Looking to return back to work? Or interested in a career change?

My guess is the first thing that comes to mind is to take an online or local community college course such as Microsoft Word, MYOB, Accounting, Bookeeping etc. If you go back to school and upgrade your skills, surely your resume will be more attractive to employers. 

Stop there. Change your thinking and expand your options. There are multiple ways to upgrade your skills without attending a course or even spending money. There is a new opportunity at your fingertips to learn things such as online bookkeeping, event organizing, email marketing, design, creating newsletters, Microsoft Word, Excel and a new way to create PowerPoint presentations.  Think new, not old school.

Of course, this depends on the type of organisation you are looking to go back to work with. Perhaps it is an old school organisation that desperately needs your advanced Excel Spreadsheet skills. I challenge you to consider avoiding these employers and look for those that prize creativity, collaboration, and working with cloud based tools.

You may have taken time out of the workforce and feel that you’re behind the curve, but that can change in a matter of days not months. The best news is that you can learn when it suits you, such as after the kids are in bed, and for the most part all of these great technologies are free for basic users.

You are already familiar with Facebook and Pinterest, now invest in learning business technology that will enhance your career skills and experience.

 Take time explore:

• Basecamp - online project management tool
• Google Docs - create online documents and share with others
• Evernote - online virtual notebook
• Mailchimp - create beautiful communications, invitations, email, newsletter
• Eventbrite - organise events with ease
• Xero - beautiful online accounting software 
• Prezi - zoom your presentations through storytelling
• Shoeboxed - your digital receipt ‘shoebox’

Upcoming posts will give you practical ways to use these tools with your family or community organisations.    Follow us on Twitter @SmartSourceHQ or join the conversation on our Facebook page

By Lisa Cumes

Many people think that taking time off work to start or care for a family means that they stop developing their professional skills. In truth, it’s simply a mindset. You can choose to think that you’re going backward, or going forward. You can think of it as a sacrifice, or as an investment. But, ultimately, you get to decide how you position it.

My passion is for empowering women. My focus is to equip women to step up in their career or life passion. The first place to start in building a remarkable resume is to take inventory where you stand today. You can choose to see yourself lacking, or rich with experience. Once you identify your core skills, make them relevant today by incorporating technology.

In the next few posts we will look at the following 10 skills that can be developed by NOT working in full time paid employment. Reading the list, who would not be proud to list these skills at the top of their resume? And, who would be crazy enough not to hire someone with proven experience in each of these areas?

For each of these skills developed while out of full time employment, we’ll introduce you to the best technology tools you can learn to use to enhance your experience and resume.

•      Scheduling
•      Project Management
•      Communication
•      Negotiating
•      Prioritizing
•      Delegating
•      Dealing with difficult people
•      Budgeting
•      Patience
•      Creativity     

Stay tuned, we will show you how to turn years of unpaid experience into a dynamic resume that stands out from the rest.

SmartSource connects women with technology, empowering them to reenter the workforce, step up in their career and follow their life’s passion. Follow us on Twitter @SmartSourceHQ.

Some people are lucky, and some people make their own luck. Being in the right place at the right time is not luck, it requires intention, action and motivation to position yourself where opportunity may be. 

In June I graduated from Founder Institute in Sydney. Of the 100+ applicants, 34 started the course and just 9 of us graduated. Last night we had our Showcase hosted by AAPT, where 5 of the graduating companies were given 4 minutes to present our business idea to room of close to 100 people including investors, mentors, press and supporters. 

SmartSource tied for first place with ProcessGo! I’m proud of all the founders that presented last night, they spoke with clarity, determination and passion. 

In true Founder Institute style we were actually timed to 4 minutes and judged with a rating scale from 1 - 5 (excluding 3’s), in front of a live audience. Some founders were rated 2’s, some 4’s and one received the only 5 of the night from David Yuile, CEO of AAPT. Honest feedback was provided by all the judges, which also included Bill Bartee founding partner of Southern Cross Venture Partners and Benjamin Chong, Director of Right Click Capital.

Why has this journey with Founder Institute been so valuable to me? I’m a mother of 3 small kids. I couldn’t put life on hold to move to San Francisco to join young, hip incubators or accelerators.  I wasn’t quite ready to quit my job to pursue this full time, however, in just 14 weeks, I’ve been taken from a seed to something that has been planted and is growing….fast. 

So, it’s the day after, and back to work. But, it’s important to celebrate the successes along the way, both our own and those around us. Congrats to ProcessGo!, BabeeNotes, Task Orbit and Training Deals for a job well done last night. Founder Institute really did work it’s magic on us.

