Category: Home working

A couple of weeks ago, as part of Get Ahead VA’s 10th business birthday celebrations, we asked our team of Regional Directors what they’ve learned about being in business over the years, and we shared all their great tips in our ‘10 things we’ve learned from 10 years in business’ post.  

Well, they gave us so much good advice that we’re back with another 10 things we’ve learned over the past decade! Whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been running your business for a while, we hope you’ll find something useful here. 

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Our Regional Directors are a vital part of the Get Ahead VA family – they run the regional branches across the country, and they bring years of experience, specialist knowledge and enthusiasm to their roles. We’re very lucky that our Regional Director team is growing all the time, so to celebrate Get Ahead VA’s 10th business birthday, we asked them what they love most about being a Regional Director – and they had plenty to say! 

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At the heart of Get Ahead VA is our brilliant team of virtual assistants (VAs). Based all over the country, they handle the jobs our clients send to us, and they bring their skills, experience and warmth to every project they work on. Get Ahead VA simply couldn’t exist without this hard-working team, and we’re delighted to have so many talented people working with us. 

As part of our 10th business birthday celebrations, we decided to spend some time celebrating our VAs. So without further ado, here are 10 reasons why we love our VAs, and why you will too. 

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There are lots of ways in which working with virtual assistants makes sense, like freeing you up from mundane tasks to concentrate on your core business, or mixing and matching skills to create the ultimate team. But for all business owners, money is the bottom line. We firmly believe that VAs are a cost effective way of tapping into a wealth of experience and high quality work.

Here’s why:

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No business could be a bigger fan of outsourcing than GetAheadVA. The regional directors and I practice what we preach, outsourcing our own business tasks within the team, freeing us up to connect with clients, do our own virtual assistant work and still have time to go for a run. If you’ve called us and we’re not there, you’ll have encountered our efficient phone answering service, and all those gorgeous infographics you’ve seen on LinkedIn were created by our own graphic design experts.

There are a number of excellent VAs who operate alone, but we firmly believe that VA agencies offer a more efficient, flexible service. In this blog, we look at why outsourcing to an agency makes sense for your business.

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Recent research by the meditation app HeadSpace shows that while most of us wouldn’t follow the lockdown lifestyle by choice, 85% of us have been able to take positives from it.

In this blog, we look at the positive effect lockdown has had on our ways of working, and choose some lockdown strategies we’ll be taking with us as life slowly returns to normal.

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GetAhead VA’s long-standing client, Shannon, runs a leadership coaching business. Long before the coronavirus pandemic, she had arranged an international, in-person, four-day conference with thirty delegates. When the global crisis threw a spanner in the works, she had no option but to hold the conference on Zoom instead.

Running a conference on Zoom has different demands from running one at a standard conference venue. While all the stress of catering and overnight accommodation disappears, different concerns about internet connections, hardware, software and real-time tech support present themselves instead. Shannon needed a virtual conference facilitator and we’re proud to say she came straight to us. At the time, our experienced VA Jenny Serra didn’t have direct experience of facilitating Zoom conferences, but she has used Zoom a lot and is one of our most tech-savvy VAs. She built on her existing skills and knowledge to deliver exactly what Shannon needed.

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Conferences are incredibly useful for all sorts of reasons – you can promote yourself, network and make new contacts, and find out about the latest developments in your industry. And although lockdown has put an end to most in-person conferences this year, many important events are still happening online.

If you’re planning to attend a virtual conference, it’s a good idea to be prepared, because it’s going to be different than you’re used to! The events might be pretty much the same, but you may find it tricky to get into the ‘conference mindset’ at home, so to help you out, here are our top tips for attending a virtual conference.

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Keeping up with your continuing professional development (CPD) can be tricky at the best of times, and chances are that the stresses of lockdown have not made this easier over the past few months. But if you’re feeling up to it, you might find that doing some CPD from home could be beneficial for you and your business.

Of course, you shouldn’t put any pressure on yourself to be productive during this time. Lockdown is hugely stressful for all sorts of reasons, and there’s no need to add to your mental load unnecessarily. It’s essential that you take care of yourself first and give yourself a break if you need it!

However, if you do feel up to the challenge, you may find working on your CPD really valuable. Perhaps you don’t have as much to do right now and you’re in need of a distraction or something to give structure to your days. Or maybe you’re keen to feel that you’re still making progress with your business, even if your normal workload has changed. Whatever inspires you, here is our guide to doing CPD from home.

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Lockdown has forced thousands of people to start working from home, and for many of us this has meant swapping the desk and office chair for a corner of the kitchen table or a spot on the sofa. But if you’re finding that your new working situation is taking its toll on your back, you’re not alone – a poor home office setup can cause all kinds of discomfort and back pain.

Since it looks like we’ll be in lockdown for some time to come, it’s important to start looking after your back now, to prevent bigger problems down the line. So, here are 4 key ways you can protect your back health while working from home!

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