Outstanding VA Reaches Finalist Position in UK’s Industry Awards

PRESS RELEASE

Angela Dawson, The Admin Doctor, reached the finalist position in the search for the UK’s Outstanding Virtual Assistant of 2012 (over 2.5 years in business category).

This is the only national awards scheme of its kind for VAs in the UK and Europe and Angela Dawson of The Admin Doctor, Blyth, Northumberland, UK wass one of 11 in the running for one of two prestigious awards. “I launched the inaugural National VA Conference and Awards in April 2007, as part of my nationwide campaign to promote and boost awareness of the VA industry as well as in my quest to find the most outstanding VA” states Founder, Carmen MacDougall, of The VA Coaching and Training Company.

VAs support their clients, from around the globe, providing PA and business support, working from their own office, communicating with clients via the internet.  The Admin Doctor supports business owners in the People Development Profession.

“I am very excited and proud to have reached the finalist position”, says Angela Dawson “and believe this will demonstrate to my clients and prospective clients my professionalism, commitment and approach to providing an outstanding service as well as my support to fellow VAs.”

It is hoped the awards scheme, in association with The International Association of Virtual Assistants (www.iava.org.uk) and The Virtual Assistant Coaching and Training Company (www.vact.co.uk), will promote a wider understanding of the rapidly developing industry.  Judges include Bemyva.com, Reed Learning, Mums the Business, The International Association of Virtual Assistants and Executive Secretary Magazine.

The UK VA Conference took place in the Midlands on the 14th April.

For further information on this event and also the 2013 event visit www.vaconference.co.uk or contact Carmen MacDougall on 07967 332915 or carmen@vact.co.uk.

To contact The Admin Doctor:
07855 746777
angela@theadmindoc.co.uk
www.theadmindoc.co.uk

Play to your strengths

If your central heating breaks down, do you try to fix it yourself or do you call in the experts?

Well, you might try to fix it yourself but unless you know what you're doing then chances are you'll end up having to call in the experts to solve the problem anyway and all you'll have done is wasted your precious time trying to shortcut the problem.

The same goes for your admin. Yes, you CAN do all of your business admin, but SHOULD you be the one doing your admin?

Your clients pay you to do what you do best and our clients pay us to do what we do best....making them look super-duper efficient!  We support clients with services that are applicable to their business.  Myself, as The Admin Doctor, will always have a consultation with a potential new client to diagnose the problems in their business that are causing them pain.

Because The Admin Doctor specialises in supporting the People Development Profession, a lot of what we do for clients is diary management, travel arrangements, hotel accommodation, PowerPoint presentations, report/note typing, event management and delegate liaison.  However, we also provide other added-value services but each client's requirements are different therefore we avoid a one-size-fits-all approach.

When it comes to your business dealings it makes sense to play to your strengths. Concentrate on the fee earning elements of your business that will make you prosper and outsource your non-fee-earning tasks to The Admin Doctor.

Look at it this way.  How much is an hour of your time worth?  So, for example, if your charge-out rate is £100 an hour, for every hour you spend on your admin, you've cost your business £100.

Do you even know how much time you spend on your admin?  As an example, let's say you spend 5 hours a month on your admin-related tasks, e.g. making appointments, chasing outstanding invoice payments, travel arrangements, sourcing venues for training courses, delegate handout packs, etc.  That's £500 each month in lost revenue, because you're not out there fee-earning or prospecting.  Take that over a 12 month period, that's £6,000 in lost revenue.  Can you really afford to be losing that kind of money year in, year out?  Imagine what you could do with that extra cash in your business. 

By working with The Admin Doctor, we can cure you of your admin headaches and free up your valuable time, so that you can make your business more profitable.  Pick up the phone and ring me on 07855 746777 to book your complimentary consultation.

Remember - just because you can do your admin, doesn't mean you should do your admin!

Newsletter or Blog?

I don't know about you, but I seem to get bombarded with newsletters and I never seem to get a chance to read them, some of which I never subscribed to in the first place...but that's a different story. Now, I know I can simply unsubscribe - and the ones I receive without my permission get unsubscribed straight away - but it did get me thinking.

I'm embarking on a new journey at the moment - I'm having a new website designed for my Admin Doctor business. My designer - Belinda White of Arttia Creative - has asked me if I want to have a newsletter sign up section on my website. I have to hold my hands up and admit that I haven't sent out any newsletters for a long, long time and nobody has come to me and said "hey, Angela, where's your newsletter?" So, is that because people are fed up with newsletters clogging up their inbox or do I just write rubbish newsletters that people don't want to read.

Now, I'm fairly new to this blogging malarkey and I have to say I like it. Blog posts are typically quite short and snappy and take no time at all to read.

So, I guess what I'm asking is do you prefer to receive a newsletter or subscribe to a blog?

I will be having a blog page on my new website but not sure about a newsletter sign up....what do you think?

Speak soon.

Angela Dawson
The Admin Doctor

The Things You Do For Your Kids!

My 8 year old daughter came to me last Friday and asked if she could take part in the Swimathon 2012 challenge to raise money for Marie Curie.

Not wanting to dampen her spirits, I said I'd look into it. The minimum distance of 1 mile (64 lengths of a 25m pool) was going to be too much for her on her own. So, not one to be discouraged, she came up with the bright idea of mammy and daddy taking part too. But 64 lengths for the 3 of us wasn't going to be much of a challenge. So guess what? We're doing the 5k team challenge instead! That's 200 lengths...eek. And, you only get to enter the water once so it's not like we can swim then have a break then swim again!

