Six Years of Pavilion VA: Building a Business Around Life
Six years in business. I'm not quite sure where that time has gone!
When I first started Pavilion VA, I knew I wanted to do something a little different.
After years of working as an Executive Assistant and business support roles, I wanted to take the experience I'd built up and create something of my own. Something that would allow me to work with different businesses, meet new people and continue doing work I genuinely enjoyed, but with a little more flexibility over how and where I worked.
What I didn't realise at the time was just how important that flexibility would become.
Six years later, Pavilion VA has been so much more than just a business. It's been the one constant through some pretty significant changes in my life.
A Business That Has Moved With Me
Being married to someone in the military means that life doesn't always stay in one place.
Over the years, my husband's Royal Marines career has meant moving and adapting to different circumstances, and having a business that I can take with me has been invaluable.
Rather than having to start again professionally each time life changed, I've been able to continue working, building relationships and developing my business wherever we've been.
And that freedom has extended beyond moving house.
It's also meant being able to project manage a full house renovation (which, as anyone who's done one will know, is practically a full-time job in itself!), juggle the inevitable unexpected challenges that come with life and find ways to make everything work.
Not always seamlessly, I should add!
But having the ability to adapt my working life around everything else has been something I've never taken for granted.
The Flexibility I Never Knew I'd Need
Perhaps the biggest reminder of why I started Pavilion VA has been our journey to becoming parents.
After four years of fertility treatment, we finally welcomed our little boy, Jude, in October 2025.
Anyone who has been through fertility treatment will know how much of your life it can take over. The appointments, the uncertainty, the emotional ups and downs and the constant juggling of plans.
Having my own business gave me the flexibility to navigate that journey in a way that would have been much harder in a traditional working environment.
It didn't make the experience any easier, but it meant I had some control over my time when so much else felt completely out of my hands.
And now, as I've returned to my business after maternity leave and started navigating life as a working mum, I'm appreciating that flexibility in a whole new way.
I love what I do, and I also love that I've been able to build a working life that gives me time with my family.
Of course, there are days when balancing everything feels like a bit of a juggling act, but I wouldn't change the opportunity I've had to create a business that works alongside my life rather than the other way around.
From Virtual PA to Something Much More
While life has been changing around me, Pavilion VA has been evolving too.
When I first started, much of my work centred around traditional PA and Executive Assistant support — diary management, inboxes, travel arrangements and keeping busy people organised.
Those things are still an important part of what I do, but over the years my role with clients has grown into something much broader.
I now find myself supporting boards and committees, coordinating projects, managing communications, reviewing processes, organising events and getting involved in the day-to-day operations of businesses.
And that's something I've really enjoyed about running Pavilion VA.
No two clients are the same, and no two days are quite the same either.
I particularly enjoy getting to know how a business works, understanding the bigger picture and being able to spot where I can make a difference.
Sometimes that means taking a task off someone's hands. Other times it's about finding a better way of doing something or simply being a trusted person they can rely on to get things moving.
It's a role that has continued to develop, and I think that's what keeps it interesting.
The People Who Have Made It Possible
One thing I certainly didn't anticipate when I started was just how much of my business would grow through relationships and recommendations.
I've been fortunate to work with some brilliant people over the years, many of whom have trusted me to become a real part of their businesses, despite us not necessarily sharing an office.
Some of my longest-standing client relationships have been built entirely virtually, which I think says a lot about how much the working world has changed.
There's something incredibly rewarding about a client trusting you enough to recommend you to someone else.
And I know that without those relationships, Pavilion VA wouldn't be where it is today.
Still Learning, Still Evolving
Running your own business certainly teaches you a thing or two.
There have been challenges, periods of uncertainty, plenty of learning curves and times when I've questioned whether I'm doing things the right way.
But there have also been so many opportunities that I wouldn't otherwise have had.
I've worked with different businesses and industries, developed new skills, embraced new technology and found myself taking on responsibilities that I might never have imagined when I first started.
And on a personal level, this business has given me the freedom to move with my husband, take on a major renovation, navigate a difficult fertility journey and, more recently, find my feet as a working mum.
Looking back, I think that's what I'm most proud of.
Not just that Pavilion VA has reached six years, but that I've managed to build something that has continued to grow and adapt alongside everything else life has thrown at me.
I certainly don't have it all figured out, and I'm still learning as I go.
But six years on, I'm grateful for the opportunities, the people I've met, the clients who have supported me and the flexibility that has made so much possible.
Six years of Pavilion VA. Still learning, still evolving and looking forward to whatever comes next.
Pavilion VA provides flexible Virtual Executive Assistant and business operations support to businesses and senior leaders across the UK.
Comments