Getting Through a Temporary Setback
You finally figured out what you want to do in life. You’ve realized that you don’t want to work for others anymore, you want to work for you. So you opened your own Virtual Assistant business. You jumped through all the legal hoops to register your business, got your Web site up and running and may have even had a few clients come through your door.
Then life happened.
Whether it was a spouse’s job change, family crisis, health concerns - whatever the case, you need to head back out into the corporate world to find a job. You try to avoid it at all costs by pushing yourself to get more and more clients, but it’s not happening fast enough. Luckily, you are able to find employment but want to make sure it’s as temporary as possible to get back to your business full-time. But how do you keep going with your business when you’re working 40 hours or more a week for someone else and taking care of a family?
It’s doable - very doable in fact. But you need to be prepared for some seriously hard work and long hours.
The first thing you absolutely need to make sure you do is take care of yourself. Yes, you are going to be putting in some very long days and most likely working quite a bit on weekends as well. However, you need to make sure you are still getting some sleep each night and making time for your family. Be aware of how you are feeling each day and take some time for yourself when you begin to feel stressed and overwhelmed. It’s okay to take a day off for yourself now and then to rest and re-energize - it will help keep you healthy and motivated. It’s not easy to work long hours to set up a business when you are sick and not feeling well!
Set up a schedule and daily to-do list for yourself. Include not only the hours you work at your job, but also the times you are going to work on your business and even write in time to spend with family and relaxing. Many VAs’ schedules revolve around their families, which means they work during children’s naps, after everyone is in bed and before everyone else gets up in the morning. Getting yourself organized each day, right down to scheduling what item on your to-do list is completed when, will ensure you are much more productive while you are working on your business.
Also, make sure that you do not quit your job before you are truly ready. Make sure that you have a good-sized safety net in place for just in case (many recommend at least three months’ worth of your current salary) and wait until you have a few definite clients in place to take the leap. After all, you are going back to work because you need the income; you don’t want to find yourself in this situation all over again after another few months. Making sure all your ducks are in a row before you quit will ensure that you do not find yourself struggling and needing to find a new job yet again in the near future.
Most importantly, do not be hard on yourself. You have not failed as a business owner, as it can be sometimes easy to think. It is simply a temporary setback in plans, and it has happened to many VAs and other business owners. There is absolutely nothing wrong with needing to find employment while you are working on your business. Things come up in life that are unavoidable and not finding a way to support your family would be worse than getting a job. The important thing is to make the most out of the opportunities you are given and learn from this experience. You will not only come out stronger, but you will appreciate your future business success that much more.
Why Should You Set Goals?
Wonder why some people could not even achieve an inch of what they dream of becoming? Blame it on pure dreaming and lack of setting goals for achieving their dreams.
Setting goals is a very significant part of success and positive accomplishments. It is like scaling a 20 feet building and marking early on what feet you would like to reach at this specific period.
People who set goals literally create a map of their target achievements in life, marking where they should begin, where to pause, where to delve a bit, and where and when to stop. Once this map is created, it allows the map drawer to check where he is in the scheme of things and whether or not he is making some achievements that will take him closer to his/her goals.
By setting goals, people will know how they are doing and what they should be doing to achieve their targets or dreams in life. They will know if they can relax or if they have to double their efforts when they are falling short of what is expected of them.
Goal setting means a person is proactive in dealing with challenges that may affect his/her plans. Being proactive means one is able to outline possible difficulties that may occur as well as the solutions to these difficulties. By doing this, a person is not easily scared or defeated when challenges occur because he has already prepared for them. He knows they can happen and he has prepared a solution or strategy when that time comes.
Setting goals will enable people to track their progress in whatever endeavor they have set out to do. It will help people become more confident in themselves and more motivated to achieve their plans.
However, goal setting is not enough, as this should be accompanied by a positive outlook and self-discipline. A person may have a blueprint of where he wants to go, but if he does not have the necessary discipline to carry out the plan, then nothing will come out of it.
To be successful in goal setting, the goals that one has set for himself should be realistic and based on his/her capabilities, as well as selected and important external factors. Being too ambitious in setting up goals can make the goals unrealistic and difficult to achieve. However, do not also set goals that are too low because this might discourage one’s vision instead of achieving it.
