How to make Work-Life balance your Valentines

Your relationship with yourself is one of the most important relationships in your life, so why not make it the most fulfilling too? This Valentine’s Day give yourself the gift of balance and read on to learn about how you can begin optimising your work-life balance for a happier and healthier relationship with the most important person in your life: you!

Since focussing on this, I’ve managed to reduce my screen time by 40%, meaning I can read books, engage with family and friends and enjoy life an extra 1.5 hours per week!

Personal time & quality time

In our modern world we all find ourselves walking around with our work quite literally in our pockets. Although it’s great to be able to stay on top of emails, updates and meeting minutes, be mindful of how much time you spend on your phone versus away from it. It’s not just personal time, but also quality time that have never been more important to improving your work-life balance, so be sure to spend some hours away from your phone each day to fully engage in life. Get to an exercise class, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy being unplugged for a while!

Flexible work & the working day

With flexible work principles you can have more say over your hours, start, and end times to better fit your job into your life. Although most clocked hours follow a routine, see if there’s any room to modify your working day to better reflect the work-life balance you can thrive within. While you’re there, make sure you understand your employee holiday allowance and be sure to book your holiday days well in advance. All employees have a right to request flexible work in the UK, so make the most of the support available!

Good work-life balance & healthy work life balance

Good work-life balance, healthy work-life balance – what do these even mean? Although both are states to strive for, a key difference is that a good work-life balance tends to precede a healthy work-life balance: if your work-life balance is good, then you will be happier and healthier in the long term. A good work-life balance will look different for all of us, but a general rule is that you should find yourself with enough time in the day to engage in non-work-related activities. We all get tired after a long day at work or towards the end of a big project, but in general you should find yourself with the time and energy to have a life outside of work!

Poor work-life balance & work emails

So, what about a poor work-life balance? It’s all too easy these days to believe that you must always be hustling and increasing your hours a week, but this is exactly what your work-life balance doesn’t need! Some clues that your work-life balance isn’t doing you any favours are:

never having time to engage in activities you enjoy outside of work,
always being available by phone or work emails,
living in a constant state of stress,
missing out on sleep due to long hours.

We know that checking work emails is important, but designate time to check your emails and observe a strict cut-off point where you’ll be unavailable in the evenings so you can enjoy some time to yourself.

An Executive Assistant can help you with Inbox Management, filtering and prioritising your inbox and even responding on your behalf.

Working longer hours

We’re not going to sit here and tell you that you should never work longer hours. Sometimes we have the bandwidth to take on more at work, and that’s great! But if you’re already feeling the pressure, then don’t be afraid to decline longer hours where you can. You can’t be a good worker if you are overly tired, so learn your workplace limits and stick to them!

Work and personal life

Your work life and personal life should be two separate things. You may be friends with your colleagues and socialising with them forms a big part of your personal life but be careful not to let work socialising take up too much of your me-time. Professional and personal you are two different beings and it’s healthy to have a clear sense of where one ends and the other begins.

Remote working & the benefits of working from home

Click the image to read all about how to make working from home work for you in our article here.

If your employer offers remote working options, then experiment with finding a work environment that fits your lifestyle. Working remotely is growing in popularity as we all learn to stay better connected without impacting our efficiency at work. Maybe working from a favourite café offers a welcome change to the office? If you need peace and quiet to work, then why not make the most of working from home options? Working from home is in its heyday at the moment, so consider trying out a blend of office hours, remote working, and working from home to mix things up and keep life fresh and interesting.

Pay attention to reduce stress

This wouldn’t be a blog post about improving your relationship with yourself if we didn’t mention stress! But yes, your best work-life balance will be one that keeps your energy and motivation levels up and your stress levels down. Pay attention to where your stress comes from: is it staying on top of emails? Or maybe it’s your commute? No matter what the cause of your stress, identifying the problem is the first step to fixing it. Maybe you can limit the time you are available online, or perhaps working remotely would work wonders for your stress? See what isn’t working for you and consider changing things for the good – your relationship with yourself and your work-life balance will thank you for it!

