The Virtual Wire

Be the hero of your own story

For Mother’s Day I took my mom to see Nim’s Island. Family films seem to work best for her lately; easier to follow, less violence, etc. The movie was filled with gorgeous island scenery and much adventure plus there were ample reasons to laugh out loud, so it worked for both of us. The writer in the story, played by Jodie Foster, was an agoraphobic apartment dweller who lived vicariously through her larger-than-life action hero in her books. Through him, she sagely advised her readers to, “Be the hero of your own story!” which is also the tag line for the movie. Kinda thought provoking isn’t it?

There have been passive periods in my life when I wasn’t the hero of my own story. I let life pass me by without taking action—paralyzed by self-doubt and negativity which kept me from believing I could create the life of my dreams. Thankfully my path to personal enlightenment and fulfillment paved the way for my journey with AssistU, for which I am grateful beyond measure, and I have been realizing that life with my thoughts and actions over the past three years. To me it has been a heroic journey!

Today as I look to the virtual horizon I’m curious to discover what’s next. The Virtual Wire has been a glowing chapter in my life for two years and I’m now ready to take a leap of faith and birth a personal blog about my learning and lessons. I’m not entirely sure where the pages may lead but I’m one hundred percent committed to making this creative, authentic, (adrenaline-producing) adventure.

And so it is with mixed emotion that I write my final post and say thank you dear reader for traveling with me and sharing the highs and lows. It is time for me to move on and scale new heights in the blogosphere and wonderful world of words. Know that I wish you light and laughter and the wisdom and courage to put one foot in front of the other and be the hero of your own story.

Happiness & Bright Blessings,
Laura

Virtual meets actual

Last weekend at this time I was an attendee at the Forum on Virtual Assistance (FoVA), here in Toronto, Canada. The idea of bringing virtual assistants (VA’s) together, actually, physically, had been tried here before. This time it worked! Our organizer and the energy behind the event, Barbara Lang, did a splendid job of putting everything in place to allow us—many of whom had only ever ‘met’ in e-mail, in a forum, or if we were lucky, on the phone—to meet, greet, learn, and form friendships.

Most VA’s, me included, have had to explain (on numerous occasions) what virtual assistance is and what we as VA’s actually do. It was fun to trade stories at FoVA, and to hear variations of our ‘elevator speeches’.

So there we were—real people who ran virtual businesses!

There were numerous workshops to attend, and each and every one allowed participants to hone or build a part of their business. I attended an e-commerce workshop, another for VA’s interested in niché or specialized industries, another on time management, and still another on alternate streams of income. I was furiously writing notes as I went along. I have several new ideas I didn’t have before the event, and I’ve already begun to work on them. One of the many highlights included a Lunch ‘n’ Learn in which Deanne Kelleher, owner of the kAos Group, talked to us about the four personality types, understanding them, and figuring out which of the four we (predominately) were. It was a high energy session, and very interesting.

For me the highlights of the weekend—besides the fact that the weekend happened in the first place!—included the many opportunities to have one-on-ones with my colleagues. Very cool. I came away with a fuller understanding of what people do, what they want to do, and of potential opportunities for collaboration moving forward.

Marketing – It's On and Off Again

I am always interested in marketing articles and blogs. I was reading this one recently by Small Business Trends which talks about the constant problem that small business owners face of having an on and off relationship with our marketing activities. I believe this is extremely pertinent for us as VAs as we naturally undertake marketing activities while we are in the process of building our practice and attracting clients, but once we are full we easily ignore our marketing, because time does not permit that we can continue with our marketing activites. But of course what is clear is that as partnerships end, then we need to get back into the marketing groove.

So continuous marketing includes:

• Email signature advertising your business what you do and, of course, your contact details
• Blogging
• Regular Ezine

Have a read of the article at Small Business Trends, here it is again.

Let me know what you think and share what other good ideas for continuous marketing that is really easy to do even when your practice is full.

Facts about women in business

The Center for Women’s Business Research is an interesting place to gather information about women in business.

Nearly 10.4 million firms are owned by women (50% or more), employing more than 12.8 million people, and generating $1.9 trillion in sales.

Three quarters of all women-owned businesses are majority owned by women (51% or more), for a total of 7.7 million firms, employing more than 7.1 million people, and generating $1.1 trillion in sales.

For the past two decades, majority women-owned firms have continued to grow at around two times the rate of all firms (42% vs. 24%).

Women-owned firms, 50% or more owned by women, account for 41% of all privately held firms.

As we approach the observance of Mother's Day here in the U.S., it's interestng to make note of these statistics, especially considering that so many moms are counted among this group!

Additionally, the Center highlights characteristics of women business owners, which I found interesting, as well. I'm glad to be accounted for here in this research.

Congratulations to all Moms and women in business!

Idol overload

OK, I'm not really in Idol overload per se, but since the performances last week with Neil Diamond as mentor, I can't get "I Am...I said" out of my mind, and it's driving me crazy.

If you're not an Idol fan, you may want to move on now.

This week's eliminations are taking place as I write, but I Tivo everything and won't know the results till later this evening.

In my own opinion of the remaining four:

Jason – doesn't seem to care very much, or put much effort into his performances. He has a unique and nice sound, but it's time to go.

Syesha – should have gone home a long time ago. She has a beautiful and at times powerful voice, but doesn't have a distinctive sound  - I always get the feeling she's playing a role rather than just singing. I agree with the judges that she would be great on Broadway, but I wouldn't recognize her voice on a recording.

David Cook – great voice, great performer, wonderful ability to arrange a song that fits his talents and style. My pick to win (I hope that is!).

David Archuleta – doesn't make as strong a statement as David C. but his voice is instantly recognizable and has a pure quality that I love. He has the ability to fine tune the vocals and put subtle spins on the arrangements that are charming and memorable.

And what does all this Idol talk have to do with my business? Just that annoying "I Am... I Said" that even for a Neil Diamond fan has about pushed me over the top today as I worked. It took him an hour to write it and over a week after Brooke sang it, I seem to be stuck with it for hours and days…I hope not weeks!