WHAT SHOULD YOU BE DOING THIS SUMMER???

It’s SUMMER TIME but you still haven’t switched off. Still haven’t been out in the sun, taken those long walks with your friends and family? Are you dreaming of more BBQ’s, watching the sun go down with a glass of wine in hand?

“WHY NOT” we ask???

“Because I’ve got too much on”
“The business is growing”
“My client base is increasing”
“My team want a pay rise and time off”
“I need new ideas”
“There’s so much finance and admin to catch up on”
“I’ve got to market and think strategically constantly”
“There aren’t enough hours in the day, but I just can’t take time off, this business won’t run itself”
“Need I go on …?”

Q: How many years has this been said?
Q: How many summers have been ‘too short’, ‘not long enough’ to enjoy those light summer evenings with friends and family?
Q: But the more important question is how many more years will this continue?
Q: What small changes could make the summer even better for you?
Q: Do you like to spend time getting ahead for the rest of the year, but can’t clear your head or find the time?



If any of this resonates with you, how wonderful would it feel to hand off just some of your work to a trusted, reliable and organised professional, to have some extra hours to think about the BIGGER picture?

WELL YOU CAN!!!

✓ 1 hour upfront consultation FREE OF CHARGE
✓ We spend the time getting to know one another
✓ Find out more about your business and what makes you tick
✓ Discuss your requirements
✓ Put together a bespoke plan based on your request
✓ Then we get going

WORTH MENTIONING

✓ There are no minimum hours
✓ No lock-in contract/commitment
✓ You can pay as you go or talk to us about our retainer packages
✓ We will find the right solution for YOU

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BESPOKE TAILOR-MADE SOLUTIONS

Having spent several years working within the corporate sector, both small and large, I have seen first-hand how differently workplaces, clients and systems function.

Here I have found that no ‘one’ solution fits all. Every client’s needs differ.

None of our packages are pre-determined or black and white. 

VA-UK offer a FREE upfront consultation with all of our clients and encourage transparency and dialogue throughout for each and every project. Following our FREE consultation, we put together a bespoke, tailor-made package based on your personal and business requirements. 

Why do we do this?

• It’s important to get to know who you are, where you’ve come from and where you would like to go
• VA-UK want to understand your business
• Understanding what makes you tick is vital
• We want to dig beneath the surface, get into the nitty gritty and understand what your ‘pain points’ are
• Let us show you how VA-UK can add value and lighten your load, freeing up your time to focus on more important things
• It is key that we are transparent from the very first conversation right the way through to final delivery, so that we can be sure we are working in the right way and are on the same page
• We encourage as much dialogue and communication throughout as possible
• Whilst we are ‘virtual’ we are real people and encourage meeting not only at the beginning of our working relationship, but as and when you/we see fit. Dependant on location we can liaise via email, phone or video conferencing

How does this benefit you?

• Working with a VA can free up your time to do what you love – spend time with family, friends, travel, well-being
• Take away the stresses and strains of tasks that can easily be offloaded, enabling you to concentrate on the bigger picture
• Reduce fixed overheads i.e. holiday pay, sick pay, National Insurance, health insurance, office space, training budget and software or technical upgrades etc
• You only pay for the hours used, so no need to employ a full-time assistant
• As an independent business owner your VA has the ability to see the bigger picture
• VA's have their very own access to numerous connections who can be called upon
• No commuting challenges or tardiness. Your work will get completed whatever the weather
• Each client relationship is protected with a Confidentiality Agreement and public liability insurance, so you can be confident in the integrity of your VA
• No coordinating work schedules. Simply send off what needs to be done with a due date

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please feel welcome to give us your thoughts by contacting us.

SMART Golden Rules of Goal Setting - Five Rules to Set Yourself Up for Success

Ever think about what you want to be doing in five, three, one year’s time, or even in six months?
Are you clear about what your main objective is at the moment, whether personally or professionally?
Do you know what you want to have achieved by the end of today, next week, next month?

If you want to succeed, setting SMART goals not only allows you to take control of your life's direction, it also provides you with a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding or not…

Without any goals you will lack focus and direction. To accomplish your goals, you need to know how to set them. You can't simply state, "I want" and expect it to happen. Goal setting is a process that starts with careful consideration of what you want to achieve and ends with a lot of hard work and dedication to actually follow through. In between, there are some very well-defined steps that transcend the specifics of each goal. Knowing these steps will allow you to formulate goals that you can actually accomplish successfully.

Here are five SMART golden rules of goal setting, which aim to set you off in the right direction:

SPECIFIC
Your goal must be clear, concise and well defined. Brief, vague or non-specific goals are not helpful and don't provide enough direction. You need goals to lead the way. Define ‘exactly’ where you want to be.

MEASURABLE
Note down exact amounts, dates, times and so on in your goals so you can measure your degree of success. If your goal is loose and nondescript such as "To get more clients " how will you measure when you have been successful? Without a way to measure your success you won’t be able to measure and celebrate what you have actually achieved.

ACHIEVABLE
Ensure you are actually able to achieve the goals you set. There is no point in setting goals that you are not interested in or have no ambition of achieving, this will only have a negative impact on your confidence and self-esteem.

RELEVANT
Goals you set should always be relevant to where you want to go in both your career and personal life. This way the focus will remain, in order to ‘get ahead’ and to a place you want to be. If you set random, conflicting goals you’ll waste valuable time and will lose sight of the end goal.

TIME-BASED
All goals must have a deadline. Having a time limit or finish line in sight means that you will know when you can celebrate success. Having visibility of that deadline will keep you focussed, determined and will ensure you make it in time!

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How we calculate our hourly fee

It's not easy to build a sturdy and sustainable business. That's true whether your business is in manufacturing, retail, food, finance, or any other industry.

It's certainly not easy to build a sturdy and sustainable business in the Virtual Assistant market. The platform is relatively new and the user-base is active, but it takes time to grow.

However, we don’t expect miracles. Sure, we have some good people working with us, but one thing encourages growth: realistic fees.

Here are five reasons why:

Reason #1. Stable development is expensive

We only hire staff in the United Kingdom. We don't send work overseas. The result is that the salary we pay our staff is higher than some of our overseas competitors pay. Each time we make contact with a potential client it costs us around £15. Each individual consultation request can cost us £100 or more.

Attentive service requires careful observation and management. Our team needs to pay careful and individual attention, to everything they do. We are constantly encouraging them to work as efficiently as possible, and to meet the needs of our third-party services.

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