Do you need a Mandy?

09/02/2026

My dog is a Colltiffhound. Never heard of that breed before? I'm not surprised - because I just made it up.

She's a mixed breed doggo whose parents were a Collie and a Greyhound/Mastiff cross. A good old SPCA special. I love her regardless of her breed mix.

Should she be thought of as a mutt or a mongrel just because her breed name isn't Cavoodle, a Cavachon, a Goldendoodle or a Cockapoo? I think not. She should be celebrated for her wonderful personality, individual traits and abilities.

Maybe I'm particularly sensitive to this, as I also struggle finding a palatable descriptive label for myself. Not for my breed, as I'm obviously human - but for my job title or a descriptive phrase of what I do and who I do it for.

I don't want to pigeon-hole myself because I love the multi-faceted services that I offer, and feel like it's important for small biz owners to have the option to work with contractors who bring more than one service to the table.

And I haven't felt like "Virtual Assistant" really covers what I can offer, for many years.

I'm currently rolling with "Online Business Operations Specialist." But to be honest, it's a bit of a mouthful and I wonder if anyone really knows what it means! Do you?

While I continue pondering this and trying out new labels for myself

Let's work on the best one for my doggo Poppy. Which one rolls off the tongue easiest?
- Colltiffhound
- Colmashound
- Masticolhound 🤣

12/05/2022

Cool free tool you can use to rate and improve your online presence - check it out!

05/05/2022

Do you use two-factor authentication on Facebook and Google?

26/07/2021

Have you ever wanted to edit a document but then realized it’s a PDF?

Well, it’s time to do a happy dance, because now you can quickly and easily convert a PDF into a Canva design.

Simply upload the document to change the images, fonts, text, and more.

Ahhh Canva some days I just want to kiss you 😁

11/07/2021

❤️ This!
From a sci-fi nerd who grew up watching Star Trek and Buck Rodgers and Battlestar Galactica (me), to now watching a dude who grew his little music biz into something so much more and is now in space! So inspiring 😁

09/03/2021

Here's a quick Google Drive tip for those of you that like a well organised filing system. I've been using Google Drive for years and I never knew you could change the folder colours! It's so much quicker to find things now 😁
(thanks to my grandaughter Ava who is 10 and taught me this trick!)

Ever wanted to change the color of your folders in Drive? If you’re one of those whose organization strategies are oriented around color, this video is just ...

07/03/2021

Today, between 1 and 2pm I'll be with a bunch of other kiwi women in biz - getting s**t done. We are from all over NZ with all sorts of different businesses and we join a Zoom room, write our GSD list in the chat and hit mute. Sound strange?

It's actually super motivating, every time I get distracted I can see all the others working hard on their own lists and it gives me a kick up the arse to get back on task 😂

Some people get this same effect from going to co-working spaces, but I find the movement around me really distracting, and I miss having my big PC screen in my office, so that's not really my jam.

How do you motivate yourself to get your work done when no-one's watching?

**tdone

07/03/2021

What's your passion? I've had many over the years, and I guess that's normal right? But there seems to be a bit of a trend... I like organising stuff and I like creating stuff and I like helping women to "do-better" in their business or career.

I stumbled into my Virtual Assistant business about 7 years ago - I was helping a photographer friend with her admin, and when I moved from Auckland to Timaru I figured I'd just keep working for her remotely. And it just grew from there!

I'm super grateful to have stumbled into a field that brings my passions together 😍

23/12/2020

Fabulous to catch up with Leeann from Face Up Now - Social Media Consultant today in real life!!! I love being in this lady’s world, she is an inspiration to me 😍 in both life and biz.

Mandy and I have worked together for 3 years now. We meet once a week on Zoom, talk on messenger most days and have never met in person...until today.

Mandy is the magic behind Face Up Now and I'm so grateful to her for everything she does to help me, make things run smoothly and keep me sane. Plus she listens patiently to my many crazy ideas and plans. We make a great team!!

12/11/2020

Ooooh did you see that Canva has just released curved text?!
🤓