This summer, we want to give you time to do whatever you want. Whether you want to spend more time with your family, go on vacation, attend a conference, or simply get more sleep, Pepper VA wants to help you do it.
One of our goals at Pepper VA is to help you make the best use of your time. Let us take care of your administrative duties, web development, and other tasks, so you can focus on other aspects of your business. Let us become your allies in business, so you have more time for yourself.
Getting more time for yourself is simple. Just sign up for Pepper’s services before the 15th of July, and you’ll automatically get our standard 5 hours of trial VA services for free. That’s half a day for you to pamper yourself at the spa, visit the park with your kids, host a barbecue, or do anything you want, absolutely free.
But wait, there’s more!
Sign up for our Mild Paprika or Bit Hot Jalapeño packages, and you’ll get 10% discount for July, August, and September. Opt for our Red Hot Chili or Super Hot Habenero packages, and you get a whole 20% off. Whichever package you choose, we’ll make sure you have a lot of time to enjoy the summer heat.
For our current clients, you can also enjoy our summer discounts by upgrading to a higher subscription plan.
Yup, you read that right. We’re giving out FREE HOURS of Virtual Services. Are you interested? Details are on our Facebook Page.
As a token of our appreciation for your continued patronage of our services, we are thrilled to announce that we will be offering FREE HOURS of Virtual Services to everyone who will write a Review of our services!
For our New Clients – 5-hour free trial + 2 more hours for a total of 7 FREE HOURS.
For our Current Clients – 5 additional hours for their current month’s billing.
Excited to get started? Here’s how:
Post a Comment on our FB Wall that you are interested.
You will then receive a Private Message from our Company with the Promo Code (for new clients) and instructions (for current clients) in exchange for your commitment to write a review of our services on our FaceBook Page after your free hours.
Once you get the code, you can sign up in our website.
Let’s get your free virtual services started!
This offer is available to the FIRST 20 PEOPLE who will be posting on our wall only. So what are you waiting for? Start posting now! And get ready to have a FREE Virtual Experience!
We’ve already had 5 people sign up, leaving only 15 slots open. If you’re interested, hop over to Pepper Virtual Assistants on Facebook and tell us before the rest of the slots disappear!
Of course, whether or not you end up as part of the lucky 20, we’d still like to hear from you. If you’ve already worked with us, please head over the Reviews Section (also on our Facebook Page) and tell us (and the rest of the world, too) what you think. We’d really appreciate it.
We’re two months late, you say? Not quite. In the early Roman Calendar, March 1 was designated as the start of the new year, and the calendar had only ten months. Then around 700 B.C., the months of January and February were added, but it wasn’t until the time of Julius Caesar (around 46 B.C.) that January 1 officially became the start of the year.
Unfortunately, not everybody followed this. Some stuck to celebrating the new year on March 1. Some even went as far as abolishing January 1, and celebrating the new year on Christmas, on Easter, or on some other date. In fact, it took over a millennium to get everybody on the same page.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered several changes in the calendar to synchronize it with the real solar calendar. Among the changes instituted was the celebration of the new year on 1st of January, which we still follow today.
Thanks to good old Greg, we can be sure that our days are pretty much in sync wherever we are in the world, give or take a few hours. This makes it pretty easy for us to inform you, our clients, when Pepper Virtual Assistants go on holiday.
We know you’ve got a lot of work for us, and we want to make sure that you can plan ahead and finish any urgent or pending projects before the holidays. We’d like you to go over the calendar below, but don’t worry – you don’t have to memorize it. Whenever a holiday is coming up, we’ll make sure to remind you about them a week before.
In 2011, a lot of holidays fall on weekends. Further announcements as to treatment of these Philippine Holidays will be made closer to its date. However, from previous years, these holidays are normally moved to the Monday closest to the date.
National holidays are also declared for the observance of Eid’l Fitr and Eidul Adha, but there is no exact date yet. We will make sure to inform everyone once these are made official.
