Stop the Madness

When I started my Virtual Assistant business in 2010, I had my head in the sand when it came to my finances.

Not wanting to know how much debt I actually had, I continued to make financial decisions based on my feelings and avoided the facts of my reality. For some crazy reason, doing this made me feel insulated and safe.

My intentions were good. Every morning, I thought to myself, today is the day. “Today is the day I will look at my finances and figure out what’s going on.” Every night, I would ask myself, “Where did the day go?” I would rationalize and tell myself, “I’m too tired; I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Every day, I believed I was telling myself the truth. But I wasn’t. Taming my finances wasn’t hard or beyond my reach, I just couldn’t bring myself to start.

Then, one day, I decided I couldn’t go on like that anymore.

I realized that the problem was the amount of pressure I was putting on myself and how emotional it felt to confront my situation. I had so much judgment running through my head and was doubting my ability to deal with it all.

No wonder I was avoiding it.

I see Virtual Assistants starting their business doing the same thing. They want every aspect of their business to be set up perfectly; they want to never get overwhelmed. They’re telling themselves they want to be successful, but at the same time, thinking they're not capable. And they're setting unrealistic expectations about how long it should take to get a business off the ground.

When it takes longer than they expect, they blame themselves for not being smart enough, good enough, [fill in the blank] enough.

If this is you, you’ve got to stop. All you’re doing is prolonging the feelings of discouragement and frustration.

Get into action instead:

• Decide if you really want to be a business owner. Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. So if you’re dabbling for a few months to see what will happen, don’t waste your time.
  
  The question that will get you closer to success is not “Can I do this?” It’s “What can I do today to make this work?”
   
• Choose ONE area of your business to focus on at a time, and don’t stop until you’re finished. Take on something small to begin so you can get some momentum and have a win under your belt.
   
• Don’t wait to start your journey as a Virtual Assistant until you know everything. Just pay attention to what you need to know right now. It’s ok that you don’t know what you don’t know. Just calm down. You know enough.
   
• Stop comparing yourself to others. All that will do is make you feel defeated. You are where you are; the only way to change that is to get moving. Your success is yours. Put on your blinders.

Running a successful business is more about mindset than skill set. So, please pay close attention to your expectations and beliefs and shift them when necessary to ensure your success.

If you’re not already a member of our Facebook Group, The Virtual Assistant Connection, and would like to join, here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com