As they say, the proof is in the pudding!  We’ve been working with clients all across the country for two years now.  You might be asking, “How do you have clients across the country, aren’t you supposed to be in their office, sitting next to them in order to do your job properly?”

Well, thankfully for technology and the nature of business these days, we can work from anywhere, and still support our clients at the highest level.  But don’t just take my word for it, here’s some feedback received from a client in Adelaide, South Australia – Alison Shaw.

“When I first engaged My PA’s services I was concerned about how I would communicate with Heidi as a virtual EA interstate prior to engaging with her.  However, Heidi just seemed to make the communication happen as needed; not more, not less.  Heidi fit in communication around the work flow and at times that suited me in a way that I felt comfortable with.  I don’t think I even noticed when or how we were communicating – it just happened.

“I first decided to engage My PA because Heidi listened and learnt how she could adapt and be flexible to fit in with me, my life and my style.  Heidi did not try to change me or how I wished to work.  Heidi demonstrated that she is flexible, non- judgmental and adaptable.  I am confident My PA can work with anyone.

“The co-operative management of my time and tasks, improved my productivity and efficiency which has been the greatest benefit for me.”

“My PA not only keeps you on time but tracks their own time and the return on investment is not just financial but minimises stress for you and everyone which is often even more valuable.  Nothing is too much trouble for Heidi, and you’d certainly never know or feel it, even if it was.  Heidi is always bright every morning and energetic until the very last task is taken care of before tomorrow.

“My PA helped me to get on with running my company and completed the tasks I needed doing in the order I wanted them done.  Heidi and her team are highly productive, organised, efficient and professional.

“What makes Heidi an exceptional administrator is that she has huge capacity for simultaneous multiple tasks with minimal communication or instruction and uses her independence and intelligence with appropriate confidence and initiative to get the work done with the best possible outcome.  Heidi is also warm, approachable and friendly with a high emotional intelligence.  She is very self-deprecating and always made me look good and feel under control.  Heidi is extremely loyal and focused.  Everyone needs Heidi and her team at My PA.

“I would recommend My PA to anyone who values their time and understands the value of time.”

A Good P.A. just knows what to do…

My PA is here to help, call 1300 247 697 or https://mylifemypa.com.au/get-started/

Written by Heidi Evans

The electricity bill needs to be paid, Buddy needs to go to the vet, the kids have soccer and you have to reschedule your meetings for Friday because you’re going to an emergency meeting in Sydney that you can’t back out of.

Breathe; everything will work out, right? Well, sure everything will always work out, but what kind of outcome do you want?

You COULD take Buddy to the vet before work one morning at ridiculous o’clock and keep him in overnight care (more money) because you won’t have time to get him in the afternoon, because you’re going to have to pay the electricity bill over the phone while you are so called ‘watching the kids’ at soccer practice, which you can only stay for half of because you have to duck to the shop to grab something for dinner, the house is a pig sty, and it’s mum’s birthday this week, no wait, what’s the date today? Arghh, it’s today!!!! Oh, mum, I’m so sorry!

I feel exhausted, stressed and anxious just reading that. There has to be an easier way… Below are some simple steps for busy people who are trying to juggle business and families, by My PA Life Management to help SIMPLIFY your life.

