Seeing as how this month is all about branding, as well as being personal history month. I thought I’d do something a little different for my “What is a Virtual Assistant” post – I’m going to share my story and tell you a little about me and how I became a Virtual Assistant.
I grew up in Armidale, a country town which also had a University, so I was lucky enough to get to grow up with a lot of different types of people. The university attracted a very diverse population, but because it was a small town we all got to know each other. It meant I grew up learning to communicate with lots of different people with lots of different communication styles and ideas. That’s a really handy trait for anyone to have, but a 100% necessary skill for a Virtual Assistant.
When I left school I didn’t really have any specific ambition. I’d always wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer, but the combination of the show being cancelled, and me being super-clumsy with absolutely no rhythm made that an unlikely prospect. So I had to develop a Plan B. For a while I thought Plan B would involve electronics, but after spectacularly failing the first year of the apprenticeship course (which I did while working as a library clerk, not an electronics apprentice), I was persuaded to pursue a library career.
Fortunately for me, a library career turned out to be a lot more entertaining than it sounded. Libraries were just starting to get technology so it was a lot of fun and a constant learning curve. I gained an Associate Diploma – Library Technician over 12 years (partying was much more fun than studying in my late teens and early twenties) which I think was a record for the longest time to get a qualification. I also gained a heap of other skills that would end up transferring well to administration.
As part of both my studies, and as separate courses I was trained in database searching, at that time database searches were expensive and it was important to get a small set of results that were precisely what was wanted, not cast a wide net and let the client filter out the best results. I learned the art of the “reference interview” which is basically finding out what people are really asking for, as well as things like cataloguing, classification, customer service and the importance of getting on with people and being part of a team and some pretty solid computer skills.
After about 13 years at the Armidale CAE, then the University of New England libraries, I was offered a job working for a library supplier who was developing a new product for libraries. The job was in Brisbane and on the day the job offer was made it was snowing in Armidale (sludgy, cold & gross snow – not lovely, picturesque, fun snow) and mid-20’s in Brisbane, so I started two weeks later. I stayed there for about 5 years, and would probably still be there except that during that time we were bought out by a US company who went into liquidation during the dot com bust.
During this time what I really loved most was the variety and challenges involved in learning new software systems from SAP to Crystal Reports to home grown systems to corporate networks. I was in my element when it came to learning how to use something, understanding the why’s and wherefores of the policy and procedure and improving on them if possible.
Naturally, I learned lots from every job. Even the worst of them all taught me how much difference it makes when you have great colleagues, the importance of teamwork, and to develop a thicker skin. One thing that really stood out in all jobs was the value of procedures and documentation. Whether it was a business with a high staff turnover, or people who’d been there forever doing things the same way – having process and procedure documented made it easy for someone to step in and help, as well as to look at the reasons for doing things and make sure they still existed.
Finally, I left the project manager and was between jobs and visiting my partners mum in hospital when I bumped into a colleague from my days at the publisher. He suggested I become a Virtual Assistant as he had a need for one, and I was wondering what to do next. I went home and googled it, and decided that at this point in my life with a number of people close to me having health issues, something flexible would make it much easier for me on a personal level. So I trotted off to the Queensland Office of Fair Trading and registered my business name and went into business.
That was in October 2008, a little over 5 years ago and it’s been yet another steep learning curve, but I’m still going strong, much to my surprise. I hadn’t really considered it to be a long term option (I still don’t really think of myself as the business owner type), but I enjoy it far more than I anticipated so I’ve got no plans to stop for now.
