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Is Being a Night Owl Beneficial for a Virtual Assistant?

by Jomvie
(Full-Time Virtual Assistant from the Philippines)

As a VA, is it better to work in the night or the day?
As a VA, is it better to work in the night or the day?

Recently, I had this episode of headaches that is mainly caused from light-sensitivity and that lead to an Eye Strain and along with its associated symptoms that lasts for days. And the worst thing that had happened is that I had to stop in the middle of a shift since I can no longer take the pain and plus the nauseous feeling that becomes more annoying.

In view of the fact that it disturbs me from working, I decided to take shifts:

• 4 to 5 hours in the morning

• 3 to 4 hours in the evening

The reason why I divided my 8-hour shift is to get my eyes some rest away from the computer. And during those hours I took some time off, the sun glare coming into my room is too bright that it bounces back to my computer monitor that worsens my headache. And not only that, starting from hours 2:00pm until 4:00 pm (Philippine time) the room is too humid that makes it uncomfortable to function—in short, not conducive.

Morning Shift

So, I started timing the right hours to when to take some rest, stop and then back again to work. My morning shift starts at 9:00 am or 10:00 am and then onwards until the time I lose focus and feel irritated from the temperature inside the room, I take a rest and gain some strength and then back again until I am able to accumulate 4 hours for my morning shift and rest to regain for my second shift.

During my morning shift, I must say it is comfortable since my brain functions well at these times (although there are times I feel like to procrastinate :).

From my previous working hours, I noticed that after lunch at 1:00pm until 3:00pm, I feel unproductive and my brain often freezes and can’t stay focus on anything. So, this is one of the main reasons with my experiment apart from my recent eyestrain episode.

Night Shift

After hours of rest, I feel renewed and refreshed and it feels just like another 9:00am evening version. I noticed whenever I start working after dinner, my brain is calm and the surrounding is quiet and the temperature is cool.

But, the only thing is, when I work until at the wee hours of the night, I will not get enough rest for the next morning, I can’t randomly go out or whenever I feel like it. Working at night is likely a dilemma since pros outweigh the cons or sometimes the other way around.

Remarkable Decision

So, when I am asked which timing I would prefer, I would still like working in the morning. Of course, after your morning shift you can do anything and do the things that you want.

There are just some stuff you can’t avoid, especially prolonged sitting can cause back ache so I have to rest for a while and stop my time on Hubstaff or inevitable events that will pop out in the middle of my shift.

These are also factors that will prolong my working hours. That’s when I decided to make shifts and since I am just comfortably working at home, it also gives an ease that I can catch up with my work.

Regardless of the series of events may it be good or bad, working in the morning is still my most preferred working hours and I am glad even if my employer is in a different time zone, he would allow me to work on my most comfortable time.

If you’re a virtual assistant, which one do you prefer; an early bird or a night owl? Do let me know why you prefer being one. And same goes to all the employers out there, what is your time preference fro your virtual assistant?

Do jump in on the comment box and let me know what are your thoughts! 😀

Comments for Is Being a Night Owl Beneficial for a Virtual Assistant?

Aug 08, 2014 How hot is it during the day?
by: FrancisI’m interested in experiencing the climate in the Philippines first hand, to know what it would be like to be working during noon.

Would the situation be different if you had a more powerful cooling system in your house?

Or would it simply still feel so humid that it would be hard to concentrate during the day?
Aug 23, 2014 this is what I love with mornings
by: JomvieFor the past few days, I started working in the morning until the afternoon and I can see the big difference between starting early in the morning and working late at night–it gives that feel of comfort and relief after my morning shift (7am to 3pm/8am to 4pm).

Lately, the weather delivers this feel of comfort that working in the morning makes you forget about time–not until your stomach won’t stop growling.

Working late night is going to be the least option (for now). Probably, for making/catching up lost hours during the morning shift.
Aug 23, 2014 Hot months is not totally cool
by: Jomvie I have one cooling system—electric fan 😀 and instead, it gives off this hot air. In short, it serves as an “exhaust fan” and not the one that cools the hot weather.