1. Meal Planning – Dedicate 1 hour each week to planning your meals in an online calendar that you can view from your tablet, phone and desktop. Think about these things when deciding what’s for dinner:
   • What activities/appointments are on each night?
   • How many people to cook for that day?
   • How much time are you going to have to prepare/cook the meal?
   • What meals do my family like and are easy to prepare?
   • Can I do a slow cooker meal that will make the end of the day easier?
   • Then go shopping based on the list of meals you have planned, so that each day you know what you’re having for dinner and all the ingredients are there!
2. Sort your Inbox into ‘To Be Actioned’, ‘To Be Read’ and file them. This decreases the clutter and if you’re in a pinch – just go to the ‘To Be Actioned’ box and know that you’re on top of it!
3. Tidy the house before you go to bed – just 15 mins the night before will make an hour difference in the morning knowing where everything is.
4. Prepare the night before – things like clothes, bags, homework, lunchboxes and meeting items.
5. Outsource your cleaning, housekeeping and garden work – bless someone else a job, and take a massive time-consuming burden off your shoulders.
6. Write lists. We cannot stress this enough. Although a bit of an ‘old school’ approach to organisation in today’s society it gives yourself clear direction for what you need to complete in order of importance and man does it feel good to be able to cross off items from your to-do! Lists also provide a great sense of accomplishment so you can see how much you have gotten done in a day.
7. Hire a Life PA. Sometimes we need to admit defeat and remember we can’t do everything on our own, and having someone to remind us, be our on-call help and just manage it all, can breathe life back into our lives. This won’t be the case for everybody as we all have different schedules, but remember if you need help, ask for it, everybody else is doing it! My PA is here to help 1300 247 697 or https://mylifemypa.com.au/get-started/

We all know what stress is, and more likely than not we have experienced some form of it throughout our lives. It’s so common in today’s world to push yourself harder, strive for bigger goals, be an attentive spouse, an active parent, and make time for your family, all the while still being able to dedicate time for yourself and your friends.
We see success stories plastered all over business magazines and T.V about these everyday people who have risen to success and promote the importance of spending quality time with family and friends. They give us a few tips and hints along the way of how you too can live this dream. I’ll give you the most important tip that many won’t disclose: these people have help, and lots of it. They will have a nanny, a travel agent, an executive assistant for their work and all sorts of other help at their fingertips that allow them to live this allusive ‘you can have it all’ lifestyle.
The reality is, these people have help because it is impossible to do it all on your own and be able to enjoy each moment without stressing about the proposal you have to draft, the flights you have to book and that dinner date you have been promising to book with your other half for nearly three months. The issue here is that hiring help is not formally disclosed in articles like ‘top 20 tips for success.’ People will tell you to ‘slow down’, ‘take time off work’ and ‘stop taking so much on board’, but we all know that isn’t always realistic.
Welcome to 2015, the year the Personal Life Management industry is taking off. No, we’re not a life coach, we’re a P.A. in the traditional business sense as well as taking care of your lifestyle and relationships. We take care of those necessary but time consuming everyday tasks that make up your life so that you are free to live the life you desire.

Written by Chloe Heselden

This fortnight we are going to be talking about stress, but not in the usual sense. We won’t be providing you with ‘5 ways to reduce stress’ or ‘how to cope with anxiety’; instead we are going to talk about unusual symptoms that result from stress.
#1 Secluding Yourself
Research has suggested that some people cope with stress by secluding themselves away from the world. Ever find yourself snapping at those closest to you? Or perhaps making an excuse to not go out for dinner with friends? Although these people may not be the cause of stress, many shut their closest friends and family out because they are the easiest to brush off. It’s not so easy to cancel a meeting with an associate who has flown from New Zealand but it is to cancel plans with your partner. The best way to deal with this is to firstly identify that you’re doing it. While you’re thinking of an excuse to cancel plans, encourage yourself to stop that routine and go out and take your mind off things.
#2 Obsessing Over Irrelevant Tasks
I myself know that when I am stressed out, I focus my energy on less important tasks in an attempt to distract myself from what is a priority. I will find myself cleaning things or filing paperwork that isn’t desperate for it, and are definitely not a high priority. Whenever I catch myself doing this (or have it pointed out) I sit down and write all my priorities down, including the tasks I was using as a distraction and work through systematically in order of importance.
#3 Overeating
Loss of appetite is a well known symptom of stress, but so is overeating. Are you finding yourself indulging every night on heavy comfort food and sweets? On the scheme of things it may not seem like a big deal, but in order to perform well, you need to have quality fuel in the tank! There are many healthy alternatives to comfort foods online, and I guarantee you, you will feel better for it!

