Merry Christmas Everyone

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year.  Have fun whatever you do and wherever you go.

What a Personal Assistant Does Not Do

Previous to running my own Business, providing as I do both Virtual and On-site Personal Assistant services, I spent a good many years working within the Support field. For many of these years I fulfilled a variety of PA and Office Management roles and due to my wide experience, was able to hone my particular offering to those that I worked for.

I provided support to a number of Directors over the years from Recruitment Agency Directors and a Playground Equipment Company Director, to a Finance Director and as an Office Manager to two Directors of an Events Management firm.  Each and every one of these were very busy people and what they didn’t need was a Personal Assistant who couldn’t think on their own two feet.

A Personal Assistant isn’t someone who requires micro-management – we’re resourceful, often very creative minded, know the Company or our client and their goals, mission and values inside out and are highly skilled to boot.  A PA is a person that the Business Owner or Director can totally rely on to ‘get things done’ on time, on budget, accurately and in keeping with Company Policies.

A Personal Assistant does not look for continual guidance from those that he or she supports, but will ensure that as and when necessary, they confer regarding projects and tasks underway when for instance, a decision needs to be made that they are not in a position to be able to make without important relevant input. Generally though, PA’s tend to work as autonomously as possible.

PA’s don’t make work for themselves either – as mentioned previously, they are usually highly skilled individuals and extremely resourceful. Your Personal Assistant will immediately assess the job in hand to discover where they are able to cut down on the time involved in order to complete the task. This isn’t because they’re inherently lazy – far from it, rather it’s because they have a natural in-built ability to seek the most time efficient and therefore cost effective method for carrying tasks and projects out. The more time they spend on a task, the more this is potentially costing their client or employer and notably, Personal Assistants tend to also be extremely busy people, with lots of projects on the go at once – having a system and analytic mind for quickly analysing each task helps them to move onto the next job without wasting valuable time.

PA’s don’t ‘take over’ entirely, but it is their role to share and ease your workload, to reduce your ‘worry list’, to free you and your time up so that you can concentrate on those things that only you can do expertly or, those things that you want to be focusing on and doing.  A Personal Assistant brings sanity and order to where there may be more than a little stress and chaos and will often be several steps ahead of you, second-guessing what needs to be done or looked at next in order to meet your goals, targets and deadlines. When things might be looking pretty awful from where you’re stood, you’ll be surprised at how much rosier they become with even just a little support from your own Personal Assistant. Life is for living, not for being pummelled by paperwork and worrying about a ‘to-do’ list that’s longer than your arm. Make the decision today to improve your life moving forwards immediately – whether you’re experiencing pressure in your Business or Private affairs, call me on the number below and start benefitting right away.

Want to be on the Golf course rather than slaving over your PC? Have appointments you need to attend but can’t move for piles of filing? Need to meet deadlines but you’re overwhelmed by the amount that needs to be done? Well there’s no need to worry a moment longer – just get in touch using the details below and you’ll have a trusted, experienced, discreet professional in your corner as and when you need me.

(01666) 840244
www.alexandratrapnell.co.uk
alex@alexandratrapnell.co.uk

Why Use A Virtual Assistant?

One mistake Business owners can make is to try to do everything themselves.  Even though I’m a resourceful Virtual Assistant and able to manage a wide range of tasks, there are some that even I would outsource to an expert in the field, rather than try to manage myself

Westonbirt Arboretum to Host BBC’s Autumnwatch Live in October 2011

Excellent news just received that Westonbirt Arboretum will play host this Autumn, to the BBC’s Autumnwatch Live programme.

According to a spokesman from the Arboretum, Autumnwatch Live starts on Friday 7th October at 8.30pm on BBC2 and the BBC team will broadcast from Westonbirt for 4 of the shows in October, before moving to WWT Slimbridge in November.

Really great news for Westonbirt!  Keep up to date via the Arboretum’s Facebook Page.

Late Summer 2011 Newsletter

Alex’s latest Newsletter…

Convert Your Hardcopy Address Books to Electronic Files

How often have you sat down to finally get round to writing your Christmas cards out and silently cursed yourself for not having got your list of friends, family and contacts updated?  Perhaps it’s a list of friends or associates with whom you share a common interest and whom you need to contact en-masse from time to time?  And how much easier would this whole process be, including updating their details, if you could actually move your contacts from your hardcopy address book or books to an electronic file on your PC or Apple Mac computer?

Young Street & Hip Hop Dancers Win More Competitions…

Well done to Jax (Jackie Avery) and the young Street and Hip Hop Dancers of Jax Dance on your win at the Devizes School Carnival!

I’m also glad to hear that

Networking Events Begin Again

In between working away at my desk today, I’ve been observing the changes taking place outside my window – the Horse Chestnut leaves have long been brown, though mainly due to a disease that’s ravaging them, but the Hawthorn and Forsythia are also showing signs of Autumn colour.

Networking events begin again this month, so it’s a good time to get out and about to catch up with business contacts and meet new ones.  Unfortunately for those who enjoyed the range of events that Business Link had to offer, events available are now somewhat diminished

With the Autumn Comes Change…

Autumn is upon us – there’s no doubt about it.  Like me, you might have felt it a few weeks ago in fact – the change in the temperature; mornings and evenings are a touch cooler, there’s a heavy dew on the grass when I venture out to open the chicken coop.  And, as with this time every year I find, change is coming.

This autumn it’s taking the form of re-branding the Business and there are lots of exciting ideas in the pipeline.  Though I’ll continue on with a vein of the Virtual work

Public Sector Strike Action – Your Say

It’s causing controversy even as I type – what are your thoughts about today’s strike action by Public Sector workers?  Take part in our Poll http://linkd.in/k0BDSm

Has the strike action affected you directly?  Have you had to rethink your childcare