Introduction

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Episode 12 – Virtually Amazing with Charlotte Wibberley

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This Episode

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Charlotte Wibberley

You Will Learn

Why you need to understand how to run a business
What the APVA is and how it came about
To be realistic about the income you can generate

Resources & Links

Our Guest – Charlotte Wibberley

Charlotte launched the Association of Professional Virtual Assistants (APVA) in January 2016 keen to support, nurture and champion the VA & Freelance industry, and to create a safe space for high performing online businesses to collaborate, knowledge share and continue their professional development. The APVA supports & trains aspiring and existing VAs & online business owners and supports existing VAs to maintain professionalism as well as grow their businesses. More recently, the APVA brought in their accreditation to regulate and support the industry as it grows and run as a not-for-profit.

Founder and CEO of the APVA, Charlotte campaigns heavily to improve industry standards and engage with VAs and business owners alike around the true value of the VA and worth that they bring. In 2017, she started the #timetoeleVAte campaign in partnership with IPSE to redefine the VA profession, change perceptions and improve how the freelance and VA industry is seen both by those inside and outside. The APVA now survey VAs annually and share the data freely to give everyone an insight into how the industry is progressing.

Charlotte has been quoted around the subject of women in self-employment on a number of occasions and was proud to be one of the key case studies for Dame Julie Deane’s Self-Employment Review in 2016. She passionately supports small businesses and freelancers and splits her time between running her consultancy (which support online business owners with automating their businesses, nurturing their audiences and making more sales), training & coaching new VAs and spearheading a revolutionary & collaborative movement for VAs & freelancers with the APVA.

Charlotte has won several awards and been a finalist on many occasions with regards to her work within the VA industry and in online business more generally, including Digital Woman of the Year, WearetheCity Rising Star Awards and Pitman Training SuperAchievers Working Mum of the Year.

Outside of work Charlotte is wife to fellow entrepreneur Andrew, and mum to Alex, 7 and Evie, 5 who are her ‘big why’ and keep her busy and out of trouble!

Jo Brianti

Episode 12 – Virtually Amazing with Charlotte Wibberley

Introduction

This week we talk with Charlotte Wibberly of the Association of Professional Virtual Assistants. Charlotte runs VIP VA and has a team of Virtual Assistants as well as the Association of Virtual Assistants

Show Notes

Find out what made Charlotte quit the corporate life and how she started working as a VA and had to learn how to market herself. How wine featured in the set up of the APVA. How VIPVA as it was tthen became a community for VAs and made sure that VAs have more professional set up and has now morphed into the APVA.

We also talked about income, being realistic and marketing funnels and automations.

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Episode 11 Virtually Amazing with Jules Taylor

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Jules Taylor

Taylor Made PA

Taylor Made PA

Jules Taylor

You Will Learn

How life makes you more resiliant
That it pays to be brave.
That opportunities present themselves.

Resources & Links

Our Guest – Jules Taylor

Jules is an experience Personal Assistant who made the transition to Virtual Assistant after a chance meeting with VIP VA (now The Association of Professional Virtual Assistants) at The PA Show in 2018.

Jules admits she loves the organisational aspect of a PA role – Diary & Email Management, arranging Business Meetings, Corporate Dinners and of course booking Travel Arrangements.

Setting up as a Virtual Assistant also allowed a return to Travel and now is able to offer an ABTA Bonded Travel Booking Service for Leisure Travel. But it has also allowed for the opportunity to work with other Virtual Assistants and Small Business Owners supporting on Travel Bookings and writing Travel Policies, as there is the flexibility to approach Travel arrangements as either a Travel Agent or as a Virtual Assistant as appropriate.

A key career highlight was being given the opportunity to be a Games Maker at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics, working in Event Services at Greenwich Park for the Equestrian Games.

Amazing Contact Info

shelley@tomorrowsva.com

jo@jlbsupportsolutions.co.uk

Virtually Amazing

Shelley Fishel

Jo Brianti

Episode 11 Virtually Amazing with Jules Taylor

Introduction

This week’s guest is Jules Taylor of Taylor Made PA. Jules is a VA with several different specialisms and we will hear all about them in this episode.

Show Notes

Find out what inspired Jules to set up her domain name and business after meeting someone at the Office Show. How she then she got head hunted and took a job but learned quite fast that she really wanted to go it alone and took the leap of faith to set up her own business.

Jules main USP is that she is a travel agent and can help both her clients or other VAs with travel bookings. We had a lovely chat about the future of travel..

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Episode 10 – Virtually Amazing with Sara Bussandri

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Sara Bussandri

sarabussandri.com

Mind Your Mamma

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@mindyourmamma

Sara Bussandri

You Will Learn

How to batch content writing for your blog
The best transcription tools and techniques
Techniques for repurposing content

Resources & Links

Our Guest – Sara Bussandri

Sara Bussandri is a Digital Content Writer who helps small business owners and successful podcasters with blogging and re-purposing audio/video content into SEO-friendly blog posts. At home, she’s a mum of three boys who works around school runs, laundry loads, and football matches.

