Posted by Maggie Langley on Monday, May 14, 2012,
In :
Social Media
Congratulations to our #whatwedo featured businesses
Want your business featured in our #whatwedo blog? Send a tweet to @OfficeHounds include #whatwedo with a brief description and link to your website.
DS Event Management
We are a London based, event management service :) we do every format possible including Olympic hospitality!
Follow on Twitter @DS_Ev... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Thursday, May 10, 2012,
In :
Productivity
How to choose productivity tools that get the job done
 Every business has to manage information.
The Essentials
Contacts
Calendars / diaries
Email
The Usuals
Invoices
Tasks / To Do Lists
The Should Haves
Social Media
Time Tracking
Shared space for Team
The Advanced
Ticketing system
Gant Chart
Project Management system
Real time collaboration tools
Although every business needs to use some kind of tool like Outlook or Google Apps to manage The Essentials, choosing the best productivity tools depends on the... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Tuesday, April 24, 2012,
In :
Social Media
Congratulations to our #whatwedo featured businesses.
Want your business featured in our #whatwedo blog? Send a tweet to @OfficeHounds include #whatwedo with a brief description and link to your website.
A stunning cupcake and coffee shop based in Medway.
We are a Kent based hand made edible gift company, run by a very busy Mum.
Freelance Photographer: Product photos for UK small businesses, takes ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Monday, April 23, 2012,
In :
Social Media
Congratulations to our #whatwedo featured businesses.
Want your business featured in our #whatwedo blog? Send a tweet to @OfficeHounds include #whatwedo with a brief description and link to your website.
We are a pc repair and technology consultant company, making peoples live worry free and easier with computers
Offering a collection of contemporary Kent-based photographs for commercial and personal uses. Beautiful Kent images. ... Continue reading ...
My Virtual Assistant company offers super supportive and creative solutions to some of the less glamorous aspects of business.
Communication
I can offer local geographic phone numbers, 0800, 0845 numbers that can be accessed via VOIP, directed to a landline or the number can be put on a mobile SIM. (This can be fully integrated with a great CRM system we recommend so calls can be recorded and saved to customer records if required.)
Our 24/7 Telephone Answering Service ensures businesses don't... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Thursday, March 22, 2012,
In :
Productivity
Imagine a world where your small business had processes in place that meant that you never had to search through your email inbox to find an important email. Every time you need to call a new lead or customer, you're able to quickly search for their phone number and refresh your memory of the last communication your or your team had with this person. The call results in you scheduling a meeting which you then record in your electronic diary. You send a meeting invitation to your colleague. Th... Continue reading ...
Only 41% of exhibitors at Kent 2020 have a Twitter
account. Are you one of them?
Whether you're part of the majority who don't have a Twitter account of
the minority who are ahead of the game, OfficeHounds can offer you a low cost,
high impact service to help promote your stand at Kent2020.
Kent2020 Marketing packages for
non-Twitter users
Kent 2020 Twitter Starter
Package - £75
- Set up of your Twitter account
- 50 scheduled messages including a link to your website, your stand numbe...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, March 11, 2012,
In :
How To
Do you have to manually back up your documents? Have you ever accidentally forgotten to save a document with a different name, overwriting the old version you also needed to keep?
If you you answered yes to either of these questions, stop messing about and sign up for a free Sugarsync account. You get 5GB of online storage for free!
If you're a Mac user, you may be used to Dropbox. Sugarsync has some great extra features.
- Share folders - sync with your other computers team members. (You won't ...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Wednesday, March 7, 2012,
In :
How To
One simple step you can take to make more sales through your website. The best part is it won't cost you a penny to try it. Listen and take action.
Posted by Maggie Langley on Friday, February 17, 2012,
In :
How To
Interruptions are the enemy of productivity. Email is our to do list's most persistent rival, however this is followed closely by our telephones and mobile phones. Are you disciplined enough to not answer the phone when you are focussed on a task? Do you stop what you're doing, every time your phone rings? True, your phone calls are important. A new lead might be interested in buying your product or service. People don't like leaving voice mail messages, especially when they're still at the f... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley, OfficeHounds Virtual Assistant Services on Tuesday, January 10, 2012,
In :
Productivity
If you want to make this a productive year, get control of your email.
