They say people buy from people so I’m delighted to be the first member to feature in Belfast PA network’s newly launched Members Moment this month!

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Guy Fawkes day what better day to talk about lighting the spark! Have you ever had a fascinating conversation that you never wanted to end?

The whole month of October was like that for me. I had a quieter month work wise but had some of the fascinating conversations in my life! I know that’s fairly huge declaration but then not surprising as I once told a friend If I ever write a book on my life it would be called ‘Declarations, Proclamations, and Superlatives’! When freelancers are asked why they become self-employed its very rarely about the money and in my case, I’ve really realised in last month it’s all about the energy you get from talking to fascinating people and their ideas which you can put no monetary value on. The more you open your mind, the more you allow it to expand and to let those effervescent conversations bubble up like a good bottle of champagne.

Featuring today in WIBNI ‘s Member’s Monday. Sharing with other business owners how I can save their time and sanity by taking away their admin pain!

ALISON MATTHEWS – VIRTUALI ADMIN SOLUTIONS

04/10/2017

Alison Matthews is an experienced PA turned VA (Virtual Assistant) and since May 2015 with her company VirtuAli Admin Solutions she has been helping time poor entrepreneurs regain some balance in their personal/working lives by taking their admin pain away. She normally works remotely or ‘virtually’ with her clients sharing documents and tasks online but can also come to your office to help you set up systems or help make it paperless.

I’m wearing one of many hats, speaking about my recent nomination as President of Lagan Valley Toastmasters Club, overcoming my fear of public speaking and climbing mountains!

Toastmasters International is a not-for-profit organisation that empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. It was set up in the U.S. in 1905 by Ralph Smedley to help young men initially to speak, conduct meetings, plan programs and work on committees in his local community. There are now 15,900 clubs in 142 countries worldwide. Men and women of all backgrounds are welcome.Learning a new skill is always exciting but getting over your fear of public speaking can be especially daunting because in front of an audience you are at your most vulnerable.

Toastmasters’ clubs provide a supportive environment, a journey with similar people where you can learn at your own pace.

When I studied French at Queens University Belfast, we read as many people did Albert Camus ‘l’étranger’. The definition of ‘étranger’ in Collins French Dictionary is : ‘foreign, alien, strange, irrelevant’. It has been a month now since Brexit decision and as someone who has freely lived and worked around Europe and now has been running a small business in NI for last year , this is my take on Brexit.

Despite virtual nature of my job, I am still of the generation that likes to send snail mail and was writing a card to my former boss in Luxemburg the other day who has just retired. As I was writing it, I was thinking if someone had said to me in May 2013 that I’d be leaving Luxembourg to go back to Northern Ireland by May 2014 and that by May 2015 I would have started my own business, I would have laughed. Yet here I am in Moira, Co.Armagh, May 2016 an entrepreneurial business woman and not totally broke!

When I was writing the card it made me think of the YB12 (Your Best Year Yet) workshop that I did with John Higgins last September and one of exercises was to write an email to your future self. I found mine the other day and am proud of what I achieved in the last 12 months, though of course there is still lots to do to build my virtual empire!

What does it take to make the leap to self-employment?

This is the question on the lips of anyone who’s ever thought about leaving the security of a full time job to go it alone. Making the decision is the first step, but how to turn that into a reality and stick at it is not always as clear cut.

Three years ago, I was working as a Personal Assistant (PA) to a senior Director in the headquarters of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg where I’d gone to work 9yrs previously as a bi-lingual Project Administrator. I’d got to the stage in my career where I could go as far as I wanted in my grade and had already taken a sideways step to get more experience. I knew I wanted to use the skills I already had developed in 14yrs of varied administrative posts: customer –orientated , knowledge sharing, adapting to different personalities , evolving with new technologies and working with a high level of autonomy but I wasn’t quite sure which way to turn as I couldn’t find a role which was demanding and interesting enough.