Written by Chloe Heselden

School holidays are just around the corner and we’re on a mission to help parents stop dreading it and start getting excited! The most common reason we experience stress around these times is because we’re unprepared. We have the goal to be prepared, then we blink at it begins tomorrow! Don’t let that happen to you these school holidays, we have one week to go so let’s start planning! We will be doing a two part blog for the school holidays. This week we will be giving you some ideas if your kids range from ages 5 to 11.
We’re realists; we know that for working parents, it’s unrealistic to expect that you will be able to spend an entire day devoting your undivided attention to your children. Everything in life doesn’t stop because the kids have a 2 week break. However that one hour you can devote time to them is so beneficial to help you connect and to create amazing memories for years to come!
Try to turn your phone off for 1 hour a day to connect with your child – no calls, emails or texts! Utilise that one hour to enjoy some of the fun activities we’ve suggested below.
Organise a play date with a friend and their children or friends from school. There are many indoor play centres where the kids can run amuck and you can enjoy a coffee with a friend and catch up. Win-win! Even pack a picnic and a ball and head down to a park where the kids can enjoy the jungle gym and you can run around with them. Parks are great for scavenger hunts!
Children in years 3 to 6 have such a colourful imagination, so it’s time to harness that! Why not buy some pots and some paint so the kids can paint a pot ready to plant a mini herb garden! You can use their herbs in a once they’ve grown when you have a cooking night with the kids.
Next week we will give some suggestions for kids aged 12 to 17, so stay tuned!

Written by Chloe Heselden

First impressions count more than ever now. With the advancement of technology and international trade, many introductions will be made via email or other various forms of social media. We’ve all been told the rules about profile pictures: use a current, true picture of yourself and don’t be doing anything immoral or illegal in it. Today we’re going to be talking about what your LinkedIn picture says about you.

So many profile pictures on LinkedIn show the basic elements that people look for: sophisticated and professional. But there is so much more to your picture than that. So many times when browsing LinkedIn I find myself wondering “are these people even real?” They’ll be standing in front of a white wall and they’re profile has no personality. Relationships matter in business now more than ever, and many want to see a real person, with real personality on their profile. Make sure you look approachable and more importantly PERSONABLE!

A few things to keep in mind:
• don’t go for the typical conservative corporate all black, no jewellery or plain white shirt attire.
Let your outfit show those elements of your personality but also keep it professional. You could do
this by wearing a blazer and a nice bright necklace or a coloured shirt and neutral tie;
• Make sure you have a background, even if it is a window or your desk. Breaking up the white
stops your picture from looking like a stock image;
• Make sure you can clearly see your face, face the camera; and
• Smile!

Written by Chloe Heselden

Creating a calm working space is pivotal for you to maximise productivity. Here are our tips on creating a calm working environment:

#1 – De-clutter your area
Empty your bin, shred any documents you don’t need, put only essentials on your desk. A phone, clock, computer and find one inspiring piece to have there. It might be a picture of your children, a really quirky piece of decor that screams ‘you’ or an inspiring framed quote.

#2 – De-clutter your computer
Delete anything that is not relevant and sort through your inbox. This will allow you to not be overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of items you need to look through in order to find that one document or email.

#3 – Bring in a plant
Research suggests that live plants do contribute to creating a calm working space, lowering blood pressure and stress levels. It could be something small like a succulent, a beautiful bouquet of flowers or a medium sized fern. If you have children, it would be nice to spend an afternoon decorating and painting a pot with them which allows you quality time and something inspiring to have at work.

#4 – Make a playlist and always have headphones handy
When you’re on lunch – go for lunch! Leave your desk and go eat somewhere quiet, put your music on and relax before you go back to work. Giving yourself that time will in fact make you more productive than if you were to work through your break. Eating at your desk is a really bad habit to get into, and by venturing out of the office you will find time to catch up with a friend for lunch!

