Bridge builder helps firms grow without having to recruit

What distinguishes your business from competitors? With most other virtual assistant agencies, you work with a freelancer directly, and you have to rely on that one person. The agency acts only as a middleman and you often have no service guarantee, back-ups, or customer support if the relationship doesn't work out.

Miss Moneypenny handles all of its client work internally – clients have a relationship with us as a business, and not just an individual. We provide every client with a project manager and full support, meaning peace of mind, stability, and, crucially, a year-round uninterrupted service.

What has been the biggest challenge you have had to face? The concept of virtual assistance is relatively new to Ireland, despite being hugely popular around the world. Where a service isn't well understood in your primary marketplace, the biggest challenge is educating business owners on the concept. We find once people understand what we do and the massive productivity benefits a virtual assistant can deliver, it becomes a no-brainer.

And your major success to date? Companies typically come to Miss Moneypenny when they need some help with operating their business more efficiently, but not enough to warrant getting a new member of staff. Over the years, working this way has allowed our clients to grow and accelerate their profits in a way they couldn't have if they'd hired staff from the outset.

We are providing a bridge to small business owners that allows them to grow their business without the hassle of recruitment.

Our major successes come from seeing our clients use our services to grow their business to the point of being able to create jobs.

What could the Government do to help SMEs in the current environment and stimulate the economy? The future economic stability of our country is dependent on SMEs and the business owners behind them, yet the punishing taxes applied to the self-employed make the long days and uncertainty of self-employment even harder. The Government needs to treat all taxpayers equally.

As it stands, if you work for yourself, not only do you pay more in tax but you also lose the right to certain social welfare entitlements if your business fails. Nobody wants favourable treatment, simply a fairer system which treats all workers equally.

Do you think the banks are open for business at the moment? Every now and again the banks wheel out the message that they are lending, but the reality is that, for the average self-employed person, it's increasingly hard to get finance from the banks on account of all the red tape. A bank won't look at the individual, only the figures, and the concept of future earning potential is disregarded entirely.

I find that the credit union network is a more progressive establishment, as they will consider all factors in each lending case.

What's the biggest mistake you've made in business? My biggest mistake was assuming that people would instantly take on board the concept of virtual assistance, and that it would take off as fast in Ireland as it has in other countries. As a company, we really had to work on explaining our core message and process in a way that people would understand and trust.

Who do you admire in business and why? I have great admiration for Declan O'Connor of Biomass Heating Solutions (BHSL), a company based in Limerick, transforming the global poultry industry. Declan taught me about the importance of resilience, professionalism and raising your game.

What was the best piece of business advice you've ever received? Without realising it, a client taught me very early on that it's never a good idea to undervalue your own services. In the start-up environment, it's easy to get into discounting and bartering, in the hope it'll earn you mileage, but this is not a strategy that works, ever. Nobody is in business for the good of their health and the reality is that people don't value what they get for free.

How do you see the short- term future for your business? Globally the concept of virtual assistants has really taken off and now businesses in Ireland are starting to realise the benefits.

We’re managing to catch that wave and feel we’ve a very bright future. The recession has been good for Miss Moneypenny in that it has resulted in a change in mindset amongst business people who are much quicker to scrutinise overheads and consider alternative ways to do more for less. I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.

What's your business worth, and would you sell it? The business is constantly changing and even though we are around several years, we are only just at the start of our story.

I have been approached before to sell the business but I can't see that happening in the near future, as we have got so much more to do and achieve. In conversation with Pamela Newenham