An Absolute Necessity For Survival Now

Precious and profitable time which you cannot afford to miss

What is the 20% that is leading to 80%? A useful benchmark is that 20% of our valuable time accounts for 80% of our productivity.

In order to efficiently focus on important activities and increase productivity, wisely organizing our time is of high priority. It is suggested that scheduling our working time in blocks and assigning an uninterrupted block of 20% of our working day's time to concentrate on difficult and important projects will allow us to complete a significant amount of work, obtaining an average of 80% increment in productivity. One actual hour of productive work will take us a long way. Imagine how much more two will do.

While grouping tasks by category and allocating them in medium-sized blocks of time, which can be repeated throughout the day (generating and following up on leads, marketing yourself, phone calls, e-mails and letters, projects, visits to prospects and clients, etc.), you may find yourself working less and accomplishing more, advancing the solution of new or pending issues.

Give maximum power to the most productive forces to create more time for what really matters.

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Leaders do things they are best at doing and delegate or outsource the rest. Delegating is the preferred management process among effective leaders to accomplish results through others, giving them ownership, clear guidance on the expectations, and frequent communication. It often makes sense to have someone who can immediately add value to your efforts. It is right now when companies need that kind of leadership and facilitate the adaptation to the current business change.

As companies reorganize and reallocate resources, cut costs and downsize staff while the economy searches for stabilization, Saiffe International Business Services, Inc., being a driver force focusing on results, provides to its clients the immediate productive back-office support needed for their business growth on a cost-conscious virtual environment, empowering them to avoid overhead costs and meet their forecast. What a relief this is!

Whether you are initiating or adapting to the change, by partnering with an experienced Executive Virtual Assistant on a retainer or project basis to accomplish those other tasks that must be done, allows you the time to concentrate on profitable and revenue producing activities, using your maximum power to your most productive forces. This new concept is an organizational imperative as companies undergo some restructuring and others take off towards significant growth.

You deserve the power of knowing that you are obtaining the best out of each moment in your working day. Contact us now so we can discuss those other tasks that take your profitable time from the successful business growth you have planned.

The ultimate power is decision

Partnering with a Virtual Assistant for 10 hours per week can help you accomplish so much more that you may want to think about how we can assist you. Some of our services include the following:

• Internet research

• Translation of documents and Website content among English, Spanish and German languages.

• Digital transcriptions in English and Spanish

• Proofreading and editing documents and Website content in English and Spanish

• Creating presentations, spreadsheets and reports

• Coordinating meetings and events

• Email marketing and campaign management
  

• Online surveys

• Online videoconferences, webinars and meetings
  

Try us - you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain!

• Innovative and reliable assistance solutions

• Extensive experience at an affordable price

• Short-term and long-term support

• Money back guarantee
  

Contact us now. We will gladly discuss your support needs.

A virtual business support arrangement is really a very convenient and efficient way to save time and resources while increasing your productivity and income. We would appreciate your feedback in the comment section below.

Sincerely,

Pilar Flores-Saiffe

Is It Strategic Business Spending?

The first place most companies have been looking for savings is generally in their payroll area, and smart leaders are looking for both short-term budget improvements and long-term strategic business profits, beyond cutting benefits and employees.

I would like to suggest that you evaluate alternative opportunities for tightening operations and controlling costs while analyzing historic budget spending for the future. Align your spending with your short and long term target marks, and you will be surprised at how much more cost-efficient you will be. As you go through this process, I have a few areas for careful assessment.

Tighten Operations and Expenses

• Overseen expenditures. For example, travel expenses do not have to be first-class. The cost of personal technology, like cell phones and gadgets, is often run without boundaries of equipment and service. Create guidelines for how funds should be spent with methods to ensure they are enforced.

• Library and subscriptions. There is money to be saved here. How many copies of the same publication does your company really need? Cancel the extras and the unnecessary items.

• Memberships. Do you get full advantage of the memberships you acquired? Review them and decide if they are worth renewing.

• Vendor contracts. You may be able to reduce the number of contracts and negotiate a good price by compounding the vendors for equipment, services and supplies. Pull these contacts and put them out for bid.

