No bill too big!

Money may not buy you happiness but managed well it can sure help others!

Bill and Melinda Gates announced on Friday they would spend $10 billion (6.2 billion GBP) over the next decade to develop and deliver vaccines, an increased commitment that reflects progress in the pipeline of products for immunising children in the developing world.

Over the past 10 years, the Microsoft co-founder's charity has committed $4.5 billion to vaccines and has been instrumental in establishing the GAVI alliance, a public-private partnership that channels money for vaccines in poor countries.

By increasing immunisation coverage in developing countries to 90 percent, it should be possible to prevent the deaths of 7.6 million children under five between 2010 and 2019, Gates told reporters at the World Economic Forum.

Thank goodness the philanthropic spirit lives on in the new generation of billionaires.

Gareth, APA

Slow, slow recovery

Britain only just crept out of an 18-month recession at the end of 2009, suggesting any monetary tightening remains a long way off and raising fears about the prospects for recovery ahead of an election due by June.

The Office for National Statistics said today that gross domestic product rose by 0.1 percent between October and December, well below analysts' forecasts for growth of 0.4 percent. For 2009 as a whole, the economy shrank by 4.8 percent -- the worst yearly performance since records began in 1949.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said. "I think we are now on a path to recovery.” He suggested he would be sticking with his forecast that the economy would grow by up to 1.5 percent this year. Sterling fell after further data showed output fell 3.2 percent from the same period a year ago. From peak to trough, the economy contracted six percent -- far worse than the downturns of the early 1980s and 1990s.

APA Director General Gareth Osborne said, “There is some positive news but not cause for excitement just yet. We still have a long way to go but positive signs should be enough for the more entrepreneurial business to start stretching their wings."

APA

Beware fool's gold

Companies offering cash for gold jewellery in a recent flurry of TV adverts are paying a fraction of the items' true worth. The firms, which have latched on to increases in the price of gold, are 'shockingly bad value', according to consumer group Which?

Three pieces of new jewellery purchased by Which? for a total of £729 drew offers from the firms of as little as £38.57 for the lot. One company refused to return a £399 necklace free of charge, as promised, on the inaccurate pretext that it was 'not gold' at all.

The Which? Money magazine picked out three items of jewellery on the high street, a £115 bracelet, £215 bangle and £399 necklace, and purchased four of each. In November 2009 it sent them to four TV gold buyers, as well as getting quotes from three high street pawnbrokers and three jewellers.

Which? claimed that CashMyGold offered the lowest prices on all three items, offering just £38.57 in total for the three pieces. Money4Gold told a Which? researcher that a 9ct necklace he bought for £399 was 'not gold' and it would cost him £10.95 to have it returned.

The scrap value of a necklace will be considerably less than its price as a piece of jewellery. However, this does not explain the paltry offers. Companies offering cash for gold jewellery are 'shockingly bad value', according to Which? On average, the TV gold buyers offered around 6 per cent of the retail price for gold. High street stores paid around 25 per cent.

Postal Gold surprised the researcher by upping its quote when he rejected its cheque - almost doubling its offer for the bracelet and bangle. However, these rates were still far lower than those from jewellers and pawnbrokers.

Shelley, APA

The Power of Positive Thought

On his show last night, ‘Piers Morgan on Shanghai’, Piers reported research which suggests that ‘83% of Chinese people believe tomorrow will be a better day than today’.

Now, while my first reaction was to concoct a witty retort to this claim, the reality hit home so hard that I immediately resisted and realised the power of the message. It certainly shows the level of passionate optimism amongst the Chinese population and, if the ‘power of positive thought’ is half a successful as I believe then we had better beware.

I guess that if you surveyed a statistically significant sample of UK people in the current climate you may find a similar response; in their case it would be to the unspoken sub-text, ‘It can hardly be worse’. But from the Chinese it would definitely reflect a belief that they are striding forward to be the leaders of the world-order in days to come. Piers said that Shanghai will be the world’s richest city in less than 20 years.

My message to business would be, “So, let’s regain our positivity and start thinking like the Chinese and if you haven’t formulated your Chinese strategy yet, start thinking.” And to APA members, “Forget French, start learning Chinese”.

