SVA Forum

[caroline]

Jo @ Seeking Serenity is the next VA Star who is going to be posting weekly in this thread about starting her business and the challenges she faces. Last time we had such a lot of useful information being shared, it seems daft not to keep the floodgates open!!

So - over to you Jo! Post a little bit about where you are, what stage you are at, why you wanted to be a VA and what your dreams are!
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[girlsmummy77]

Good afternoon people.

Thank you Caroline for allowing me to be the next VA star, I did a little dance around the kitchen after I received the email and my 9 month old puppy just looked at me like I was mad!!!

There are 3 reasons why I wanted to become a VA - firstly because of my mum, secondly because of my children!, and thirdly because I'm good at organising people and doing things that make peoples lives easier!

A bit of history about me:
My grandfather was a very wealthy businessman, he ran his own building company locally - he played golf as his way of networking - my great aunt did his accounts from home (with the very old fashioned accounting journal that was the size of her kitchen table!) My mum typed his letters and quotes etc - it enabled my mum to be at home looking after me and my siblings and our dog!
I left school at 18 with 3 A levels and went straight into my accountancy studies evenutually working for Vodafone as their stock accountant, at 19 this was a fantastic job to have!
Unfortunatly before I was able to finish my last year of studies, I met a man and fell pregnant, I was only 22 and still living with my parents!
My daughter Charlotte is now nearly 10 and we went on to have Jessica who is 8 - I joined the 'gang' working for my grandad, doing all of his admin etc. The company was shut down after his death 8 years ago.
Unfortunatly (again!!) the relationship with the girls dad failed and I ended up a single mum at 28 working any part time job I could get to make ends meet.
Luckily, I worked many many jobs during that period in my life, and gained so much experience that I can use in my VA business!
I then met the lovely Stuart on a dating website, he has a son (who is 16!!) and we've now been together for 4 years.
He said that I could give up my jobs find something that I wanted to do, and be mum to my girls...I knew straight away what I wanted to do and for the last 18 months I have been working on Seeking Serenity, with the website finally going live back in July.

Stuart is so encouraging, and when I hit 30 I realised I'd missed out on doing things I wanted to do!
So, I took up Snowboarding, learned to ride a motorbike, started playing netball again (which is my ultimate passion!) , learned to ride a horse and am now learning to play golf -with my second lesson tomorrow!

My dreams for the future
My dreams are simple really, I want to be home for my daughters and be the one dropping them at school and picking them up at 3.20, I want them to be happy / healthy and for them to enjoy life.
I also want Seeking Serenity to be sucessful enough to employ my mum part time (she ended up going back to work full time, and is paid badly and hates it) and my sister ( who has a 2 year old and a baby on the way - and will have to go back to work when baby is born to make ends meet).
I would also like an Audi A4 convertible and to be a size 10 (I say this as I stare at my salad that is for lunch - but I HAVE lost 2 stone in the last year!)...please

Why Seeking Serenity
It took me and Stuart a very long time to come up with the name, it eventually came to me one evening after I was watching the American sitcom Firefly and the subsequent film Serenity - when I heard the word, the image of white sand and clear blue sea appeared in my head (cheesy yes!! - sorry!) and after throwing a few ideas about, we came up with Seeking Serenity and the domain was purchased - back in 2007!

Where I am

So the website is up and running - courtesy of Stuarts brother!
He has unfortunatly vanished off the face of the earth at the moment, which isn't unusual for him, he is 24!!, it does mean I am constantly running to the shops to buy Twirls to bribe Stuart into fixing stuff I've done on the website, like the newsletter button!!

www.seekingserenity.co.uk

So - first question:
What are your honest opinions about the site, what is it lacking etc?

I have created postcards, and placed them in shop windows and on their notice boards, but as yet, I've not had any calls.

