My name is Rowena Fernando, and I am a Virtual Assistant, Social Media Manager and Business Support service provider and am thrilled to meet you.
I left the city to follow my dream and now based in the beautiful South Devon region. Fully equipped and on hand to help you manage any business overflow or take away the stress of social media by putting to use my passion and energy combined with years of organisational and administrative London working experience.
The PA show highlights
Last week I attended the annual PA conference at the Excel Centre, London. Being the first time, I had participated in the event, was it good? It was better than I could have ever perceived.
What can anyone expect should they not have attended the conference before?
Overall, there are many stands, with various products, services, stationary even hotels and accommodations available for those who book travel regularly. For me, the experience was insightful, as being a virtual assistant; we tend to work with different types of businesses. Never really knowing who may call up tomorrow in need of a conference room for 12 in London next week – as an example.
Day 1 Highlights
The first day consisted of meeting various suppliers and brands from stationery suppliers, office ergonomics, events and travel solutions etc. there were tons of people offering some fabulous services. It was great to learn about the vast options available. Excellent to be aware of as who knows what may be the right fit for a client’s needs. I now have a binder of options available should anyone have unusual requirements in the future.
Drawn to a new company ‘’ meet in place’’… who offer meeting rooms in London at a reasonable rate, offering modern, bright and fully equipped meeting rooms. Since the whole WeWork explosion, more of these rented office/meeting spaces are emerging, and this company seemed to offer a fantastic package for the buck. I would love to try them out when in London for a meeting!
Day two Highlights
Today was the VA day, where I mostly attended seminars with the main focus on learning and development. However, with their being so many familiar faces from various groups, courses etc. And the fact that being a VA is a remote role despite having many daily interactions, we are most likely working on our own. It was great getting to meet other Virtual Assistants, many within my course group, and whose faces I had only seen via a tiny thumbnail on social media before. So, to connect in real life, share experiences, lean on each other for support and build relations was terrific and provided a much more in-depth sense of how amazing our industry is!
The seminars I attended started with the VA breakfast, hosted by the lovely Joanne Hawkins, Caroline Wylie, Catherine Gladwyn and Jayne Cattermole. Who gave a great panel discussion on using Linked In for business, as well as touching on the pros and cons of using other social platforms? It is always interesting to hear others experiences first hand in truth, before my VA journey, linked in was not a channel that I used notably, yet now I most definitely see the value.
Seminar two was with the super confident Jenna Davies, a people progression specialist who helps business owners and entrepreneurs find the courage within public speaking, sharing her best tips and tricks on how to speak up and win more clients.
As someone who needs a push to speak up publicly, this was so beneficial. In essence, it does come down to mindset, taking action and being aware of the stories we are telling ourselves—deeply inspired by someone who appears quite young, to have such a massive presence and be able to hold oneself tall in front of all of us. I take my hat off to you, Jenna.
Last but not least. The one and only Mark Wright – Apprentice winner 2014 and now the creator of a digital marketing agency called ”Climb Online”. Some may say quite controversial; for me, I loved Mark’s take on digital with his quirky, confident delivery.
It’s a topic I see discussed more and more often, and that is, how tech is the future whatever you like it or not! There has never been a more critical time to create a stable and consistent online presence like now. But how we approach or digital content is rapidly changing; videos, live streams, artificial intelligence are all things that we should be considering. Especially when considering the social platform ever-changing ”rules”. It is basically about how to beat the algorithms or work with them to support your business.
However, for the more introverted like me, this concept does not come easily, yet at the same time, I can 100% understand why it is so valuable. Video content engages a broader audience, much faster than a traditional blog or article like this! Have you read down this far? Whereas if this content were a video, maybe you would have watched it twice already?
More about Rowena Fernando
I am the creator of RFVA, a virtual business support service for small self-started business owners, and I hope that some part of this article has helped you. If you are struggling to keep on top of your social media content, or business overflow? I can help you gain back hours to your days enabling you to focus on those higher-level priorities.
To see how I can help, or have a free, initial face to face chat, head over to www.rfva-co-uk.stackstaging.com to schedule in a complimentary call or check out my services. If you’re a bit stuck and don’t know what types of tasks you could benefit from handing over, I have created an inspiration list that may help spark ideas that you can download here.
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