Some scary stats
• “One of the biggest time-wasters reported by office workers is managing email.
• 39% of office workers feel lost and even frustrated when it comes to organizing and managing email.
• Over half of the participants surveyed said they receive up to 75 emails each and every day, and felt that a number of those emails were a result of being CC’d unnecessarily.
• 48% of the respondents s... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley, OfficeHounds Virtual Assistant Services on Tuesday, January 10, 2012,
In :
Get organised
Posted by Maggie Langley on Saturday, September 17, 2011,
In :
Social Media
Business Karma - do good things to support other businesses and good things will come to your business. Please vote for Room92 to win the public vote in a business competition. It's good for your business Karma. Lynn Taylor is a small business. Help make a Social Media Miracle happen. Vote before the 20th September. Continue reading ...
 Get a grant of up to £150
towards the cost of annual Networking Planet Membership
You may be eligible for a
match-funded grant of up to £1,000 from Sustainable Routes. Sustainable Routes offers a grant of up to
£1,000 (match funded) to businesses who want to reduce their business travel or
make it greener.
Networking Planet Membership
costs £300 + VAT per year (only £25 + VAT per month).
Am I eligible?
If your business has traded for 2 years with
a turnover above £75,000 and i... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Friday, August 19, 2011,
In :
Top Dog Tip
1 Make 2 columns on a sheet of paper. 2 Label one column Task Was Essential to do Today. other Could have waited until Tomorrow. 3 Each time you complete a task no matter how small, mark it down in one of the columns. (If it's a particularly large task circle or highlight the mark. Then you can easily identify tasks that required more sustained concentration vs a quick task.) Anytime you complete a task related to an email (can be a reply or an action requested of you in an email), write down...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Friday, August 19, 2011,
In :
Top Dog Tip
1 Once a week, look at your to do list (e.g. Wunderlist), Customer Relationship Management system (e.g. icomplete) or Notes(e.g. Evernote).
2 Identify 5 essential tasks to complete by the end of the week.
3 Do whatever it takes to get those 5 essential tasks done.
That's just one essential task each work day, allowing you plenty of time for distractions.
Top Dog Tip - If you're not a 'plan in advance' kind of worker, there's a good chance, you'll underestimate the time it will take... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Wednesday, August 10, 2011,
In :
How To
Laptop meltdown - Sugarsync to the rescue! On Sunday, my laptop wouldn't turn on. After a bit of nail biting, swearing and disbelief, I finally accepted it wasn't going to come back to life. Tragic loss. We had become so close. Fortunately, for me, all of my business related files were backed up with Sugarsync. I highly recommend you get Sugarsync. It allows me to easily share folders with my clients. I have had both a laptop PC and Mac. I can work on either computer anytime and access all ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Tuesday, July 26, 2011,
In :
Social Media
If you run a bricks and mortar business and are interested in Social Media, I suggest that you read Forgotten Foursquare a new blog on the OfficeHounds sister site Social Media Virtual Assistant Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Friday, June 24, 2011,
In :
Thoughts
If you use Gmail, your search results will be 'personalised' by Google. If you are signed in, your results will really be tailored to reflect what you have previously clicked on. Even when you are not signed into a Google account, your experience will still be personalised based on past search information linked to a cookie in your browser.  I don't think that most users are aware that Google is doing this for them. Is this a good or a bad thing? What do you think? Continue reading ...
This is a quick reminder of the event that I'm running on the 26th June. Jules Serkin or Pressup Group kindly wrote the following Press Release for my event. Please see her handywork below. Get in touch with Jules to find out how she can help you get your business news featured in the local paper.
Social Networking: The Trilogy
#hashtags anyone?
