I thought I would make my blog a little light hearted and hopefully a little inspirational for some.
I would like to share with you my story and how I came to being a Virtual Assistant.
14 years ago, I was happily employed as a full-time Paraplanner in the Financial Planning industry with a great company who I had been working for with for the past 2 years.
However, I decided that my life needed to change, so I became pregnant and as a result had a little boy.
As a career driven woman, I had no plans whatsoever to give up my job, I was going to juggle having a baby around working full time. No problems at all.
However, my son had other ideas.
After about a year and a half of him being at daycare we started seeing some behavioural problems coming through. At first, we just thought he was being a very high-spirited boy and just worked with the centre to help implement various strategies.
However, after a while, nothing was working any longer and we were asked to remove him from the centre.
This was a turning point for me, I knew if he was struggling through daycare then school was bound to be an even bigger struggle!
I decided that I would need to look at working for myself, so I had the flexibility to be available for his needs should he need me.
I had no idea what I would do though.
After some time searching on the internet, I came across Paraplanners who do contract work from home. I made some enquiries and decided to set up my business.
The year my son started school was the year I started my business.
The first year went well and I was happy to be working from home while having the flexibility around my son’s needs.
However, the financial planning industry is traditionally quiet over the December/January period, so I had to look for other options.
That saw me branch out into other industries and I welcomed a new client who sold weight loss programs and products. What a perfect business to work for during this time as January is one of their busiest periods.
This gave me confidence to continue to try other industries which resulted in my business growing to employ other mums and provide them flexibility around their children.
Over the last 8 years of being in business, I now have 9 team members, I now speak to groups about using a Virtual Assistant in businesses, and we have clients from various industries. Our jobs vary from newsletters and reception to managing entire offices.
In addition, I now coach other VAs and freelancers to grow their business to have flexibility around their own families! Want to know more about that? Check out our website at www.vamentor.com.au
Sometimes the juggle between flexibility and running a business can be very hard, but I still wouldn’t change it for the world. Even through the toughest times, I remember why I am doing all of this and it is, so I can be available for my son.
If you are a client of ours, then you know you have us for life, if you are not a client yet then what is holding you back from having more flexibility in your business?
Contact us now for a free chat.
Paula is a Virtual Assistant and coach. She is passionate about assisting other business owners to grow their business by focusing on the tasks that are more valuable and interesting to the business owner.
If you want more information on how to work with Paula and her team, feel free to contact Paula at [email protected]
