Why I Became a Virtual Assistant
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about life, it’s that it’s unpredictable. Every time I think I have things figured out, the road curves in an entirely new direction.
I’ve mentioned before that I was at one time convinced I didn’t want to go into teaching. Upon returning home after four years of teaching (and loving it!), I really had no idea what I wanted to do next. I did have a few vague ideas of what I didn’t want to do, or what might make for an ideal job, but it took a great deal more thought, research, rejections, and preparations to land where I am now.
Even as recent as a year ago, I didn’t know much about what a virtual assistant is or does. On the surface, the decision to start up my own freelance business as a VA might appear to have come out of the blue. Upon closer inspection, however, that’s not actually the case. This career is in fact a natural development of my interests, values, and skills.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
But first, what exactly do I do? In short, a virtual assistant makes your life easier by taking on time-consuming tasks you can’t or prefer not to do yourself, without the extra costs and office space a full-time employee would require.
You can find a full list of my services here, but I specialize in writing & editing, podcast production, and general admin. For all of these, I am able to utilize skills I already have and simultaneously hone new ones. This means I am working both for my own development and for the benefit of my clients and their businesses.
Why Virtual Assistance?
Ultimately, I am driven by a desire to share the changes I have made in my own life. I am passionate about organization because I have experienced firsthand the difference made by implementing certain systems and habits.
Over the past several years, I’ve undergone a process of significant self-development. I went from considering myself a night owl to realizing I am most productive in the morning; from someone with several thousand emails crowding multiple inboxes to maintaining inbox zero on a daily basis; from a collector of many objects I didn’t even care much about to someone in pursuit of a clutter-free life. It makes sense, then, why I would be drawn to a career that revolves around keeping myself and others organized.
As a VA, I Can Do What I Love and Help Others Do the Same
As a former English language teacher and expat, I’ve seen the importance of clear, effective communication. And I care deeply about helping people find the right words to express themselves. As a writer, I hope the lessons I have learned can speak to others who need to hear them as much as I did. And as a virtual assistant, I aim to assist people who are also helping others become the best versions of themselves. One of the beautiful things about freelancing is the opportunity to work with a variety of different people and to pour my skills into projects and people whose values align with mine.
The core of what I offer my clients is clarity. I take on extraneous tasks, thereby simplifying their workload and freeing them to focus on the most important tasks. And pursuing that clarity in my own life provided me with the ability and the inspiration to do so.
I’d love to hear from you. How has your own journey enabled you to help others with theirs? Which passions or skills have inspired what you do in new or unexpected ways?