Busy people of the world – unite! We all have a smart phone in our pocket, and sure they’re great for sending a quick photo or Skyping while you’re away on business. But for most of us, they remain smart phones with great untapped potential! This post is all about apps that help busy individuals gain some control back in their schedules!

Workflowy
Workflowy is a note taker, and no, not like the ‘notes’ app you already have installed on your phone. While the stock notes app allows you to write things down it does become messy, disorganised and cluttered. Workflowy is an app that allows you to take notes and organise them into subheadings so you can track your thoughts and know exactly where everything is. Here is a YouTube clip on how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSmbnaPZVHE

Swiftkey Keyboard
I think we can all relate to how annoying it is to write emails etc from our phone because the keypad is so small. 90% of your time writing the email is backspacing the mush that you’ve just written or the predictive text and 10% is actually writing what you want to write. Swiftkey is a free download that enables you to type just by dragging your fingers over the letters to make up words, say good riddance to the millions of taps you once had to endure! Here is a YouTube clip on how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LKIRPm4bQ8

CloudOn
This app allows you to view and edit your Microsoft documents on your iPhone or tablet – super handy for business meetings! Here is a clip on how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0OvRJZKvs

Written by Chloe Heselden

30 year old Marcus is in a relationship with 28 year old Hayley. Hayley is a graphic designer and loves her job. Marcus is a brand manager for a car manufacturer. They met on a Contiki tour around Europe two years ago. Marcus is the only one out of all his friends to have settled down and is always asked – when are you going to get married? His mum has already picked out baby names for the child they don’t have. They live a fast paced life and thrive in it, launching party one night, company dinners the next. They know all the best restaurants around Melbourne.

Like every other day, Marcus has to say goodbye to Hayley over breakfast and gives her a kiss and leaves their apartment for work. He could see something was wrong with Hayley but was running late, so he figures he’ll text her on his lunch break to see what was wrong.

“Hey, how is your day going? I’ll pick up some sushi on the way home from work tonight, I don’t really feel like going anywhere or cooking, I’m so tired.
Was everything okay this morning? You seemed a little down…
Chat soon, I love you.”

Hayley replies a couple of minutes later.
“Sushi sounds good. Everything’s fine, I’ll talk to you when you get home xx”

Marcus arrives home a bit later then intended to find Hayley asleep on the couch. As he puts his keys down he noticed a big card from all her work colleagues reading:

“Happy Birthday Hayley!!!”

Anthony is a single 29 year old. He works in the city and lives with his two friends.On his way home from work he needs to stop off and buy food for his pet dog, Devil. When he arrives home, he goes to the letterbox and opens a Telstra bill with “Final Reminder” emblazoned on the envelope. As he reads his final notice on his way up to his apartment he remembers he forgot to buy food for dinner, so he’ll have to order takeaway for the 3rd time this week.

Then his brother Peter calls him.”Where are you? You were supposed to meet me at movies 15minutes ago. Did you forget?”

Without admitting anything, Anthony tips Devil’s food into a bowl, grabs his car keys and runs out the door.

Driving to the cinemas he hears an ad for university degrees to study part-time online, and thinks that would be something he’d love to look into.

He arrives at the movies just in the nick of time, and sits down to try to relax with his brother for the next 2 hours. It’s been so long since they’ve spent time together, however he can’t keep focussed on the movie as he has so much on his mind: what will he get his mother for her birthday? That lock on his car door needs fixing, the lawns need mowing and what is that thing that has ‘died’ in his car? The smell is awful!

The girl beside him gives him a smile. She seems familiar somehow, and Anthony remembers she works at the corner takeaway. Perhaps he’ll ask her out on a date and take her somewhere fancy for dinner. The local pub won’t cut it. If only he could ask someone for suggestions…..

Written by Fiona Hanvey