HOW and WHERE can I help YOU in 2017?

I'm putting together some dates and venues for training events in 2017 - in both the UK and worldwide.

It's always a challenge to decide where to offer courses, and what course content, and I tend to put questions out via LinkedIn to gauge the best combinations, so I thought I would use this blogspace too to ask a few questions of you......

If you're a PA, EA, VA, Secretary or Administrator, what aspects of training and development would you like to cover in the coming few months? What do you need that would make your job easier? What would help you to assist your boss better? What could you be doing for them which would make their role easier? What skills do you need to build on, what do you need a basis on, what do you want some advanced training on?
 As well as the courses that I offer to the general public, I'm also available for private bespoke bookings for you and your colleagues at your choice of venue. You might even want to invite other PAs in your local area to attend and charge them a fee per person to attend (which would go towards covering my training fee, travel and accommodation).

So - put your thinking cap on, and let me know what you need!

Get in touch - angelagarry@picaaurum.com - and I'll try my best to work out a programme that could fit your needs.

My training website is at www.picaaurum.com

The importance of human connection

I had a surgery on Tuesday last week, on my birthday - which sucked. I mean, no-one wants to spend their birthday in hospital, after all.
I was inundated with messages on Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Text, LinkedIn and Email - from kindly friends and contacts who wished me well - both in terms of "happy birthday" and "happy surgery" messages.

This week, my beloved cat Debbie Boo died, plus I heard that someone I had known from years ago when I was at university recently committed suicide. Both losses have hit me really hard.
Once again I've been astounded by the number of messages I've received from all quarters, offering words of kindness and support.

Human connection like these means a huge amount, it really does.

So my message to everyone reading this blog is: reach out to someone in need, offer your support, ask if there's anything you can do to help, be there for someone, be supportive, just listen. That's often all that's needed - someone to listen.

Thank you all.
xxx

Gordon and Debbie Boo are together again now.

Where does inspiration come from and what do we do with it?

Over the years I've been influenced by a number of remarkable people who have done amazing things.
Some: the writers, the singers, the artistes, have powered into my psyche by saying or writing words which have resonated with me on a personal level, reflecting some aspect of my life back at me, as if they were speaking just to me. Songs written for armies of other people have felt like they were MY song when a few select words have echoed a thought or a feeling that I've had.
Others: actors and actresses, have sandblasted their way through my tougher exterior and melted my inner thoughts and challenges, leading a way for me to follow.
Others still: seemingly random things that someone does or says, and which have a profound impact on how I think, feel, relate.
I think we all have these.
What's important it's what we do with them - that we stop and  take a moment to listen to the message they are telling us, take in what their story has to share with us, understand their truth and how it can lead us to better things.
It's also really important, where possible, that we let these inspiring people know what impact they have had on us, how something that they have done has imparted knowledge or truth or feelings for us. If you get an opportunity to do so, let someone know that what they have said or done has had an impact on your life.
Meet and connect with your heroes and heroines where you can - go to a book signing, wait at the stage door after a show, message or tweet them to let them know their impact.
Then go out there and aim to be a positive influence in someone else's life yourself.

Meet your heroes - let them know what they have meant to you. Then go out and be one.


Onwards and upwards!
Angela Garry

Update re: my March 2016 post "Bad Debtors - TIME TO NAME AND SHAME"

Original posting: 11 March 2016.
Updated: 11 July 2016 (as the offenders have taken down their www.globalfocus.co.ke website - so I'm now including their Facebook and LinkedIn URLs instead).
Notes: My comments sent to the company via Twitter and Facebook in March 2016 were deleted.
I am STILL owed $930 by Global Focus Training Group.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It's time that I publicly name and shame a bad debtor - Global Focus Training Group (https://www.facebook.com/globalfocus.co.ke and https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-focus-training-group) and my contact there, Mr Paul Kimeriah, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

I'm fed up with waiting nicely, and begging and pleading to be paid my fee for performing work for them. Delivering training is my work, my business, my livelihood, and I am owed money which is rightfully mine. So, let me tell you the details, in the hope that no-one else gets stuck in the same predicament...

