NEWS - Welcoming Laura Barley to the Alchemy VA Franchise Family
Posted on 26th August 2021 at 17:49
We’re absolutely over the moon to have welcomed Laura Barley to the Alchemy VA franchise family!
Laura, a former Police Officer, who has overcome personal hardship and loss before setting up her Alchemy Virtual Assistant business says the future is looking bright...
Following the unexpected passing of her husband from meningitis five years ago, and driven by the desire to create a flexible and fulfilling career to secure both her and her son’s futures, Laura Barley has embarked on a new path by choosing to launch an Alchemy Virtual Assistance (VA) franchise hub from her home office on the outskirts of Glasgow.
As the remote business support sector continues to skyrocket, and with a reported 9% increase in registered VAs UK-wide *, our Laura has truly hit the ground running.
Starting her initial tailored Virtual Assistant training with us over the summer months, Laura has already gained multiple clients and is using her excellent organisational skills, eye for detail and compassionate nature to support small business owners and entrepreneurs UK-wide with their remote PA, admin and project work.
“My son was still a baby when my husband passed away. Within four days we had gone from a diagnosis to his life support being switched off. But my tiger mummy instincts kicked in and I knew I had to do whatever I can to look after and protect my young family,”
- said Laura, who has a degree in business, and has previous experience recruiting for a global firm as well as recruiting for Lloyds TSB in Scotland and more recent experience coordinating various projects for a small family-run company, in addition to holding several challenging roles on serious crimes at Police Scotland.
“When your life suddenly changes as mine did, and then with the added pressures of the pandemic too, it causes you to really put things into perspective. I wanted a rewarding career working flexibly from home, where I could use all my transferable skills to add real value to others and not at the cost of being there for my son.
“Setting up a Virtual Assistant business under the established and award-wining Alchemy VA group seemed the obvious choice to me, especially when lots more people are choosing to outsource their business tasks. I did my homework looking at both other VA franchises and setting up on my own. It was clear to me that Alchemy were the empowering and nurturing people that I needed to help me get to where I want to be.
For the first time in a very long time, I truly feel passionate and excited about my future. Not only am I chasing my own business dreams but in doing so it’s creating a better balance at home too. I absolutely love that I have the wider Alchemy VA family supporting, training, guiding and generally cheering me on to allow me to make a real difference to my clients."
Reports, presentations, document preparation, research, diary management, meeting and event organisation, recruitment support and social media scheduling are some of the many everyday administration tasks Laura has taken responsibly for on behalf of her diverse and thriving clients.
In celebration of Laura opening Alchemy VA’s very first Scottish Franchise Hub, our founders – Suzy and Paul Sanders – have pledged to support an initiative to help rewild the Scottish Highlands in the Barley family’s honour.
“We’re absolutely over the moon to have welcomed Laura to Alchemy. She is an incredible woman who really compliments and strengthens our collaborative and supportive franchise family.
Laura is deeply courageous and aligns to our values perfectly. She certainly has all that it takes to achieve her aspirations and I feel very fortunate to be able to continue to support her as a business owner in her own right as she nurtures and grows her Alchemy VA franchise Hub.” said Suzy.
As a purpose driven and family run Virtual Assistant company, we’ve always been focused on people over profits. But family isn’t exclusively defined by blood. To us, family extends out way beyond our incredible VA franchise team and our ambitious and inspirational clients.
Family quite simply means the commitment people make to look out for each other and we believe it’s our individual and collective responsibility to look out for each other, protect the environment and do what we can to support our local communities.
What better way to embody this belief and mark the wonderous occasion of Laura establishing Alchemy VA roots in Scotland than by donating to ‘Trees for Life’ who do great work to help rewild the precious Scottish Highlands providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive.
We have established an Alchemy Virtual Assistance 'grove' and donated for trees to be planted to honour and celebrate the Barley family. Going forwards a new tree will be donated every time we welcome someone new into the Alchemy VA family - whether they’re a new Virtual Assistant, franchisee or client.
To get to know Laura and learn more about her Virtual Assistant services for entrepreneurs and small enterprising businesses you can get in touch with her directly via Laura.Barley@alchemyva.co.uk or 0141 2801915
To discover more about Virtual Assistant franchise opportunities with Alchemy VA, please get in touch.
Photography by Moments Photography by Jae
* 1350 new VAs registered with the Society of Virtual Assistants having set up during the pandemic – a 9% increase
Source: UK VA Survey v12 from the UK Society of Virtual Assistants
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