Sideline Assistant

08/29/2025

If you struggle with making regular posts for your business pages, you're not alone! It's hard to do with consistency without having a plan. If your business could use a refresher with a definitive social media plan, contact Sideline Assistant today!

08/28/2025

08/21/2025

Do you know what questions to ask BEFORE hiring a virtual assistant?

3 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a VA

Do I know what I need help with?
- It's okay if you're floundering, but get an idea on what tasks you're going to need help with. Not all VAs offer the same services, and some will have varying package prices depending on your needs.

Can I commit to communicating clearly?
- I wish I could say this was a given. You are inviting someone into your business and communication is KEY. If you aren't willing to answer pertinent questions, you might not be ready for a VA. I need access to socials, need added as an admin, need passwords for spreadsheets, and often ask questions (especially in the beginning) to get the "voice" of your business and understand what YOU are wanting. It is not a one-size-fits-all. You also need to be okay with letting your VA know if something isn't quite right. No sense getting frustrated if you're not going to say anything to get a correction!

Am I open to delegating?
- This is huge. I always give clients full access to everything I work on, and I need the same from clients. One of the hardest clients I ever worked with wanted me to create the graphics and batch email them to her. She wanted to do the posting, captions, hashtags...the whole bit. Which is fine, except I also had constant issues with her asking why she couldn't get her pages to grow. She wasn't utilizing any scheduling tools, wasn't using the greatest hashtags, posted an inopportune times, and her captions could have been spruced up. I encourage my clients to post, but I also have tools and workflow in place to make it a MUCH easier process. Give your VA a fair shot and truly delegate the task to them.

Are you ready to take the plunge? Message Sideline Assistant today for a free consultation.

08/18/2025

I'll let you in on a secret...

ALL of my clients are small business owners, often running everything solo.

That means I'm not working with any name brands, or with companies who can take on a virtual assistant full-time.

One of the things I love about my business is that I get to work with so many different people and a variety of niches. I get so hyped hearing about what you're passionate about. Do I know a lot about cabinet refinishing? No. Have I spent a lot of time studying HVAC? Nope. Did I get a degree in English education? Okay, actually I did, so a lot of my blogging is very in my wheelhouse.

Your VA doesn't have to know the ins and outs of YOUR niche; they need to know your end game, offer support, and cheer you on. If that's what you're looking for, give Sideline a chance.

08/14/2025

3 Kinda Silly Small Business Pet Peeves

1. When "just a quick task" is actually a 7-step process that takes *hours* for me to complete. Bonus when it's something not even in the scope of my contract. Often this has been things like, "a quick declutter of my inbox" or "reorganize some of my folders".

2. Misused apostrophes in captions (sorry, former English teacher). I've had my share of "whoops" and typos, but we have Grammarly for a reason, people! We can go ahead and include basic spelling errors, comma splices, and lack of the Oxford comma.

3. The 10-tab browser chaos. There's usually Canva tabs for graphics, Drive for lists of SEO currated keywords or hashtags, the content schedule, Business Suite, and a host of other tabs to track my to-do list for the week. Very chaotic but *very* satisfying to close them one-by-one as I finish.

I could definitely think of others, but I'm interested in what your pet peeves are when it comes to your niche?

08/11/2025

Do you struggle to keep up with content ideas? Here are THREE ideas you can post this week with no overthinking required!

🎥 Behind-the-Scenes Snapshot
Show what a day looks like in your business. Are you packaging orders, creating a product, or prepping for a client? People love to see the real work behind the brand.

❓Answer a FAQ
What's a question you get asked all the time? Turn it into a quick reel, graphic, or carousel. It's also a great way to interact with potential new customers!

🔦 Testimonial or Review Spotlight
Share a quote from a happy customer. Add a personal thank you, or tell the story behind the order or project.

Pick one to post today!

08/08/2025

It's a myth that you have to spend oodles of money and provide work for oodles of hours for a virtual assistant.

A VA is there to make your life easier - if that means you need 5 hours a *week* to w**d through the mess of questions you get emailed, consider it done!

If you need 5 hours a *month* so someone can check the format of your batch posts, we've got you!

The point is, there are flexible options. Because a VA wants to work *WITH* you to make your business run smoothly. DM for information and consultations.

08/07/2025

3 Things You Can Automate Today

1. Welcome emails. You'll need a marketing platform like MailChimp, you'll need to define a trigger (like new subscribers), and create your templates. This will get set up in your workflow and do the work for you of sending out needed information. This works great for anyone with newsletters or those creating courses.

