Finding Your Work/Life Balance in 2010

One of the biggest challenges faced by Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs is finding and maintaining a work/life balance.  The day-to-day tasks of running a successful business can become overwhelming, many times cutting into the time that should be spent doing the things you enjoy most in life.  There is a solution, however: working with a Virtual Assistant.

A Virtual Assistant can help you in a variety of tasks that will alleviate your stress and get you back on track, focusing on your clients and enjoying life.

Whether it is setting up and maintaining all those Social Media accounts you struggle to keep up with, keeping track of  your appointments and meetings, or composing and sending out correspondences to all your clients, a Virtual Assistant is there to help you become more successful with your business and your time.

So why not head into 2010 with a well-balanced lifestyle of a successful business and a fulfilling life by partnering with a Virtual Assistant?

http://www.primoassistance.com

It’s Not What You Say…It’s How I Read It.

We all know the old saying, “It’s not what you say….it’s how you say it”.  Well, in the age of    emails, texts, Facebook updates, tweets, and the like, sometimes the message you are trying to send gets lost in translation.  The emotion or affect you were trying to convey in what you wrote is not the same emotion in which it is read.  Our state of mind at the time we read something can affect the way we interpret what someone has written. So, in a sense, the saying has become “It’s not what you say…it’s how I read it”.

An email sent with the intention of being witty and playful may come off to someone else as condescending and hurtful.  We can’t always know what the reader’s state of mind will be or how they will interpret what we write, but we can take steps to try to minimize confusion.

• Always reread what you write.

• Try to take the reader’s point of view

• Be objective

Open for Business. Primo Assistance is now official!

The first of October marked the beginning of the next leg of my journey. It was the day Primo Assistance officially became a registered business. It was also the day I signed on my first long-term client.

The start of this journey began with a simple phone call from friend & mentor, Dawn Riley of A Virtual Assistant in Paradise, who somehow knew becoming a Virtual Assistant was the direction I needed to take when looking to start a business of my own.  Everything else just started falling into place.

The name – Primo Assistance- came easily.  Primo is both my husband and son’s middle name.  It means “first” or “number one” in Italian.  My husband and I always joked about opening a restaurant called “Primo” so when I knew I was going to start my own business – although not a restaurant – it seemed natural to use the name.

The logo – The logo seemed like a natural extension of my personality.  I live in Florida and love the peace and tranquility of the beach, the palm trees, and the water – a feeling I wish to transcend on my clients.  The #1 within the logo conveys the meaning of Primo and how my business will always be about my clients being #1. (A big thank you to Amber Whitener of Virtual IT Assistants for diligently working with me on the logo design.)

There is still work to be done.  I am working on getting up a website as soon as possible and continuing on my business plan.

At the same time, I am, each & every day, learning something new about being a business owner & every day learning something new about myself.

“Success is not a place at which one arrives, but rather the spirit one undertakes and continues the journey.” ~ Alex Noble

Playing on My Strengths and Passions

It’s been a few weeks since I have written about my journey of starting my business as a Virtual Assistant.  I have been busy putting together the plans and tools of getting started while, at the same time, working on projects subcontracted from other VA’s.  I guess you can say I have been “getting my feet wet” in figuring out my niche and focusing on how my strengths and passions will fall into my business plan, because if there is one thing I have learned and previously state is that if you love your work, it is not work at all.

Along this journey, I have learned some new things about myself and have reevaluated some things I already knew:

One – I am a research geek.  I love for someone to give me a topic and just go to town on finding everything that I can about it.  This love has always been in me (I used to sit and read dictionaries and encyclopedias as a kid.  Yes, I was, and still am, a geek!) but the skill was honed while working at my University’s library where I assisted professors in researching information for their various papers, theses, texts, etc.  Additionally, as a laboratory project coordinator, I was consistently keeping track of updated information pertinent to our field.

Two – I like to write, proofread, and edit.  Writing has always been something I loved to do, but editing only came to me in the past few years.  While working at the laboratory, I was asked to proofread and edit marketing materials and website content before publishing.  I found I really enjoyed doing this and had a skill for it.

Three – Social Media – Now this is one on the list of “New Thing I Have Learned About Myself” since it is a relatively new outlet for me.  I consider myself a social person and love to interact with people so avenues such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are a fantastic way to network, socialize, and engage.

Fitting these three passions into my business plan, along with my strengths in basic administrative tasks and customer relations, will, undoubtedly, make for successful venture.

What Exactly is a Virtual Assistant?

Whenever someone begins a new career or business, people they come across often want to know something more about it.  Family, friends, and general acquaintances will ask questions like: What are you selling? What services do you offer?

In the span of the business world, Virtual Assistance is a relatively new concept and the profession may not be widely heard of, so when I tell people about my business plans, the first question I am asked is “What exactly is a Virtual Assistant?”

There are many sources to answer this question, however, I would like to share the one my dear friend, Digital & Social Media Consultant, John Lusher, has provided through the genuine perspective of Virtual Assistant extraordinaire, Suzie Poirier from Ace Concierge.

What Is A Virtual Assistant?

Thank you John and Suzie for allowing me to share the valuable information you have provided!

Join Me on My Journey

I invite you to come along as I venture into a new phase in my life…the start of my journey as a Virtual Assistant.

First, let me tell a little about myself and my experiences.  I was born and raised in Staten Island, NY and graduated from St. John’s University (Queens) with a bachelor of science in Environmental Science (Ecology).  During my years at St. John’s, I worked at the University library where I honed my organization and research skills.  At the same time, I was offered an internship with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation/Natural Resources Group with their Salt Marsh Restoration Team.

As the name implies, this was a team set up by NYC Parks/NRG to restore an area of small islands and marshes that were damaged by a massive oil spill.  My internship soon became a paid position as a Natural Resources Assistant.  It was here I really learned the value of hard work and that, if you truly love what you are doing, it is not work at all.

After college, I realized the fast-paced life of New York was not for me so I made the move to Florida.  I soon obtained a position with an aquatic toxicology lab where I worked for 10+ years, first as a Laboratory Analyst, then as Laboratory Supervisor, and finally as the Project Coordinator; working one-on-one with clients in test scheduling, project proposals, data analysis and review, review of permits, and much more.

While I loved the work, I found I was missing out on spending time with my family.  I left the world of science and found a position with the county school system so that I could have the same schedule as my daughter, but my life quickly took a new turn….the birth of my son.  I knew I had to leave work behind for awhile and that a new venture would come my way…and now it begins – as a Virtual Assistant.

Now, I knew little, at first, about the world of Virtual Assistance.  I was looking for a way to work from home, utilizing my research, writing, editing, and client-relations skills, when my dear friend and established VA, Dawn Riley of A Virtual Assistant in Paradise, suggested I become a VA.  I knew, with Dawn as my mentor, that this was my new path in life.

So, please follow along with me as I take this new path in establishing Primo Assistance.

Thank you,

Diane

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Welcome to my WordPress Site

Hello everyone and welcome to my first blog post on WordPress.  I hope to keep this as updated as possible with new information about me, my business, and related topics.

Thank you, ahead of time, for being patient with me as I navigate my way through the wonderful world of blogging!

Diane