by Jo | Jan 9, 2018 | BLOG |
It had always been a dream of mine to start my own business and I finally got the opportunity to do so back in 2011. That’s when I founded my VA business and started the most exciting and rewarding stage of my life so far.
Furthermore, starting my own micro business (one that has 0-9 employees) enabled me to fulfil another dream and move to rural France. My business allowed me to work from literally anywhere in the world and, therefore, enabled me to operate from France.
Now, when I look back at the past six years, I realise how lucky I am to be living in a place I love and enjoying the best work/life balance I’ve achieved to-date.
But it hasn’t always been plain sailing and I’ve had to work extremely hard to build my profile and establish a professional network of clients, partners and supporters.
You see, the problem that many micros businesses, like mine, have is that they lack the huge marketing budgets of some of the bigger players in the market. This is why having a supportive professional network is so vital.
For this reason, I grab with both hands any opportunity I get to help out other micro businesses and that’s why I’ll be happily supporting Micro Biz Matters Day on January 12, 2018.
Micro Biz Matters Day is the brainchild of Tina Boden and Tony Robinson OBE, who founded Enterprise Rockers back in 2012. The idea is that on January 12 people will spend 12 minutes of their day (roughly the time it takes to have a short coffee break) to help promote micro businesses.
Even if you don’t run a micro business yourself, you’ll undoubtedly have clients or people in your own professional network who may have certain requirements; requirements that could be satisfied by a micro business.
By promoting these micro businesses on your various social media channels, you’ll inevitably boost their profile and perhaps even get them seen by decision-makers from other companies.
You can even get involved now by using the #MicroBizMattersDay hashtag to raise awareness of the upcoming event. Then, on January 12, if you’ve got 12 minutes to spare, why not consider helping even further by taking one or more of these suggested actions.
Just 12 minutes of your time could make a huge difference to micro businesses that have a huge amount to offer but maybe aren’t getting the full exposure they deserve.
Find out more about #MicroBizMattersDay by visiting the website or following the Twitter hashtag.
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by Jo | Feb 4, 2016 | BLOG, VA, WordPress |
So here I am, it’s 2016 and already February and I feel that I should write a blog post. I am a little out of practice but I do have so much to tell you that I really need to get this written before something else stops me from doing so.
Top on my list is, I have a new website, and new branding… My old company name has disappeared along with 2015, and I can’t say I’m missing it. I wanted something simple which I can use for years to come, my name isn’t going to change anytime soon, well no plans for it to anyway. What do you think?
The lovely Gaynor at The Smart Station did my new logo and banners, and I’m really pleased with how they’ve turned out. I met Gaynor at #MicroBizMattersDay in January, which is the next piece of news I want to share…
My very first non-virtual event as a virtual assistant was #MicroBizMattersDay on Friday 8th January. I left for London the day before, and had a really great couple of days in London. It was certainly not what I was used to, I was in the thick of people, traffic, noise and general UK chaos, nothing like my rural life here in France, but I enjoyed it.
The day was a massive success and I feel privileged to have been part of the whole thing, even if I did try and hide in the corner of The Green Room. This year I didn’t take part in the live streaming (which suited me fine), but I did get nabbed by Ed Goodman of The Cambridge Business Lounge while he was whizzing around the place on Periscope. Tina Fotherby of Famous Publicity also caught me on camera a couple of times too. I also did a quick interview with Nick Peters of Share Radio, certainly not used to all the attention!
You may have heard of some of these business celebs, I didn’t really get a chance to speak to many of them as they were busy doing interviews… Tim Campbell MBE (winner of The Apprentice), Emma Jones MBE (Enterprise Nation), Charlie Mullins OBE, Chris Percival, Penny Power OBE and the rapper Sway.
I did meet some great people on the day, difficult to name them all… Tina and Tony did a fabulous job of organising the day, and I am really made up that they have invited me back next year when the day will be held on Friday 13 January 2017. You can watch all of the live streaming from the day, behind the scenes footage and some radio interviews on the #MicroBizMattersDay website.
It’s been a really busy time for me, in December I was asked to format two books, Shadow Tag and The End Game for New York Times Bestselling Authors, Raymond Khoury and Steve Berry. I was really pleased they came to me, and hope to work with them more in the future.