Social media and e-marketing whizz Maggie Langley, founder of Whitstable-based OfficeHounds Virtual Assistant Services, will be giving her best tips fo...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Tuesday, May 10, 2011,
In :
Networking
I had the pleasure of attending a unique networking event hosted by Liam Gooding of Cloudminds and Fruitbowl Media. The event was held at the Aquarius7a Fusion Media Centre on the Canterbury High Street. The event attendees included artists showcasing their work and business people. I was quite surprised to see that the artists congregated on one side of the room, and the entrepreneurs congregated on the other with very little integration. I enjoyed speaking with the one artist who chatted to... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Saturday, May 7, 2011,
In :
Social Media
A Social Media Virtual Assistant can save you time. Outsource you social media marketing to a Social Media Virtual Assistant, and you can focus on driving your business forward. - Linkedin - You don't have a Company profile
- Twitter - You have an account but don't know what to Tweet about or how often.
- Facebook - You don't have a Company 'Fan Page' (the one with the 'Like' button at the top)
- YouTube - The idea of YouTube scares you. Don't worry! We have a strategy for the camera shy. You won't have ...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Tuesday, May 3, 2011,
In :
Social Media
Okay, so it's a little late at night (sorry about that), but I wanted you to read this in the morning. I'm a bit excited about some projects I've been working on, and I thought you might be interested. Over the weekend, like many other Small Business owners, I managed to squeeze in some work between the Royal Wedding celebrations and the surprising news of the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. So, what have I been working on?I have created a Social Media Toolbar for your browser. It is curren... Continue reading ...
To celebrate the Royal Wedding, OfficeHounds is offering businesses a marketing special offer.
Are you able to track how many times your marketing emails are opened? Can you see which links people are clicking on? Can you see how many times each person opened your email? If you aren't able to track results of your email marketing efforts, you need OfficeHounds email marketing services.
Royal Email Marketing Bundle
1. Email template with your branding, company colours and logo.
Watch out, here ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Monday, April 18, 2011,
In :
Networking
Virtual Assistant News Maggie Langley, Virtual Assistant and founder of OfficeHounds stars in a film with Max Clifford. Special thanks to Kent Business TV.  Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Friday, April 8, 2011,
In :
Social Media
Are you confused about the best way to build your followers list?
Listen to this audio clip to learn more about why you need a vision for you Social Media campaign.
Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Thursday, March 31, 2011,
In :
Social Media
A trusted buddy of mine, recommended that I start using a Social Media platform called MarketMeSuite. I am still learning the ropes with it, but so far I love it. They are ending the lifetime payment option (one off fee of $99) on Friday at 15:00. I wanted to tell you about it, so you can grab the lifetime deal before the remove it. In my opinion MarketMeSuite replaces Tweetdeck. When you post your messages to Twitter, no matter which of the popular applications you use, did you realise that ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Wednesday, March 23, 2011,
In :
Networking
Posted by Maggie Langley on Friday, March 18, 2011,
In :
Top Dog Tip
Posted by Maggie Langley on Thursday, March 3, 2011,
In :
Networking
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OfficeHounds Virtual Networking Experience - Friday, 4 March 2011 at 14:00
Ready to try a new, time-saving and easy way to network?
I need volunteers to attend my second pre-launch event tomorrow. Can you help?About the event
Who: This event is open to any business person who wants to try a new way of networking. If you know of anyone who might like to attend, please forward them this email.
What: OfficeHounds Virtual Networking Experience is a chance for business owners to get connected and ne... |
Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Monday, February 7, 2011,
In :
How To
Get documents signed quickly with EchoSign. We live in a fast pace world. As business owners, we don’t
want to wait to get our contracts or important documents signed. As consumers,
we expect signup processes to be quick and easy. The perfect solution is EchoSign
Running a business often requires getting documents signed
by customers and suppliers. Electronic signatures by email is the fax machine of the 21st Century. Previously, it was standard to hand a copy of a
document to a potential c... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
How To
There may be several reasons why you need to be logged into two Skype accounts.
