Your beginning will not always be your present situation.
My journey is not one of those moments where you will think that it was an easy and successful one. I came into the virtual assistant industry by accident. I will talk some more about this.
I am Julian, but I prefer to be called Juli. I am from Jamaica and I went to school and studied to be a Guidance Counsellor and also did some Data Entry courses during my time in college when I was studying for my degree.
Fast-forward a year later, graduated and getting ready for the workforce with no work. Yet another year passed with me volunteering at schools, staying online on social media, and still no job. I must say I love to watch TV and this is where I saw an advertisement for a boot camp on how to make money online.
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How my online journey started from a freelancing site.
I went to the boot camp, which introduced me and educated me vastly on how to make money online. I signed up to the Fiverr platform and Upwork (formerly known as Odesk) and choose to offer virtual assistant services because I did have some experience in Data Entry.
Little did I know that this is where my journey would begin. Fiverr, I must say, was where I had made the majority of my income when signing up; I was not as successful on Upwork, but I wanted to do more with my career and I was not planning on staying on a platform to make an income starting at $5.
Mind you, I know that Fiverr presents the opportunity to make more and to be successful, but this was only the tip of my iceberg on my journey and I did not want to solely depend on Fiverr because, even though it was my learning ground or school to be educated in this industry, I was getting more and more frustrated with the many issues that I was facing with the platform.
I will show you how I researched and learn.
I researched every day on different ways for me to earn. I even joined another platform to see if I could earn more than what I was earning now. That was not successful either. I came across groups and social media platforms such as Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook, which was more than a graduate school in itself.
This is where I learned in groups that, as a virtual assistant, the potential is there to work and build relationships with your ideal clients, and of course to make more money.
Discovering myself on my journey.
The first thing on my journey that I discovered which I learned, was that coming into this industry, it’s imperative to have a website. Little did I know that this was only the beginning stage of this process; I thought that that’s all I needed until when I was in groups I saw other person’s pitching their services.
I signed up for almost everything just to be educated. Some seemed to be fruitful and some were just not for me, but what I did learn and appreciate from all the information that I gathered was that I learned each time when I signed up for a webinar.
Social media played a big part in my journey in this industry because I learned from others in various groups that I was in. When I needed support or a question to be answered, I did get that support.
Offer services that you love and outsource those that you don’t like!
I learned from day one to stick with services that I liked or preferred to do. What I mean is that tasks that were time-consuming and were not easy to manage, I stopped offering such services before it was something that I thought would make me leave the industry before I was ready to.
Another one was I did not want to be attracting the wrong types of clients that would not understand that this was something intended to be beneficial to both myself and for these clients receiving my best service.
As a small business owner myself, starting out your business, we tend to make the mistake of not hiring out for help from day one or putting in place measures that can assist us in the growth of our business.
We tend to not want to let go of the horns of the bull of our business because we think we can do it all.
Wrong! Misconception. We have to put measures in place; some of the time, we do not think of what will happen if you are unable to work tomorrow if an accident were to happen or you being sick for a day.
Mind you, we might not think these occurrences might happen, but how many of you have put in place a backup plan when this happens, because days like these when you will be unable to, your business and customers are still there and this is where a virtual assistant will come in, that will assist in getting the flow of your business growing.
Now I am at the stage where I will be working hard to meet those ideal clients and to deliver the quality to my clients. My journey is not yet done in this area; it’s only the beginning, but I am glad that I did start the race to do this business and I will continue to do so until I reach the finish line.
It was nice of you to stop by.
Until then, happy hiring, and best wishes with your business.
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Photo Credit: Haute Stock
I love it when an oops comes together.
Thanks Ann! All the best.
That’s a great journey. You are inspiring! Kudos to you!
Nidhi! Thank you.
Through your blog I’ve discovered about virtual assisting. You’ve written this so well and explained it all so well. Thank you for sharing xx
Thanks Susana! I appreciate that through my blog post you have learned as well. All the best.
What a great story dear! Thank you for encouraging all of us! <3
Thanks, Cassidy!
This is a great post! All the best to you! xo
Thank you Theresa and I wish the same for you as well.
First I must say that this quote “Your beginning will not always be your present situation” is everything!! Things definitely change in life and it’s so important to be flexible. I have heard so much about Fiverr. After reading your post I will give it a try!
It is isn’t it? All the best to you Britne.
