Category: Business administration

There is a moment at every event I run when I stop. Not because everything is done, but because everything that can be prepared has been prepared. From that point, my job is simply to watch, and to troubleshoot if something needs it. If I am running around, something has gone wrong.

That stillness is the product of weeks of work that nobody attending the event will ever see.

I have been running conferences and events for a long time, from one-day pitch events through to three-day residential programmes, in the UK and overseas. The thing I have learned, repeatedly, is that what makes an event feel effortless to the people attending it, is never actually effortlessness. It is structure. Structure built far enough in advance that by the time the doors open, every question that could have been asked has already been answered.

This is the first post in a series about what senior event management teaches you about running a business well. Not because events and business are the same, but because the operational disciplines overlap more than most people expect.

It is a bit like planning a wedding

The shape of event preparation is something most people recognise even if they have never organised one professionally. There is a lot to do at the beginning: agree dates, book a venue, find speakers, build a budget and try and think of all the logistics that will be needed. Then there is a quieter middle period, leading to the final few weeks where everything intensifies again.

Those last weeks are the hardest part of the whole process. Dietary requirements, accommodation logistics, which delegates are arriving on which day, whether a speaker is planning to update their slides at the last minute. The sheer density of detail is precisely why the planning that came before it matters so much. If the foundations are not solid, the final weeks break you.

The same shape applies to almost any significant business project. A product launch, a client proposal, a period of rapid growth. The visible work is at the end. The invisible work is what determines whether the visible work goes well.

Stop getting caught out by the same thing twice

Early in my events career, a venue asked me whether any of my delegates had access requirements. I had not thought to ask. I had to contact everyone again, after the fact, to find out.

That has not happened twice.

Now I use proforma logistics emails for every category of attendee: speakers, session chairs, exhibitors, delegates. They have been created over years, refined every time I was caught out by something I had not anticipated. Whatever event I am running, I adapt them. But the foundations are already there, because I built them once and I maintain them.

The same principle applies to anything that gets handled on the fly when it should not be. For the first two years I ran events, I managed the microphone logistics in my head, allocating mics as I went. Then I asked myself why I had not simply written a one-page mic and speaker plan and handed it to the AV team at seven in the morning. I did. They never need to ask me anything about it again. They know exactly what they are doing. So do I.

The goal is not more process for its own sake. It is to remove yourself as a bottleneck. When everyone on site has the information they need to do their job, you are free to do yours.

Walk the journey before anyone else does

One of the first things I think about for any event is not the programme or the venue layout. It is the experience of arriving.

If someone is flying in from the United States to a venue in rural Cambridgeshire, they need to know which station to use, which taxi firms operate in the area, and whether there is anywhere nearby to eat the night before the event starts. None of that appears in the conference agenda. None of it is particularly interesting. All of it matters to the person arriving.

I put this into a single page of local information that goes to every delegate in advance. It answers the questions before they are asked, which means nobody arrives flustered, and I do not spend the morning helping people stuck at a rural station unable to get a taxi that needed to be pre-booked.

Thinking about your customers’ experience from their perspective, not yours, is one of the most useful habits senior event management creates. What do they need to know, and when do they need to know it? Not what is convenient for you to send.

The contingency you never have to use

A few years ago I was running a two-day event at a science park. There was a pre-event drinks reception the evening before, and the only realistic dinner option locally was a small village pub. Seventy-five delegates, one pub, no advance notice: a problem waiting to happen.

Before the event, I contacted the pub. I explained the situation, negotiated a simplified menu they could manage at short notice, and made sure I was there on the night to manage the flow. The first year, sixty-five people turned up for dinner. The pub coped. None of the delegates had any idea there had been a plan behind it.

That arrangement is now a fixture of the event’s annual programme. We have a standing relationship with the pub. Guests assume it was always that easy.

Operational planning is, in large part, the work of finding the single points of failure in advance and quietly defusing them. Not every contingency gets triggered. The ones that do not are the ones you planned for.

On the day, your only job is to do nothing

This is the principle I come back to more than any other, and the one that most surprises people when I talk about it.

When an event is running well, I am not busy. I am present, attentive, and available. I carry one folder with me throughout: the full delegate list, all dietary and accommodation details, and a supply of blank Post-it notes. If something needs my attention while I am in the middle of something else, I write it on a Post-it and come back to it at the next natural break. Nothing gets forgotten. Nothing interrupts the flow of what is happening around me.

This is not a relaxed state. It is a deliberate one. Every task I assign to myself on the day is a task I cannot drop if something more urgent arises. So I assign myself none. The event organiser is not there to man a desk, set out chairs, or manage the registration queue. Those things need to have been handled, or delegated, before the day starts.

