Your Virtual Assistant business depends on you as a service professional.
Your clients buy you.
Your work, generally speaking, gets done by you.
You are the CEO, so all decisions are made by you.
If you are not working at near 100%, your business suffers. Your clients suffer. Your bank account suffers.
So why aren’t you taking better care of yourself?
This past week I was lucky to attend a VA conference. There were about 70 of us who descended on Myrtle Beach to share ideas, learn, teach and generally build relationships.
It was a fabulous conference – one of the best ones I have ever been to. The women who come to it are real friends – they understand how our businesses work. They understand being business owners. They understand all of the things we go through to be successful.
Virtual Assistant Habits to Avoid
They also understand the loneliness and lack of accountability that can accompany our virtual lifestyle.
Working in our pyjamas.
Eating lunch at our desks.
Going through the day without a shower.
Working long hours to complete work, so we can fit in our family time.
Ditching work tasks to socialize online or surf the ‘net’.
Reheating our coffee or tea in the microwave eight times before drinking the whole cup.
Sitting at our computer for hours on end, with bad posture.
Snacking on candy or junk food during the day.
Can you relate?
With no one else around us all day, we often forget to take care of ourselves.
So sometimes this takes some extra work. Okay, who am I kidding, it always takes some extra work!
After this year’s conference, several of us agreed that we didn’t really like how we were treating ourselves, and we made a vow to change it.
Taking care of YOU is so important in your business, because YOU are your business.
Without your health and well-being, your business will not be able to survive.
Stress is made worse by lack of care, and burnout is not far behind when you don’t realize you are headed in that direction.
Virtual Assistant Habits to Embrace
So I challenge you to look at how you are actually treating yourself every day, and change it.
Don’t work in your pyjamas. Get up, get showered, get dressed and ‘go to work’ every day.
Take a break for all meals and snacks – go outside for a few minutes (if it’s nice out!) to enjoy your coffee or tea, and keep only water on your desk.
Schedule your time and stay on task so that you minimize the work you need to do outside of office hours (getting distracted by social media or IM during business hours? shut it down until you complete your billable work!)
Be conscious of your posture while at your desk. Sit on an exercise ball if you can, instead of an office chair. Get up and move around for a few minutes every hour. If you can fit some exercise into your daily routine, so much the better!
And finally, get rid of the junk food. If it’s not in your house, you can’t eat it (and frankly, it’s never good for you!). Opt for healthier choices and remember that portion control is the most important part!
By taking care of you, you will do better for your clients, your business and yourself. You will have more energy and you will feel better too.
And if you need help to stay on track, get a buddy to check in with (or join an accountability/support group like I have!). There is power in numbers for sure!
An Accountability Group for VAs!
The Inspired Virtual Assistant Mastermind Group might be just the thing for you – weekly accountability check ins and a growing group of like-minded VA colleagues! Read more about it here. We’d love to have you join us!