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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Information Overload One of the most difficult things that I am finding as a new business owner is the mass of information out there, and the vast number of tools available! You’d think this would be a positive thing but it can be quite overwhelming! Don’t get me wrong, the internet is a wonderful thing, you…
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“My name is Joanne Manville and I’m a Virtual Assistant” This morning I attended my first Business Networking meeting as ‘Joanne Manville, Virtual Assistant’. I made sure that last night I had laid out the clothes I was going to wear, to ensure that with sleep in my eyes I wouldn’t turn up in my…
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My first blog post! Wow! So, this is my first ever blog post! What on earth do I start with? At the end of August I decided to give notice and embark upon a very exciting new adventure – my own business! For a long while now, people have been saying to me ‘you can do…
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