Here is why you should outsource to a virtual assistant…

16 October 2018 by Vicky

Do you deserve a bit more time and money? We believe you do.

We believe every small business owner needs and deserves a great Virtual Assistant. Why? Because a great VA will save you time and make you money. Bear with us on this one…

So let’s just say you have a task you have to do each month. It takes you 5 hours. Quite honestly you hate doing it, you don’t really have the skill set for it and you procrastinate over it each month.

It’s always sat on your to do list making you feel slightly uncomfortable, guilty and let’s face it a little bit resentful that it won’t just vanish from your list FOREVER.
You have one in mind, don’t you?

If you hand this task over to a VA with the right skill set it’s likely they can do this task in a fraction of the time… or they could even automate it for you.

The task can be outsourced to a virtual assistant in 3 hours each month, saving you 5 hours. Or it could be automated as a one-off project and now your task only takes 30 min each month!

Now you have 4.5 hours free, 5 if you just outsource the 30 min each month. 5 hours to focus on your business and what you are great at doing; to look after a new profitable client; get out networking; spend time on marketing, sales, strategy or simply spending time with family or friends. What about that hobby you’ve let slide or that new service or product you’ve been wanting to launch?

Now just think about all the processes you have in your small business. Taking up time and energy. Keeping you away from productive, money making tasks. Repetitive but necessary processes that a VA could look after, schedule or automate for you. Whether its admin, social media or email marketing. Those tasks that are taking you hours each month could take a VA a lot less and your time is then… well that’s up to you what you do with it!

We’ve proven this time and time again with happy clients and we would love to show you how we could do the same for your business.

Want to know more? Just drop us a message and we can arrange a call. Simply email help@pink-spaghetti.co.uk and we will put you in touch with your closest Pink Spaghetti PA to get your tasks sorted.

Written by Laura Cooper, Franchise for Pink Spaghetti Newbury & Swindon since September 2014.

Business as Usual On the Beach

1 August 2017 by Vicky

Juggling a small business and the school holidays can be difficult for parent entrepreneurs, and hopefully you’ve planned some holiday time for yourself and your family. But do you check your emails on the beach? Are you tweeting as you sightsee? Do you fret about missed opportunities while you’re trying to relax?

Many people start their own business to improve their work-life balance, then find it impossible to switch off and enjoy the downtime. The good news is that you can outsource many tasks and automate others to keep things ticking over while you’re away.

Tasks to Automate

Social Media posts

Are you spending all day posting on different social media sites? It’s important to regularly connect with your customers, particularly on platforms such as Twitter where frequent posting is essential, but there are tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck which enable you to schedule posts in advance across multiple platforms.

Email responses

Why not set up an automatic follow up to enquiries? We find that Mailchimp can take the strain out of your email marketing, and your Pink Spaghetti PA can always help you by setting up a template.

Accounting

Use a tool such as Xero – it can automatically link to your bank accounts, PayPal, etc. and allow you to keep on top of your accounts.

Tasks to Outsource

Social Media content

Are you spending precious time trying to come up with regular content to share on social media when you could be on holiday? You’ll be surprised how quickly it can be done by an expert, and it’s the sort of thing Pink Spaghetti PAs do all the time. We can help with automation too, and give you more time to concentrate on the important things.

Business Calls

If you want to get away and really relax, you don’t want to be checking your phone constantly for missed messages. Your Pink Spaghetti PA can monitor and respond to calls for you while you take a break.

Research

Any kind of research is time consuming and can eat into your day, especially when you’re trying to get organised in anticipation of taking time off over the summer. A Pink Spaghetti PA can shoulder this burden for you and leave you free to tie up loose ends before your break. We can even research holiday options and organise your getaway for you if the demands of your business mean this remains at the bottom of the to-do list!

5 Key things we didn’t know before starting a small business

5 June 2017 by Vicky

1. Outsource
Entrepreneurs often feel they need to be able to do everything on their own, but this can lead to you wasting precious time doing mundane tasks that someone else could do better and faster. Look for ways to automate or outsource repetitive jobs, and you’ll have more time for the important things. You’re also only as good as the team you have behind you. Make sure you have the right people in place to deliver the service you want to deliver.

2. You’ll spend a lot of time running your business
So you’ve started your business because you’re passionate about what you do, but as a business owner you’ll spend the majority of your time on administration, marketing, selling, business planning and answering a whole load of emails. To make any money out of your new business these are things you need to get to grips with, even if admin’s not your first passion.