• Office lease. Renegotiate. Evaluate the category of property you need as well as the required space. Can some staff work at home?

Frankly discussing your current needs with vendors and landlords to review contracts and allow them to offer win-win solutions, may earn you a temporary fee reduction or different payment terms.

• Salaries and benefits. Here is where too many organizations primarily slash costs, leaving the firm unable to respond to business opportunities when the recession ends. You can find major savings by thinking broadly on this topic.

Especially, in times like the present, it is essential to evaluate your current business pattern, break down the costs and find the things and support you need while eliminating any excess.

Now the timing is appropriate to partner with a Virtual Assistance Service, and we are proud to offer you cost-conscious professional online creative and technical Internet-based administrative support for your continuous business achievements. You really want to work on your business, concentrated on what you do best and use your talent, energy and time wisely to create profitable revenues. It is surprisingly convenient and effective in this 21st century to have the needed support working in the back-office activities of your business without having to pay salaries, benefits, office space and supplies; thereby, considerably reducing your operating costs while meeting your forecasts.

Let us do those tasks that take your time and stress you. You will find yourself more organized, focused, productive and balanced.

Nothing is impossible if you delegate

Some of our services include the following:

• Internet research

• Creating and managing databases and lists

• Proofreading and editing documents and website content in English and Spanish

• Creating presentations, spreadsheets and reports

• Email marketing and campaign management

• Online surveys

• Online videoconference, Webinars and meetings

• And more

This month we are offering a 15% discount on all new projects or monthly retainer agreements.

Try us, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

• Innovative and reliable assistance solutions

• Extensive experience at an affordable price

• Short-term and long-term support

Contact us now, we will gladly discuss your support needs.

Sincerely,

Pilar Flores-Saiffe

Four Steps to Innovating Problem Solving

My gift to you today is intended to be a functional mind refresher as a short summary taken from an interview done with Frank Prince, author of over 30 books and articles in the field of creativity and innovation in business. I am talking about the immeasurable valuable tool that provides a way to apply creativity, through a plan of action, individually or as a group.

Attitude has a lot to do with solving a problem

Certain circumstances are out of our control, and stress increases when we resist them. Accepting the possibilities and taking the opportunity to do what can be done about it is a positive route.

So many times ideas are left as plain good ideas without the unsurpassed implementation process. Ideas need to be applied and executed in order to empower you or your team to solve a problem and reach a goal.

I encourage you to define the problem or challenge to work on, write it down and move to the first step.

Fact Finding:

• State what is known or thought about the problem, listening from the speaker’s frame of reference.
  

• Welcome the different insights.
  

• Investigate. What is not known about the problem? What are the past struggles with it? What are the actions that did not work and why did they not work?
  

Challenge Clarification:

• Sometimes what comes about through fact finding is only an indicator of what the problem is and not the actual problem. Breaking it down into smaller parts will allow you to re-define the problem and its parts just to be certain of it.
  

Exposure of the problem will unveil a clear vision of the challenge itself. Clarity is imperative here in order to better mark the route and determine the necessary changes which in turn will guide us to be more effective in obtaining what we are looking for.

Idea Generation:

• This is a brainstorming session with diverse thoughts to solve the re-defined problem which results in listing the solutions available. This action also requires listening skills from the same frame of reference as the speaker. Consider that usually we are trained to talk, write and read but not to truly listen – a skill that is a challenge itself.
  

Action Planning:

• Design an action plan with specific tasks, dates to revise and complete them along with the names of the people assigned to doing them. Take serious responsibility and control.
  

Here is where Saiffe International Business Services has a role in the invigoration of your solution plan - any time, any place, anywhere. Innovation leads to better outcomes.

Nowadays stressful decisions and changes have to be made in the blink of an eye, and we are here to provide you with the comfortable support for your plan to be successful, to maintain the reflection of your strength and commitment to your clients and to enhance your business accomplishments.

You may ask how this is possible. By our providing you with professional Internet-based administrative, creative and technical assistance, you will save in overhead expenses and time. In addition, your stress level will be reduced and you will feel relieved to know that tasks are being done timely and accurately. Being able to concentrate on the profit producing activities face-to-face with your clients, you will later enjoy the fruit of your wise decisions and efforts. Isn’t that what you are seeking?

