The Concierge

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Celebrating your wedding anniversary

My Husband and I will have been by 13^thDecember, married for 7years and I was thinking of a special way to celebrate this wonderful day, so I was going through the internet for nice ideas for our wedding anniversary and came up with stuff I felt like sharing.

Celebration Ideas For Just the 2 of you.

· Romantic Anniversary Picnic: Just the 2 of you in a special place, a private beach, a resort eg. La Campaigne Tropicana, Whispering Palms etc.

· Breakfast in Bed: Surprise your spouse with breakfast in bed, his/her favourite meal with something I call an appetizer gift.(could be anything including a kiss in a way you have never given before).

· Dinner and Movie: Have dinner at a place both of you will enjoy and then go watch a romantic movie, hey if war movies brings out the romance in both of you, watch it too. The bottom line is that both of you enjoyed each other.

· The Getaway: You could send the kids to your parents or relations for the weekend and you two can have a getaway. Believe me when I say it, there are getaways spots that can work with a tight budget as well.

Gift Ideas:

For Him: Gifts for your man can be easy as a pie. Here are some examples of what you can give him which he will appreciate. Think about him when you are buying or making the gift, his personality, his job, hobbies and special interests, what he truly enjoys, could be food, wine, or any kind of indulgence.

· Personalized Gifts

1. On Clothing: A love message, a sexy message or a fun saying the two of share. Or his favourite soccer team jersey.

2. Classic Gifts personalized with his initials eg, Ring, Wristwatch or bracelet. Or a time stand.

3. Custom Award: Give him a 'Best Husband in the World' award.

· Hobbies and Interest Gifts

1. Buy him something from his favourite soccer team website's online shop. They have a wide range of clothing and accessories.

2. Personalized Golf gift, apparel and accessories

3. Automobile accessories for the automobile buff

4. An original CD and (or) DVD collection of his favourite music, you can get them in stores like NuMetro. If he likes Country music or R&B or Jazz.

5. Something for his pet. Some men are very close to their pets and hey you cannot fault them, so buy something for his pet, it will warm his heart.

· Fun and Unique Gifts

1. Jewelery

2. Sculptures

3. Buy yourself that Lingerie hes been wanting you to get. I know its not really for him, but he will enjoy seeing it on you.

4. Funny T-Shirts

· For your Corporate Guy

1. Quality Desk and Office Accessories, he will proudly display it on his desk for his colleagues and clients.

2. Leather and Travel Cases: If he is a globetrotter.

3. Designer Ties

4. Personalized Stationery

· For the Indulgent Guy

1. Luxury Chocolate; French or Belgian, if your man likes chocolate and he appreciates the fine things of life, he will love this.

2. Wine Gift packs

3. Assorted Candy

4. Assorted Nuts

You can give either of there gifts or combine two or three, depending on your man's personality.

For Her: Guys, from a woman, one word of advice. The Wedding anniversary gift is very important, more important than Valentine gifts. It must come from the heart, not something you pick up in a rush or at the nearby shop. It should be planned, thought out and on point. Planning for it however, does not have to be complicated, it should express your love for her, appreciation for her.

Women are easy to please with the right gifts. Buying an anniversary gift may seem like a no-brainier, but quality and thoughtfulness should be the standard when choosing a gift for her. Here are a few ideas as to what to give.

· A Getaway: That romantic getaway could just be it. If you plan well, even if you are on a budget it can happen. Especially if she has been indicating interest in a weekend away to somewhere like Ghana or Gambia, make it happen and surprise her, it not only shows your love, it shows you have been listening to her and are thinking about her. If you cannot go out of town, check into a nive hotel, make sure it has a jacuzzi or big bath where you can both spend time in the bath before heading to bed, order room service, watch her favourite channel with her, even if its for 30minutes.

· Jewelery: Know what your wife likes, does she like Gold, white Gold, yellow gold, platinum or silver, hey if you can afford it, why not, buy it for her. Some men think Gold is so expensive, the smallest gold is of high quality and she will appreciate it. Some women however react to Gold or do not like it at all but prefer costume jewelery, get her something outstanding and exotic.

· A day at the Spa and you taking care of the kids(if there are kids). If your wife has been busy at work and home without time to rest, give her the day off and pay for her to be at the spa for a massage, facials, manicure, pedicure and hair, then take her to dinner at a restaurant.

· Lingerie; A sexy number in racy colors like Red and Purple will also warm her heart. Buy her something you will love to see her wear. If you have doubts whether she will like it, use it to test the waters, make it a secondary gift to any other gift like jewelery or the day at the spa. If she is okay with it, then you know its a safe gift to give her. First thing though, you need to know her exact size, so you don't purchase the wrong size.

· Sleepwear: A nice lacy number for sleepwear is good too, you can also buy an elegant and matured sleepwear if your wife is not the adventurous type. The important thing is that the gift is loved. You can swing with the sleepwear, a bathrobe and bath essentials.