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How to use ChatGPT for business admin

Why is a Virtual Assistant More Sustainable for Your Business?

Learn how to streamline your workflows with these practical tips and best practices, we cover everything you need to improve your productivity

How a Remote PA Can Help You Work Smarter

Learn how to streamline your workflows with these practical tips and best practices, we cover everything you need to improve your productivity

How Virtual Assistants Have Revolutionised Maternity Cover

When one of your employees is having a baby, you want to make sure they are getting all the support they need while also making sure your business is set up for maternity cover! Finding a temporary assistant can be costly and time consuming, so here’s our run down of the top 5 ways that hiring a virtual assistant will revolutionise maternity cover in your business!

1. Efficiency

A virtual assistant quickly assimilates into the workplace which saves you time and money. They can quickly step in when you suddenly find yourself short-staffed and will help take some of the pressure of the rest of your staff. Even better, this rapid onboarding process will mean fewer hours are duplicated which saves you money on payday!

2. Cut costs elsewhere

It’s not just the hours where you’ll be saving time and money. As your business is already paying for maternity leave, hiring a virtual assistant will cut extra HR costs too.

3. Flexible roles

A virtual assistant’s role in your business can be highly flexible depending on what needs doing and when. If the rest of your team are picking up the majority of work, then a virtual assistant can step in to tie up loose ends and complete any odd jobs that may arise.

4. Smooth transitions

A virtual assistant will be there for as long as you need them and once the parent returns from maternity leave you will save a lot of time and HR admin with a smooth transition.

5. Flexible work period

Maternity cover needs to be flexible, and your staff will thank you for supporting them at such an important time in their lives. A virtual assistant can easily be kept on for longer if maternity leave needs to be extended. Unlike hiring temporary staff, virtual assistants offer you flexibility in the workplace which saves you time on admin, job listings, and upheaval.

The bottom line

A healthy business is one where staff feel supported both at work and home. Having a baby is an exciting time in life and knowing work is being taken care of by a virtual assistant is a helping hand when it’s most needed. The next time your staff need to take maternity leave, get cover sorted quickly and efficiently with the help of a virtual assistant!

Read more about the services we offer here.

Get Started Find out how we could help you

Speak to a success manager

Insights & Resources The latest news, resources and insights from the team at Tyck.

Go To The Blog

How to use ChatGPT for business admin

Why is a Virtual Assistant More Sustainable for Your Business?

Learn how to streamline your workflows with these practical tips and best practices, we cover everything you need to improve your productivity

How a Remote PA Can Help You Work Smarter

Learn how to streamline your workflows with these practical tips and best practices, we cover everything you need to improve your productivity

Stress Awareness Month

Stress: a word with only negative connotations for a lot of people. But did you know that stress can also be a positive thing in all of our lives?

In recent times, there have been momentous leaps in the understanding of mental health and emotional intelligence and the success these can bring to a well-informed leader if we take care of ourselves and harness our potential.

However, according to a study conducted by the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the past year they have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. Every year since 1992, the world has recognised April as Stress Awareness month, supported by healthcare professionals around the world to raise awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of stress and how to deal with excessive stresses in your life.

The dangers of stress

It may be considered by many as less important than physical health concerns, but stress can have damaging effects on our mental and physical wellbeing. Stress is a major contributing factor in mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression and has also been proven to increase your risk of physical conditions including heart disease and insomnia.

So, we all know that stress can be a bad thing, but what happens when it gets too much? There seems to be a never-ending stream of emails to reply to, a mountainous pile of expenses, or there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day.

“A problem shared is a problem halved”

It may be a cliché but it’s true! At Tyck, we recognise only too well how excessive stress can have a huge impact within both your personal and professional circles: maybe you need to ask for help! It is an undisputed fact that reducing your workload by effective delegation to competent, attentive, and well-trained people will serve only to reduce your stresses.

This action against stress may mean asking a partner, trusted friend, or enlisting the professional help of a personal assistant to help with your workload. By getting the help you need by delegating your tasks and giving you time to focus, you can gain the peace of mind that you’re making progress and reducing the stress in your life. Although the thought of having another person around you, learning your work and asking you questions might fill you with dread, we’re specialists in reducing your workload (and stress) from day one thanks to our experience of working with business owners and directors.

