Does it seem like there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done? Are you trying to run a business and, at the same time, keep up with the never-ending demands of running a website, social media and invoicing? It’s time to hire a virtual office assistant!
Amy Stevenson is owner of Vamos Admin, a Virtual Assistant Service based in Northern Ireland that offers business support such as social media content, repurposing content and automated business systems to service-based small business owners.
Amy takes away the overwhelming workload and the endless piles of paperwork by helping other small business owners to use their time more productively and outsourcing those skills that they just don’t have themselves.
Amy’s achievements thus far speak for themselves. She is the Northern Ireland VA of the Year 2022, Best New UK VA Runner Up 2021 and more recently, Vamos Admin is the worthy winner of Theo Paphitis’ Small Business Sunday.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
I left school after GCSEs to do an aircraft engineering apprenticeship, I always felt University wasn’t for me! Engineering is in my family and the logical, solution-driven nature of the industry was a great fit for my structure loving soul! I love processes and planning and having to think on your feet to solve a problem, all of which are extremely useful in my current business!
Where did your business idea come from?
A part-time admin job I took between maternity leaves made me realise how important the role of an assistant was, and how varied the tasks could be. I wanted to be that right-hand person helping glue it all together but for more than one person/business, and I wanted flexibility around my new young family and so voilá, my virtual assistant business Vamos Admin was born!
What has been your biggest AH-HA moment in business?
When I realised that by strategically creating content I could effectively repurpose to create a social media system that created maximum output with minimal time/fuss, I knew that other business owners were feeling stuck on the social media hamster wheel as I had been and that this was something I needed to share. It’s now one of my most rewarding things to mentor businesses in because the relief they experience is something I know myself!
What distinguishes you in business as unique?
I have a multiple, varied skill set and this allows me to solve a lot of different problems for my clients. I always joke that my middle name is Google and if I don’t know how to do it, I’ll find out how or know someone that does! I love that they’ll come to me in the first instance and I can advise or refer, giving them someone to bounce ideas off in a scenario when they often are the sole employee of their business!
What piece of advice would you offer to readers about social media content.
Utilise Evergreen content! Create a bank of evergreen content (content that doesn’t date or isn’t time-specific) such as who you are, what you do, why you do it, how to work with you etc. You often find business owners don’t share this info enough, worried that it seems like a repetition of something they’ve said before. But you can and should be repeating your key messages as your audience is always changing and we know that people don’t scroll that far back!
Share one key to success in business that you feel is important.
Get yourself some business besties. I found at Vamos Admin, self-employed life can be isolating and having someone you can trust to give you honest constructive criticism, to pick you up when you’re feeling a bit low etc. is invaluable. You can work alone but you don’t have to feel alone.
To keep up-to-date with Amy and avail of all her wonderful advice be sure to follow Vamos Admin on the social channels below.