Virtually Sorted

Caroline Melville worked as a Personal Assistant for years but now she has her own business that provides virtual PAs to companies who need to keep their staff costs low. She tells startups.co.uk how she's been getting on since she launched in February 2005. 

Name: Caroline Melville
Age: 26
Business: www.virtuallysorted.com
Type of business: Virtual Offices & Virtual Personal Assistants
Start date: February 2005

When did you first decide you wanted to start your own business?
My parents both run their own businesses and it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do eventually.

Tell us about your business
Virtually Sorted is a virtual office & virtual personal assistant provider servicing small businesses across the UK. Typically we answer their calls, forward mail and provide day-to-day administration support for their business, all from our own location in Glasgow.

Was it your first business idea and where did it come from?
I was discussing hot-desking with a friend and I realised that small businesses don’t only need flexible space but also flexible office support. I had all the administration skills after being a PA for several years. People were always asking me how to do something on their computer, and it got me thinking.

Was your decision to start a business inspired by any other companies or individuals?
Having business people in the family definitely helped – they advised me on all sorts of things and even occasionally answer the phones.

What makes you think there’s a market for your business?
Small businesses don’t always have the resources either financially or in terms of workload to employ a full-time member of staff. Using a virtual PA gives them access to an experienced professional in a flexible way – they only pay for what they need.

Once you’d decided to start a business, what did you do first?
I researched other companies providing similar services on the internet and then I attended a business start up event run by Business Gateway.

What research did you do?
In addition to the internet research, I also looked at the numbers of small businesses in my local area of Scotland, and did an online survey of what services people would like to outsource.

What advice did you seek?
I spoke to a Business Advisor at Business Gateway & she advised me on how to prepare a business plan and how to access funding.

What other help did you get?
My Business Advisor recommended applying for a Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSBYT) flexible loan. PSYBT offer these loans to young people under 26 who are starting up a business. Luckily I had registered with PSYBT 4 days before my 26th birthday at the business start up fair.

Talk us through the process of writing your business plan.
My Business Advisor helped me to write the plan and provided guidance on what to include. She also did cashflow projections and financials based on information I gave her. I did a lot of research into my potential customers & competitors, which was relatively easy as I have an advertising background. Again, that helped when preparing the media plan.

How useful has your business plan been and do you think you’ll stick to it as your business begins to grow?
The plan was useful to secure funding and start the business up. Unfortunately, a lot of things have changed which affected its accuracy. For example, my launch was delayed by 2 months and also there were unexpected costs, which I couldn’t have been predicted after 3 months of trading.

How much did it cost to start the business?
£4,400.

How did you fund this?
£1000 Grant for Young People from Business Gateway and £5000 Flexible loan funding from PSYBT

Similarly, how are you funding your running costs until the business takes off?
I had several clients confirmed before the launch which helped me offset the first few months running costs. It now breaks even and gives me small drawings each month, but I’m still dipping into my savings for living costs.

Have you made any provisions for business not being as prosperous as expected?
The loan funding allowed me extra flexibility – there were additional funds available and it meant I didn’t have to re-mortgage my home in order to start the business, which I was dreading. I suppose the worst case scenario would be that I could re-mortgage.

When did you stop working?
I stopped working full-time in February – I had explained to my employers what I was planning to do and they were very supportive and actually became my first client.

Are you working from home or from premises?
I work from premises due to the vast amount of technology needed to run the business – for instance, we basically have mini-call-centre technology in order to answer the phones in the clients’ company name. Then there’s faxes, photocopiers, scanners, computers, binding machines, post-boxes etc. A lot of Virtual Assistants do work from home, but realistically they wouldn’t be able to offer the range of services or level of professionalism that we do.
In the future I hope to be able to offer clients meeting rooms and conference facilities. The premises we have are flexible enough to accommodate this, but in the meantime we use our banks business centre, which is a free service.