Here’s another post for those of you that may be considering becoming a Virtual Assistant. Perhaps if you’re waffling over whether you’ll like it or not, some of the points about what I like might strike a chord and help you decide one way or the other.
So here we go…
1. No need to drive to work
Yay! This has to be one of the best bonuses of being my own boss! Not only do I get to help save the environment by not using gas and creating all sorts of emissions, I get to simply decide what time I want to work and just waltz on in to my office. No commuting = more time for me.
2. I get to stay warm
This was almost my #1 and a very close second. For those of you that don’t know, I live in Prince George in Northern BC and it’s very cold here for a very big chunk of the year. And, on a personal note, I have a very weird “allergy” type thing that reacts to cold so when I go outside in the winter I break out in hives. Not fun! So, being a Virtual Assistant I naturally have my office inside my own home = not having to go outside to go to work! Yippie! I can turn on a space heater, have a kitty on my lap, or have a warm bowl of soup to warm up any time I want. Which leads me to my third point…
3. Food
I have never enjoyed eating according to any given schedule. It used to drive me nuts when I would be forced to take a lunch break at a specific time so that so-and-so could then go at their given time, and so on and so on. Most of the time I was either not hungry, or I’d been hungry for ages waiting for my lunch break to come around. But now that my office is in my own home, I can hop up and head into the kitchen at any darn time I want! And better yet, I can make a hot meal or something healthy, and I never get stuck without a proper lunch and then end up eating out or some other unhealthy alternative.
4. Clothing is optional
Ha! Got your attention on that one! But the point is that I can wear whatever I want – no dress code in my house! If I want to dress up, I can; if I want to stay in my robe all day, that’s fine too. Heck, I can dress up like a fairy princess and wear a tiara if I really want to! Whatever makes me comfortable on any given day, I can wear it.
5. I can be home with my kitties
This would also apply for those of you that have children – it’s nice to be home and able to take care of your babies, and be able to fit your work schedule around it all. Particularly when we first got our kitties it was very handy to be at home to look after them.
So there you have it, the personal top five reasons why I like being a Virtual Assistant. I remember what it was like at the beginning and it seems that we worry so much about whether we have this or that skill, or this or that piece of equipment, whether we’ve got our website up and running, whether we’ve got our business plan all laid out, etc. – and I think it would be a great idea to step back from all the technical points for a moment and consider our personal reasons for becoming, or continuing to be, a Virtual Assistant.
Care to share? I’d love to hear some other personal likes/dislikes about being a VA, and I’d love to hear from the new folks too about what they’re looking forward to the most!