It is also necessary that the person setting the blueprint for his/her direction should also include a time frame within which the goal will be achieved. This way, he is able to determine if he has to fast track his/her strategies or to slow down a bit. Goal setting will also help a person check if he is performing within his/her plans or if he is doing things towards the achievement of his/her plans.
Once you have achieved something, even a little of what you hoped to achieve, then you should always give yourself a pat in the back to keep you motivated. But do not be too complacent with any little achievement, as this may cause you to backslide.
Setting goals can be used in any aspect of one’s life - from one’s personal or family life, to his/her career and finances. Goal setting can be as simple as setting a target weight when you wish to lose pounds or something big, like earning your first million.
When setting goals, it is always important to set standards that would suit your present situation, your capabilities, and other factors that may influence the achievement of your goal.
Be Creative and Ingenious
“Are there still original ideas in the world?”
“They beat me to that bright idea; what else can I do?”
“I’ve failed many times before that I can’t think of anything else to solve this problem anymore.”
These statements reflect the thought of an individual who has given up on creativity. Sadly, a lot of people share this way of thinking. They never viewed creativity as a very useful tool to improve or improvise in life in all its diversity.
A situation that requires a solution can be approached in a variety of ways. There isn’t a single way fix to a problem. Being creative opens new horizons and can deliver many benefits. Creativity can sometimes be mistakenly interpreted as an obstinate attitude. Some people think that insisting on doing things in a different way is a sign of stubbornness.
Never hold back a good idea. Everyone is free to interpret his own unique way. Any interpretation by itself is creativity at work. A person who enjoys creative thinking can easily come up with innovative solutions for situations that require a quick fix.
For instance, your car got stalled on a deserted highway due to a leaky rubber hose on the cooling system. Tough luck! Of all places, it had to happen in the remotest places.
If you have some chewing gum in your pocket, it just might be a handy fix. Start chewing the gum and patch it on the leak. To keep the gum in place, tie it with a piece of rag. This quick fix might do the trick so you can drive several miles without an overheated engine, until you get to a service station to have the leaky hose replaced.
There used to be a television series entitled “MacGyver.” The main character is an extremely creative and crafty guy. Whenever he finds himself in a tight fix, he tries to find a way out of it with his quick fixes utilizing available materials around him.
In a way, creativity is a never-ending learning process. From learning, you gain untold benefits, which you can use in real life situations.
Being creative might require you to think out-of-the-box, venturing your mind into the uncommon. You can never be sure of your ideas until you try them. As long as there is no perceived danger involved, it is always worth a try.
Inventions are products of creative minds. The field of science, in whatever branch you may touch on, is invention itself. Without creative minds, science would have been a forlorn field of knowledge.
It must be noted that most adaptations to improve or improvise are aimed at improving current conditions. Upon analyzing honest applications of creativity, the ultimate intention is to achieve good for all and the will to build lasting peace. After all, this intention is what counts most.
Erich Fromm spelled it out clearly, “The conditions for creativity are: to be puzzled, to concentrate, to accept conflict and tension, to be born everyday, and to feel a sense of self.”
I’ve Got Spirit…How ‘Bout You?
I was asked a while ago why I wanted to be a Virtual Assistant and if being a VA is truly where my passion lies. While I have interests in many areas, I reflected on why, when looking for ways to work from home, I settled on the daunting task of opening my own business rather than going to the work-from-home Web sites to look for a “job.” Why would I go out on such a big limb and take a huge chance when I could easily do the same thing for someone else for a steady paycheck?
My answer? I’ve got spirit.
Entrepreneurial spirit, that is. I didn’t really know it though until that conversation. When I was working in the corporate world, I always felt as if there was something more for me. I enjoyed what I was doing, but never felt completely settled and, therefore, I moved around quite a bit. I used to think that I was hurting myself because employers would not see longevity on my resume. I now realize, however, that I was merely setting myself up to own my own VA business. By working in many different environments and industries, I gained a lot of experience that helps me offer varying services and adapt to numerous industries. What a positive spin on something the corporate world considers negative!
