{Momentrepreneur} Meet Virtual Assistant Candice, "It’s all about planning and being organised"

Welcome back to our series on Momentrepreneurs! Today we hear from a virtual assistant who is so organised her selling point is that she “buys back time” for you. Let’s read more about her.

Tell us about yourself, a bit of background.

I’m a soon to be 30 year old, wife, entrepreneur and mom of two boys! I love tea and am passionate about helping others!

What were you doing before you started this business?

I was very involved with the start-up of a successful chicken take-away and well known restaurants in Durban. Initially I worked behind the scenes doing all the administration and number crunching stuff! Then last year, I opened their second chicken- shop and became their operations manager. I’m passionate about business and have a desire to lead, having been mentored by a business coach, I was able to make my dream a reality! I started my very own business offering services to entrepreneurs and small businesses as a Virtual Assistant. Shandee- Buying Back Time was created in September 2015 with a vision to help others all over the world in all different fields.

3. Is your business full time or part time and why? It’s full time because I love what I do and there is enough hours in my day to help others which makes “working” fun! There is that saying” if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life”- Well I totally LOVE what I do!

4. How do you juggle the responsibilities of being a mom with your work? It’s all about planning really and being organised! Our lives are so chaotic as it is, my eldest son is 7 years old and is a type 1 diabetic (you can just imagine what that entails- we are kept very busy!) but with planning and set routines we are able to achieve great results. I have a great husband and support system too.

5. Do you have a business plan? If so, can you share a bit about your strategy to make it successful? Absolutely, that was one of the first things I created because I am a firm believer of planning especially when it comes to business. “Through innovative ideas and streamlined processes we will provide cost effective and efficient solutions for all admin planning and execution. Maintaining a strong, professional relationship that will always exceed our clients’ expectations – we get the job done!” –Shandee| Buying Back Time.

6. How do you get clients/ market yourself? One of the services I offer is Social media management, this plays a huge part in my marketing strategy as I’m a social media addict! I’m fairly new to it but am growing my following day by day. Social media after all is your business “word of mouth”. A lot of clients have also come from the BNI network and from the guys at ActionCoach- Business Mastery. I value these organisations and their people as they are your brand ambassadors.

7. What’s your biggest challenge right now? Right now, the biggest challenge I have is “time”, my diary is starting to full up and I need to maximise the time spent wisely so that I and my clients achieve great results and value.

8.Did you need a lot of money to start off? And how long was it before you made a profit? No, I didn’t need a lot of money to start off with, in fact I didn’t have a lot basically two months’ worth of income, a laptop, internet connection and a great designer! Business Cards were Key! I started to see great figures from my second month of trading and have not looked back since- my goal is in sight.

9. What makes your business unique from other brands? I guess being a Virtual Assistant makes me unique because my clients only pay for the time spend, they save money because they don’t have to pay employee benefits, equipment or supplies. A cost saving for sure!

10. Share with us your social media links and website.