Apt Virtual Assistance

We are so incredibly excited to share that we are the very proud winners of the 'Independent Virtual Assistant of the Year 2024' award at PA Forum's West Midlands PA Awards this year! 🥂🎉

A huge thank you to Daniel Skermer, the PA Forum team, and to all involved, for this incredible honour, and for organising such a beautiful and action-packed 1920s-themed evening, which was filled with opulence, prestige, enchantment and glamour, held at The National Conference Centre, at The National Motorcycle Museum, in Birmingham. 🍾🤩

We had an amazing time, and it was such a special way to celebrate the supportive and collaborative community of Executive & Business Support Professionals across the West Midlands business community and beyond - a huge congratulations to all fellow finalists and winners! 👏💜

As always, a very special thank you goes to our wonderful clients, colleagues, friends, family and supporters, who make it possible for fantastic achievements such as this one to happen. It's such a pleasure to support talented and inspiring small business owners, and we're so grateful for this wonderful recognition of our journey over the last six years! 💫

We're so proud to be a finalist yet again this year, at the wonderful Digital Women Awards in the category of Virtual Assistant of the Year 2024! 🥂

The Digital Women Awards is an annual celebration of the incredible women working in and around digital and digital-based businesses. As they've put it: "In an increasingly digital world, virtual assistants are becoming the backbone of many businesses, providing essential support that allows entrepreneurs and executives to focus on their core activities. The finalists for the Virtual Assistant of the Year award have showcased exceptional dedication, innovation, and excellence in their roles." 🙌

It's a huge honour to be celebrated as a finalist alongside such talented VAs, a huge thank you to the Digital Women team and judges for this amazing recognition! 💜

Bring on the weekend and the celebrations! 🎉

What a full day this 20th June is:

➡️ National Freelancers Day 2024

➡️ World Productivity Day 2024

➡️ World Refugee Day 2024

➡️ Summer Solstice Day 2024

I'm sure the list doesn't stop there, but we felt these four highlight the diverse and interconnected aspects of our global community.

👩‍💻 National Freelancers Day 2024 reminds us of the growing and essential role of independent workers who drive innovation and flexibility in our economies - we are proud to be part of this group and support other small business owners to thrive.

⚙️ World Productivity Day 2024 encourages us to reflect on how we can better enhance our efficiency and effectiveness in both personal and professional capacities, and in a sustainably conscious way, to foster a culture of continuous improvement for everyone around us.

🌐 World Refugee Day 2024 serves as a poignant reminder of the resilience and courage of millions of displaced individuals around the world, urging us to extend our empathy, support, and solidarity to those most in need.

☀️ Summer Solstice Day 2024 marks the official start of summer (hopefully?!), a time to celebrate the longest day of the year, giving us a chance to celebrate all of these and more, and embrace the warmth and light that this season brings.

Together, these events underscore the importance of recognising and appreciating the multifaceted nature of our lives, the challenges we face, and the opportunities for growth and connection that lie ahead.

What else will you be celebrating today?

Being a small business owner can be tough: always having to navigate through unpredictable weather patterns – from the stormy challenges of running a business successfully, to sunny opportunities of growth.

This is why having a Virtual Assistant on board can be like having an all-weather companion. A VA is always prepared to support you through every forecast, and ensure your small business thrives in any climate.

Your VA can help you prepare for every type of weather too: if you’re feeling overwhelmed and need trustworthy help with essential yet time consuming tasks; if perhaps you haven’t got efficient systems in place to support you in your daily business admin; if you need creative assistance in marketing, to best represent your brand; or simply if you want to start scaling your business, but can't yet commit to hiring an employee.

There are many ways a VA can support their clients, so if you’d like to discuss how AptVA could be of assistance to you, get in touch. We pride ourselves in providing bespoke assistance, tailored to you, and we believe there's no better time (or weather) to start outsourcing!

