Tag Archives: Anniversary

Tracy Helps You is Celebrating 5 Years of Business

Happy Anniversary to us !!

Today, March 21, is our anniversary 🙂 It’s hard to believe that Tracy Helps You is celebrating 5 years of being in business! I still remember all the time I spent dreaming and researching that cold winter season. I talked to many friends for their thoughts about starting a business. There were as many ideas as there were people I talked to (no surprise there). I would bounce ideas off anyone who would listen. Finally, I had the general idea of what my business would be, I wanted to help people.

Then came even more challenging decisions to make … not the least of which was the name of my business. My cousin was helping me brainstorm, I had a long list of possible names that we narrowed down to three I really liked. Of course, we then discovered that the domain name was not available for any of those 🙁 It was like 11pm, both of us beyond tired, we were at our wit’s end … We were like “how many other ways could we phrase “Tracy helps you” ?? Then a lightbulb went on … that’s it – Tracy Helps You !! I loved the sound of it, the domain was available, it was available on all the social media platforms … It was meant to be – Tracy Helps You was born on that cold night back in 2013.

Then came weeks and months of learning how to run a business (I love that learning is an ongoing process) and all things entrepreneurial. So many decisions needed to be made … so many things to learn.

Over the past few years, I’ve added and eliminated some services that I’ve offered. Two years ago, I added Virtual Assistant services. This year, I am adding Health & Wellness Advocate services as another area that Tracy Helps You can be of service.

As many of you know, I started on my “getting healthy” journey about 2 years ago. It started out with a weight loss goal and has now expanded into a yearning to live a healthy lifestyle. I’ve lost a lot of weight (still a little more to go), I try to choose real / natural foods (whenever possible) without all the chemical & preservatives. I feel my health is more important than the convenience of pre-packaged foods. I use intermittent fasting to cleanse my body of some of the environmental toxins. I walk at least a mile every day to incorporate more activity in my day. I feel fantastic, better than I have is more than a decade. I want to “help” everyone to feel as good as I do!

As a Health & Wellness Advocate, I plan to help by coming alongside you and “help you” as an accountability partner and give encouragement. I can help you with meal planning. I can share ideas for ways to burn calories doing fun activities. Since I have experience with several well-known weight loss systems, I feel I can help guide you. I can also coach you in my nutritional system, Isagenix. It has programs geared to help with Weight Wellness, Healthy Aging and Athletic Performance.

So now, Tracy Helps You can help in three different areas:

as a Personal Assistant
as a Health & Wellness Advocate
as a Virtual Assistant ?

How can we “help” you ?? Give me a call ?

Reminiscing About My Very First Blog Post

For some reason, I’ve been feeling kind of nostalgic this week. I’ve been looking through old photo albums and reading stuff from my old journals and day planners. I’ve found that reminiscing can be a double edged sword; you get the happy with the sad. Continue reading →

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Tracy Helps You !!

Happy Anniversary to Us !!

Wow, it’s hard to believe that we will celebrate our 2nd Anniversary this weekend. Two years ago, on March 21, 2013, I became a small business owner. I’ve always enjoyed helping people, so I had this idea that I could form a business to do just that 🙂

Time has flown by quickly (as it usually does) ! I have been blessed with some wonderful clients. In our 2nd year, our client list has doubled ! I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with several of them. Many have been pleased with my services and have called me multiple times. Currently, I help 2 of my clients on a weekly basis. #ilovewhatido #di4y #personalassistant

I have learned so much over the past two years. I know now that running a small business is a lot more involved than I ever imagined. There is so much more to take care of, over and above actually helping my clients. I’ve attended Small Business seminars and joined the Chamber of Commerce. I’ve read numerous books and websites to help me learn the ins & outs of small business ownership. One thing I’ve learned is that it is an ongoing process … things are changing all the time … and I’ll always be learning new things. Continue reading →

Tracy Helps You’s Thankful Thoughts for Today ~ 11/14/14

November 14, 2014 ~ Today I am thankful for hot tubs 🙂 Last night, I was blessed to be able to enjoy a glass of wine and soak in a hot tub. It felt so wonderful to just sit back and relax for a while. The warm, soothing water jets did wonders for my back pain, especially after a long car ride.