Nearly a year and a half ago I went on a trip to Africa to deliver some training. I had been approached by a company who asked me to run a 3-day programme in two venues - one in Nairobi (Kenta) and then again a couple of days later in Arusha (Tanzania). I had a great time on the trip, the trainees in both venues were lovely, they all gave really positive feedback on the training, and the two guys from the company who booked me were very enthusiastic about making plans for further trips, more courses, building a PA network and running a magazine - all with my involvement. Everything seemed rosy. The agreement had been half of the fee beforehand, half on completion. They paid the two halves in relation to fee for the Nairobi course, and the first half of the fee for the Arusha course. The final portion would be paid electronically as I left Africa. Except it wasn't paid - and still hasn't been, in full.

Quite possibly I could say "more fool me" for allowing myself to be duped. However, the company had already paid the other three portions of fees electronically - and we were already planning repeat trips and more training. I saw no reason to not believe that they wouldn't pay me. The final portion of the fee, including the cost of my travel visas, came to $1300 US. When it was not paid within a month of returning to my home in the UK, I invoiced them again, now adding a 10% late fee. This brought the outstanding amount to $1430, in November 2014.

I sent repeated messages to the company during this time and afterwards, only to be continually either ignored or told that they were still awaiting some payments. So, I emailed the attendees of both of my courses - had anyone not paid yet, and if so, could they please do so? All of the responses I received were that the attendees had paid in full. I chased the company further and continued to be fobbed off with excuses or no responses at all. Eventually, around Easter 2015 I called in a firm of international debt collectors who then chased on my behalf, on and off. Finally, in December 2015 a payment of $500 was sent through to my bank. This still left almost $1k outstanding. The debt collectors said that they hoped the company would pay the remainder by February.

In March 2016 I awoke to see yet another posting from the company on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, proclaiming the successful delivery of their latest training programme, with a photo of a reasonable number of smiling attendees. (I mention 'reasonable number' as it could be claimed that a very small group might not have earned them enough money to pay me - but the photo shows enough people, I'm sure, to manage it.) Still no payment though. So I decided ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - the time has come to name and shame, and I posted comments on their Facebook page asking to be paid - and the comments were removed almost immediately. I then posted comments on Twitter, LinkedIn and formally shared the Facebook post with all of my contacts. (Let's not forget that I'm the world's most connected PA Trainer, after all.)

The offending company is Global Focus Training Group - https://www.facebook.com/globalfocus.co.ke/ - my main contact there was Paul Kimeriah.

In addition to today's postings about their latest course, in the many months since I delivered the training for their attendees, their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/globalfocus.co.ke/?pnref=story ) has shown that they have run at least 10 courses, probably more, throughout Kenya, Rwanda, UAE, etc.

And yet they still owe me $930 for delivering training which received excellent feedback from all of the attendees.
BAD FORM, GLOBAL FOCUS TRAINING GROUP AND PAUL KIMERIAH! PAY YOUR DEBTS!!

Disgruntled? Me? Oh yeah.
Please share this post. Thank you.

Angela Garry

Have you got imposter syndrome?

Hi there. Yes, it's been a while.... so, how've you been?

Life has been hectic for me in the last few months, and something that's been grumbling away in the background is what I'm posting about today.  You know when you've got an ache, and you think "I'll look that up on the internet, see what it might be?" Well, it's fascinating what you can find by googling...

Do you ever have days when you feel that you're not all you're cracked up to be? That someone somewhere sometime is going to expose you as a 'fraud' for not being as good at what you do as you (or others) claim you are? A fear of not being good enough, of being 'found out'? Apparently there's a name for this - 'Imposter Syndrome'.

I think this is something I've always felt a bit of - not being good enough, or not being quite enough. If you've felt it too, you're not alone. The late Maya Angelou wrote: “I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out'."

And it's not just you, me and Maya Angelou.... It's a known issue, worldwide.

Wikipedia says: "Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome) is a term coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes referring to high-achieving individuals marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a 'fraud'."

Whenever my internal imposter feelings pop up, I remind myself - for every one negative thing I feel, think or hear about myself, I've also received a whole heap more words in praise that I need to remember and keep in mind. Quite possibly, it's human nature for us to ignore those positive things and only look out for / listen to the bad. We need to turn that around.

Here's a fantastic post about imposter syndrome, and how to deal with it... http://startupbros.com/21-ways-overcome-impostor-syndrome/

And another, which says that it can actually be a GOOD thing for us to have: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36082469
 

Take charge of your internal imposter feelings now!

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS.............

See you at Office* 2016 ? I'll be on stand nr 123 throughout and also speaking on 12 May

Hi there! Are you coming to London next week for the 2016 Office* show (11 and 12 May)?