I've also signed up with the freebie adverising sites like yell.com

I am also in the process of setting up my own networking group, for people like me, i.e working mums, and have them at a more sociable time of day - 6.45 - 8.30 doesn't really work when you've got the school run etc to worry about :)
I have emailed the local paper asking the to run a few lines and get people to contact me, so I can guage interest! Early days there.

I have a flyer that I made up and a little intro letter that we have printed ourselves.
I intend to speak to the local hairdresses and ask if I can put my flyer in there.

I'm also set up on Twitter @more_time and am trying to be active on there.

should I be putting my flyers/business cards/ details anywhere else?

I've also been thinking this morning, that I should friend (facebook and/twitter) local small businesses and then put them into their own little group on my pages (not that they would know this!!) and then tweet to them directly rather than at my whole list!

What are peoples thoughts on this ?


One last question:

What office equipment/sofware do you think I really need ?

Wow....this is a really long post! I'm sorry!
Thank you for taking the time to read to this point and enjoy the rest of your day!
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Jo Livings
Seeking Serenity
www.seekingserenity.co.uk
jo@seekingserenity.co.uk

[Sally@Stonetext]

First of all, congratulations on taking the first steps ... they are usually huge and awfully scary!!

Website - personally it doesn't float my boat but that doesn't mean there's anything particularly wrong with it. Style-wise it is different from other sites, but then different can be good. Much as it pains me to say this, but I'm not always right (gosh that was hard LOL) and personal taste varies quite considerably - some rave about sites that I think are ghastly so you have to accept that you won't necessarily appeal to everyone. All that matters (at this stage) is that you are happy with the final product but understand that you will make changes to the style and content over time.

Essential Kit - I'm sure we had a post/thread about this so use the Search facility. The only essentials are a PC, printer and phone of some description. Anything else is based on the services you provide and how you want to work. Microsoft Office Professional is a good investment and there are other bits of software that are available as freebies - PDF, Express Scribe. Having some sort of back-up laptop/computer is helpful. Some form of on or off-site backup is essential - make sure you include your system files as well as your data to make recovery quick and painless. I'm sure we could all spend a small fortune on great bits of kit and gadgets but at the outset you need to conserve all your cash to help keep you going until you have a good client base. At the outset you will probably find that software will be a big outlay. I think MO Pro has features that the Home version doesn't have and is likely to be a false economy to get the cheapest pared-down version.

Hope this helps.
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Sally
Stonetext Online Admin Services www.stonetext.co.uk
Spida Web & Graphic Design www.spidawebdesign.co.uk

Please help to support SVA by donating to: http://tinyurl.com/37urec

[caroline]

[Burford Secretarial]

Congraultions on setting up.

With regards to equipment I see you are going to be offering transcription for that reason you would definately need something like Express Scribe http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/index.html which is an excellent free piece of software and a footpedal which can be purchased from Dictation Suppliers http://www.dictationsupplies.com/digital-dictation-accessories-footpedals.htm this is an excellent footpedal and don't forget to mention SVA when you purchase.

Other than that my main piece of advice is don't buy anything unless you really need it. When I first set up I purchased lots of things which I have only used once or twice in 5 years. Look around at what cloud systems are around as these can help when you are working away from your PC and there are lots out there, some are free and others are a small amount per month.
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Charlotte Burford

Burford Secretarial
www.burfordsecretarial.com

For monthly SVA training sessions please visit: http://tinyurl.com/39abrt

Or to support SVA please donate to: http://tinyurl.com/37urec

[ASAP Admin]

Hi Jo

Congratulations on setting up in business and becoming the second VA Star

I have to agree with what the others have said in relation to marketing leaflets, Express Scribe for transcription. My advise is don't buy any equipment unless you really need it and don't pay for advertising you will get Yell and Thomson etc calling you asking you to sign up but the freebies work better.

With regards to your website I would suggest a picture of yourself with a little about yourself.

HTH and looking forward to seeing how you progress over the coming weeks.

L
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Lyndsey Gilchrist
ASAP Admin
Call Team