Tomorrow, I’ll be out walking around all day … I’m already looking forward to another soak tomorrow night 🙂

♥ Today I am thankful for hot tubs ♥

Tracy Helps You’s Thankful Thoughts for Today ~ 11/9/14

November 9, 2014 ~ Today I am thankful for Anniversaries that remind us of old memories. Today is our Wedding Anniversary, and I am sitting here remembering our wedding ceremony.

It was a gorgeous, sunny and mild autumn day in Chicagoland. It was a second marriage for both of us and we wanted a simple ceremony. It was more important to us to be surrounded by friends who knew us well to participate in a meaningful ceremony. Our Pastor preached a very personal and heartfelt sermon for us because he knew us all so well.

We had the world’s youngest maid of honor and best man … my kids, who were 9 and 12 years old at the time. We wanted them front and center because we weren’t only a couple joining together in marriage, but joining as a family as well.

Our simple cake and coffee reception was right after the ceremony at the church. We were then whisked away in a white limo … just the two of us, off to our romantic honeymoon ~ a log cabin nestled in the Smoky Mountains.

Such a wonderful memory … I think I’ll find the video so we can watch it this evening to relive those memories … and get a chuckle over how young everyone looked … after all, laughter is an important part of a great marriage 🙂

♥ Today I’m thankful for Anniversaries that remind us of old memories ♥

Give a Tracy Helps You Gift Certificate to Your Mom This Mother’s Day

It’s May in Chicagoland ~ we are slowly but surely starting to get a taste of spring time warmth 🙂 May also means Mother’s Day to us Americans.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the observance of Mother’s Day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

We honor our mothers with gifts and cards. Flowers seem to be a particularly popular gift. Many families treat Mom like a queen on Mother’s Day … treating her to breakfast in bed and a day of relaxation by taking over her usual household duties for the day. Many families go out to share a meal together.

Speaking as a mother, and I’m pretty sure I speak for most (if not all) mothers, I think one of the most wonderful gifts to receive is the gift of time spent with my family. Just spending time together, reminiscing and making new memories together is the best way to spend the day <3

This week, while you are making your Mother’s Day plans and choosing the perfect gift ~ remember that your Mom deserves to be pampered and treated more often than just on the holidays. While you are with her this weekend, maybe helping her out with some chores around her house, give her a Tracy Helps You gift certificate. It’s like giving her the gift of free time. Everyone needs some free time / me time, especially Mothers. Sometimes, Moms can sometimes feel a little guilty about taking some time for themselves in their busy life. There is always so much to get done. While I am taking care of stuff on her To-Do List, she can be relaxing without worrying about things not getting done … she will love it 🙂

This week, in honor of Mother’s Day, I’m offering a special rate for Gift Certificates ~ 3 hour for $50 … contact me 🙂

Let Tracy Helps You Help With Your Next Party ~ Graduation, Birthday or Shower … it’s up to you !!

What do birthdays, graduations, weddings, and babies all have in common? They all are celebrated with a party !! Spring and Summer are filled with fun parties to celebrate a graduation, a baby shower, a wedding, a confirmation, a birthday, an anniversary, and family reunions ~ just to name a few (okay – more than a few). Our calendars fill up fast with party invitations.

Throwing a party is a lot of work … picking the best date, making the guest list, getting the invitations sent out (digitally or by snail mail), planning the menu, house cleaning, shopping, cooking and preparation, decorating, and of course, the clean-up. Like I said, it’s a lot of work ~ fun work ~ but work none the less.

I love throwing parties … I love the planning … I love being the hostess, but I also love the moment, after all the clean-up is finished that I get to sit down and put my feet up 🙂 It is such a good feeling !

Tracy Helps You can get you to the “put your feet up and relax” stage of hosting a party sooner. Let us be your assistant hostess. We can help with any stage of your party. We can do the shopping for you, or help with the decorating. We can be the “kitchen help” during the party. We can keep the trays of food full, top off the bowls of chips and dip. We can stay ahead of all the dirty dishes that come with hosting a party. An extra pair of hands definitely makes the work easier 🙂

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you actually had time to enjoy visiting and catching up with your friends and family, knowing that everything was running smoothly “behind the scenes”? Plus, after you’ve said your good byes to your last guest, imagine the feeling of walking into a clean kitchen … as opposed to a pile of dirty dishes to do and bags of trash to take out.