If you’re one of the 74% of the UK that feels overwhelmed and unable to cope; be it keeping track of your receipts, coordinating your diary, or organising your logistics, you could be amazed at how effective a Virtual Assistant (VA) could be for you and your business. A VA is an expert in their field and works remotely so you don’t need to consider the hassle of workplace politics, allowing your current office dynamic to continue in perfect harmony.

A VA can be that extra support at the other end of the phone (or email!), with no set-up costs and without the stress of employment law, it can be the easiest way to handle the administration in your office.

So, why not ask for help today and get back to doing what it is that you do best!

Tyck – your first step towards stress management this April.

For more support, information and free resources please visit www.stress.org.uk

Make 2022 Your Year

So, how was 2021? Would you choose to spend another 365 days just surviving, or choose to have the most successful year of your life?

Every year you get the same 365 days, so what is getting in the way of you achieving your aims and how can you achieve them in 2022? The answer is relatively simple… by working through these five steps:

Reflect on the last year and note what worked or didn’t work
Work out what it is you actually want
Then, ask yourself why you want it
Next, plan out the steps to take action towards that goal
And finally, implement!

Without this, many people work out what they want to achieve from the year ahead without any context from the year before. You need to acknowledge what worked well along with being honest about what didn’t.

Reflection

Take some time to think about these questions and write down your answers:

Did you achieve the income you desired?
Are you working on projects that excite and interest you?
Do you like the clients you support?
Do you feel secure?
Are you achieving a good work/life balance?
Were there any disappointments?

If it helps jog your memory, look at the tasks and projects you delivered or emails between you and your clients. The aim of this is to have completed a thorough analysis in order to formulate a plan for 2022.

Your Vision

You can’t move forward without having a clear vision of what you want for your future. Many people make the mistake of rushing into coming up with one goal, but not working out if it’s actually what they want or how it really fits into their life. Here are six initial categories you should focus on:

Health and fitness
Finance
Career
Relationships
Personal
Environment

What do you see for each of these?

As before, write down or map out your thoughts to help make these goals really clear in your mind. Then ask yourself – is what you’re doing right now, or the way you’re working, helping you achieve each one of those categories?

Because one doesn’t happen without the other. For example, your career could be really taking off at the detriment of your health and fitness goals. Each tie in with the other, so get aligned with your true vision across all areas of your life to plan for the best year yet.

Why?

Can you articulate why you want your specific goals? It’s so important to uncover the real reason behind your goals in order to stay focused and to continue working towards achieving them, despite any inevitable setbacks.

Action

Taking action means creating steps from where you are now to achieve that end goal.

The most common way of creating these steps, or mini-goals, is by using the SMART method:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timely

Ideally you want to cover each of these for every goal you set.

Here’s an example of a non-SMART and a SMART goal:

Non-SMART goal: Double my annual income.
SMART goal: Earn £2,500 per month, after tax, within 6 months.

Outlining a specific measurable goal is attainable and has a timescale attached which will make it so much easier for you to remain focused and achieve success.

Implement

Once you have your SMART plan, it is time to commit to your goals. It is easy to start the new year with the popular motto ‘new year, new me’ but in reality it is hard to keep the motivation going throughout the year.

If you have a clear plan with SMART goals established reasons behind those goals, then keeping yourself motivated should be more achievable.

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty” – Theodore Roosevelt.

Success will take hard work and discipline, but if you have a clear vision and have outlined each step to get there, you can achieve it. Have a great 2022!

Networking Best Practices

Having the right connections is a big advantage if you want to grow your business. That’s why networking is such a necessary skill.

If you are unsure of where to begin with networking or how to get the best out of it, Tyck’s list of best practices will set you on the path to networking success!

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It’s a cliché but it’s true! Networking is a series of first impressions. At events it is best to dress your best and have your elevator pitch prepared (the one where you can explain what you do in a very succinct way) but if you want to take your networking skills to the next level then try out our suggestions for networking best practices.

