We’ve reached Episode 14 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA Business podcast! This week I welcomed Tim Brown of Grosvenor House Practice, a well-established accountancy practice, based near Cirencester in the Cotswolds..

When I was beginning to lose faith in accountants, I was recommended to Grosvenor House and I’ve genuinely never looked back. I’ve learnt a lot from them and have developed a proportion of my coaching programme based on the advice, guidance and knowledge I’ve acquired from my relationship with Tim. 

Grosvenor House was established in 2007, In June 2011 Tim became the sole director and is committed to putting the clients first and providing a jargon free, communicative service. As a business, Grosvenor House aims to be a different kind of accountancy practice by adopting a proactive approach and continually reviewing their services, to keep abreast of legislation and business trends, making them more efficient and more supportive, leading to greater satisfaction and success for their clients.

Tim believes passionately in communication and helping clients to understand where they can save tax and improve their business performance. When he is not in the office, Tim can be found calving cows or driving tractors on his farm, or watching rugby; not your average accountant then!

Tim and Dan at Grosvenor House have been instrumental to the success of my business, they’ve been extremely generous with their time and advice and I can attribute the financial success and stability of Kate-VA largely to them.  

Learn more about GHP Ltd below:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-brown-9332b316/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/grosvenor-house-practice-ltd/

https://ghpl.co.uk/

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For this events special episode of Up Close and Virtual, I welcome Samantha Burton to the podcast.

With Samantha’s eye for detail and organised nature it was no surprise that she carved a career in Events Management. Having achieved a First Class honours degree in Events Management with International Hospitality Management at University, Samantha immediately secured a job in a live events agency specialising in public sector events, which allowed her to work at some fantastic venues across the UK, including Lord’s and The Oval Cricket Grounds, the NEC, Birmingham and the Etihad Stadium.

Always one for getting stuck in, and searching for a bit more glitz and glamour, Samantha found her skills suited the delivery of events and soon progressed into a career defining role as Operations Manager at Merlin Events London, which is where Samantha has sculpted her career until co-founding Eventify 5 years ago. Working her way up the ranks, Samantha finally held the position of Head of Events for a number of years delivering some awe inspiring and spectacular events for a number of extremely high-profile client’s and guests, including Royalty! Working with a number of Blue Chip companies and some particularly demanding private clients over the last 10 years, Samantha’s love of managing events is only continuing to grow.

Since co-founding Eventify the company has grown from strength to strength despite the small challenge of a global pandemic! Samantha has worked with a broad range of corporate clients from Meta to Mimecast, BearingPoint to LGT Wealth Management, not to mention a celebrity wedding too! In the last year, the Eventify team has doubled in size, a testament to the success of this female led company!

When not delivering fabulous and exciting events, Samantha can be found in the kitchen whipping up fabulous and exciting celebration cakes!

See Samantha and Eventify's links below:

www.eventifyuk.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-burton-eventify/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/eventify-ltd/

https://www.facebook.com/eventifyuk

https://www.instagram.com/eventifyuk/

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For Episode 12 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA business podcast, I am delighted to have Emma Weir as my guest.

Emma Weir is the Founder of Eban. She started her career in executive search in 1985, covering UK Equity Broking and all aspects of Fund Management. After establishing offices in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo for a boutique financial services executive search firm where she worked for 10 years, Emma believed it was an appropriate time to build her own search firm.

In 1995 she established Eban in Hong Kong. The rapid success of this office prompted Emma to return to the UK in 1997 to set up and manage our London office. Emma spent the majority of her time in London and personally conducted senior level global assignments within Asset Management. After more than 30 years of an extremely fruitful and rewarding journey in executive search, Emma decided to retire in 2019 but she happily remains as Eban’s Honorary Advisor.

Emma's relationship with me is an incredibly important one; she was my first VA client and has taught me so much. I credit the success of my business to her and her unfaltering support and ambassadorship. She’s been extraordinarily generous in her support and encouragement and she remains one of my most trusted advisors and advocate.

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Kay Lundy, Career & Wellness Executive Assistant & Coach, is my guest for Episode 11 of Up Close and Virtual.

Kay coaches women over 50 who are exploring new career and lifestyle options but face challenges and invisible barriers to realising their future personal success.

Harnessing more than 35 years of Business Assistant expertise and change across many industries and sectors, both in the UK & abroad, plus 16 years Coaching experience, Kay has successfully worked with many clients to achieve their own new mapped out and successful personal areas, which has meant happier and more fulfilled lives.

Kay will guide her clients to improve their self-esteem, work life balance & wellbeing.

Kay is also on the advisory board for The PA Show - championing the Executive Support community for over a decade - and will be a speaker this year at their two day event on 2nd March 2023 at the ExCeL London at 11:40 to 12:20.

Links for Kay below:

www.expertadmincoach.co

LinkedIn – Kay Lundy, The Expert Admin Coach

https://www.facebook.com/theexpertadmincoach

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/the-pa-show/

https://www.thepashow.com/welcome

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Katharine Landale founded Bold New World Recruitment in 2019 which specialises in all hiring aspects for small businesses. She is particularly interested in helping experienced people back to the workforce who may have taken a career break.

