As business owners our most valuable asset after our own health is TIME. Time is finite and we can’t just magic more hours out of the day because no matter what we do they are still 24 of them! We can however structure our day to make sure we are working productively whether we are working from home, a co-working space or a shed out in the garden. Here are my 5 tips to make the most of your day!

Taking the decision to host your 1st online course can seem a big step in itself but researching what platform to actually host on it is even trickier. With the experience of helping clients create online courses since mid-2020 and having done plenty of challenges and courses myself here is a summary of what you should look out for! At every stage you should consider how easy it is for your end clients as users but also for you as the host.

Converting a face-to-face workshop to a virtual format isn't always easy and as a business owner one of the most challenging elements is to make virtual events interactive as possible to keep participants engaged, interested and so they get as much as possible out of it.

What’s your word for 2020? How would you sum up the year?

‘Unprecedented’, ‘the new normal ‘, ‘the curve’, ‘zoom-bombing’ ,‘pivot’ words that became part of the English language in 2020. As a modern language graduate, I find language and words fascinating! If the most overused word was ‘Unprecedented’ and we would all be millionaires for the number of times the phrase ‘the new normal’ was used, my favourite was a term my friend used to describe 2020 ‘an Orwellian nightmare’.

1st December 2020 is definitely a day to be thankful as I have been judged as Northern Ireland Virtual Assistant (VA) of the Year 2020 by the UK VA Awards Body!

I started my business VirtuAli Admin Solutions in 2015 and its been a very tough learning curve but I never regret the decision of taking the leap to self employment and to being able to support business owners all over the world virtually since that time.

I have been very busy over the last few months helping clients who have taken the step to deliver courses online. As anyone who has delivered a course (face to face or online) knows planning, promoting and delivering a course is a whole project in itself and there is a lot of admin, planning and marketing behind the scenes. I have recently supported creative clients from varied industries such as dog training/coaching/professional organiser once they are past the stage of outlining their core content :

Written descriptions and set up as events on Facebook and Eventbrite

Given advice on course planning steps and promotion

Set up automated on-boarding email sequences so clients once they purchase the course are guided as to how to complete

Set up a booking scheduler so that prospective clients can contact the course provider easily if they have more questions before they purchase the course

Given advice on how to make your course launch visible across social media platforms.

How did you communicate with your clients when the corona virus pandemic broke out? Did you have all their emails stored in one place and were able in a few clicks of a button to:

Ask how they were coping

Inform them how you were adapting or

Tell about new services or products you were offering?

Or were you fervently wishing that you had you set up a mail marketing platform where since the beginning of time you were funneling all your clients?

Having a central place that you can easily contact all your clients is just one the advantages of having an email marketing platform. Building authority is another and nurturing your existing client base is yet another. And if that didn’t persuade you did you know that an existing client is 4 times much more likely to repeat buy from you? Does that convince you to be popping up in their Inbox with your latest offer? See article here.

Very excited to announce that I have been shortlisted as Virtual Assistant of the Year Award Northern Ireland 2020.

Lots of hard work, self development, learning curves along the way since starting out but the journey has been amazing! I have never regretted becoming self employed and I wouldn’t swap it or the people I’ve met along the-way for all the gold at the end of the rainbow!

We are in unparalleled times with the corona virus pandemic and it has turned the world upside down and inside out. I’m reminded of a quote form Colum McCann’s novel’s Let the Great World Spin ‘The simple things come back to us. They rest for a moment by our rib cages then suddenly reach in and twist our hearts a notch backward’.

The world has changed inexorably in the last few months and we can’t control what is happening, but we can control our reaction to it. What type of business owner are you in a time of crisis? Are you one who:

Stumbles on?

Moves forward with purpose?

Stays still?

For a lot of business owners to survive and thrive this may be the ideal opportunity to pivot your business?

I’m going to give you 5 reasons today why should use a Virtual Assistant at this time to help you grow your business and make it thrive rather than stagnate.

Blog and video tutorial on how to use Zoom (for hosts and participants)

How to reach out/educate/train in a virtual environment

Oh, how I wish I had bought share in Zoom, it’s the video conferencing tool on everyone’s lips these days. Everyone who up until 2 weeks ago was delivering face to face training/mentoring/ teaching skills now realises the only way to survive for the time being (and perhaps also in the long term) is to deliver content virtually.