· Kitchen Appliances: Could be a new microwave, a blender, a new cooking set, a deep fryer, a Fridge or freezer. Should be something she really needs for the kitchen

· Add to any of these gifts a beautiful card. You can even write a note in it, telling her how you feel, it may not be something log, could be a one liner, just an extra personalized message.

· The best gift of all may just be your Time. If you have been very busy and have not had time with your wife and she maybe have been complaining, your best gift to her is giving her your time for the whole day. She may not want anything else infact.

If you have children, involve the children in the celebrations, you can also take them for the getaways, dinners. It will give a good message about the love between both of you. However, its not a crime to make alternative arrangement for them with your parents or relations for just that period. After all, you both were before they were. They also need to know that Mummy and Daddy need time alone. Best of Luck.

If you need help in organizing that special anniversary, surprise party or need advise on gift ideas, we will be happy to work with you. AntsHill Concierge lets you live your life to the fullest while we do your runs.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

BENEFITS OF USING VIRTUAL ASSISTANCE

Do you have plans to start a business? Or are you already running one and wish to expand? Do you manage a big corporation, have the need for more hands yet want to cut cost? Are you running an NGO? This article may just give you ideas on how to sort out your financial stress and also save you some personal time to do other things.

The benefits of using Virtual Assistance for your business is too numerous to mention more importantly, it saves you money and helps you control costs. Whether you have a small business or run a big corporation, virtual assistance will come in handy one way or the other. Many business owners are faced with projects and tasks that come and go depending on the season. Hiring a virtual assistant is beneficial because they can work when you need them to work, eliminating the need to hire full time or even part time staff.

Using Virtual Assistants allows you to delegate the repetitive yet essential tasks that you do but really someone else can do for you, hence enabling you to focus on expanding your business with those business ideas you have been entertaining but due to lack of time and financial costs you have not been able to bring into reality, could be a new product or new service. The new product or service can even be started using VA's.

In this blog, I will enumerate the benefits and advantages of using a virtual assistant, this will include financially as well. We will also look at the comparison between using a virtual assistant and employing either a temp or full staff, and thereafter look into the areas a virtual assistant will come in handy for your business.

ADVANTAGES OF USING A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

· Allows you to delegate essential tasks to experts and high skilled staff who are well trained, saving you the costs of training.

· For a small business owner, it allows you to focus on new business strategies and new services to grow your business while satisfying your existing customers

· The highly trained VA will posses skills that you may not have but need, e g. graphic design, search engine optimization, computer skill proficiency and writing skills.

· The Virtual Assistant will use his own equipment like computers, laptops, printers and other state of the art software that your company may not own thereby saving you the costs of putting this in place.

· For the big corporations, it allows you to 'employ' and save the additional time constraining exercises e g. Recruitment process

· Using Virtual Assistants can help level out seasonal or cyclical fluctuations in your business.

· A VA can help your business gain a competitive edge by providing value-added services.

· Using virtual assistants lets you delegate the myriad of time consuming administrative tasks.

· Never have to pay a 'temp' agency fee; and eliminate the guess work by knowing who is performing the work each time you need assistance.

· You can count on working with a professional who is dedicated to helping their own business grow.

· A virtual office assistant strives to have a long term relationship with their clients; and will always strive to provide them the best quality service.

· You get experienced assistance when you need it. Your assistance is just a call away.

Financial Benefits Of Using Virtual Assistants:

· VA's are independent contractors; eliminating payroll taxes, vacation pay, sick days and employee benefits such as health insurance

· No need to purchase additional office space or equipment

· No expenses or down time for employee training

· Using VA's offers you the ability to keep your projects on schedule without paying overtime

· You only pay for time spent on YOUR project

· Unlike traditional employees, you are NOT paying a virtual assistant for making personal phone calls, surfing the internet, chatting with co-workers or coffee/smoke breaks

· No agency fees as with temporary employees

· Using VA's gives you the ability to take on more work to generate more profits

The cost savings of using virtual assistants, depending on the size of your business, can be quite staggering. When you include payroll taxes and benefit packages for a full-time employee, their “real” cost is over twice the base pay!

THE VA vs THE FULL TIME STAFF

FULL TIME STAFF

· Employer PAYE

· Health and Pension payments

· Holiday and sick pay

· Lunch and coffee breaks

· Performance reviews, grievances

· Training & Termination

· Cost of expensive IT & telephone equipment and maintenance

VIRTUAL STAFF

· Pay only for the hours worked

· No training costs

· No need for extra office space

· No need to purchase or maintain expensive equipment.

Someone would ask what is the difference between a VA and a temporary staff, there is a difference and as a matter of fact, the temp is one of the VA's biggest challenges.

THE VA and THE TEMP

1. AVAILABILITY: Temporary employees are what they are called, temporary. They're here today and may be gone tomorrow. A VA, on the other hand, is available on an ongoing basis or can be called upon, at short notice, when an extra pair of administrative hands is required.

