Exploring A Career As A Virtual Assistant – Virtual Book Tour Stop #3

My VA colleague, Jessica Maes, has just launched her book Exploring A Career As A Virtual Assistant and she is currently on virtual tour to promote it! Jessica operates a busy Virtual Assistance practice from her home office in Madison, WI. Additionally, Jessica has taught a class at the University of Wisconsin through the Minicourse department called Exploring A Career As A Virtual Assistant since early 2009. The class has had great response based on the ever growing interest in the Virtual Assistance industry and the current job market conditions that have people exploring their career options more vigorously than ever before. Jessica wrote the book so that people beyond driving distance to the University can learn much of the same information she shares from the comfort and convenience of their own home. After all, this is a book about working virtually, so sharing the information offsite is a natural fit! You can read a free sample from the book by clicking here.

As part of this tour stop, Jessica is available to us today to answer your burning questions about the Virtual Assistance industry! Post your question by clicking on the comments link above. Jessica will respond in the Comments section so be sure to check back!

To celebrate the book’s launch, Jessica has a few goodies to offer us. The first is a 20% discount off the purchase of the book. Simply use the promo code THANKYOU during check out.

The second is that one lucky ready will receive a free copy of the eBook version of the book! To be eligible to win, you simply need to post a question about Virtual Assistance in the comments section of this post. The winner will be chosen at random and announced here in a couple of days.

The book is currently available for immediate download via an eBook format and in hard copy. To purchase the book, click here.

A not so ugly secret

As a work at home Mom for the last 13 years, one thing has made a difference for how I feel about myself. I always -without exception- dress down to my shoes (as the Flylady calls it.) It may be lunchtime before I get my exercising and shower in, but if you saw me, I’d have on decent clothes, shoes, jewelry, makeup, and my hair done. My mom would be proud that I’m likely to have on lipstick, too.

Okay – it’s not rocket science, but after 3 decades in a corporate world I know that I perform better when I am “ready.” If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you’ll do better work. I’m ready to dash out of the door to the store, or to a client’s office, and don’t have to delay a trip or feel embarrassed if I run into someone.  I do it even if no one else is around and I know I’m not going anywhere.

What do YOU do when no one is looking?

A cure for overwhelm

Recently I have been working on putting systems in place to simplify my daily routines. Over the past year I have been subscribing to lots of ezines and newsletters, downloading free reports and ebooks, and getting on LOTS of email lists. Tell me you’re in that same boat, too… Anyway, several months ago I finally created rules in Outlook so that most of those emails went into separate folders which I could look at if I wanted to. Wow – what a relief that was.

Time passes and wouldn’t you know it, those newsletter don’t get looked at and all those emails about calls that will change my life, (or certainly my business) are just clogging up my mailbox and draining all my energy.  For some reason I have been thinking that the perfect solution is there on the next teleconference. And actually, I found a very nice coach and mastermind group to join because I listened to the “right” teleconference. It was a good match at that instant, and is the direction I am taking for six months.

Today in my *first* mastermind group the lovely ladies there told me to just unsubscribe from all that stuff and quit worrying about it.  So, I am passing on that I have spent time unsubscribing from all those lists. It may take another week or two to catch them all, but when I need more information to get me through another curve in my road, I can find more people to follow.

And so can you.

Stay tuned Wednesday for a big event – I am participating in a Virtual Book Tour for one of my VA colleagues. Come back and see what it’s all about!

Blog at last!

Well, after several years of thinking about it, I have finally created my first blog. While I am busy customizing the look of the site, it seemed okay to start posting my thoughts. You will see lots of changes over the next few weeks as I decide how all this needs to come together. What won’t change is what I have to say. That’s really the point of the blog, isn’t it?

Over the next few days, weeks and months you will get a front row seat into what I am doing and thinking. And I will be looking for all of you in the comments. Those who know me well, know that I always have something to say (!), so hopefully the same will be true of my blog.  Since I started my own business I have been amazed at all the cool stuff available on the internet. You’ll be hearing a lot about that, too.

Well, it’s time to eat a little pizza, watch the Tour de France replay, and get some laundry done. I’m taking a mini-vacation tomorrow and need some clean clothes.