If I am running around, the planning was not thorough enough.

What this means if you are running a business

I am not suggesting that running an owner-led business is the same as running a conference. It is not.

But the underlying discipline is transferable. The businesses I work with often carry more operational detail in their heads than they realise, make decisions on the fly that could have been systematised, and arrive at conversations underprepared because the preparation felt disproportionate to the task. It never is.

Operational rigour is not bureaucracy. It is the thing that protects you when something unexpected happens, and something unexpected always happens. It is also, done well, the thing that lets you be calm when it does, because you have already done the thinking.

The next three posts in this series go further: into how to delegate without losing control, into the post-project review most businesses skip, and into what all of this means for growing a business with the right people around you. But it starts here, with the planning nobody sees.

About the Author

Read more about Suzanne here.

Taking Time Off: A Business Owner’s Guide to Switching Off (Almost)

Every business owner I speak to says the same thing: “I need a holiday.” And yet, when it comes to actually booking one, taking time off, and being fully present somewhere other than their inbox, most of them find a reason not to.

I’ve been running Get Ahead for over a decade. I’ve had to learn, sometimes the hard way, that taking time off isn’t a luxury. It’s a business decision. The planning, prioritisation and delegation that makes a holiday possible are the same disciplines that make a business scalable.

Here’s what I’ve learned, and what I now share with every business owner I work with.

Why do so many business owners struggle to take time off?

Because the business feels like it needs them. And often, it genuinely does, but usually because systems, handovers and trusted support haven’t been put in place yet. The business isn’t the problem. The infrastructure around it is.

When I talk to owners who haven’t had a proper break in years, it’s rarely because they don’t want one. It’s because the idea of stepping away feels riskier than staying put. That’s the thing we need to solve.

What does good preparation actually look like?

It starts well before you pack. I’d suggest a minimum of four weeks’ lead time if you’re going away for more than a few days. The core areas to address are:

  • Priorities: what absolutely must happen while you’re away, and what can wait
  • Delegation: who is responsible for what, with clear authority to make decisions, not just to escalate
  • Systems: are your CRM, accounts, files and shared drives in order? Can someone else navigate them without you?
  • Communication: who is your point of contact for clients, and what’s the protocol if something genuinely urgent arises?

The key word in that third point is delegation with authority. Handing tasks to someone and then remaining the bottleneck for every decision isn’t delegation. It’s just distributed stress. Trust the people you’ve briefed, and let them get on with it.

What about HR considerations when you’re the one stepping away?

This is something business owners with small teams often overlook. Before you go:

  • Make sure any team members or contractors have a clear point of contact in your absence, with the authority to make day-to-day decisions
  • Set clear expectations about what warrants contacting you and what doesn’t
  • Check that any outstanding HR matters (appraisals, onboarding, contracts) are resolved or safely deferred
  • If you use a virtual team, ensure they’re fully briefed and have everything they need before you leave

The businesses that run smoothly in an owner’s absence are the ones where the team has been trusted, briefed properly, and given room to act. Not the ones where the owner is fielding WhatsApps on the beach.

How do you handle the personal side of being away? The dog, the cat, the house?

This is where our Lifestyle Manager service comes in, and honestly, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of offering. The mental load of a holiday isn’t just professional. It’s personal.

Sorting pet care, ensuring the house is looked after, managing deliveries, handling the things that pile up at home while you’re away: these are all things that can be handed off. A good Lifestyle Manager takes the whole list, not just the work side of it.

When the personal logistics are sorted, you actually get to have a holiday. Not just a change of location where you’re still mentally juggling everything. And knowing that Sydney (aka The Prince) is in good hands and enjoying himself means that I can too!

Do you ever stay contactable while you’re away?

Yes, deliberately and on my own terms. I make sure someone knows how to reach me if something genuinely needs a call. In practice, in all the years I’ve been running Get Ahead, that call has never come.

But knowing it’s possible if needed means I can actually relax. It’s a safety net I’ve chosen to have, not a leash. There’s a difference. And building the right team around you is what makes that distinction possible.

What’s your pre-holiday checklist?

Here’s what I work through before I go anywhere:

  • Goals reviewed: what needs to be done before I leave, and what can genuinely wait
  • Delegation confirmed: named people, clear responsibilities, authority granted
  • Systems in order: shared drives, CRM, accounts, inboxes all accessible and up to date
  • Social media scheduled: posts queued for the duration, evergreen content repurposed where needed
  • Client communications sent: anyone who needs to know I’m away has been told, with a named contact
  • Virtual support briefed: telephone answering, email management, any ongoing tasks handed over with a proper brief
  • Personal logistics sorted: pet care, house, anything domestic that would otherwise be sitting in the back of my mind

What’s the business case for actually taking the holiday?