Ah serendipity! I love when good things happen accidentaly. Hope you continue to discover awesome things on your virtual assistant journey 😊
I will continue to be on the lookout. Thanks.
I love what you said about outsourcing. I want to hire someone for social media. It can be overwhelming. When the money comes though.
It can be Bonnie but I am sure you will reach the right decision when the time is right. All the best.
High five, fellow Jamaican girl! Great article that I’m sure a lot of people looking to find / switch careers will benefit greatly from. It’s so interesting that it’s the things that we stumble on just by chance can have the greatest meaning in our lives. I love how you speak of being able to learn independently, from the resources you found online and by ‘trial and error’.
Thank you Cyndi, I do appreciate it, and you are so right, who would have known that my career change would be online.
Your determination and hard work are so inspiring. Thanks for such a great article.
Thanks Mei, I appreciate it. All the best to you.
Such an amazing story. Your experience, and how you made up your mind to pave your way to the top will inspire many in the near future. As it just inspired me.
Thank you Justice, all the best.
Nice post and so inspiring to others…
Thank you Rupinder!
Now that is an happy ending I would love to have. I discovered blogging by accident too and so far the results have been amazing.
That’s nice to know Faru, all the best to you.
You did everything right! Hard work pays off. And your determination is what makes you successful. Congratulations!
Thank you so much Joleene!
My favorite jobs have been those that I stumbled on accidentally. I call it fate 🙂
Thank you Heather, for me that wasn’t what I was planning on doing though.
THANK YOU for sharing this
such insightful info.. .
I can totally use this for myself.
xx
That is so good to hear Paige, all the best.
This is cool! Loved your post.
Thanks Claire!
Such an inspiring journey! Finding what you love by accident and excelling at it is so rewarding! Congratulations and keep up the amazing hard work
Thank you Sydney I appreciate it.
Thank you. Such an inspiring story ! Wish you lots of success !
Your welcome!
I’m glad it has all come together for you. What were the issues you encountered on the Fiver platform if you don’t mind sharing?
Shanab I don’t mind sharing but one issue that I had was when I wanted to raise my prices that customers were not happy to pay more, and I did not like the fact after a while that I couldn’t set my rates and services base on how much I wanted, it seemed like I was always going to be competing with those who wanted to charge $5 so I branch off on my own.
Thanks for the journey, I love how everything worked out in the end!
Yes Luna, but at first it didn’t seem that wy though
Very well written !!! The point is so helpful !!Keep on rocking !!!
Thank you
Wow, thank you for sharing your story, it had me drawn in right from the start and I have never heard of your profession. I will definitely google it and you had an interesting life. I’m glad things turned out good for you and it’s truly an honor to have met you.
I wish you even more success in the days to come and once I become independent and think of earning money on my own through the internet, I might have to refer your blog again for motivation and I will definitely keep in touch with you as well.
No thank you, Marcel, and wishing you success to you as well.
Great article.
I love it when people succeed or discover something meaningful.
More power to you.
Thank you Neil!
I love reading people’s stories! Congratulations on your success! Thanks for sharing those tips.
No problem!
Guess I have been living Under the rock, this is my first time hearing of Fiverr but I use Upwork and I have gotten three jobs so far. Thanks for unfolding my eyes, heading right away to Fiverr to sign-up. Congratulations on your acheivements.
All the best Gloria and thank you.
What a great opportunity to make some extra money and get stuff done! If I had the time (although saying that makes me think I need a VA) I would try to pick up some work this way.
Thank you Kate!
okay, I want to say a couple of things here. First, your posts always hook me. I am a skim reader, but not with your posts. Second, you are EXTREMELY quick to respond via email. I seriously cannot believe how much you have going on, and yet you write back so fast. And I can tell that you aren’t sending auto-responses, because several times you have answered certain questions back to me in detail, which is beyond awesome. Thank you for being such an inspiration! I hope I can be as successful as you!
Thank you Julie and all the best to you.
Thanks for sharing your story. I am inspired!
I am appreciative that you are Blair.
Sometimes accidents happen for a reason. This is a good one..:)
I agree with you.
What an exciting journey! Thank you for the great information – the idea of a virtual assistant is something that’s really going to explode, I feel. Good to see that you’re ahead of the game!
Thank you Angela!
That’s really great and inspiring story. Thanks for sharing. I hope I could write as good as you.
Thank you
This a great informative article. I love that you find your path!
Thanks Niki!