Tools of the Trade for Virtual Assistants

ByKortney

Part 4 in the series.  Here’s where you can find Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.Today I’m sharing a few–mostly free–tools that make working from home a lot more simple and effective.  But like the resources I shared yesterday, these tools have a wider application.

Tips + Tools for Becoming a Virtual Assistant

Toggl

Toggl is a time tracking tool that allows me to select which project I’m working on and then clock in and out.  I love the weekly reports and the simple interface.  It’s made keeping track of my work hours much easier.  I can imagine this being useful to homeschoolers to track practice time or to make sure that the short, CM-style lessons aren’t dragging along.

Paypal

Paypal’s probably not new to you.  But I love the invoicing option!  It’s easy to customize; I use the beautiful kamisa cloth from my blog header.  Then I email it to my clients, and they can pay me with just a few clicks!  Keep it simple!

Evernote

I love Google Keep.  Like Toggl, it’s a simple app that lets me keep track of lists.  But it’s not on all our computers.  So that means I can’t see the info on certain devices.  I’m in the process of switching to Evernote.  And I love seeing my notes on any computer!  It’s like magic.  Mystie Winckler is the Master of All Things Evernote.  If you are interested in keeping homeschool records or book lists or even ideas for your next novel, she can help you with basic set-up and more advanced keeping via Evernote.

 

Canva + Pic Monkey

Just beginning to use these two sites to create images.  Both have great free options.  I used Canva to add the text to the picture for this series.  And I used PicMonkey to create the collage for my review of Simplified Dinners.  What do you think?  I can wait to dig into Monkey See, Monkey Do: A PicMonkey Tutorial from Crisp Apple Designs to hone my skills!

Lucidpress

The jury is still out on this one!  It’s a great drag and drop design program–with free options–for images and text…although large bodies of text can sometimes look wonky.  It works best for creations that feature images with minimal text.  I’m planning on using it to create a media kit.

Do you use any of these tools?  Or do you have favorites that I need to know about?  How about other questions about working as a virtual assistant?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!