• Acknowledge your fears – Identifying which fear is holding you back is a necessary first step in addressing resistance head-on.

​

• Break goals into smaller steps – Often, resistance can come from goals feeling too big to achieve. Instead, breaking those big goals into smaller, actionable steps can make them feel more manageable and allow you to make progress. Celebrate each small victory to keep your momentum going.

 

• Cut the crap of negative self-talk – It’s too easy to tell ourselves we’re not good enough to do something. Instead, remind yourself of your unique skills, experiences, and the value you bring to the table.

 

• Be accountable – Find an accountability partner, group, or some other means of keeping you on track and working towards your goals. Having someone to share with can keep your momentum and motivation more focused.  

 

• Never stop learning – Embrace continuous learning by investing in yourself. Seek new resources, be it books, podcasts, conferences, or webinars, to help build your skills and expertise. The more you learn, the more confident you’ll be in your abilities.

 

• Take the first step – It’s often the most difficult, but once you actually begin work on achieving a goal, it can quickly feel less daunting.

 
Remember, resistance and self-doubt can slow your progress, but they don't have to stop you altogether.
 
By implementing these 6 actionable tips, you can break free from the shackles of resistance, overcome blocks, and propel your business toward growth and success.

Running a small business is tough, right?
 
The ever-changing landscape can be overwhelming, but today I’m seeking wisdom from an unexpected source.
 
I asked my almost 9-year-old (“It sounds more grown-up than 8, Mum”) for her tips on running a small business. Trust me, her fresh perspective will blow you away and make you see things in a new light! 💡
 
So, get ready to embark on a journey of discovery as we explore the pearls of wisdom from an 8-year-old entrepreneur-in-training (she has plans to open her own art gallery/restaurant one day).
 
You never know, her insights might just inspire you to update your approach and implement some simple yet effective strategies to help take your small business to new heights.
 
Let's do this! 👇

​1.Make people (your customers) happy – Have good products or a good service and have a range of things for people to buy.
 
Her first tip is a golden oldie, and the key to any successful business. Take some time to review the products and services you offer now. Can you make any improvements? Is there something new you could offer? Now is the perfect time to bring something new or improved to the table!
 
2.Make the best impression – Try to make people have a good time and be kind so they remember you. Be yourself and be personal.
 
I love her advice here! We often get lost in the day-to-day running of our businesses and can lose sight of our customers. Now might be a great time to improve those autoresponder emails or do a quick check-in with your clients so they know you still value them. If you send a regular newsletter or other emails, inject a bit of personality! I highly recommend checking out Kim Arnold’s book, Email Attraction to help you with this!
 
3.Don’t set your prices too high, or people won’t buy – (she was so pleased with herself for coming up with this rhyme!)
 
This one is a bit of a tricky topic, isn’t it? I’m a firm believer in charging what you’re worth, but I also have a history of undercharging hugely, especially when I first started out as a VA.
 
However, I also realise that the economy isn’t fantastic at the moment, and some customers might not be able to commit to the same products or services as they used to. Could you look at introducing a product/service at a lower cost? Of course, it won’t have the same value, but it could help your customers who are struggling while opening you up to a larger audience.
 
4.Give people a reason to come back – Free stuff! 
 
Who doesn’t love free stuff? If I receive a discount code from somewhere I haven’t bought from yet, I’m always more inclined to try them out. I also know that if I receive a special deal or offer from somewhere I have bought from before, I’m more likely to buy from them again.
 
Could you offer a promotion or incentive to your returning customers? For authors, free books, previews, and short stories are perfect for this!
 
5.Think fun! – I love watching videos that are creative, fun, and exciting. They make me want to buy the things I see!
 
My daughter LOVES watching YouTube videos. Is there a kid who doesn’t? Her favourites are extremely creative art videos that never fail to make her laugh, and always lead her straight to me as she sees a new art or craft product she just needs to have, (“Please, Mum. I NEED it!”)
 
My advice here is to embrace video and make your marketing as fun and engaging as possible! Whether it’s colourful, animated social media content, trailers for your books, or a complete website overhaul, it’s time to make things fun, fresh and engaging.
 
6.Bonus Tip: Unicorns make everything better! 
 
Running a small business is indeed a challenging journey, and sometimes we get so wrapped up that we forget to think about the basics!
 
But, from making your customers happy and leaving a memorable impression to setting reasonable prices, enticing return visits, and injecting fun into your marketing, these tips from my almost 9-year-old might help you push your business towards new success.
 
