Ask Lilach Blog

Swine Flu is the New Hot Topic?

2009-04-28T10:37:00.001+01:00

If you’ve opened up any news pages at all, you’ve no doubt seen headlines all over the place about the Swine Flu, which apparently the WHO (World Health Organisation) is stopping just short of calling a pandemic. It could be just me, but it feels like the media is doing another one of their hype things, where they try to get us all worked up into a frenzy over something that’s not entirely threatening or devastating. Okay, I do realise there have been fatalities in this case, but that’s 0.002% of the population, and total suspected infections are less than ½ of 1%. I wouldn’t mind if they talked about the tragedy of people who have lost loved ones to it, but the media seems to focus on how quickly it’s spreading and how there won’t be a vaccine for a while, etc. Does the media’s tendency to do this bug anyone else, or am I being ridiculous? Go on, be honest…

Customer Service Nightmares

2009-04-27T09:02:00.000+01:00

Ooooh… have I got a story for you! I won’t bore you with the step by step, but basically a few weeks ago BT made a right mess of my life for a week!!! They intentionally knocked out my phone lines AND my internet, with no warning, and then couldn’t fix it! I spent hours and HOURS each day on the phone to them – I wanted to cry I was so frustrated! In the end, they finally got my phone back on half way into the third day, and got my internet back up on the fifth day. It was IMPOSSIBLE trying to get any work done! And when all was said and done, not only did they not offer any compensation for all the money I spent on stop-gap measures (of course! Why would they?) I didn’t even get an apology! I was absolutely shocked with how they handled things, it was completely disgraceful… but to then not even have a phone call or a letter of apology?! It was truly horrific. All JUST before we moved office!! Does anyone else have customer service horror stories to tell?

Personal Profile – It’s Just as Important as Business Profile

2009-04-22T10:21:00.001+01:00

I once had a personal profile in the Christmas edition of Prima magazine. I’m a great believer in the value of consumer PR and it’s interesting that I had quite a bit of response from that piece which focused on me personally rather than the business. I think there is great value in raising your own personal profile alongside looking at opportunities for your business. People connect with people and whatever you do in your marketing, and I think it’s important to let your personality shine through – it’s often what can help set you apart.

Extraordinary Events

2009-04-21T16:10:00.001+01:00

Last Thursday I attended the Herts Connection event – it was a fabulous evening full of mixing with great people, and as always, I recommend taking advantage of good networking opportunities to promote your own Virtual Assistant company (or any business!). Fraser Hay, renowned business start-up coach and multi award winning entrepreneur, was on for the evening, and it was the first time I had ever seen him speak – he was absolutely brilliant! I would highly recommend him to anyone. His talk was very interactive and was a real eye-opener, and a little frightening – we all figured out the massive loss we’re suffering due to ineffective marketing. Ouch! But hands down, the highlight of the evening was the prize that I won – Fraser’s 8-week, one to one coaching package! I am so thrilled about it I just had to share. Has anything extraordinary happened to anyone else in the last week?

Busy, busy!

2009-04-17T09:11:00.000+01:00

Paperwork paperwork paperwork!!! It seems like it never ends, right? Thankfully I have amazing staff to help me, but we've been so busy with rebranding (asklilach.co.uk is already up and running, now we're working on virtualpatraining.co.uk!) and preparing for the Times Crème event (national event for PAs and secretaries) where we're exhibiting. In the mean time I still have to keep up on stuff for my accountant, continue on with improving training packets, and so on. I love running a business, but could someone please wave a wand and shorten the "to do" list?

Big News…

2009-04-15T09:29:00.001+01:00

Happy Easter or Pesach! I’ve been really enjoying the spring time and all the flowers in bloom – and the weather’s been nice enough to enjoy them (okay, except this weekend…)! Well I’ve got some very exciting news – this week we moved into new offices! It’s exciting for so many reasons – they’re really nice and new, there’s a Costa right across the hall from us, and most importantly, it means we’re growing! Since we’re growing so much and had to move into a business park, AskLilach is now one of the very few Virtual Assistant companies in the entire country to work out of offices and not a home office! As you can imagine, this is very encouraging for any entrepreneur – what would you say has been the most encouraging thing for you lately?

Online survey - how is the recession effecting you?

2009-03-17T10:47:00.004Z

I’ve just set up a short survey, as I want to know how the recession is affecting you; its particularly aimed at PA's, or those thinking of setting up their own virtual assistant company. Are you worried about your job? Could the Government do more to help you? Please take a few minutes to complete the short survey by clicking here - it’s anonymous and will help me understand the impact the recession is having on the PA and virtual assistant world. There is also the chance to win £50 M&S vouchers for completing the survey. Let me know what you think!

I’m on YouTube! What do you think of my video?

2009-03-16T10:55:00.000Z

I am so pleased – and proud – that my video has gone on YouTube – check it out here! you can see me delivering a few minutes from my virtual assistant training course: How to Win Clients and Sky Rocket Your profits. I love doing my training sessions and am really pleased to have this professional exert which gives those of you thinking about becoming a virtual assistant and real glimpse of the one-day workshop. What do you think of the video?

