As a solopreneur, I wear many hats! These include: Virtual Assistant (offering services for authors, artists and musicians); Photographer (offering photo editing services as well as stock photographs), and Artist (offering products featuring my artwork as well as my photos).
Background And Experience:
ARTIST: I've been an artist since my early teens, with a love of drawing with pencils, pen, and later coloured pencils. I had a couple of great mentors along the way, including an artist friend of my dad's who taught me how to really look at what I'm drawing. I took art as an elective for all 4 years of high school, and majored in Fine Art in University (although sadly I dropped out before I graduated). My focus has always been on the world around me, including animals (starting with horses - I was a teenage girl, go figure), plants and flowers, and music themes (married to a musician for 40 years).
PHOTOGRAPHER: Although I used a Brownie box camera when I was young for family snapshots, I didn't become a photographer until the advent of digital cameras. With that and the use of "paint" software to edit my photos, I found a whole new way to express myself - or rather, to record the way the world impresses itself to me. As with my art, my focus as a photographer is on nature and on images of my life; I also take images of man's presence in the world, from artifacts to homes to industries. While art lets me focus in on the details of a thing, photography gives me the ability to freeze a moment in time.
WORK EXPERIENCE: I got my start on computers in 1986. While spending many years in office jobs, I also started doing small home businesses with my musician husband - designing music CD covers and promo materials and maintaining databases of his original compositions and albums, and uploading his music to various websites like Bandcamp.com as well as the usual business backup functions like bookkeeping. From there I moved into being an independent Virtual Assistant, helping to create and maintain my clients' websites, doing transcription, bookkeeping, document design and editing, creating book indexes, and doing photo editing. I now specialize in services for authors, artists and musicians.
EDUCATION: 3 ½ years in university as a Fine Arts major; a one-year certificate in Bookkeeping; and continuing education courses including MS Office Specialist, Focused Marketing, Goal Setting, Knock-Your-Socks-Off Customer Service, The Quality Advantage, and How To Manage Projects, Priorities & Deadlines. I must admit, though, I've learned more from individual mentors and from hands-on experience than anything else.
Business:
LOCATION: Dustwood Media is located at 1338 Clementsport Road, Clementsvale, Nova Scotia, between Digby and Annapolis Royal, on the east coast of Canada.
RATES: Services: $25/hr. (Prices are in Canadian dollars)
TERMS: Services are invoiced monthly and payment is due on receipt; or the client can pre-purchase a block of time. Pre-Paid Blocks expire after 1 year. I accept cheques, money orders, e-transfers and PayPal payments.
INITIAL CONSULTATION: Before we begin working together we will discuss your needs in a free personal consultation (in person or via phone or email).
WORKSITE: I work out of my own office where I have all the equipment and software I need.
SOFTWARE: The software I use includes: Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel and Publisher); Open Office; Corel Paintshop Photo Pro; Photostage Slideshow Producer; WYSIWIG Web Builder; and Google Chrome.
HOURS: Dustwood Media is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Atlantic Time - that's 1 hour later than Eastern time), Monday to Friday. If I happen to be out of the office, leave a phone message or email - I check back frequently.
