Do you want to be your own boss, raise your kids, and enjoy your life? Are you looking for the freedom of part time work from home? If you said, “Yes!” Are you ready to start your own virtual assistant business?
Mom, you inspired this website, podcast, and channel. This momtrepreneur thing takes imagination, determination, and a lot of thinking outside of box. It takes looking at how everything has always been done, and deciding you are going to do it differently, and on your own terms. This brings us to Part 2 in the our series: Part Time Work From Home.
In Part 1 of this series, Prepare Before You Take The Leap, we talked about 3 things to do before you venture into the world of momtrepreneurship. Now, for Part 2, do you have what it takes to start a virtual assistant business?
Spoiler alert. You do have what it takes, and I am going to tell you why.
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What’s In a Name?
I am going to be honest here. I’ve struggled with the word assistant. Yes, we need to talk about this elephant in the room.
I recently had a conversation with a friend. She mentioned a comment someone made. I asked this question, “Does he just not know what I can do?” The friend replied, “He just thinks you’re an assistant.”
I had two thoughts at the that moment: 1. He never had a good executive assistant. 2. Why would someone think an assistant can only answer email and file paperwork.
Mom, we offer so much more than just moving paperwork. So why keep the name?
I admit I thought about whether or not to use this term for days. In a lot of places I’ve worked, and probably where you worked, assistant can be a very demeaning term. Whether it is said or just in people’s attitude.
If assistant is in your title you aren’t always taken seriously. Or thought of as someone who can bring value to the table. The same can be applied to the term secretary. I worked with a friend who despised being referred to as a secretary, although that was her roll. She corrected everyone who called her a secretary, and I totally understand.
Despite my mental turmoil over this term, and talking my husband’s ear off about it, I decided to keep it. And here’s why. People understand the term. It doesn’t require a lot of explanation, and people immediately have an idea of what you do. Even if it is the wrong idea.
But it gives you a lot of flexibility in the services you want to provide. If I decide to change what I do 5 years down the road, I don’t need to change my logo or my title. Virtual assistant encompasses everything, so you have a lot of flexibility with what you do. And anyone can do it.
Starting a Part Time Work from Home Virtual Assistant Business can Work for Anyone
I am a big proponent of being successful on your own terms. That means you define your own success. It doesn’t need to be defined as a bigger house, better car, or bigger bank account.
If you define success as making enough to homeschool your kids, cover this bill, and pay for vacation. Then you’ve defined success on your own terms.
Starting a virtual assistant business gives you the greatest flexibility to be successful on your own terms. It can be a part time work from home endeavor. Queen of your schedule. You get to decide what you want to do. Be your own boss. You get decide how you want to raise your kids.
You can do anything as a virtual assistant. That sounds amazing, I know, but it is true.
1. What it means to be an assistant
To paraphrase the dictionary definition, an assistant is someone who assists. So clear, right? My definition for an assistant is someone who can do anything.
Assistants are superheroes. There is really nothing that you can’t do. So while some may look down on the term assistant, those we are helping couldn’t get along without us.
Here’s how Dana Perino described an assistant in her book Everything will be Okay:
Assistants are critical to an operation running smoothly, and they are way more valuable and powerful than their titles may suggest.
One of my favorite sayings is, “Knowledge is power.” And many assistants, that I know, have a wide-range of knowledge on multiple topics, possess a versatile skillset, know a lot more than they are given credit for, and have a tremendous capacity to learn something new.
An assistant is a powerful person because of the knowledge we possess. You bring more to the table than you realize. For example, you have mad mom communication skills. No one can top you when it comes to patience, empathy, or having difficult conversations. So wear it with confidence. You have a lot to offer, and that’s why anyone can start a virtual assistant business.
2. Get an idea of your services
Since the term assistant is so broad, you can really pick what you want to do. And this is incredible. Let your imagination flow.
Do you want to create templates for letters? Help with HR? Send invoices? Make travel arrangements? Manage social media platforms? Design a website? Blog for a business? Be a bookkeeper? Design marketing materials? Be a writer? Publish books? And, I could go on. The list is truly endless.
Grab your copy of Mom Boss 2.0 and get started!
It is ok if you don’t have a very specific idea of the services you want to offer. It may take time to decide what your clients need and what you want to do.
What you want to do is even more important than what your client needs. Don’t get me wrong, you need to be marketable but make sure it is something you want to do. Tasks that I did in my office job, were not things that I wanted to build a business around. And I was good at them, I just didn’t want to continue to do them.
I first started my business with a general list of services I offered. I included a statement that my list wasn’t inclusive, and I would be open to other projects as well. So if you don’t have everything nailed down right now, that’s ok. Start with something. Don’t let it keep you from launching.
If you find yourself stuck, here are a few things you can do.
Make a list of all of your skills
Don’t take anything off the list. Basically, you are going to do a brain dump in a notebook or on the computer. Write it all down.
Walk away from the list
This advice always sounds counterintuitive to me, but really walk away and don’t focus on what you wrote down. Allow your brain to work on it in the background. Do you ever wake up with a great idea or a solution to a problem? That is your brain working in the background, and that’s what you want to happen now.
Come back to the list
Are there any more items you need to add to it. Is there something else you thought of while you were taking a break from your list. Write it down.
Rank what you’ve written down
Use a small scale, like 1-5, and give each item a rate. You can give your different skills the same rank. But if there is something on the list that you just hate doing, cross it off completely. Take the skills you ranked in the top three, and see if you can build a business around them.
Download the Mom Boss 2.0 Workbook to walk you through the process
Get a trusted person’s input
For me that is my husband. I know that he will always be honest with me, but his motivation is to always encourage me, and he wants the very best for me. Find someone who can offer you an honest assessment of your list and your skills. And don’t get mad at their input. But don’t go to the person who is always a negative Nancy. That won’t help you at all. The purpose of this step is to test out your list and gain constructive feedback. If you don’t agree with everything they have to say that is ok. The point is to start testing out the market for your services.
3. Narrow down your list, but don’t box yourself in
When I started my own business, I literally had list of general administration items on my website. It was very sad looking. But at the time I was just starting out in this wonderful world of part time work from home, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I heard focus, specialize, but I was like “on what?” It was so frustrating.
If you were to look at the service page of jodierperry.com now, you will no longer see a list of general administration, but a business that is focused. I want to give you an idea of how your business can grow and change. You may start with a list of general administration, but that is not where you are going to stay.
Is there a field that you wanted to get into, or try out? You have the opportunity to learn skills that will get you into the field of your choosing. Offer the skills you already have, so you can pay the bills, and then learn something new on the backend that you will eventually add to your list. Or even replace your list with this skill. So what do you need to do to get yourself starting your own virtual assistant business?
It is better to do the imperfect thing now, then to wait for the perfect thing that never gets done.
Conclusion: Part Time Work from Home
I am very excited for you as I write this post because the possibilities are endless for you. They really are. I understand that it doesn’t feel that way, especially with the pressure of needing to make money. I get it. That is why nothing in the post above mentioned anything about following your passion because passion doesn’t always pay the bills. I want you to be passionate about being successful on your own terms. So what can you do to get yourself there? What online courses can you take to increase your skills?
I hope ideas are just running through your brain right now. Go write them down. Take 2 minutes and start your list. If you need a trusted person’s input, send me a note or let us know your idea in the comment section. I would be honored to start you on your journey. If you just jumped into this series, take a look at Part 1: Part Time Work from Home Job: Prepare before You take the Leap. And check out Part 3: Part Time Work from Home Jobs: What You Need to Start
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