Amazing Contact Info

shelley@tomorrowsva.com

jo@jlbsupportsolutions.co.uk

Virtually Amazing

Shelley Fishel

Jo Brianti

Episode 10 – Virtually Amazing with Sara Bussandri

Intro

Out guest this week is Sara Bussandri who is a content writer and blogger. Starting off with a lifestyle blog Sara soon had people coming to her for help,

Show Notes

Join us as we chat with Sara Bussandri about blogging – we talk about the perfect length for a blog post and the stats about how long it takes to write one and you will be amazed! We discuss the key benefits of blogging for your business and how it helps you get found in Google.

Sara says that blogging shows the person you are and showcases your skills so that clients come to you.

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Episode 9 – Virtually Amazing with Gary Spinks

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Gary Spinks

Gary Spinks

Gary Spinks

You Will Learn

Why story based writing is powerful
How to keep a file of stories to use
What a VA should be thinking about when thinking about copy.

Our Guest – Gary Spinks

Gary Spinks is a strategic copywriter and story-based marketing consultant. He helps entrepreneurs, business owners and organisations to present a clear, consistent and compelling message.

Based in the UK, he serves clients across the world who want a deeper, genuine, values-driven connection with their audience, niche or tribe.

Gary works with business people who tend to be a little different to the crowd. People with a purpose beyond making profits. People absolutely in their element doing what they do.

His services include writing, reviewing and editing for traditional, digital and video marketing; creating sales funnels and fine-tuning copy for higher conversions in leads, enquiries and sales; and tactical use of copywriting for branding, positioning and messaging.

He particularly loves working with stand-out players in the outdoors and leisure industry. From walking and holiday adventure companies to activity centres. Outdoor clothing and gear companies to bikes and cycling accessories. Mountain guides to map makers. Landscape photographers to quirky accommodation providers. And more.

A former journalist, presenter and trainer, Gary uses a story-based approach to help business owners express what they do so it really hits the mark. Their people get it, love it and want to be part of it.

Resources & Links

shelley@tomorrowsva.com

jo@jlbsupportsolutions.co.uk

Virtually Amazing

Shelley Fishel

Jo Brianti

Episode 9 – Virtually Amazing with Gary Spinks

Introduction

This week’s guest is Gary Spinks. Gary is a copy writer. He is a former journalist, presenter and trainer, Gary uses a story-based approach to help business owners express what they do so it really hits the mark. Their people get it, love it and want to be part of it.

Show Notes

In this week’s episode we chat with Gary Spinks about all things Copy. What to think about, what you should have on your website and ideas around copy writing in general.

We chat about what goes on each page, why you should use stories and why having a story swipe file is important.

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Episode 8 – Virtually Amazing with Caroline Wylie

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Caroline Wylie

Society of Virtual Assistants

SVA

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SVA

Caroline Wylie

You Will Learn

We discuss the prognosis for the industry future
How being a Virtual Assistant has changed through the years

Resources & Links

The Society of Virtual Assistants

Our Guest – Caroline Wylie

With a background in music and advertising, Caroline honed her virtual working skills working between London and Glasgow in her business Virtually Sorted which she established in 2004.

At that point, virtual assistance in the UK was a fledgling industry, so she worked with a collection of VAs to educate the business community about virtual working which grew rapidly into the Society of Virtual Assistants. SVA established the first best practice guidance for UK virtual assistants in 2007 and also virtual assistant trainers in 2018. Each year it produces the UK VA industry’s survey, widely used by a variety of business organisations and government departments to provide insights into how VAs work. In 2020 it became a registered Community Interest Company.

Along the way Caroline has lectured at various universities in the creative industries, appeared on conference panels, conducted workshops and presented at exhibitions such as London Excel, Strathclyde Business School and The VA Conference.

In her role as founder of SVA, she judges the VA of the Year Awards and runs the UK VA Survey each year alongside still running her virtual assistant business as “the day job”.

Caroline lives in Glasgow, with her husband Craig, their two young children and her crazy Burmese cat. Her mantra remains “I must wear jeans to the office”.

Amazing Contact Info

shelley@tomorrowsva.com

jo@jlbsupportsolutions.co.uk

Virtually Amazing

Shelley Fishel

Jo Brianti

Episode 8 – Virtually Amazing with Caroline Wylie

This week’s guest is the amazing Caroline Wylie founder of The Society of Virtual Assistants and her own VA business Virtually Sorted. Caroline is one of the original UK based VAs and she set up The Society of Virtual Assistants to help other VAs get the information that was lacking when she stared out.

Show Notes

Jo and I have a wide ranging chat with the amazing Caroline Wylie, learning how much it cost Caroline to set up when she started to what you can do now. Why it was important for Caroline to set up The Society of Virtual Assistants and why wearing jeans to the office was a big driver.

Learn how useful Caroline’s Dad has been…

We also hear from Caroline about the VA Survey and the precedents and predictions for the future of the industry.

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