What wonderful news to receive on International VA Day! AptVA is delighted to be a finalist at PA Forum’s East Midlands PA Awards 2024, for the ‘Virtual Assistant of the Year' Award! 🥂

The East Midlands PA Awards recognises and celebrates the incredible talent and achievements of those working in an Executive or Business Support Role. The winners will be announced in the Awards evening in Leicester in September, and we are so looking forward to celebrating the many talented VAs within our wonderful profession. A huge thank you to the PA Forum team, Daniel Skermer, and judges for this lovely recognition! 🙏

As always, a very special thank you to our clients, colleagues, friends, family & supporters, who through their wonderful trust and support, make it possible for us to continue thriving, and inspire us to keep on doing what we love doing! 💜

Happy International Virtual Assistants Day 2024! Today is dedicated to celebrating all the amazing and talented Virtual Assistants around the world, and the many varied services they provide to business owners 🎉

Yesterday we had a wonderful evening celebrating our local London VA community, at the first (of hopefully many!) London VA Network meet-up, hosted by two lovely ladies - Jules Taylor Taylor Made PA and Susan Wright The Wright VA , in Bow Bar at the London Metropole Hotel. It was such a joy to be amongst such great and inspiring company!

Our role is one which has grown considerably in the UK in recent times, and that evolves every day, thanks to the continuous growth and advances in technology, and the remote support that we can offer. Today we celebrate the dedication, efficiency, and professionalism of virtual assistants everywhere 💜🥂

Today is a special day for AptVA, as we celebrate our SIXTH business birthday! 🥳

It has been a thrilling journey so far, full of so many achievements, as well as challenges. We are, as always, so grateful for the trust and support from our wonderful clients, colleagues, family, friends, supporters and followers - a heartfelt thank you to you all! 💜

Our hearts are full with optimism for the future, but they are also heavy this week, from seeing the suffering and tragic losses due to the major floods currently happening in Sarah's hometown, Porto Alegre, and in the whole state of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. Our thoughts are with the growing number of people who are displaced, have lost so much, and are still far from feeling safe. The effects of climate change are undeniable, and we must all help in any way that we can, if we are to prevent further disasters globally 🙏

Happy International Women's Day! 💜

This year's IWD 2024 campaign theme is , a very apt theme in our opinion 😉 and their aim is to inspire everyone to collectively forge a more inclusive world for women.

We believe that everyone everywhere can inspire inclusion. As explains 'to truly include women means to openly embrace their diversity of race, age, ability, faith, body image, and how they identify. Worldwide, women must be included in all fields of endeavour.'

According to a new report from the World Bank cited by TheGuardian this week, there is no equality for working women in any country in the world, which reveals that the global gender gap is far bigger than previously thought. It shows that globally, women earn just 77 cents of each dollar earned by a man. Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank Group states that “all over the world, discriminatory laws and practices prevent women from working or starting businesses on an equal footing with men. Closing this gap could raise global gross domestic product by more than 20% – essentially doubling the global growth rate over the next decade – but reforms have slowed to a crawl.” We need to bring more awareness to this, on International Women's Day and beyond, in order to forge lasting positive change for women and girls, inspiring inclusion every day.

We love working with so many amazing female founders and women-led small businesses. We're so grateful for their trust and support in our own small business, so that we can all continuously thrive and contribute to collective global growth.

Let's strive to work together to for a more equal world 🙌

This amazing testimonial is from the wonderful Nathan Illman _nursewellbeingmission 🙌

It's an absolute pleasure to assist Nathan, and support his fantastic work at Nurse Wellbeing Mission, where he supports nurses and midwives to prepare for emotionally challenging work, using practical preventative mental health tools to help them flourish.

Through valuable workshops on self-compassion, stress management, compassionate leadership and moral distress, Nathan's approach enhances individual and teams' wellbeing and creates a place to help nurses feel heard, empowered and equipped to flourish in their roles, to do the incredible work that they do.

