An administrative services manager is a manager that coordinates all the support services. This includes mail distribution, facilities plans and maintenance, records, budgets, and supplies distribution.  Sometimes the Administrative Service Manager is called the Office Manager. In smaller organisations the Office manager does all of these tasks, but in larger organisations these tasks may be broken down and distributed among several office managers. Some of these managers will specialize in their task and be Facilities Managers, Contract Managers, etc.
 
The Facilities Manager specializes in ensuring the upkeep and maintenance of the facility and the grounds. This person is responsible for all of the buildings and their maintenance.  There is a special certification they can get and a professional organisation they belong to if they get this certification or designation. The International Facility Managers Association (IFMA) will offer a certification to indicate to employers that the individual listed has met the standards set forth by this Association to be considered a competent Facilities Manager. This credential is called Certified Facilities Manager. Having this credential can boost an employer’s confidence in their employee and their abilities to complete their task in an efficient and professional manner. There is another organisation for Contract Managers. It is the National Contract Mangers Association (NCMA); this also increases the education level of the contract manager and gives the manager the necessary training to pursue their tasks with efficiency and professionalism. The Contract Manager buys supplies and equipment as well as planning for storage and distribution of it. Gaining the extra certifications for these positions will really help your employer out immeasurably. Having a Bachelors degree along with these certifications will help you when looking for work and when accomplishing your tasks at work.  You may need to have the management classes and leadership classes to help you deal with issues in the workplace and show your employers that you can be reliable.
 
State and Local governments, educational institutions, or service and healthcare industries employ the bulk of the Administrative Service Managers.  This occupation really needs a dedicated person as they are often call out in the middle of the night, on weekends, or over the holidays to deal with issues. They may also be required to work overtime and to supervise activities that are out of doors.  Having good communications skills, analytical skills, and being quite detail oriented will really be beneficial in this position.
 
A large organisation offers the most opportunities for advancement, but this does not mean you should only work for large companies.  Smaller companies will offer a large variety of experience and will help in your advancement plans. Also, as always, education can only help you.  The more you achieve and maintain your education qualifications and certifications the better off you will be as an Administrative Services Manager.
However, education is not the only thing that will see you through with your employer. You must demonstrate your ability to oversee and work with varied groups of people. You must show relevant work experience. This is accomplished by working your way up through your company.  Get a feel for what the company needs and provide it. This will also help you when you rise up because a manager should always know exactly what challenges those they manage or supervise face. If they fully understand the workings of each position they manage or supervise, how the equipment works, what needs to be done each day, what supplies are needed, or how many people are required for a certain task this manager will be most effective in their field.
 
Because Office Managers work with such a diverse group of people in various positions (executives, clerks, supervisors, maintenance workers, etc.), it is vital that they display the ability to communicate effectively across many different formats.  Interpersonal skills are a must as well. An Office manager needs to be flexible, but detail oriented, able to meet deadlines effectively, be able to handle pressure, be analytical but capable of making quick decisions on multiple projects when called upon to do so. These types of abilities are best learned from experience and so working your way through the various job positions until you arrive at your ultimate goal is highly recommended for your success.
 
As middle managers are decreased and organisations flatten out their structures, if you are well versed in many different forms of expertise, you should feel little effect from this restructuring. The broader the range of your responsibilities the more you will be needed and maintained as an employee.  Make yourself indispensible. Keep your certifications up (get those Facilities Manager certifications and Contract management certifications) and make sure you do your job to the best of your ability. In this way you can ensure that you will maintain your employment.

There is so much to consider when planning an event. The most important thing to know is the purpose of the event. Events can be for many reasons, sometimes just for fun and other times for training or meeting or networking. The first thing to do is...Brainstorm!
Brainstorming is just what you think, if the idea makes it into your brain, put it on the list. This is one of the hardest stages, especially if you are brainstorming as a group. A lot of people will self-censor because they fear others in the group will judge, so it is important that everyone knows, this is a judgement-free zone for this activity. All ideas will be entertained on the list. Laughter is highly encouraged as it will help ideas flow. If you are running the session, it might be good to break the barriers by putting down a completely nonsense idea so others will feel free to put forth ALL of their ideas. This is my favourite part of the whole planning and executing activity.

After all the ideas have been put forward, it is time to narrow the scope and see what you have left.
Idea Analysis is our next hurdle. There are some ideas people will really love, and others that are easy to let go. Do this is a nonjudgemental way so no ones feelings get hurt. We are planning to make sure everyone feels like they are part of the group and let's not shut anyone down. There are several ways to accomplish this analysis, but I like to just take each idea as we see it and weigh it's merits based on our events stated goal. Then we can place all those ideas in a group and see what "floats to the top" as the ones everyone seems to like best. The "idea float" works best with smaller groups or one-on-one type planning, but can work with larger groups that are cooperative. 

Once the theme and ideas are decided on, it is time to start assigning tasks. It is good to do this in a groups, as sometimes tasks that seem easy at first have a lot of smaller components that may not register upon first assignment. So go through each persons assignments and make sure one person is not being unduly overweighted with tasks. If they feel they can handle it but it is still a lot more work than anyone else has, assign a second for them so if they find they need to use someone else's help they have a person to call on right away that has already agreed to help and knows what they are getting in to, this will help prevent overwork and hard feelings later.

I love the beginning of a job, the possibilities are endless and the end result is so exciting. The hardest part is waiting for the event to arrive so all the hard work can be put in to play and everyone can have a great time.

