Working from Home with a Supportive Family

I started my virtual assistant business over 3 years ago and I have always had tremendous support from my family. And I mean everyone! Not just my kids and husband, but my mom, sister, dad and many others.  Their support and understanding in what it takes to run and build your own business, all while working from home is truly appreciated.  It is also a support system I feel every entrepreneur working from a home office needs.

Today, my husband, Marco, paid me the biggest compliment… he suggested I write a book!

I will say, he has been my #1 supporter of my business from Day 1. So to have him say “You should write a book”, wow.  It is really reassuring and confidence boosting to have him say something like that, BUT

Yes, here comes the ‘but’:

But… the funny thing about this book he thinks I should write, is that the topic would have nothing to do with my business!

hehehe …. Marco thinks I should write a book of tips that cover topics like marriage and parenting while working from home. Prompted by what you ask?  Well, this is the  note I posted on our washer yesterday, after yet another ‘shrinking event’.

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You can read all the fun comments we got on Facebook as well.

Anyhow, it may be something I think about – writing a book on this topic. Every so often you may find a fun family/working from home story here on my blog, if so you will know why!  I’ll be compiling them to make a book! (Many people do that you know, creating books from a compilation of their blog posts).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Focus, Reinvent, Fill a Need

I attended a CAPS (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers) Halifax event last week, one of my Clients was the speaker for the evening and I was there helping her with her product table and also getting to meet her in person. That is always a blast, meeting my clients from away in person.

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Kathy and Jane Atkinson, my client via www.MyFastype.com

It was a delightful evening; not only did I get to meet a client face to face, but I was able to listen to her talk about being a Speaker and learned many useful tips that could apply to many types of businesses.  One that really stayed in my head was “Focus, Reinvent and Fill a Need”.

Her message was that as people’s businesses grow and change – so does your focus. You will find yourself in a cycle of Focus, Reinvent and Fill a Need.

Does this sound like you? You have your website, your products and are pretty well established in your market. Sales are good, but you’re reaching a bit of a plateau when it comes to business growth. The big question is how you move forward, whether tweaking a current product or service what you will do; or will you create an entirely new product?

Either way… the change will revitalize you and your business.  Change is always a good need and if the change you make can fill the need of your clients or even bring in new clients – then all the better. You continue to reach new markets which will help you grow your experience and your business.

When Is It Time To Reinvent and add a new Focus?

You’ve most likely had the nagging feeling or even queries from clients that make you realize you can add to your offerings and fill a need for your market.  It’s not always the right time to reinvent, but if your business is established and sales are steady, it is probably the right time for you.  Jump into this as you did starting your business – with research and thought put into the planning and launch of the new offering.

s4b copy 283x300 Focus, Reinvent, Fill a NeedI recently did this very thing and launched a new service  – Social Media Training via a webinar setting.  The past year, I have found that many business owners are looking to learn to use Social Media for their business, and not everyone has it in their budget to have someone like me look after their social media management on a regular basis.  My Reinvent was adding Group Training to my offerings.  Something that was affordable for people to access as opposed to one-on-one training.

My first class started in November and went almost exactly as I planned. The group of 12 students from all over Canada and the US first watched a presentation and then we all were online together and put the skills learned to use by networking online.  My vision was to have the students online using their own networking profiles during the training and that is what we managed to do. It was fabulous to see it come to life as I had planned.

Focus, Reinvent and Fill a Need…

Have you had any successes lately with your reinventions?  Please share them and let our readers know about your new services.

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What makes you different?

My VAnetworking seminar this week was a presentation by Jill Jordan of Smart Women’s Coaching, the topic was Personal Branding.  She gave a great talk, and really got me thinking…especially when she asked us all to write down what made us different from others in our line of business. It’s a big part of the process to help you brand yourself.

Through all my classes and workshops with CEED, I have done a Strength and Weakness list a  few times, but I found myself stumped when asked this question directly.

What makes me different and unique…hmmm let’s see.  Well… I have 15 years administrative experience, I like to learn new things, I am fairly organized, and motivated to work, but how do I translate all this into a one liner?   It surprised me that I couldn’t quickly give an answer to this other than “I don’t know, can I get back to you?”  I wonder if other people find this as difficult as I do.

Now I have some “homework” for the next week – because I am determined to find an answer to this question – What makes you different?

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Networking… what method do you prefer?

I have been doing a lot of networking in the past few months.  As a new business owner, it’s a real good way to get the word out about your business and services, especially to the local business community.  I also do quite a bit of online networking, and I must say both have paid off.

So far I have landed one client from online networking, one through Twitter, and participated in a  very interesting “Looking to Hire a VA process” also through Twitter. Local networking has seen more understanding and interest spread about virtual assistants – and I have also landed a client through word of mouth/referrals.  [Read more...]

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Why join an online group?

Many fellow Virtual Assistants probably run into this same situation; I have several times lately while networking and discussing my line of work with others.

Recently, when talking to someone about how she can investigate becoming a virtual assistant (VA) herself, I referred her to the online group, VAnetworking.  Once she had a chance to look it over, we talked – and she told me she didn’t understand why I would belong to it.

My answer was simple… support!  Then I added to it; access to loads of information, meeting other VAs, and learning tips and tricks from them during the weekly networking sessions were a few of the first things out of my mouth. After giving some specific examples, she understood better my reasons. [Read more...]

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