I want to share with you, Five Perfect Organisational Tools for VAs and Project Managers. I can see you there, staring at those sticky notes plastered around your monitor like the Paper Ring of Remembering. We’ve all been there, and if, like me, you’ve said, “There must be a better way?” Well, I’ve got news for you. There is.
Does this sound familiar?
Each day, after that first cup of wake me up, you check your daily tasks and plan your day, who you need to speak to, what jobs are still outstanding from the day before? why are there so many jobs that need doing? when can you do it all?
As a project manager and working as an administration consultant for close to 15 years I have had many opportunities to test and trial various organisational tools to their very limits. I’ve found a few real gems that work brilliantly for me and that I think will be great for you. I could include so many more here, but these five are absolutely integral for me both as a project manager as well as a virtual assistant.
Five Perfect Organisational Tools for VA's and Project Managers
(to help you get closer to a state of organisational bliss)
● Asana
● Toggl
● Canva
● Hootsuite
● Dropbox
Over the years as a project manager I learned a very valuable lesson.
To be effective you must be organised.
And my first ‘go to’ tool for organisation is Asana.
For project management, Asana is brilliant. Whether you use it for big projects or small its ability to keep the management of a project in view is great. With it you can create Teams by department, or projects and it helps to keep you and your team in touch through shared to-do lists, calendars and you can even have conversations or share files. Asana can replace the need for email without problem. I could not be as organised without this tool.
Next, is Toggl. Every business, no matter how big or small needs a device for tracking time. How else do we measure our time spent on a project or our day but through a tracker and this is what Toggl does. You can stop and start the timer and label each task as you work on it. If you switch from one project to another in the day, you simply use the corresponding label each time for each task and Toggl cumulatively brings the times together so you can see your total or overall time spent on each task. Simple, yet effective time tracking all in one place and at just the click of a button to start or stop your time. Toggl is great for billing for time or showing clients time spent. Did I mention it is free?
Once I’ve chewed through a review of most of my tasks on Asana, checked my time on Toggl and am working through my second or maybe even my third cuppa and I’m feeling the need for a bit of creativity.
I welcome you to Canva. If you have not had reason to visit Canva, make an excuse to do it right now. This is a multi-use tool for graphics and text and you don’t need to have specialised training for graphic design to use it. An eye for design helps but with all the templates and options available to you, it makes creating social media posts and headers about as easy as you can get. There are loads of images, fonts, shapes, borders and a variety of subjects to choose from no matter if you are creating a newsletter or any number of marketing materials such as flyers, posters or even business cards. Canva is an easy drag and drop design tool I couldn’t be without.
Once I’ve finished creating my assortment of Pinterest Pins, or Facebook posts or my Twitter graphics on Canva I dip into my next little favourite. Hootsuite. Hootsuite is my must have Social Media Management System. There are so many systems out there that do this job but for me, Hootsuite works for me and certainly one I couldn’t be without. Here I schedule all of my clients and my own social media posts to ensure they post at the optimum times and keep track of all the social networks under my umbrella of responsibility. Social Media can be overwhelming to manage if you let it but Hootsuite keeps everything in check and manageable.
Last but not least, I need a place to store files, images, videos and all the rest. This brings me to an old favourite, drum roll please … ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, the one, the only … Dropbox. Access is what this one is all about. Anywhere and everywhere. From computer, phone or tablet and it all comes together in a nice tidy little sync. Sharing is no problem and it is safe.
So there you have it. Me and my Five Perfect Organisational Tools for VA's and Project Managers:
● Asana
● Toggl
● Canva
● Hootsuite
● Dropbox
Five brilliant, simple, yet clever items available at my fingertips that not only help me to function as a project manager but as a virtual assistant or administrative consultant. Each one has its own benefits and each one suits me and my needs both personally as well as professionally.
Now though, I want to hear about your favourite tools or systems. Drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts on it. Maybe your suggestion will make into my daily use as well. I might even post a blog about it here.
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