It's a long, long time since either Andrew or I have done any distance swimming so our training started in earnest tonight.

Whilst Elize was having her usual swimming lesson, I went for a swim too. I was merrily swimming away when I thought I recognised someone. And then thought it can't be as he's at work. Then when that same person came swimming towards me again, I realised I was right. It was Andrew! He'd finished work early and came along to surprise us!

I managed 64 lengths and Andrew did 50 - he wasn't in the pool as long as me. Our local pool isn't quite 25m as it has an adjoined moveable section, so I think it's 20m. Still, that's pretty good for two people who haven't been in a pool in a very long time!

Elize is very excited at the prospect of raising money for charity - as are Andrew and I. So, if you'd like to show your support for Marie Curie and Team Dawson, here's our team sponsorship link. All donations will be very gratefully received.

The Swimathon event runs from the 27th to the 29th April and we're taking part on the 28th, 1.30pm at Dunston Swimming Pool.

I don't know. The things you do for your kids!!

Race for Life....we did it!

It never ceases to amaze me how many people take part in these events! Myself and my daughters (aged 6 years old and 21 weeks old) took part in the Race for Life yesterday (16th May) at Saltwell Park in Gateshead and the turnout was incredible. Women from all walks of life coming together for one common purpose...to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

We joined in with the pre-race warm-up and then joined the masses to get the race underway. We were walking it this year, well at least my eldest and I were walking...the youngest was being pushed around the course in her pram!

We set off at 11:05 and managed to push the pram past a few people to make a bit of space to stride out. The weather was good; warm and dry and it didn't take long to really warm up especially when it came to pushing the pram up the hills!

We got just past the 3km mark and it started to rain. It was light at first but then got slightly heavier so we had to stop and put the rain cover on the pram. We didn't bother putting our coats on, the rain wasn't that bad.

We really started to stride out and before we knew it we were approaching the finishing line. I'm not kidding, we were yards from the finish line when the heavens opened. We couldn't really stop because we had people behind us and my eldest wanted to run across the finish line rather than walk. In the few seconds it took to cross the line we got absolutely drenched! We pulled into the side and put our coats on but it was a little too late; our clothes were soaked through!

We completed the course in 1 hour and 12 minutes. We were handed our medals, gift bags and water and very quickly ran for cover to get out of the rain.

Despite the good old British weather, we had a great time. The atmosphere as always was phenomenal and everyone was in high spirits. I always get so emotional when I read the messages that people have put on the backs of their t-shirts, remembering those they've lost to cancer and those who have survived.

I lost my Grandad to bowel cancer in 1998 and have taken part in the Race for Life twice before to raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK. This year, I dedicated the Race to my parents' neighbours' daughter, Karen. Karen died 3 weeks ago of breast cancer and left behind her long-term partner and their 3 year old son. She was only in her early 30s.

Between my daughter and I we've raised £150 so far for Cancer Research UK. There is still time to make a donation and your support would be greatly appreciated. Please follow this link to my sponsor page.


Thank you.

Cancer Research UK - Race for Life 2010

I first took part in the Race for Life back in 2007 at Saltwell Park in Gateshead. I'd never taken part in a race before (well, not since being part of the cross country team at school!) but my friend, Claire, asked me to do it so I thought, why not. I didn't know what to expect. When we turned up I couldn't believe the hundreds, no, the thousands of people that were there. The atmosphere was electric. All these women and children coming together to remember loved ones they'd lost to cancer, to think of people who are living with cancer and to raise money for Cancer Research UK.


I'd done very little training as I'm not a huge fan of running. We joined in with some warm up exercises then took our place in the crowds of women getting ready to start the 5K race. Then we were off. I remember passing my husband and daughter who were cheering us all on.


For the majority of the run, we were on the flat. But there's one point within Saltwell Park that's quite steep. Considering I hadn't done much (and by that I mean any) training, I was surprised at how well I was coping with it all. To be honest, I think it was the atmosphere all around me that swept me along. I just took it at a steady pace and kept running.


I remember getting near to the finishing line and could see the time ahead and it was coming up to 45 minutes. I wanted to finish in less than that so I dropped a gear and went for it. I completed the 5K race in 44 minutes and 32 seconds. And it felt fantastic!


I was hooked after that and took part again in 2008, this time in Exhibition Park in Newcastle. I managed to beat my previous time and finished the race in 35 minutes and 21 seconds.


I didn't take part last year, although I did have a pretty good excuse...I was pregnant and was advised by my Midwife not to do it. My daughter was disappointed as she wanted take part so I promised her that we'd do it together this year.


And here we are! We've registered for the Race for Life event at Saltwell Park on the 16th May and instead of running it, I will be walking it with my daughter aged 6 and our newest addition to the family, who will be 21 weeks old when we take part. I can't wait! Hubby will be there to cheer us on and to buy the ice creams afterwards!


Why am I doing this? Well, it's quite simple really. I've lost family and friends to cancer and I want to do my bit so to speak to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. And this is where you come in. We'd really appreciate your support and your donations. I've set up a fundraising page and all donations will go straight to Cancer Research UK. You can either donate via my website or via our fundraising page. We are aiming to raise £500 so please help in any way you can.


Thank you, Angela