You are a mom. That means you have expert skills in communication. Leverage them to be a sought after virtual assistant.
When you start your virtual assistant business, your mind starts racing and in the jumble of thoughts there are so many questions. What services should I offer? How am I going to work from home with kids? Will people really want to hire a mom? And on and on they go. While I don’t know all your skills and amazing talents you can offer, I do know one thing. Your skills in communication is something to leverage.
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Moms are masters at communication. I don’t care how many degrees you have, no one can top a mom’s experience in communicating with various people at various levels. This is a skill to leverage.
Are Skills in Communication Soft Skills? Simon Sinek’s Human Skills Answer
Simon Sinek did a short video describing the difference between hard skills, those skills you need to get the job done, and soft skills or human skills as he calls them.
These human skills are what makes us trustworthy in a team. Human skills include things like patience, empathy, having difficult conversations, and giving hard feedback. These are skills that need to be taught. In most organizations, the tendency is to promote those who are high performing and then expect them to just gain these soft skills through osmosis. Instead, what happens is businesses continue to promote toxic team members. You know the guy down the hall the no one wants to be around, but he can get stuff done.
Moms Possess the Most Human Skills
Mom, all of these skills—patience, empathy, difficult conversations, hard feedback—we possess in abundance. For one simple reason, we are moms.
We know how to have those difficult conversations with our kids. You know those conversations that are intended to help them grow into well-rounded and responsible adults.
Do I even need to mention patience? Yes, moms are some of the most patient and at times impatient people in the world. Yes, we can be both at the same time. But the important thing is, we’ve practiced patience in so many situations that we are experts at it. Waiting for the kids to put their shoes on tests it every time you are trying to get out the door. So not only do you possess this skill, but it has been tried and tested.
Don’t forget we are experts in empathy. Oh yes, we know how to empathize with the most seemingly insignificant problem. The tears because the line isn’t straight enough. Or this isn’t the right color of orange.
Of course, we are not always perfect in all the areas. But we are always getting better at them. We are constantly presented with the opportunity to improve in each of these areas. For most homeschool and work from home moms it is an everyday occurrence.
All of these traits make up your skills in communication, and you can leverage these to be a sought after virtual assistant.
3 Tips to Leverage Your Mad Skills in Communication
Skills in communication really covers a wide-range of different skills that in all areas of business. So as a mom, how do you leverage these skills?
1. Never let anyone look down on you for being “just a mom”
This is a big one. It doesn’t matter who it is or how badly you need a client. If the attitude is “you are just a mom” then walk away. I know there are a number of moms out there, who stepped out of the workforce and found it challenging to get back into it because of this attitude. The idea that it is not “good enough” to be just a mom is detrimental to the work environment.
Regardless of the stage you are at, you’ve accomplished a lot being a mom. So highlight the value that you bring to the table because you are a mom, and if you are a homeschool mom even more value you bring.
2. Skills to highlight
You bring so much value to your client because you are mom, but sometimes you need to help them understand the added value.
Here are just a few skills in communication that you can highlight:
- Patient listener
- Problem-solver
- Diplomatic
- Empathetic
- Able to have hard conversations with a good outcome
- Provide difficult feedback
- Manage multi-member teams and easily resolve internal conflicts
- Help individuals see where they need improvement and provide the necessary resources
- Motivate team members to do hard tasks
- Mediate conflicts to bring a peaceful resolution
- Help team members to be problem-solvers
- Manage several projects at one-time without loss of results
- Able to bring various teams together to work towards a mutual goal and results
- Effectively communicate with various knowledge levels
- Provide practical counsel and advice to different life circumstances
Think of all the things you do on a regular basis, and how you can apply these skills in communication to your business and to your client’s business.
3. You are always learning
As a mom this never stops. You are always learning, and therefore you are always adding to your skillset. You are learning how to teach and communicate with various learning styles. This is a great asset for any business. Knowing how to communicate in a way that people easily understand the instruction is huge. You can add this to the above list.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Thomas Sowell, a very smart man. He says, “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” Many people really don’t know what they don’t know. But moms we are very aware of those things that we just don’t know, and if we aren’t our kids are more than happy to let us know. Since we are very aware, we are also incredibly skilled at finding the answer.
Knowing that you don’t always have the answer, but knowing where to look for it is a great value for your business. Then once you get the knowledge, you can add it to your ever growing list of skills to highlight.
Conclusion
Mom your soft skills, human skills, or mom skills are a major asset to your business. Never let anyone take that away or look down on your accomplishments as a mom. Your skills in communication, and everything that comes with it, is an asset to any business.
What are some more mom skills that would benefit a client? Let me know if the comments below.
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