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What makes me, me
Kristie Norris • Jun 28, 2020
What makes me, me
I’m not one of those people who is blessed with oodles of confidence, despite any outward impressions some people may form, I am on the other hand someone who has always been there for others, a friend, a confidant and support. I’ve always found it difficult to move outside of my comfort zone and be a self promoter. That doesn’t mean that I’m a pushover or inadequate, I’m strong willed, positive and a happy workhorse.
Life can be hard
Life can be hard and you can’t let it get you down, something that’s easier to say than to do, but if you’re to move forward you have to take a deep breath, take your courage in both hands and take that first uncomfortable step forward. Surprise, surprise you survive and despite the setbacks that are inevitable you keep going.
Part of the journey
So how did I end up being a Virtual Assistant (VA)? It wasn’t easy and I’m still in the early stages of developing the business, so keep watching this space!
As the Millennium changed and we moved into the 21st Century I had the opportunity to live in Texas with my Mum & Dad, while he was contracted to support a multi-million pound Wind Energy project, which led to 4 very happy years gaining all sorts of unexpected and wonderful experiences.
We lived through ‘911’ as it happened, college life with ‘Magna Cum Laude’ accolade and ‘Dean’s list’ honours, motorcycles, Route 66, Indian Pow wows and more……Wonderful Times. Sadly, that all came to an end with changes in Government support for Renewables, a return to the UK and back to working for Local Government, a job on the customer service that I didn’t enjoy.
In 2011, I started working for my Dad in the Renewable Industry, a complete change, new friends, new experiences, new skills and very hard work but a lot of fun. In 2016, the ‘powers that be’ intervened once again and legislation led to a contract of the whole marketplace and I was one of the casualties and again looking for work in 2017, but this time I had a new level of courage and decided to follow another passion, the love of travel and started self-employment as a Personal Travel Consultant. Yes you guessed it, just as things were beginning to develop following a long period of training and gaining new skills and experience, the dreaded COVID-19 hit us all and the Travel Business collapsed. Yes life is a roller-coaster, one minute your on the ascent and the next gather speed in descent, screaming with joy and terror in equal measure.
The road ahead
So what now?
During the build up period for the travel business I started to get involved in various business networking groups and through the disproportionate time consumed and distant location of some of these, decided in 2018 to create my own group with a friend and Network & Thrive was born much closer to home, a project that I’m very proud of and is going from strength to strength.
Networking has been very much outside of my comfort zone, but it’s taught me some very good lessons and introduced me to many like-minded people and to identify a need that existed before ‘the virus’ and will be even more important in the future….Virtual work and business support.
Why is Virtual work the way forward?
COVID-19 has changed the way we interact, and the way business will be managed in the future,
• More working from home
• More need for collaboration and innovation
• More need to be flexible in business staffing and operation
• More need to be adaptable to meet future challenges
• More need to control costs
• More need for short-term specialised support that doesn’t justify full, or even part-time staffing, or asset investment.
These, and many more, are areas that a VA can support you with on an ad hoc basis, in fact, some work can be permanently assigned to a VA and the associated specialists in their network.
Managing a company’s:
• Event organisation
• Training programmes
• CRM system
• Marketing administration
• Social Media profile and accounts
• Call handling
• Data processing
These are all services that can be moved to the virtual market and would benefit smaller businesses, by providing professional support with minimal effort, to free up time to concentrate on the core business that generates income.
How can I help you?
If you’d like to hear more, just get in touch, I’d love to hear your story, your thoughts and needs.
Let’s see if we can work together to our mutual benefit.
Join me, we’ll journey together to help make the future bright for us all!
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A VA is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients remotely, usually from a suitably equipped home office. VAs come in all shapes and sizes, there is no one size fits all, we all have good general admin. skills but always specialise in one or two disciplines for our own satisfaction and sanity, and provide the expertise that most benefits our clients. The best service isn’t provided by a ‘Jack or Jill of all trades’, clients come in many different forms and have diverse and varied needs and expectations, so it’s better to provide a focused and bespoke service, and adapt to the real needs of the customer. It’s always good working with someone who loves what they do and isn’t bogged down or stressed by a workload that doesn’t provide any form of stimulus or engagement. VAs give you time to concentrate on what you do best None of what I do is rocket science, but it does one very important thing, it gives you access to a range of expertise and experiences that you may or may not have, an extra hand without all the rigmarole and costs associated with employing and integrating a new member of staff. VAs release time for you to concentrate on what you do best, your business, we can provide a listening ear and sounding board for your issues and ideas, and when you work on your own that’s a nice thing to have. As a VA, no two days are the same, and I’d like to share what I’ve been doing for my client’s and give you an insight into me and what it’s like to be a VA and the unseen background work that makes the service worthwhile. A Typical day for me Here’s a typical day for me, hour by hour, calls, contract preparation and estimates for new clients, marketing, networking, writing newsletters, keeping website up to date, billable client work, etc..
It’s a very strange time for all of us whether you are out there with key services on the frontline or at home, working or with the uncertainty of a job to go back to. It’s a very strange time for all of us whether you are out there with key services on the frontline or at home, working or with the uncertainty of a job to go back to. My work as a Personal Travel Consultant abruptly stopped, but my passion to connect and support people remains and when, prior to Lockdown, an amazing lady organised a team of volunteers to support the vulnerable in our local community, I didn’t hesitate to do my bit. I thoroughly enjoy the activity and it gives me the opportunity to use my communication and admin skills. In more normal times I work with quite a few Networking groups and am the co-founder of our own group, Network & Thrive (N&T), so it was particularly important to me that this activity continued to maintain dialogue and those social and business connections that will be so important in the future. It is especially important in these uncertain times to support everyone, colleagues and clients who are suffering through lack of the usual personal interactions, so without hesitation our meetings went online, and a new routine was established.
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