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.

Since I was a little girl, as far back as I can remember, Great Aunt Berneice has been there. Just about every Thanksgiving and Christmas she was there and a major part of the celebration. She gave me one of my first tea sets when I was a wee little one and would play tea with me (she was in her late 50s at this point…), I got to sleep over at her apartment, stay up late and watch Knight Rider and walk over with her to McDonald’s in the morning for breakfast. She was my Auntie.

About 10 years ago it was becoming clear that she needed extra help and that living on her own was becoming harder, that is when I had to take over quite a bit. My Mom and I are the only relatives she has left in the area and my Mom cannot drive so I had to step up to the plate. My Mom and I made a point of getting down to see and check on her whenever we could. She fell and broke her hip, her breast cancer returned and she had to have massive radiation treatments and then about 5 years ago or so she broke her ankle. At that point with her friends and Doctors supporting my decision, I had to move her into a nursing home, it was not safe for her to live by herself anymore. It was devastating for her, so when she told me a year later that she actually liked the nursing home, I was thrilled!

On October 2nd, I got a call from the nursing home that she was not doing well. The next day she still was not doing well so I made the call to get her to the emergency room. Of course my car decided to break down that day so I could not get to her until Monday morning with a rental. She had been moved from the ER to her own room late Sunday night and was a mess. My Mom and I both had the feeling she was not going to make it. She was in pain part of the time, hallucinating from her infection and the drugs. She never really did wake up or was aware that we were there.

This started a daily trek down to Salem to be with her, check on her, soothe her when she got agitated and work with the nurses, doctors and nursing home on her care. By Wednesday, October 6th it was clear she was not improving and the doctor highly recommended we bring her back to her room at the nursing home and start hospice care. That is one of the hardest decisions and one of the hardest calls I have ever had to make, knowing what that decision implied.

On Sunday, October 10th at 10:00am my 97 year old Great Aunt Berneice passed away leaving her family with an incredible legacy of Faith, Trust, Joyfulness and Determination.

Faith – She had the most child-like faith of anyone I have ever met, if you needed something prayed about you asked Auntie.

Trust – She knew that her Father in Heaven had a plan for her and that he would take care of her each step of the way.

Joyfulness – In spite of the incredible hardships she endured in her life (that is another LONG story in and of itself…) she rarely complained and she was not bitter.

Determination – With everything she has gone through she learned to keep putting one foot in front of the other and trust that God would walk with her each step of the way.

What about my business??

To be honest it took 2nd place – my focus and my time was spent exactly where it needed to be, on my Auntie. Making sure she was taken care of and being there with her as much as I could.

I have enjoyed the flexibility of what I do and how I do it, but this month, the point, the benefit and the blessing of self-employment became a reality to me in a completely different light.

Being a Free Agent….

• Allows you to work with the clients you want to work with
• Gives you the opportunity to create work you enjoy
• Opens the door to set your own income level
• Provides you the opportunity to set up your own schedule

But guess what? While these are wonderful, really cool benefits of being on your own, being a Free Agent is really about being available for your family when, where and how they need you.

For me that was one of the top 2 reasons I pursued self-employment 1) was to follow my dream and 2) was to take care of my family who was needing me more and more.

What an incredible blessing!

If I still had my J-O-B how in the world would I have managed these daily trips to see her? I would have used up virtually all of my vacation, would have had frustrated managers and bosses wanting and needing me back in the office and the stress level would have been even higher then it already was. Daily I was amazed at the position I was in, that I could do the work for my clients in the evenings when I returned, that I could grab my mobile broadband and work from the nursing home when needed!

What an amazing opportunity!

Even if I had ever entertained the thought of returning to a corporate job, after this month any small squiggle of a thought would have been banished completely. The power of my business, my work and the technology available have completely transformed not only my life but the life of my family.

A big huge thank you!

My clients were absolutely amazing. Their patience and understanding of where I needed to be was a gift. Their thoughts, prayers and well wishes helped ease some of the pressure and stress I did experience trying to get everything done.

Finding the weaknesses.

This was also a chance to look at my business and not only celebrate the benefits and blessings but to identify some holes and weaknesses that need to be addressed and shored up. That too is a blessing, being able to identify areas that need work and be able to pay some attention to that is a great opportunity to grow and learn more about me, my business and continue on the pat of self-employment.

The journey of self-employment.

The journey of the self-employed is a roller coaster ride. There are ups, downs, unexpected curves, abject terror and thrills. It is not a boring journey and each bend on the horizon presents new opportunities. It is also a journey that CANNOT be taken alone. You cannot do it alone. For me…

• It is a partnership with clients
• It is talking to others on the same journey who pull you up when you are down and help celebrate the victories
• It is the support of friends and family who pray for you, cheer you on and tell you how proud they are of you

Berneice Doris Glenn

1/14/13 – 10/10/10

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!

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?

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?

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

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.

2009 is the year I am getting it all together and by learning new organizational techniques I finally feel like I am taking back control and developing a plan of action and even a plan of attack.

I have gotten a lot better at examining my to-do-list, dropping the unnecessary, the time wasters and start focusing on just one project at a time. Novel idea huh?!  By doing this projects are actually being crossed of my to-do-list!  This has produced such an incredible sense of accomplishment and a feeling of okay, I can do this.

In continuing with the theme that has shoved its way into my life this year. I am working on simplifying my focus and mindset so that it is not so cluttered. When you simplify it is so much easier to create  time to focus on you business, clarify goals and actually create future plans instead of just reacting to the moment.

Entrepreneuritis is a wonderful thing, if used and focused correctly. Curiosity is what leads you to the next big thing for you and your business. It does however, need to be monitored and reigned in at times to keep it from becoming an obstacle on your journey.

Do you have entrpreneuritis? How do you deal with it?