Remember to put 14th February 2010 in your diary. Not for St. Valentine’s Day but for the start of the Chinese New Year – the Year of the Tiger. If you consult Wikipedia it tells you that the motto for the Year of the Tiger is ‘I win’ and the colour is purple – so it bodes well for APA Members!

Gareth, APA

Intergalactic PA

APA has been lobbying for sometime for a better understanding of how jobs have changed in recent years and how they will change even faster in the future. It has cited the role of the Personal Assistant as a perfect example; “It is a job that has changed in the past 10 years; from secretarial to managerial, and will definitely change further in the next ten,” said Gareth Osborne of APA.

The PAs organisation has recently responded to a Government-commissioned report into the landscape of future jobs. The report shows that a number of factors including population growth, environmental impact and developments in science and technology, will lead to a host of different careers existing in the future. More importantly it shows that young people are going to need to think ahead when deciding on their career path in the future.

“This is something that career services in the UK have not equipped young people to do historically,” said Gareth. “The careers that seem attractive today may not exist tomorrow. It is important that young people explore their career options and gain as broad an experience-base as possible if they are to succeed.”

The digital revolution will lead to jobs for virtual lawyers, virtual clutter organisers and waste data handlers, while breakthroughs in space travel will lead to people swapping the office for the final frontier as space pilots, space architects and space tour guides, it was suggested.

APA will be joining other professional bodies in making practical recommendations to Government on future jobs through the work of its Youth Employment Taskforce chaired by Baroness Prosser.

APA

See and be seen

APA passionately believes that small businesses with a web presence must better embrace search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques if they are to succeed. This is especially true where their principal objective is to promote their services and products to the maximum number of customers.

APA Technology Director, Colin Minto feels it is essential to own well-optimised (search engine-friendly) websites in order to remain competitive in the online business world.

“Optimised content can help by getting the website easily recognised by leading search engines and consequently, it will be able to attain a higher ranking, which makes it easier for consumers to find it, ideally leading to an increase in customer traffic. The quality of content and the ranking position your website achieves in the major search engines is hugely important these days. It is increasingly important to include core data about your website in the page titles and descriptions. Keywords should also be used at least three or four times," said Colin.

“APA has achieved good, not yet great, SEO but it is a major plank of our business strategy to ensure we access as many PAs as possible and to do that our website has to be easily found.

SEO will remain a major issue in the ever expanding global marketplace.

Colin Minto, APA

Chimp out-performs Bankers

They are paid a fortune for their ability to make complex decisions about where to invest millions of pounds every single day. But perhaps the job of an investment banker is not quite as difficult as it might seem; or so said Will Stewart in the Daily Mail on Tuesday..

He cited a chimpanzee (Lusha) in Russia that has out-performed 94 per cent of the country's investment funds with her portfolio growing by three times in the last year.

Moscow TV reported how circus chimp ‘Lusha’ chose eight companies from a possible 30 to invest her one million roubles - around £21,000. She bought successfully and her portfolio grew and grew. She did better than almost the whole of the rest of the market,' said the editor of a Russian Finance magazine.

The money-wise ape was given cubes representing different companies and asked: 'Lusha where would you like to invest your money this year?' Pausing briefing to think, she then picked out her eight cubes.

The head of monetary policy department at the Institute for the Economy in Transition in Moscow, said enviously: 'It shows that financial knowledge does not play a great role in giving forecasts to how the market will change. It is usually a matter of more or less successful guessing. And the monkey got lucky.' The monkey, owned by legendary Russian trainer Lev Dorov, split her investments between state-owned corporations and private companies.

APA can only add that recent events seem to support this claim!

Shelley, APA

From PA to Global Explorer

One of APA’s great friends, Rona Cant, has contacted us to say thanks for acknowledging Katie Walter’s ground-breaking achievements. But I thought I would introduce Rona first:

Rona describes herself as ‘a normal woman who has done extra-ordinary things’ - she has sailed the 'wrong way' round the world, trekked with bears and cougars, and opened a 'thought to be impossible' dog-sled trail inside the Arctic Circle to the northernmost tip of Europe, yet she could be your next door neighbour! She has changed her life at a time when most people are slowing down to become an adventurer and the knowledge she has gained from her diverse adventures have qualified her to know what works and what doesn't work in the challenging business environment of today.

