Elizabeth started her career with 10+ years as a makeup artist and corporate trainer in the luxury market, where she did numerous personal appearances, fashion shows, and ad campaigns. Wanting to leverage her first love of Science, she then spent the next 8 years working in online and print publishing in the Science and Gaming industries in nearly every position from ad sales, marketing, copy writing and editing, to National General Manager of a publication. Elizabeth’s favourite position was working with Innovation and Product Development of online products and driving monetization through digital channels.

Elizabeth loves life. She strives to live through a dynamic set of personal and professional experiences that enrich her and everyone around her. She works to surround myself with people whom she admires and respects for their beliefs and insights rather than those with whom she has logistical commonalities. Every day offers something new to be learned, something from yesterday to be bettered, and everything to be mastered… eventually. Elizabeth’s greatest passion is to discover and create newer/better ways of doing things. She is a serious technophile and is always obsessing over her newest gadget or game.

Elizabeth consider herself a global nomad. She is a Texan, quite specifically, and that probably means something completely different to her than the stereotype you have in your mind right now. She lives with her Swedish husband and their 4 year-old twins here in Hong Kong. They speak a home-grown broken Swenglish in the house, celebrate all the holidays, and live life by living. Travel is their greatest hobby and they don’t get to do it enough.

From the perspective of administration and support, what do you consider your self strengths are?
The greatest benefit of climbing nearly every rung of the ladder – If you need a CRM, marketing strategy, banner campaign or flyer, social media program, travel booked, or presentation prepared – I am here for you! I have “been there, done that”, and am ready to share my expertise and experience.

What types of work do you like doing?
I am an innovator, driver, and big-picture girl, so I like to do things that contribute to overall success, especially if it is digitally driven. If you know where you want to go, but not how to get there – I am your GPS.

What are two apps or online tools, you can’t live without? And why?
I have three – 1) Audio Note, 2) DropBox, and 3) JotNot Pro.

I am a kinesthetic learner, so if I get caught up in taking notes while we are talking, I will most certainly miss 80% of it and probably have no idea what my notes mean either. At university I could literally walk out of a room with ten pages of scribble and have no idea what the professor said. Audio Note changes everything for me – it lets me actively listen, while inserting important notes, reference points, and images into a single file and time-stamps the audio recording so that I know I have it all and I can access anything at a single touch.

DropBox helps me work anytime, from anywhere, with access to EVERYTHING. I actually don’t remember how to work without it.

Finally, JotNot Pro lets me work on the fly and create PDFs from images on my phone or iPad and email and print directly – or even save them in my DropBox! (Or Google Docs, or Evernote, etc.) No scanner required. If I had a time machine and went back to when people used fax machines, it will even let me do that. I am surprised at how often I use it.

What books have you read lately?
I am just finishing Born Fighting by James H. Webb, which I have found absolutely fascinating being a Texas-born Scots-Irish American. It has been an introspective journey to say the least. My favourite book, which I probably re-read every other year is Dr. Francis S. Collins’ Language of God. He was the head of the Human Genome Project, and currently serves as the Director of the NIH in the US. He is brilliant. I don’t read a lot of fiction, but love anything by Thomas Hardy or David Sedaris.

What training have you completed lately?
I have been attending a webinar series on social media marketing. The technology changes so quickly and strategy must be adapted so specifically for each target audience… I think the learning should never end!

Tell us something we may not know about you?
I am a bit of a crazy food-snob. Not the Maine Lobster and caviar type (though I certainly never turn either down!), but more of the non-GMO, local, organic, minimal processing, eat-what’s-in-season type. If it is green, I have probably juiced it, and my current foodie exploration is in alternative/ancient grains. I consider food to be a critical way to explore and immerse yourself in new cultures, so I do my best to eat/then ask everywhere we travel. As a scientist, I also get a real kick out of molecular gastronomy – try the Earl Grey Martini paired with the Salmon Six-Ways starter at F.I.N.D.S. in TST – it’s a complete sensory experience.

The post Elizabeth Loennborn, Account Manager appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

To help you achieve ‘Inbox Zen’, here are 4 tips to declutter your inbox.

1. Use Rules or Filters

Instead of having all your emails sitting in your inbox, have your email system automatically move each email to relevant folder.  This is particularly great for emails that are more for reading or research (such as newsletters).  If you’re using Outlook or Mac Mail, this feature is known as rules.  If you’re working out of Gmail, then it’s called filters.