If you are, stop by the Speakers' Book Signing stand - stand nr 123, on the left hand side of the hall - I'll be manning the stand for the two days. I'll have copies of my books with me for signing, so if you'd like to buy a copy of "The PA & EA Circus" or "Brave PAs", this is where to come!

I'm speaking on the second day of the event, on "SP2PB: self preservation to prevent burnout". You can book to attend by registering on the Office* website - http://www.officeshow.co.uk

See you there!!

Bad debtors - TIME TO NAME AND SHAME.

 It's time that I publicly name and shame a bad debtor - Global Focus Training Group (www.globalfocus.co.ke) and Mr Paul Kimeriah, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

I'm fed up with waiting nicely, and begging and pleading to be paid my fee for performing work for them. Delivering training is my work, my business, my livelihood, and I am owed money which is rightfully mine. So, let me tell you the details, in the hope that no-one else gets stuck in the same predicament...

Nearly a year and a half ago I went on a trip to Africa to deliver some training. I had been approached by a company who asked me to run a 3-day programme in two venues - one in Nairobi (Kenta) and then again a couple of days later in Arusha (Tanzania). I had a great time on the trip, the trainees in both venues were lovely, they all gave really positive feedback on the training, and the two guys from the company who booked me were very enthusiastic about making plans for further trips, more courses, building a PA network and running a magazine - all with my involvement. Everything seemed rosy. The agreement had been half of the fee beforehand, half on completion. They paid the two halves in relation to fee for the Nairobi course, and the first half of the fee for the Arusha course. The final portion would be paid electronically as I left Africa. Except it wasn't paid - and still hasn't been, in full.

Quite possibly I could say "more fool me" for allowing myself to be duped. However, the company had already paid the other three portions of fees electronically - and we were already planning repeat trips and more training. I saw no reason to not believe that they wouldn't pay me. The final portion of the fee, including the cost of my travel visas, came to $1300 US. When it was not paid within a month of returning to my home in the UK, I invoiced them again, now adding a 10% late fee. This brought the outstanding amount to $1430, in November 2014.

I sent repeated messages to the company during this time and afterwards, only to be continually either ignored or told that they were still awaiting some payments. So, I emailed the attendees of both of my courses - had anyone not paid yet, and if so, could they please do so? All of the responses I received were that the attendees had paid in full. I chased the company further and continued to be fobbed off with excuses or no responses at all. Eventually, around Easter 2015 I called in a firm of international debt collectors who then chased on my behalf, on and off. Finally, in December 2015 a payment of $500 was sent through to my bank. This still left almost $1k outstanding. The debt collectors said that they hoped the company would pay the remainder by February.

It's now March, and this morning I have awoken to see yet another posting from the company on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, proclaiming the successful delivery of their latest training programme, with a photo of a reasonable number of smiling attendees. (I mention 'reasonable number' as it could be claimed that a very small group might not have earned them enough money to pay me - but the photo shows enough people, I'm sure, to manage it.) Still no payment though. So I decided ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - the time has come to name and shame, and I posted comments on their Facebook page asking to be paid - and the commentswere removed almost immediately. I then posted comments on Twitter, LinkedIn and formally shared the Facebook post with all of my contacts. (Let's not forget that I'm the world's most connected PA Trainer, after all.)

The offending company is Global Focus Training Group -www.globalfocus.co.ke - my main contact there was Paul Kimeriah.

He and the company are still using my photograph (for which I have withdrawn my permission, in writing, several months ago)  on the 'About us' page of their website - http://www.globalfocus.co.ke/about-us   - and in addition to today's postings about their latest course, in the 15 months or so since I delivered the training for their attendees, their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/globalfocus.co.ke/?pnref=story ) has shown that they have run at least 10 courses, probably more, throughout Kenya, Rwanda, UAE, etc.

And yet they still owe me $930 for delivering training which received excellent feedback from all of the attendees.
BAD FORM, GLOBAL FOCUS TRAINING GROUP AND PAUL KIMERIAH! PAY YOUR DEBTS!!

Disgruntled? Me? Oh yeah.
Please share this post. Thank you.

Angela Garry

How's your self-esteem lately?

I had a really interesting time with one of my mentoring clients earlier this week.

I've discussed this blog with her, and she's given her "OK" for me to mention the issue here, as it may be useful for others.

We talk once a month and in our Skype call this week she asked for some tips on building her confidence at work as she has sometimes felt out of her depth when meeting and greeting visitors to her boss's office, finding it hard to make easy conversation with them.

