Taking a huge leap of faith!

At the beginning of last year, I was feeling fed-up in my corporate Executive Assistant role.

Whilst I was lucky to remain employed during the pandemic, all of the exciting parts of my Assistant role had dried up.

You know, the fun stuff like arranging travel and events, dinners, parties, buying gifts, the socialising, the buzz of organising.  It was all, well ........ gone!

For the time being anyway.

Instead, I was left with dull boring tasks to complete and I knew that it was time for a change.

The problem was that the pandemic had spoilt me a little, and like a lot of us, had hugely shifted my perspective.

Being able to stay in bed for slightly longer and fit in an exercise class, in my own living room, before "travelling" to work (which was only down one flight of stairs) to the office, was really very nice.

I didn’t want to go back to the early starts and rushing around again in the mornings.

Or travelling to work to sit in a cold, dark office whilst being given more boring tasks to complete.

My new job plan needed a different take and a different angle to create something that was not only challenging but also enabled me to drive my own narrative.

I knew that I didn't want to be stuck in the same cycle again six months down the line, and that’s when it came to me (one dark morning in that cold office).

A brainwave that I’d never contemplated before……perhaps… perhaps I could start my own assistant business??

Yeeeeees!! Of course! (huge light bulb moment).  Why hadn’t I thought about this before?

Shortly after this lightbulb moment, what felt like a hundred and fifty questions came to mind.

Like. A. flood!

How would I do this?

What would I need?

What would I have to set up, to get going?

What services could I offer?

How much should I charge and most importantly...

Where on earth could I find clients that would actually want my services  (let alone pay for them)?

I set off, like a crazed woman, in the hunt for knowledge.

Taking free business courses where I could and spending my spare time researching on the internet.

I came across a number of different websites that had VA courses (some free, some not) and all of the details needed to think about setting up a business.

I digested it all like a hungry knowledge monster so that I could make my own plans.

Obviously, I knew how to be a PA as I’d worked in an Executive Assistant role for years.

I needed to get a different mindset though, and that mindset was from being an employee, to becoming a small business owner.

The realisation was both exciting and, quite frankly, scary.

It did feel like I was walking off a cliff with absolutely no safety net, whatsoever.

The thought of relying on myself and not having a steady wage coming in every month, was both frightening and overwhelming.

How would I pay the bills, and still have a life?

Would I ever be able to afford to go the hairdressers ever again?!

Nevertheless, it was time to set to work.

I quickly came to the conclusion that these were the physical items that I would need, to get started in my VA business:

- A laptop

- A bank account

- A mobile phone

That was it.  Not a great deal of expenditure there.

Secondly, other things to think about before getting going:

I needed:

- A business name

- To create a brand linked to the business name including..

- A logo

- Business Cards?

- A website…would I need a website?

First things, first…

A business name. What would I call my Assistant business?

My offering was going to help my potential clients to regain some of their time.

To help busy people to outsource some of their work so that could have more time to do other things. That’s what assistants help with.

I wanted my business name to be time related, a call to action to my customers that help was available, if they were struggling to find enough time in the day.

I also wanted to have the word “bee” to be part of the name, as my name Melissa means “Honey Bee” in Greek.

After a bit of deliberation, and a brainstorming session with my husband, we came up with the name “Bee Time Clever”.

I also wanted a punchy strapline to go with the name, just three words that busy people could relate to. What benefit would my services bring to them?

“Bee Time Clever” - “Get time back”  That was it, short, punchy and meaningful.

A call to action for my potential clients and the main benefit of using my services in the strapline… and behold!

My business idea was born :) and I was ready to set of on a new adventure by becoming my own boss.

I will tell you more about my new adventure in a future blog post.

For now, thank you for taking the time to read this.