It’s possible that if I have a more powerful cooling system like an AC, the situation will be totally different. But, I can’t afford to acquire one—not just yet since I have to prioritize my needs =) So, I have to stick with my electric fan and will just wait for the surroundings to cool off.

Foreigners from a place who experiences winter will not mind about the hot weather—mostly they don’t. Instead, they would go sunbathing and walk around without any umbrella. But, as for me who experiences it longer than the rainy months, it’s really irritating since we only have two seasons—Dry and Wet Season.

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Challenge for a Content Writer VA: Use 4 Different Writing Styles

by Jomvie
(Francis’ Full-time Virtual Assistant)

Here’s a sample of a writing exercise in search of my voice in writing

Here’s a sample of a writing exercise in search of my voice in writing

Background from Francis:
I asked my VA to challenge himself with writing in 4 different voice tones the same sort of content to expand his horizon a bit. It was also a small test to see how he handles smaller challenges.

Every individual has its own different style and approach in writing. Some will make your heart melt, make you laugh so hard and some are informative. No matter what your style is, you can’t impose it on to anything like you want it, especially when a random audience would come and visit your site.

Yes, you have to consider some standards in writing your opinion, post or article in a way that will not offend a random audience. But, this task mainly talks about different writing styles in commenting.

Recently, I had this task about voice recording entitled, “My Voice Recording Experience.” These tasks, writing in different styles and voice recording have similarities when it comes to finding your own voice. I mean your style in writing and giving opinion of the website I am working.

For this particular site, my writing style should be cool and a little bit aggressive but not offending. Though it sounds a little complicated, but I took the challenge with an open mind.

From this period, I am still warming up in search of my own voice and supposed-to-be writing style.

As a virtual assistant, there are steps and adjustments I must take to be successful in this field. I had to adapt from the things that I am not familiar and had to bend and break some of the usual habits to fit in the puzzle.

Although this task is same as just commenting to the mainstream social media platforms, but it is still best to take some precautions to avoid conflicts later on.

Mainstream platforms are flooded with sarcastic remarks that will create a commotion and that should be avoided and this is the main purpose of my writing exercise.

Comments for Challenge for a content writer VA: Use 4 Different Writing Styles

Aug 04, 2014 Getting you self-motivated
by: FrancisThe main goal of the exercise is to boost your self-confidence, Jomvie.You have your very own “style” but it can always be fine-tuned to be the most effective for any site you write content for.A newsletter website reads differently than a blog about puppies etc.

I like to think this exercise was a useful one.

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Follow-Up Post: How to Avoid Eye Strain

by Jomvie
(Francis’ Full-time Virtual Assistant)

On my previous post about “Eye Strain“, it talks about the onset of my eye strain, its signs and symptoms and how I’ve tried to alleviate the feel of discomfort, for me to be able to continue with my work.

On this second post, I am going to discuss the proper ways of caring for your eyes, eye movements/exercise and when is the right time to see your eye doctor most especially to those who are immensely submerged in-front of the monitor.

First off, this post will never be made possible without my employer’s (Francis) concern where he took a time collating a list of links for eye care and to help me alleviate on what I have been feeling the past few weeks. And this will not only help me but as well as to those who are in the same field as mine.

Eye Care Tips to avoid computer eye strain

  • Proper Lighting – Often eye strain is related to excessive bright light either from outdoor sunlight reflecting through your window or harsh lightings inside the room.We can eliminate these with the use of drapes or curtains, adjust your monitor’s brightness accordingly that does not flicker and as much as possible position your monitor behind the source of light to avoid glares.
  • Take a quick break – Get your eyes a quick break using the 20-20-20 rule:
    • Every 20 minutes
    • Take a 20 second break and look away
    • At something 20 feet from you
  • Quick Blink – Due to the nature of the work that requires staring at the computer for long hours, we should never forget to blink periodically to maintain our eyes moisturize.
  • Use of computer glasses – If in case you haven’t had your eyes checked, meanwhile, you can utilize fashionable eyeglasses, sunglasses or computer glasses. This will help minimize harsh light coming directly to your eyes.
  • Comprehensive eye exam – It is important to have your eyes checked when it is already associated with headaches and disturbing symptoms because you might (probably) need a prescribed eyeglasses and not just those fancy glasses mentioned earlier.

