Today’s Quote: Whatever beginning goals you set for yourself, following through on them will build momentum and a sense of achievement and those small successes will point the way to bigger ones. – Pamela Glass Kelly
Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today we are going to talk about momentum – it can be hard to get started or keep going with a lot of things in our VA business.
Click the play button above to tune in, or choose your favourite podcast player below:
Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Momentum.
So much fun when you get going!
How do you get to where you want to go?
You start. And then you keep going.
Sometimes when something is exciting – like a new goal, or a new training, or a new client, or a new networking group, we put all of our focus on it. It is new and fun – so it is appealing to make our lists, and block time in our calendar, and get it done – right?
But are you keeping it up after you start, though?
This time of year, new year’s resolutions abound. Losing weight, eating better, saving money, self care goals, finding love – and business goals – making more money, getting more clients, be more consistent on social media.
But statistics show us that very few people keep those resolutions. Why? I think it’s because they lose momentum.
They are hard.
They don’t have an actual plan, it’s just a wish.
They don’t see results, so they abandon it.
This can definitely be true for weight loss goals, and it’s true with business as well.
A couple of years ago I started taking high blood pressure medication. My doctor told me to eat more vegetables and walk, to help control it.
So I did. I have never taken daily medications in my life, and I was motivated to keep my dosage low.
I ate veggies at every meal (not a big fruit person) – filling half my plate of every meal with roasted or sauteed veggies. I used my hashtag #5todadayiseasy to motivate others and people were talking to me about it, telling me they were trying it to. I walked every morning after getting up. It was the first thing I did – brushed my teeth and headed out. I started walking about 2 km and then was doing 6 km most days. Because it was the first thing I did every morning, I did it without fail. And coupled with my eating habits, I lost 30 lbs.
It’s not hard to stay motivated when you are getting results, and when everyone around you is talking about what you are doing.
The same can be said for you business stuff. Let’s break down the reasons that this worked so well for me:
- Schedule – I did it first thing every morning. No excuses, nothing else got in the way. I usually walked between 6 and 7 am.
- Routine – I created a playlist of my favourite songs to walk to – and I listened to it religiously on my walks.
- I came home and ate breakfast right away, before my shower. 3 meals a day is essential when you are trying to lose weight.
- I got in the shower around 7:30 – still way before anyone else in my house got up. Then I got straight to work. I had an extra hour in my day still, starting work at 8.
- I meal planned – so I had reheatable meals for lunch every day
- I was able to take breaks during my work day because I was working a good and regular schedule.
- Obviously I was seeing results – and I was feeling good too.
Am I keeping it up? Nope. I haven’t walked in a year … sad face, I know. Why? Because I damaged a nerve in my foot and I got out of the habit. It was sore for months. Then I went to visit my friend in Quebec City and I left my shoes there. I never got them back. All excuses. I did have to let my foot heal, but I could have started up again once I knew how to fix it.
Now, my foot is finally not sore anymore, and I bought new shoes, but I still haven’t started walking again. And I’ve put 15 lbs back on. I don’t feel good and I start my days way too late. I’m tired a lot, and my doctor increased my dosage of my medication. Such a big old bummer.
So I’m starting over – I have zero excuses – I know how to take better care of my foot, I still meal plan, and I got new shoes. My goal is daily walking, veggies at every meal, and a weight loss goal of 25 lbs by summer time (last time it only took me about 3 months to lose 30 lbs, so I know it can be done – and it’s not even hard! i just need to get started, and stop making excuses – and keep it going.
This is why I am talking to you about momentum today!
Momentum is, simply put, forward motion.
And in my experience, forward motion means small daily habits that add up to getting you to where you want to get to. Just like my walking and eating veggies does. Easily!
So how do we do that? Here are 5 things you can do to start building momentum in your VA business right now:
- Stop taking advice from people who have accomplished less than you.