Our holiday process remains to be flexible. If you think you’ll need your VA to work on the holiday, just get in touch with us so that we can make a special arrangement for you.
We hope you find this helpful.
Feel free to contact us anytime you have any questions or concerns. As always, we’re happy to hear from you!
We’re a team of virtual assistants, but that doesn’t mean you can’t meet us in the real world. In fact, a few of our clients have visited Pepper HQ already.
Russ Meuchel of Ember Recording Studios
Our first client visit was in February when Russ Meuchel of Ember Recording Studios came over with his friend, John Frazier. They wanted to meet up and discuss Pepper’s services, so Nikki Romero, Pepper Business Director; and Via Enriquez, Russ’ VA met up with them at EDSA Central Mall and headed over to Shangrila Mall. Over a hearty lunch at Via Mare, Russ, John, Nikki, and Via got to know each other, discussed their respective businesses, and worked out future business plans.
Tim and Joana Totten of SouthGain Enterprises
Back in February, Tim and Joana Totten of SouthGain Skin Care came over for a visit. Here they met some of the actual people behind our fabulous virtual service, namely: Miguel Ramos, President of ASPAC Advertising, which is Pepper’s mother company; Nikki Romero; Paulo Nasol, Republika Worldwide Business Director; Paula Gesmundo-Uy, and Verna Austria, Tim & Joana’s VAs.
From left to right: Tim Totten - President, SouthGain Enterprises, Joana Totten - Vice President, SouthGain Enterprises, Paula Gesmundo - Pepper Senior VA, Paulo Nasol - Republika Business Director, and Nikki Romero - Pepper Business Director
While the Pepper team handles several tasks for SouthGain, including customer support, blog and social network updates, research, and other administrative duties, this visit found us tapping into our networking skills as well, scheduling meetings with local contacts to help Tim find potential suppliers and manufacturers for SouthGain’s products. Of course, since we had some face time already, the gang also discussed options for SouthGain’s expansion.
Tim and Joana returned in June, this time with more than business on their itinerary. The business, of course, came first – that’s part of what makes us great assistants, after all. Discussion at Pepper HQ centered around new opportunities for SouthGain, namely, a new label.
After this came the other, more fulfilling (emphasis on filling) part of their itinerary. Tim and Joana had planned a trip to Balayan, Batangas, a province a few hours south of the capital of Manila for Joana’s birthday celebration, and the Pepper crew was invited.
We knew were in for a feast because the Parada ng Lechon was in town. The lechon is a whole pig seasoned and slowly roasted over hot coals that famed chef Anthony Bourdain describes as the best “of all the whole roasted pigs I’ve had all over the world.” Now imagine seeing hundreds of them parading right in front of you – are you hungry yet? You can bet we were.
But the fun didn’t end there. You see, part of the Parada ng Lechon tradition is to throw water to practically anyone you want. So while walking and looking for Tim and Joana, we found ourselves dripping wet, with people throwing water at us wherever we went! Imagine a whole town playing water fight the whole day – adults and kids alike, complete with the firetruck hose on and policemen with water buckets. There is nothing like it, and everyone had a blast.
Ric and Liz Thompson of Transperience Network
In August, Ric and Liz Thompson (as well as their two adorable kids Chandler and Stefan) came over to visit Pepper HQ. This time, the Pepper welcoming committee consisted of Miguel Ramos; Nikki Romero; Mejie Yamamoto and Apolz Fabros, Liz & Ric’s VAs; Paula Gesmundo, Pepper Senior VA; and Luis Cruz, Pepper writer.