We're very grateful for Nathan's kind words and trust in our work, and we are looking forward to continue witnessing his business grow from strength to strength!

Some amazing news to start this week with… AptVA is delighted to be a finalist at PA Forum ’s West Midlands PA Awards 2024, in the ‘Independent Virtual Assistant of the Year’ Award category! 🥂

Now into its eighth year, the West Midlands PA Awards recognises and celebrates the incredible talent and achievements of those working in an Executive or Business Support Role.

The winners will be announced in the Awards evening in July this year, and we are so looking forward to it. It is so rewarding to be recognised and celebrated - congratulations to all the finalists and a huge thank you to the PA Forum team, Daniel Skermer, and judges for this wonderful recognition! 🙏

As always, a very special thank you to our clients, colleagues, friends, family & supporters, who through their wonderful trust and support, make it possible for us to continue thriving, and inspire us to keep on doing what we love doing! 💜

The big day is finally here! Wishing a very Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating Christmas day today!🎉

May this Christmas be filled with joy, love, health and much strength, to overcome the many challenges humanity is facing in the world 🎄✨💜

Day 24 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

As we end our Christmas countdown, we’d like to thank you kindly for embarking on this journey with us, perhaps for the second year, following last year’s advent calendar launch! 🎉

We hope that you have enjoyed it and that it has been valuable to you. We also hope that you’ve been able to learn more about some of the ways you could support the amazing small businesses included this year, who we are so fond of 💜

There are so many more we could mention of course, but only a limited amount of days in the countdown... so we think it’s safe to say we’ll be back next Christmas, with many more fantastic businesses to share with you! 😊

As you may be aware, at AptVA we take pride in supporting small businesses (which is why we dedicate time to creating this calendar!), and we love working with them too. We thrive in seeing our clients thrive – and we admire their talent in wearing so many hats, which is why we offer support to offload some of those essential yet time-consuming tasks. This is why we provide consistent and efficient high-quality support, through a range of services, to suit small businesses who need it the most. 🤗

We are ending our Christmas countdown with an invitation for you to explore our website further to find out more about the services we offer support in, so that you can perhaps connect us with someone who would benefit from a trustworthy, efficient, and creative right-hand in their business, to start 2024 at their best!

Thank you for joining us in this awe-inspiring journey, and we wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas Eve!🎄

Day 23 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Samantha Jayasuriya is the wonderful leadership energy coach from Sun & Sky Coaching Sun & Sky Coaching , and she works across a variety of business networks to help successful professionals achieve their goals. Using personal coaching strengths to help her clients connect themselves and their work, she helps leaders be the leaders they want to be 💫

Sam also offers interactive workshops, supporting teams to flourish, as well as corporate and education masterclasses and talks. We love Sam’s positive energy and enthusiasm, and she is a joy to be in the presence of.

As we start to arrive at the end of the year, and perhaps need to turn up the dial on our clarity, confidence in our future, and resilience for 2024, Sam may just be the perfect ray of sunshine on a winter’s morning, to support us in that powerful and challenging journey...

Day 22 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Tania Cuturi and Anne Hellgren are two amazing small business owners who have formed a wonderful collaboration together, to bring to life ‘Purple Coach Conversations’ Purple Coach Conversations , an incredible platform to facilitate conversations around race.

Anne is the Founder of Anne Hellgren Coaching, a Relationship Expert and Internationally Certified Coach, Board Member and podcast host, and she has a passion for empowering people in their relationships so they attract and maintain passionate, loving and joyful relationships. Tania is the Founder of Tania Cuturi Coaching, and she is a Working Mum Coach for 21st-century mums, helping career mums bravely juggle their personal and professional lives so that they can create balance without sacrificing what they want.

At Purple Coach Conversations, they are very transparent in stating that they are not diversity and inclusion experts, however, they are both Coaches who were inspired to launch a platform to facilitate conversations around race, which they hoped would help bring positive and sustainable change.