3. The importance of making friends with the media
However fantastic your product or service, you need to tell people about it if your business is to succeed. Local press can often have space to fill and will welcome newsworthy stories about your new business. Editorial will often seem more credible to the general public than advertising, so make friends with your local media and harness the power of free publicity.

4. It’s about solving a problem, rather than making money
Obviously you’re looking to make a profit, but your first goal should be to provide a product or service that solves a problem for your customers. If you get this right, you’ll attract more customers and create a profitable business.

5. It’s like running a marathon
You can burst off the blocks at a fast pace, but you’re not going to be able to keep that up for the whole race. There will be intense sprints, followed by periods of jogging along to stay in the running. It’s not the destination that’s important, unless that marathon finish line is somewhere you particularly need to be, it’s keeping going for the whole journey.

Small is Beautiful

4 March 2017 by Vicky

So you run your own micro business, congratulations! You may be surprised to learn that you are in the majority – businesses employing fewer than 10 people make up 95.6% of all UK businesses.

So what’s great about being tiny? There are myriad advantages to small businesses, both to the business owner and to the customer. Here are a few of them:

For the entrepreneur:

Independence – be honest, who hasn’t ever wanted to be their own boss? People working for themselves are happier too.

Personal Satisfaction – you’re working in a field you really enjoy, and you have the creative freedom you only dreamed of in the corporate world.

Work/life balance – you can set your own hours, reduce your commute to zero and see as much of your family as you want to!

Learning opportunities – as a cog in the corporate machine you typically only perform a tiny part of the overall function. As a business owner you have to get involved in the whole process, even when you outsource parts of it to other experts.

For the customer:

A narrow focus – small businesses will often service a niche in the market that big business does not cater for.

Flexibility – a small business has more scope to be adaptable, sometimes changing its business model for each client.

The personal touch – in today’s world of technology and automation, customers appreciate the opportunity to speak to the same person each time. The opportunity to speak to the business decision maker will rarely arise with a larger company.

Technology has done much to enhance the natural advantages of small businesses, but technology changes quickly. When you don’t have the internal resources of a large company to call upon, strategic outsourcing to other experts can bring the benefits of a larger business while still retaining the advantages of the small.

#smallisbeautiful

Be More Organised in 2017

2 February 2017 by Vicky

If you are one of the 5.3 million small businesses, how you grow your business is key. We know from experience you have to ‘work smart’ so here are our top tips to be more organised. Once you’re organised, you can pack more of the right stuff into each and every day and cut out the tiring and frustrating bits which make you feel hassled.
Follow these straightforward steps and see what a difference they make.
1. Know what’s importa virtual administrative assistant nt to you – we all have long to-do lists, but what items on it are really important? What would you regret not doing…
2. Conversely, know what’s not important to you. What can you stop doing or delegate to free up time?
3. Just get started. Break the task down and set some parameters for when you’d like to achieve certain aspects. What simple steps can you take right now?
4. Set a time frame for finishing – and commit to it.
Accept that you don’t have to do it all yourself. With a bit of imagination – and some support from Pink Spaghetti – 2017 could be your best year ever!

Do you Vlog for your Business? Here’s How to Get Started!

7 June 2016 by Vicky

As the popularity of Vlogs (Video blogs) increases, and the statistics show they are great for engagement, we asked Magic Pony Films to come up with some tips to help you dip your toe in the water!

Video blogs help you to build connections with potential customers; they show your human side and once you get over your nerves for filming then it can be easier than written content and definitely a quicker way to spread your message to the world. Here are our top tips for video blogs:

1. Content – before filming you need to be certain of your content. It is great to get your message out there but you have to have a clear plan. It is about quality not quantity. Where does your video blog fit in with your marketing plan? It’s important to be authentic, viewers will not be able to identify with you if you are being fake and are likely to switch off. Make sure your opening is catchy; we have all watched videos which make us want to switch off in the first few seconds, don’t let this be yours! Video blogs should not be all about self-promotion, sharing your expertise is likely to leave a lasting impact and this will help viewers to remember you and see you as a ‘go to’ person should they need your services in the future. The best video blogs are those where people share their passion for a subject.

2. Audio – think about your environment. There is no point in setting up the perfect shot if viewers are distracted by the sound of your fridge. People need to hear what you are saying. You may wish to consider purchasing an external microphone if this is something that you want to do regularly.

3. Lighting – you need to be seen, don’t position yourself directly in front of the bright light of a window or in the corner of a room where there is no light. Think about what lighting is accessible to you where you are.