Our emphasis is in being your virtual hands, eyes and ears vested in your business' goals and guided by universal principles, among them integrity and professionalism. We can assist you with all the tasks an Executive Assistant performs including internet research, coordination of meetings, events, teleconferences and training sessions, book reservations and travel arrangements, supplemented with creation of custom database target lists, translations and management of marketing campaigns. We also create web designs, development, hosting and maintenance; contract vendors and much more. We work on a short-term or long-term basis.

I bid you to accept and implement the opportunity to take immediate action to transform your current situation towards the future, visit us! Take advantage of what certainly can be done to get you where you want to be. We are here to support you!

With our assistance, your company can enforce the practicality in a rapidly changing environment. Contact us today so we can discuss your needs and provide you with a solution.

By the way, we redesigned our corporate image and would appreciate your feedback. We would love to hear from you!

Until next time

Cheers!

Pilar Flores-Saiffe

Personal Virtual Assistance?

Certainly!

Think about the many additional hours you can devote to profitable and enjoyable activities. . .

Small and medium sized businesses contribute to determine the economy's performance and future expansion. During and after a recession, the pressure remains, and while some business overheads are eliminated, there is no need to sacrifice the services of a professional support system.

Affordable assistance is an undeniable and essential element to maintain growth and stability in your business. Some red flag signals indicating you should consider obtaining assistance show up when you find yourself spending a disproportionate amount of time working in the pre and post administrative burden of your business project, rather than working on your business.

There is comfort in knowing that Saiffe International Business Services, Inc., is here to assist you professionally with quality solutions, even on a "Help me! I'm desperate!" basis.

How do you get ahead of your competition?

One of the secrets is to partner with a personal Virtual Assistant,
one you can trust and communicate with.

Think about the best use of your time and brain power. While you focus on other profit generation business areas, your personal Virtual Assistant can start things off immediately with a wide variety of tasks ranging from research to administrative, technical and marketing activities - as well as other elements on the mix.

In partnering with a personal Virtual Assistant you do not pay a full time salary, employment taxes, costly office space, equipment, health benefits, vacation or idle time during the work day. There are many economical - and some even free - communication tools available to bridge the virtual gap between you and your VA including the telephone, e-mail, chat, teleconferencing and videoconferencing, among others.

How much money is your time worth?

Try to define what your savings potential is by
partnering with a personal Virtual Assistant.

You make $150 per hour. To free up some of your time, let’s say that four out of every ten hours, which you dedicate to various administrative burdens, you outsource to a personal VA at $50 per hour. This action will provide you with the ability to make even more money instead of doing the tasks yourself! I am talking about an increase of 27% more income after paying your VA for the same ten hours of your time while focusing on what you do best.

10 hours of your time x $150 = $ 1,500

4 hours to your personal VA x $50 = $ 200

You have now gained back 4 hours of available time to conduct the profitable activity that you most enjoy x $150 = $ 600

10 Hour TOTAL $ 2,100

There is no need to reallocate some direct costs for administrative support

Contact us! Besides answering all your questions, we can talk about what you want done, the best and most comfortable channel to communicate during the development of your project, and the time frames and deadlines.

Some people may be intimidated at the idea of a virtual business arrangement, but it is really a very convenient and efficient way to save time and resources while increasing your productivity and income.

The norm of the Virtual Assistance profession is to retain a minimum of hours a week.

We are Virtually Your Best Alternative!

Our services include but are not limited to the following:

• Database creation, update and maintenance.

• Transcriptions.

• Letter creation and formatting.

• Proofreading and editing.

• Coordination and management of meetings, events and sessions.

• Scheduling and confirmation of appointments.

• Traveling reservations and arrangements.

• Translations among English, Spanish and German.

• Creation of presentations and reports.

• Contracting of vendors.

• E-mail marketing.

• Web design and maintenance.

• Webinars.

• On-line meetings.

• Calligraphy.

• Addressing holiday and birthday cards.

Try us! You have nothing to lose and much to gain.

Until next time,

Pilar Flores-Saiffe

Happy 20th Birthday, World Wide Web

Copyright ©2009 Saiffe International Business Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Don't Wait to Make a Decision . . .

