I’ve been thought to be the inevitable failure.
Behavioral issues in school. Detention. Standing in corners, and having the
time extended because I was caught dancing while in the corner. Yeah, a troublesome and mischievous girl I
was.
My separation and difference from everyone else
characterized my remaining school years and my early career. I couldn’t stand still. I was never
satisfied. Some jobs where exciting, yet my team playing ended up being me
playing, trying to figure out why the team was out and about while I chose to
buckle down and get my work down.
It started to seem like I was the sore thumb, the one that
was good but just didn’t fit in this corporate office, or this one. That
continued until the spring of 2007, when my employer sent me packing with a
going away present and a kick in the rear. They loved my work but neither they nor
I was happy with me being there.
What was an unemployed, talented, yet, attention deficient
girl to do? Invest. I took my severance pay and called my IT whiz friend and we
headed off to store, after store looking for the best laptop for running
multiple programs, with dual processing, loads of memory, and wireless internet
connectivity. What I needed was the final touch for my already established home
office, fit with a desktop PC, printer, scanner, copy, fax line, land line and
of course, my handy cellular phone.
I’d decided to take the leap into Virtual Assistance. I’d
researched for years before and up to a few days prior to my Aha! moment to
head to CompUSA for my uberlaptop. I
scoured sites with pages about Virtual Assistance like AdminProf.com, now
DeskDemon.com, and VirtualAssistantNetworking.com. Then there were articles
posted in Entrepreneur and Essence, which led me to Guru.com and
Elance.com. What was stopping me?
At that point, clients. That was short lived because I wrote
several proposals and won two bids within about a month of signing up on Elance. I was off to a start.
Though there were slow periods, I worked part-time and took
courses to be able to compete in this market. Software classes, accounting
classes, even notary classes since some of my clients are realtors, I wanted to
build on the sharp skill set gained during years supporting executives and
project teams.
Hard work pays very well. What I don’t have in terms of
company luncheons, I have with home cooked meals and lunch dates with
clients. Since most companies don’t
quarantine employees, as I think they should, working from home allows me to
work while sick, or to not work while sick. Neither am I as susceptible to much
airborne disease, bad indoor air quality, nor politically incorrect coworkers.
I mean, who wants to know about your weekend rendezvous when we don’t really
know vous.
As a Virtual Assistant, I’m able to spend time with my
mother who suffers from a severe lung condition called sarcoidosis. At times she needs assistance, and when she
does, I can offer it. My sister and her children are also beneficiaries of my
virtual assistance and her telecommuting. (My sister works for a fabulous company that
allows her to work from home.) Sometimes
midweek, I take a drive down, of course with laptop in bag, to her sunny SoCal
home. I can tie into her printer via
Bluetooth, print what I need, or just shoot an email to my clients, even if
they call me at 8 p.m. with emergencies.
A new way to work has evolved in this age of increased
technology and high unemployment rates. I can be anywhere and always be in a
position to service my clients. It works for me and for them. It works for my
family and it works for my budget. I’m a Virtual Assistant, and this is exactly
where I fit in.
