Guest blogger, Sophie Castle, has put together 10 Steps to Event Planning with Key Speakers. This advice comes from her long career working in Public Libraries. Running an exciting, engaging and successful event is no mean feat, but with the key principles outlined below, you will be well on your way to creating something truly memorable! If you need an extra pair of hands to help you with your event contact me to book a discovery call. Having worked in Public Libraries for over 14 years, mainly as a Children’s Librarian, I have extensive experience in running author events for people of all a ..read more

How to Create a Thin Frame In Canva Recently, I found myself struggling with how to create a thin frame in Canva! I needed to reduce the line thickness when trying to apply a frame to a template. It was really frustrating! I spent quite some time trying to search for the answer, but even that was a struggle!  When I finally discovered how to do this, it was a true lightbulb moment! I was so pleased to solve the problem and decided this was something I had to share, to save anyone else the same frustration! Watch my video to find out how! As a Virtual Assistant, I make it my business to k ..read more

As I begin to write this, I am already shuffling about in my chair, feeling my neck and back muscles tensing up.  You see, I have a chronic pain condition called Fibromyalgia.  This essentially means I spend every day of my life in some sort of pain or discomfort.  This, as you can imagine makes everyday life a little more challenging – and sometimes much more challenging if I’m experiencing a flare up! I would like to think that anyone who knows me, would say I’m pretty good at disguising this condition on the whole, unless you’re one of the lucky few, who gets to hear me moan ..read more

Self Development in 2023 – 5 ways you can work on your personal and professional life in 2023, using tools, courses, funding, and networking opportunities as recommended by Alison Quinn Virtual Assistant. 1. Finances Academy of Money Course Money Saving Expert in partnership with the Open University Enrol for this course to improve your financial skills. Join the 10,000s of others who have signed up to this online financial education course on the OU’s Open Learn platform! It’s free, and covers the following six key areas of personal finance: 1) Making good spending decisions. 2) Budgeti ..read more

The Future of the VA Industry: An Interplay of AI & Human Skills. In the rapidly evolving digital age, the symbiotic relationship between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human skills is shaping the future of all sectors, the Virtual Assistant (VA) industry being a prime example. Today’s Virtual Assistants are not just highly organised, multi-skilled individuals. They are adaptively intelligent professionals, skillfully blending AI efficiency with the irreplaceable touch of human interaction, creativity, and emotional intelligence. This powerful interplay is not about one replacing the oth ..read more

Since I took the life-changing decision to become a Virtual Assistant, I haven’t looked back! But learning to be disciplined and work from the comfort of my own home took a bit of getting used to! Here, I share some of my top tips for working from home!  1. Get Up And Get Ready For Work! Yes, staying in PJs all day whilst you work from bed sounds great and maybe for a day or two until the novelty wears off, that would be the case, but realistically this isn’t sustainable! Psychologically there is something very motivating about having to get up and get ready for the working day, so why no ..read more

7 ways to get motivated now! I’ve noticed that the post-Christmas lull is lingering way longer than usual! I don’t know about anyone else, but I didn’t even bother making any New Year’s resolutions this year.  Motivation has been at rock bottom!!!  It’s not just me that’s been feeling this way, all around me, there seems to be a general despondency and malaise.  Hardly surprising, given that we’re living through a global pandemic, in our third national lockdown and the Covid stats are climbing higher every day!   Lockdown This lockdown has hit harder than the previous two ..read more

Looming deadlines? Work mounting up? Inbox getting out of control? The horrible feeling that you have too much on your plate and you don’t know where to begin. We’ve all been there! A bit of pressure is good, but too much pressure can have a very detrimental effect on all areas of our lives and most importantly our health! It can lead to stress and worry and that can lead to a lack of sleep! The very thing needed to give us the energy we need to get through the day and to get on top of the workload! With all this tail spinning going on it is easy to find yourself in a very unproductive state ..read more

How many times have you heard the old saying ‘money can’t buy you time’. Maybe that was once true, but now in this virtual world, led by technology, this saying couldn’t be more wrong.  Virtual Assistant By working with a Virtual Assistant, you can offload those tasks that weigh you down, limit your productivity and cost you time! Those daily tasks distract from the things you are good at, the things you enjoy and the things that inspired you to grow a successful business in the first place. Invaluable A Virtual Assistant can be so much more than the person that handles the inbox or manag ..read more