Hire Tracy Helps You as your assistant hostess for your next party … you won’t be sorry 🙂

Anniversary Giveaway Results ~ And The Winner Is …

Today is the day … it’s our First Anniversary here at Tracy Helps You !! I’ve been looking forward to this day for quite a while. Sadly, statistics show that many small businesses shut down within the first 5 years of operation. We are celebrating the fact that we can now say, “1 down a few more to go” 🙂

And the WINNER of the Amazon Gift card (drumroll please) … will be contacted via email. I know, kinda anti-climatic especially after a drumroll, but I want to respect the privacy of my subscribers.

I would like to take this time to THANK all the clients that I’ve been blessed with and had the pleasure of “helping” this past year. You’ve all been wonderful and make what I do … FUN !!

I have received a report from Rafflecopter with your responses to the giveaway entry questions about what topics and subjects you’d like to read about here in my blog and in the newsletter. Also, thank you for your suggestions in the comments section. I plan to incorporate all this info into my blogging / newsletter topic planner.

So my friends, going into our second year of business, I’d appreciate your thoughts, tips and/or suggestions. Do you have any ideas to improve our website ~ navigation or design? Would you like to see additional services offered? How about on our social media profiles (I hope you like / follow me) … what type Pins, Tweets, and Statuses would you like to see more of? Do you have any advertising suggestions (keeping a small budget in mind)? They say “word of mouth” is the best type of advertising … I appreciate any referrals that you have made or will make for me 🙂

Consider the comment section as Tracy Helps You’s “virtual” suggestion box 🙂

Tracy Helps You’s Tips and Helpful Info Newsletter

Tracy Helps You is celebrating its 1^st Anniversary this week !!

To commemorate this auspicious occasion, I plan to issue a monthly newsletter with various tips and helpful info. I hope to use this newsletter to highlight the different services we offer, as well as, a way to let you know of future specials that will be offered exclusively to newsletter subscribers. My intention is to keep it informative, yet concise 🙂

What topics would you like to see covered?
What kind of tips would be helpful to you?
Give me your ideas in the comments 🙂

Sign up to subscribe to the newsletter in the column to the right 🙂 →

There are still a few days left to enter for a chance to win my Anniversary Giveaway ! Who wouldn’t like an Amazon Gift Card ??

Enter Here …

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tracy Helps You’s First Anniversary Giveaway Celebration

Tracy Helps You is Celebrating it’s 1st Anniversary on March 21st With An Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Last year around this time, Tracy Helps You was just an idea that I was tossing around. I was entering into a new “season” of my life. I had finished homeschooling my children. After graduating high school, my children were too old to participate in the theater group that kept us so busy (all parents were assigned to a volunteer committee each production) during their teen years. I was starting to feel a little of the empty nest syndrome … my oldest was preparing to move into his first apartment and my youngest was hardly ever home.

I went from super busy … to … now what do I do? I had a lot of free time. I worked part-time for a while, but after being a stay at home / homeschooling mom for so long, I was quite accustomed to making and managing my own schedule. I wasn’t so used to being told what to do, how to & when to do it 🙂 So I decided to “get in touch with my inner entrepreneur” and start my own business.

March 21, 2013 … the day it became official! It’s hard to believe that it is coming up on a year already; the time has really flown by. I have spent so much time (tons) learning about owning and running your own small business. I’ve read dozens of books, researching and learning about creating and managing a website. I’ve attended numerous seminars and webinars about blogging, SEO and social media marketing. I’ve learned so much in a short time … but there is so much more to learn. Things in the cyber world are constantly changing and evolving.

I’ve enjoyed meeting so many new people ~ some who have become regular repeat clients. I really, truly like being able to offer my services to help people. I feel my first year in business has been quite successful and look forward to helping people for many years to come 🙂