From left to right: Miguel Ramos - President, Aspac Advertising, Nikki Romero - Pepper Business Director, Liz Thompson - Co-Founder of Transperience Network, Stefan Thompson, Chandler Thompson, Ric Thompson - Co-Founder of Transperience Network, Mejie Yamamoto - Liz/Ric's Lead VA, Apolz Fabros - Liz/Ric's Lead VA, Luis Cruz - Writer, and Paula Gesmundo - Pepper Senior VA
As expected, business matters dominated the discussion – this was, after all, a business meeting. One of the topics covered was Pepper’s role in the continued growth of Ric and Liz’s ventures, which include Healthy Wealthy n Wise Magazine, Small Business CEO Magazine, the Association of Small Business CEOs, and the Transperience Network. Discussion also included ways in which we could help achieve the Thompsons’ goal of providing others with the necessary tools to build successful lives. Once work was done though, we moved on to the more important things.
You see, the Thompsons stayed in the Philippines for a few months, so being the helpful assistants we are, we decided to help them plan their stay. We suggested a number of places to visit, and more importantly, we gave them a list of dishes that they simply had to try – Ric & Liz, we expect a report on this, by the way.
Other items on the agenda included teaching kids to save, the genius of individual video monitors on long flights, and siblings pushing each others’ buttons. Yes, the two Thompson boys had their voices heard in the meeting too.
Client visits definitely liven up the already spicy lives of the people at Pepper HQ. It’s always great to meet new people – even if we’ve worked with them online for quite some time already. Seeing the faces of our clients, and shaking the hands behind the emails and chats that pop up on our screens – there’s something very satisfying about that. Yes, we’re a team of virtual assistants, but we provide a very real service – and meeting our clients in real life only makes us want to serve you better.
Another holiday coming up? Yes, that’s right. The Philippines has a lot of holidays. But don’t worry, these holidays help us rejuvenate so that when we come back to work, we can attack your projects with a lot of vigor and energy!
To help you maximize our service and prepare for the upcoming holidays, we are giving you the list of official holidays this year. We will, of course, still inform you whenever a holiday is coming up. This is just to let you know when to expect them this year. This will help us plan ahead and make sure all your projects and tasks go without a hitch.
So here goes:
How will it go?
Whenever a holiday is coming up, we will remind you the week before. We will aim to finish all pending tasks and projects before the holiday. You can talk to your virtual assistant to prioritize the more urgent ones too and which ones we need to complete before we take off.
If you think you’ll need your VA to work on the holiday, just get in touch with us so that we can make a special arrangement for you.
As always, feel free to contact us anytime you have any questions or concerns. We’re always happy to hear from you!
No one was prepared for the wrath that typhoon Ketsana (local name Ondoy) released when it hit the Philippines last September 26, 2009. That was the day when Metro Manila experienced the worst rainfall in its history. Imagine getting 341 mm or 13.4 inches of rainfall in just a matter of six hours. That’s about a month’s worth of rainfall that the country usually gets. And although the Philippines is no stranger to typhoons, this was, by far, the worst ever and the one that left the most destruction.
From 8 AM to 2 PM that day, practically the whole of Metro Manila turned into a water world. The water filled the streets, underpasses, major highways, and buildings and residences. People were forced to seek higher ground – on top of their cars, rooftops and whatever stable structure they could get a hold of. And even if you get to the top, you’ll still feel scared when you see what’s happening on the ground – people needing rescue, objects being swallowed by the raging waters, parked cars moving along with the waves (yes, there were waves on the streets that used to be solid and dry). It wasn’t a pretty sight. I guess you really can’t put it to words. I think this video would tell it all.
This was taken inside a local hospital somewhere in Manila.
Typhoon Ketsana spared no one. Everyone was affected – the old, the young, the wealthy, the poor… The worst hit areas were Marikina, Rizal and Pasig, where the water level reached the second floor and people got stranded on the rooftops for hours, and others even more than 24 hours. They were drenched, cold, hungry and scared to death. Even when the rains stopped, rescue efforts couldn’t get to them right away because these areas became impassable and vehicles couldn’t get through. Those who had relatives on these areas braved the rains and the floods and went there on foot in the hope of rescuing them. The good thing that came out of this was that strangers were helping each other out – risking their lives to keep the others safe.
