Tag: virtual assistant

Back to School Organization for Virtual Assistants

Back to School Organization for Virtual Assistants
Number 2 pencils are being sharpened, school buses are traversing through the city, kindergarteners are waddling around wearing backpacks as big as they are – it’s back to school time once again!

The start of the school year is a natural fresh start in our calendars, regardless if you are sending children off to classes (or heading off to class yourself). It’s a time to shift gears from hopping aboard the boat at the lake to hitting the books. Back to school organization is just as important for virtual sssistants as it is for students.

Get ready to start the year strong with our back to school organization guide for virtual assistants.

  1. Get Your Schedule Sorted Out

Students rely on a schedule to be where and when. Sure, virtual assistants may not have to report to geometry in room A203 anymore. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow a schedule.

It’s the paradox of the virtual assistant life. You hold autonomy over your schedule, but you should use that autonomy to set restrictions. Ask any successful virtual assistant and they will tell you a schedule is key (not convinced? Check out this post on why you need to set your work hours when you work from home).

Take some time to develop a work schedule that will work for you. Maybe your peak productivity hours are early morning and late afternoon. Schedule your workout for the midday slump. Maybe at 3 you need to shuttle your kiddos around to after school activities. Start your workday a bit earlier. Making a schedule sets you up to be organized and ready to rock this year.

  1. Stock Up on Supplies

Most stores host back to school sales for supplies like paper, pens, post-it notes, and even electronics. Conveniently, all tools you use to run your Virtual Assistant business! Take advantage of these sales and stock up on anything you will need throughout the year.

If you are lucky enough to have a storage area, pack it to the brim with discount supplies. If you haven’t already, make sure your supplies are organized and easily accessible.

  1. Get Ready to Learn

Students everywhere are getting ready to learn and so should virtual assistants! Plan out a duoable learning schedule you can follow throughout the school year.

Maybe you take an online course through Udemy where you dedicate one hour Tuesday evenings to. Maybe it’s reading a business development book for twenty minutes a day (try this list of top books every Virtual Assistant should read). Always be learning. It’ll make you a better Virtual Assistant (and more well-rounded person).

  1. Gather Up the Timelined Checklists

Checklists are a great organizational tool for virtual assistants. They help you remember those dozens of small tasks you need to do without letting something fall through the cracks. Checklists are a virtual assistant’s friend. At the start of the school year, collect ones you will rely on the following months.

Here are a few we recommend:

  • Beginning of the Year Checklist
  • Summer Slump Checklist
  • End of Year Checklist
  • Linkedin Personal Branding Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly Checklist

  1. Test Out Productivity Hacks

Productivity hacks are great for virtual assistants. They let you work smarter, not harder. Pick a few new productivity tricks to try out this school year. You can even pick a new trick each month to continually make yourself a more effective Virtual Assistant.

Here’s a round-up of some great tips to get you started:

  • Streamline your business with these free tools
  • Keep your to-do list short (a few items or less)
  • Test out the pomodoro method of time management
  • Try batching your tasks
  • Plan your day the evening before

Use these organization tips to start your school year off right. Don’t forget, The Virtual Assistant Roadmap is always here to lend a helping hand. We can assist with any aspect of building your Virtual Assistant business. Let us help your company grow this school year. Reach out today with a quick email to get started.

How to Set Work Hours Working From Home as a Virtual Assistant

The ability for a virtual assistant to design their own work schedule is a double-edged sword. It’s great not feeling chained to your desk for the arbitrary 9-5 grind.

But it’s also easy to avoid ever setting a schedule. Before you know it, you’re always either working or thinking about work. It’s increasingly difficult to leave work at work. Projects that could be done in an hour end up taking longer.

The irony of the “I don’t need to abide by a set schedule” virtual assistant life is that we often function better when we create a schedule.

The Benefit of Setting Work Hours

Many work-from-home virtual assistants resist setting work hours like the plague. One huge appeal of being your own boss is the freedom that comes with control over your schedule right?

But the reality of failing to set work hours tells a different story. Not sticking to a work schedule ends up hurting you in the long wrong in different ways.

  1. It’s hard to leave work at work as a virtual assistant. When work stops at 5, it’s easier to stop thinking about work at 5. When there is no firm end to the work day, it’s so much harder to transition from “work mode” to “living your life mode.” You feel guilty watching TV and wonder if you should go get that one article done. You daydream thinking of your to-do list. You always feel “on,” making it difficult to give yourself the rest you need.
  2. You waste precious mental energy. Each day you wake up without a firm schedule. Each day, you waste time and energy deciding how much you will work and when. It’s the element of decision fatigue. The more decisions we make each day, the more drained we become. It’s why superstars like Steve Jobs wore the same outfit every day. One less decision to make meant a bit more energy for more important matters.
  3. Tasks take longer than they should. Parkinson’s Law basically states however long a task can take is usually how long it will. Maybe you wake up and know, if needed, you could log a 10-hour day today to get that big project done. What ends up happening? You tend to work that 10-hour day. The beauty of the set work schedule is work is only allowed to fill those hours. Usually, everything always gets done.