You come back better. Clearer thinking, more energy, more perspective on the things that actually matter. Every owner I know who has properly stepped away and come back says the same thing: they could see the business more clearly from the outside than they ever could from inside it.

The planning that goes into a good handover also tends to reveal gaps in your systems that you’d been papering over. It’s an audit you didn’t know you needed.

And frankly, if your business can’t function without you for a week or two, that’s the most important signal you could have about what to fix next.

How can Get Ahead help?

Whether you need telephone answering and email management while you’re away, a virtual assistant to keep things ticking over, or a Lifestyle Manager to handle the personal side of life, we’ve been helping business owners take proper breaks for over a decade.

Talk to your local Regional Director about what cover would look like for your business. You might be closer to a real holiday than you think.

www.getaheadva.com or call 0330 223 7580

Rebecca Newenham is the founder of Get Ahead, an award-winning virtual assistant and outsourcing franchise she launched in 2010 following a successful career in corporate retail buying. With a team of over 90 virtual assistants and franchisees, Get Ahead provides flexible marketing and business support to SMEs across the UK. A passionate advocate for flexible working, Rebecca is also a Franchise Consultant at Ashtons, helping founders scale with clarity and confidence. She hosts Link Up Networking Guildford and is a Baby Naming Celebrant, proof that a purposeful career doesn’t have to fit a single mould. At the heart of everything Rebecca does is people: connecting them, supporting them and helping them build businesses that genuinely work for their lives.

The Latest from get Ahead

Why SME Projects Often Stall, And the Missing Piece That Makes Them Work 

I spent nearly two decades working in supply chain and project management at Morrisons. In that time, I was part of projects most people would find genuinely daunting: integrating the Safeway business after the acquisition, implementing Oracle across manufacturing sites, and building new supply chain teams from scratch. 

What I learned from those experiences – and what I see confirmed every week in my work with SMEs across Yorkshire – is this: the biggest risk to any change project rarely lies in the strategy. It lies in the structure around it. 

Specifically, in what’s missing from it. 

The moment every growing business recognises 

There comes a point in the life of most growing businesses where change stops being optional. 

A new CRM system needs implementing. An operational process needs redesigning. A reporting framework needs rebuilding. A new service line needs launching with proper structure behind it. 

These projects are sensible and often genuinely important. The leadership team agrees the objective. The budget is broadly understood. Someone is asked to lead it. 

And then, quietly, something happens. 

The project slows. Decisions drift. Tasks get started but not completed. Months pass, and the business finds itself asking the same question it was asking at the beginning: why hasn’t this moved forward? 

What large organisations know, and that SMEs rarely have 

When I was part of the Safeway integration, the project didn’t succeed because the strategy was brilliant. It succeeded because there was an entire infrastructure of people keeping it moving – project managers, operational coordinators, finance oversight, communications leads, administrative support. 

Each of those roles played a small but essential part. They weren’t the headline act. But without them, nothing would have come together. 

In most SMEs, those roles simply don’t exist. 

Instead, the project sits alongside everyone’s existing responsibilities. A director sponsors it. A manager contributes when they can. A supplier delivers their specific piece. Individually, everyone involved is capable. But the connective tissue that holds the whole thing together is missing. 

The keystone nobody talks about 

In architecture, a keystone is the single stone at the top of an arch that holds everything else in place. Without it, the structure collapses – not because the other stones aren’t solid, but because there’s nothing binding them together. 

SME projects have their own version of the keystone. It’s rarely the most visible part of the work. It’s the unglamorous, practical coordination layer that makes everything else function. 

It’s the person who orchestrates the meetings and keeps momentum between them. The one who translates a good idea into a clearly articulated operating model that everyone can actually follow. The one tracking actions, chasing progress, making sure decisions are documented and communicated before they get lost in someone’s inbox. 

It’s budget and resource tracking that’s genuinely up to date. Stakeholder management that keeps everyone aligned as the project evolves. The discipline – quiet but essential – of making sure that the right things happen at the right time. 

None of these tasks feel like “the project.” But without them, the project doesn’t really happen. 

This isn’t a leadership problem 

I want to be clear about something, because I see it misdiagnosed all the time. 

When SME projects stall, it’s rarely because the leadership is weak or the vision is flawed. It’s a structural consequence of growth. Most SMEs don’t have the scale to employ dedicated project teams for every piece of change work. Most senior people are already running the business day-to-day, at full capacity. 