Before this, Katharine's career was in Investor Relations with Citigroup and BNP Paribas in London and during this time she has been involved with various charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support, Facing the World, MS Society, Home Farm Trust and The Cot Death Society.

Katharine sits on the boards of Six MHS and Tetbury Hospital and has been Chairman of the Friends of Tetbury Hospital for a number of years.

Katharine moved with her family from London to near Tetbury, Gloucestershire in 2005.

Links for Katharine below:

https://www.facebook.com/boldnewworldrecruitment/

https://www.instagram.com/boldnewworldrecruitment/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/boldnewworld/

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We’ve reached Episode 9 of Up Close and Virtual; the Katie-VA business podcast, and I’m very pleased to welcome Susan Wright of the Wright VA.

Susan has a wealth of knowledge honed from working for over 20 years, predominantly in the Private Equity sector.

Susan draws on her experience to assist a range of clients, helping them with their diary management, document and presentation formatting, liaising with their clients as well as keeping inboxes under control. Susan’s exceptional organisational skills and attention to detail really sets her apart from the crowd.

Susan works from her home office in South Croydon, where she enjoys the variety that each day brings being a Virtual PA. In her spare time, she enjoys playing netball, korfball and bird watching 

Links for Susan below:

https://www.facebook.com/SusanTheWrightVA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanwright-va/

https://thewrightva.co.uk/

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For Episode 8 of Up Close and Virtual, Belinda Prescott-Collins joins me to talk about her business journey.

Belinda (aka Bee) Prescott-Collins was a solo operator with just one client when she began BeeHerd on a Kent farm three years ago. Despite the challenges of unwittingly starting a new venture just before a worldwide pandemic, Bee’s innovative marketing agency has grown at an astonishing rate in terms of turnover, clientele, team and reputation, while helping fellow UK entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.

BeeHerd enables brands to emotionally connect with their customers to drive action and amplification. They exist for ambitious brands and people who want to be heard in the world. They expose and harness emotional intelligence in marketing to engage, connect and drive action.

Bee is an inspiring leader who strives for perfection and success. She is a true marketer with a wealth of experience gained from B2B, B2C, 3rd and charitable sectors.

Links for Bee below:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/belinda-collins/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/bee-herd-ltd/

https://www.facebook.com/BeeHerdLtd

https://bee-herd.com/

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Episode 7 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA business podcast, is out now!

For this episode, I was delighted to welcome Alicia Fairclough, the founder of EA How To. She is responsible for bringing together one of the largest (and most valuable) global communities of Executive Assistants, Personal Assistants and Virtual Assistants in the world.

I have personally known Alicia for a couple of years when she approached me to do a Facebook live about running a successful virtual assistant business. We hit it off and our relationship has grown from strength to strength and we are now co-founders of Assistant Recruitment; recruiting EAs, PAs and VAs into organisations in Europe and the US.

A former Executive Assistant herself, Alicia knows the ropes and then some! Today, she uses her extensive knowledge of the industry to provide powerful learning and development programmes, presents webinars, organises training and events and mentors community members.

Alicia is a fount of all knowledge when it comes to being an EA and I really enjoyed our conversation.

Listen to the episode now and please do like, share or leave a review!

Link to our Facebook live about running a successful VA business below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H924cCaGHWA

Check out our Assistant Recruitment venture linked below:

https://www.eahowto.com/assistantrecruitment

EA Website is linked below:

https://www.eahowto.com/

Alicia's Social Media Links:

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/EAHowTo/videos

LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/company/ea-how-to

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/eahowto

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Lucy Allen of Aumonier Travel is my 6th guest for Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA business podcast.

Aumonier Travel provides a highly personal, reliable and bespoke service when planning your next trip away.

Lucy is a travel guru; there really isn’t anything she doesn’t know about the personal and business travel space. She also happens to be brilliant in truly understanding her clients exacting standards. Listen to find out some of Lucy’s top tips and excellent travel advice.

Aumonier Travel was born out of an urge for Lucy to throw herself back into work after a few years off at home with the children. After overcoming apprehension and self doubt, she launched just before the second national lockdown in 2020. Lucy's journey up until now has been a huge, fun learning curve whilst meeting some amazing people along the way, both in the industry and as clients.

Links to Lucy's social media, website and contact details below:

Insta @aumoniertravel

Facebook Aumonier Travel

www.aumoniertravel.com

[email protected]

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I welcomed Luke Manton for Episode 5 of Up Close and Virtual.

Luke Manton is the Founder of Manton Executives, a Virtual PA and Marketing Agency. Luke was diagnosed with adult onset Tourette's Syndrome and is a huge advocate for the condition, often speaking at conferences worldwide to educate others on Tourettes. Luke has grown an incredible following on social media where he shows the ins and outs of running a successful business with a condition like Tourettes.

I really enjoyed chatting with Luke; he's one of the most inspiring VAs I know. He built his business from the ground up during lockdown and now employs two assistants who support him and his clients. On the episode he shared his top tips for social media success.

Links to Luke's social media below:

mantonexecutives.com

linkedin.com/in/lukemantonme

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