We have followed their journey from launch and greatly admire their initiative 💜. They launch new Interview conversations with a diverse range of guests and recommend a wide variety of resources, which you can view and follow through the link below:

https://www.purplecoachconversations.com/

Day 21 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Nicla Diceglie is the wonderfully charismatic Interior Designer behind Nicla D. Interiors NiclaD Interiors , and she is on a mission to enhance people’s quality of life by designing healthier and happier spaces, using Biophilic Interior Design 🪴

If you are not familiar with Biophilic Interior Design, Nicla has brilliant resources to share, it is definitely worth learning more about its importance. Using this concept, which we've learnt is a big interior design trend too, will create a sense of harmony between your home and the world outside. It is perfect for those who love nature, and it generates huge benefits to our mental health too - especially great for small business owners working from home.

Nicla is available for online as well as on site consultations, so location is not usually an issue, especially as she recently relocated from London. We are a fan of the beautiful spaces she curates, transforming homes into stylish spaces that inspire and compliment general wellbeing!

Day 20 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Victoria Rennoldson is a Culture and Communication Coach, and the founder of Culture Cuppa Culture Cuppa .

Born and based in London - one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world - and working with international teams, Victoria would see talented professionals who couldn’t contribute their full valuable expertise to the team and the business, because they didn’t always feel able to speak up and share their voice. The result was often that they didn’t fully shine, they became less visible than their colleagues, and the team didn’t get the benefit of their knowledge and skills. Victoria is passionate about achieving an equal share of voice for everybody in multicultural and multilingual teams when you are working in English, and so she founded Culture Cuppa, bridging this gap.

She works with individuals and teams all over the world, who need help with communicating professionally in English, and with the cultural challenges of working successfully in global teams, as well as with international customers and partners.

We love listening to her fantastic podcast, Cultural Communication Confidence, which is full of valuable tips around growing our impact through confident cultural communication, as well as rich insights into cultural intelligence and cultural awareness. Podcast episodes are released weekly – check them out if you haven’t yet, and share them with someone who could really benefit from them too! 🎧

Day 19 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Josie Mitchell founded ‘London Sports Therapy’ after working with professional athletes and sportspeople, to bring her expertise to a broad client base across West and Central London, and we are so glad she did!

Josie and her team cater to a broad range of clients who want to overcome physical discomfort, and return to pain-free, fluid movement. They help people suffering from sports injuries, from chronic pain from the realities of modern day life, and even postnatal women. Through their running clinic, they also assist budding sportspeople and elite athletes, to get in peak condition and limit the incidence of injuries.

Josie’s help and assessment was invaluable when Sarah’s other half was recovering from a sports injury, we highly recommend her and her team! 🙌

Make sure you check out London Sports Therapy's Gift Vouchers this Christmas – it might just be a wonderful and truly valuable gift for someone special in your life who needs it!

Day 18 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Asha Shah is the amazing lady behind Distinct Styling . She is a qualified Personal, Brand & Fashion Stylist based in London, with a strong passion for sustainability. We love her Sustainability Manifesto, and dedication for promoting sustainability and ethics in fashion, while also inspiring her clients to do the same 🙌

Asha offers a variety of services, including Personal Brand Styling, Personal Styling with full wardrobe edits, and occasion styling, as well as Workshops and Pre-Loved Styling Events. We love her many collaborations with other businesses (such as with Anne Nicholls’ Mimi Pia projects, shown on day 1!) and how positive the impact of her work is. Asha helps people feel body confident and find an ethical and sustainable wardrobe to match their lifestyle – isn’t that the dream?!