More power to Twitter – are you making the most of this phenomenon?

2009-03-13T12:26:00.001Z

I am really enjoying using Twitter (and OK, I may spend too much time on it too!) I have found it to be a great way of keeping in touch with friends and colleagues and for business use. My number of followers is increasing daily (well over 1900 at the time of writing this blog) and I can use it to promote my services, show videos and pictures – but because it is very restrictive on number of characters (140 which includes spaces, punctuation etc!) all the information is short and punchy – and can be lots of fun (with clever uses of abbreviations too, its not all text speak). Have you signed up yet? Come and follow me at twitter.com/asklilach.

More power to Twitter – are you making the most of this phenomenon?

2009-03-13T09:52:00.001Z

It’s already March 2009, where is the year going? Do you have enough hours in the day?

2009-03-10T13:01:00.002Z

As I have previously blogged, I am really very busy at the moment with both businesses going very well and expanding. I have new clients for my virtual assistant company and the training side has just hosted a well-attended and positive workshop. My problem is that I am almost too busy; I don’t seem to have the opportunity to sit back and review the direction my company is taking and steer it way the way I want to go, which is an important process and one that I really believe in. I need to recruit some more staff, but time for that seems impossible to find – and its already March! I shouldn’t complain really – but hey oh, that’s human nature too. Do you have enough hours in the day?

Climb every Comic Relief mountain – Are you doing something funny for money?

2009-03-09T15:05:00.000Z

Comic Relief will shortly be upon us (Friday 13 March – a great comic date!) And already nine celebrities, including Gary Barlow and Alesha Dixon are making the effort to climb Mount Kilimanjaro - Africa’s highest mountain - to raise £1 million (check out the official website for more details, including blogs http://www.rednoseday.com/climb). I do enjoy Red Nose Day, and my daughter is does too, we’ve got the red noses for ourselves and for the car; we’ll be off to buy the oh-so-trendy tee-shirts soon and support the school’s fundraising initiatives. Comic Relief does fantastic things to support long-term projects in UK and Africa. I just wondered what you were planning to do for this year’s Red Nose Day?

As RBS announces huge losses – Are we paying for the former CE’s pension?

2009-03-03T14:17:00.001Z

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) recently announced the largest annual loss in UK corporate history, with total losses of £24.1 billion (yes that’s right billion!). RBS, a 282-year-old bank, had to be bailed out by the government last year and is now under criticism as its former chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, is already drawing a pension of £650,000 a year, despite only being 50. He was given a £16m pension pot which he can claim from for life, when he took early retirement in October, as part of the government's rescue of the faltering bank. It looks as this former employee has been handsomely rewarded for huge failings of a major financial institution. Is this fair criticism, are we (the tax-payer) really paying for this man’s extortionate pension?

Unemployed: Can job centres benefit from the private sector experience?

2009-02-26T11:26:00.000Z

With the recent news that unemployment has reached nearly 2 million, it has been revealed that Job Centres cannot cope with the quantity and quality of workers coming through their doors. They are being criticised for not providing an adequate service for highly skilled, white collar professionals and the Government has announced that private companies will work alongside traditional job centres to redress this issue during the recession. I’m not sure we could expect local Job Centres, who are perhaps more used to placing lower skilled workers, to rise to the challenge of understanding the needs and markets of the more accomplished employees. Perhaps those white collar workers should look to retraining to find a suitable job. Do you think its right that recruitment agencies are being asked to work with the job centres?

The Oscars, what a joy – but do you agree with the results?

2009-02-24T10:41:00.000Z

The Oscar news is great; the Brits did really well, with Kate Winslet finally winning her golden statue after 5 previous nominations and ‘Slumdog’ with a huge haul of eight Oscars including best director and best picture. My favourite dress of the night was Ms Winslet (again!) in her beautiful two-tone Yves Saint Laurent dress; she looked so elegant – with not a tear in sight. I haven’t seen all the films that were nominated (sometimes its difficult to find time to get to the cinema), but I am pleased that the British representatives did so well. Do you agree with the winners? And what about the fashion; not much ‘bling’ in evidence this year, presumably due to the recession? What are your thoughts on this year’s Oscars?

Panorama: Are banks doing enough to support small businesses?

2009-02-23T15:33:00.001Z

I don’t work for the BBC, but I saw this and thought it could be worth watching and worth telling my blog readers about it too. It’s a Panorama programme looking at small businesses like ours. More than 100 small businesses are shutting up shop each day, according to the Federation of Small Businesses, which predicts some 30,000 firms will have gone bust by the end of this year. In an attempt to turn the tide, the government has come up with proposals including the £1.3bn Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme to throw small businesses a lifeline. Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis, examines whether the banks are doing enough to support small businesses.

Watch it tonight: Monday 23 February BBC One 8.30pm: Panorama: Credit Where It's Due

Training, I just love it. What part of your work do you enjoy?