I know there are others of you out there that were like me and countless other VAs out there. You’re at your desk each day, wondering why you’re doing what you’re doing…besides that it’s a steady paycheck. You want something more for yourself. You’ve got the spirit, too. I can’t lie to you, there will be resistance, either from your own fear or others telling you it can’t be done. Don’t let fear or others get in your way. Part of the spirit is knowing not to listen to them but to listen to yourself. You know you can do it, so give yourself a chance.
I’ve got spirit. Yes, I do! I’ve got spirit…how ’bout you?
Know No Fear…
“If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can’t accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” Rosalynn Carter
If you are in the process of just starting your Virtual Assistant business, have been in your business for a while, are changing your business in some way or another, are making the choice to go back and work for someone else, or are going to go back to school, have the confidence to do it.
We’re all afraid to take that first ride on a bicycle with no training wheels, but we do it. As a child, we know fear but have that “we know no fear” attitude. Our parents assisted us by building up our confidence levels high enough to get on that bike and follow through. We showed our parents, our family, our friends, and ourselves that we could get on that bike and ride like the wind.
That’s the same thing for our business. The only thing is we aren’t children. We have a different kind of mindset. As adults, we become afraid to try new and different things. Most of us have that “I’ll try but I don’t see it really working out” kind of attitude. We’re not as carefree as we were when we were children. But, if you want to succeed, have the mentality of a child.
Have that “We Know No Fear” attitude and you will soon see that you can accomplish the things you set out to. You just have to have that confidence and follow through.
Failure is not an Option!!
“What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?” ~ Robert Schuller ~
I love this saying, but it wasn’t until the other day that it really brought it’s true meaning to light for me. As business owners, we often worry about taking a chance and going out on a limb. We worry about the repercussions of trying a new service, changing our target market or trying a new marketing idea. However, the majority of those with truly successful businesses are the ones that believe that failure is not an option.
I recently attended FoVA (Forum on Virtual Assistance) and when there I was surrounded with Virtual Assistants, both new and veteran, as well as aspiring VAs. Many of these VAs were all leaving with new ideas that they couldn’t wait to implement into their businesses, however I wondered how many actually would “put their money where their mouth was”, so to speak, and actually follow through on those plans that day.
We often times get these great ideas in our heads and then we do nothing to follow through and implement these ideas. We become complacent with the way that things are going and never think about “stirring things up” and taking a “leap of faith”.
So this brings me back to the quotation that I shared with you. Fear can be a very powerful force if you let it. It can stop you from achieving great things. So this is my vow for my business in 2008 … I will not accept failure as an option and I will not let fear stop me from moving forward. This year I am going to take those leaps of faith. I am going to be willing to try new things and to be open and honest and more importantly when something is not working I am going to figure out how to make it work before I accept failure.
Does it have to be perfect?
I spent the better part of this weekend working on science fair projects. Not mine, of course, but on those of my children.
Gone are the days of simple cut, paste and color activities. Yes, we’ve moved up to actual projects that require thought AND creativity in addition to the general knowledge of basic science concepts.
I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long time since I’ve needed to challenge my brain like that with a science application.
My daughter’s was easy. We simply had to determine how much salt needed to be added to a cup of water to make a fresh egg float. I say fresh because we also found out this weekend that bad eggs float regardless of what additives are in the cup of water.
My son’s on the other hand?
Well, he decided that he wanted to see what types of fruits and vegetables could power a clock. We found the instructions on the internet. We watched numerous YouTube videos of other children successfully completing this experiment. But do you think that we could do it?
And I say we, because after Matthew tried, unsuccessfully, I stepped in.
I’m not a dumb woman by any stretch of the means. I made numerous trips to the hardware store making sure that our nails really were galvanized and obtaining different types of alligator clips and various gages of copper wire.
To no avail, our clock still won’t power up. (Neither will the MP3 player or calculator we tried either.)
Matthew documented everything that he did. He took time to create his project board. Not once did he give up on this project and this morning when I dropped him off at school, project in hand, he was proud of what he did.
And so was I.
