Virtual Managing Associates

Ok, I have a confession to make here… Working from home is not what I though it would be, and living on organic peanut butter is the pits! 

What am I talking about here?  Simple, I am a Virtual Assistant and I work from my home office.  Now, since I have left the 9 to 5 drill, my eating habits have totally deteriorated, and any kind of serious physical activities is something off the past.    

Please, do not get me wrong, I love my work! However, what I have discovered is that not taking the time to eat properly and sitting for hours behind a computer screen has done wonders for that last pair of jeans I bought a few months ago!  

So what does this have to do with organic peanut butter? Everything! Spring has finally sprung around my part of the world, and my last deep excursion through my now defunct summer closet did teach me a thing or two.  

• Grabbing a piece of bread with whatever on it is not breakfast or lunch, it is mindless eating. 
• Taking in the garbage is not an exercise, neither is it a valid excuse for sticking your nose outside only once a week! 

I know, as Virtual Assistants our business comes first.  However, if we want to keep the pace up, and have a higher work performance I believe we have to take a serious look at how we eat, and what we may call exercising.  

Example:  

• Forget rolling out of bed and into you home office.  Last nights emails can wait another 30 minutes or so.  Do breakfast! 
• Would you start your car on empty? No! So treat yourself to a simple and nutritious foods like, fruits, toasted 12 grains brown bread, cheese, and green tea.  Your body and mind will love you.     
• Take a break and walk away from your pc at least twice in the morning and in the afternoon for periods of 15 minutes or so.  Go outside, maybe pick up the mail.  Hey! Even vacuum the house!  Once you put your mind to it, you will be amazed at how much you can do in 15 minutes not sitting at your desk! 
• Treat yourself to a real lunch!  Set the table, sit down, and relax. Forget eating in front of your pc. It is a well known fact that keyboard and food do not do well! 
• Sugar hits only love your bum. Love yourself! Next time you go out for groceries buy some easy to prepare nutritious snacks.  If walking to the fridge is an exercise, then make it something profitable! 

Always remember, you represent your business, and you need to be healthy.  Take time for you.  If you do not look at yourself as being number one, nobody else will.

Virtually There…

Tags: , computer, excercising, food, home office, jeans, spring, Virtual Assistant Websites

About a week ago, a good friend of mine asked me a question that really made me think, she said, “I know you work with your computer most of the day and that you love it, but are you not lonely?  Don’t you miss talking with colleagues and the like?” 

Now, before I go any further maybe I should explain that my friend’s point of view of computers or anything related to it, well, is as weird as a few little green men landing!  In other words, no concept, Nada.  Thus, I knew very well at that moment that my window or like we say my 30Sec. speech would have to be short and to the point!

So, having another sip of lukewarm tea, I told her in a very assertive tone: “No, I am not lonely, and as a matter of fact I have a multitude of Virtual Assistants with whom I can communicate at all times inside our very own forums…”

Well, I had just crash landed in Area 51, and I was nicely offered another cookie.  Like I said, computers and for sure, the internet is not her forte! 

Now, what I really wanted to say was the following,

Yes, since I have started working inside this field I have found camaraderie, solidarity and a fellowship of Virtual Assistants…  I meet them everyday and some are as far as Australia!  Too many fancy words I guess which would only mean Yes, I have found many friends and you would be surprised at what is out there!

Camaraderie and the Virtual World.  Funny, but these are words that had no meaning to me about 1 year ago.  As far as I was concerned the Virtual World was somewhere between a movie called The Twilight Zone, and my favorite game called the Sims.  When I decided to become a Virtual Assistant my objective was to create my own business, work from home and offer Administrative support services in which I excel.  Little did I know then that through this process I would find beautiful friendships. 

Imagine no water cooler, no coffee station, and no cigarette breaks where you can catch the latest gossips.  Nobody and nothing, it is you, your computer and the internet.  Then you tell me, how I was supposed to meet anybody?  Where would I turn to when my computer had major PMS or I could not figure out a new program? 

Well, guess what, it was there at my fingertips…Presenting yourself and participating inside a Virtual Assistant Forum…Now, before we go any further, I have to tell you that these forums are not your usual Chit Chat forum.  Oh no, they are a very different meeting place.  What you will find there are determined VA’s/Business owners that are not only open and giving but also there when you need them. 

Look around, search the internet, and I am sure you will find a Virtual Assistant forum that is to your liking and where you will be able to meet likeminded individuals.  Each forum has its own personality, and each has much to offer. 

Also, always remember be yourself!  I know, here you are behind your screen typing away at some post inside a forum, yes you are virtual at that point, but let’s not forget that your words are representing you, it says who you are and it shows your personality! Working virtually and participating inside such forums does not mean that you are alone.  On the contrary it means being honest and there when a fellow Virtual Assistant needs help, or cannot figure out an Excel formula.  Participating in a Virtual Assistant forum also means doing that little something extra that reminds you that even if you are sitting behind your screen, you are still a human being ready to help and listen.   

This is what I wanted to say, No, I am not alone, in fact I have now more friends and acquaintances that you could even realize, and yes there is a Virtual World out there and it is a beautiful thing!

My 30Sec. speech?  Nah, I totally missed that one!  Nevertheless, this is what I wanted to tell her before I was nicely presented with a delicious tray of home baked cookies.…  

Virtually There…

Elenora

Tags: , area 51, cookies, forums, honest, speech, virtual assistants

Working as a Virtual Assistant … Strange words that I was lucky to discover while surfing the Internet almost a year ago, and since then it has been one fantastic adventure! 

Finally, Nirvana was at my door, and I had found an avenue where I could offer my years of expertise working from the comfort of my own home! Gone were the days of traffic jams, fluorescent lights, and tiny cubicles.  This was almost too good to be true!

Needless to say that curiosity took the best of me and after a few days of researching the web, I soon came to the realization that the Virtual Assistance industry was not only re-inventing itself, but was also an industry on the edge of another big bang! 

It did not take me long to understand that becoming a Virtual Assistant was more than a working proposition with endless possibilities. Here was an opportunity to excel and grow inside a virtual environment where virtual was not a game anymore, but a means to getting things done. Going back 30 years or so, nobody would have envisioned these changes.  Computers were machines that belonged in offices, and the internet was the dream of a few. 

Flash forward to 2008, and our world is now at our fingertips using the web and personal computers…  Virtual is now an everyday word, and working at distance not only means offering your administrative services to clients in your town, it also means creating spreadsheets for a gentleman in Africa, or translating letters for a lady in France…It was obvious to me that the progression from telecommuting to becoming full time business owner as a Virtual Assistant inside a virtual world had followed its course and was doing very well indeed. 

Yes, the times are a changing…It has been almost a year, and I now fully understand how we as Virtual Assistant, are the major factor behind these ongoing changes. We are not only the driving force, but also the pioneers inside an industry that supported us for so long.  We are becoming a virtual community with strength and an entity by itself.  

Moving from the non-virtual word to an amusing, educating, and all encompassing virtual one has been an experience that I truly enjoy, and learn from everyday. The way I see it, working virtually is not the future anymore, virtual is now, it is growing, and it is here to stay. 

Virtually there…
Elenora

Are you curious about Virtual administrative support?  Are you thinking of starting your own business as a VA?  Well, there is nothing like starting from scratch and learning.  Follow me, and I will gladly share with you the ups and down of going out there and building your dream.

You may also reach me at http://www.virtualmanagingassociates.com/

Tags: computers, cubicles, industry, pioneers, virtual