Here’s why we’re in business and what we can do to help you turn yours into a streamlined, efficient organisation – whatever the size.

It all started in 2011.

The year Prince William married Catherine Middleton, Game of Thrones premiered, and Michelle lost her job.

Ouch: But being Michelle, she had a plan.

Eighteen months of prior planning, preparation and research kicked in, and along with her highly positive, ‘Can Do’ attitude, Michelle said to herself…

‘It’s now or never.’

And voila, Virtual Hand was born.

Great news for all the overloaded, super busy businesswomen looking to shake off the shackles of the mundane, dull day-to-day tasks of running a business and concentrate on what they like and can only do.

We get it.

Oh, the frequent challenges; finding time for marketing alongside running your business, social media, blogs, and growing your online presence.

We also get how time-consuming and yawningly tedious typing documents can be.

Throw in a vast chunk of proofreading, a scarily tight deadline or two and slowly but surely, the tension headaches and tummy churning anxiety starts.

Enter Team Virtual Hand, a professional, fun bunch of straight-talking, awe-inspiring female supporters who ‘get’ all of your challenges…so you don’t have to.

Michelle creates value.

Her work freed me up to concentrate on the bits of my business that only I can do.

She’s able to turn her hand to most things and she has a vast network of contacts who know how to do the rest.

Great to work with as well.

Tilla Brook, Leadership Engager
Michelle and her team did exactly what I needed them to, picking up the tasks I didn’t have time for and allowing me to deliver a quality product to my client.
Louise

First up, meet Michelle.

The website copy rulebook says that this is the paragraph where you can find out more about me, the woman behind the team and screen.

So, before I jump in with a few personal bits, some straight talking.

I was a late starter in getting my business off the ground out of necessity.

But hey, I did it, make that We Did It, and have successfully grown this fab team to be nine strong, something I am incredibly proud of.

Passion drives me, and I discovered very early on that I’m here to impact my clients and their lives by influencing how others see them.

A few fun facts from behind the scenes.

Because life is about balance, and what’s the point of striving to make a living if you don’t get to make a life?

  • I’m a golf lover – my version.
  • A dog lover – thank you, Teddy, for making me get up from behind my desk and take you for a walk.
  • A notebook lover – aren’t we all suckers for a new notebook
  • A coffee and cake lover – with deliciously oozy chocolate cake being my first choice, closely followed by carrot cake smothered in a creamy topping.

And one other thing, I’m a great believer that every day without laughter is a wasted day.

Meet your team of super-efficient, reliable cheerleaders

On standby to support you in reclaiming your precious time and reducing your stress levels.

Michelle Poole

MICHELLE POOLE
FOUNDER

Michelle is the owner of Virtual Hand and has over 30 years experience in the world of office administration and over 15 years experience at Senior and Board level, gained in a variety of industries; Finance, Textiles, Charity, Advertising, Marketing and Distribution; all in Yorkshire.

She is a fully qualified trainer in Microsoft packages (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook) and also has a background of 20+ years in the Military and brings all that discipline, ‘can-do’ attitude as well as fun and commitment to support her clients every step of the way.

Anna Walker

ANNA WALKER
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Anna has worked in office administration, business development and client relations since 2001, and has dealt with many clients, including most of the major UK insurance companies, warranty companies and logistics firms.

Anna is proficient in MS Office, and has an excellent working knowledge of social media including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook & much more. She also has experience in diary management, customer services, transcription, article simplification, research, and a wide range of general administration tasks.

Collette White

COLLETTE WHITE
MARKETING EXPERT

Collette has over 30 years of experience spanning different sectors including Legal, Technical, Insurance, Medical, Dental and Marketing.

She has extensive experience in B2B and B2C and is CiM Certified.  Her experience includes Event Management (UK & Internationally), Marketing & Branding, Product & Proposition development, Internal communications, Social Media management and networking.

Helen Spurr

HELEN SPURR
ANALYSIS EXPERT

With a background in trading and property management, investing and asset management Helen is particularly skilled in report writing and data analysis. As well as interpreting data, creating visual representation and evaluating customer trends, market trends and identifying opportunities. Helen has extensive experience in MS Office; specifically PowerPoint and Excel.

Julia Reedshaw

PHILIPPA KAYE
COPYWRITER

Philippa is an author and travel writer, branding and marketing specialist who has a passion for research.

Her reputation for thinking differently often enables a unique perspective and helps brands stand out from the crowd.

Laurie Knight

LAURIE KNIGHT
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Laurie is passionate about purpose-led business, and helping business owners to create impact as well as profit through what they do.