One of the things that keeps VAs stuck is the cheerleading squad that is the VA community. Don’t get me wrong, having such support from our peers is amazing and necessary – but the advice that you get from people who have not yet been beyond where you are can be detrimental to your success. Always seek to get your advice and support from people who have been where you want to go – the experts.
Limit the number of people you get advice from. Too many is a distraction. The VA groups are good for water cooler chat, resources, and camaraderie, but when it comes to the advice you need to make decisions, look for a trusted group like an advisory board or a mastermind group and take your advice only from them. If you outgrow them, change them out for new people. It’s not about friendship, it’s about business.
2. Forget about what everyone else is doing.
What do they say, comparison is the thief of joy? I couldn’t agree more. When you compare yourself to someone else, especially just by watching what someone else is putting out there online, your could be robbing yourself of the facts – and the ability to get to where you want to go.
You have to work on your own stuff – your people, your service offerings, your business. Even though we are all VAs, our businesses are all different because they are service businesses – and we are the main commodity. We are all different. We work differently, we know different things, and we approach all of the things we do differently.
What will work for you? Set goals that inspire you. Don’t work towards something that doesn’t excite you. Build your business the way you want it. Everything that you do and achieve will mean more because it’s what you actually want.
3. Stop learning.
I know, you’re just like me. A perpetual learner. I love to learn new stuff. I love to take courses – free, paid, simple, complex, whatever. But in order to start building momentum in your VA business, it’s time to start taking action. Only action will get you where you want to go. There will always be another training that will come along.
If you take some training, implement it. Implementation is what will build your business because you’ll be making focused changes based on the new stuff that you have learned. You don’t have to implement everything – choose one thing to do well, like everything we tell you – focus on that and it will reap rewards for you.
Make planning your new hobby. If you can master planning and setting up action steps that will get you to the goals you set, or the plans you make, it becomes easy and yes, even fun!
4. Leverage your time.
we all have the same amount of time every day. How are you using yours? You need to master your time management so that you are using it as efficiently as possible. Schedule your day, including breaks – and find time where you think you don’t have it.
What helps with leveraging your time? Doing like tasks at the same time, doing one client’s work during a bucket of time, eliminating distractions and working smart. Don’t do things 10x a day. Checking email, even for a client, doesn’t need to be done 10x a day. If they are very busy, you can check it 4x and be very efficient. Set yourself a bucket of time to process it – 15 mins, 30 mins, and stop after your set time, and move onto something else. It’s about working efficiently.
Routines and habits are essential in time management. Manage and leverage – focus on doing these better and you will find a lot more time in your day.
5. Seek to implement growth daily.
You also need to focus on growth every single day. That doesn’t mean getting a new client or raising your rates, or even anything else that is that huge. Look for opportunities to grow your business. More connections? More visiblity? More clients? More money? More productive? There are so many ways that you can start doing one thing better and that will help you grow your business. If you are not growing every day, you are losing opportunity.
Evolve with your business. When you take even just 15 minutes every day to look at the opportunities, you can make some good decisions – and then use that planning to make some adjustments.
If you can’t tell from this list of just 5 things, the key to momentum is to take daily actions. But doing things one step at a time is what will get you there.
Concentrate on the small changes – see results – that’s exciting – concentrate on another change – see results, and so on.
Be sure you get accountability for your routines – a personal cheerleader to help you get stuff done and get to where you want to go.
Need Some Help?
That’s exactly what we will be doing in The Virtual Circle, my new mastermind group for Virtual Assistants. Check it out at www.YourVAMentor.com/TVC (the virtual circle) – I bet it’s exactly what you need to start building momentum in your business.
If you need some help with starting to build momentum – or keep it going in your VA business – reach out to me at tracey@yourvamentor.com. I’ve helped hundreds of VAs just like you through their challenges and got them on their way to the next level. I’d love to do the same for you through private coaching or one of my group programs. Let me know how I can help!
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, thanks for tuning in to learn to become a ridiculously good Virtual Assistant.