Of Katie, she said:

‘What a great achievement for Katie Walker. It takes grit and determination in those sort of conditions to achieve this goal. Most of the hard work is done before the expedition leaves home in the training and preparation and it is getting out there every day, day after day no matter what the weather, and doing the work that helps you achieve your goal. It is the focus that you need when others are out enjoying themselves or are inside in the warm where the true work is done. We experienced - 35ºC in a ground-storm on The Nordkapp Expedition (dog-sledding) and it’s tough you cannot get away from it. Congratulations Katie, you will go far with your determination!’

Rona is a friend to APA; she started out as a PA herself before becoming a single mum and global explorer. I know Rona as ‘an extremely impressive speaker, business mentor and human being – you couldn’t wish for a better motivator for your team building events or away day in 2010. She challenges herself to achieve more and she will challenge you as well.’

And again I say ‘most impressively, Rona was a PA, it supports my belief that PAs are exceptional people!’

Gareth, APA

Contact: rona@rontcant.com or see her website at http://www.ronacant.com/

And we think it's cold here!

While other teenagers marked the start of 2010 with hangovers, 17 year-old Katie Walter spent New Year’s Eve in a frozen tent, celebrating becoming the youngest person to reach the South Pole. She arrived at the pole on December 31, after a 112-mile trek across the Antarctic wilderness. “It’s a personal achievement and wasn’t about being 'the youngest’, it was about me challenging myself. It was hard, but if it wasn’t, more people would do it,” said Katie.

Two years ago she signed up to join an expedition, led by the explorer Mike Thornewill, to reach the South Pole from the point where Ernest Shackleton had to turn back 100 years ago. She has devoted most of her free time since to a harsh training regime centred on dragging car tyres over long distances.

And she coped pretty well with spending seven hours a day dragging her 40kg (88lb) sledge uphill in temperatures that dropped to -40C (-40F).

On Monday, Katie is due back at Worksop College, where she has a music scholarship — “grade eight flute, grade eight singing, grade seven piano” — and is preparing for AS levels in five subjects. At university, she is planning to study engineering.

APA applauds Katie and all other young adventurers who want to do something really challenging with their lives. If any PAs have done something similar or would like to, please let us know.

Sarah Tiddy FAPA

A polite alternative to the Estate Agent

If you are about to start a property search for your next home or even your Boss’s then we thoroughly recommend the new business venture from the very talented Sarah Beeny called Tepilo.

Tepilo is a platform that allows you to take independent control of buying, selling or letting your property - with no charges or commission.

“Some people will always prefer to use an estate or lettings agent. But for those of you who would like to take control of your biggest asset, we have created Tepilo. This site simplifies and explains the whole process which is often perceived as something more complicated than it really is. We are here with all the advice you need to get through the whole process, and of course to save you many thousands of pounds at the same time,” says Sarah. The sales advantages are:
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Tepilo is completely free to use
Tepilo makes it easy for you
Tepilo provides practical profit enhancing guidance.
Tepilo hosts the negotiation process through the site
Tepilo encourages the personal touch
Tepilo allows you to ‘Ask Sarah’ - if you get stuck you can even ask Sarah a question directly through Tepilo, and you may even win a home visit or free consultation.

If you use Tepilo or have used it already, make sure to let us know what you think.

Shelley, APA.

Execsec Summit 2010

Gareth Osborne, APA Director General, will be opening the Execsec Summit 2010 - a unique event specifically designed for Senior PAs, Executive Secretaries & Executive Assistants - to be held on 22-23 March 2010 at the Grove Hotel, Watford, Hertfordshire.

The event is innovative in its structure and offers to maximise the Senior PAs time out of the office and allow them to discover innovative opportunities, from pioneering blue chip supplier companies offering modern and creative ideas to help respond to the daily challenges their professional lives continually throw at them.

The event is billed as being ‘completely different from an exhibition... and a better alternative!’

