As a Virtual Assistant, I’m often initially approached by micro-business owners to alleviate whatever admin burden they have: entering data, cleaning email lists, formatting reports etc. Often as I get to know the client and their business better, the value added actually comes from analysing their administrative systems and seeing if their life could be simplified by implementing new ones or in some cases even making certain systems obsolete.

With aftershocks of the Brexit decision of 24th June 2016 still rippling around the world maybe this is the right time to look inside your own business and see what improvements you can be making to admin systems and procedures so that you are working at your most efficient not only now but also to prepare for the future, whatever that might bring…

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.