Even if the typhoon has already left the country, what happened is still fresh in the minds of the Filipinos. Ketsana left about 80% of Metro Manila underwater, more than a quarter of a million people displaced, more than two hundred dead, and millions worth of damage. The clean up has already begun and relief operations are ongoing. The Internet became a big tool in getting donations from other Filipinos abroad who wanted to help. People are updating their Facebook, Twitter and other sites on how to send donations over. A lot have responded, not only fellow Filipinos but other nationalities as well, even popular personalities like Demi Moore and Josh Groban have called for help to donate through their Twitter accounts.
Despite everything though, many Filipinos are thankful for having survived this ordeal, including the Pepper team who are all safe and sound – thank God. This tragedy has brought out the best in many Filipinos. Those who are able have been donating their time, effort and money to those in need. As of now, many individuals and groups have set up relief efforts by accepting donations and distributing them to the affected areas, because the residents there practically have to start from scratch since their homes were destroyed. If you want to help them pick up the pieces, you can do so by sending over cash or goods (clothes, food, drinks, medicines, blankets…) If you’re abroad, you can donate online or by phone.
USA: Call the American Red Cross at 1-800-435-7669. Please choose the 3rd option (International Donation), then tell the operator that your donation is for the Ondoy (Ketsana) typhoon victims in the Philippines.
Local Hotlines:
Red Cross donation through SMS: text REDAMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)
For people who need assistance:
National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Emergency Numbers: (+632) 912-5668, (+632) 911-1406, (+632) 912-2665, (+632) 911-5061. Help hotlines: (+632) 734-2118, (+632) 734-2120
I know you’re all excited to find out who won. And I’ll tell you in a bit. But first, let me tell you about our choosing process. It was a tough decision for us, having all of you as great clients and each judge having her (and his!) own say. In the end, it boiled down to majority’s vote.
So without further ado, the winner of one year free Bit Hot Jalapeno Package is … Julia Stewart of School of Coaching Mastery!
In addition to the free services, we are also putting Julia’s name in lights by doing the following:
• Publishing this article in our other social media accounts
• Tweeting about Julia’s winning this contest
• Publishing a video about Julia’s business and the partnership with Pepper
• Submitting a press release about Julia’s winning the contest
Julia is the President of the School of Coaching Mastery, a 2-year old Life and Business Coach Training School. She is a coach, coach trainer and seminar leader who uses her creativity and humor to expand people’s thinking and inspire them to work brilliantly.
Pepper will be tracking the progress of Julia’s business to see how exactly virtual assistance can help people and businesses and what we can do to further improve our services.
Congratulations Julia! We are excited to help your life and business coach training school reach even greater success.
Thank you to all who joined and enjoy being peppered.
What can a one-year Virtual Assistant service do for you and your business?
Or
What’s your Virtual Assistant wish list?
Then submit your answer as a comment on this article.
How do we choose the winner?
Simple, the winner who gets the most votes from our promotions team will win. So put your heart in your story.
That’s it!
Now all you need to do is stay tuned and wait for the announcement of winners on this blog on June 2.
Although we’re only choosing one person for the grand prize, we really want everyone to be a winner…
So everyone can claim a prize now, we’re also giving away an additional 5 hours of free virtual assistant services (Making your free trial a total of 15 hours for the whole week!).
Value: $ 74.85
All you need to do is spread the word…
After submitting your comment/story on the blog, all you need to do is post an update on your Twitter & Facebook accounts.
Can’t think of what to say? Here’s an idea…
“Just joined Pepper’s contest to win a year of virtual assistant services, I highly recommend you check it out http://budurl.com/bepeppered ”
This summer, we want to give you time to do whatever you want. Whether you want to spend more time with your family, go on vacation, attend a conference, or simply get more sleep, Pepper VA wants to help you do it.