At any point in time this weekend, either of us could’ve given up, but we didn’t. We kept going. We exhausted every resource that we had, called every person in my phone book, made multiple trips to stores, tried various combinations until we were fresh out of ideas. Even this morning, we were fiddling with it, trying to make it work.
He completed his project and it was good. The effort he put into his project was leaps and bounds better than many of the projects that I saw on display this morning in the gym.
When I spoke to the teacher and explained to him that it just didn’t go right, his teacher told me that the grade is not in the outcome of the project itself, but in the actual work done to complete the project.
So for Matthew? His less than perfect clock powered by a spud will receive a good grade.
Because he didn’t give up.
Because he tried his hardest.
And for that? He will be rewarded.
So, I ask you today, what have you been struggling with in your business? What makes you want to give up? Have you exhausted all of your resources yet?
If you answered no, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and see how else you can attack this. What else can you do to try one more time?
Then ask yourself, does it have to be perfect? Is what you have right now the best that you’re going to get and what can you do with it?
Don’t give up. Find a different angle.
For that? You will truly be revolutionary.
The double edged sword…
As I tucked my 11-year-old into bed last night, he said to me, “Mom, now that summer is almost here, I’d like to start my own business.”
I was taken aback by this comment, not because he wanted to start a business (because he’s come up with several ideas on his own in the past few years) but because I couldn’t figure out where in the world he would find time to operate this business.
Matthew has the busiest schedule of all of us. He is currently very active at church, the equipment manager for his sister’s softball team, in the Reading Society and on the C-Team at school, and attends 4 hours of tutoring each week. He fits all of this in around his homework, PS2 time, and school.
I was also concerned that this business idea would be silly like some of the others he’s had in the past… like the lemonade stand that he wanted to start a few years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, a lemonade stand for an eight-year-old is a great idea, and the cuteness factor definitely helps fuel sales, but we live at the end of a dead end street. It took me weeks to convince him that when opening a business it’s all about location, location, location.
I asked him what sort of business he wanted to start and he responded with, “I want to mow lawns.”
Matthew is not scared of hard work; he’s a hard worker by nature in whatever he does. While his younger sister can breeze through anything that she’s confronted with, whether it be sports or school, he can’t. Surprisingly, he’s okay with this. When I told him that he’d be starting tutoring and devoting an additional four hours of his week to it, he embraced it. He knew that he needed the help.
That’s just the kind of kid he is.
But when he mentioned that he wanted to mow lawns, I just started at him. I wanted to scream at him and say “Mow? Lawns? That’s hard work! Eeeewwww.”
But I didn’t. In my best motherly, loving voice, I said, “I’ll allow you to mow lawns if you mow our yard. I’ll even pay you for it, but it’s late, so we’ll need to talk about your new business in the morning.”
I really never expected to hear anything more about it but when I woke up this morning, he caught me in between my bed and the coffee pot and said, “I’ve been thinking, Mom. I’m going to charge $4 an hour and if it takes me 30 minutes or less, then I’m going to charge $2.”
I stopped dead in my tracks.
My child was on the brink of making the most fatal business mistake that you could possibly make. He was devaluing his time. He was devaluing his efforts.
I tried very hard not to be condescending, I really did. However, I did attempt to explain to him, without caffeine coursing through my veins, that he needed to charge more, because he was worth more.
“But Mom…think about it. If I’m cheaper than the other guys, then I’ll get more business.”
I’m willing to bet this child dreamed of his new business and will continue to think about it until it comes to fruition. I know all too well of this feeling.
With only five minutes between now and the time that he was to board the school bus, I talked to him about valuing his time and his efforts and that if he didn’t, no one else would. It was pretty deep, and pretty good, considering I wasn’t yet awake and he was rushing out the door.
When I told him that I paid the kid down the street $20 to mow my lawn, his eyes got at big as saucers. “Mom, that’s a lot of money.”
“To you, Matthew, yes, it is. But to me, it’s not because the hour that it takes me to mow my lawn takes away from more important things that I can do. It’s worth me paying someone else to save me time.”
I don’t think he quite understood, but with 5 caffeine free minutes, I couldn’t go into my full spiel.
Are you guilty of either scenario in your business? Are you devaluing your worth or doing things yourself to “save a buck”?
