At it’s Best • Interesting Ways to Save Your Cash • Events
THE ADMIN REPORT May 2011
Operating Systems There are many people that I know who seem to think that there is only one operating system and many that don’t even know what an operating system is. An operating system is software that is installed on a computer and consists of a number of programs & data that is needed to run a computer. Microsoft Windows Seven and Apple’s Mac OS are two prime examples of popular operating systems (OS for short). But there are a heaps of OS’s that don’t get a lot of mention such as: • Microsoft - XP, Vista, Seven • Apple - Mac OS, OSX • Linux - Red Hat, Suse, Ubuntu • Solaris The following three are my most favoured OS’s that I like to use. Ubuntu is a free open source Operating System brought out by Linux. It is an operating system that works well with the mainstream programs such as FireFox or Skype and many other programs that you can use for free. There is no installation costs or CD’s you
simply download the ISO Image to a CD and run it straight from your computer or Laptop. It is available tin over 24 languages and completely free. Puppy Linux is also an OS brought out by Linux and the really cool thing with Puppy is that you can run it totally from a CD or Flash Drive & not have to uninstall your current OS. It runs in RAM so it makes it a lot faster than Windows and is free also. Mac OSX (Snow Leopard) is the main OS that I use only because I find it easier & faster to use than Windows and although there are a few programs that I can’t run on the Mac system I have a program called VMWare which can be installed on my laptop so I can use other operating systems. So if you have an old laptop or desktop computer I would really encourage you to try some of the OS’s you can get out there and you’ll see that you don't always have to go with the flow and like I said before some of them are totally free!
Productivity At It’s Best
I must admit I’m a productivity fanatic. I enjoy wasting my time reading and researching ways to make my life more efficient. When I bought the not so new iPad last year, Productivity was one of the first categories that I looked in to see what was available in the App Store. The following list are some of my most favourite productivity Apps that I use on a daily basis and thought I would share with you. • Dropbox - Dropbox is one of my all time favourite apps that I use on a constant basis. You can download it for Windows or Mac and use is as an online storage for your files. You can also use it for clients if they need to send you a file but it’s too big to send by email they can instead upload it to your public folders in Dropbox. You can use it on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and the best bit is not only is it free but for every person that you refer, you get more MB’s for storage.
on the screen if you’re doing something else so that it can remind you when something is due. It’s $5.99 but another that is just as good and works very similar is Sorted ($1.19) • Team Viewer - is a free app that you can use to get access to your or your client’s computer (with their permission of course). Install it on the computer you need to use it for and enter the unique set of digits so that you can access the computer. Very similar to VNC or Remote Desktop software, which also available for iPad, etc. • E-Task - This is a great project management tool that you can use to track leads, contacts, manage your projects, time, It’s another free app and you can use it on iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.
• ToDo for iPad - This is another App that I use on a daily basis. it is a fantastic app if you have a bad memory. I use this to check off what I need to do for the day, which tasks are priority and which ones I can leave for a while and it gives you alerts that show up For article submission or comments, contact Renee at reneech@westnet.com.au
THE ADMIN REPORT May 2011
The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any.
- Katherine Whitehorn
Interesting Ways to Save Your Cash
Everybody wants to save money any way that they can, and there are thousands & thousands of ways that you can have a bit of money for a rainy day. As a business owner who does not get a regular income as yet, I myself have a few interesting ways to save money that are easy and effective and bound to get more money in your pocket instead of someone else’s.
paperwork, let him know what appointments he has (Dentist etc), take his boots off for him when he gets home, make him a coffee every morning & do all the shopping, cleaning, cooking & washing. In return he gives me a regular amount every fortnight when gets paid & he’s happy with that. Now, obviously this is only a temporary thing & when my business starts to flourish the agreement we • Soda Stream - With all the soft drinks that I used to have will be changed or even cease, but it does show drink I started to develop an addiction for Coke Zero. that we understand each others needs and that he is In Kununurra a 1.5 Litre bottle is about $3.00 and if I very supportive of me to keep going with what I want was drinking 4 bottles a day that definitely was to do in my life, regardless of the difficulties of being in chewing up my money in a huge way. So I bought a the first year of business. In fact, this was his idea. Soda Stream Machine and a good high quality cordial (Bickfords) and started drinking this instead. • Valued Opinions - Now I love doing surveys and Not only did I find that I was saving my money I also filling out forms & I know there are a lot of bogus found that I was feeling a lot better physically. surveys out there but one that I have found that I Usually for the kids, Soda Stream can be just as good think is great is Valued Opinions. You can sign up for for adults as well. Give it a go! free and they email you surveys that you may want to fill out. Their incentive is to pay you real money, so once you have $20 accumulated you can get a $20 • Get Paid for house work -Now I know not all husbands will agree with this but, if you both work & voucher from Coles, iTunes and many other & you rely on your own income, you could write companies that you can choose from. I know $20 is down all the tasks that you at home and show this to not much, but, it is $20 you didn’t have before hand. your partner. Talk about the possibility of paying you They can be bit annoying with all the emails you get, a small amount each week for these extra chores but you don’t have to fill out single one that comes that you do. For me, I organise my partner’s your way.
Up Coming Events * Environment Day - A Celebration of how we can all help preserve our Earth, Go recycle! Sunday June 5th 2011
* NAIDOC Week - A celebration of the indigenous people of our land. Starts July 6th 2011
* 1 Year Anniversary in Business Celebration - My very first year of being in business. Starts July 14th 2011
* National Tree Day - Plant a tree for Planet Ark! Sunday July 31st 2011 For article submission or comments, contact Renee at reneech@westnet.com.au