Here’s how I’m using this feature in Outlook… I have created folders for all our clients and every time an email from a client lands in my inbox, it is automatically moved to their client folder.  This allows me to focus my attention on the particular task at hand, and stops me for looking at what has come into my inbox.  I’m no longer distracted by incoming email.

2. Delete, Forward, Act and File

I try to apply the ‘paper across the desk’ rule – throw it away, delegate, act on it or file it.  Therefore, allocate a certain amount of time each morning, lunch time and afternoon to check emails.  When you do, read and delete it.  If you need to forward it, do so at that time or if it needs your attention right there, act on it.  If you don’t need to act immediately file it for future action or reference.

If you don’t do this already, it will be a new approach to managing your emails and I suggest that you allocate yourself a specific time for each email check.  If you don’t get many emails overnight, allocate 10 mins each morning and then 15 mins midday and afternoon.  What you don’t get to, you deal with at the next email check.

3. Dump the Junk

If you’re receiving newsletters in your inbox, you may be receiving ones that are no longer relevant.  Instead of deleting them, take the time to actually unsubscribe.  All newsletter type emails should have an ‘unsubscribe’ option at the end.  If you want to keep the newsletters, use point number 1, create a rule or filter to move them automatically to a ‘Newsletter’ folder.  Or, as an alternative, create a free email (in Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc) and redirect them to your ‘newsletter’ email address.

As an example your newsletter email could be as simple as nicole-graham-news@.

4. No Personal Emails

The emails that come into my email system are all work related.  I have a personal gmail account for friends and family.  I also have a gmail account for newsletters only (as mentioned above).  Yes, I’m managing 3 emails however, it means that I’m not overwhelmed during the day by emails that are not relevant to the work I’m doing at that moment in time.

If a family member or friend needs to touch base with me urgently, I have no doubt they’ll call me, otherwise I check my personal emails every couple of days.  My newsletter email I check once a week or if I’m busy, every fortnight.

There is a discipline to each of these approaches mentioned and as with any change in habit, repetition is the key.  You need to be conscious about what you’re doing rather than relying on ‘autopilot’.

Bring back the Zen in your Inbox

Do you have a great tip?  I would love to hear about it, feel free to leave it over on our Facebook page.

The post 4 Tips to Declutter your Inbox appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

Australian Garment Imports & Quality Assurance was formed in 2009 by Angela McGarry, a freelance quality assurance professional who has a solid background in quality control, factory floor supervising and managing all aspects of local and imported clothing production.

The project scope was to write the marketing material on behalf of our client, and then design a double sided, tri-fold brochure for printing.

This particular project was a ‘one-off’. We no longer offer purely graphic design and/or copywriting services, however for more information about our ongoing, administration support services, visit our Administration Support page.

The post Brochure for AGI Quality Assurance appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

According to CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince, the attack is using brute force against WordPress’ admin pages using the old default username “admin” and then trying thousands of passwords. There’s nothing new about that approach, but what makes this attack different, and particularly potent, is that the attackers have some 90,000 unique IP addresses at their disposal. The weakness is not in the software, and the philosophy of sharing knowledge to create affordable software has always been the intention; unfortunately the continued use of default usernames such as “admin”, “moderator”, “Administration” and “editor” seem to be at fault here.

Researching the attacks and what the experts suggest you can do to protect your websites, much of what you can do is more technical than practical, however they do suggest that you update your passwords to be something a bit more challenging – and not common, nor the same password you’re using for your online banking, Dropbox etc.

In this article, http://ithemes.com/2013/04/15/ongoing-wordpress-attacks-details-and-solutions/ it suggests ways of creating better passwords, however we, as humans, are not very good at it. They recommend a site called LastPass https://lastpass.com/ (it creates and stores passwords for you). A client actually uses this site and has nothing but great feedback.

Chris Jean, the author of the article wrote:

“LastPass is a password service. It centrally manages all of your passwords and has tools to easily create very complex passwords. It even has browser integration features that allow you to have LastPass automatically fill in the login details for you (no typing required). LastPass also offers apps for mobile and tablet platforms and has a web interface in case you need the password and can’t get it any other way.