Laurie is a relative all-rounder on the VA skills front and with an eye for process and excellence.

Integrating your vision and mission into day-to-day tasks or one-off projects is where she is most comfortable. Laurie loves the diversity and depth of different cultures, and believes in highlighting what makes each of us valuable and unique.

Julia Reedshaw

CATHERINE STEWART
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Catherine has been working as a freelance admin assistant for about ten years and has over twenty years of administrative experience. Over the years she has gained experience in a range of sectors including construction, agriculture, and hospitality.

Catherine is proficient in Microsoft Office, She enjoys data entry, diary/email management, travel management, social media management, content creation, customer services and other admin tasks.

Julia Reedshaw

NANCY BENN
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

After more than 10 years as an EA in the corporate and third sectors, Nancy became a Virtual Assistant in 2010. She is proficient in email and diary management, effectively supporting company leaders, their trustees and boards. Nancy has extensive experience in the health and wellbeing sectors, in particulary mental health and is a certified Mental Health First Aider. Always working on her self-development, she is skilled with MS Office and Google Suite, email marketing applications, blog and website maintenance.

Extremely organised, Nancy thrives undertaking admin tasks, keen to keep her clients on track to complete their business activities and achieve their goals, both professional and personal.

Krisztina Kobanyai

KRISZTINA KOBANYAI
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Krisztina has a background in business admin, sales, photography and hospitality, she has developed strong skills in customer service and people management, building professional relationships working at small and corporate businesses in the past 18 years, in the UK and Hungary.

As a Virtual Assistant she has been helping clients succeed since 2021, from creating engaging content to managing social media channels, inboxes, nurturing leads, and tackling various admin tasks as needed.

Lizzie Daniels

LIZZIE DANIELS
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Lizzie has been a Virtual Assistant since 2021 and is passionate about providing administrative solutions to businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the UK. Lizzie began her career in HR Administration before expanding to encompass Recruitment, Marketing and General Office Administration. As a result, Lizzie has a vast knowledge of all things business admin and brings a wealth of experience to the table from both public and private sector operations. If you know anything about Myers-Briggs, Lizzie is an ENFJ. She is a warm, enthusiastic, and highly organised individual who thrives on people interaction but also enjoys data heavy tasks too. She has a chameleon-like ability to adapt to different people and situations with ease.

Lizzie currently resides in Gloucester with her partner and their cat Percy. In her personal life she has a great passion for theme parks and visits Alton Towers at least once a month during the open seasons, apparently, it never gets boring.

Team Talk – Things we care about

Teamwork: We say, ‘We’re all in this together, and our aim is to deliver whatever it is you need to support your business to grow successfully’.

We make it happen.

Building good relationships: We say, ‘ Building good relationships is vital to us, so we will ensure that the work we do exceeds your very own high standards and expectations.

Our relationship starts with a Free Consultation meeting or telephone conversation where we can get to know you and how we can help you.

Our Business Support, Marketing or Virtual Assistant services can be engaged on an ad hoc basis, for individual projects or as a retainer on a fixed monthly fee.

Customer Service: Quite simply, we’re here to exceed expectations and go the extra mile but don’t just take our word for it, see what others are saying.

Partners

Virtual Hand love to work with other businesses.

Would you like to collaborate?

Please do get in touch if you would like to see how we can help each other.

Thank you

Michelle Poole

Hear what our clients say…

Michelle is a godsend in the life of any busy trainer! Having a training background herself means that she has an intuitive understanding of what is needed both in terms of presentations and look of handouts but also in terms of project management and achieves a really quick and accurate turn around of work.

Jane Wintringham, Develop4Choice

Michelle, wonderful Michelle, you take the things I know need doing – but don’t get round to doing (and even forget to do!) – and do it for me! It’s a real risk for a small business owner like myself to already be outsourcing certain tasks, but it has been well worth the risk! Thank you for all of your support x

Michelle at Virtual Hand has just saved me hours (and probably my life, but almost certainly any remaining sanity I have left) by checking over an 11,000 word document for me. Excellent service, fast turn around and accurate work. I will use again, promise I will give more notice for the next project!

Jo Fox, Autex UK

Michelle not only supported me brilliantly but worked around my busy schedule to be consistently there when I needed, offering support with organisation and efficiency. Thanks!

Jamie Smith, Wordsmith

Michelle is the person you want on your side whether it’s a planned project or a last minute task. She is efficient, organised and very professional. I highly recommend Michelle for delivering personal assistance and administrative support, particularly for trainers like myself.

