Depending on where you are in the USA, you may have your school-age children home with you now either full-time or part-time. Some school districts have elected to provide options for learning either in-school, remotely, or a hybrid method of in-school and remote learning.

How can you juggle your child's home learning and running your Virtual Assistant or Virtual Expert® business at the same time?

Let's talk about some ways you can work from home -- while your children are with you.

Here are 5 tips for working from home with your children and actually get work done.

1. Schedule

Determine if your family needs to have a dedicated schedule for the day. If your children are younger and need your help to accomplish their daily learning, you will have to adjust your work-time to accommodate their school time. If your children are older, they may be able to work independently and only require your limited attention. You will need to assess your family's needs and determine the best...

Are you longing to own a business of your very own that you can work while homeschooling your children?

Have you tried work-from-home jobs only to be disappointed?

Is it possible to create a business that you love and still be available for your children?

Learning how to become a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Expert® can give you the best of both worlds.

Today, I’m going to tell you about Kate Wiley, a woman who has done just that!

Choosing to stay at home to raise and educate your children takes a dedicated parent. Homeschooling is not an undertaking that many families decide to tackle. To make homeschooling successful, the family has to make a lot of sacrifices.

Kate was well educated and had a fantastic career doing things like polymer research and chemical engineering. Yes, that is high-level stuff! Kate and her husband decided they wanted Kate to home school their three children even though it would mean sacrificing that second income.

Fortunately, and not...

Nobody is perfect, and we all make mistakes. Mistakes are part of being human. You’re bound to make some mistakes along the way. 

As a Virtual Assistant, you work from home for multiple clients juggling multiple projects. No matter how careful you are, mistakes will happen. 

So, if mistakes are inevitable, what do we do when they happen? 

First, we hold ourselves accountable. 

 We self-acknowledge we made a mistake. Accept that we made a mistake, giving ourselves some grace. 

Again, no one is perfect and everyone makes them. Beating ourselves up doesn’t make it disappear and it also doesn’t fix it. 

Then, we own our mistakes to those it impacts - our clients, vendors, or team members.

We approach this with courage and honesty. We also correct, revise, adjust, or amend whatever it is that has happened. If it’s something beyond our control or wheelhouse, we ask for help and...

There is a saying, “Perfection is the enemy of done.”

And it’s real. It’s not just a phrase.

I see this all the time. So have others. Even Forbes has noticed. (And they’re kind of a big deal, don’t you think?)

Their focus is on producing high-quality outputs for their clients.

A lot of Virtual Assistants joining my Virtual Expert® Training program are self-proclaimed perfectionists. They want the decisions they make, and the Virtual Assistant and Virtual Expert® businesses they are creating, to be of the highest caliber. Their focus is on producing high-quality outputs for their clients. They don’t want to spare or skimp on the details.

And because they are thoughtful and intentional, they don’t want to have unanswered questions. These are all amazing elements of the perfectionist’s personality.

On the other side of that high-quality, attention-to-detail, must-have-all-the-answers thinking is the perfectionist who...

There are two important personality traits needed in order to have a successful Virtual Assistant business where you work from home. 

Those two traits are: Taking risks and being flexible. 

 To have a successful Virtual Assistant business, you must take risks.

Starting a new endeavor and leaving behind the security of your old job is scary. However, without taking that risk you remain stuck in the status quo. This is true with any change or transition. 

In order to shift the same-ole-same-ole, you have to step outside of it. When you get out of your comfort zone, you open up your own possibilities.

Getting there means being flexible.

Which is related to but not the same as taking risks. If taking the risk is the actual act of stepping outside of your comfort zone, then flexibility and openness are the mindset or belief system to make that possible. 

Being flexible - and open - allows you to consider new opportunities, whether that be a new client or...

I get asked all the time what makes a successful Virtual Assistant. As though there was a special recipe. 

It makes me think of grandkids marveling at the delight of their grandma’s “secret sauce”  and wanting to know what is in it that makes it so exceptional. And, more importantly, can they replicate her recipe if she gives it to them? 

Anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m an open book. I don’t have secrets. What I know, I share.

Today I want to share these facts with you: 

• There are some central ingredients in becoming a successful Virtual Assistant. 

• That doesn’t mean they are fast or cheap ingredients to come by. 

In other words, knowing the ingredients doesn’t guarantee anything. It’s how you use them. 

 Successful Virtual Assistants possess habits that empower them to face challenges, believe in themselves, and accomplish their goals. 

The keyword there is “habits.”...

Recently someone posted in our Virtual Expert® Facebook group,

“I’m stepping out of my comfort zone by quitting a job I've had for almost 19 years! Just making this decision has brought so much calm into my life.”

19 years!

And there are so many more women in our group that are facing the same decision. Walking away from stable corporate gigs they’ve been in for decades.

I'm not surprised because that’s how I started. It’s terrifying. But it’s also bold. Liberating. Fierce.

Two things we need for change to occur in our lives: ACTION and INTENTION.

We need to act with intention. Not just sit and wait for something to be different. No one is going to make change happen for you. Not even that next shiny object promising you success. Because that bright shiny object still requires a person to operate it.

While we are at it, we also need to let go of the idea that anything is “too late” to do or try.  Don’t let anyone...

When I decided a few years ago to have my professional photos redone, it was my first time to work with a professional photographer.

She really knew her stuff and we busted out all the stops - hair, clothes, makeup, tiaras.

You know, all the essentials.

Before we got to shooting, though, she pulled out a bra that was 2 sizes bigger than I wore. She said, put this on and stuff it with a roll of paper towels.

I was looking at her crazy. “You want me to do what?”

For any of you who have met me in person, you know I am not lacking in the bust department. It’s a fact.

I couldn’t figure out why we would want to draw more attention to that part of my body.

She said, “Yeah, stuff a roll of paper towels in that large bra. It will make your chest look bigger which will make your waist look smaller.”

Another fact is that I have no waist. I have what experts call an apple shape.

I nodded slowly, and I went to find a roll of paper towels and...

There are a lot of industries, such as restaurants and travel, that are hurting during the pandemic. 

Others are growing. Zoom is one and the Virtual Assistant industry is another.

During a pandemic is a great time to start and market your Virtual Assistant and Virtual Expert® business.

Here are 4 ways to market your VA and VE®  business during a pandemic.

1. Update Your LinkedIn Profile

Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date. Add a new, smiling photo. Add keywords so people can find your services when they search on LinkedIn or Google. (Yes, LinkedIn is searchable on Google also.) 

Keywords should include words that your ideal clients will use to search for the help they need:

• - virtual assistant
• - your services, such as bookkeeping, writing, editing, proofreading
• - if you specialize in certain software, use those names. For example, Aweber, WordPress, Constant Contact or ConvertKit

2. Create Content

People have more time to consume content. Before...

There are more Virtual Assistant Clients than ever before.

Let’s talk about why the VA industry is growing so fast, and how you can find VA clients during this crisis.

Let's start with 3 reasons there are more VA and VE® clients than ever before:

1. The new normal is now working from home, virtually and remotely.

That means more business owners than ever are interested in working with Virtual Assistants and Virtual Experts®.

2. Business owners need help – both those with brick and mortar and online businesses.

They need help figuring out how to pivot from where they are now to where they need to be to keep their businesses thriving.

3. More people are buying MORE stuff online.

Clients need you to build websites, set up eCommerce, create content, provide marketing, and perform all the techie tasks ... to know a handful of things out of the hundreds of tasks needed.

With so many  VA and VE® clients,  here are some ways to find them during a...