2009-02-13T09:37:00.002Z

I’ve just done another one of my training workshops this week, I really love doing them. It’s such a great opportunity to enthuse people about working for themselves. Whilst it takes a lot of effort on my part, in terms of organising, administration, travel and post-event activities; but once I’m there in front of my trainees, I get real energy from the whole thing. I usually come home feeling exhausted but fired up too! It’s the same, whether I’m doing one-to-one training or in front of a group. Is there anything in your business that gives you energy and fulfilment? What do you enjoy about your work?

The credit crunch: the upside!

2009-02-13T09:36:00.002Z

The news seems to be getting even gloomier on the global recession. Interest rates are down to an historic all-time low of 1%; which is great if you’ve got loans and mortgages, although not so hot if you are a saver! However, I want to put my stake down to say that I am doing really well; I’ve got more clients and continually get calls and enquiries about work. I support small companies and traders with my virtual assistant business, so perhaps I am in a good business, providing office support without staff costs. What other business is doing well? What are the upsides for you in this recession – are you doing well?

Tweet, tweet – Are you a twitter?

2009-02-13T09:35:00.001Z

So, Stephen Fry is an active user, Barak Obama has over quarter of a million followers – and now I’m online with Twitter! If you don’t know what all the fuss is about (or maybe you haven’t even heard of it), Twitter is a unique approach to communication and networking based on the simple concept of status. What are you doing? What are your friends doing—right now? I will be running a series of tele-seminars so you can learn how Twitter can bring you more business – check out my marketplace listings soon! Are you on Twitter yet? Are you enjoying the experience?

The weather – is this global warming?

2009-02-12T10:34:00.002Z

If it’s not snowing (the biggest flakes I ever saw on Sunday night), it’s raining and cold, which turns to sheet ice overnight. I’m never sure whether my daughter can get to school, or my staff can make it to work! On the flipside, the wild fires in Australia look awful, even more so if the rumours about arsonists following nature are true. Whole towns have disappeared, whole areas devastated, the resultant landscape is catastrophic. I don’t profess to know anything about global warming, and I don’t really want to start a debate about it in this blog; I just wanted to know whether this weather is what we can expect from now on – the wild variations?

St Valentine’s Day – What do you think?

2009-02-10T12:18:00.001Z

So here we are, a few days from St Valentine’s day. The gift shops are stuffed to the gutters with heart shaped offerings, and the card shops the same - a bit gruesome, if Wikipedia’s explanation is to be believed! There are all sorts of Valentine-themed events, whether its dances and balls or singles nights at the local supermarket. Probably the only worthwhile things are the charity events, such as the Kiss for Bliss. The special care baby charity are organising a World Record attempt to form the longest kiss chain in London. But what do you think of Valentines Day? Great as a focus for consumer businesses in their post-New Year promotions; or blatant commercialisation of tradition.

Move to cap top US executives pay – will it catch on here?

2009-02-09T11:31:00.000Z

The new US president is about to impose a ceiling on the executive pay of companies who have received a US taxpayer bail-out. The ceiling will be $500,000 (around £350,000) - or $100,000 more than President Obama receives! This seems to be a measure to placate the American public, outraged that these executives still received their huge payouts after the State rescue. However, the move is an initial step in a wider attempt to overhaul executive pay practices. This is something that has been much discussed in the UK; what do you think, should executives from ‘rescued’ companies still receive bonuses and exalted pay?

Snow stops play! Did it affect your business?

2009-02-04T15:01:00.001Z

So it snowed in Britain this week; schools were closed (much to the kids’ delight), motorways shut; thousands of people didn’t make it into their place of work –allegedly costing businesses millions of pounds. I am very fortunate, as I do not have far to travel to get to work, and so was at my desk at 8.30am as usual on Monday morning. I am thankful that I didn’t have to go into London, as it appears there were no buses or taxis available either! Have the severe weather conditions affected your business?

Can you recommend a decent read?

2009-01-30T14:34:00.001Z

Can you recommend a decent read?When I get the chance, I do like a good book - and I mean to really read, not just grace the shelves of my bookcase or enhance my coffee table. This maybe a bit of fun 'chicklit' on holiday, an inspiring biography at the weekend or even a decent cookery book. I also like to catch up with some business books, and I have recommended some in the past (check out my website links page ). What books have your enjoyed that you'd like to pass onto the rest of us. Something that has inspired you, helped you or just plain entertained you. Can you recommend a decent read?

Are you taking advantage of the quality people available?

2009-01-29T13:33:00.000Z

Its tough out there. Some companies are struggling; some are rationalising and having to let people go. I’ve mentioned before that I believe that this is a good time to start a new business or try a new venture. If you have a business, with good prospects and plans then it’s also a great time to employ quality staff. As the unemployment figure grows, think of it as an opportunity to get those people that you need to grow your business, whether it’s experience, enthusiasm or energy that you are looking for, or all three! What are you doing, are you taking your pick of applicants?