For Delegates the benefits look to be highly relevant. Attendance is complimentary and delegates are promised to be treated like VIPs. Organisers will arrange each attendees personal Summit Itinerary of supplier meetings; which will be held in your their own dedicated meeting booth for the day and a half. Delegates will be able to discuss future requirements with the suppliers of their choice.

They will be able to attend interactive seminars, networking lunches and an evening gala dinner, with after dinner entertainment, making the most of their time out of the office. They will also be provided with overnight luxury accommodation at the 5 star Grove Hotel, Watford.

Places are limited to just 70 FREE delegate places.

Go to: http://www.forumevents.co.uk/forums/es/index.htm

APA

Business travel set to take off again in 2010

Business travel will increase in 2010 after stalling over the past 12 months, it has been claimed. Research from the National Business Travel Association highlighted that nearly 70 per cent of travel managers think more business-related journeys will be made in 2010, with over half thinking their travel budget will increase.

According to travel agent network Advantage, larger firms are likely to continue making travel cutbacks but many small firms, who cannot survive without a degree of business travel, will increase their spend. But they will be much more cost conscious than in previous years. However, buyers predicted that they would be attempting to negotiate better discounts on hotel stays (70 per cent) and from airlines and car rental companies (30 per cent).

APA is working to give members access to the best deals available to business as the economy starts to recover. More news to follow.

Gareth, APA

Manufacturing returns to the UK

Manufacturers are increasingly moving production back to Britain as shoddy quality and higher freight prices are undermining the cost advantage of producing goods overseas says a report into the state of the manufacturing sector by the EEF and accountants BDO. It finds that one in seven companies surveyed had moved production back to the UK from abroad in the past two years

Many British manufacturers have outsourced production to countries with lower labour costs, in Eastern Europe or Asia, in the past decade, a trend that has accelerated as an increasing number of British companies have fallen into foreign ownership. But higher freight, energy and commodity costs have increased the expense of production overseas, while the recession has put pressure on companies to re-evaluate decisions on location.

The EEF’s survey of manufacturers presents an unexpectedly optimistic picture of the UK’s manufacturing base in a year when headlines have been dominated by concerns for jobs at Corus, BAE Systems and Vauxhall, some of the country’s biggest manufacturers. Two thirds of the 300 businesses surveyed for the report — which include makers of mechanical equipment, plastics manufacturers, food manufacturers and suppliers to the automotive industry — plan to re-evaluate their supply-chain strategies as a result of the global recession.

APA Director General, Gareth Osborne, who has owned and operated a number of manufacturing businesses in his time said, “It will not be a flood back [to the UK] but quite a few companies seem to be looking again at the advantages of manufacturing nearer to home. Something I never thought I would see again.”

The weaker pound has also helped to make production in the UK more cost effective because the cost of imports has risen.

APA strongly supports UK manufacturing.

APA

office* 2010 - a must for PAs

office*, is an exciting and fresh new event aimed at bringing PAs, Executive Assistants, and Office Managers together with potential new business partners and solution providers.

So much more than a trade exhibition, office* will incorporate hand selected exhibitors, a first class Seminar Programme, Key note theatre, office* Elite Club and networking opportunities such as our ‘After Dark’ Champagne reception and much much more. office* is the must attend event for 2010. Visit the office* website for more information http://officeshow.co.uk

Save the date for this year’s must attend event! 21-22 September 2010 Earls Court London

APA will be there and we would love to meet as many Members and potential members as possible.

Gareth, APA

Enhance your PA skills in 2010

Applications are open for the winter round (Jan to March 2010) of the APA professional training programmes. Places are still available for the highly prestigious Diploma in Personal Assistance; but will close soon, and spaces remain for the PA Apprentice (newcomers to the PA role) and PA Professional (New skills for old hands) courses.

Each programme promises to introduce PAs to a range of current and forward looking new skills and send them back to their business better equipped to give the very best support to their bosses. Accolades for the Diploma Programme, leading to use of the DipPA designatory letters after your name, have established it as the highest professional qualification for PAs in the UK and the first step to the PA Degree programme to be launched later in the year.

Book now to enhance your professionalism or to simply update your existing skills base. Visit the APA website at www.paprofesional.com and select APA Training from the navigation bar or email training@paprofessional.com.