About The Juno Project
Sanchia Ryan is the CEO of The Juno Project, a charity based in Exeter that provides coaching and psychoeducation for young women aged 11 to 16 with multiple vulnerabilities, to help them live better lives. Sanchia started working with The Indispensary in 2022, when she realised she needed support with the administrative work in her role. She says working with The Indispensary has given her peace of mind and meant she’s finally been able to tackle some of the vital projects that just weren’t being done before.www.thejunoproject.co.uk
“I would recommend them absolutely. They’ve been amazing. The way you’re treated as a customer, you feel valued and important, and you’re given the opportunity to review regularly how it’s going. It’s so well organised. If you’re thinking of working with The Indispensary, don’t hesitate.”
Life Before a VA
“About two and a half years ago, I was getting really overwhelmed with the amount of work and all the administrative detail. You speak to anyone who works in the charity sector, and they will tell you, yes, it’s meaningful. But it’s also underfunded. It’s chaotic, it’s hectic. You’re expected to have your finger in a lot of different pies and wear a lot of different hats. “Before that I’d been looking for someone to take minutes in our meetings, and I could not believe how hard it was to find someone! We tried out two different firms, both of whom were unbelievably terrible in different ways. At the time, I was having some coaching with a wonderful lady, and she said to me, ‘Oh, I’ve been using The Indispensary, and they’re fabulous.’ “So, I got in touch with Joanne, and from the minute she contacted me, I was like, ‘Wow, this person is professional.’ She’s also warm and friendly and approachable, she really had it together. Straight away I felt the difference from the other firms I’d tried. “Joanne carefully identified the right member of her team for me – Suzy – and it was immediately apparent to me that Suzy not only had great skills as an admin person, but she also had experience of the charity sector, so she understood what it is we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”
The Benefits of Working With a VA
“There’s that saying, ‘Behind every successful man, is a successful woman.’ But I think that behind every successful CEO is a fantastic VA. You can’t do it without that support. “It’s quite lonely at the top, you do feel a lot of responsibility weighing down on you. I forget Suzy is a VA – she feels like part of our team. She’s in the trenches with me, and if something is stressing me out, I know I can talk it through with her, and she’ll be invested and interested. We email each other and have meetings, and we also communicate by phone and WhatsApp. But even on a day Suzy isn’t working with me, I can leave a message going, ‘Oh, I know you won’t pick this up till tomorrow, but this has happened,’ and it helps so much because I can put it to one side, as I know Suzy will get it sorted. “She [Suzy] knows me really well now. She knows where I’m great and what I’m good at, and she knows where I struggle, and she anticipates that and comes forward with solutions. So, I just feel so much more supported in my role, practically and psychologically. In every sense, really.”
“Working with The Indispensary has made a huge difference. I can take a step back from operations knowing that Suzy is supporting all the processes and systems, and this has freed me up to do the strategic elements of my job. We now have a strategic plan. We now have a business plan. We’ve now got a theory of change. We have a proper monitoring and evaluation system. All of those things that funders want to see.”
Suzy’s Impact
“Suzy is so helpful. If I say, ‘I need someone to help with this’, or, ‘I’m looking for a consultant.’ She’s there, suggesting people within The Indispensary or in her network. When you work with people that are truly professional, they don’t just bring themselves, they bring all of their contacts, all of their professional skill and reputation. So you gain more. With Suzy, I haven’t just got a person to do my admin, I’ve got a professional team with a network. The Juno Project has benefited massively. “It’s helped us financially because our bids have become better as a result of her proofreading, and her freeing me up to do the extras that will go with that bid, like my theory of change, and all the monitoring and evaluation. “I think we’re more professional as an outfit. We’ve now got clear systems and processes and there’s accuracy as well. She comes along, she minutes our trustee meetings really accurately. She holds us all accountable. She does all the things I wouldn’t think of like organising the next meeting for the trustees at the end of the meeting we’re having. And she does all of that without me saying anything. “So, it’s benefited us as an organisation. It’s improved governance, it’s improved finance. And it frees me up to do the stuff that will push us forward. You can’t underestimate the value of that.”