The strategic thinking exists. The expertise exists. The intention exists. What’s missing is the operational structure that keeps everything moving – and that gap doesn’t close by itself. 

Where the right support changes everything 

This is where external support – the right kind – makes a real difference. 

Not consultants who produce a report and disappear. Practical, operational people who understand how change actually works – and who can step in to provide the coordination layer that most SME projects lack. 

At Get Ahead, this is something we see first-hand. Every project is different, and every business has its own pressures and priorities. But the pattern we return to again and again is the same: once the missing glue is in place, projects that were drifting suddenly regain momentum. Not because the strategy changed, but because the structure around it finally exists. 

The support might look like project coordination and orchestration. Process mapping and operating model design. Communication and stakeholder management. Budget and resource tracking. Sometimes it’s simply someone who makes sure things actually happen – consistently, at the right time, without the business owner having to carry all of that themselves. 

Change doesn’t just need vision – it needs structure 

Most SME leaders I work with have no shortage of ideas for improving their business. Better systems. Better processes. Better ways of working that would genuinely free them up to focus on growth. 

The ideas aren’t the obstacle. The gap between idea and operational reality is. 

Bridging that gap is detailed, unglamorous, genuinely important work. The coordination. The communication. The tracking. The quiet discipline of making sure things actually happen, in the right order, at the right time. 

That’s the keystone. And in many growing businesses, it’s the piece that makes everything else possible. 

If you’re leading a change project that’s lost momentum – or planning one and want to get the structure right from the start – I’d love to have a conversation. 

Get Ahead’s team works across the full range of project support – from coordination and documentation to process design and stakeholder management. We provide the glue that makes change stick. 

 Get in touch: fiona@getaheadva.com  

About the Author 

Why It Makes No Commercial Sense for Directors to Do Their Own Admin (And When to Change That) 

As a Regional Director supporting more than 40 businesses across Yorkshire, I regularly work with growing SMEs with a turnover of between £5m and £20m.

There is a consistent pattern. The business scales. Revenue increases. The board formalises. Governance expectations rise.

And yet directors are still managing their own diaries. Formatting board packs late in the evening. Chasing actions. Rebooking travel. Clearing inboxes. Updating operational spreadsheets.

Not because they lack support. And not because it is required at their level. More often, it is because in the moment it simply feels efficient to “just do it myself”. Over time, it has quietly become the default.

But at a certain stage of growth, that approach stops making commercial sense.

What Is Board-Level Administrative Support?

Board-level administrative support is structured operational assistance that enables directors to focus on strategic decision-making rather than diary management, document preparation or governance tracking.

It is not simply PA support. It is about protecting leadership capacity and strengthening governance processes as businesses mature.

In SMEs approaching or exceeding £10m turnover, the cost of misallocated leadership time becomes increasingly significant.

Should Directors Do Their Own Admin?

Directors are perfectly capable of managing their own administration. The real question is whether it represents the highest commercial return on their time.

A director in a £15m business may cost the organisation £70–£80 per hour once salary and overheads are included. If five hours a week is absorbed by administrative activity, that equates to nearly £20,000 per year – time not spent on strategy, growth or governance.

That is not a criticism. It is arithmetic.

Beyond the cost, there is emerging research showing that many boards today are not positioned to add maximum value. Recent UK analysis of boardroom effectiveness found that only one-third of board directors believe their board is essential to value creation, with many boards focused disproportionately on backwards-looking reporting rather than forward-thinking strategy and growth planning.

This highlights a deeper issue: if boards are structured in a way that limits strategic focus, any diversion of director time into operational tasks compounds that constraint. In growing businesses, leadership time is one of the most expensive and scarce resources available. How it is deployed matters.

The Hidden Cost: Opportunity, Not Efficiency

The greater risk is not the hourly cost. It is the opportunity cost of time lost for reflection, thinking and strategy.

Industry insight suggests that directors are increasingly overwhelmed with information and under-prepared for meetings, in part because boards are not set up effectively and directors are expected to absorb huge volumes of operational detail.

This overload makes it harder to engage deeply with strategic priorities, especially in leaner organisations where external executive support is not yet formalised.

In a £15m business, a 1% margin shift represents £150,000. Even modest improvements in strategic clarity can outweigh the cost of structured support many times over.

The risk is not that directors cannot do their own admin.
The risk is that they are.

When Should a Business Formalise Board Support?