Don’t dominate—communicate!

If you approach your business networking events only as a chance to talk about you and your business, you’ll stop people from engaging with you. Try to limit how much you dominate the conversation and focus on listening, learning, and laughing. People love to be listened to and will respond by wanting to know more about you. By simply listening, you may well be able to provide a solution to their problem or challenge.

Be consistent

Marketing is about consistent touches, so find business networking you love and attend them consistently while promoting that you are there.

Be focused

Thousands of official business networking events take place every day and the internet offers access to many more. The availability of all of these opportunities leads many people to take a random approach to networking – which results in failure to pay sufficient attention to specific opportunities.

Be selective

Identify and then act on the networking events that you believe are the best fit for your business.

Be Memorable

Consider things that will differentiate you from the crowd and increase your chances of success. Make sure you and your business card helps people remember you and what you have to offer.

Network everywhere you go

Without turning yourself into someone who is prepared to collar everyone with your pitch – treat every social event as an opportunity to meet new people. Be sure to talk about their challenges in business., you never know where you will meet that next great client, customer, or business partner.

Be friendly

Remember that people want to do business with ‘friends’. Try to be the kind of person that people trust to refer to their friends. It might not be the person you meet at a business networking event that will be your next client, but if you make the right impression it might be one of their contacts.

Help others

While your ultimate goal may be to find customers or to grow your business, if you want others to help you then you must be prepared to help them. Offer whatever resources you can – advice, contacts, support, and new ideas so you can increase your value to your business-networking group.

Be yourself

The best way to network is to not be conscious of the fact that you are networking. Don’t worry too much about the mechanics of networking. Relax, listen, and be genuinely excited to meet new people. It will surprise you how much your business networking efforts pay off!

If you want to chat about networking or require any business support, get in touch.

Insights & Resources The latest news, resources and insights from the team at Tyck.

Go To The Blog

How to use ChatGPT for business admin

Why is a Virtual Assistant More Sustainable for Your Business?

Learn how to streamline your workflows with these practical tips and best practices, we cover everything you need to improve your productivity

How a Remote PA Can Help You Work Smarter

Learn how to streamline your workflows with these practical tips and best practices, we cover everything you need to improve your productivity

A Virtual Assistant or Part-Time Employee; Which One is Right For You?

Where do the pros and cons lie?

There comes a time for some businesses when you realise that there really is no chance you are going to be able to grow and expand on your own. With so many tasks to do, it can seem overwhelming, and therefore you are going to want to have someone to help you and your business get where you want to be.

The most obvious option to consider is to have someone who you employ, be that part or full time, dedicated to helping you with all those key tasks that need to be done but take up too much of your time.

However, this is the 21st century and there’s a new disruptor in the market. Covid-19 has forced many of us to cancel our commutes, clear out our desks and take our work home, plunging us into the world of remote working and, like many of us, you may never wish to see things return to ‘normality’.

Introducing: The Virtual Assistant.

Which one works best for your business is an entirely personal decision, based on several factors. Let’s take a look at how a part-time employee versus a virtual assistant works out.

The Pro’s of a Virtual Assistant:

Office Space & IT Equipment

When you hire an employee, you have to provide them with somewhere to sit, work and take comfort breaks. You also need to provide them with the relevant IT hardware; a phone, laptop etc that can come at significant expense to a small business.

Finding a place for your new employee to work when you usually base yourself out of a home office can present logistical challenges that can be hard to overcome.

When you hire a Virtual Assistant, you don’t need to worry about any of these things; Tyck ensures your Virtual Assistant has everything they need to hit the ground running.

Diverse Skill-Set

When hiring somebody for your business, you’re looking for a resource with the required skill to meet your needs at that time. But we know that businesses change and over time, you’re going to need more. But what if they could give you even more?

A Tyck Virtual Assistant is a highly skilled worker who has experience in many areas of business and can help support your needs now and in the future.

This could be something that you need, or something that you didn’t even realise was going to be worthwhile to your business in the long term. Expertise such as Bookkeeping, Diary and Inbox Management, Marketing, Research and Customer Service are the types of support a Virtual Assistant can provide.

