Virtual Assistant, Jessie Price of Super Sec Virtual Assistant Services, shares her thoughts and feelings about starting out on her ow
If you would like us to publish your musings, please just email us at info@occasionalassistants.co.uk

"So why did I decide to become a Virtual Assistant?
The more people I meet at the different range of events I attend, the more times I am asked ‘what made you decide to become a Virtual
Assistant’.
For me there is no quick and easy answer, if there was I wouldn’t be writing my first blog with my answers.
I had previously considered the possibility of setting up a VA business in 2008 when expecting my second child, but decided against it at that time as my husband had also set up his business and as any parent of a newborn will tell you, for those first few months it can be a real struggle to remember what day of the week it is, let alone manage the diary of a client.
Fast forward to the end of 2010, my husband’s Relocation Consultancy business is going well but needs some serious marketing attention and I’m feeling pretty worn out with managing the house, two children in different locations during the day and my husband’s commitments which mean that he is away for four days most weeks. We decide to put all our enthusiasm and energy into his business, so by
the beginning of 2011 I’m assisting with all his marketing, increasing his Social Media profiles and carrying on with all the administration I’ve done for him since his business began.
After a few months, I realise that I am actually pretty good at all things related to administration and organisation, which is no great surprise considering I have 20 years of administrative experience behind me, working in Life Insurance in a variety of roles from Claims Administrator through to Management PA. My most recent Corporate career was in the Building Consultancy Industry working as a
Team Secretary and after five years I realised that I had become stuck in my role with no prospects of promotion or a change of Team, which I found frustrating.
A bit of research and fact finding is completed and after a week in the sun, the last I will probably have for some time I’ve now realised, I launch Super Sec Virtual Assistant services. With two young children at home, I have the capacity to work at hours that suit myself and my clients and with my clients coming from a range of industries I have so much to embrace and learn about all their individual specialities.
To overcome the lack of face to face contact I have with my clients, due to the virtual nature of my business, I started to attend Networking events both through forums and at local venues and have become a huge fan of them.
Getting my first client was a fantastic achievement and four months later, I now have four regular clients with lots of potential enquiries and referrals out there for the future of Super Sec."

Jessie Price
Super Sec Virtual Assistant Services
www.supersec.me.uk

 
.

Today we are thrilled to welcome another new member, Roger Smith. It is great to add to our male ranks, bringing the total of men offering their freelance business expertise through our website to three.

Lincoln-based Roger has a wealth of experience behind him and he is now able to offer all that expertise to you on a freelance, ad hoc basis.

He can help with any administrative or bookkeeping task you or your business may have.

To find out more about Roger click here - http://www.occasionalassistants.co.uk/roger-smith---administration.html

Occasional Assistants is very pleased to have added to its ever-increasing category list today.

With the addition of new member, Claire Ashby, comes the inclusion of Social Media Consultancy on our database.

Claire has a wealth of experience as a Business Manager and a Marketing Manager within the NHS and the private healthcare market.

After the birth of her youngest child in August 2010, she set up her own Marketing, PR and Social Media business, offering consultancy services to companies in all aspects of marketing, PR, social media exploitation as well as events and associated corporate work.

She offers either a full service or a project based undertaking to suit your business needs.

To find out more about Claire and the help she can give you and your business click here - http://www.occasionalassistants.co.uk/claire-ashby---marketing-and-social-media-consultant.html

We hope you are enjoying the sun. Long may it shine :O)

We are very excited to be welcoming a number of new members this week.

Kimberley Fry is a Virtual Assistant (Freelance PA) from Hampshire, with more than 10 years experience working for large global organisations. Specialising in Recruitment and HR support, Kimberley is well placed to provide your small and medium sized business with all aspects of your workload.

Emily Bishop, who is based in London, is a multi-talented, adaptable and energetic freelancer, with a passion for helping people. She has worked in both the political spectrum, as well as in the charity sector and has a wide range of skills across the communications spectrum, including translation, photography and proof-reading.