SmartSource connects women with technology, empowering them to to reenter the workforce, step up in their career and pursue their life’s passion.

Stay in touch and follow us on Twitter @SmartSourceHQ.

How often do we get to walk in our customer’s shoes? Or climb inside their head? What an amazing opportunity it would be to see, think and feel the pain we are trying to solve with our service. In fact, I think it’s critical that we have at least one of these ‘moments’ so that we can genuinely understand their needs.

I was lucky enough to have one of these moments 2 weeks ago when I hit my limit and was overwhelmed with work, deadlines and more importantly, opportunities! It’s a good problem to have, but nonetheless a very painful problem that started to affect family, home and my personal well being. I needed more time, and was willing to pay for it. I needed an assistant!

I needed help with my work load, projects and ongoing initiatives I was trying to accomplish with SmartSource as well as with other clients. Nothing was very difficult, it just required time and responsible thinking. My first thought was, “I am a fully competent professional assistant, I should be able to take care of these tasks, it’s not rocket science”. And then I thought, “how could I justify paying someone else to do this, when I can do it myself”? I asked myself, “where would I find someone that can help me do the client work with the same care I would”? And finally, “how do I get started handing over things to someone else”?

I think it’s quite ironic that me being a professional personal assistant needed my own assistant. What is even more important is that I didn’t waste another day with the questions I was asking, and just find someone to help, so we could get on with it!  For a moment I was transported into my client’s ‘shoes’….and I could feel the emotions someone goes through when they become overwhelmed and need support, but not sure where to begin to look.

Speak to your clients, customers or stakeholders in your business. Ask the questions that will help you genuinely understand their problem/pain and the emotions tied to them. Work to address the emotions with your solution, take away their pain and they will reward you with more business and referrals!

In the past year as I’ve talked with various people about SmartSource and ‘putting women back to work’, surprisingly men have been the most enthusiastic and supportive! Of course, women are as well, but in my everyday work I communicate with more men than women, not surprising as I work in the tech industry with software developers.

More than ever, it’s men who introduce me to potential candidates. Men who are fathers, brothers and husbands (and #1 supporters) of amazing professional women, who have taken time off to have kids. I love the twinkle in their eye when they talk about how successful and smart their wives were in their former professional lives, and what great mothers they are now….but women like these usually still think about working from time to time, or will in the near future. It takes a supportive husband to help make the step back into the working world when the time is right.

I’ve had several people introduce me to their mothers who are looking for part time flexible work. Sons and daughters who know their mother is clever, ambitious and looking for interesting work, part time rather than full time in the office. It’s the support and encouragement of their children that help motivate them to look for opportunities to continue working, learning and growing.

Many women who have taken time off professional work to have children or look after loved ones find it difficult to step back into their previous profession. Too many opt for a job that under-utilises (and under pays them) for their level of skill and experience rather than face the challenge and uncertainty of looking for work. In many cases it means answering employer questions like, are you ready for full time work? or are you ready to leave your kids at home and come back to the office? In Australia, 17% of women between the ages of 25 - 45 are either under-employed or under-utilised in the work force, which means thousands of women would work more if they could find more suitable work opportunities. (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010)

I believe there is an other option, a third option. Not full time, and not part time in the office, but part time, flexible work from home. It’s not easy, and it’s certainly not a ‘get rich quick’ opportunity, but it is a viable opportunity.

Opportunities like this are not always easily found or easy to step into, it takes the support of all family members for most women to take this step. It could mean husband taking on more responsibilities, and children being a little more self sufficient. It means mummy is not always ‘available’, even when she is at home, working on the computer. It might entail after school care, an extra day of child care or a friend taking turns picking up kids from school. 

It takes a village. It takes everyone in the woman’s world to help make the transition back to work. Many ask if it’s worth it, but for those that loved their career, and know their passion…an opportunity to step back into the professional world, and yet still be home to raise a family is more than worth it, it’s necessary.

SmartSource connects women with technology, empowering them to to reenter the workforce, step up in their career and pursue their life’s passion.

Stay in touch and follow us on Twitter @SmartSourceHQ.

Great news for women (and men) returning to work part time or on a freelance basis in Australia. The government has raised the tax free threshold from $8,000 to $18,200, starting July 1, and will increase again in 2015.

What does this mean for you? If you work 10 hours a week, most of the year, earning $50ph you will pay little or no income tax to the government. The government is making it easier to work on a freelance or part time basis with this increase in the threshold, and passing on the benefits each fortnight, rather than making you wait until the end of the financial year.