One of my favourite client’s *they’re all my favourites* Positive Sparks are now doing a weekly podcast, and after the event in London I took part in one with Phil talking about #MicroBizMattersDay and also my favourite apps of 2015. This will be a monthly thing for me, so do subscribe if you’d like keep up to date!
As well as taking on a number of new clients in January, and being snowed under with work… I did have a little time to do some dating (I know, not work related, but some of you like to keep up with me on a more personal level), and pleased to say I am now officially in a couple. So you can see, not a lot of time for blogging! 🙂
So it’s February, my new website is live, a few tweaks here and there, but pretty much finished. I have a few big website projects coming up this month, and lots of exciting things to look forward to in the months to come.
If you are in contact with me by email, then please do update your records with my new email address which you can see at the very top of this page.
…And do check out #MicroBizMattersDay if you’re a small business owner, next year we have so many exciting things happening, with live streaming from around the world… I can’t wait!
by Jo | Aug 21, 2015 | BLOG |
I was delighted to know & write about #MicroBizMattersDay last year, as a micro business (0-9 employees) owner myself I always jump at opportunities to help out other micro businesses. Now I can’t be more enthused to throw my support behind Tina and Tony’s #MicroBizMattersDay which will be back for 2016.
On January 8th, 2016 Tina Boden and Tony Robinson OBE, who founded Enterprise Rockers back in 2012, are asking everyone who supports micro businesses to give 8 minutes to promote them on your social networks in any way that you can.
#MicroBizMattersDay is an international initiative, a global campaign to help unleash the power of start-ups. On this day, we will take actions to show the world the massive contribution independent business owners and the self-employed make to the global economy, job creation and community. This combined power of micro-enterprise owners has been tagged the #PowerOfPlenty.
#MicroBizMattersDay of actions is mainly for these micro-enterprise owners, the #PowerOfPlenty. But on #MicroBizMattersDay everyone can get involved and do something, anything they like, during 8 minutes on January 8th, 2016, to support one or more micro biz owners.
Tony Robinson, who received his OBE for services to small firms in 2001, says: “These tiny drops in the ocean will create a tsunami of micro business improvement through the Power of Plenty – the power unleashed when many micro business owners take actions to help each other in a concerted way.” and so this January 8th will be all about taking 8 minutes of concrete actions to show the world this #PowerOfPlenty!
It’s already known that many hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions of micro business owners around the world, will give 8 minutes on January 8th. Last year’s first event was supported by Sage UK and Google for Work, and for 2016 a number of other large global organisations will promote and support the day for their self-employed and micro business owner customers.
The 2016 Micro Biz Matters Day takes place everywhere in the world in any way one chooses – online and offline – on the ground, in the air and on the sea. To begin supporting now, use the #MicroBizMattersDay hashtag to raise awareness of the upcoming event. Here’s a handy link with a suggested 8 minutes of actions based around the ideas #Customers, #Cashflow and #Chat.
Find out more about #MicroBizMattersDay, and join the global campaign to support start-ups and micro business by visiting the website or following the Twitter hashtag.
by Jo | Jan 13, 2015 | BLOG |
If you are on my mailing list or even read my recent post Why I’ll be Supporting #MicroBizMattersDay on 9 January, you would have known all about #MicroBizMattersDay last Friday and how I was taking part.
Wow! What a busy day… In the run up to the day I was in charge of the MicroBizMattersDay.rocks website, and I was on updating it in real time with all the Google Hangouts being broadcast throughout the day. Many people got involved and there was a huge surge in articles and blogs being published all over the Internet, so I was already trying to add these to the website to keep everyone updated.
My favourite hangout of the day had to be the one with Charlie Mullins of Pimlico Plumbers in #BuildingTradesHour, what an entertaining hangout! But I did find some time in my day to take part in a Google Hangout of my own, in the #OnlineServicesHour which is below for you to watch if you’d like to check out my virtual hat.
So what now?
Well plans are already underway for the next #MicroBizMattersDay which will be held on January 8 2016 – so watch this space, and do join us next year, it was a rocking day (as Tony would say!). You can email me if you’d like to go on the mailing list for updates.
