Earlier this year, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life – to close my 2nd business.
For context, I launched the North East VA Conference (NEVAC) in 2022 with a fellow VA, intending to provide annual conferences and day-to-day support for our fellow virtual assistant community.
We built this from scratch and successfully ran three conferences, with numbers increasing year on year.
The future was looking very bright for us, and we were becoming key players in the VA community.
When Everything Changed
Before the 2025 conference, my business partner told me she needed to step back from the day-to-day work and might not be able to attend the 2026 event. She had discovered a brain tumour and other serious health issues that required two major surgeries.
I was heartbroken for her. Nobody should have to go through that. We talked through every option and agreed that she would stay on as a co-director while I managed the business and conference until she could return.
Then I found out I would also need surgery, first on my back, and later on my neck. After talking it through with her and my family, I realised I couldn’t keep running the conference on my own. I needed to prioritise Crescent, my health, and my family.
Why We Had to Close NEVAC
In September 2025, we announced the closure of NEVAC with immediate effect.
Neither of us knows when our surgeries will take place, and it didn’t feel fair to our sponsors, speakers, or delegates to carry on when everything could be cancelled with little notice.
People have asked why we didn’t just postpone until 2027. The truth is, there were two main reasons.
- We don’t know when our surgeries will happen. None of them are classed as urgent, but we could be called in at any time.
- NEVAC was a non-profit business. Every penny we made from ticket sales and sponsorship went straight back into that year’s conference or helped cover minimal running costs.
We simply didn’t have enough funds to keep the business running until 2027, especially without knowing if we’d both be healthy enough to bring the conference back.
What This Means for Crescent
Now, if you are a current or prospective client of Crescent, you may be thinking, “How the heck is she going to be able to look after me if she has this surgery thing going on?”. I can assure you that by closing NEVAC, this means I can focus my attention on Crescent.
Plus, I have a bigger team at Crescent who can pick up the reins when I am recovering (which will be for a minimal time).
Running Crescent can still be carried out with my laptop on my knee if I need to. I can’t stand up in front of 50 delegates for a full day when I’m post-op op can I?
A Hard but Proud Goodbye
Nobody ever wants to close a business, certainly not when it’s gaining momentum and is providing a real service to others. And nobody ever wants to have major surgery. But sometimes the “you know what” hits the fan, and you have to make some really tough decisions.
This was one of those – I’ve cried over the fact that both of us have to have surgery, I’ve cried over the fact that we have to close this when we were on such a good run. But then I remembered that we should both be blummin proud of what we have achieved in the last 3 years – the collaborations that have occurred because of us, the people we have connected, the lessons that have been learnt through our speakers, the confidence that has developed by being a delegate and most importantly, the friendships that have grown through meeting at our conferences.
No matter what has happened to NEVAC, those facts will never, ever go away, and I am so very proud of that.
Thank you to every person who has been a part of or supported NEVAC since we launched in 2022. I am forever grateful to have had you in my life.