These problems can be tackled (or at least minimized) by setting a consistent work schedule. The initial constraint of work hours ends up giving you more free time and freedom to enjoy your time outside work guilt free.

Setting an Optimized Work Schedule

Here is where you get to enjoy the freedom of being a virtual assistant. Maybe your peak creativity hours are early morning and early evening. In the middle of the day, you suffer from the afternoon slump. So work in the peak hours and go workout or run errands when your brain power dips.

A virtual assistant work schedule does not mean you must bow down at the altar of the 9-5 work week. Those hours are not ideal anyway! In fact, with the right productivity tactics you may get 8 hours of work done in 7 or 6. All a work schedule means is setting strict work hours and strict non-work hours. If you can accomplish you work between 10-4, that’s great!

You can even set a different work schedule for different days of the week. Maybe you are a work-from-home parent taking advantage of a babysitting co-op. On Tuesday mornings, you get to wrangle the group’s kiddos to the library activity. So on Tuesdays, your work day starts a few hours later.

It doesn’t matter what type of schedule you make. What matters is knowing going into the day which hours you work. Designated work hours protect your “non-work” time.

Once you create a schedule, protect it fiercely. Don’t check your email outside of work hours. Let your clients know what hours they can expect to reach you by phone…and don’t pick up if it’s outside of those (or work into your contract it’s a $75 fee every time they do). When you are done for the day, be done. Don’t fall into the trap of well I could get one more thing done. Allow yourself to rest and relax!

Working from home can be the ideal set up. Setting optimized work hours helps you be the ideal worker and live a balanced life. It’s a win-win!

If you want assistance on setting hours that work for you or need help getting all your work done in the allotted time,the Virtual Assistant Roadmap is here for you! Just shoot us an email to get started.

Healthcare for Virtual Assistants

Virtual Assistants and Heathcare

Many Virtual Assistants don’t know where to start when looking into healthcare. If you are already working as a Virtual Assistant or transitioning from a traditional 9-5 to becoming a Virtual Assistant, I’m sure questions about healthcare has crossed your mind. I find myself in the same boat.

My Healthcare Story

2017 was a challenging year for me medically. I had my first surgery in my life in December of 2017. I had this procedure prior to becoming a Virtual Assistant, because I had health insurance. One of the more frustrating parts of the whole experience was figuring out the insurance coverage; deductibles, out of pocket, in network, out of network, procedure codes etc… Almost everyone I know does not understand their own health insurance.

Healthcare for Virtual Assistants

 

 

 

The place I wanted to go for surgery, my preferred doctor and the one that I felt I would have received the best care from was not in network. That meant I would have to pay for most of the operation from my own pocket. I called my insurance company to figure out what was and was not covered. I gave any known procedure codes we went over every detail of my policy and even then the total cost was a guess at best. There were questions I didn’t even know to ask! Seems like it should more straight forward about coverage and cost. As a result, I went with my next best option, going to doctors and a surgery center that were in network.

I feel like I did the best that I could with the information that I had at the time. The back and forth with insurance wore me down. Ultimately, I went with what I could afford versus better quality of care. This is for a full-time employee with company sponsored benefits. 

I felt blessed that I had insurance. I was also grateful to be able to go to all of my medical appointments, get second opinions and receive paid time off for post-surgery recovery.

Are your concerns about healthcare holding you back from becoming a Virtual Assistant?

Does the cost and quality of healthcare as a Virtual Assistant seem scary? What if you have family or children depending on you for health insurance? What are your options? How do you pick the best healthcare coverage as a Virtual Assistant that is based on your health needs and income? Who do you talk to?

Below is the link for some good resources for insurance coverage for Virtual Assistants.

http://healthcare for independent contractors

https://www.virtualassistantroadmap.com/when-the-unexpected-happens/

Imposter Syndrome and How to Overcome it as a Virtual Assistant

As a virtual assistant, you encounter your share of battles to overcome. But sometimes, the biggest battle is your own internal monologue.

I can’t actually do this. I feel like an imposter pretending to be cut out for this life. People think I’m qualified, but if they only knew…

These defeating thoughts are common in people with imposter syndrome, which tends to be found among highly successful and high achieving people.

AKA: you!

