Amy Richards Online

31/12/2020

Well, what a year 2020 has been.

I'm so thankful that I've been extremely lucky in many ways. I already worked from home and did all my meetings on Zoom or WhatsApp, so there was no adjustment for me to make there. Although I did lose some work, it felt like business as usual for me. And lockdowns have meant that lots more people wanted to take their businesses online, so my business has actually thrived during 2020 🙏🏻

But even this confirmed introvert and homebody has struggled with hardly seeing my family or friends, and with not going out or having much of a social outlet that wasn't through a screen. And I've ended up being the sole breadwinner in my household for a large chunk of the year, when my wife's business was adversely affected by the pandemic and lockdowns - with all of the added pressure and worry that entails.

At times it's felt like I've been on a treadmill this year - just constant work and little to look forward to other than another Netflix binge.

But there have been some amazing highlights too, and I'm so grateful for the good things this year has brought, even in the midst of all the worry and uncertainty.

Here are the things I've been thankful for in 2020.

👩🏻‍💻 Early in the year I was invited to be a resident tech expert in an online learning community for business owners.

👩🏻‍🦰👩🏽👨🏻‍🦱 I've been privileged to work with lots of absolutely lovely clients this year - many of whom supported my business through lockdown, when our household livelihood was dependent on my income.

🪑🗄 In June I had fun jazzing up my home workspace - with a trip to IKEA as soon as lockdown had lifted to get a new desk and shelving. Transforming my workspace shifted lots of things and had ripple effects I could never had predicted.

🦸🏻‍♀️ I manifested 6 weeks of free coaching with an absolutely lovely business coach (that was one of the ripple effects!)

🏳‍🌈 In August I found myself on the Pinc List, Wales' annual celebration of our LGBT+ community.

♾ After procrastinating for over a year, I finally launched a podcast at the start of October! It's not related to my VA/OBM business; it's for other autistic women like myself - a chance for late diagnosed neurodivergent adults to share our stories and find a sense of community in our shared experiences. https://squarepeg.community/podcast/

🌈 Cardiff Women, the LGBT+ women's group I started and run, celebrated (though sadly not with the big party I'd planned!) its 10 year anniversary in October, and Diva magazine ran my piece about it on their website! (I wish I could go back and tell 1997 me that - when I was clutching my first ever copy of the print magazine)

As I was reviewing this year I felt so lucky to be able to find so many things to celebrate. I know there are many who've had it so much worse than I have.

And I want to say a massive, heartfelt thank you to everyone who has worked with me, supported my business and given me opportunities in 2020.

And here's to 2021 being a better year for us all.

02/12/2020

Really pleased to be part of Rebecca Jones' Stretchy Thinking
Advent Business Start-up stories series this week - Rebecca's publishing a different business start up story every day of advent to inspire other aspiring business owners.

Amy Richards Amy Richards Online https://amyrichards.wales Twitter https://twitter.com/AmyRichardsOBM

06/04/2020

What three things are you feeling grateful for right now?

I started keeping a gratitude journal* when I was suffering from depression years ago. It really helped me get through it. I don’t usually write them down any more, but I do still maintain a daily gratitude practice.

And it seems more important than ever right now...

So here are mine for today:

1. ☀️I’m grateful for the beautiful sunshine and blue outside my window, and birdsong when I pop outside to the garden for a break.

2. 👩‍💻I’m grateful for being able to carry on working and earning at this time. I know it’s a privileged position to be in and I’m definitely not taking it for granted.

3. ❤️ I’m grateful for my supportive wife, who is giving me the space and quiet I need to work, even though we’re confined in the house together (and I’m also grateful that she’s keeping the house sparkling clean for us while she’s at home every day and our cleaner can’t get here 🙈).

What three things are you grateful for, right now?

*actually it was a jar: one thing I was grateful for written on a scrap of paper every night, rolled into a ball, and dropped in. A slowly growing collection of positivity!

03/04/2020

How many of you are like me and have had to make worryingly few changes to your lifestyle under lockdown?! 🙈

I'm an introvert and love my own company.
I work from home.
I have all my meetings on Zoom.
I communicate with clients using Voxer or Whatsapp.
My main exercise is a long walk every day.
I rarely eat out because I have coeliac disease and it's a ballache.

Ironically, the main way my life has changed in the last couple of weeks is that my wife can't work, so is now at home all day. So I'm now spending much less time alone (in fact, hardly any). 🤷‍♀️

I love my wife but apparently the main thing I miss at the moment is alone time 🤣...

02/03/2020

➡️ Opinions please!

I'm launching my first EVER product later this week... (I'm really nervous about it, but decided to just go for it after faffing over it for weeks, so here goes).

My Tech Toolkit is a guide to apps, tools and platforms for online businesses.

It’s 26 pages of suggestions, mini reviews and pro and cons, based on five years’ experience of working with coaches and other online business owners. And all the current pricing is in there too (though a lot of the tools are free or have free versions), to help you decide what to choose/prioritise, depending on your budget.

I'd written the content, but then (typical) I started playing with the design and got stuck on procrastibranding 🙈😆

Now I can't decide which cover to go for. Which would you pick?

04/02/2020

This isn't the best photo of me by any stretch, but it's one of my favourites.

I took it in my car in early February 2015 - about five years ago. It was the day I was supposed to be going back to work for my phased return, after I'd been ill for months with stress, depression and burnout.

I got as far as the school gates (I was an English and media teacher back then), paused briefly at the turning, and then just carried on driving!

I took this photo in a car park, after driving around for a while. I didn't know what was going to happen next, but I knew I wasn't going to be a teacher any longer. And I felt the need to mark the moment - the moment when I finally stopped, faced my fear of the unknown and made a big, scary vote for my health and future.

I really, really wish that I could go back and tell 2015 me that it would be all right - that I'd never regret my decision, that I'd feel better, build a successful business and get to spend my days doing work that I love for lovely people.

What significant moment would you time-travel back to if you could, and what would you love to tell your past self?

09/01/2020

I started 2019 with a content-creation bang - then after a few very virtuous months of weekly posts, I let it slide (Hmm... maybe I need a VA 🤔). I'm very good at sorting out other people's content but, as it turns out, pretty rubbish at doing my own 🙈. Like most people, if there's no one to remind me, I lose my mojo.

So here's one I wrote during that brief content frenzy last year - updated slightly for 2020. It seems quite timely for anyone with a goal to launch their online coaching programme or membership this year.

When a lot of people hear the term ‘VA’/’Virtual Assistant’, what they hear is ‘admin assistant’. But there are a LOT of VAs out there, and they all have their preferred niche, whether that be working for a particular industry or doing certain kinds of tasks.

06/01/2020

The VA Handbook (where I got a lot of my training in the early days of my VA business) have done a profile on me! The idea is to give inspiration and advice to new VAs / people interested in being a VA.

Doing this was a nice reminder of how far I've come since I started out nearly five years ago!

After years of frustration, Amy Richards left teaching to set up her own Virtual Assistant business and be her own boss.

17/11/2019

I'm getting a lot of views on my page lately... and I'm aware that I'm not really around on here much. If you want to know more about what I do, pop over to my website: www.amyrichards.wales

Or connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyrichardsonline/

Helping coaches and business owners join the dots behind the scenes to implement their online marketing strategy, manage their websites and build online courses.