There is no single turnover trigger. But there are warning signs:

  • Board meetings are dominated by operational detail
  • Directors regularly prepare board materials outside working hours
  • Governance documentation lacks structure
  • Follow-up actions are inconsistent

These are not failures. They are growth signals.

As organisations mature, informal systems that worked at £3m rarely sustain £15m.

Protecting leadership capacity is a sign of organisational maturity, not extravagance.

What Effective Board Support Looks Like in Practice

Board-level support typically includes:

  • Coordinating structured board agendas
  • Preparing coherent, accurate board packs
  • Tracking decisions and actions
  • Managing governance documentation
  • Aligning director diaries with strategic priorities
  • Ensuring follow-up is completed between meetings

In one of our larger SME clients, providing consistent support to the Commercial Director has released meaningful leadership capacity back into revenue-driving activity. Preparation is sharper. Follow-up is tighter. Strategic focus has improved.

The change was not dramatic. But it was material.

Governance Is Ultimately a Capacity Question

Board effectiveness is not just about who sits around the table.

It is about whether those individuals have the time and clarity to exercise sound judgement.

In growing SMEs, directors often remain highly operational long after the business has outgrown that model.

Supporting directors operationally does not dilute their involvement. It enables better oversight, stronger governance and more considered commercial decisions.

It moves leadership time back to where it has the greatest impact.

In Summary

  • Director time is one of the most valuable resources in a growing SME.
  • Administrative activity carries a measurable financial and strategic cost.
  • Structured board support improves governance and commercial focus.
  • Protecting leadership capacity signals organisational maturity.

If you sit on the board of a scaling business, it may be worth asking one simple question:

Are you spending your time where it delivers the highest commercial return?

Because capability is rarely the issue.

Capacity often is.

There are always lots of things to do at work before taking a holiday, particularly if you run your own business. Fortunately, when we know what they are and we manage our time well, we don’t have to bookend our holiday with two stressful weeks. 

We’ve caught up with virtual PA Amanda who shares her list of things to do at work before taking a holiday.

What should we do at work before going on holiday?

Tell people

Amanda: If you do nothing else, tell the people you work with that you are going away and when. Even if you own the business and you don’t have to apply for annual leave, it’s a good idea and common courtesy. Telling others means that they can manage their work accordingly, whether that’s asking you about matters now before you go on holiday, or taking the initiative so they don’t interrupt your break. Let anyone outside your business whom you’re collaborating with know too. 

Set up email management

 Amanda: We’re all used to out-of-office replies now – they’re a very handy invention. If you’re in danger of forgetting to set yours, write it now and schedule it for your holiday period. 

While you’re automating emails, take the opportunity to set up the “focused” and “other” inbox system that Outlook provides (if you haven’t already). This can make things smoother when you’re back from your holiday – the messages that need your attention should be easy to find.

Some of my clients ask me to manage their inboxes while they’re on holiday – it’s a great solution. I create folders for different types of email and I can even field them out to others in your organisation. You won’t come back to thousands of emails and you will be able to pick up where you left off. 

Test your automation

Amanda: If you’re going to use, say, social media scheduling software to cover you while you’re away, test it out first. If you trial it while you’re still in the office, you’ll have time to iron out any wrinkles so the system runs perfectly in your absence. 

Write a to-do list for your return

Amanda: Writing things down is a great way to get them out of your head, even if you can’t deal with them immediately. I always encourage my clients to write their to-do list for their first day back. Not only does it mean a more organised return, but it gives them more freedom to enjoy their holiday!

Plan for core work and big projects

Amanda: How you cover bigger projects depends on many factors. However, it’s important to remember that everything won’t grind to a halt without you. You might choose to put work on hold while you’re on holiday. Or you might choose to set it up in advance so it can run well in your absence.

 If you’re a good employer or collaborator (and I’m sure you are!) your team should feel empowered to carry on without you and act on their own initiative. Maybe the team could use your holiday time to address the areas that don’t need your specific input, like the actual printing of a new publication. Or maybe you could set up a task in your last week and they could use your holiday to put it into action. 

Virtual PA services from Get Ahead

Get Ahead has built up a team of nearly a hundred virtual PAs, VAs and sector experts to support your business while you’re away on holiday. We’re here for when you get back too! Follow us on social media to find out how we work, and get in touch whenever you’re ready. 

The first budget of the new Labour government has been much anticipated, and Wednesday’s announcement had everyone glued to the news. Families, workers, savers and borrowers were all wondering what the budget meant for them. And entrepreneurs and CEOs were wondering, “what does the budget mean for businesses?”

In this blog, we look at what additional payments and reductions businesses need to cover, and how Get Ahead can help. 