2. Instagram story replies. Use your profile as a professional account to access your Professional Dashboard within the app. You should see an option to manage AI auto-reply settings. You can also use the guide to set up auto-replies directly from the chat settings of individual conversations. Use this to answer FAQs from your comment section, like when you are open or your top services.

3. Invoice reminders. Did you know almost all accounting and invoicing software has an auto reminder for invoices? You can usually customize the message and include PDF copies of the original invoice. This is usually found in Systems or Account Settings under "Reminders" or "Invoice Reminders". A quick Google search of your particular system should get you started. It's a very easy way to get reminders out on a regular basis without taking time out of your day to send it individually. I get copies of my reminders sent to my email so I can quickly see what clients still have active invoices.

Don't forget that whatever you can't automate, a VA might be able to help! Contact Sideline Assistant today for your free consultation.

08/05/2025

These are my most favorite things to use when I'm working with clients.

First, CANVA. Even the free version will give you a LOT of inspiration. I almost exclusively build posts, promos, flyers, resources, and blog images in Canva. It is super user-friendly and I can easily share copies of all my work with my clients. It's great for building templates, so you don't have to start from scratch every time you want to make a new post.

Next is Trello. Not all of my clients love it, but it is super helpful for me to stay organized and keep track of the work that needs done for everyone. I personally have the most experience using Trello, but I have also used Kanban (Monday) and Air Table quite frequently when clients have requested it. If you need a visual of all your tasks, organizing what needs done or what is en route to get finished, I *highly* recommend an organizer like Trello.

Last (although my list could be much, much longer) is Google Drive. All my visuals are in Canva, but all my words are in Drive. Sharing information is seamless, and I don't have to go hunting for my things. I can quickly add tags to make organization even easier, and I don't feel like I spend my time moving folders. Every blog, list of notes, SEO information for every client, post ideas, and notes from clients are saved in my Google Drive. This includes my Gmail, where I can easily add tags for clients and get to their information faster. It's a level up from the days of Yahoo, that's for sure.

Is there a favorite tool you use for your small business, blog, or TPT store that you couldn't live without?

08/01/2025

I have a few VA slots open for the month of August!

I'm an ideal virtual assistant for small business owners and teacherpreneurs who are looking for someone with creative flair, an eye for detail, and a knack for making your life easier.

If your "To-Do" list has a "To-Do" list, DM for a consultation!

07/31/2025

Let's bring back Thursday 3x3, where I give three quick tips and topics to help your business. This week we are looking at how to stay on top of socials!

Social media can become a complete time suck - and if you're burnt out from other business tasks, it can also be a drain to come up with that creative energy needed for creating posts. Try these tips to get you going:

1. Schedule ahead. Put in your calendar a day where you are going to work on your social media platforms. Even if it is just for an hour. Get them done and scheduled so you don't have to look at them every day, and don't have to make time all week. This is so important for consistency.

2. Use a template. Hop into Canva and create 5 templates that you can drag and drop photos and that already has your logo or brand colors. This is super helpful if you have a similarly themed post you do often. Are you always sharing testimonials? Create a template so you can enter the text and not have to make the post from scratch. Do you run a FAQ each week? Make a template! Take away the need to expend creative energy.

3. Lastly, batch your captions weekly. This can be part of planning. Think of the captions first, and work on the graphics later. Create a calendar and batch write all the captions for the following week. This gives you a chance to organize what you want to post, when, look over promos you need to advertise, or see what you are missing from your schedule. Write it all, including any hashtags you plan to use. Then refer to tip #1 and get all the graphics and post scheduling done later - just copy and paste your captions.

Do you struggle to stay on top of your socials? I know I have certainly been guilty of leaving my page on standby when I'm working hard for my clients. What tips for socials do you recommend?

Don't forget, consultations are always free with Sideline, let's chat about how to make your socials work for you!

01/19/2025

Just popping on to say, in the midst of TikTok issues...

You don't own your socials. So it's great if you utilize it for marketing and building community and networking...

But you *also* need to invest in a website to direct people to and **build an email subscription list** so your followers can get your latest information. This goes for ALL small businesses. Because when algorithms fail, apps get bugs, or a platform goes dark...how will you keep getting information out there?

>>Sideline Assistant can help you with these tasks, btw.>>

Photo for algorithm tax - dreaming of warmer weather already.