It’s not just existing VA’s who are reading this book!

Here is a lovely email I have just received:

“Dear Nadine

I suspect you receive numerous emails from people that have read your book, so here is another one!

I never normally do this, but I just had to write to say how inspired I was.  As a very bored project/operations manager with the daily commute grinding me down while a childminder has all the joy of looking after my two children, I decided that it was time for a change.  It was such a joy to read your book and along the way I kept nodding, agreeing and frantically highlighting sections.”

I loved this message – it highlighted exactly the issue faced by many women.  We need to earn an income but want to look after our own children whilst doing so.  Being a VA is a great way to combine motherhood and earning a living.  You still have to do the long hours sometimes, but at least you can be flexible with the hours you work.  I read all the emails and comments I am sent, so please do keep sending them in!

Another great review for The Virtual Assistant Handbook!

“I just wanted to say I purchased your book via Amazon UK and its fantastic, it made me rethink some of the things I had done that weren’t quite right!!  Thanks again for your assistance.”

Kate Pilkington Strictly VA.   www.strictlyva.co.uk

Latest reader review for The Virtual Assistant Handbook

I am writing to give you some feedback on your book – simply great, nice size, in plain English and made me realise I know more than I thought as it triggered lots of things that lay dormant in my head!

Sarah Bradley, VA, Help Ahoy http://www.helpahoy.co.uk

The night of nights – book launch party…

It’s one of those memorable occasions – the book launch for your first ever published book!  …Mine was last night!

This is me at the start of the night:

I was flattered and proud that some people had travelled from as far north as Newcastle and Knaresborough as well as locally from Leeds and want to thank all those who came out to help me celebrate.

I signed a couple of books, it was really fun!  This is me looking a bit shiny at the end of the night:

Now I can truly say the book is officially launched! God bless her and all who read her!!

Good News a Go- Go!

Let me tell you two pieces of good news!:

1. News programmes have been saying that Britain is turning a corner and we are now heading out of recession….

and

2. This blog post http://www.powerhomebiz.com/News/062009/home-business-ideas-recession.htm identifies being a Virtual Assistant as one of the top ‘recession resistant’ businesses!

It’s obvious to see how paying a professional on an ad hoc hourly basis is a smarter move for the small business, than paying an employee (with all the red tape that employment entails) for a 40 hour week, regardless of productivity. But the way the world works is changing too and using a Virtual Assistant is a step toward the future.

If you are a Virtual Assistant – good choice! Great career move!

If you are running a business then you could possibly use one of these professionals to help you move forward faster.    You cannot create a million pound business without the right support in place and at the most fundamental level this means that you need someone to answer the phone when it rings!  The best and most cost effective provider for this service is http://www.dontlosebusiness.co.uk

After that, you will need someone in your ‘engine room’ of a business, getting you in shipshape order and fuelling the tank whilst you are out there driving the thing!  For this, a Virtual Assistant is the most cost effective way to achieve your business progression and there are loads out there to try.

To see a list of Virtual Assistants in your area or specify by skill-set, try the Alliance of UK Virtual Assistants.

Come Along to my Book Launch Party!

I’ve been taking a break from organising my clients events to sort out one of my own!  Here is an announcement about my upcoming book launch party:

Nadine Hill, Author with Lean Marketing Press and Owner of The Dream PA is hosting a book launch party in association with Rachel McAlley Marketing and The Living Room in Leeds.

Join us in ‘The Study’ for the launch of The Virtual Assistant Handbook!  This book is the first ‘how to’ book written for Virtual Assistants to cater for the UK market and the themes in the book are useful to anyone who sells their time and expertise by the hour.

Celebrate the books’ launch and subsequent ‘Amazon Best Seller’ status with the author Nadine Hill!

You will enjoy a glass of bubbly on arrival and the opportunity to network with other businesspeople at the Summer’s hottest event!

Venue: The Living room, Greek Street, Leeds, LS1 (this is a really fashionable street with lots of boutique bars and restaurants there – the cream of Leeds congregate there after work!)

http://www.thelivingroom.co.uk/

Date: Thursday 16th July 2009

Time: 6-9pm

Cost: Free but entry is exclusive to people on the Guest List

Details: To be added to the Guest-List, please email rachel@rachelmcalleymarketing.com with Living Room Book Launch in the subject line.

