please pin from original source: leonora @ yellow heart art
i’m quite hesitant to actually admit this out loud but this whole virtual assistant thing has taken off. like. madly exploded and pushing the boundaries of out of control. and man, if i’m not loving every minute of it then i’m crazy.
because i totally am! i can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that something i’ve done, created, and loved has been so fun and successful for me in such a short amount of time.
i’m so proud of myself. but i don’t want to rush into getting too appreciative of it and falling into that dangerous comfort zone where my brain says “ya girl you got this!” and then something awful happens. which is the very reason i was hesitant to state all this in the first place.
however, i think it is important to pat yourself on the back every once in a while and congratulate yourself on a job well done. and it is hard to do this so publicly because i don’t want to sound like i’m bragging but i need for other people to hear it and confirm it to make it so.
i made up this arbitrary goal to be working from home as a full time va in 2013, never thinking i could actually do it and knowing that if it was going to happen it would take some divine intervention.
it so appears that God had this on his goal list too because it is becoming a serious possibility.
commence me being both squealing with delight and cowering from fright.
i’m not one to go into something so life changing without doing a little preparation and research so i thought i’d share here some things i am doing to prepare for working at home.
{holy cannoli batman is this happening to me?}
if you know of the original source please let me know so i can give credit!
1. accepting this as a fact.
it is really going to happen.
it is really going to happen.
it is really going to happen.
i keep repeating this to myself hoping to somehow ingrain it so far into my brain that any other possibility just goes away.
2. getting cozy with my budget.
i said this in the launch post, but sticking to a strict budget is going to take some serious dedication from me. the only way this will work is if i do that and keep a steady income. save save save. spend less. that is my motto for the rest of the year.
(dear family – you are all getting hugs from the mclains for christmas.)
3. preparing for the worst.
i don’t mean the worst in a monetary sense either. i hear horror stories of people who think working from home will just be the bestest thing ever and then when it actually happens they have a total meltdown and lose touch with themselves. they forget what human contact is, stay holed up in their office, and never shut off. so i’m gearing up for that first day when i wake up and say to myself
self. we got work to do.
and then get on pinterest all day. because i know it could happen. i’m just preparing my brain so that it won’t.
4. coming up with a schedule.
i knew from the very start that i would need a schedule. my little brain operates best in blocks of time and a truly scheduled out day. so i started out by immediately setting office hours for my virtual assistant business. nothing (no emails, no work, nothing) after my stated closing time of 6ish. that isn’t to say a frantic email will be ignored but after six dinner gets going, netflix gets turned on, a walk is taken, and time with the hubs is important. oh and a bath. always gotta have my bath. 😉
5. staying in touch with the humans.
i mean the real live ones outside of the computer screen. the ones that i can see and touch in real life. so lunch out of the house once or twice a week may be in order. or joining a knitting group or hosting a bible study. something to completely disengage my brain from the world of twitter, HTML, and newsletters.
who are we kidding? i don’t know how to knit.
6. setting up a real work area.
right now my desk is in my kitchen. it is an old vanity and while i love it (i did put quite a bit of work into it) it really isn’t the best place for someone to sit and work at in front of a computer. it is a little too high, has awkward storage, and could probably be situated somewhere less central in the house to allow me some privacy and less distraction.
honey, you might have to share that man cave with me.
7. stay humble
i will be assigning the task of slapping me around a bit whenever i start to get on a high horse to a few of my closest friends (internet and real life). i don’t consider myself a really obnoxious person when it comes to success but sometimes i do need a little slap of reality to keep me fully in check.
please pin from original source: joy’s hope
so i need some opinions from folks i know who work from home. what would you do differently if you could start over? what is your biggest life saver that makes working from home doable? i’d love some advice and guidance from those who have some experience with it!
I have neve worked from home, but I kind of feel like maternity leave had a similar potential for sucking the life right out of living. So, things I would do differently that may translate: get ready to "go to work" every morning like normal, including brushing your teeth! Use the schedule you create, in order to avoid getting overwhelmed by all you have to do and just giving up and letting FB or Twitter or whatever else suck you in. Don't turn on the TV during work hours! And make sure that you time your breaks- again, it's super easy to get lost in some other task. I think that's all. You probably already thought of all of these things.
I'm SO EXCITED that it's taking off!! I mean, that is a BIG deal. BIG. I worked from home for a year and a half and as long as you actually make an effort to see real people outside of the computer, it totally does rock. I never got sick of it. So happy for you!