Now, I’m off to consider rebranding as Admin Unicorns UK 🦄

The big name on everyone's lips right now is ChatGPT, and if you've played around with it, you'll likely have found that it's pretty fascinating.

I've experimented with it for everything from writing social media posts and generating ideas to writing whole blog posts, and here's what I've discovered:

It's an exciting and useful tool - but it can't replace me or you.

Let me explain. 

I began the idea for this article with a ChatGPT prompt. I asked, "Can you come up with some key points for an article on the benefits of AI for small business owners?"

It came back with bullet points about what AI can do. Then I asked for more info. I wanted a 500-word article with a question at the beginning and a title. 

ChatGPT did all that, exactly as I'd asked, in minutes. 🤯

So, why didn't I post the article it wrote for me?

I didn't like it. 

It didn't sound like me because, of course, it wasn't. 

But, using some of those key bullet points it first generated, I started writing the post myself.

So, here's my list of ways AI can help save you time:

📝 Generate ideas: AI is useful when bouncing around new ideas. You could use an AI art tool, like Midjourney to visualise the world in your next book (much faster and easier than searching the web for photos) or ChatGPT to generate blog topic ideas for your content calendar.

You can't use AI to write the posts for you - they just won't sound like you, and nothing can replace your unique voice. You also can't use AI to replace the unique talent and vision of a human artist and the final design they can create for your book. 

​🚀 Automate repetitive tasks: AI-powered software can handle things like scheduling repeat appointments, managing your to-do list, or answering simple customer queries, leaving you free to focus on the tasks you're best at and enjoy the most. 

But AI can't take the meetings you for (although I bet you sometimes wish they could) or replace good human-powered customer service. 

📈 Analyse data and provide insights: AI can help you make better decisions by looking at things like, when your social media users are most active, which posts perform best, and which newsletters received the most responses. It can also help to improve grammar and punctuation. These insights can help you to write better content with better chances of engagement. 

However, AI can't write those newsletters for you. Your subscribers want to hear from you! 

💰 Reduce costs: By automating tasks, AI can help small business owners reduce costs. This can be particularly beneficial for small businesses that don't have the resources to hire employees or invest in expensive software and technology.

What it can't do is replace you or a skilled member of your team. 
​
While AI can do a LOT, and it's getting more powerful each day, it can't replace humans...not yet. ​

Have you logged into your Hootsuite account lately?

If you have, and you're on their free plan, you might have spotted this message 👇

Hootsuite Free is going away after March 31

😦

When Hootsuite launched back in 2008 as an entirely free social scheduling service they quickly went viral, but it's not really a surprise that they've decided to knock the free plan on it's head. 

They've steadily limited the free plan to the point where you can currently only manage 2 social accounts, and schedule up to 5 posts. 

Which isn't a lot when you think about it. 

So, if you're facing losing your free plan and trying to decide whether to upgrade or go elsewhere, here are 4 FREE Hootsuite alternatives for you to consider.

1. Buffer
Buffer is probably the best known social media scheduler, next to Hootsuite, and they offer a really great free plan that should cover the needs of most small business owners and authors with up to 3 social media channels.

There's no daily, monthly or yearly limit to how often you can schedule/post with Buffer. The only restriction is that you can only hold 10 scheduled posts (per channel) at any given time, which if you post once per day, will last 10 days per channel, and there's no limit to how many instant posts you can create and push through to all of your channels.

2. Later 
Starting life as the first Instagram scheduling tool back in 2014, Later now allows you to schedule social media content to almost anywhere, including TikTok. 

Instead of being limited to 3 social media channels, as you are with the Buffer free plan, with Later's free plan, you can connect 1 social set, a set of profiles that includes 1x Instagram, 1x Facebook, 1x Twitter, 1x Pinterest, 1x TikTok and 1x LinkedIn.

However, you are limited to 10 posts per profile per month, so while this might be a better option if you have lots of profiles, it doesn't allow for a great deal of posting per month. 

3. Tweetdeck
If you only post to Twitter, and don't use any other platforms, you might want to consider Tweetdeck. 

This free tool, owned by Twitter, allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts (great for authors who have separate socials for different pen names). Scheduling posts is straightforward and there's no limit to the number of tweets you can schedule. 

The Tweetdeck dashboard is popular with very active Twitter users as it allows you to view various feeds i.e. inboxes, mentions, hashtag searches and much more within one window, making it easier to engage with and update your followers without switching between apps. 

