Name of Business: The Dream PA  

Tell us about your family: I have a 6 year old daughter called Isabella and an 18 month old son called Jensen.  My husband Simon runs his own business too and we also have a cat called Jet!

Nadine Hill

What did you do before coming up with your business idea and how was it making the transition?

  I started up my business after having my first child.  I used to work long hours in PR for the fashion industry and then the motors industry.  I returned to work when Isabella was 4 months old as my maternity leave had ended but my priorities had changed and it no longer suited me to be office bound for hours and still a commute away from home.  I needed more flexibility and working from home appealed so I looked at my talents and decided to become a Virtual Assistant!

When did you launch? I started up the business in November 2004 and ran it alongside my day job for a few months until I got to a ‘make or break’ stage.  I couldn’t carry on giving my business and my job 100% it was one or the other so I left my job and committed to the business full time in April 2005.

What has worked well about your business?  Because the virtual assistance industry is so new, and I have always used my PR skills to get media coverage for my business, I have always had a high profile.  This has led to many requests from other people who want to know how to do it!  There aren’t many places to go for information on how to become a virtual assistant and the resources available tend to stick to the practicalities of working from home such as making sure you have a separate space for business etc.  So I have written a book for virtual assistants to help them start up and market their new business.  It will be published this summer by Lean Marketing Press and it will be the first paperback book available on the subject that is aimed at the British market.  In my business, I have always focused on growth and development and my book takes this angle too.  I have also been running short courses to help people who want to become virtual assistants and these take place on an evening on a teleconference basis.  I love being able to help more and more people to achieve their business dreams!

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?  When I was pregnant with my second child I was very conscious that I am a one person business but I also wanted and needed to take a baby break when the baby came.  Anyone who runs their own business will know how you are always marketing for new business whilst doing the work that is already in, so it was tricky to continue to bring work in before the baby came but manage my clients’ expectations so they knew that I wouldn’t be around for a few months whilst I had a short maternity leave.  Fortunately part of my business is that I operate a Virtual Receptionist service which puts a full time receptionist onto the end of any business phone line so they don’t lose business through missed calls.  I had my clients’ calls taken care of by the Receptionist team who also answered my own phone line and told callers that I was on maternity leave.  I kept an eye on things from a slight distance for a few months, but when I came back to work I could go for it and really drive the business forwards because I knew that I wouldn’t be planning another break from the business!  Quite a few of my clients are ‘mumpreneurs’ who run a business and a family and this service is ideal for them as they can do the school run and finish work at 3pm to have family time but their business phone line continues to be answered until 6pm so callers don’t need to know that the business owner is off doing other things!

How do you fit in work with the family?  It’s a juggling act but one that I love!  I have childcare for just 3 days in the week so on a Monday and Friday I will tend to leave my business line on divert to my Receptionist and respond to calls when my son naps!  On a childcare day, I tend to start work after I drop my son at his Grandma’s and my daughter at school.  Then I will do any meetings, any projects that I have got on and deal with calls and emails and I collect the children from Grandma’s at 5pm.  I then have a few hours off to do the evening meals, homework and bath and bed routine and I get the laptop out again after the kids are in bed!  At the moment, it is a lot of working around the family but once my son starts nursery then into full time school, it will be a little easier to fit my work into more normal office hours, as I will have 5 days a week to focus on work and will be able to do less evenings!

What advice would you give to someone else who wants to work in this area?  Advice that I’d give to anyone is do what you love because there will inevitably be hard times when running a business and your love for your job will get you through them.  Advice for Virtual Assistants particularly would be to do your research on the area you want to go into – it’s much easier to present a tangible offer to clients if you are specific about who you can support and how.  My book and my short courses focus on how to do this to propel your business forwards.

Nadine’s websites:  The Dream PA – a boutique Virtual Assistance business based in Yorkshire, serving the world!  http://www.thedreampa.co.uk

Virtual Assistance blog (this would be of interest to Virtual Assistants or anyone who wants to learn about what a VA does) : http://www.thedreampa.com

Nadine is a mummyblogger and writes a time management themed blog aimed at working mums: www.TimeManagementMum.co.uk