Greetings!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who took the time to answer our survey. The results to now indicate that a large percentage of people handle their administrative and creative tasks themselves giving us some ideas to implement our services where needed. During this time of suspension, it is appropriate to remember, review and act upon the following:

- Your energy level in your mental, spiritual and physical spheres.

- The right questions to broaden your comprehension and perspective of how to accomplish those set goals on the diverse fields of your life.

- The necessary changes to your plan considering the original purpose and vision, to take action immediately.

Amazing creativity is currently being induced! Finding cost conscious ways to have needs met without losing the focus of where we are coming from and where we want to go to, while keeping balance of priorities and values is the way to keep going. We can all be grateful for the wide variety of gifts we possess and enjoy them all to their potential, in the present.

"There are no more prizes for predicting rain.
There are only prizes for building arks."
— Lou Gerstner

It will not harm anyone if we consider it over and over again. We plainly neglect to remember that not making a decision is a decision indeed.

You may be right in your assessment, or you may be terribly mistaken. It is valuable to ask ourselves, "Am I to the point of making a decision now or missing the Hudson River?"

While having clear and specific alternatives develops decision making, the ability to make fast decisions is a very important key to productivity. Now more than ever, businesses and their executives are seeking alternatives to keeping lean and profitable. One popular preference is retaining another company to provide a solution that may have traditionally been done by permanent or temporary workers, assuring themselves that the right things are getting done.

The meaning of the term "business support services" or "back office support" is virtually limitless.

Decision making only counts when it is implemented. With the current technological advances, there is flexibility for all the changes that may still come about in the future, but first, let's go back to the basics and answer a few questions about your data. Does your data contain information that is no longer current or useful? If your data is incorrect, any query you run is completely ineffective and pointless. A clean and orderly organized database is transcendental, especially for analysis results, the implementation of strategies and the optimization of your time and resources. Following that, security and backup, are of utmost importance.

Saiffe International Business Services, Inc., is pleased to offer you wise and affordable cost conscious ways to keep going at a reasonable speed. There is comfort in knowing you have professional support with the solutions you need for creating, updating and maintaining your data, in addition to many other key business support services, like the editing and proofreading of the documents and articles to be distributed from your office. Errors in grammar, spelling or formatting can actually cost you clients. These aspects are as important as the content of your messages. Think about this - far too often, writers talk and wonder about "losing" clientele. Yet, they spell the word "loosing" which is a non-existent form of the verb "loose"

lose - To miss from one's possession; mislay. To be unable to keep control of or allegiance of: "He is losing followers by changing his mentality."

loose - Free from attachments, unrestricted: "John prefers to loose those customers who take long time to pay.”

If you would notice, the act of "losing" customers is not being able to retain them. "Losing" reflects doing it inadvertently, while "to loose" customers indicates to let them go on purpose.

I invite you to make a decision and review the cocktail of services available to you by clicking here or by giving us a call at (305) 378-6236. I look forward to hearing from you.

Fine business comes from good referrals. If you like the work we do, please remember to pass our name to those in need of our services and let us know, so we can reciprocate with a little something. Thank you.

Until next time!

Pilar Flores-Saiffe

© 2009 Saiffe International Business Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Would You?

In order to track the trends of the market, implement and complement Saiffe International Business Services, this time I would ask for your help in a little research we are conducting about your current needs. For that, we have designed a short questionnaire and would like to ask you to please take a few minutes to complete it, your input is confidential and very valuable to us.

As a token of our appreciation, once you submit it you will receive a small gift that I am sure you can use. Only one submission per person is allowed. I hope we can count on you.

On your mark, get set, go... Click here. Thank you!

Kind regards,

Pilar Flores-Saiffe

Go. . .

Some of our subscribers already contacted us to help them organize and implement activities that are focused on maximizing revenue and profit producing opportunities. We are very excited to be able to save them time, money and stress. Our group is committed to fostering long-term relationships with our clients and continually meeting their ever changing needs.

I suspect you are going at a reasonable speed.

You know well it is unavoidable to find curves, obstacles and delays on your path. While planning and strategizing, consider the administrative, creative and technical tasks involved in the accomplishment of your vision. These key components are transcendental activities leading to your success.