It is possible to open two instances of Skype by clicking 'Shift + Right Click' and choosing 'Run as'. This should allow you to log into to accounts, however my computer decided it only wanted to allow it to work some of the time.
I found a much easier solution.
Posted on January 11, 2011 Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Get organised
At the September Whitstable Business Tweet Up, I asked some of the people I spoke with to describe their most time consuming non-chargeable business activity.
Top 10 non-chargeable tasks. Networking Social Media Reading Blogs Accounts Email / spam Administrative tasks Marketing Website SEO Quotes Organising Routes One of the attendees I spoke with described her battle with non-chargeable tasks as feeling like Medusa, and she has to continually try to ‘manage all the beasts.’
I am sure we have all su... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Networking
On 1 October 2010, I attended the Kent and London Business Show promoting OfficeHounds' Event Follow Up Services
The Kent and London Business Show had about 100 exhibitors, so there were lots of great business people to meet from the South East.
As a thank you for taking the time to talk with me, I have listed some of the exhibitors that I met at the Kent & London Business Show below. This blog will also be shared with my Twitter and Facebook contacts. That's the beauty of Social Media. It's e...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Social Media
For me Social Media is a time efficient way for me to communicate and meet new contacts without having to spend tons of time away from my office. I can have conversations with lots of different people from all over the UK or even the World. I choose who I want to interact and engage with.
Although face to face networking is useful, it's not socially acceptable to walk away from someone when they're talking, no matter how boring they may be. If I get bored of someone on Twitter, I can stop foll... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Copywriting
. . .if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. – Joseph Campbell
Oh Joseph Campbell, I’ve been waiting a long time for that to be true. 10 years to be exact. It was 10 years ago that I moved permanently to England from America. I was first introduced Campbell’s suggestion to ‘follow your bliss’ by my favourite Literature professor at Universit... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Social Media
Social Networking can help both small and large companies with collaboration. I love the sense of good will that buzzes around social networking sites.
Through Social Media, I've met some lovely people that have helped me learn, improve and even get more customers. In return, I get great satisfaction linking business people together or giving some advice in my area of expertise.
As an American living in the UK for about 10 years, I'd say that Americans do value good will and having sense of com... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
PR
I am pleased to announce that my article, 'Painless Time Management Techniques' has been published on the EveryWoman website.
Everywoman is the UK's leading provider of training, resources and support services for women in business. You can learn more about everywoman on their website.
If you would like to learn more about the founders of EveryWoman, Karen Gill and Maxine Benson please visit the Everywoman website.
Posted on September 3, 2009 at 1:08 PM Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Poll
As an entrepreneur, which administrative task do you dislike the most? As an entrepreneur, what administrative task do you dislike the most? http://twtpoll.com/OfficeHounds
Vote Now! If you have a Twitter account, it will only take a second, and I'm curious to know which administrative tasks you feel are wasting your time! To vote, simply copy the link above into your browser.
OfficeHounds can help entrepreneurs and businesses by completing the administrative tasks that you procrastinate finish... Continue reading ...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Get organised
He, who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of the most busy life. - Victor Hugo
Good time management skills are essential for success. For some people, time management comes naturally. Even seemingly disorganised individuals can have an instinct for time management. Successful people have one key ingredient that helps it to appear that they get t...
Posted by Maggie Langley on Sunday, January 16, 2011,
In :
Get organised
Take action each time you read an email.
If no action is required 1. If you don’t need it delete it! 2. File it 3. If the email contains information or attachments that you need to read later, file it in a folder called READ. Once you have read it, remember to file it in an appropriate folder for future reference. If action is required 1. Take appropriate action and either delete or file the email. 2. If the action required will be ongoing or you do not have time to respond, find your preferred... Continue reading ...
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About Me
| Maggie Langley |
| Founder | Virtual Assistant, Officehounds |
American ex-pat living in England with hubby & hounds. Love helping businesses to get organised and offload those time consuming tasks that my Virtual Assistants do efficiently.
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