Learn more about Asha’s services here: https://distinctstyling.com/

Day 17 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Margaret Nicholls is a highly experienced journalist, editor and project manager, skilled at working across a wide range of publications and brands. Through her business, Conscious Content, she uses her knowledge and experience to deliver high-quality content to help companies boost their businesses. We love how generous and knowledgeable she is, and this comes across in her work, where she brings her years of experience working at top publishing companies and content marketing agencies, where she collected a brilliant book of contacts, packed with amazing connections 🔗

She provides integrated PR and copywriting services, as well as PR training for small businesses in how to secure coverage in the media. Promoting your business in the media is an essential part of marketing, and as Margaret advises – reviews and recommendations by journalists and influencers are worth their weight in gold! Contact Margaret to see how she can help your business:

https://margaretnicholls.co.uk/

Day 16 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Shehnaaz Latif is an impact and evaluation specialist, who founded TOOT – Tell Others Out There, encouraged by meeting many coaches, mentors and service providers who were making a really positive difference in people’s lives, but were not capturing and sharing those impact stories to help their brilliant businesses shine ✨

Shehnaaz has honed the art of client listening, becoming an expert in designing questionnaires, carrying out interviews, analysing client data and telling people’s stories of their experience of services they receive. Through TOOT, she offers several Testimonial Gathering Packages, with options for ‘Do it yourself’, where she trains you and ‘Done for you’, where she takes over for you.

AptVA has attended her ‘7 Steps to Sparkling Testimonials’ workshop in the past and learnt so much about the importance of sparkling testimonials for our business, and the best ways to make testimonials reflect the business’ values, and the values we bring to our clients!

Day 15 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Luan Wise Luan Wise - Social Media Trainer is a seasoned marketer, experienced trainer and award-winning author, who advocates that real value comes from empowering her clients and their teams to get results from social media marketing for themselves.

She has a unique approach to social media marketing training, and we think she is so knowledgeable in her field. We are huge fans of all the amazing tips, insights and resources she shares with her audience through her newsletters and her website thelighthouse.social💡

AptVA is also a proud owner of Luan’s book ‘Relax! It’s Only Social Media’, which won a National Indie Excellence award, and her social media planner, listed by the Independent online as one of the 9 best books for entrepreneurs. She has a second edition out now, ‘Planning for Success’, and it is definitely on our Christmas wish list, as is ‘Using Social Media for Work’, which came out last week!

Day 14 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

AptVA met Lucy Whittington at last year’s UK VA Conference, where she delivered a brilliant talk as one of the Speakers, and coincidentally where she also presented us with the 'UK Outstanding VA' award which we won on the night! ⭐

Lucy is the wonderful mind behind ‘Brilliant Business Things’ - she is an author, speaker and marketer. We loved learning about her MOPS concept (a commercially-focused review and plan for your business to clean up your marketing and sales) during her talk at the VA Conference.

We also gifted her book ‘Find Your Thing’ to a close family member at the time, who really enjoyed it, and we thoroughly enjoy her marketing insights in her inspiring digital marketing emails. If you are looking to simplify and smooth out your marketing so it’s easy to do and gets you the clients you truly want, consider speaking with Lucy!

Day 13 of our Advent Calendar 2023, showcasing 24 small businesses during the countdown to Christmas:

Annabel Kaye and Jo Brianti are two brilliant ladies, and the core team behind KoffeeKlatch , which provides a growing range of industry specific contracts, policies and support for businesses of all sizes, so that they can remain compliant, legal and stress-free. AptVA’s contracts have always come from Koffeeklatch, since we started trading 5 years ago, and we love using them with our clients ✅

Annabel is an adviser, coach, mentor, consultant, trainer, and professional speaker; both in-person and at virtual events, and she loves helping you get your mind around contracts and compliance, without giving you a headache!
Jo is a qualified Data Processing Officer and GDPR specialist, with a strong background in business automation and tech. She offers consulting, training, and advice on GDPR to a wide variety of businesses.

If you are looking to get legally compliant or have any questions around these topics, we recommend contacting them at Koffeeklatch:

https://www.koffeeklatch.co.uk/