Occasional Assistants now has a comprehensive database of freelancers, covering 16 different professions and specialities, who offer a wealth of experience to any business needing ad hoc help.

Keep an eye out as more and more new members come online throughout the week.

To find out more about Kimberley, click here - http://www.occasionalassistants.co.uk/kimberley-fry---virtual-assistant.html

To find out more about Emily, click here - http://www.occasionalassistants.co.uk/emily-bishop---communications.html

Here we begin a series of blogs by one of our members – ‘Memoirs of a Nobody’. If you would like to submit a blog for inclusion on our website please just email info@occasionalassistants.co.uk

I am having a wobble. Probably not the kind you would expect a working mum to have. At least I don’t think so and I am intrigued to hear if anyone else has been having these kinds of internal struggles.

Most working mums do feel torn. They hate leaving their children or they hate leaving their jobs, and with that, their independence and their old self. Whatever lifestyle you choose, it appears mums will always feel a sense of guilt.

My internal struggle is, however, a slightly different battle of feelings. I am a working mum, but I now work in a different profession to my
pre-children persona.

In my other life I could be found deep in the Kenyan jungle with some of her Majesty’s finest soldiers. Or soaring above the beautiful Hampshire countryside during a flying lesson. These pleasantries were interspersed with witnessing some major sporting events; having hair extensions added and attending the odd awards ceremony (which we won incidentally!).

And now, all of a sudden, five years after leaving it all behind me, I am starting to miss it.

It’s not that I hate my new job. On the contrary, I love it and I'm having such fun exploring a whole new working world. And as I still do it on
a daily basis, I am not missing using my brain as I’ve heard so many other mums complain about. I am just missing the buzz I used to get from my old job. And if I'm honest, I get a little stab of jealousy when I chat to my old friends still working in the profession.

I know full well that it is a job completely incompatible with being the parent I want to be. And I also know full well that if I did return, I would hate it. I would count down the minutes until I could get back to my beautiful babies. And I would curse every issue that forced me to leave that little bit later than I needed to. But I still miss the thought of it. And I grieve for the opportunities I should have siezed ave missed when I had the chance.

If I still lived that life, I would not be there to see my two daughters arguing over who is the best Tree Fu Tom character - D1 is all for Ariella; D2 adores Tom. Me, I think I prefer SquirmTum actually!

I would no longer be tearing my hair out trying to get them to eat their vegetables and I probably wouldn’t know any of the other mums in the school playground well enough to go out for a night or two on the town with them.

So I think I will consign the Kenyan jungle to the archives. Lock it in the vault alongside the flying lessons and the hair extensions. They form a fantastically interesting chapter in the ‘Memoirs of a Nobody’, but the best is certainly yet to come.

Twitter seems to be going mad this Jubilee week and we're over the moon to have reached the 1500 follower mark.
 
We cannot claim any great Social Media expertise, but we are devout converts and have found Twitter inparticular to be a great additional marketing tool for our business. 

We continue to promote all of our members through Twitter and have found the the following hashtags to be particularly useful in terms of small business networking:
 

#bizitalk

#followmybusiness

#bizmumfollow from 9am - 9pm on a Monday
 
#speednetworking with @thisladyloves on a Saturday evening

#follow.... on a Sunday evening (final part of each week's different hashtag is tweeted by @MumpreneurUK early on a Sunday evening)

#SBS RT competition with @TheoPaphitis from 5:00pm - 7:30pm on a Sunday evening

#WOW with @Jacqueline_Gold from 1pm - 3:00pm on a Wednesday afternoon (RT competition for female business owners)

#MOM with @Jacqueline_Gold from 1pm - 3:00pm selected Monday afternoons (RT competition male business owners)
 

It's all about the retweets & mentions to help spread the business message!
 
If you'd like to follow us on Twitter just search @OccAssistants
 
Please feel free to share this post to help others find the true business value of Twitter that we have.