I am Jean, a Virtual Assistant (VA). My company is called Oyster Flame. So why Oyster Flame I hear you cry? Why not JWVA Services, or Jean’s Virtual Assistance? Or something else a little more obvious that tells people what I do in the name.
Honestly, when I started out I wasn’t familiar with the phrase VA. So I wanted a name I could use regardless of exactly what sort of business I was starting.
This all came about after I took redundancy from a large corporate back in 2011. I was entitled to some outplacement support, and that was when I met a lovely guy called Roger.
Once we’d made some initial plans, the main one of which was that I had decided setting-up a company and working for myself was probably the best route for me, I needed a company name.
Roger said if I couldn’t think of a name, a good place to start was with a colour and an inanimate object. Now I recognise names in this format when I see them, and think fondly of Roger whenever I do. Blue Fish, Red Leopard, Green Thumb, Black Circles and so on.
To find my company name, I started looking at lists of colours and quite quickly saw oyster. Then I saw flame (red). Both these words fitted the bill for both colours and inanimate objects. And both resonated with me for completely different reasons.
Oysters remind me of Mersea Island. A place very close to my heart. I spent the majority of my school holidays in Mersea when I was a child, staying with a great aunt, playing and spending time with distant cousins (‘second cousins once removed’). Mersea is famous for its oyster beds, full of Colchester oysters. And as a result the beach is full of oyster shells. Mersea was my Mum’s happy place. It’s where we took her ashes after she died. And now we go there with my sister and nephew for a week each year.
For me oyster also reminds me of a famous saying I like, ‘the world’s your oyster’.
The flame represented Santander. The company that gave me this opportunity. I loved working for Abbey National (Abbey), and when they were taken over by Santander, the Spanish banking giant, things changed. The logo became a flame, and everything turned red. Many of the changes made initially I benefitted from, but my time was up when it was decided my team would move into an internal Finance company. The managers in the new company were all accountants, something I was not.
Redundancy had been on the cards for me before. Each time I had ‘escaped’ or been saved, by being internally redeployed. Building on my skill-set each time. But this time, I was ready to accept that it was my time to go. This time I could see it as an opportunity.
The world really was my oyster now. I just had to decide how I was going to take advantage of this massive opportunity being offered to me.
And so Oyster Flame was born. My company was registered in July of 2011.
I didn’t use the term Virtual Assistant or VA for another few years. That association was something I picked up from networking. When I met with other like-minded business women and found my support network.
I provide services to other small businesses, rather than them having to employ someone on a permanent basis. Instead, they just use my services as and when required. This idea enables smaller businesses to get the benefits, without the overheads. It’s a win: win situation.
If you are looking for a virtual assistant to join your team, or just want to understand how it might work for your business, why not get in touch to discuss how I can help you.