Another benefit is that many freelance workers will not need to lodge a tax return if they do not meet the $18,200 threshold amount.

The Labour government is specifically targeting mothers returning to work as their children enter school. Along with the rollout of the NBN, this is a fantastic time to start working from home, or in a flexible arrangement with your employer or clients. You can read more from this week’s Treasurer’s Economic Note.

Australia’s unemployment rate hovers around 5%, which means more employers are looking for support than supply available. There are opportunities to be found, and businesses that need professional skills on a part time or freelance basis.

If you’ve considered going to back to work, but not full time in the office, this is the time to get started. We can help you find your direction and connect you with businesses that need your skills. Contact us for more information at Lisa@SmartSource.com.au and follow us on Twitter @SmartSourceHQ and www.SmartSource.com.au for the latest information about flexible working opportunities.

I’ve been a Virtual Assistant for the past 6 years. Up until recently, I thought it was quite clever to call myself by this title, thinking that using the term ‘Virtual’ would make what I do seem more interesting or cutting edge. The reality is that it usually confused people more than really helped them understand the value of what I do.

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, Virtual means:

1. being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted
2. of, relating to, or using virtual memory
3. of, relating to, or being a hypothetical particle whose existence is inferred from indirect evidence
4. being on or simulated on a computer or computer network

I assume a Virtual Assistant would most line up with #4, but to be honest, none of them really are attractive or accurate.

My friends in the IT industry who are Software Engineers, UX Designers or Web Developers refer to themselves as ‘Independent Contractors’, ‘Consultants’ or ‘Freelancers’. Where they work is not an issue, as long as the quality and responsiveness of their work meets (or exceeds) the client’s expectations.

Personally, I have dropped the language of Virtual, or Work from Home, Telecommuting or Remote Worker. They are outdated, inaccurate, and do not help advance the industry.

Consider for yourself what you actually bring to a client, and take the time to create an authentic and accurate title for what services you offer. It’s time to move forward.

SmartSource connects women with technology, empowering them to to reenter the workforce, step up in their career and pursue their life’s passion.

Stay in touch and follow us on Twitter @SmartSourceHQ.

There is an untapped market out there, much like an untapped Canadian Maple tree dripping with sweet syrup. This market is rich with education, experience, wisdom and the ability to tackle challenges with grace and patience. Highly skilled women, who have taken time off from their careers to care for families, are an under-utilised resource in our current employment market. The wealth of knowledge, expertise and skills they hold are a key to unlocking economic growth and meeting the current demand for skilled labour shortages.

Businesses want to employ these women as much as they want to work, albeit not full time. It’s a 2 sided problem, that when solved, creates a win-win for both organisations and for women. In truth, it’s more than a win-win. When a woman, who wants to work, is given the opportunity to work, her family benefits, her financial stability benefits, the community benefits and of course, the government’s bottom line benefits.

This is a national and international challenge that must be addressed. Technology now provides the opportunity for women to use their skills in flexible working arrangements. Working from home, remotely, flexible hours and job sharing are now realities thanks to the Internet, cloud-based business tools, and 24/7 smartphone access. 

What is needed is a conversation that connects these two parties, and supports their efforts. It’s not easy to be a family care giver as well as career focused. We’re not suggesting women try to be full time parents as well as full time employees, however we believe that women are extraordinary and have skills and experience that can be tapped into regardless where their desk is located.

MailChimp makes any invitation, newsletter, report or announcement look professional and engaging. Stop creating your organisation’s newsletters using clipart and Word documents! There is a better, faster, and smarter way, and the best part is that it’s free!

MailChimp is a SaaS (Software as a Service) which means you don’t need to purchase or download a product to your computer. You create, send and track your information directly through their website over the Internet.  SaaS allows you to work on any device that has an Internet connection, as well as allowing others to collaborate, edit and see changes in real time. MailChimp is free for 2000 subscribers and 12,000 emails a month, after that users can pay a monthly fee or purchase credits for sending additional emails.

Here are some examples of how I’ve used MailChimp along with some other suggestions:

• School Newsletter
• Invitation - birthday party, event
• Save the Date Announcement
• Garage Sale Announcement
• Sporting Event Announcement
• Create Restaurant Menus 
• School Fundraiser

MailChimp Features

1. Import or create a list of people to send your email campaign (newsletter, invitation, announcement)

You need a list of email addresses to get started. This can be uploaded from a CSV file, which looks just like an excel spreadsheet, or can be imported from another program like Google Docs. You can also manually enter in names, if you don’t have too many.

