This is the beginning of a weekly newsletter that will update you all with updates & all goings on at Pally Talk. I am excited to let you into the nitty gritty details…
Of course, I had to use a picture from our first event – it honestly was such a bustling room full of energy and excitement. I am so looking for our next, more details to come.
So, as this is the first ever newsletter I will tell you the journey so far and then from next week we can get into the weekly updates.
December 2023
Whilst working as a VA and thinking about a maternity project to work on whilst on mat leave, the idea of a female networking & jobs board came to life. With the name Conn3ct Me!
January 2024
I started having calls with branding agencies & web designers to see what we could create before the baby brain had kicked in too much to think!
I spoke to an amazing design agency who recommended dropping the number in the company name as it is too confusing. From this, back to the drawing board, Conn3ct Me became Pally Talk.
The LinkedIn, socials and logo (that I had made with an AI platform) had to be scrapped & changed.
I made a ‘Coming Soon’ landing page on SquareSpace and started spreading the word and inviting assistants to sign up to a newsletter that I would send out bi-weekly with updates. These assistants were from LinkedIn mainly, I managed to get 278 sign ups in the time between Jan & our launch in March which started the ball rolling.
February 2024
I reached out to a really good friend from school who is the most talented designer Georgie Sladen who created the Pally Talk branding, logo’s, colours and branding guidelines.
With this folder of designs ready to go, I used a WhatsApp group I am part of to search ‘web designer’ in the chat and someone had previously recommended Harry King so I sent him a message!
I connected with the incredible web designer Harry King Studio who managed to patiently unwrap my confusion of ideas into what www.pallytalk.com looks like today – Harry amazingly creating this ahead of time. We were launched on the 13th March, 6 weeks before my due date!
March 2024
I created a Pally Talk WhatsApp group.
Final niggly bits fixed, we launched the website on the 13th March. I sent an update to all the assistants we had registered saying, ‘We’re Live! Create your account and explore Pally Talk’.
I bulked up the website by connecting with blog contributors, re-sharing hybrid/remote/part-time roles on the jobs board and building the company directory following recommendations from our WhatsApp members.
April 2024
Continuation of the social engagement, calls and connections!
I then looked to take on a freelance marketing expert to help whilst I was in the early days with a newborn. I met STEPH through a weird coincidence on a WhatsApp group we are both on… it was meant to be and couldn’t have been better timing!
May 2024
Eventually, 2 weeks late, Hector was born!
And work continued as normal….
No, not really, I had some time to be with my babe and husband – Steph had it all under control!
June/July/August/September 2024
Continued growing, connecting and trying to schedule calls around nap time.
October 2024
Gaaaah this was the best month, we hosted our first Pally Talk event, a sort of launch but mainly a networking evening. All the members of the WhatsApp group met in person and it was so nice meeting the faces behind the messages! We had a huge variety of guests join us, all at different stages of their career but all able to connect & relate to one another with the common ground of being an assistant!
I loved it and it made me so excited about the future of Pally Talk!
If you haven’t seen the video, here you go 👇
November 2024
We partnered with our first advertising brands, companies that align with Pally Talk and can provide a product or service to support our members.
Plans to create event number 2 have begun… more to come on this! Pencil in 30th January 6-8pm.
That is all from me for now, I will continue to upload weekly updates to keep you all in the loop!