The ‘Hidden Costs’

When hiring an employee, there’s far more costs to your business than just their hourly or annual wage. With an employee, you’ve got to consider hiring costs, HR fees, pensions, sick pay, paid holiday, training aswell as just time when they’re not being productive; think coffee breaks or chats round the water cooler. They may not seem like they are costly but when you total it up, it can end up costing you quite a lot.

When you work with a Virtual Assistant, you only pay for when your assistant is delivering value. Tyck takes care of everything else, meaning you only pay for the minutes and hours your VA is working, and you get a monthly breakdown of exactly how they’ve spent their time. No hidden extra costs, everything is up front when you sign the contract.

The Pros of Hiring a Part-Time Employee:

Logistics

A VA by nature works virtually. This sometimes can mean a lack of face-to-face time, which can be important for some businesses if client facing roles are required. If not, with all the technology today working flexibly can absolutely work even for employees; as most have been forced to work out over the course of the pandemic.

Availability

Whilst every VA will be dedicated to your business for the time they agree to be, you may not be able to utilise their time at a drop of a hat. Whereas an employee you hire will only be working for your business and their role in it. For some, this is more of an assurance and can provide control when it is needed.

There are a variety of ways that a part-time employee and a VA compare to one another. So, why not think about which one is going to be right for you and help your business to get exactly where you want it to be?

For more information on Virtual Assistants and how they can help you level up your business, why not schedule a free consultation?

Ready To Hire A Virtual Assistant?

Hiring a Virtual Assistant is a big step, here’s some tips on working out if you are ready to hire a Virtual Assistant.

Do you feel overworked? Is each day a crazy blur jumping from one thing to the next? Is your to-do list always getting longer and never shorter? Find yourself wishing for extra hours in the day while sacrificing personal commitments?

There are many demands on the successful entrepreneur.

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to hire a Virtual Assistant.

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is the helping hand to simplify your life, make more time to work on your business, and keep things running as smoothly as possible.

Here are some of the signs that it is time that you need to hire a VA to help with your business.

You don’t have enough time to dedicate to your business

To grow your business you need time to formulate and action a strategy. You might need space to run your marketing, or develop connections to generate new business. Many business owners feel that there isn’t enough of themselves to go around thanks to the need to wear many hats: administrator, marketer, bookkeeper, leader – the list goes on! It can be easy to feel ‘spread too thin’ and struggle to find time to proactively focus on growth.

You are drowning in admin/finance and bookkeeping

Administration is a necessity for any business, but it can be time-consuming and harder to get on top of than you may realise. If you’re struggling to keep your records straight, or finding evenings with family and friends are being swapped for nights filled with admin, you need the help of a VA. Similarly, finance and bookkeeping is another essential aspect of your business, but one that some people can struggle to get their head around. Outsourcing your finance tasks and bookkeeping to a VA allows you to relax in the knowledge you have everything prepared. If you hire a VA they will be able to free up your time by taking on all the tasks that stop you from promoting your business.

You are working 10 to 16 hour days everyday

We all need to rest, if we don’t rest and get some balance then we will never be at the top of our game. Not only this, but we can start to neglect other aspects of our life, such as time for ourselves and time for our family. One of the best reasons to hire a VA is so that you can claim back some time for yourself, away from work. Your business can’t flourish if you are not yourself – when you hire a VA, what you’re really doing is buying time.

Your big ideas never happen

Are you someone who has some amazing ideas that you just need to put in place? Feel that you don’t have the time to actually action those amazing ideas? Perhaps you should hire a VA – Not only can a VA help with aspects of the business that take up a lot of your time, they might even be able to help you implement them!

Your CRM is out of date

Having an up to date database of all of your clients and customers is crucial. It allows you to not only keep track of who is buying from you, but also helps you to think about nurturing those customer relationships through communications to enjoy some increased sales opportunities. Just as with the admin tasks that take up so much of your time, a VA can help with keeping your client records up to date – an essential aspect of your business but one that is so easily forgotten.

