The Blessings of Self Employment

October 25, 2010 By 1 Comment

Following my dream of Self-Employment has been a roller coaster ride. Figuring out what my business would be, taking that leap of faith, the first day of the business, finding my first clients, learning new skills, watching the bank account rise and fall, days with not enough work and others I couldn’t get it all done…

Each step along the way, no matter if it was forward or backwards, I have known that I was on the right path. Amazingly (trust me amazingly….) I have never doubted my decision to go out on my own, no second guessing, no wondering, “What have I done???”. Of course there are days of questioning and searching for answers but never the thought of “I need to go find a J-O-B”.

This month has been one of the most amazing and one of the hardest months of my self-employment journey and I’m still working on getting my feet back underneath me and one day at a time I am getting there.

Let me tell you a little story…

…about my Great Aunt Berneice. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, The Blue Jeans VA

Fear, Adversity, Inspiration & Celebrating Life

July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This weekend I had the fun of celebrating my youngest sister’s 30th birthday. You may have seen her on our site here… she also happens to be my bookkeeper!

She has had an incredible year of being diagnosed with breast cancer, an intensive round of Chemo Therapy, 2 rounds of Radiation as well as a surgery mixed in. This has entailed countless hours of traveling to a hospital up here in Portland (that is about a 4.5 hour drive one way for them), lots of doctors appointments and days of being totally and utterly exhausted from it all.

Not only is she coming through with flying colors both she and her hubby are inspirations to the rest of us on how to deal with adversity and and keep an incredibly positive outlook on life and what it is throwing at her.

It has been a complete and utter wake up call for the rest of us on how precious life is and knowing when to slow down, take a break and enjoy the moment. It has been also a call to faith, entrusting her to God and His loving care. We know that there are lessons to be learned through this journey and doing our best to be open to them and take them to heart.

For me it is to realize that I do not take enough time off, that I am not giving time to me and my family to rest, rejuvenate and refill instead of always going, going, going. An echo of this years theme of simplifying.

So one of the things I will be sharing throughout the rest of the year is to show examples of slowing down, even if for just a few minutes to enjoy the sunny day, walk the dog, listen to beautiful music or my favorite… walking on the beach.

As entrepreneurs we usually are work-a-holics and are in desperate need of an intervention… and I don’t mean this as a flippant use of words. We go and go and go trying to get it all done wondering where the day, week and month went all while trying to keep our head above water as we run our business(es). Many times this does require a hard knock on the head, a good shake to bring us into awareness of today and has to be done and what can wait.

It is also learning to work through the fear of… what if I can’t get it all done? I must do it all myself to make sure it gets done right. It is a fear of letting go in order to move ahead.

So I invite you to take this journey with me of learning to set boundaries, or at the very least enforce the ones already in place!! Enjoy today, take a deep breath and celebrate life!

I’ll be posting a few pictures soon of “Aimeepalooza” with roasted pig, tiki lights, leis and live music! Plus tent city as we converged on her home, what a blast!

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Simplifying Tips, Small Business Tagged With: , , , ,

Your Virtual Assistant Partner

April 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This is an interesting concept… one that has different connotations for different people.

Last night I was researching and surfing the net for ideas and ran across this article from Karyn Greenstreet with tips and ideas on finding and working with a virtual assistant. In this article she talks about the idea of the Virtual Assistant as a partner, it made me stop and think.

“Some VAs are taught that they should be a “partner” with you in your business. On the surface, this sounds great. However, I have heard too many horror stories about VAs who did things without asking permission, from modifying website text to changing established class titles”

When I am talking with clients, both perspective and current, are we clearly defining that role together?

Personally I consider myself to be a partner in the success of my clients business. But! I think that the term partner needs to be defined.

I like this definition of partner from Wikipedia:

“A friend who shares a common interest or participates in achieving a common goal.”

And this one from Dictionary.com:

“A person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor; sharer; associate.”