4. Timing – the shorter the better. The average person has a 7-second attention span, one second less than a goldfish! Whilst the golden rule is less is more, the length of a video should be determined by the emotional trigger you’re aiming for. If it is humour or shock then short and sharp is the way to go, but if it is nostalgia or pride then you may need a longer story. Always keep your viewer in mind. It may be helpful to get feedback from someone who is not afraid to share their opinion with you!

5. Eye contact – make sure you look directly into the camera not at the image of yourself if filming on an iPhone or iPad. People want to get to know you and trust in what you are saying and this is helped by eye contact. Dodgy eye movements are never good! Don’t be afraid to show emotion, particularly a smile. People buy from people.

6. Framing – if you are going to be filming yourself, look at buying a mount for your camera or phone, this enables you to set up your shot. You need to ensure that you are the main feature of your film not all the space around you, because you have your phone propped up. The main focus should be your head, neck and the top of your shoulders. Most importantly do not film yourself vertically.

Good luck with your Video Blogs!

Thanks to Magic Pony films for their guest blog. You can find out more about them by going to www.magicponyfilm.co.uk

Inspirational Businesswomen in celebration of Be A Millionaire Day 2016

15 May 2016 by Vicky

Friday 20th May 2016 is National ‘Be A Millionaire Day’. At Pink Spaghetti we have several inspirational businesswomen as customers who may well belong to this exclusive club. Millionaires or not though, we think all of our clients are 1 in a million and we thought we would share with you some of their successes.

One of our Pink Spaghetti Franchisees, Laura from Newbury, has the privilege of working with a very special lady who has turned a small venture into a thriving business. Romilla Arber runs Honesty Group in West Berkshire, started just two years ago. Honesty Group has gone from strength to strength in a short space of time and provides a benchmark for all women thinking of making that leap and starting their own company. We spent some time with her recently to understand how she has made it such a success:

Pink Spaghetti Q&A

1. What prompted you to start your business and how/where/when did it start?
I wanted to start a business venture in the food sector that could make a reasonable profit whilst retaining its integrity towards staff, customers and suppliers. I started it in 2014 at the Honesty Cookery School.

2. How many people do you now employ?
We now employ 30 staff across the group.

3. What has made your business so successful? Could you give us 5 tips?
My 5 key tips are working hard to hire and retain the right staff, making good customer service a priority, training and developing staff, charging competitively, having a strong and clear vision.

4. How do you juggle the work/life balance?
This is very important to me. I try to work only 4 days a week and stop at 5pm every day.

5. Do you have anyone in particular who has inspired you in business?
My husband had a very successful business so he is definitely my source of inspiration.

We also wanted to find out from Laura what makes Romilla so special and how she is a source of inspiration to her.

Romilla has rapidly grown not only a business with multiple aspects to it but also a brand in which people trust. Across all areas of the business there is a common theme of honesty and quality. Managing all of the different areas of the business must take some serious juggling and for most people running just one of those areas well would be a huge achievement yet somehow Romilla manages to ensure an exceptionally high standard across the board. The fact there is a clear vision and passion behind the Honesty brand is very evident and people buy into it. When Romilla told me it all started in 2014 I was genuinely shocked as there is such a strong ethos and brand behind it that can sometimes take companies years and years to build and nurture. It just goes to show if you have the passion and drive to put in the hard work you can achieve your vision. I am extremely honoured to work for Romilla and her drive and enthusiasm inspires me every day.

Romilla’s company, ‘Honesty Group’ features a Cookery School, Pub, Restaurant, Accommodation, Bakery, Coffee Shops and Catering Company. Romilla is also a published author of two cookery books and founder of the Food Education Trust. For more details visit www.honestygroup.co.uk.

The Work Life Balance of Being A Mum

4 March 2016 by Vicky

Every member of the Pink Spaghetti team is a mum, every franchisee, every member of staff. We all have very different skills, but there is one thing we are all great at – juggling!

We speak to a lot of people, friends, customers, and time and time again we meet people who think they should be able to do it all, but can’t. They all have the misguided impression that other people do everything, brilliantly. What they forget is that people probably think that of them too.

Life was busy before children, and now add in the school and nursery runs, planning, and of course spending time actually enjoying the children, and every other area of our lives gets squeezed!

People simply cannot do everything, we all have to make choices. Do we sit and play with our children? Great! But the cleaning won’t get done. Home cooked food all of the time? Yummy! But that won’t keep the paperwork up to date.

