Most email systems will track your stats for you to show where your incoming mail has originated from.  This is good if you want to reconcile your stats of visitors on your page or blog against inquiries on your contact form.  Users that were used to receiving this information via programs like Mail, Outlook or Entourage now have that same ability with Google Apps or Gmail.

To do so, click on the little triangle link next to “Reply” or “Reply all”.

Select “Show Original”

This will show you a separate window with a coded version of your email.  Look for “Received: from” that is the farthest down, closest to where the email message begins.  You will find the IP address there. 

Please note, this does not work with other gmail accounts. 

We’ll be here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tip your waitress.

You have many options when choosing a virtual office.  Sites like Basecamp and Microsoft Office Live Workspace are options that require very little set up.  Google Apps Sites feature can be used in a similar way. There are other project management options that can be directly uploaded to your website like the free, open source WebCollab or ProjectPier.  If you are not tech savvy, you can pay a nominal fee for someone to install it for you at such places as Elance.  It is well worth the investment.  I am very particular about the appearance of my brand and client service experience, so I prefer to keep my clients at my website(i.e., at my own domain to access their virtual office).  Our clients’ information is kept securely and only accessed via a username and password that we issue to them when they first retain our company.  Making the process easy for your clients is essential– create a username and generic password for them and send out a helpful hints guide to using the system when you provide them with their welcome packets.
Our offices are set up with a location for messages, files, task lists, calendars, etc.  It is a one stop shop for everything for our clients and their parents.  We’ve done a really good job of keeping all communication within the office.  This is especially helpful if you need to add additional people such as parents or staff to the office later. Everyone can get caught up to speed without their inbox exploding with forwarded emails.  Clients can be notified whenever something is new or updated in their office, which is automatically generated by the system.  Encourage your clients to become familiar with their virtual office– what has once appeared as a daunting task will become second nature.

Including Your Staff

If you have a staff that works with you, create an office for them, too.  You can have it mirror the one you set up for your clients, only tailor it for company communications, files, etc.  This is most helpful if you need to get information to all of your staff members quickly as well as monitor any work being done.  Your virtual office allows you to refrain from micromanaging, and instead assists  your staff to become part of a team with integral roles for the common good of the company.  Our office is set up that the staff can login and see all of the offices to which the are assigned, as well as the company-wide staff office.  Staff members are encouraged to interact with each other, assist each other with projects and even fill in, if necessary– this is great if you have staff members that telecommute and rarely have an opportunity to see each other often.

Overall, virtual offices allow you to work smarter not harder.  The initial setup will be timestaking, but the payoff is big. Your clients will feel more connected, in control and confident about their decision in working with a capable planner.  You will find that you have more time, are kept to task and can better manage your company’s clients and staff in one location.

Oh, and tip your waitress

Benefits

As a US destination wedding planner, I work with a lot of out of state/country clientele.Most work very busy jobs as executives and lawyers with demanding schedules and/or are in different time zones.  Because they don’t have as much time as they would like to devote to their planning, they hire me.  Being able to check in and work with you at their convenience instantly adds to your value.  Even planners who do work with local clients can reap the benefits.  Clients are able to track the work you have done or will do, where they need to be with their planning, as well as having direct access to key files.  This adds a sense of security with their decision to hire a wedding planner– clients love to see that you are actually working for them.  You also benefit because you are in one "location" with access to all of your clients and their information.  You will find that you can bypass many unnecessary calls and meetings by keeping everyone in the loop with a virtual office.  When you do meet or have your progress calls, they are more streamlined because of the foundation your virtual office has laid.

Stay tuned for part two of Working with Virtual Offices, where we’ll discuss different options and making it work for you.

I’ve been using Windows Live Writer for a long time, and I love it.  I’m  a proud WordPress user– but I only log in to my admin area to check my dashboard or make updates to a theme or plugins for my blog.  It’s very easy when using a new blogging platform to become overwhelmed (read: frustrated and ready to throw your computer out of a window)with blogging.

Windows Live  Writer 2009 allows you to focus on what you should when in blogging mode:  blogging. What was once a time consuming process– adding pictures, links, etc.  Windows Live Writer does in a few simple clicks.  WLW, as it is known in the blogosphere, also pulls your blog’s current theme into the program so that you can see how your blog post will look as you type/edit it.  This is a life saver for when you want to make sure your content works with your theme and not against it.  Since it is a program that is on your computer you can free yourself from internet distractions and/or use it when you do not have an internet connection to keep up with your blogging.   If you write for multiple blogs, you can still access them all through WLW.

Here is why I love it, and as a blogging wedding planner you will, too:

• WLW can resize pictures and add effects on the spot.  No more using photo editing software for blog posts.
• The Autolink glossary is a Godsend.  If you talk about a certain product, vendor, or website a lot, WLW will memorize the link and automatically link to it when you write it in your posts.
• Server side tagging, if your blog supports it, allows you tag all of your posts as you write them and will even keep a database of your tags to help you access and use them quickly.
• Twitter, Digg and Flickr plugins that can update your twitter status with your new blog post, submit a post to Digg or pull from your Flickr album for pictures– all without ever logging in to those sites.
• Save drafts and edit posts quickly.  Sometimes, I will have an idea for a blog post and will type in the title (if I have one) and a few ideas that come to me.  Then I’ll save it and come back to it later when I can write about it in depth.
• Post scheduling.  Enough said.

There are so many other features that I could list, but you really have to try it yourself and see what works for you.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Let me know how it works out for you or if you have any questions  in the comments section.  I’ll be here every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Tip your waitress.