**Please note: Guest List is the ONLY way to gain entry to this event so please pre-register**

Speaking of Inspiration….

I’ve been doing a lot of speaking work recently – completing radio interviews with Supermummy and Una & Friends most recently.

However last week I spoke to a business women’s networking event run by Business Link, which was awesome.  Just a few weeks before my ’slot’, the ‘Queen of Shops’ Mary Portas was their headliner at an event in Hull so I was in very good company!!  The marvellous thing about doing this speaking assignment were the lovely comments that were sent to me afterwards by delegates and the organisers.  Here are just a few: (reproduced with permission)

“Great to meet you today and fab presentation – you really are an inspiration!”

Lis Wilson, HR Connexions, www.hrconnexions.co.uk

“Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed your presentation at yesterday’s event – really entertaining and useful!”

Julie Sykes, JCS Human Resources Consulting, www.jcs-hr.co.uk

“Nadine, you are such an inspiration, you really motivate me!”

Katie Dawson

“You made a great presentation and gave me some good inspiration to move my business forward.”

Amy Russell, My Little Wrapper Personalised Chocolate Bars, www.itsyourchoc.co.uk

“Nadine, you really did inspire me”

Jo Palmer, Area Services Co-ordinator, Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, www.mycci.co.uk

Thank you ladies for your lovely comments and I hope to see you all again soon!  The Events Team at Business Link would like me to do another session later in the year so watch this space!

The Dream PA’s “15 Minutes of Fame”!

I was recently interviewed by Lesley Johnston of Social Networking For Businesswomen for her “15 Minutes of Fame” series of business podcasts.  It was a really enjoyable interview and you can listen here:

http://www.socialnetworkingforbusinesswomen.com/15MinsFame/NadineHill.mp3

I am very chatty as you will hear but upon listening back to the podcast, I think poor Lesley couldn’t get a word in edgeways! Sorry Lesley!

Lesley is a well connected business woman and runs tutorials on social networking as well as online networking events so if you are a woman in business, check her site out!  You can also follow Lesley on Twitter.

I really enjoyed my 15 minutes of Fame – hope you do too!

Great opportunity to get free e-books when you buy my book!

STOP PRESS!  STOP PRESS!

My Publisher has just contacted me with an announcement!

For the next 7 days they are giving away free ebooks at Bookshaker

You’ll find most of these books available in print format on Amazon too but if you want to get a great book right now and another one absolutely free I urge you to follow these quick instructions:

1. Visit Bookshaker- find it at http://www.bookshaker.com/index.php

2. Choose my book (The Virtual Assistant Handbook) and click “Add To Cart”

3. Follow the instructions to complete your order

4. Send my Publisher an email using this form http://leanmarketingpress.com/contact

5. Include your Bookshaker order number and the title of the book you’dlike for free and they’ll send it over as soon as they can

Easy as pie! So tell anyone you know who likes knowledge – they can have two doses for the price of one!!

Here is what my book looks like…

Business Networking on the Motorway!

I’m a keen student of marketing techniques, principles of promotion and learning new ways to promote my business and see how other people promote theirs.  So this week when my newest experiment arrived, I was really excited!

Check out the new way I have to get out my business message!!

www.DontLoseBusiness.co.uk

My car is now a piece of mobile advertising and it cost less than 50 quid!  I love this application.  It is simply a plate that I had constructed and stuck to my car and it can be removed easily when I come to sell the car. I thought it was a very unique way to get across my message of “Don’t Lose Business Through Missed Calls!”

The beauty of this is that if someone is in business and they see this URL on my car then they are obviously ‘out and about’ so unless they have made provision to have their calls answered (and so many haven’t) then they could be losing business through missed calls.  They are an audience that is my perfect customer.  If someone reading this URL on my car is not in business for themselves, they probably won’t care enough about ‘not losing business’ to check out the website anyway, and the URL will just be forgotten.  Really, I believe that only people whom this means something to will look at my website and of those, some will buy as I can solve one of their biggest problems.

I’d love your comments – what do you think? Would seeing this on a car motivate you to look at the website and to put your answer into context, tell me if you run a business or work within a small business when you post!