If you’re charging a cheaper rate with the impression that you’ll gain more clients, you’re going to work yourself to death to make the same amount of money as someone charges more. You’re worth your rate and there are people out there who will pay it.
On the flip side, are you doing things in your business because you can and don’t want to spend money for someone else? How much is your time worth? Have you ever stopped to think about that?
This week, take some time to determine how much your time is worth. And if you need your lawn mowed, let me know. I have a referral. He’s a hard worker, cute and works for cheap.
Personality - where’s yours?!
I just got off the phone with someone who has expressed an interest in the logo and website design services offered by my company. She mentioned that she is drawn to my website and the personality it exudes.
This website is the third design I’ve had (the previous two were great as well) since I started my business, less than two years ago. I’ve gotten more leads from my site and more positive comments since this latest site went live than I did since I first opened my doors (so to speak).
After I started getting more and more clients, I decided that I could let loose a little and free my personality to live in and on my marketing materials. I have a fun little caricature as a logo and my site layout is quite unique. I figured that if someone didn’t want to do business with someone that decorates her logo for the holidays, then that’s not someone I want to work with. It’s pretty simple.
As a result, interestingly enough, I’ve been attracting more of my ideal clients than ever before. I am working with people that are attracted to my personality. I’m a fun, quirky girl, and I feel that I can still have a professional web presence while sharing that part of myself with the world.
It’s working out great for me. How are you doing? Do you have a site like everyone else? Have you been in business awhile and perhaps could use an extreme makeover? I suggest you do yourself a favor and invest in your self. Every VA website doesn’t have to be the same. There’s no rule that says you have to have a Home, Services, About, What’s a VA and a Contact Us page. There’s no rule that says you have to have a definition of what a VA is. So why do so many virtual assistant websites look the same? Break free! Let your creativity shine through. That’s revolutionary.
Do it, Delegate it, Delete it!!
For us, as Virtual Assistants, it is so easy to become overwhelmed by the mounds of work that comes into our office, especially via E-mail. I know that I myself have easily fallen victim to the trap of letting my in-box become overwhelming. A great deal of our time is wasted having to empty out an overwhelming inbox. Many times we might read the same email several times thinking “I don’t have time, I’ll deal with that later” and before we know it our inbox becomes so overwhelming that it takes an entire day to sort through it. As we work our way through it we soon begin to find things that should have been dealt with or that have been overlooked and undoubtably the stress begins to build.
This quarter I am taking on a new strategy with respect to my email and I am inviting each of you to join with me. I am developing the 3 D’s strategy for keeping email messages under control: Do it, Delete it or Delegate it.
Each and every email I read from here on out will be handled in one of 3 ways:
- DO IT - These are the emails that will require an action by me. If it isn’t something I can answer immediately or act upon immediately, I have also set up two folders and one is “To Read” and one is “To Do”. When it falls under one of these categories I will move it to those folders for later action. I have now also worked into my schedule a half hour at the end of each day and a half hour at the beginning of each day to go through the “To Do” folder and make sure that it is completed each day.
- DELETE IT -Let’s face it we are inundated with emails, several of which are not something we ever plan to act on. We also receive several emails where a conversation is ended by the other party that should be deleted. Also, once you have answered an email and for which you are not waiting for a reply, you should delete it. By removing it from your inbox, it will tell you that it no longer requires anything to be done.
- DELEGATE IT - Finally if I am unable to handle something in an email and it needs to be handled by someone else I “delegate it” to them and forward that email.
My final piece of advice is to create a folder entitled “Waiting for a reply”. This will be for all those emails that you have acted on and you are waiting for a response from someone else. These are those emails that you don’t want to delete just yet for fear of forgetting that you are waiting for something before being able to “Do It”, but that clutter your in-box nonetheless. By moving these from your in-box or your “To Do” files they will not clutter these spaces and cause you to read them several times. Always be sure, however, to make it a point of checking your “waiting for a reply” daily and deleting those that you have received a reply on.
I hope that by implementing these tips you will soon find that checking your emails is not taking up huge chunks of time in your day. With any luck, the next time you hear “you have mail” you will not want to jump under your desk and hide.
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