Category: Virtual support

LinkedIn might have been around for a while, but stats published earlier this year show that it is still hugely influential. There are around 500 million users on LinkedIn, 40% of whom use the site daily. Research by the Society for Human Resource Management discovered that, of the employers who use social networking sites for recruitment, more than 90% use LinkedIn.

Even so, it can be tricky to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date, and with so many other tasks demanding your attention it’s all too easy to let your profile languish, out of date and unloved. If this is how your profile is feeling, here are some things you can do to freshen it up, so you can keep making those valuable online connections.

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Prep your business for summer

The longest day of the year was last week, and that means summer is officially upon us. But what does that mean for your business?

For many businesses, the good weather and longer days can mean a slump in productivity as everybody turns their attention to leisure rather than work. But summer doesn’t need to spell disaster for the savvy business owner.

If you want to know how to avoid the dreaded summer slow-down, here are four useful ways to prep your business for summer.

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Here at Get Ahead VA we are privileged to work with a wide variety of clients ranging from will writers to window cleaners, financial consultants to fashion designers. All of our clients are motivated and driven business owners, with clear plans for business growth. They recognise the value of outsourcing, passing on to others the tasks that either they lack the skills in or that drain their valuable time.

Here’s 60 seconds with one of our clients, Pip Evan-Cook from The Marketing Architect, who came to us looking for some support in her marketing business:

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GDPR is coming – the EU’s new data protection rules will come into force on 25th May, and will affect all businesses dealing with individuals and companies within the EU. If you’re not sure how to handle these new regulations, don’t worry: our ‘30 Days to GDPR’ post has you covered.

But GDPR could also have an impact on the sites you use every day, including that all-important networking platform: LinkedIn. How will businesses that rely on LinkedIn for making connections be affected when GDPR finally comes in?

If you want to know more, here’s the lowdown on LinkedIn and GDPR.

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We all know how important it is to keep growing and improving at work, and continuing professional development (CPD) is a useful way to document this progress and allow you to reflect on your growth. But when you’re a business owner, CPD can too easily be pushed aside in favour of the day-to-day running of your business.

This shouldn’t be the case: CPD is an investment, both in your business and yourself. Fortunately, Learn at Work Week (14th–20th May 2018) is here to remind us just how important CPD is for every business, and all organisations are invited to take part.

If you’re a business owner and you’re unsure how to make time for CPD in your working life, here are some simple ideas to get you started.

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Stress at work is an extremely common problem in the UK. According to the Health and Safety Executive, in 2016/17, 12.5 million working days were lost to work-related stress, depression and anxiety. Add to this the pressures of being your own boss, and stress can be a particular problem for small business owners.

So what can be done about the stress epidemic? One of the schemes that has been put in place is Stress Awareness Month, which takes place every April. The aim of the month is to encourage people to talk about stress, share their coping strategies and take care of themselves and others.

If you’re looking for somewhere to start with managing your own stress, here are 5 of our top tips. (more…)

Update your CV with LinkedIn and you could see a big difference in your online engagement.

Last year, LinkedIn launched a new program in collaboration with Microsoft Word: Resume Assistant. This gives you a new way to look at LinkedIn Jobs, through a Word document, so that you can check job recommendations and profile information whilst editing your CV or job posting.

Although the Resume Assistant has not yet been rolled out in all countries, once it arrives in the UK it will be a useful tool for anybody who regularly uses the Jobs section of LinkedIn, whether to apply for new positions, to find candidates for jobs, or to research skills and qualifications. Interested in learning more? Here’s all you need to know about LinkedIn Resume Assistant, so you can be ready when it arrives.

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Here at Get Ahead VA we are privileged to work with a wide variety of clients, ranging from will writers to window cleaners, financial consultants to fashion designers. All of our clients are motivated and driven business owners with clear plans for business growth. They recognise the value of outsourcing, passing onto others the tasks that either they lack skills in or that drain their valuable time.

Here’s 60 seconds with one of our clients, Warren Knight, a writer, speaker and technology entrepreneur who came to Get Ahead VA looking for both communication and technical assistance.

What situation was your business in when you came to Get Ahead VA?

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When it comes to working with virtual assistants (VAs), there are all sorts of myths out there that can make it seem like more trouble than it’s worth. Fortunately these simply aren’t true, and VAs can actually provide plenty of benefits to your business.

Do you want to know more about what working with VAs is really like? Here are 5 of the biggest myths about VAs: debunked.

Myth #1: Anybody can be a VA

Many people think that, as long as you have a computer and an internet connection, you can be a VA. This might be off-putting to people looking to hire a VA, who might be concerned about working with someone unqualified, unprofessional or likely to disappear halfway through a job. Of course, this isn’t true. Being a VA is a business that requires investments of money and time, and therefore professional VAs take their work very seriously. Furthermore, VAs who work for agencies such as Get Ahead are thoroughly vetted to make sure they have the skills to reliably deliver high-quality work.

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With so many options available to market your business online – from emails to blogs to social media – it can be difficult to keep up. But if you’re struggling to organise the content marketing for your business, there is a solution: the editorial calendar.

Editorial calendars have been around for decades. They were originally used in print media (e.g. newspapers, magazines) to keep track of articles through every stage of creation, from the initial idea to publication. Nowadays the editorial calendar can be applied to many different things, including every platform on which you market your business. In short, if you create content, it can go into an editorial calendar.

So how do you go about making one of these invaluable tools? Read on to discover everything you need to know about creating an editorial calendar.

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