Annemarie Robbertse: 2010 Above & Beyond Award Winnerse

Above and Beyond Award: This VAimpact award is a standing ovation award for individual who has worked creatively beyond the expectation of Virtual Assistants in a short period of time in the VA industry.

Winner of 2010 VAimpact Above & Beyond Award

Full Name: Annemarie Robbertse

Business Name: Admin & Marketing with Wing

Years in Business: 2 years and one month

Business Website: http://sites.google.com/site/adminandmarketingwithwingssite/

Location & Country: Pretoria, South Africa

Biography- Short Bio

I started my career as a typist at Pretoria College (now Tshwane North College for FET). I was responsible for all the Grade 12 Department’s typing, filing and general administration work. I later excelled in typing and typed and designed all the Grade 11 and 12 Study Guides, including Mathematics. While working for the College I studied Management Assistant N6 and completed my Diploma in 2000. After 5 years I moved on to help a friend at her Liquidators firm and for a year I was the Office Manager and responsible for all administration. I also learned the basics of a Liquidators firm such as 1st report to creditors etc.

I was very fortunate that the largest Value Mart in South Africa contacted me and offered me the position as Personal Assistant and Office Manager and I worked there for 3½ years. I gained valuable experience in marketing, finance, operations and management.

In May 2008 I opened Admin & Marketing with Wings and combined my skills and expertise to offer my clients honest and trustworthy services without ever compromising on quality. I am constantly upgrading my skills and that translates into more and better assistance for my clients. My business is growing but is still small enough to care for every client.

Your current or past contribution to African VA industry
I am a member of the Afrivan Forum.

Why do you think you deserve this award

I have helped other Virtual Assistants to start their businesses, to market their businesses and to stay positive when times get tough. My work is my passion and my life. I started a Yahoo group with another Virtual Assistant to train and help new VA’s and to share my knowledge about the industry. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/awesomeadminassist/. I also help VA’s on Skype. I do this free of charge seeing as it doesn’t cost me anything except time. I’ve been in the business for two years now, working all kind of hours to make it work. I’m proud of what I have done.

How do you balance work and home life?

I have set business hours but if a client needs me after hours, I am available. Since I’m working from home, there isn’t any travelling time and I can be with them immediately after work.

What is your personal inspirational message to Virtual Assistant in Africa?

Don’t give up. If you don’t have work, market. Somewhere out there somebody needs you– they just don’t know it yet!

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Annemarie Robbertse Acceptance Speech for Above & Beyond Award

“When I heard I was nominated for the Above & Beyond Award from Afrivan, I was cautiously optimistic. I’ve been in the VA Business for 2 years and one month and knew there are a lot of VA’s out there that do a lot more than I do, deserves it a lot more than I do and that has been in the VA industry longer than I have.

But then I thought about everything I’ve learned over the last two years. I’ve been in the corporate setup for more than 10 years before starting Admin & Marketing with Wings and the skills and expertise I learned in those 10 years helped me enormously. Without them I would be lost. But the majority of my skills and services, I learned in the two years since I start Admin & Marketing with Wings, I learned from other Virtual Assistants, friends and clients. The support I found in the online community was overwhelming. I found new friends that I’ve never met. Clients became friends and friends became clients. Admin & Marketing with Wings is truly a combination of my skills and expertise and “a little help of my friends”.

This award shows me that no matter how tired I am, how small my contribution, how insignificant I think my input is, someone notices it and it means something to someone. You will always get that odd person that will ignore you, put you down and say nasty things. But even if one person notices what you do, that is enough. If I can make a difference in one person’s life, that is enough. This award means that the mentoring and training I’ve been giving to other VA’s has helped them and it has helped me. I have grown as a person and as a VA. I can now offer more mentoring and training, knowing that I’m on the right path, I’m teaching VA’s something that is worth it.

Thank you to Afrivan and everybody who nominated and voted for me. I will strive to continue teaching others, bettering myself and to keep the name of Virtual Assistance high“.