So, I have recently become certified as an online Crisis Intervention Counsellor. This may sound like a grand departure from what I am doing in my regular day-to-day, it really isn't. What better way to learn how to engage your clients than to be able to suss out in a calm and non intrusive way, what they really want. I have found the training to be quite valuable in my other volunteer roles as president of our local Medieval club branch and also in my work with TIFF as a voting squad volunteer. Using my new skills will be able to help me be less impatient with people one-to-one, and has also helped me to listen better to my family when they have something to say to me. I no longer formulate answers whilst they are telling me what they want me to know. I listen and respond after they have spoken and after I have considered what they have said and make a logical and informed response to their words. I am very excited about this and I look forward to really doing some good work.

So I have just completed my annual children's birthday party. I was a hoot! The kids really enjoyed themselves and I (as the lone adult) was not overstressed, even though it rained and the outdoor games had to be nixed.

The Theme was Germs, and I processed each attendee (as a CDC Doctor) and they received a "Lab Coat" and clip board with a pen to mark off the different contaminants they found in the house. There were pictures on each clip board with expected finds (Germ, Virus, Bacteria, and Superbug) and what they looked like as well as a small description of what each item did in reality. They took quite some time to find the items, then we played Germ related games (Virus, Virus, Who has the Virus?, Patient Zero, and Vector Tag). The kids really got a kick out of the different take on traditional games. The lunch provided was also germ themed, with such items as; Antibody bites (grapes), Flagellum Sticks (Carrots), and Blood Cells (red punch). Oddly, no one refused to eat something based on the name, yay win! They then had a bit of free-play time and their parents came to pick them up. It all went well and I was quite pleased.

I completely love event planning! It is the most exhilarating and fun thing to do, ever! My favourite part is the brainstorming for ideas and concepts. The very beginning of the process, it is so much fun to think up possibilities. I love the sparkle in the eyes of the person I am brainstorming with (usually the client) at all the fun they can have at their event. Progress reports are a kick also, letting the client know what is happening and how things are going, then fielding the questions and the excited exclamations from the client-absolutly mindbogglingly fun. There is almost nothing I dislike about event planning. The day after the event is a bit of a let down because the fun part is over, but doing the follow-up work is also great because then you can compare notes with your client and see if there is anything they would like to see for next time or if there was something you both thought would be great and it wasn't, so avoid that in the future. 

Event Planning and execution is the best job ever!

I launched my initial website to offer VA services two years ago in April. So, each April I think on how the last year has gone and what I can do differently this year.

This year I feel I need to start specializing in a particular aspect of Virtual Assisting. The thing I truly enjoy doing is Event Planning and Managing and to a lesser degree, but still a lot of fun, Social Media Management. I am still exploring all the in's and out's of completely changing the way my site looks and what it says, but I think it is the right thing to do.

I really enjoy organizing things and putting together fun activities for people. I hope this is the change for this year that really pushes me forward and into the earning bracket I would like to be in.

So, I was perusing LinkedIn the other day and I noticed I had a message to check. I checked that message which was from a gentleman I know, he wrote "I was looking at your profile the other day and saw this, '...As a trained Stage Manger I am well versed...' just thought you might want to change that." It took me three reads to figure out what he was talking about. I am certain, you my lovely readers picked out the problem right away and this just proves the point. Hire someone else to proof your writing. I have that phrase in several locations, so now I have to go find them all and fix the problem. I appreciate the nice man who pointed the problem out. Never proofread your own stuff! Have a great day.

#30postsin30days was a bit much I guess as I only got 17 posts out of it, but that was probably 14 more than I would have posted, so in that respect there was some success. I am more comfortable putting my thoughts into a doc and posting it now, so that was helpful. Though I have been told "this is a business page so there should be business blog posts only", I will be trying to conform to that in the future. Maybe I will give myself a new challenge and post once a week for 2 months. Making sure they are business related posts, of course.

There it is, my new challenge to myself-Post one business related post on this blog once each week on Thursdays for the next 1.5 months (until 1 June). Thank you for helping me figure that one out.

I am getting to the point where I am at a loss. I am wondering whether to continue in this line of work as I am no closer to any goals I set two years ago. I have gone through 2 tax cycles with disappointing result, and I am losing hope that anything will change; add to that pressure from outside sources to increase my earnings, and I am not feeling good.

I like being able to work from home as it fits into my lifestyle perfectly, but the need to bring in more revenue and not being able to find it is disconcerting and causing me to question my abilities. I know I could really rock this job if I could find that one client that needs me regularly.

Organising events makes me so very happy! I really love it. I think it is my favourite thing to do when I am not performing. If I had my way and no other concerns I would find a way to perform and plan events as my job. Right now that is looking more and more like a dream that will not come true.

So, it looks like I am improving in the flexibility and pain reduction portion of my life, awesome! I am pleased that I can do more now and feel better about it.

I am making slow strides in getting the business in a better place. I looked up networking gatherings in my area, and there are a fair few, but many of them are membership based, so they cost to attend as a member plus membership dues. That isn't going to work for me just now. There is one possibility in a women's group that you can attend as a non-member, then decide if you want to be a member. I like that, so I might go check them out and see if I can fit in there. It is a big deal for me as I am nervous one-on-one.

My classes are pretty fun, the Behavioural Genetics is really interesting and the Communications was much better than I expected. Some of the material in the Behavioural Genetics is over my head and a little daunting, but it is presented in a way that makes it understandable and extremely interesting.