This blog covers the essential of the tool Zoom which has become a lifeline for many people and can be used for Video Conferencing/ Web Conferencing/ Webinars/Screen Sharing

I’m not any kind of affiliate seller for Zoom (I unfortunately don’t think such a thing exists) but I have used it as a host to organise committee meetings and virtual team progress meetings. On the other side I’ve also used it as a participant within online business networking meetings, webinars and even during an interview for the best PA network in the UK!

With the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the likelihood that most of us will have to self-isolate and work from home at some stage is now looking pretty high.

I’m in a particular situation as for the last 5 years I’ve run my own virtual assistance business and so 80% of the time I work from my own office at home. Previously though I was a paid employee in a large corporate organisation with around 2,000 colleagues on site, a beautiful canteen to pop to wherever you were hungry and IT support at hand! Working from home can be a bit more challenging!

I did a Facebook live on this week so if you prefer to listen here is the link. Otherwise, I’ll recap 6 main points here on how to work efficiently.

Who knows your employer might be so impressed with your productivity levels and you happier with your work/life balance that remote working may become the norm in your workplace rather than part of emergency business continuity planning?

Do you feel your business is affected already with coronavirus outbreak? Are you a trainer who delivers face to face workshops or someone who organises physical events on a regular basis?

How can you turn Coronavirus outbreak to your advantage and take your business online and to a larger audience?

I’m in the fortunate position that I work from home and share documents and tasks already remotely with clients, but I have a lot of clients who do face to face work so there is also a knock on effect for me also and we all have to find innovative ways to conduct business and think outside the box.

Each of us has goals for our business but do you know what your overall purpose is?

I became self-employed in 2014 because I wanted to have creativity in the type of work I was doing, more flexibility but most importantly I wanted a better work-life balance. I wanted to work according to my own body clock, to go for a walk outside if I wanted at 10am, to work until midnight or not work at all! but I would wager that for 9/10 one of our main goals every year is to make more money to afford the lifestyle we want.

“How do I love thee, let me count the ways” is a line from the 43rd sonnet of Sonnets from the Portuguese, a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

I thought on St Valentine’s Day it was apt to list the 14 reasons why you might love to hire a Virtual Assistant!

Hiring a virtual assistant (VA) can be lifechanging to your business but the process of finding hiring one can feel overwhelming so please read my 8 step guide which summarises:

Would you like to attend a trade fair, exhibition or local pop up market but the thought of attending of it and all the admin and preparation overwhelms you? Fear not ! I’ve drawn up a checklist of all the things you may want to prepare in advance of exhibiting at a trade show or fair of any kind and remember there is always a Virtual Assistant on hand to make the whole process less scary. I spoke on one of my Facebook lives about this and if you want to listen to the video you can watch here or keep reading.

Are there certain tasks that you only complete at certain times of the year? Painting the garden fence, power-hosing the drive, cleaning out your shed? As business owners to get in the habit of doing small tasks regularly can greatly increase our efficiency and lessen the feeling of overwhelm. Like trying to pull together all your self assessment tax return receipts on 30th January!

My sister lent me her power hose with the wise words ‘Be warned it’s addictive and you’ll want to clean everything’ to which I laughed but she definitely had the last laugh because I hosed literally everything in sight. Next-door’s cats only just had a narrow escape!

Pressed for Time? Would you like to cut out hassle of travel time for meetings and be in the comfort of your own home? Have you ever used Zoom the video conferencing platform? Do you have lots of client meetings during the day, committee or other types or meetings to organise? Maybe you want to do podcasts or have lots of people to interview for your dissertation?

It’s my party and I’ll have a checklist if I want to! Do you know the one thing that doesn’t change in life whether you are an adult or a child? The complexity of who to invite to your party and where to have it! Finding a venue for your workshop/conference/anniversary can be very time consuming so I’ve compiled a checklist below to help simplify it. If you are based in Northern Ireland, Visit Belfast have a very comprehensive list of venues in Belfast with the maximum capacity theatre and banquet style.