Tell me more…

A virtual assistant works remotely on tasks like administration, bookkeeping, event organisation, telephone answering and personal assistance. Small businesses who need admin support but don’t want an employee can hire a VA for as many hours as they want. VAs usually work from their own home and many never meet their clients face-to-face.

What are the benefits?

• You can work flexible hours.
• You can choose the type of work you’d like to do.
• With technology such as call diverting, the internet and email, you can work from almost anywhere.

Things to consider…

• Although this is a much more flexible way of working compared to being  employed, you will still need to meet deadlines (ususally for several different clients at the same time) and be available when your clients need you. This takes a high level of organisation and being realistic about the hours you you can work.
• Many people with administration and PA experience are great at their job, but are used to being ‘behind the scenes people’. This means that getting out there and selling themselves doesn’t come naturally to them. You can overcome this, but you will need to think about how you will do it.
• The concept of virtual assistance is still new to many people so you may have to explain what you do and how you can be of benefit to them.
• Having a niche is the key to building a business – don’t try to do all types of administration for all types of business.
• As a remote worker, potential clients will need to trust that you can get the work done to a high standard and on time. This means projecting a professional image at all times. If your home makes this difficult (if you have screaming children in the background when you answer the phone!), then you’ll need to create some systems to get around this. E.g. using a telephone answering service when the children are at home.

Further information

The Virtual Assistant Handbook by  Nadine Hill

The Society of Virtual Assistants

International Association of Virtual Assistants

Not convinced that being a virtual assistant is for you? Take a look at other business ideas for mums.

Being a mum can be a real boost to your creativity. I have huge admiration for mums who spot a niche for a new product, then go ahead and bring it to market themselves.

Mothers Of Innovation was created by Sarah Dawnay to bring together mums who are selling a product they have developed themselves and parents who want to buy quirky, ethical and innovative items for their children.

Sarah is the inventor of the Rockin Hood, a fast alternative to a coat for babies who object to wearing sleeves! Having wrestled a wriggling child into a coat many times, I might just get one myself..

If you’re thinking of developing your own product, check out Sarah’s blog post Hints For Mumpreneurs where she shares her own experience of developing and manufacturing the Rockin Hood.

Then you need to take a look at Iddictive. Every day, Iddictive gives you a new cool, quirky or innovative business idea.

How about a travel agency for  soft toys? Or the Kidspotter – a rentable device that enables you to track the position of your children when at a theme park or shopping centre? You’ve heard of mumpreneurs, how about being a retropreneur too? (That’s someone who gives an old-style business idea a new lease of life).

Brilliant for sparking a fresh idea  or spotting a new trend.

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to take a look at this month’s Business Mum’s Blog Carnival over at Family Friendly Working.

One great thing about work/life balance is it reminds employers that we have a life outside work. I’m all for that.

But beyond that I’m not so sure. Ruth Billheimer of Virtual Balance emailed me today to ask if I could fill in her survey. She’d noticed that people are seeking fulfillment in their work rather than balance and wanted to know more.

I’ve had two babies in the last two years, so I’m still trying to thrash out what my new work and life will look like. As for balance, well I’m totally unbalanced  – my life is 90% babies and 10% business. ‘Me’ time? I’m lucky if I get time to plug in a hairdryer these days!

Unable to make a meaningful comtribution to Ruth’s survey, I thought I’d write this post instead.

The times in my life that have been the least balanced have also been the most productive. Like the time when I worked full-time and studied part-time at the same time, or now, being mum to a 22 month old and a 6 month old. Intense times, but times that are really rewarding as well as shattering, frustrating and challenging (in a good way).

I’ve noticed this in other people too. When I used to hang out with physicists  (that doesn’t make me a bad person, see ‘the best advice I have ever been given‘ if you want me to explain… ) the best scientists weren’t the ones that had balance in their lives, in fact they were the ones  who were bordering on being obsessed.

I know there’s more to life than achieving things, but it does suggest that aiming for balance isn’t going to guarantee success or even satisfaction.

From time to time I read about someone who feels her (it’s almost always a ‘her’) life is out of balance. She thinks that if all the different parts of her life rolled along in harmony she’d be happier. I think that misses the point. If you put your efforts into making all the aspects of your life cancel each other out, life might just pass you by.

Much better to accept that life is a rollercoaster and enjoy the ride. During the frantic times you could feel stressed, stretched, challenged, a sense of satisfaction, confusion, fear, proud of yourself, focussed. During the quieter times you might feel relaxed, calm, frustrated, bored, as if you’re going nowhere, peaceful, demotivated.

Calm isn’t necessarily better than being frantically busy. Both states have their good parts and their bad parts. Of course you need to take care of your relationship and your health or you’ll be heading for divorce or worse.  Being a workaholic and hardly ever spending time with your children would be a terrible shame. If you’re working too hard and it’s making you unhappy, change it if you can.

But if we actually balanced our lives, I’m not sure we’d be any happier than we are now.

Live your life, don’t try to iron it flat.

Do you have any thoughts? Drop me a comment!