Before jumping in with some tips, I thought it would be helpful to know why this was the case.

In previous conversations we've discussed the business she is working in and I've ascertained that she has very good knowledge about the industry and the projects her boss is working on. She's fluent in the lingo for the business, and in conversation with me she can acknowledge that she has some really excellent skills that she uses with great applomb in her PA role and she's quick to pick up new tasks.  I mentioned this to her - and she agreed that this was all so, but when it comes to talking with people she flounders.

The next couple of things she said struck a chord with me.  She said that she has spent a lot of her time at work recently in what can only be described as a sense of mild panic, particularly on days when she knew they were expecting visitors in the office. "I feel like someone is going to spot that I'm no good, that I'm pretending to be this great knowledgeable PA and it's all going to come tumbling down around me when I'm found out" she told me.

I asked when she first felt like this. She hesitated, then said she couldn't remember. I pressed a little further - has it been going on for a few days, weeks, months...? "A while", she admitted, "maybe since November or so."

This was my light bulb moment. I thought back and quickly checked my notes - in our early November conversation she had mentioned the thought of looking for a new job. This was something she talked about very briefly but had then changed the subject. I reminded her of this - and asked might it be something to do with her new-found lack of confidence? Was she seeing visitors to the office as potential interviewers who were seeking to test her ability?

This was her light bulb moment. (I love doing mentoring sessions via Skype rather than just by phone, to be able to see a client think, nod, smile and work something out.)

So rather than spend the rest of the session looking at tips to build confidence in her current work situation, we talked about the possibilities of her finding and applying for a new job. Specifically, we talked about her fears of applying for a job in a different industry and being rejected for not having the right industry background, and how to combat this by learning as much as possible about her desired industry - which would go towards increasing her confidence for attending interviews...


Our Skype sessions are an hour long - and this one seemed to go by in a flash. I'm looking forward to talking with her again next month to see how things are progressing for her.

Thinking about the session again yesterday afternoon, I felt inspired to send out a few tweets for anyone out there who is sharing a fear of rejection for going after something they want.  Having written "Brave PAs" I used this phrase as my hashtag for each tweet, as bravery was ultimately the crux of what we were talking about. I'd like to share my tweets with you:

• It's not impossible - or foolish - to go after something you want. Look at your aim, break it down into steps, and start doing it. #BravePAs
• Stepping out in pursuit of what you want takes bravery, yes - but it's far less painful than sitting with 'what might have been'. #BravePAs
• Want a new job? Then look for one. Don't just hope something new will come along. Go out and find it. It won't find you. #BravePAs
• Want to do something differently? Imagine you've done it! Use this to give you the impetus to do it. It's never too late to learn. #BravePAs
• Plucking up the courage to do something new is actually less scary than believing you are stuck in a rut and can never get out. #BravePAs
• Taureans: take the bull by the horns. Leos: get ready to roar. Librans: find a new balance. Whatever your sign, find your strength #BravePAs
• Amongst all things, never let someone else put you down for being who and what you are. Mantra: "I am brave. Hear me roar." #BravePAs
• We all meet those who look down on us as lowly admins, 'only an assistant', 'just a PA'. NEVER be 'just' anything. You're amazing. #BravePAs
• PAs and EAs the world over are exceptionally talented people, supporting their bosses to lead with success. Remember that. #BravePAs
• Remember the mantra: "I am brave. Hear me roar." #BravePAs

Onwards and upwards, peeps! Be brave. ROAR for what you want!

Angela

Are you internet responsible? Or just well-meaning, gullible and irresponsible?

Have you seen this sort of stuff?

"Today is World Gullible Day - please share this message with all your friends. For every copy of the message shared, Bill Gates will donate €1 to the Identifying Duffers' Idiocy Or Thoughts Society (IDIOTS), which was set up in 1894 by Albert Einstein for a group of gullible people who genuinely thought that everything they read on Facebook is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." (cue: lots of gullible people forwarding out a complete piece of garbage)

or:

"This is a really important life-saving appeal. Please forward it to everyone you know. If you don't forward this message, several small children in Guatemala will be forced to go to work in their cousin's fictitious coal-mine." (cue: pointless filling of people's Facebook inboxes / status streams with this ridiculous message)

or perhaps:

"My cousin's neighbour's dog-walker found a wallet on a bus. Please look at all of the credit cards (front and back) that were enclosed in it - do you know who the owner is, so that we can return the wallet to him?"  (cue: wallet owner's credit cards are used by everyone on the internet)

or even:

"Someone I don't know forwarded this to someone else I don't know, who then forwarded it to this guy I met at the pub a few weeks ago, and he said it's true, it's been confirmed on a programme I've never heard of on American TV and everything, so it MUST be true! For safety's sake when you go away on holiday, you should post on Facebook full details of your home address, any broken windows / locks, where you keep your spare key, where you keep your spare cash in the house, and how long you will be away for. We'll then forward your details on to everyone we know, so that your home can be looked after." (cue: your home is robbed while you go on holiday)

OK. So the examples I've given above are a bit silly and could be considered to be extreme. I made them up to make my point here. But today I genuinely spotted something that utterly HORRIFIED me about how gullible and irresponsible people can be, even if they are meaning well at the time.

This evening, I spotted that my friend XXX (who shall remain nameless, and who has 910 friends on Facebook) had 'shared' / forwarded with all their friends a photograph of an individual's passport which has allegedly been found in the street, forwarding someone else's message of "does anyone know this guy so we can return this to him?"

The photo included the passport owner's photo, name, date of birth, place of birth, passport number, passport issue and expiry dates, their signature, and two lines of electronic detail from the bottom of the passport page - all of which could be used to steal their owner's identity. My friend XXX clearly thought they were doing the passport owner a favour in forwarding this out to their 910 friends including me. SERIOUSLY.  They thought it was OK to share someone else's identity details with 910 people.

I spotted the message an hour after XXX had shared it out - so Lord only knows how many of those 909 other friends had also forwarded it out to their own friends before I posted a "DO NOT SHARE THIS" message on it. 

Perhaps almost WORSE than the fact that XXX blindly forwarded the passport details out to their 910 friends, they clearly didn't read ANY of the comments attached to the photo other than the photo description which said "please share this out to help find the owner". XXX shared the photo SIX FULL HOURS AFTER the original poster of the photo had commented that the owner of the passport had been found. XXX also didn't spot the large number of comments from other people to the original poster that they should give the passport to the police to deal with.

My friend XXX is a lovely person.

Really. They are a very nice person and I am sure that they would not have deliberately or maliciously sent out the passport owner's personal details with any sense of malice or mis-intent. I imagine they saw the photo and thought they could help out in some way by sharing it with their friends, and did so blindly, with a feeling of "I did something good in doing this".  I almost feel bad to be mentioning them (regardless that I'm not sharing their name and details) and they may even become angry or hurt about my using their actions today as an example in this blog-posting. I'm sorry if they feel that way about it, but  as lovely as they are, and as lovely as the rest of my friends and contacts are, it is NOT ENOUGH to be a nice person and to be well meaning, whilst in charge of a device that can connect you - and whatever you post on it - to the rest of the world.  It is definitely NOT OK to be irresponsible and gullible.

If you see stuff on the internet that you are even TEMPTED to share, please bear in mind:

• Many of the messages that do the rounds on Facebook are - SHOCK, HORROR - untrue.
• Many of them are listed on Hoax-spotting websites. To find out if a message you are thinking of forwarding / sharing is fake or not, simply highlight and copy a phrase from the message, and paste it into Google along with the word Hoax - and see if it comes up about the message you've seen. Many times you will find that the message which you've just been sent by another friend has actually been doing the rounds on the internet for 5, 10, 15, even 20 years.  
• Two great websites to use to check out if a message is true or fake are Hoax-slayer and Snopes: Google for them. 
• Wise up before sending stuff out.
• Think before posting crap. 
• Think before forwarding crap. 
• And certainly, think before posting an individual's personal details to the world.  
• Check stuff out.
• If the message seems odd, DON'T FORWARD IT.
• If it seems too good to be truly, DON'T FORWARD IT.
• If it is marked up as "oh yeah, it's true, this was on TV like yesterday somewhere else in the world", DON'T FORWARD IT.
• If it claims that "the more people who share this, the more money will be donated by somebody somewhere", DON'T FORWARD IT.
• And if it contains anything personal about somebody else, NO MATTER HOW HELPFUL YOU THINK YOU ARE BEING, DON'T FORWARD IT.

Bottom line: 
BE INTERNET RESPONSIBLE!  
Just because you are sent something by someone you know or think you know - this does not mean that it is true, correct, legal or right to forward on to others.