What does the budget mean for businesses? 

The rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) was not unexpected, but it has still raised the costs of taking on employees. 

In addition, the increase to interest rates means that business loan repayments will increase – another cost to business owners. 

It’s easy to see that, with these cost increases, business owners will be looking to make any savings they can. 

One way that small businesses can save is by taking advantage of the increased employment allowance, whereby they don’t have to pay NI on the first £10,500. 

Another way to save is to consider outsourcing instead of employing. Whether you’re new to outsourcing or you’ve used the model for years, Get Ahead is here to help.

How Get Ahead supports businesses impacted by the 2024 budget

Get Ahead is an established outsourcing agency. We work on a regional basis: business owners approach our regional directors in search of practical, back-office support. The regional director then connects the business owner with one of our virtual experts who delivers the required work.

There are a number of reasons why our business model gives businesses better value for money than conventional employment:

No NICs, sick pay, annual leave or pension contributions

    All our virtual experts are self-employed. This means that our clients only pay for our experts’ work and don’t have any other financial responsibilities towards them. 

    Remote working

    Our virtual experts work from home, meaning you don’t have to provide office facilities or tech hardware. This could save you renting office space, freeing up more of your profits to grow your business.

    Only pay for hours worked

    When you employ someone, you continue to pay them even when they’re on a tea break, watering the plants or signing team birthday cards. But with our outsourcing model, you only pay for the work they do for your business. We are also completely flexible – there’s no need to commit to paying for the same number of hours every month. 

    Your virtual team

    Get Ahead’s virtual experts can work seamlessly with your other employees, or even form your entire team. Use outsourced work to plug skills gaps or provide support for project work. Alternatively, let us hand pick a group of people with the specific skills you need to take your business forward in a cost-effective way. 

    We believe you’ll see considerable savings when you outsource, enabling you to meet the new increased payments while still growing your business. 

    Find out more about the financial advantages of outsourcing here.

    HR outsourcing and accounts outsourcing solutions for UK businesses

    Unlike typical virtual assistant agencies, we offer a wide range of back-office services, including finance and HR outsourcing. Our finance experts can review your systems and might find other savings, like unused subscriptions and unpaid invoices. This could mean freeing up funds to cover the increased business costs, without having to let any of your current team go. 

    Our HR experts can help you stay compliant with the new rules, ensuring that you’re making the correct contributions and doing right by your employees. And if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to reduce the number of people you employ, our HR experts can help you manage the situation so it’s legal, fair and handled appropriately. 

    Get in touch to find out more

    If our blog has got you thinking about ways to save money after the 2024 budget, we’d love to hear from you. We offer a range of outsourced back-office support, including administration, bookkeeping, marketing, social media, finance, HR and more. Visit our service pages here, or get in touch with your local regional director for a friendly, no-obligation chat. 

    Content writing services are an important part of any marketing strategy, particularly in the internet age. Written content is essential if search engines are going to find your website or social media pages. But did you know that it’s a great way to convert customers too?

    In this blog, we talk to Charlotte, one of Get Ahead’s longest-serving copywriters, about content marketing, why it matters and how it works.

    What is content marketing?

    Charlotte: Content marketing is a way of showcasing your products and services so that potential customers can gain a deeper understanding of your offering.

    Blogging is my personal favourite – a 500-word blog is a great way to explain what you do while also sharing more detailed insights than you can on a web page or LinkedIn post. But there are loads of different types of content marketing to choose from, including video, newsletters, social media posts, ebooks, white papers and more.

    Every piece of content is an opportunity to reinforce your brand, your message and your ethos. I often think of content marketing as like having coffee with a friend. You sit down with your friend (the potential customer) and talk in a chatty, human, real-world way about what you do and why it matters. You’ll both have a laugh, maybe a cry, but most importantly, you’ll reinforce your emotional connection. This means that in future, when the potential customer needs what you offer, they’re more likely to come to you because they understand what do and feel a connection with your brand.

    Why is content marketing more effective than a hard sell?

    Charlotte: We all know that a hard sell rarely works. If you’ve ever been pressured into buying something, you probably know that it didn’t work out in the long term. Think of the car you sold on after a few months, or the subscription you’ll be cancelling at the earliest opportunity.

    Some business owners are so averse to hard selling that they end up avoiding marketing altogether. This is a mistake, because your business won’t grow unless you market it. Instead, I always encourage my clients to consider content marketing. With content marketing, you give the customer all the information they need but the decision to buy always rests with them.

    How does content marketing convert customers?