4. Facebook
If you're only posting to Facebook, why not try their native Meta Business scheduling tool? This free service allows you to create and schedule posts, reels and stories directly within Facebook itself. 

The handy calendar view provides a nice visual way of keeping track of your monthly content, and with no limits to how often you can post, you can pack out a month in advance, and clearly see what you have coming up. 

An added bonus of this tool is that, since Facebook and Instagram are owned by the same company, you can also schedule Instagram posts, stories and reels via the same dashboard. 

We're celebrating! 🎉

February 2023 marks 10 years since I first launched Admin Angels UK back in 2013!

If you'd told me back then that we'd have made it through a global pandemic and three nationwide lockdowns I wouldn't have believed you...

...but here we are, and it's all thanks to our wonderful small business and author clients for sticking with us as we powered through the tough times together. 

We really wouldn't be here without you! 🙏

To highlight how far we've come in the last decade, we've put together a timeline of some of the things that have happened at Admin Angels UK since we launched in 2013 (keep scrolling to view). 

​​If you have under a minute to spare, you can also watch our 10 year celebration video here ​👇

We're very excited to see what the next 10 years of Admin Angels UK will bring and hope to continue working with you for many more years to come! 😃

It's that time of year again! 

The holidays are quickly approaching and things are starting to wind down. 

​I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to our wonderful clients for your business and for supporting Admin Angels UK this year.

I hope you have a wonderful festive season and find time to relax and unwind before heading into a prosperous new year! 

We'll be closed from 4pm tomorrow, 23rd December until 9am on Wednesday 4th January. 

​I can't wait to work with you again next year as we head into our 10th year! 

Happy Holidays! 

Kayleigh

Do you ever wish you could write faster?

You see other people producing content day after day, while you just stare at the blank page you opened an hour ago.
​
What’s their secret?

How do you write great content, faster?

Did you see this article circulating in The Financial Times last month?

It's interesting, isn't it?

That the emails and replies we send are polluting the environment.

All of those "thank-you's" and "will-do's" clogging up data centres. 

On the other hand, it sounds a bit like clap-trap, and I'm sure there are much more impactful ways to tackle climate change than emails of all things.

Let's face it, there are much bigger fish to fry (or not, as it were!)

But, saying that, it did make me think about when to reconsider sending an email.

So, before you hit send, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I getting my point across? 

​So often the point of an email gets lost beneath unnecessary waffle, confusing the reader and causing them to come back with questions. Keep it clear when telling them what you need or what you want them to do. 

• Is my email adding value? Do I need to send it? 

​Before sending any email, social post or blog, you really need to be asking yourself why you're sending it and what value you're giving to the reader. 

• Do I really need to copy in everyone in my department? 

I don't know about you, but I hate it when my inbox is clogged. A huge percentage of my inbox is taken up by emails I'm cc'd into that I don't actually need to read, things that aren't under my remit but that I'm copied into anyway, and it drives me a little nuts. Wouldn't it be better to just email the one or two people you actually need input from and who'll bother replying?

• Does this even sound like me?

​What is it about a blank email that makes us panic and start writing things we'd never say in real life? 'Hello, Kate! How are you? I hope you're well. Did you enjoy the weekend? Do anything interesting of note (probably not as we're in another lockdown) but thought I'd ask?... Anyway, here's that thing you asked me to do. Thanks!' 

Don't be afraid of the blank page, keep it short, simple and to the point. Kim Arnold has a great post on writing better emails that I urge you to check out! 

• Can I take the conversation elsewhere? 

For internal comms, I opt for Asana. It's a sure-fire way to cut down on the chit-chat and, if you're in there enough to not need email notifications, you can just turn them off, freeing your inbox from the clutter!

Now it's over to you! Are you making your emails count?

Happy New Year!

Here we are, at the start of 2021, the last awful year is behind us and we're looking ahead to newer greener pastures.

Or we were, until, for those of us in the UK, we found ourselves flung into another national lockdown. 

Now, as we review the last 12 months and how well we achieved our goals and as we plan what we aim to achieve over the next year, everything feels a bit tainted by the pandemic. 

And that's okay. It's been a struggle. Whether you've found yourself working from home, struggling to educate the kids or just struggling to keep your business afloat and still going; we're all weathering the same storm. 

But let's take a moment to review the positives, the great things that happened in 2020 (yes, there were some!) and the things we can hope for in 2021. 

Now tell me, what are the best things that you can take from 2020 and what are you looking forward to in 2021?