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A short history of virtual assistants and remote working
A virtual assistant (VA) is a person who works remotely online. With technological developments virtual assistants are now able to perform all the tasks a secretary or administrator would traditionally handle while working from home but how did virtual assistants come into being?
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Balancing act
In 2020 the world at large had their lives unexpectedly shaken up and while this was different for everyone, my own particular snow globe moment was instrumental in me addressing my work life balance and becoming a virtual assistant. To be honest, the whole traditional working thing was beginning to lose its lustre some time…
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Make do and mend: how to repurpose blog posts
Over the summer I decided to stop publishing new content on my blog for a time. For almost two years blog writing has been a big part of my strategy to promote the work I do. I have written about the services I provide as a virtual assistant, things I need to know about for…
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A history of transcription
When I first began working, I was employed as an audio typist in surveyors offices. My working days were spent listening to audio recordings the surveyors made about the properties they visited and typing up their reports. Alongside my typewriter was a cassette machine, which played mini cassettes, headphones and underneath my desk was a…
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Lifelong learning
Recently I had the opportunity to attend a webinar – ‘Learning at work – how being a lifelong learner can make you happy.’ The event was hosted by Laughology an ethical, training and consulting organisation built around the psychology of humour, laughter and happiness and was one of many events held to mark Learning at…
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Hashtagging
Think you know everything there is to know about hashtags? From the Romans to social media today, the hash sign has an interesting history. The little symbol that looks like a noughts and crosses board has a multitude of names including hash, pound, number, octothorpe, crosshatch and hex and throughout history has been used as…
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Authenticity at work
Recently I had the opportunity to attend a workshop about being authentic at work. The workshop was run by Inclusive Recruiting, an organisation who aim to eradicate bias and inequities from the workplace and was presented by Andreena Leeanne, a lived experience speaker, self-care workshop facilitator, poet and author. This blog post was inspired by that…
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The trouble with junk mail
Of recent much has been written about the impact of plastic use on the environment but it is not only plastic that is a cause from concern. There is a growing waste paper mountain too which junk mail contributes to. Some days I receive more junk mail than actual mail, so recently I have been…
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Online abuse and its impacts
Recently I had the opportunity to attend a workshop about online abuse and it impacts, which formed part of the 17th University of Chester Diversity Festival. Established in 2006, the Diversity Festival gives attendees an opportunity to investigate, question and debate issues around diversity and equality in Britain and in the world at large. Each…
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How to write a marketing strategy
Investopedia defines a marketing strategy as a business’s overall game plan for reaching prospective leads and turning them into customers. Much like a game of chess, marketing strategy is concerned with evaluation, positioning, control of key areas and setting goals. The word strategy comes from the Greek language (στρατηγία stratēgia) meaning ‘art of troop leader;…
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Understanding the difference between marketing and branding
It is difficult to escape the words marketing and branding in the world today and it is easy to confuse them but marketing and branding are two different concepts and if you want your business to succeed, you need to understand the difference between the two. In this blog post, I will explain what marketing…
Humblebee 