Happy birthday, Get Ahead VA Berkshire and North Hampshire!
As you know, Get Ahead VA never misses a chance for a party! This month, we’re celebrating the first birthday of our Berkshire and North Hampshire franchise, ably directed by Suzanne Cox and Kristy Roff. In this blog, we look back on their busy first year, and look ahead to a growing business.
Kristy and Suzanne met at a mother and baby group nearly twelve years ago and have been friends ever since, supporting and coaching each other in their careers too. Suzanne had been working as an independent VA, while Kristy was in the corporate world of IT. Both feeling they had more to offer, they decided to team up – when the GAVA Reading franchise became available, they felt it was too good an opportunity to miss.
The first thing to do was to expand the operational area, and they quickly renamed the franchise Get Ahead VA Berkshire and North Hampshire. They admit it’s a bit of a mouthful (!) but it has helped them widen their catchment, connecting with businesses in Newbury and Basingstoke too.
The next step was supposed to be developing marketing strategies and creating templates for contracts, but the needs of the local businesses didn’t give them time! Suzanne and Kristy came back from their first networking meeting with two proposals to write, proving there was a real need for virtual assistant services in their area. Suzanne transferred some of her existing clients over to Get Ahead VA, and Kristy’s former employer was keen to continue using her expertise. The two friends found themselves with a solid base of clients.
After a strong start, they’ve stayed busy. Their clients range from business growth agencies to holistic healers, and everything in between. An outlook that all the clients share, unsurprisingly, is trust in the outsourcing process – they all know that outsourcing gives them time to focus on their core business. For Kristy and Suzanne, offering a variety of flexible services is crucial. Fortunately, the nationwide Get Ahead VAs were available from the outset, to bolster their own evolving team.
GAVA Berkshire’s flagship project to date was when Suzanne was asked to deliver all the elements of an international conference in Hong Kong, which she did, in spite of political riots forcing a last-minute venue change. You couldn’t make it up, could you?
Looking ahead, Kristy and Suzanne continue to grow their business further, adding more VAs to their team to ensure they can address as many business needs as Berkshire and North Hampshire require. They also plan to define their own roles more clearly to improve efficiency.
Become a franchisee
Investing in a Get Ahead VA franchise has been a great career move for Suzanne and Kristy. Running a franchise between two people has proved very successful – they’re proud to report they are as good friends now as they were a year ago! To find out more about becoming a Get Ahead VA franchisee, either on your own or with a friend, get in touch on 01483 332220 or visit our franchise page.