2. WORK INTEREST: VA's take a vested interest in the success of their clients and their businesses because this is their business as an entrepreneur themselves. VA's believe that the absolute best job possible will not only help their own reputation but will also help to build the client's business. The VA tends to see himself as an extension of the company, thus becomes loyal to the client. The more successful the client is, the higher possibility of more work needing to be done by the VA or more referrals. A temp, however, may look at the assignment as just a means of padding their resume or getting a paycheck.

3. TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE: VA's are generally those that have had many, many years of experience out in the workforce. This knowledge, along with any additional training and schooling, allows them to provide a wide gambit of services, all of which they have had many years to perfect. VA's also tend to be more apt to upgrade their skills in order to provide their clients with the most up to date and professional services that they can possibly provide. Temps, on the other hand, may be those that are right out of school with little or no 'on the job' experience, or those who are simply looking for something to fill their time. Not to mention, when a temp is hired, they have to be trained. Now, if that temp is not available when the next assignment crops up, another temp will have to be brought in and thus more time is needed to train that employee. And so on.

4. MANAGEMENT COSTS: The rate paid to a temp is actually split between the temp and the agency that contracts them out. Then it must be taken into consideration the time the client needs to spend training the temp, the space used by him/her, and the equipment that is needed and requires maintenance. A VA's rates, comparatively, help to upgrade equipment, software and skills. This, in turn, allows for more and better services to be available for the client. It also means that the client doesn't need to worry about providing space and maintaining equipment that a temp would need, which can get quite costly when in the hands of an inexperienced employee.

5. PAYMENT/FEES: VA's charge for the actual work they do, hour for hour, whereas a temp is paid for time worked and any time they sit idle, waiting for more work or another project to do.

Outsourcing work to VA's allows you to control capital costs for office furniture, computers & equipment, reduce labor costs, increase efficiency and gives you extra time to focus on your core business and start new projects quickly.

Keeping this information about Virtual Assistants in mind, as a small business owner or even a large corporation manager who wants to cut cost and yet maximize productivity, using a Virtual Assistant may be the way to go.

So what can a Virtual assistant do, you ask?

VA’s can do a lot and the tasks are also expanding and changing with advances in technology, opening up many new niche areas for virtual assistants:

· Secretarial Work, letters, reports, power point presentations, excel sheets etc

· Professional organizer

· Bookkeeping , accounts, invoicing

· Internet research

· Social media marketing VA

· Internet marketing VA

· Customer service

· Travel and Transportation Management

· Website designing , set up, blog and forum creation, hosting, maintenance, architecture, tracking website statistics

· Spread sheeting

· Appointment Setting/Scheduling

· Virtual PA

And so many more

The message here is clear, save money by using a Virtual Assistant.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Ultimate Guide to Scoring an Upgrade - SmarterTravel.com

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Give someone a great gift, Spend Time instead of Money.

Perhaps you are wondering how you can do this, giving someone a gift of time? Its very possible and could be the greatest and best gift you can ever give.
I know from experience that helping people out, giving them assistance when they truly need it, giving some time out of your own time to them never goes unnoticed. You may argue that you do not even have time for yourself, well you can pay someone to do it, that's why you have AntsHill Concierge. Go to our website www.antshillconcierge.com and you will find a non-exhausted list of services which you can offer to your loved ones.

How will this work? Who can you give a gift of time to?

Spouse or Significant other can benefit from your special gift of time through candlelight dinners or a new innovation, candlelight breakfast, eating out on a specific day in a week, Massage or any outdoor activity like taking a walk or even sitting together doing nothing, just being together. A lot of times, we do not have time for our spouses or partner, but by giving at least an hour dedicated to this person will go a long way in making them feel good and you as well.
Parents especially elderly ones can benefit from the gift of time as well, by arranging visits, this will make their day especially if they have become widowed and all the children are out of the home.
Give your friends the gift of time as well by offering to cook for them, take their car to the car wash, or if your friend is a new mum, you can offer a day of babysitting while she gets a deserved rest. You can also call an estranged friend, chat for sometime, reminiscence about the old happy times or you can send an email.

Other Gift of time ideas are:

Offer to be your friend's Virtual assistant, you may have a friend who is just starting a business, by offering to be their VA will definitely warm their hearts because you will save them cost of hiring someone and time to do certain tasks themselves.
Assisting during your friend or family member's special event, could be a wedding, funeral, product launch or birthday party. By being there and visible to offer help, you make their day.
Shopping, could be grocery or clothes shopping.
Help to run errands

I know what you may be thinking, you don't have time as well, how can you give what you don't have, well i have the solution for you, spend your money to buy the gift of time, this is where we come in.
Its a concierge's job to assist where there is no time, get a concierge to do what you cannot do, the gift recipient will only know this gift came from you and they will thank you.

A Concierge gives back time and are always welcome by those who need more of it. And guess what, a gift of time is a perfect gift to give someone who has 'everything'.