Heidi Halonen is a virtual assistant and light entrepreneur. Approximately a year ago, she terminated the business name she had had for approximately ten years. Nowadays, she does the same work as a light entrepreneur.
Halonen runs a digital agency Ideaxi with her husband Olli Halonen. Ideaxi is a marketing and communications partner for companies. In addition to advertising and marketing services, they also produce websites.
“We are both light entrepreneurs, but Olli has other jobs besides Ideaxi as well. In practice, I work as a virtual assistant for various companies. I have learned to do all sorts of things for the benefit of businesses, whatever I can do.“
Halonen has a vocational qualification in business administration, but she has acquired additional education at the open university and the university of applied sciences on various courses.
“I have attended, for example, business management and human resources management courses. I have also studied visual communication.“
“Independence and self-determination motivate”
In 2007, Halonen’s husband began studying digital marketing and advertising, and founded a business name.
“That was when I started to find out more about these things myself as well. I learned things and set up a business name myself. That was when it all started. In entrepreneurship, it is nice to be able to decide for yourself what to do at any given time. You can feel free to come up with ideas and plan something new. Even though you sometimes have concerns over the company, the pros outweigh the cons. Independence and self-determination motivate.”
Halonen feels that the most challenging thing in business is customer sales.
“I myself now have a few regular companies as customers who require some attention all the time. Vacation times are a bit more challenging. They need to be planned a bit more in advance.”
In addition to working as an assistant, Halonen’s work includes a lot of brainstorming and creative work.
“Ideas are best generated when you decide not to work now. Then they just pop into mind. Social media also helps generate ideas when, for example, someone else’s actions inspire yourself as well. When you just somehow reset your brain, ideas start to burst after a while.”
Ideaxi - business assistant
At Ideaxi, Halonen mostly handles the assistant aspect for various companies.
“For example, I take care of day-to-day running matters that can be done remotely. I write newsletters, do social media marketing and advertising, for example. For some customers, I handle invoicing, e-commerce and customer service electronically. Updating company websites also plays a big role in my work.”
Ideaxi’s customers have so far been mainly small entrepreneurs. Marketing for one’s own company has not yet had to be terribly active, as the flow of customers has been regular.
“Customers have found us through search engines or contacted us after consulting with acquaintances. Email marketing has sometimes played a big role for me, but at the moment I invest the most in Instagram and social media in general.”
New beginning as a light entrepreneur
Halonen terminated the business name when she realized there was another, more suitable way to work as an entrepreneur.
“At the time, I did not have the resources or objectives to grow activities larger than a business name. Thus, I educated myself about light entrepreneurship, and I found it to be an easier way for me to operate. The change was worthwhile.”
Halonen terminated the business name when she realized there was another, more suitable way to work as an entrepreneur.
Halonen says that in a way, nothing has changed in her activities, but it is now simpler to deal with matters related to business, for example.
“I have children, and I am therefore both a light entrepreneur and a housewife. Now it is even easier to take care of things, because thanks to light entrepreneurship, I no longer have to submit a load of paperwork here and there.”
Halonen says that she has also been able to give up thinking about paying the VAT.
“Now I do not have to be so stressed out about all kinds of business-related paperwork. This is now much more straightforward. I just make an invoice and get paid. I do not have to do anything else in between. It is also no longer necessary to deliver all kinds of papers to the accountant.”
“With all my research, Omapaja became first”
Heidi Halonen started light entrepreneurship and cooperation with Omapaja approximately a couple of years ago.
“When I realized that light entrepreneurship had developed a lot, I got excited about this activity and experimentally created an account for many invoicing services.”
Halonen studied how different invoicing services work. She looked at information from different companies everywhere she could find.
“With all my research, Omapaja became first. The interface, for example, was so easy to use. Omapaja customer service also clearly stood out. The answers have been quick and professional. It has just been really easy to communicate with them.”