Calendar decisions – paper or electronic? At this time of year, the shops are full of calendars and diaries, with pop up shops all over the high street, And they’re busy! In this age of smartphones and computers, it is interesting to see how the paper diary and wall calender still have such a following.…
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Social Media – preparing for 2016 Have you started preparing for 2016? It is that time of the year when everything, except Christmas shopping (which incidentally I haven’t really started yet!) stops. You can’t get appointments with your solicitor or bank manager as they’ve finished for the holidays. No one will make an appointment to…
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What is Rapportive? In an earlier blog, I talked about how I manage my contacts and referred to a tool which I use which links to my Gmail and gives me access to the contact’s social media profiles. This wonderful little tool is called Rapportive. Rapportive is a Google Chrome Extension which shows you a…
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15 sales tips to grow your business I recently attended a business sales course with Monkey’s Paw, based in Exeter. Although I have a background in sales, having been a Mortgage Consultant for part of my career, I found it very useful to attend this course to refresh this knowledge and bring it up to…
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Essential smartphone apps for busy people Like many of you, I have utilised the flexibility and functionality of my SmartPhone to ensure that I have to hand everything that I need to make my life easier. I am a massive fan of the apps available to help me do this, and as a Virtual Assistant…
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How to manage your contacts – tips from a Virtual Assistant How to manage your contacts I have generally found that after attending networking meetings, I often come home with arms full of business cards. What to do with them is the next question? Do you keep them all in a little box, beautifully organised…
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How much do you know about Digital Marketing and how things are changing? Tips from the Optix Solutions Digital Marketing Conference In November I attended a great Digital Marketing workshop run by a local Digital Marketing firm, Optix Solutions. The event covered digital marketing trends and how things are likely to change in the…
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Why volunteering matters You may not know that I have been an active member of the Scouting movement in Exeter for quite a number of years and I’d like to share with you how this works with a career as a Virtual Assistant. It actually began the other way around, I was at work one…
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30 Day Blogging Challenge It appears that everything has to be done in 30 days when you have a new business! I started my research into launching my Virtual Assistant business by following a book called The 30 Day VA Challenge. I’ve given myself 30 days to try different business networks to see what suits me…
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The story of my PA-EA-VA career The role of a Personal Assistant or Executive Assistant is a hugely rewarding and varied role. Long gone are the days of when the role was purely a secretarial one, the modern PA/EA is a strategic partner in any business. Yes, we undertake traditional tasks such as minute taking,…
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