I was not a good PA at first

How I became a great PA

Mar 20, 2025

March is speeding before my eyes. Life has been life-ing while the business grows. This growth has been amazing, it’s what I’m working for, but overwhelming at the same time. I haven’t been in a growth phase for a while and have forgotten ALL the feelings - gratitude, excitement, coupled with fear and anxiety.

I started the Goldman Sachs Growth programme and at almost exactly the same time, we had a bereavement in the family.

It's been A Lot, and I have been recognising it as such. I am filled with such gratitude when people have been kind and said ‘let’s meet in June as it sounds like there is a lot on’ 🙏🏼 As well as trying to be extremely strict on my own calendar (feels impossible sometimes) and embracing working more in the evenings. But the growth programme us only til May. I have an end date, I can readdress my work/life (im)balance then.

My reminder is, we will have seasons of busyness, overwhelm, (look back to last month’s email for more on that). I am anti toxic hustle culture, but pro ‘it’s ok if you are scaling a business’ to recognise that sometimes you just have to knuckle down and get it done.

So right now, I am trying to ring fence my two exercise sessions a week, minimum daily breathwork, meditation in some form - and lots of soothing supplements, drinks and mushrooms (legal ones! - see more below)

Points of Business:

I was not a good PA at first.

Let me go back to the very beginning.

I got a temp job at a VERY high profile newspaper, for the F.D. (and 2^nd PA to the M.D.) of the regional news section. I had never stepped into such fancy offices (I stepped back into them for a photoshoot for a feature on VAs in said newspaper in 2021, talk about full circle moment!)

I wasn’t looking to be the best PA, but they liked me. The lead PA was a lovely woman who was just glad I showed up after some disastrous hires. Work for me back then was a bit of a rollercoaster of temp jobs. I found the work easy and still cannot believe how much praise I received (So different from the performer world where the praise is few and far between!)

But by the time I landed my first full time gig at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, I was ready to learn, to be a great PA. I had a million things to work on both personally and professionally, but I became the ‘go to’ PA there and realised I was genuinely good at this.

How and why did it change?

I committed

Something clicked in me. I was auditioning for a music college Masters (spoiler: didn’t get in). Until then my PA roles were something to keep me afloat and performing, but I had to face the reality that at 25 I needed to start thinking about another career
I wanted to earn money, consistent money and I got paid well for a PA starting out! My then boyfriend, now husband, was doing a Masters so one of us needed to be earning!

I liked my boss

That MAJORLY helps as a PA right? Especially when starting out and you don’t know better. Looking back I was lucky, I supported nice people in a large organisation

I was praised

And it was new to me! In my first week at Chelsea & Westminster, I was one of five PAs in the Exec office. The ‘scary’ one (who of course later became my work BFF) sung my praises to the CEO’s PA who made of point of sharing it with me
It made me feel like I was onto something with this role v performing

I owned what I wasn’t good at and got the training I needed

They wanted a minute taker - I told them that wasn't me. The COO still chose to hire me as he thought the other skills I had were more important
Thanks to a director sitting taking the time with me to show me some ‘hacks’ and a course they sent me on, within a year they told me I had the best minutes in the Trust 😇

I had a bloody good mentor

The Trust really invested in me, and not just the minutes or upskilling me for my role. My manager looked after me during the natural 20-something dramas. She understood I didn’t want to be in that role or organisation forever, so she supported me in getting experience new areas, skills, departments until I left completely four years later

I challenged myself

When I started I had no idea what busy at work meant, and didn't for sometime
Until it was understood I was good enough, supporting the COO turned into supporting the COO and Medical Director, covering all the other Execs, especially the CEO when needed, supporting the Children’s Hospital charity to expand my skills set and then doing it all in four days so I could work in Comms one day a week 🫠
Exactly what I need to be a great VA? Yup

Actions:

9th May: Strategic PA Network are hosting their 10 Years of Networking Celebration Showcase, it sounds like an incredible event and I can’t stress enough how important networking is for Assistants!

I’ll be sending a separate email out next week with all the events, co-working, networking, conferences, and awards deadlines you need to know about - make sure you’re subscribed⬇️

And if you have an event etc coming up that you’d like shouted out, let me know! Drop me a message ⬇️

Next Steps:

I am fully in my wellness era: now I’m into mushrooms. Dirtea have kindly shared a 10% discount code with me: CAROLINE_M 🍄‍🟫 I love the matcha!

Questions/Comments:

Is there something you want to ask? Advice you need? I would love to hear from you! Either pop it in the comments below, or email me

F*ck up of the month:

While signing our biggest ever client, I spelt the name wrong 😳😱

Then our incredible Ops person not only had to redo lots of the onboarding, but also resend the contract.

OUR BIGGEST EVER CLIENT

What an error 🤦‍♀️

AOB:

Upsource is getting busier! We have some excellent clients looking for amazing, experienced, proactive administrative experts. If that’s you, fill in this form and we’ll be in touch!

Please do forward this email to anyone in the Assistant world that you think might be interested, or benefit from it. And let me know what you want to hear about! Is there something you want more/less of? Feedback is very welcome! (You can read my thoughts about feedback here).

I was *not* a good PA at first

How I became a *great* PA