Imposter syndrome acts like a crippling sickness that keeps us from being bold in our personal and professional lives, robbing us of growth, success, and even happiness.

It’s a terrible thing to experience. But, it is something that can be conquered!

What Really Is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is a term often thrown around and splashed in click baiting headlines, leaving people confused as to what it actually is (and whether they’re affected by it).

Imposter syndrome was created in the 1970s by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, who described it as a feeling of “phoniness in people who believe that they are not intelligent, capable or creative despite evidence of high achievement.”

Did you catch the irony? It’s those who are capable and qualified (evidenced by their previous high achievement) who doubt themselves to a debilitating degree.

Basically, imposter syndrome is a terrible, gut-sinking feeling experienced by motivated and successful people that keeps them from taking action out of a false perception of their own inferiority.

It’s important to note that imposter syndrome is not humility. Humility is an accurate view of your self-worth. Imposter syndrome is a skewed view of your “lack” of ability and success.

It’s also not the same as having a realistic perspective. Being a realist means your lack of action comes from the potential risks outweighing the potential benefits. Imposter syndrome, however, keeps you from acting because you falsely believe you’re not capable.

Imposter syndrome is the little troll on our shoulder feeding us lies about our potential. It keeps us from being the best virtual assistant we can be. We hesitate to take our company in a new direction…because we’re the ones who must lead it there. At networking events, we keep to ourselves because we don’t think we can offer anything of value to potential connections. Our own lack of confidence can rub off on our employees, making it harder for them to be bold and daring.

When we buy into lies about our capability, our business suffers. And more importantly, our mental and emotional well-being suffers. Imposter syndrome has no place in your life!

How We Perceive Success

One of the root problems of imposter syndrome comes from an inability to internalize previous success accurately. Remember, imposter syndrome happens in people with high success. Our brains have to justify the poor views of ourselves against the list of objective successes, and it does so with two approaches.

Our brain says we just got lucky. Our success isn’t due to our own efforts, we were just in the right place at the right time. Often, our brain tells us we shouldn’t take a chance because the luck we’ve been coasting on may run out.

Or, our brain says our success isn’t really that big of a deal. Our accomplishments are overblown in the eyes of others. So, we shouldn’t get cocky about trying, because really, you’re an imposter for believing you’re capable of high achievement.

If one (or both) of these mindsets resonates with how you perceive your success, then you’ve identified the first way you can overcome imposter syndrome. It’s hard, but you need to consciously work on reframing how you view success.

It’s okay to celebrate and take pride in your success. In fact, it’s important for your confidence’s sake to view your success accurately. (That means recognizing the role your ability and hard work played!)

Try this exercise. Physically write out past successes. Then write out how your talents, skills, and time got you those successes. It’ll help you fight the “it was just luck” or “it really wasn’t that impressive” defeatist thoughts. When you experience imposter syndrome thoughts, review the list. It’ll be a little pep talk from you to you.

Other Strategies for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

There are a few ways you can work to get imposter syndrome out of your life. Try the ones that appeal to you (or try them all and see what helps). It won’t happen overnight, but you can work to a life free of imposter syndrome.

  1. Remember that you’re not alone. Be reassured that many people experience imposter syndrome. Even famous people like Tina Fey, Kate Winslet, and Maya Angelou all struggle with it! Other people have felt exactly as you do right now, and other people have conquered your battle, too.
  2. Don’t think more success is the answer. Some people think they just need to rack up a list of more achievements to feel more confident. But, the problem with imposter syndrome isn’t a lack of success (since it happens with people who are very successful). It’s not being able to internalize accurately those successes. Imposter syndrome won’t go away with more success.
  3. Hear from others’ experiences. When we buy into the “I’m the only one feeling this way” trap, we’re left feeling powerless. Books like Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In”, which talks about common fears of women in the workplace, can help us feel empowered knowing we aren’t alone. You can also read celebrity quotes on imposter syndrome to see how others feel.
  4. Express your expertise. Find ways to position yourself so you’re sharing what you know with others. It can help you realize you know more than you give yourself credit for. You can serve as a mentor for someone involved (or interested in) your industry. Be an active participant for industry-focused Facebook or Google+ groups, answering questions and offering advice. You’ll see that you know more, and are capable of more, than you thought.
  5. Lean on loved ones. It’s scary to admit you’re struggling, especially to people who exalt you for your abilities. But your friends and family can be an invaluable resource, working as your cheerleaders talking down negative self-talk. You can also reach out to people experiencing similar struggles, supporting each other and going through the process of overcoming imposter syndrome together.

It’s terrible to feel imposter syndrome, but it can and will get better! Remember, you ARE capable, smart, talented, and you absolutely can do this.