Behind the Scenes at Miradorus: How We Work with Virtual Support

I was recently interviewed by Holly Copsey of Virtually Priceless about how I utilise virtual support at Miradorus. It’s so central to our way of working — and brings such strong results — that I wanted to share more here.

At Miradorus, we design, develop and deliver bespoke training programmes that help individuals, teams and organisations reach new levels of performance. Everything we do is supported and reinforced by the power of Hermann Whole Brain® Thinking. As Director, I work globally with consultants and clients on programmes that are frequently highly complex, involving multiple languages and time zones — both face-to-face and virtual. My role is to ensure we deliver a great customer experience throughout, whilst also developing new business. At the same time, I need to consider Miradorus’s future direction. No two days are the same, so I need support that’s sharp, adaptable, and high-level.

That’s where Sophie, my virtual assistant, comes in. When we first started, I was doing too much admin and too many detail-heavy tasks, which were a distraction from where I should have been focusing. I needed someone who excelled in these areas and was able to work flexibly. After a couple of introductory Zoom calls, we decided to try working together. It clicked immediately. We work on an hourly basis: whatever time Sophie spends, she invoices for. This is typically a day a week, but if I need something extra, I message her — and, if she can help, she always will. For example, we recently developed a major virtual training programme for a global client. Delivery meant juggling time zones, trainer availability, participant details, local holidays and more. It needed serious coordination. I said to Sophie, ‘Here’s what we need to do — what’s the best way to organise it?’ Sophie took the lead, creating and managing a master spreadsheet that captured all variables in an easy-to-understand format. This keeps our client and team on the same page throughout, and has freed me to concentrate on being project director. Working like this keeps fixed costs down, which is essential if you don’t know how much support you need from week to week. Sophie is pursuing a career in museum curation, which is going very well, so the flexibility helps her too. It’s a win-win.

What Sophie Does

Our training programmes — virtual and in-person — always include pre-work, feedback, and follow-up. Sophie manages our Master Programme tracker which has all the tasks and dates related to every workshop we deliver. Reviewing this is the starting point for our weekly calls or meetings. She creates links for feedback forms, follows up with participants, collates the data, and presents it in a format I can send to clients. She maintains a consultant availability diary and tracks our training supplies too — including Miradorus-branded pens, pads, brains, and slinkies (great for focus during sessions). I keep a rolling ‘Sophie List’ where I jot down ideas and tasks which we work through together in our weekly meeting. That works well. We meet in person every two to three weeks. In an emergency — IT issues, last-minute changes — she’s just a WhatsApp message away. She’s calm, reliable, and quick to respond.

What Makes It Work

Our training is all about communication and the communication between me and Sophie is really very strong, which is why the relationship is so effective. I’ve told her many times how much I value her. I’d love to continue working with Sophie indefinitely, but I also know she’s building towards her dream. When that day comes, I’ll be proud to say, ‘Thank you. You’ve made a real difference to how we operate. I’m so grateful.’