Using LastPass allows me to have extremely complex passwords that I could never remember and would hate to type in on every site I use. I vary the length of my passwords that it generates, but they are always more than 25 characters as long as the site allows it. 25+ characters of more or less random characters… Good luck brute force guessing that in my lifetime.

The key to using LastPass is having a good password to authenticate your user there. This is the only password you will need to remember; so make sure that it is a good one. Don’t do yourself the disservice of having your one weak password give full access to all your strong passwords.”

We recommend that you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORDS ASAP – and seriously consider using LastPass for all your online passwords.

In addition, for those using WordPress.com, consider using the new Two Step Authentication: an optional new feature to help you keep your WordPress.com account secure.

According to WordPress.com “Two Step Authentication works like this: when you log in to your WordPress.com account, we’ll prompt you to enter a secret number. To get that secret number, you’ll need to download the Google Authenticator App on your smartphone. It generates a new number every 30 seconds, making it virtually impossible to guess. All you need to do is open the app on your phone, and type in the number it’s showing. If you don’t have a smartphone, you can instead opt to have the number SMSed to you.” You’ll find a new security tab in your WordPress.com account settings that will walk you through the set up.

Vigilance is the key, and any security measures you can put in place to protect your websites should be used. There will always be hackers – we just need to stay one step ahead of them!

The post WordPress Security Attacks appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

After the birth of her second son, Candy took a career break but has been working on a voluntary basis as Honorary Treasurer for her home church for the past fifteen years, as well as the Parent–Teacher Association at her sons’ school. Candy also oversees the accounting and office administration for a small family property company.

Candy’s main focus has been on raising her three sons for the last sixteen years. She also enjoys being in a work environment and applying her knowledge and skills. Candy’s role as Treasurer at her church has been great in allowing her to keep connected with good office practices, maintain her accounting and computing skills whilst having the flexibility to work at the times which suit her and most importantly, serve God in a way where she can really use the talents He has given her.

In Candy’s free time, she enjoys hiking, as it is a good healthy way to catch up with friends, play a round of golf with her husband or pamper herself with a facial or massage.

To get to know Candy a bit more, we asked her the following questions:

From the perspective of administration and support, what do you consider yourself strengths are?
I am an organized person and very focussed when undertaking a task at hand. Since I’m usually handling several things at any one time in my various work roles, I have to ensure I’m on top of the different projects in order that deadlines are met. Good organization and time management are the keys to ensure things get done when they should.

What types of work do you like doing?
I’m a doer rather than a visionary so prefer to implement procedures. Give me the idea and I’ll help see it through.

What are two apps or online tools, you can’t live without? And why?
1. ICal as I need to be on top of, not just my schedule but those of my 3 sons as well!

2. I also use various daily devotionals which I read or listen to on my smartphone just to keep me grounded and to reduce stress.

What books have you read lately?
The Five Love Languages of Teenagers as I try to understand how best to communicate with my teens. Somehow each one needs a different approach and it can all be very confusing. A recent holiday read was One Day by David Nicholls which was nostalgic and a heart-warming story.

What training have you complete lately?
I’ve been learning how to use accounting software which are new to me, including Xero and MYOB. On a personal side, I’ve been participating in various parenting courses and courses to help lead small groups at church.

Tell us something we may not know about you?
The scariest thing I’ve ever done was to jump out of an aeroplane at over 10,000 feet. I was at college, younger and more reckless. My main concern then was would my motion sickness affect me.

The post Candy Liu, Bookkeeper appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

If you download our report, Avoid Solopreneur Burnout – 101 Ways We Can Help, we use your name and email address to keep you up-to-date via our monthly newsletters and periodical announcements {such as this one}. If you are a client, the additional information provided to us, is only used for the purpose of completing work you allocate to us. All personal data, whether you’re a client, previous client or have subscribed to our newsletter is and will always be confidential.

We respect and honour your privacy and therefore will never share or sell your personal information.

At any stage, if you no longer wish to receive emails from Bauhinia Solutions Limited, you can email Dannielle at support@bauhiniasolutions.com and ask her to delete your details. Alternatively you can unsubscribe from any of our newsletters using a link at the bottom of the page. We have updated our Terms of Service which is available on our website.

Thank you for your continued support of Bauhinia Solutions.