    Charlotte: Content marketing converts customers because it gives the buyer the chance to make up their own mind. Through the content you create, the buyer can build up their own view of your business, products and services. They can find the answers to their questions and decide if yours is the business they want to deal with. And if it is, they can reach out to you and become part of your community of customers or clients.

    Because the customer has arrived at this decision for themselves, they are more likely to develop a loyalty to your business. This means they’ll probably keep buying from you into the future and recommend you to the rest of their network. This is great news for your business and puts you on track to become a market leader.

    Outsourced content writing services

    If our blog has set you thinking about finding content writing services, Get Ahead can help. Charlotte and our other content experts love digging deep into clients’ businesses, finding out what makes them tick and how to communicate that in a way that resonates with the ideal customer. Check out our Resources section to see how content works in practice, or contact your local regional director for a supportive chat.

     

    Virtual PA services have revolutionised business support. One of our most popular services, we believe using a remote PA is a cost-effective, efficient solution. However, we also know that it can be hard to break away from the traditional idea of an employed PA. That’s why we’ve put together our top reasons why working with a virtual PA is as good – or better – than the traditional model. Read on to find out more.

    1. A close working relationship

    Recent tech advances have changed the way we communicate with colleagues. In addition, working from home some or all of the time has become the norm, meaning we’re often in a different location from our team members. What we learn from this is that it’s completely possible to have a great working relationship with someone even when your desks aren’t side by side.

    Get Ahead helps the working relationship get off to a good start too. Our regional directors (your first point of contact) will spend time getting to know you and how you work. With this information, they’ll choose someone to support you who has the right personality match and who’ll thrive in the environment you’ve created. This will help your new working relationship develop all the closeness of the traditional version.

    2. Advances in communication technology

    Your virtual PA can work with you as smoothly as if you worked in the same office, thanks to platforms like Zoom, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams. Faster internet speeds make real-time interactions easier too.

    3. Changes in the PA role

    The role of the PA continues to evolve. Advances in tech clearly help this evolution (see above) but there are social factors at work too. With many businesses having a flatter hierarchy than they used to, PAs are less of an extension of the boss, and more of a responsible team member. This means that the modern PA role is easier to do remotely than its former incarnation. It’s time to let go of the old-fashioned image and see the situation as it is in the 2020s.

    4. UK-based support

    If you choose virtual PA services from Get Ahead, your new assistant will be based in the UK. This means you’ll be in the same time zone, making it easier to coordinate tasks, diaries and meetings. Most of our virtual experts have English as a first language, so you won’t encounter the language barrier you might if you used an offshore solution.  

    5. A cost-effective solution

    The bottom line is nearly always costs. When you use virtual PA services, you only pay for work completed. This means that if your business only needs support for a few hours each week, that’s all you have to pay for. There are also no recruitment costs, pension contributions, sick pay or holiday pay – you don’t even have to provide coffee!

    Virtual PA services from Get Ahead

    If you think your business could benefit from virtual PA services, we’d love to hear from you. Your local regional director will take time to find out how you work, so they can match you with the best business support expert for your needs. And if you’d like to see how this works in practice, read our case study here.

    Virtual PA services have both similarities and differences from the traditional PA model. Unfortunately, some business owners are reluctant to sign up for support from virtual PA services because they don’t know what they can reasonably ask their virtual PA to do. This means they’re missing out on some great support.

    If you’re wavering about taking up virtual PA services, you’re not alone. To help you, we asked one of our virtual PA’s Juliet to talk us through the top tasks her clients ask her to do. We’ll also take a look at more unusual tasks and how to go about finding the right support to deliver them. Read on to find out more.

    Top tasks for virtual PA services

    Email

    Juliet: Email monitoring is one of the biggest areas of my role. With hundreds of emails arriving every day, it can be difficult for business owners to pick out the most important ones. That’s why I manage client’s inboxes, monitoring the emails to make sure that the right people see the most important messages and action them.

    I keep my own records as well. If I notice an important email has not been actioned, I follow up with the recipient so it doesn’t go unanswered.

    Initially, I send holding emails in reply so the sender knows their email has been seen. As time goes on and I get to know client’s businesses and how they work, I can reply to some emails myself, taking the pressure off the core team.

    Outsourcing email monitoring means the clients can focus on their core business, confident that there is a VA looking out for the most important messages and taking the pressure off.

    Accounts

    Juliet: Having worked with a number of clients, I’ve got to know different types of accounting software! This helps me slot into a new business easily, and makes me more confident about taking on a new accounting platform. I enter the right data into the platform and chase and reconcile invoices.