Sarah Allison, Social media expert

Michelle and Anna at Virtual Hand are an amazing help if you are super busy and looking to get some time time back. Super efficient, reliable and consistent, Michelle uses the latest tech to get you organised and ease the process of delegating tasks. Would highly recommend for personal and work tasks.

Emma Maslen, Inspirem

I’ve been working with Michelle for a few months now and the major benefit for my business is giving Michelle the tasks I don’t want to do so I can do what I have to do more effectively. It’s strange watching someone enjoy doing the jobs you hate but that’s the beauty of this service! My relationship with Michelle is very easy going. She gets the work back to me on time, sure there have been teething issues but that was down to me. We’re getting the direction right now and I see Michelle as an integral part of my business. Without her, Mr Presenter wouldn’t be moving forwards at the rate it is. She’s highly trustworthy, does exactly what I ask when I ask and that’s exactly what you want from this type of service. Whether its getting spreadsheets in order, managing social media, email marketing, sending out contracts/invoices, meeting me to exchange workload; that’s what you get. No problems in recommending Michelle Poole of Virtual Hand if you are wanting someone to take the strain away from a growing business. If you are thinking about working with Michelle and want to speak to me personally feel free to do so.

Nick Hill, Mr Presenter

I have worked with Michelle and Virtual Hand for about a year now. As her saying suggests, Virtual Hand, always on hand… My business is new and I’m very grateful for the coaching, administration assistance and friendship that has helped me develop HDP during our first year. I’m looking forward to our continued collaboration in 2015, taking both our business from strength to strength. I would thoroughly recommend Virtual Hand, as you don’t only get excellent service, it’s a personal service with the understanding of someone who has a feel for how companies work and what we all need.

Helen Purdy, Occupational Therapist

Michelle creates value – her work freed me up to concentrate on the bits of my business that only I can do. She’s able to turn her hand to most things and she has a vast network of contacts who know how to do the rest. Great to work with as well.

Tilla Brook, Leadership Engager

I have used Michelle to help me with various administrative roles, and the service she provides is excellent. So much so that I am happy to recommend her as a partner of our virtual helpdesk service (www.virtualhelpdesk.me). I would not hesitate to recommend Michelle to anyone looking for professional, reliable VA services.

Sheena Whyatt, Lightning Training

Michelle is a life-saver, OK that’s maybe a little bit of an exaggeration (but not much!), but she’s definitely a sanity-saver! She’s super organised, always helpful, professional and friendly and just generally a pleasure to work with.

Clancy Walker, Copywriter

Michelle and the team at Virtual Hand are exceptional at what they do! We have been using them for over 6 months now and i can’t fault the service and quality of posts they do for my business as well as thinking up and writing blogs, case studies and additional marketing! It saves me hours and the content they think about and write is brilliant! I’ve made lots of new contacts and had work come in from the posts, with many comments about how professional my social media is! If you are considering virtual assistant services then virtual hand will save you time, effort and headache – end your search with this great company! Can’t recommend them enough! Well done👍

I highly recommend Virtual Hand PA and Business Support Services. My experience of working with Michelle has been exceptional. I first approached Michelle for support with marketing – I was finding it challenging to do this alongside looking after my coaching and consulting clients. Having the support of Michelle and her team has meant that I have been able to develop and maintain a consistent social media presence and I am starting to build up my mailing list. With Michelle’s insight and suggestions, I am now also able to start thinking more strategically and ambitiously about marketing. Virtual Hand has also helped me with other ad hoc support such as IT and website issues which otherwise would have taken up a disproportionate amount of my time. I am very grateful for this support and for having someone who holds me accountable to deliver the things that would otherwise fall to the bottom of my to-do list. Michelle is proactive and solution-focused and an absolute pleasure to work with, so if you are considering virtual assistant services to take your business to the next level and to help you to achieve a better work-life balance, contact her today!

Mandy Murdoch, Mandy Murdoch Coaching

We couldn’t possibly have gone away for a month if we hadn’t known that Michelle was looking after things for us back home. We felt confident to leave the business with her checking our emails as we knew anything urgent would be sorted and everything else filed for our return.

Sarah Brown, Business Coach

I hired Michelle to train one of my staff on the use of Word. She arrived on time, worked very well with my team and also was excellent on the follow up that she promised, as so many training providers promise support after the event but do not deliver.

