My background screen (which Amazon calls “Room Divider and Folding Privacy Screen“) is something I use on pretty much every Zoom call I do now. I ordered it in April 2022, shortly before I began working remotely as a virtual assistant. The screen arrived in late April, two days before I had to send a…
Learning how to manage time can be challenging, but is SO rewarding. Over the years, there have been MANY books written about time management. Some, of course, are better than others. But WHY is this topic so popular? What’s the big deal about managing our time, anyway? I think the answer is obvious. Running a…
Peet’s Coffee Cold Brew is my one addiction. In fact, I recently bought a bag of Peet’s Baridi Blend (Medium Roast) beans and a box of tea filters, so I can start preparing my own cold brew at home. The baristas at the Peet’s location I usually visit are often preparing my “usual” order as soon as I…
Editing is a step you can’t afford to skip with ANY of your communication! Everyone’s an editor. If you’ve ever rewritten a sentence in a memo or rephraseda paragraph in an important letter, you were editing. And if you’ve ever been so fed up with the way a letter was sounding that youtossed the draft…
Pandora is one of my favorite “tools” for taking mini-breaks throughout the day. This app on my Android phone (which I downloaded from Google Play Store) is an internet radio service that allows me to listen to music whenever and wherever I am. Listening to music while I work makes it easier for me to…
Taking mini-breaks can lower stress AND increase productivity. Taking a break when we were kids was easy. Most of us probably had long stretches of time with “nothing to do” in the summer or on weekends. And if you’re like me, you learned early on that if you had too much free time and complained…
Canva is something I’d heard a lot about, but had never actually tried USING until over a year ago. I was starting to create social media posts for a client each week, and I knew Canva would be the best way to do that. I had no idea what a treat I was in for!…
White space and subheads are just two examples of good graphic design. WORDS vs. IMAGES If someone were to hold a contest and these two were the competitors, who do you think would win? If you agree with the phrase “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” you’d probably side with “images.” But if you’re a…
This post focuses on something most of us, I’m sure, take for granted. TREES. I think I first “fell in love with” trees during one of my family’s many visits to Muir Woods in Marin County – just north of San Francisco. To get there, we first had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, then…
Starting a journal is easy. Just pick up a pen and notebook … and write! Not all clutter is visible. Mental clutter is a challenge for many of us, and a major hindrance to creativity. That’s why journaling is so important. Keeping a journal may not sound like something serious business owners do, but not…