Member Article

Washington lady launches virtual assistant service for SMEs

A Washington lady has launched DiVA Virtual Office Solutions which is a secretarial service that provides valuable assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Denise Reay has worked as a secretary for a variety of businesses since graduating from Gateshead College where she gained her secretarial qualifications, over 30 years ago. She initially had the idea a number of years ago but didn’t have the courage to start out on her own. Since then, the industry has changed and many of the usual office tasks can now be delivered perfectly well using the internet, email, social media and cloud technology. Denise started building DiVA towards the end of last year and took the brave step to resign from her full-time role so she could concentrate of her fledgling business.

“I became disillusioned with the corporate world and decided that I could help sole traders and SMEs with the admin tasks which they were struggling with themselves. It may be that they don’t have enough work for a full-time employee or they don’t fully understand that someone else can provide a much more professional service, therefore leaving them to concentrate on doing what they do best and building their own businesses. It’s something I really believe in which is why I gave up a secure, well paid job to take it further.

“My services include traditional secretarial duties such as diary and email management, producing documents & reports, arranging travel and managing events and database maintenance; but I also provide a book-keeping, expenses and purchase ledger service and can update social media accounts.

“Businesses don’t need to provide me with office space or equipment as I work remotely from home and they only pay for the hours I actually work for them – it’s all logged so they can see exactly how I’m spending time on their projects. And because I’m not actually employed, there is no requirement to pay NI, pension or tax, nor would they need to worry about paying for any sickness or holiday leave.

“When all of this is taken into account, hiring a VA works out very cost effective. I’m happy to carry out one-off projects but also offer a variety of packages for those who require more regular assistance. Being ‘virtual’ means I can work from my home office for businesses near and far but, if required, I would also be happy to attend someone’s premises occasionally.”

Is there too much on your to-do list and you’d like to know more about the services of DiVA Virtual Office Solutions, you can contact Denise on 0191 60 30 169 or 07947 600636, by email denise@diva-office-solutions.co.uk or through her website www.diva-office-solutions.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Denise Reay .