What do you need on your way to simplify your work load?

We are here for you not only to provide the professional back office support needed to shine brightly in the middle of the crowd, but also to optimize the productivity of your company so that your goals will be achieved at the precise scheduled time.

Make Your Life Easier.

Wouldn't you like to increase the amount of time you spend face-to-face with your clients and prospects?
Delegate to us the tasks that take your time away from the really important activities only you can perform because that is what you do best and enjoy the most. After all, you don't get a check for performing all those administrative tasks.

Integrity, professionalism and reliability with
a personal touch is our trademark.

Information warfare exists today. In order to close a sale, you and your clients need peace of mind in that aspect.

Saiffe International Business Services, Inc. is the ideal partner to fulfill your vision.

Contact us to schedule a complimentary meeting. You may be among the five people to receive one of our stand-alone solutions to test our services with a 20% discount. This offer is valid until January 30, 2009.

I greatly value my readers and always welcome feedback or suggestions for future topics. Please introduce yourself and post any feedback on this blog.

Until next time,

Pilar Flores-Saiffe
President

Despite the current economic turmoil, 47% said better work/life balance would be even more important in 2009. By age levels this broke down to:

58% of 18-34 year olds

46% of 35-54 year olds

30% of 50+ group

How did they plan on accomplishing this?

49%: Use all vacation time

44%: Prioritize projects

42%: Create a weekly ToDo list

41%: Leave work at a reasonable time

36%: Take lunch breaks

FedEx Office, 11/2008

Get Set... Free Yourself To Run Your Business

71% of white collar workers feel stressed about the amount of information they must process and act on while doing business; 60% feel overwhelmed.
Institute of the Future, Menlo Park, CA

81% of the nation's executives work between 40 and 79 hours a week.
Sage Software Survey, Priority 2007

In December I talked to you about reviewing the way of doing things and planning those necessary changes needed to obtain better results to step up to the next level. There are two good questions for you:

Are you used to multi-tasking yourself to the point of confusion?

What is the average time you spend in your work week on non-revenue activities?

The biggest time hurdle for most executives
is completing administrative and paperwork tasks.

These activities do not generate revenue, but they are an essential part of the process of achieving the set goals for a rewarding business.

Profitable executives who know how to manage their time, find ways to minimize wasting it by delegating to others. These dynamic executives delegate the objective not the procedure, outline the desired results, not the methodology.

To significantly contribute to your business, you must basically allocate a large percentage of your time to the following categories:

• Planning - mapping out the business growth strategy
• Seeking out new business to expand your client base
• Exploring acquisitions and marketing alliances for products and services
• Customer Service - a VIP returning customer means success
• Coaching your producers, if applicable
  

If you do not spend the bulk of your time in these areas, this should spur you to delegate all activities not belonging to these categories.

Squandering your time on the day-to-day back office tasks diverts you from what really counts and stunts your company's growth.

Saiffe International Business Services, Inc., was created specifically to support you in your day-to-day back office administrative, creative and technical activities, so you can dedicate quality time in the priorities that will take you and your company to the next level.

What you do best creates profit.
Leave the rest to us!

Using your time wisely will benefit you with more energy, less stress, more time and money and even less pollution! We are here for you regardless of your location.

Feel confident to delegate tasks to us such as:

► Internet research

► Preparation of reports and presentations

► Lists and database input and maintenance

► Scheduling of appointments

► Proofreading and editing

► Correspondence management

► Preparation of expense reports

► Coordination of meetings, teleconferences and events

► Translations

► Mass mailings

► Webinars

► On-line ordering of supplies

► Newsletters, Ezines

► Web design

You name it! Virtually we are your best alternative. Supporting your business activities is our expertise.

I encourage you to explore our working together. We welcome the opportunity to become your partner and look forward to working with you. Feel free to contact us.

45% of high earning managers are too tired to converse with their spouse or partner after a long day at the office. This strain is wreaking havoc on family and personal lives.
Study by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce, Harvard Business Review 12/2006

Until next time,

Pilar Flores-Saiffe

© 2008 Saiffe International Business Services, Inc. All rights reserved.