First Year Anniversary

Today, 4th December marks I year since I launched my business. Starting a business was not something I had ever thought about doing. I loved my job as a Headteacher, but I began to realise that the reasons I went into education were far from what I was doing everyday. I started to question whether I actually enjoyed it anymore. Also my family pointed out that my job was making me ill. I decided I needed to give up my dream job and do something different.

A friend had talked about her new job as a Virtual Assistant and so the idea began to develop. I could do that, with all the skills I had learned throughout my career, my drive to succeed and my passion to organise and plan. I took the HUGE step to set up my own business. I had no idea how to get started, so I read lots of articles, watched hours of training and made lists, planned, made more lists then launched my business after 3 months. At that time I had no idea where I would find clients, or what I would do for them, but I knew I was organised, flexible and willing to work hard.

To find clients I built a website, created and posted on social media several times a week and attended networking events. My first clients came from referrals through friends and I am grateful to them for the help. Only one client found me through social media, most came from referrals. Building a strong network of new friends, colleagues and peers is vital to grow a business. This can be achieved through networking, attending events and training. Being passionate and confident about what you do helps others to have confidence in you. I attended an 8 week training programme with ended with a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style Pitch Night. I am proud to say I won Pitch of the Night, I believe this was because I was clear on my aims for my business, how I would work with clients and my strengths. Although I was nervous, the confidence and passion was obvious to the audience. In the feedback I was told,

The panel were very impressed with your pitch, it was a strong clear pitch with the problem being identified straight away. It was clear you are the right person for the job, and you backed this up perfectly by sharing your strengths and skills. This is a very encouraging thing to do as it makes others feel positive that you will solve their problems. They were impressed and said how you ooze competence and resilience!

Now 12 months in, I can’t believe what I have achieved. It’s been hard work, I’ve worked long hours, but I have absolutely loved every single minute. I have discovered the pleasure of working for yourself, being able to work the hours I want, reaping the rewards of my hard work and doing things I love every day. I have met so many incredible people, from fellow VAs, clients, other business owners and have been inspired to continue to achieve and build my business.

I have built my business based on my values: trust, integrity, honesty, kindness and respect. I value the trust client place in me to help them achieve their goals. I want to provide a service that allows business owners achieve their dreams, by supporting their unique needs. I respect that each individual client has their own needs and goals. By understanding what these are enables me to work with each client in the way that helps them best. This is something that I have brought from my years in education, tailoring work to meet the needs of the individual. I am kind, compassionate, and always willing to work hard to help others. I believe in the power of kindness and its ability to bring positivity to any situation. I strive to create a warm and respectful relationships based on mutual trust.

My clients are business owners who were spending too much time doing the admin that they didn’t have the time to develop and grow their businesses. By working with me, they have more time to concentrate on growing and developing their business. I use the strap-line: Helping you make time for what you do, this is echoed by Dan Martell in his book Buy Back Your Time, where he encourages business owners to delegate tasks to free up time for them to work ‘in’ their business to increase sales, bringing more money into the business. In some cases I have added value to my client’s businesses by providing specific skills to enhance what they do, the service they provide over and above what they can do themselves.

It has been a pleasure to see how some of my clients have benefited from working with me: I have found outstanding payments, for 1 client this amounted to over £10,000. I enabled another client to spend an extra 1.5 hours a day working with their clients, with confidence that everything was under control. For an ADHD client I was the calming influence they needed to help them focus on their work, and keep them on task and motivated through regular check-ins. Another client needed motivation and incentive to develop their business, by taking away email tasks and filling in paperwork they had no excuse not to get out and promote their business. It was been great to see their business grow.

My new role is both rewarding and fulfilling. I still work long hours and juggle many tasks, but I am far happier and healthier. Anyone looking for a change, my advice would be use your strengths and focus on what you enjoy. i’d be happy to talk to anyone about my journey and the positive impact it has had on me, my life and my family.

So what have I achieved in my first year?

·       I have worked with 12 businesses from all over the country

·       Tasks I have completed for clients: invoicing; writing reports, creating newsletters and handbooks, email and calendar management; organise visits; create education programmes; create and schedule social media content; create systems to organise; research; body doubling; check ins and weekly reviews.

·       I achieved my goal of working 80 hours a month

·       I created a website, and upload social media posts regularly

·       I have attended over 100 hours training

·       I learned to

o   create, schedule and post on social media,

o   use new programmes and applications, eg. Xero, Capsule, Microsoft 365, Canva, Squarespace

o   manage my time and workload effectively to be able to spend quality time with my family

Where do I go next?

·       My plan for year 2 of my business is to go from ‘Me to We’. I intend to create a team of passionate and driven associates who can support me and my clients following my business ethos and values. I hope to support, inspire and encourage my team members to achieve their own goals as well as helping me reach mine.

·       I have ILM Level 7 Coaching and Mentoring and will be setting up Blue Dot Executive Coaching to work with managers and business owners to build confidence, resilience and empowerment to make decisions.

If this has inspired you, good luck i wish you well. And happy 1st birthday to my business

Sian