Every year, around the time of Planner Bee VA Services business birthday, I take time to reflect on the year that has passed and then I share these reflections in a blog post. After another whirlwind year, I have compiled some of my highlights and learnings from our third year in business into the article below.
After kicking off our third year in business being awarded a Young Edge Award and £10,000 of grant funding, this has been another exciting year of growth (as well as a few challenges along the way).
Year 3 as a sustainable Virtual Assistant Service in numbers:
3000+ hours of support provided to our clients (3061 to be precise).
50% growth from year 2.
40 SMEs supported during our third year in business.
25% increase in team – Tracy joined as our Administrative Assistant at the beginning of 2024, so we are now a team of 4!
1 brand new service – Complete Carbon Footprinting.
3 Reflections from 3 years running a sustainable VA service:
- A mentor recently said to me “If you are going to be a leader in anything, then by the very definition of the word, there aren’t any footprints to follow.” I found this really quite thought-provoking and in a way, this ethos gave us permission (and the confidence) to dare to be different. In our third year in business, we have really leant into this – differentiating ourselves through authentic messaging, new services and innovative campaigns. Instead of focusing on what we “should” be doing, this year has been all about what we “could” be doing, and how we can stand out (hopefully, for the right reasons) whilst doing it.
- The value of being intentional with your time cannot be understated. As a service-based business, time is literally money, but as we have become busier, the business has grown and there is more and more “stuff” filling our time, the importance of being intentional with our time has really come to the forefront this year. There are so many events and opportunities that we could fill our time with – but you can’t do everything. A mantra for this year has been: you can do anything, but not everything.
- The Compound Effect is real. Small choices + consistency + time = significant results. We have really started to see the results of the compound effect and are starting to reap the benefits from the consistent actions we have taken over the last 3 years. For example, one of our recent new clients is a business owner I chatted with at a networking event almost a year earlier! At times, it can feel like you aren’t getting anywhere, but all of these little actions add up to create big results over time – keep going.
3 Highlights from 3 years as a Virtual Assistant working with sustainable businesses:
- Launching our new Complete Carbon Footprinting service has been a mammoth project this year. The new service started as a little spark of an idea, after identifying that often businesses have the desire to become more environmentally-friendly, but they lack the know-how and resources to get started. We then spent months compiling a report on the net zero space whilst also piloting, developing and refining our new service. Almost a year after having the initial idea, we launched our new carbon footprinting service. As a small team of four, this project was definitely a labour of love. Bringing the service to life is something I am hugely proud of, and I hope that it will enable us to make an even greater positive impact on the environment.
- Continuing to give back to the local community has continued to be a key highlight in our third year in business. In particular, I am eager to inspire the next generation of young entrepreneurs and be the role model that I never had. As part of this, I have returned to my old high school to deliver another session with DYW North East, as well as delivering a talk at the BWC Hair, Care and Dare event and becoming an Ambassador for the BWC Futures Group, which aims to support 16-25-year-old women with business and leadership ambitions.
- On a personal level, attending a business retreat in Dubai was a huge highlight for me this year. Three years ago, I would never have believed that my little business would enable me to join my Business Coach and 7 incredible businesswomen for a week-long retreat in Dubai. Taking time out from the day-to-day running of the business gave me the headspace I needed to think clearly and really get clarity on our business goals and plans (whilst also enjoying some of the sites of Dubai).
Journey to building a sustainable VA Business
Of course, like every year, one of the biggest highlights of our third year in business is getting to work with our incredible clients. It sounds cheesy, I know, but making a difference to the SMEs we work with really is why we do what we do. This year we have created a 31% increase in revenue through email marketing, for one of our clients. For a social media management client, we have created a 953% increase in reach on Instagram, over the 2 years we have been working together. We have also supported another client with a 5-figure launch and received feedback like this:
“Working with Planner Bee VA Services has been absolutely transformative for my business. Maya has turned my once-chaotic business into a streamlined machine. I’ve gone from a mountain of unread emails and confused processes, to a slick system that works great for me and for the people I work with. She’s super efficient, speedy and has a meticulous eye for detail. As well as being a breeze to work with, I love that Planner Bee VA is purpose-driven. I chose to work with Maya because of her sustainability and ethical focus. You can feel when somebody’s values align with your own, and I know that my clients appreciate that value alignment too. With her sunny disposition and can-do attitude, Maya has helped me to rediscover the joy in my work. I can’t recommend her highly enough!”
Thank you so much to the Planner Bee team, all of our clients, partners and supporters for your ongoing support. Here’s to year four!