To those who are in the field of online job; VA, freelancer or independent contractor, even employers and those individual that requires prolonged sitting and staring at their monitor, I highly advice you take these tips by heart.

From my own experience, eye-strain is rather painful than annoying. It affects the quality of my work and output and worst is I have to compensate the long hours for the next days when I took off from work on the onset of my eye strain.

If you have anything in mind to add any tips and eye care, do jump in to the comment box and let me know 😀

Comments for Follow-up post: How to avoid Eye Strain

Jul 31, 2014 Looking down at your screen
by: FrancisGreat tips! Here’s one more:Try to install your screen (or your chair) in a height so that you are looking slightly downwards at your screen.

The top of the screen should be on the same level than your eyes. This way, when you look down, your eyes are more closed than if you look upwards.

This is healthy for your eyes because they are kept moist.

Are you actually implementing the tips from your article? Did that make a difference?

 

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My First Transcription

by Jomvie
(Full-time VA from the Philippines)

Transcribing is a way of transferring someone’s voice recording into typewritten words to be posted into a blog post. Let me guess, everyone had a fair share of this bittersweet experience. And, I too, am going to talk about my own experience and sentiments (just kidding) when I had it firsthand.

Actually, at first, I am clueless about transcribing, I don’t know what are the “How-to’s” even if it’s just the basics with transcribing. All that I had in mind is just “Oh, geez, that’s probably the easiest task where you’ll just transcribe and transfer what others are saying or talking about”.

The 6-minute Audio

So, I started transcribing this 6-minute audio using my headset and Microsoft Word window and no other fancy software around.

The first minute of transcribing felt okay—that feeling of “this is so easy and exciting”. But, I was dazed when I was in the middle of this 6-minute video; I looked up at the monitor and saw that I already had typewritten a thousand words. And in a little while I felt a little pang and stiffness at the back of my shoulders. It feels like I did some bench press for the very first time during the last 3 minutes.

3 minutes of transcribing felt like an hour because you have to look back and forth on the monitor, press pause and play to get the words clearly and you’ll never know when to put a period, comma or question mark because the tone of the voice just sounds the same.

Finally, I survived my first transcription—at least I get to experience different things so that in the future I will know what I should do or tricks that will make things easier for me. But, later an hour, I had this feedback saying,

“Okay, your transcription is good, the only thing is, it looks like a page from a novel book. All in all—it’s impressive.”

For a newbie like me who doesn’t know how to go around this task is quite happy but not satisfying because I have to arrange and organize it to be a readable transcript again.

So, my conclusion is: when you don’t know how to start the task, it is safe to ask the experts to help you with the walk-through of the task to avoid repeating it or you can also ask for samples for you to get an idea of the task at hand.

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The Hubstaff Experience

by Jomvie
(Full-time VA from the Philippines)

the-hubstaff-experience-21783621
This is how the screenshots of my work look like in Hubstaff

There is a lot of screen monitoring software out there and Hubstaff is among the most popular for both employers and virtual assistants.

This software is used to monitor the productivity of a virtual assistant and periodically capture screenshots of activities done during the working hours.

The Plunge

Hubstaff is the first and only screen recording software I have used since I started working online. I was a bit overwhelmed with its features when I started using it. The reason for this was its screenshot feature which pushed me to be productive as humanly possible.

Its measurement of productivity is also mind-blowing that I have to keep my hands on the keyboard and mouse clicking away.

Jomvies automated work summary report generated by Hubstaff

During the first few days since I started working with Hubstaff, I felt like there was a shadow of my employer looming behind me that I have to keep working. No dilly-dallying. No coffee break. Of course no chatting with co-workers as I’m working alone.

Hubstaff Pros and Cons

I consider myself to be on a love-hate relationship with Hubstaff. There are things about this software that you’ll love. On the other hand, as a virtual assistant, there are also things about Hubstaff that I find to be annoying and unforgiving.

Pros

    • Maximizes productivity – Due to the time-tracking and screenshot features, every minute that you spend working with this software turned on correlates to tasks and work done.
    • Makes every minute count – The work rate tracking feature closely monitors your every action and interpret if the time and work done equate with each other.
    • Easy monitoring and supervision for employers – Hubstaff provides accurate reports for the employer, which I think make it worth every penny they spend for it. This feature provides an overview for team deadlines and budgeting.

