Deciding to become a virtual assistant brings with it rewards and challenges. The rewards include working from your own office (yay!), being able to choose clients and projects, and most importantly, the ability to self-manage your schedule. The challenges you face would vary according to how you approach this opportunity.
Begin by drawing up an honest schedule and assign blocks of time to your known commitments, both personal and client related. In the beginning your client related commitments might be rather sparse, which leads to the next set of scheduled time blocks. No new business achieves organic growth without effort, so you would now need to schedule specific times that you will use to build and grow your business. There is no need to allocate large blocks of time to growing your business, what is important is that they are scheduled regularly to help keep you focused, and to help you transition in to managing your time and your clients.
Becoming a virtual assistant requires a significant change to your mindset. This change begins when you first make the decision to become a virtual assistant, and continues when you start learning to schedule your time. A vital part of any mindset change is self-examination which requires you to ask yourself some tough questions, and to answer each of them truthfully:
- Do I have a workable plan?
- Am I ready for the considerable risks this plan involves?
- Can I set, and stick to, long-term goals, even when faced with unexpected challenges?
- Are my family, friends and colleagues able to support me emotionally?
- Does this align with my ideal lifestyle?
- Am I ready to work exceptionally hard to make this succeed?
The answer to all of these questions should be “yes“, but don’t be deterred by any “no” responses. “No” is not a setback .. it is a challenge, an opportunity for you to confront a mental obstacle. In order to successfully change your mindset you need to overcome any obstacles, remembering that quite often you were the one who initially created the obstacle. The ability to improve oneself, and succeed in life, flows from a willingness to be open to new opportunities, to face fears, and having a desire to explore.
The most successful virtual assistants often have considerable experience as administrative professionals in high-level environments. If you fit this profile, and you follow the advice outlined here, you could soon be on your own path to success. Being a virtual assistant allows you to turn your skills and competencies into a rewarding home-based business that guarantees personal fulfillment. All it requires is that initial step, a simple decision.
About Out of the Office Virtual Assistance:
At Out of the Office, we offer ideas and ways to increase your productivity, decrease your workload, and work more efficiently. We nurture a successful business relationship, while continuing to grow as your business partner. We are focused on streamlining your administration, social media planning and execution, and offering creative solutions for your business success.
Image credit: geralt | CC0 Public Domain