The truth is that there are only so many hours in the day, and we choose how we spend them (and a high percentage of it may be on Facebook!) so we need to look at how we can carry on juggling, that is a fact of life, how do we keep all those balls spinning?

Want to have a clean house AND spend time with your children? You can! Get a cleaner. Win win, you don’t like cleaning, get to do what you love instead and everything is achieved.

Want to keep up to date with all your admin tasks, as well as spending some family time at the weekend? You can! Outsource to a team of professional virtual assistants such as our lovely team of juggling Pink spaghetti PA’s!

It is all about choices, and how we spend our time. No one can do everything, those that look like they do probably have a team of people behind them. Most successful people do.

Administration is Not My Thing!

13 January 2016 by Vicky

We know that not everyone loves admin, and the team at Pink Spaghetti do! So we asked one of our customers to tell us about their experience – does this sound like you?

Elicia runs Pink Spaghetti Basildon, Brentwood and Grays.

“Administration is not my thing! I’m sure I’d have more time if I could get on top of it. I need your help!”
This is how the conversation started with Debra, The Independent Distributor for Utility Warehouse (www.debraphillips.club). Debra hired me to help her with the administration and organisation of her paperwork and filing system. It involved sorting through all her archived and recent documents and dividing them into household and business, subdividing them into sections which Debra prescribed and then analysing and improving the existing filing system.

This is my kind of job and I am in my element. I arrive in the morning with my trusty labelling machine and get straight into it, papers and files spread around me working right through to the end of the afternoon, fuelled by my packed lunch and a generous supply of coffee. Debra is going to go from administrative chaos to a well organised and comprehensive system that she can easily understand and access and, in her words, “if I died tomorrow, anyone would understand!”

“Elicia has come to my home office several times now and each time I can see the improvement in my filing system. We have a short discussion about what I would like to achieve in that day and Elicia just gets on with it, interpreting and anticipating my requirements in such a professional way. I’ve never had so much interaction about my filing system before!”

This is what hiring a Pink Spaghetti PA is all about. We come in and take the tasks that you do not like, haven’t got time to do or just don’t know how to do. We are your extra pair of hands and work on the tasks as if you were doing them yourself but giving you the time to focus on your business.

“Whilst Elicia is here, I can continue to support my customers and colleagues, knowing that I can trust her to work efficiently.”

I work autonomously or together with Debra to bring her filing and home office into the order she wants. Pink Spaghetti can provide this and many other services for the business owner who could do with that 25th hour in their day.

www.pink-spaghetti.co.uk

Why Social Media Works

15 September 2015 by Vicky

I was walking home from dropping the children at school one morning last week when I saw my builder’s van drive past. This made me think about the fact that I have been vaguely thinking for ages that I should get in touch with him.

In the 15 minutes between then and getting home, I had come up with a whole list of things we needed doing; the dodgy chimney breast to be sorted before next winter’s high winds, a quote for rendering the house I had been wondering about, would he replace fascia boards and could I book him in to sand our floor next time we are away?

Quite a list, and one that will bring him in some good money, and yet he had not done anything to sell to me, no sales call, no special offer. Had I not been reminded that morning, by seeing his van drive past, the list I gave him would have remained jobs still to be done in my head.

To me, this sums up the benefits of social media to a small business. Many businesses do not have a van that drives around their target area, they are home based, or certainly a fixed location. They may meet people at networking, but that is for a few hours a month and adverts cost money, and are clearly selling something.

Social media is a Godsend for these businesses, where they can give out tips, things they know because they are brilliant at what they do, and they can interact with people. Sharing a comment or two with someone you meet once a month at networking, via Twitter or Facebook, will keep you in their mind, whether it is a task or product they need from you, or they hear a friend or acquaintance talking about something they think you could help with.

We all know that we feel better about doing business with someone we feel we know. Enable your customers, and potential customers, to develop this sense of knowing by developing your brand on social media. The clue is in the title – ‘social’ media isn’t about listing what work you do, but allowing customers to develop a relationship with you and getting to know you and what you stand for.

Here at Pink Spaghetti we share lots of hints and tips on maximising the power of social media and indeed manage social media interactions and campaigns for many of our clients.

Give us a call, send us a Tweet, post on our Facebook page or find us on LinkedIn…we’re very sociable you know!
twitter.com/pink_spaghetti
facebook.com/pinkspaghetti
linkedin.com/pinkspaghetti