Teresa Bowe, CCF Accountancy

Michelle and her team have been brilliant for my business with their VA services – Excellent attention to detail, never missed a deadline and I’m always confident that the job will get done exactly as required. If you are looking for a reliable, confident and friendly virtual assistant services then look no further than Virtual Hand. Highly recommended 🙂

John Beattie, Move Better, Run Better

We’ve been working with Michelle at Virtual Hand for a number of months. She is saving me on average of 8 hours a month with the blogs and social media posts that are being created and posted for me. This has enabled me to support my clients during this difficult time as well as reach out to potential new clients. Having my social media handled by Virtual Hand allows me to do more of what I set up my business to do and I would highly recommend their virtual assistant services to all of my contacts.

Highly recommended VA, very knowledgeable and professional and most of all amazing value for money. Michelle has worked wonders for organising our emails inboxes and office tasks. Our office runs so much smoother now and nothing is missed. Thank you Michelle. 😊

James Binks, Binks Balustrades

I have just started to work with Michelle but already I can see the benefits. Michelle is a joy to work with, completely on my wavelength and switched on to the needs of my business – really looking forward to working with Michelle this year.

Colette Lowe, PR Expert

I employed Michelle to do some Telemarketing to help introduce me to small and medium sized businesses nearby. The results have been fantastic and within the first week her calls got me 3 meetings and all 3 have resulted in live projects. I’ve continued to use Michelle and her virtual assistant services because her enthusiasm, support and value it adds to my business is simply priceless. I’d highly recommend Michelle because she’s not only professional, experienced, but a pleasure to work with too.

Carl Wagstaff, Freelance Creative Director

Michelle helped me during some really stressful times with social media and admin support and allowed me to work on pivoting my business!

Stella Kamba, More Life Adventures

What can I say about Michelle? She is professional, reliable and very enthusiastic about her work. Michelle is certainly not just another PA, she is an asset to any business that needs support and cannot afford the cost of taking on a new employee, I cannot recommend Michelle highly enough.

Chrissie Metcalfe, Recruitment Consultant

Michelle helps you to take away all those tasks and projects that you hate doing or do not have the right skills to execute them efficiently. She helped systemise our admin, update our CRM, help with Social Media and doing research into finding appropriate suppliers. This allows us to spend more time with our clients and thus more time fee earning and working in our passion. Michelle is a breath of fresh air.

Bob Brown, Business Coach

I hired Michelle as my VA in June 2013 and have not looked back. She came highly recommended and provides fantastic support to me in lots of ways as I am a very time-pressed MD. I can give Michelle any task from copy-writing to event management and she can run with it and nothing gets forgotten or dropped off her radar! She has high integrity and is a very safe pair of ‘virtual’ hands!

Carolyn Blunt, Real Results Training

I hired Michelle at Virtual Hand to carry out some detailed work on legal documents for me – she did an excellent job. The work was completed on time and the fee was very reasonable – I would hire Michelle again for PA support in the future.

Michelle Park, The Senior Move Partnership

Working with Michelle is a joy. As a neuro diverse thinker, with multiple business streams and learning, Michelle helps to keep me on track. Whilst I’ve been told I’m highly organised myself, with a number of successful strategies, it’s great to give Michelle the things that I find it more difficult to create time for. This frees the time to focus on delivery and enables me to relax in the knowledge, that my business is in a safe pair of virtual hands.

Christopher Stribblehill, Coaching Made Simple

My business is now undergoing many changes and Michelle has proved an invaluable source of ideas, hands on assistance and good old common sense in what continues to be a very turbulent time for me. I’m not usually into praise – but I’m making an exception here – she’s a real diamond!

Phil Grundell, Mentor and Strategist

Michelle is a great asset to my company. Working as a virtual assistant she’s quick in turning around what I need and I have complete trust in her ability so much so that she now deals directly with my clients. Always there on the phone and email whenever I need her. Excellent ongoing service.

Chris Edwards, Creative Filming

Michelle is efficient, helpful, and very professional dealing with customers. When it comes to the (much more difficult!) task of dealing with *me*, not only is she all the above, but also keeps me in order — always in a supportive way, of course!

Tom Morton, The Alternative Board

I have been very pleased with the service provided by Michelle, she has always been reliable, professional and prompt.

Gary Marshall, Marshall Wealth

Michelle has proved to be extremely efficient in chasing up unpaid invoices for my company going back over two years. I had struggled to receive payment from some very elusive customers but Michelle has managed to resolve things and many of these invoices have now been paid, I highly recommend her.

Jon Cass, Photographer

Michelle has already helped transform my business not just doing VA type work but also as a full blown Project Manager. In just a few weeks she has proven to be indispensable and has produced fantastic results on some really demanding projects. Highly recommended.

Richard Eaton, Appware

Find out more in a 15-30 min call

Get in touch to discuss a project or find out more about how hiring a virtual PA at Virtual Hand works