Each of these definitions include the word share and that is a key part of my own personal definition. As a virtual assistant my role is to support you, my client, using my skills and expertise. For some clients that means an occasional project here and there and for others it means stepping up to a bigger role of working in their business on a daily basis.

Being a partner also means getting to know your business and being able to say, “Here is what I can do for you” and not just asking, “How can I help?”. There is a difference.

As a virtual assistant who works closely with a client you see and understand the dreams, the goals and the overall big picture. When you commit time and resources to that big picture you have a vested interest in helping them succeed.

You understand their vision, you see what needs to happen and can create a suggested plan of action to get them there. As a VA, this is an exciting place to be.

It does not mean the VA takes over and makes the decisions,  it does mean we tap into our education and knowledge to share with you tips and strategies that we see would make a positive impact on bringing that vision to life. Together we decide if this is a course of action that will work.

The word partner is a collaborative word, not an independent word.

How do you define the word partner?

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, How To Find & Hire A Virtual Assistant, The Blue Jeans VA, Virtual Assistants Tagged With: , , ,

What's so great about being an entrepreneur?

July 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

There are some days you just gotta wonder, what really is so great about being an entrepreneur? Long hours, for many low pay and little to no free time.

So why do we do it?

What keeps us getting up in the morning and moving forward to the next client, proposal or project?

Most of the time I am thrilled to be in the position I am now but when there are days when the deadline is looming or their are a million tasks coming into my inbox that I start wondering.

Then I come across something like this and once again I am reminded, how cool it is to own my own business, to be working on my part of the American dream.

Shine – A Big Film About Small Business

This film is being put together by the founder of Biznik, talking to entrepreneurs from around the globe about owning your owns business and the impact it has on both the world around you and on You!

One of the quotes in the movie trailer is:

“Be the change you want to be in the world ( Ghandi ) and I think that is what entrepreneurs are all about”.

What an awesome way to think about my business and why I am doing this work. I had to stop and think about that for a moment and digest it and realize how powerful that statement really was.

From the Mom & Pop store around the corner to the guy who drives the ice cream truck each summer, most of us are doing what we do because we love it. We love the challenges, the joy, the heartache (okay maybe not so much that part…), the journey of being an entrepreneur and the differences we can make in the lives of our colleagues, peers, family, friends and neighborhood.

How powerful is that?

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship Tagged With: , , , , ,

Every entrepreneur needs support

April 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

From the top “gurus” in the biz to the new business owner, we all need support. We can’t do it alone.

Sometimes it is a best friend or spouse, sometimes it is a colleague or a team that you build finding someone you can talk to, bounce ideas off of and at times take the time to tell you that you are absolutely off your rocker.

As much as I value my family and their support there are times when I need to talk to someone who is a fellow small biz owner and at times a fellow VA who knows what you are going .

Talking to someone who gets it,

who will challenge you to be more then you think you can.

Finding the support you need these days can be as close as going to your computer. Facebook, Biznik and even Twitter are all excellent places to start building the community you need to bring your business vision to life.

Follow me on Twitter

Friend my on Facebook

Connect with me on Biznik

Filed Under: Entrepreneur Resources, Networking, The Blue Jeans VA Tagged With: , , , ,

Do you have entrepreneuritis?

April 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I do!

Entrepreneuritis: def.

As a small business owner I must learn how to do everything myself (spending countless hours learning it sometimes) and must grab on to each new idea that comes my way or through my inbox, learn it and move on to the next thing. As a result most likely have a list of unfinished project on paper, in idea journal or on the computer.

Sound familiar? I call it a wonderful curse. Wonderful because it keeps me curious, motivated to keep learning and is one of the reasons I wanted to be a virtual assistant. The chance to learn new technology, new marketing ideas etc. On the flip side, it is also a curse.  At times it is hard for me to focus, follow through and finish a business development project. With so many half finished projects and ideas it easily leads to a sense of overwhelm, stress and “I’m not sure what the next step should be” syndrome. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, The Blue Jeans VA, Virtual Assistants Tagged With: , , , ,