Tell us about yourself.

Hi everybody! My name is Carole, I’m a Virtual Assistant with a business called CS Virtual PA, based in a Coastal village called Heacham in Norfolk and even though I have over 20 years’ experience in Administration, I only set my business up as a Virtual Assistant in November 2017. 

I started my Admin journey when I was 17 years old, leaving school after my GCSE’s and enrolling on a YT Apprenticeship for NVQ Level 2 in Business Administration. And so began my passion for all things Admin. I worked my way up through that Company, starting as the Receptionist and working my way up to running the Mail-Order Order Processing and Credit Control Department, gaining along the way a Certificate in Supervisory Management, NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration and NVQ Level 3 in Customer Service. I had various other job roles in Administration over the years until I finally had a total career change for four years, when I qualified as a Dental Nurse. My passion however, still lay with Administration and I really wanted to get back into it. And this is what led me to the amazing and magical world of Virtual Assistants. 

What is your ‘why’?

I was on Maternity leave after having my second child and just didn’t want to go back to employment after having to go back previously after my son was born when he was only six months old. I felt I missed out on watching so much of his growing up and I didn’t want to miss out with my daughter as well. I also knew that I didn’t want to go back to Dental Nursing but instead wanted to find some way of carrying on with Administration. So, after some brainstorming with my Nail Technician and me telling her how I wished there was some way of doing Admin jobs from home, I googled this line of work and up popped Virtual Assistant! It was an actual thing! EEEKKKKK!!!!!!!

What are your most requested services?

From the list of services that I offer, I have found that the ones in most demand are online research, copy and audio typing and some proofreading and creating templates thrown in for good measure. Lucky really, as these are my favourite services and I absolutely love doing them. Some of the other ones I offer are writing letters/CVs/emails, Data Entry, Mailshots, Lifestyle Management, Email Management and Social Media Maintenance. As part of a re-brand for CS Virtual PA, I have recently increased the number of hours that I am available each week to 20. This includes working each weekday evening and early mornings on the weekend. This way, I can fit it in around homelife and the Husband and children.

What advice would you give to potential clients?

Advice that I would offer to potential clients when looking for a Virtual Assistant is to think about what sort of jobs you would like a VA to carry out for you and how long you normally spend doing these jobs each month. So, these could be jobs that you don’t like doing or just simply don’t really have the time for. Or maybe, you don’t feel like you’re very good at them and so would prefer somebody with more experience and expertise to carry them out for you instead. 

Once you’ve decided what kind of jobs you would like to outsource, you then need to think of the type of Virtual Assistant you are looking for as each VA comes with a world of different expertise and knowledge. Do you want just basic admin, or do you need somebody who can do the more technical things, design knowledge, etc? You also need to make sure that you have a synergy with the VA as you need to be able to trust putting your business in their hands and know that they will carry on, not only working as you would yourself, but hopefully will improve how things work, making your life a lot easier and enabling you to concentrate on other parts of your business or even claim back a bit of, ‘you’ time.

You can find Virtual Assistants through several different avenues, like word of mouth, networking events (online and in person), google, Social Media platforms. Once you have found a Virtual Assistant and you have agreed to work together, you need to make sure that you have everything in place for the VA to begin work. You will need to spend a little extra time with them at the start to make sure they know where you keep everything on your computer, how you like jobs to be done, what sort of deadlines you work to, information they need to be privy to. Once all these kinds of things have been taken care of, you can then let the VA get on with the job on their own, leaving you with peace of mind that your business is in safe hands.

Let’s talk money

I offer retainer packages with discounts for these. This involves multiple hours being booked each month and the more hours booked, the bigger the discount! If I am just working ad hoc for a client, I will take money upon completion of the job but if I am working on a retainer, then money needs to be paid in full prior to commencing the work as it’s paying me to reserve my time each month so that I can always make sure my time is blocked out for that client and can’t be taken up by another client.