It’s important to know that MailChimp is pretty tough on spam. They will not let you upload a list of names that you do not know, or did not ask permission for. For example, if you want to announce your new business and you purchased a database list of 10,000+ names, MailChimp will not allow you to send unless you can verify that each of the recipients know of you and have give their permission to be emailed directly.

2. Create a campaign

You can personalise your email from beginning to end, starting with the Subject line of your email, and which email address you’d like the email to appear from, and where replies should go. For example, our school fundraising campaign was sent from my daughter’s school “Rainbow Street Public School”, but the replies came to my email address directly.

MailChimp also makes it easy to share your campaign with others through social media like Facebook and Twitter and allows you to forward the email on to others without losing graphics or details.  

3. Design your email

It’s fun to work with pre-designed templates and beautiful photos provided by MailChimp, or you can design your own. You can add photos, website links and customise so that emails can be personal to each recipient. It’s important to send yourself a few test emails to see what other people will receive when your campaign lands in their inbox.

4. Send and track results

Sending your email campaign is so easy! After sending a test to yourself, you can send the campaign immediately, or schedule for a time that is in future. If you want the email to land in the inboxes at 10.30am on a Monday morning, but you’ll be away from your computer, you can schedule it for your preferred time.

MailChimp’s most powerful feature is the ability to track where emails go, who opens the email and what they click on when they read the message. It might feel like your spying on your recipients to see if they bothered to open your email, respond, and what web link they found most interesting and clicked on…but it’s important and helpful information. Does having a photo encourage people to click through to your website? MailChimp can let you know.

Think you’d like to work from home? Or, already do? What are some great tools available to help you work smarter and easier when you’re not in a traditional office?

I started working from home over 6 years ago and have made it my mission to find and ustilise the best technology available to make working from home a seamless operation. There are many tools you can put in your toolbox to help you be successful working from home, or working remotely, I will share with you 3 that have worked for me and many others.

My favourite technology, which you may already be using is Dropbox http://www.dropbox.com. This is a free service, which allows you save your photos, documents, videos online and share them easily. No need to email big attachments anymore, or wonder if you have the most updated version of a file. For example, one of my clients has me working on a budget update for them, and each day I am adding new information and figures. I do not need to send the updated version each time I make a change, he simply accesses Dropbox on his home computer, iPhone, or iPad and will always see the latest changes I’ve made. Dropbox even notifies him which documents have been edited each day.

Another technology that I find very useful when travelling is Logmein.com. http://www.logmein.com This technology allows me to access my home computer or laptop from anywhere using another computer, iPhone or iPad. Recently I took a trip to Arizona for a holiday with friends. One of my clients, based in Sydney, sent me an urgent request to send out 350 newsletters that same day. Using Logmein.com I was able to use my iPad, sitting in Arizona, to remote access my home computer, take control and work as though I was sitting at home in Sydney. I downloaded the attachment, prepared a mail merge and successfully sent out the newsletter in about 30 minutes time….all from my iPad sitting in my friend’s kitchen on the other side of the world.

By now, everyone has heard of Skype, but do you use it? Skype http://www.skype.com allows you to make phone calls, video calls and send text messages over the Internet rather than a traditional phone line. The cost of a phone call from your computer to someone’s landline is about 0.2 per minute, the cost for calling from your computer to another computer is FREE. Yes, you can make long distance calls for free, with virtually the same quality reception as your landline. But, Skype is valuable for many more reasons.

Skype allows you to make conference calls and video conference calls with up to 3 people, it records the time and duration of your calls in case you need to document your activities. One very handy tool is a screen share technology. Similar to Logmein.com, Skype allows you to see the screen of the person you are on the call with. For example, my mother, who lives in NY, needed some help finding a file on her computer she misplaced. We connected via Skype video call, and selected the option ‘Share Screen’, which allowed me to see exactly what was on her screen at that moment. I was able to talk her through the steps to finding the stray file as I watched her manoeuvre around her screen.

I find the more you use these technologies, the more ‘uses’ you find for them! Most of the clever tools I use in my day-to-day work have been introduced to me by friends and clients. Start the conversation with people you work with, or work for regarding the tools they are using, you will find there are endless new products being developed to help us work remotely.

SmartSource is committed to empowering highly skilled Australian women to work as freelance professionals and re-enter the workforce after taking time off for family, retirement or a career change.

If you’d like more information about partnering with a Virtual Assistant, or training to become an Assistant, please find us at www.smartsource.com.au and be sure to follow us on Twitter @SmartSourceHQ.