One of the best reasons for hiring a VA is that they can be all the help of a full time employee without the additional costs associated with one. They have their own office, use their own equipment, and pay their own tax and they don’t require holiday, sick pay, or pension contributions.

The Climate Crisis

We all know that climate change is a real problem, how can hiring a Virtual Assistant help?

Climate scientists, ecologists, and activists are warning us that the climate is in crisis, with the sixth mass extinction already well underway: a catastrophe for the biodiversity of the planet upon which we rely.

Having grown up in South Africa, I can appreciate the beautiful biodiversity of our planet, and the great losses we are causing to these environments by our slow reaction to Climate Change. At Tyck, we believe strongly in the message that activists are trying to send: the leaders of our country, and countries around the globe, must recognise this emergency and support cultures of conservation in order to reduce damage to the climate.

At Tyck, we have begun taking action as a business, and have recently installed a smart energy metre in our business address to help us be more aware of the energy we’re consuming and how we can act to reduce it.

We also work with our great team of clients, opening the possibilities for more online solutions to the CRM, Financing and team collaboration issues that face their businesses. By moving these important business functions onto the internet, we can reduce paper usage and other excessive consumption such as printing and photocopying while also delivering the great efficiencies to the business we all know the internet can bring.

Tyck can help you look for and implement smarter technology in your business, along with those things already mentioned above, we have also helped clients with all of these steps in supporting our environment:

Eliminating fax machines and swapping to E-Mail and Instant Messaging
Introducing Online Vault Apps to share contracts with clients with paperless signatures
Installing Smart Lighting and Water Metres into registered addresses

According to studies conducted by The Carbon Trust, virtual working has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 3 million tonnes per year. Whilst also recognising all of the other benefits of virtual working, such as flexibility, access to support globally, and lower costs for your business: hiring a Tyck virtual assistant can help to reduce your carbon footprint.

Within the next 10 years, we are only going to see more evidence of climate change and how it impacts our environment, which will increasingly drive us to reduce our carbon wastage and slow the damage to our world. We found this great infographic which highlights the benefits of using a Virtual Assistant, both commercially and for the environment.

There is still a long way to go in reducing our carbon emissions, and we support the peaceful campaigns around the globe in raising awareness for these important issues. We feel that there is a lot more the government can be doing to support businesses of all sizes in reducing their carbon footprint: from grants towards accessible paperless business solutions and tax reliefs on the latest environment friendly office and commercial equipments.

By joining together as business owners, we believe we can begin to make a difference at a time need to make it the most.

The Importance of Small Businesses

Small businesses working together can create something special.

As a business owner, providing assistance to other businesses should be natural to us, but more often than not businesses are put in competition with one another. The temptation to not help one another due to worrying that you’ll lose out on business for yourself can be hard. However, the opposite of this is true – if businesses work together, especially small businesses, they can gain a lot more than they lose.

Tyck tries to partner or assist other businesses as much as possible. One example of this is our relationship with Ignition Collective, a full-service marketing agency. We worked with Ignition Collective to build Tyck’s website and have had a great relationship ever since. Here’s a note from Ignition on businesses helping one another:

“Since meeting Matty at Tyck in 2018, we can happily say that our relationship has developed beyond a business and client. After building the Tyck website we have been contacted by other businesses after recommendations by Matty, which has been really gratifying. We, in turn, recommend Matty and Tyck whenever someone is looking for additional business support, and feel very comfortable in doing so.

When businesses work together and develop a supportive relationship, there is so much more to gain. Recommending someone else is not losing business yourself; if anything it reflects well on your business that you have reliable contacts to recommend and you know they will deliver for your acquaintance.”

Here are some of the benefits and examples that I have seen and experienced in providing assistance to one another:

Highlighting new opportunities for growth

Although an opportunity may present itself to you it might not be particularly relevant to your business at that moment in time. However, instead of just disregarding this opportunity, take a minute to think about how it could benefit another business owner that you know.

Opportunities may arise for careers, business contracts, endorsements, and recognition which may be just the thing that someone else has been waiting for. Not only is this morally gratifying, but the favour may well be returned to your business one day.