Cons

    • No time for rest and light work – This is where the terms “annoying” and “unforgiving” come in. Unlike in the real world setting where you can spare a few minutes of your working hours for coffee or lunch break, the virtual world with screen monitoring software are as an adjunct to working doesn’t allow you to take a break.
    • Squeezes all your energy – As I have mentioned above, this kind of software is really unforgiving when it comes to its time and work ration. Of course, you can just “pause” the timer and take a break or relax. But this would only mean you have to extend your time to work for the day.

Facing the challenge

Overall, monitoring software like Hubstaff can be considered a very good tool for productivity and efficiency. This kind of tool can be called “The Ultimate Virtual Manager” as it can really push the virtual assistants and contractors to their limits in getting all the tasks done.

As my personal opinion, I guess some adjustments may be considered by both employers and employee when it comes to the inherent and inconsiderate program brought by the software.

What do you guys think?

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How to Stay Regular and Motivated as a Virtual Assistant

by Francis’ Main Virtual Assistant

A Screenshot from my work diary Green are working days

A Screenshot from my work diary
Green are working days

I have been asked a question by Francis (My employer) regarding my work schedule. Normally, I work 25-30 hours per week and thankfully I am very much regular with my work routine. That’s why I was asked to provide some tips and techniques about how to manage my working hours and stay productive at the same time.

Well, it was a tough question to answer because I simply don’t have a mechanism for this act specifically. But here are some tips you can keep into your consideration and I am sure these would definitely help you as a virtual assistant.

    1. Schedule your working hours for each week – Although it sounds simple, but yes – it’s important to schedule your working hours before starting each week. This is what I do. I aim for a target and try to catch up these hours within weekdays i.e. Monday to Friday
    2. Schedule your working hours for each day – Like I schedule my hours for each week, I also create a work plan for each day individually.
    3. Know your best productive timings – As a virtual assistant, you must know yourself when it comes to productivity. You should know at what time you’re most productive and when you are less productive.Keeping these timings into your consideration, decide which tasks require more of your brain and which require less attention to detail. For me, I found myself most productive at the start of the work and late at night. I am very much less productive after lunchtime and try to work on some no or less brainer tasks during this time.
    4. Take breaks from time to time – Rest is important for your daily productivity. Take short breaks within your daily work schedule, this will help you amazingly to boost up your productivity level.
    5. Try to achieve your target within weekdays – It is very important that you try to finish your work quota within weekdays. If you don’t finish your target within weekdays, try to catch them up as soon as you can.
    6. No work on weekends – At the initial span of my virtual assistant career, often I couldn’t finish my workweek within weekdays and used to prolong my workweek to weekends. That hurt my productivity very badly, I had a very strange anxiety in my mind regarding those pending hours and that feeling didn’t help me relax during the weekend even if I only had one hour pending.

Now I have decided to finish my work as soon as possible even if some working hours are still pending. After then I do rest, do some leisure activities, dine out with friends, watch a movie etc. I found this really helpful. This gives me a lot of peace of mind and re-boosts my energy level to its maximum.

I hope that these tips will help you work better as a virtual assistant. Please feel free to share other tips and techniques you use to plan your workweek and stay motivated.

Comments for How to Stay Regular and Motivated As a Virtual Assistant

Jul 16, 2014 no more weekends’
by: JomvieI also have that kind of sentiments at the wee hours of the afternoon. And I am trying to fight off procrastinating during these hours but often I lose 😀 and often I find myself most productive at night probably because the weather is cozy and my brain works comfortably. Great tips though, will take one or two from you =D especially that “no work on weekends”
Jul 17, 2014 Some things come with time
by: FrancisPeople are different, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. But it’s good to exchange with one another to see what tips we can “steal” from each other.For me, the setting goals – and keeping them – tip echoed most with me.We can discuss the issue of working at night too (you have a voicemail ;)), if that is more comfortable.

Interestingly, I heard this from other VAs from the Philippines, too. Perhaps when I visit the Philippines this year, I will understand why it might be an alternative to work at night…