Comment

Comment by Julie J Farrell on August 27, 2009 at 5:14pm

Is it really January I last went onto this group! Where has the year gone!!
My UK VA friends you are most welcome to come and join me here - OK so I have let the teapot go cold over these last months but it will only take a few moments to boil up the kettle again!
Bye for now!
Julie

Comment by Julie J Farrell on January 3, 2009 at 3:25pm

New Year - New Client!

I have now got into the habit into carrying a vast array of advertising posters, postcards and business cards with me wherever I go as I never know where I will find a free noticeboard!

On a day trip with my mum I came across a community noticeboard in an indoor market which was free to advertise on for 1 month (and then you had to go back and renew/refresh the ad). I had a phone call from a lady who saw my advert and wanted me to retype her CV from manuscript as she was moving abroad.

We arranged to meet for coffee at the Indoor Market yesterday. What an interesting life she has had! I don't suppose there are many VA's who could boast that their client danced in the Moulin Rouge!!

The funny thing was my month was coming to an end and I had scheduled in my diary to go there today!

Comment by Julie J Farrell on December 27, 2008 at 5:03pm

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
All the best for the New Year and lets hope that 2009 will be better than ever!

Comment by Julie J Farrell on November 29, 2008 at 10:13am

"Thanks for the prompt and efficient service. I'll be in touch again should anything else be requested. Mark"

I thought I would share the comments in the email from my very first customer!

He actually outsourced the "Typing Service" work to me from Exeter Uni and did warn me when I first joined up that there isn't that much work so I was very surprised to have a phone call to tell me he had an urgent job and could I help? At least now he is aware of the standard of my work and I know he will be able to use me again! Fingers crossed I don't have to wait too long for my next job!

Comment by Julie J Farrell on November 26, 2008 at 3:46pm

Hi Sam and welcome to the group!

Comment by Julie J Farrell on November 24, 2008 at 4:51pm

I thought I would start the ball rolling by sharing something that made me smile!

I'm a VA who has a full time job as a legal secretary and doing my VA work in the evenings and weekends but I think most of us can identify with this "Prayer"!

THE SECRETARY’S PRAYER

Give me please, O Lord, the wisdom of a Judge, the patience of Job, and the hide of an elephant.

Give my fingers such speed that I can finish tonight the mail I should have been given yesterday. Give me such acute hearing that I can understand the dictation he mumbles out of the window while jingling the change in his pocket.

Give me that mental ability which will enable me to remind him of appointments he forgot to mention, and give me the diplomacy of an ambassador to get seats for trains, planes and theatres, which he was so sure he had told me about yesterday.

Give me please a magic box out of which I can instantly produce the envelopes, pens, pencils, letters, files, funny notes and buttons he has lost.

Help me to correct his spelling and even worse phrasing so that he reads my letters and glows with pride at his own good English – and let me suffer no pangs if he scrawls alterations in ink which I could so easily have dubbed in quite neatly on my machine.

Caution me to remember that if one day he feels off colour and barks, snarls or sneers, I must retain a gentle, friendly smile no matter how well or ill I may happen to feel.

Give me an uncanny insight and an encyclopaedic memory for dates and anniversaries he has never even mentioned and meetings he forgets to record.

Help me to have a memory three years long. By some small miracle let me be able to do all things at once – answer three telephones at the same time and type a letter that “must go today” even though I know it won’t get signed until tomorrow.

Give me the knowledge of a university professor with my junior certificate of education. Help me to understand and carry out all instructions without any explanation.

Let me know, without being told, where my boss is or when he’ll be back. When he happens to disappear without a trace just when something desperately urgent crops up, please give me the qualities of Sherlock Holmes so that I may track him down.

Could you then please, O Lord, extend your mercies and throw in just one ore extra lesson on how to combine the duties of Secretary, Chairwoman, Hostess, Diplomat, Accountant, Receptionist, Filing Clerk, Booking Clerk, Cloakroom Attendant and General Nurse.

LORD, IF YOU COULD, I WOULD BE SINCERELY GRATEFUL.

Comment by Julie J Farrell on November 24, 2008 at 4:29pm

Welcome to VAs in the UK!
The kettle is on so we can all have a nice cup of tea!
This is our area. A place to share anything and everything!