Making introductions

Sometimes all you need is an introduction to the right person. It is crucial in business to keep details of everyone you meet, whether at a networking event or a potential client or business partner. In doing so, you will be able to build up a solid contact list across a wide range of industries should you ever require support.

You can also use this contact list to help other businesses. For example, you may be approached for your input, but should you find yourself unable to help for whatever reason, one of your contacts might be able to step in in your place. An introduction takes only a minute but could be what a small business needs to get their next client, whilst also developing your business relationship – further reiterating the point above.

Volunteering and providing feedback

Especially when dealing with small or new businesses, be aware that although they may not be able to pay a full fee, your time may be of more value to the business owner than monetary value alone.

Once you have agreed to undertake the task, you should ensure that you are genuinely involved and demonstrate your desire to help. In demonstrating your interest you are able to provide genuine feedback that may assist in providing solutions to issues the business never knew existed, which helps them grow, learn, and improve themselves for future clients.

Promoting and recognising

Gaining recognition or awards is one of the easiest ways for a new or small business to gain trust and validity from potential clients. Wherever possible and relevant, try and recommend another business owner if you think their services could be of use to someone you know. Alternatively, if you notice an award that would benefit another business then recommend them for it, or at the very least make them aware of it so they can apply.

Your recognition will likely mean the world to another business owner, and you will be promoting a skill, quality, or product that others can learn, grow or benefit from in one way or another. This ultimately contributes to the growth of your industry or sector and which will ultimately benefit you.

Businesses require a successful community or industry that creates a demand for their services within a supportive environment. Good business owners also tend to be leaders in their business community. In providing assistance to other businesses we are actually assisting ourselves. So what is there to worry about?!

Get in touch with us to see if we could help accelerate your business to the next level.

Caring for yourself whilst working from home

Working from home is our norm here at Tyck, but we know it can be hard. Here are some tips from our Virtual Assistants.

Working from home is our norm here at Tyck. As virtual and freelance Executive Assistants, our home office is our haven. However during Covid-19, companies have had to adapt to allow more people to work from home than ever before.

After such an unsettling time we feel that self-care is more important than ever, so here are some of our top tips to ensure you are looking after yourself while working from home.

Stick to a routine

Try and stick to a rough routine, making sure you tweak it to work for you. In these ever-changing times we need to be as flexible as ever, but there is no doubt that structure to your day will help to keep you focused and provide some consistency to your week.

Make time for breaks

It’s important to take a break- put the kettle on, have a snack, go and water the plants – whatever it may be. Schedule a couple of 15-minute breaks into your daily routine.

Dress to impress

It’s very unlikely that you would wear your pyjamas when heading into the officeand this shouldn’t really differ just because you are at home. You will feel much more energised if you get up and dressed at the start of your day – but let’s face it, no one will know if you have your favourite pair of novelty slippers on under your desk.

Get domestic tasks done first

It’s easy to get distracted by the ever-increasing pile of washing to be done. Take advantage of being at home and catch up on household tasks that you otherwise find it difficult to make time for. Our top tip would be to try and get these done before you start your working day or even during your breaks.

Stay hydrated

Staying hydrated is good for you and popping to the kitchen to top up your water bottle or put the kettle on can give you a welcome breather. A quick break from the laptop screen and a leg stretch will do you a lot of good throughout the day, not to mention keep you hydrated!

Don’t fight it

We all have those times where we feel we are not achieving anything, so if you find that a bout of unproductivity hits, don’t fight it. We are human after all. We would recommend taking a break, step outside, or perhaps even change rooms if you have the opportunity to. You’ll be back to your normal motivated self in no time.

Stay warm, cosy, and comfortable

We truly do mean it when we say our home office is our haven – and yours can be too. Try and create a space that is comfortable and suited to you. If you like background noise, put the radio on; if peace and serenity is more your style, light a scented candle, or add some of your favourite flowers to brighten up the space.

Perhaps you work from home and have some useful tips to share? f you have an idea to help people transition from the office to home we would love to hear from you.. To keep up to date with everything going on at Tyck, connect with us on LinkedIn or book a consultation to get some extra help.