    Many business owners cite finance as their weakest area – if you hate it, you’re not alone! Fortunately, outsourcing means invoices can be reconciled more quickly and business owners don’t have to worry about it.

    Reporting

    Juliet: Many of my bigger clients have boards of trustees who have oversight of the business figures. Part of my role is to assemble quarterly reports, pulling together information from other sources so the trustees have an accurate picture of the business.

    Preparing for board meetings can take up a lot of precious time. Fortunately, outsourcing the quarterly reports gives you that time back.

    Events

    Juliet: I often organise events, training and conferences for my clients. I’ve built up my own directory of venues and other services to help the practical side of business events run smoothly.

    I love being able to share my established contacts with my new clients. Because I have worked with many different businesses over the years, I’ve developed a network of events contacts which I use to support my current clients.

    What about other business support?

    Get Ahead has a wide range of virtual experts. Even if you have tasks that fall outside virtual PA services, we have the expertise to deliver them. For example, we might match you with Juliet (or someone with similar skills) to put together a conference or stay on top of the emails. And if you have other jobs, like developing a new website or marketing a new product, other members of our extensive team can help. Even if you have more unusual requirements, like collating notes from a workshop, we hope you’ll come to us – we can always find the right support for your needs.

    Virtual PA services from Get Ahead

    Our team provide back-office support so that business owners can focus on their core offering. And without having to spend their evenings catching up on paperwork, business owners regain the free time and flexibility that they were looking for in the first place!

    Want to find out more about virtual PA services? We’ve put together some of our resources to help you – have a read!

    One generalist or a team of specialists? – Get Ahead VA

    Don’t know whether to outsource? – Get Ahead VA

    A hand-picked team for your business support – Get Ahead VA

    Hut22 – a flexible solution for a changing workload – Get Ahead VA

    It would be so easy to achieve your business goals if you only had more time! But did you know that one focused, productive hour can still make a big difference? Sometimes completing just one task can remove the barrier between you and your business goals.

    In this blog, regional director Lisa Middleton shares her suggestions for jobs you can do in one hour, and explains how they contribute to the wider business picture.

    1. Revisit your goals and update your plan

    It’s really easy to set business goals…and then get bogged down with everyday tasks and firefighting. So when I find myself with some breathing space, I like to revisit my business goals and take stock of where I am. I might run a financial report on Xero and to check my profits and losses – this helps me understand how close I am to financial goals.  I might look at my social media analytics and see whether I’m increasing my reach and whether it’s translating into more business. 

    Once I’ve taken stock of where I am in relation to my goals, I can update my original action plan according to the current picture. 

    2. Delegate a task

    There comes a time with any business when, in order to expand, we have to ask for help, delegate a task or choose outsourcing. If the recent snapshot of your business shows you’ve got too much on your plate, use your spare hour to delegate or outsource. 

    When I do this, the person I need to speak to might not be immediately available. However, I use the time to write a brief and gather information together for the other person to use when they take over the task. This makes the handover easier when the time comes. 

    3. Read and reply to testimonials

    Your clients and customers are a great barometer of business success. Both positive and negative feedback can help you improve, and ultimately achieve your business goals. 

    If one of your goals is around improving customer service, replying to reviews is a no-brainer. And if there are any negative reviews, remember that replying to them, addressing problems and nipping bad press in the bud should be a priority. 

    In addition, testimonials can also give us valuable insights into our businesses. Read reviews and ask yourself whether your customers see your business the same way you do. Do you have a hidden strength you should be shouting about? 

    4. Write and schedule a month’s social media

    Many business goals are centred on expanding into new markets. Social media is a fantastic tool for building personal connections, targeting specific audiences and creating authentic content. 

    So whether you book in an hour’s desk time or find yourself unexpectedly free, use your hour to create and schedule social content. Make it easy for yourself and follow a pattern. You might choose a weekly theme, or follow a timetable so you always do the same type of post on the same day. Use your own pictures for added authenticity and use a template app like Canva to achieve an on-brand look. Read more of our social media tips here!

    5. Create or refine a list of prospects

    Directly connecting with prospects is one of the most effective ways of building your business, so why not take time to start or review your prospect list? From developing your relationship with existing customers to reaching out to someone completely new, business development conversations are always worth having. Consider connecting with business owners in fields that complement your business, and do your homework to find out what challenges they are facing and how you could help. 

    Outsource to Get Ahead and achieve your goals

    Even if you don’t have the luxury of a whole hour to focus on a specific task, we do! Outsourcing is a great way of winning back time so you can focus on the area of your business that needs it most. Check out our list of jobs a virtual expert can do in just one hour – which one would make the biggest difference to you?