Photo Credit: Brenda Starr

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Coordinating these assessments, following up evaluators and scheduling various meetings can be time consuming for a small business owner and this is where we can step in.

For one of our clients, she walked us through the process of coordinating an assessment and we made notes along the way. The notes were turned into a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). This allowed us to ensure we completed all the steps that was required for this particular assessment process. By creating an SOP it means that anyone, at any time can come along and coordinate an assessment on behalf of the client.

Now each time an assessment needs to be coordinated, our client let’s her Assistant know the key information and her Assistant takes responsibility for the process from start to end. By delegating the task, the client has more space in her diary to meet with clients or prospective clients.

There are so many ways we can assist you with your business administration; giving you more time and energy to concentrate on the bigger picture. Our administration assistants love to help wherever they can and can manage a variety of tasks as outlined in our free report, “Avoid Solopreneur Burnout – 101 Ways We Can Help“

The post Coordinating Assessments appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

• Send emails without a subject {pet peeve} – make the subject line summarise the body of the e-mail. Ask yourself, ‘will the recipient(s) know what this e-mail is about?’
• Overuse the cc: field – if you are named in the To field you are expected to take action. If you are named in the Cc field the email is for information only. Only copy others in if it is necessary and important to them.
• Never use email to discuss confidential information  - sending an email is like sending a post card. It may end up being read by someone who should not be privy to the information. If you wouldn’t say it in an open forum, don’t email it.
• Avoid turning your email into a short story – reading a sentence on the monitor is much harder than reading on paper. Make your point fast and use dot points where necessary.
• Don’t make your email gender specific – if you are not sure who will be reading your email, try and keep it gender neutral.
• Avoid the use of SMS type abbreviations (pls, r u, LOL) etc – this is fine for using on a mobile phone SMS message between friends, but not in a professional business communication.
• Forward or copy a message or attachment without permission from the sender – it’s courtesy to ask for approval from the sender prior to forwarding any information.
• Use words like urgent or important unless they are warranted – the more often you use these words the less impact they will have.  Think about the story of the boy who cried wolf, that could happen to you.
• Write sentences in capital letters (UPPERCASE) or overdo punctuation!!!!!! – it’s considered by many to be very rude. If you must use UPPERCASE, use it very sparingly and only to emphasise a particularly important point. Please understand that, IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS YOU ARE SHOUTING.
• Use “reply to all” unless it is critical for all to see your reply – only use this option if there is a specific reason that someone else must see your reply.
• Don’t forward hoaxes, chain letters or jokes – it’s not productive or professional.
• Don’t reply to spam – doing so will only confirm your address is “live” and will increase the amount of unwanted emails you will receive.

The post Email Don’ts appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

1. When making your initial computer purchase, ensure you have a good strong CPU (Central Processing Unit – the hardware within the computer that executes the computers instructions).
2. Clean the computer case every two weeks to remove dust. Left unaddressed, the dust can cause heat increases in your computer, putting the CPU and circuitry under undue stress.
3. Clean your mouse every three months by removing the roller ball and cleaning the inside with a cotton tip dipped in alcohol solution (methylated spirits works well). Remove any scum from the roller ball by wiping over with alcohol solution prior to reassembling the mouse.
4. Ensure your computer has a high quality fan and clean fans every three months by removing the side or top of the case and vacuuming gently with a venetian brush head.
5. Increase the number of fans if necessary, especially over the warmer months. Install a separate fan for your graphic card if it doesn’t already have one.
6. Ensure you have adequate room around your computer system so that the air can circulate. Also ensure it is not against something that produces heat and that it isn’t against a window.
7. Be extra careful with power boards, using only those boards with surge protection. Ensure you have lightning protection through your telephone line.

These few simple steps could make a big difference to your computer’s performance, in turn making your time on the computer more effective.

Photo Credit: Marchin Wichary

The post 7 Tips To Maintaining your Computer Hardware appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.

When we start working with a new client one of the first things I suggest is for them to share their calendar with their assistant. That way, their assistant can add appointments, make changes to existing diary entries and set reminders if needed.

Being aware that not all clients know how to share their calendar, I created a two-page ‘How To’ guide providing clients a step by step process on how to share their calendar. I’m now offering it to you!

I trust you’ll find it helpful.

The post How to Share a Google Calendar appeared first on Bauhinia Solutions Limited.