Virtual Moxie - The Cure For The Common Virtual Assistance Practice

Pump Up the Jam

As much as I believe I have zero imagination (at least not on demand), when something sparks my creativity, it screams at me, inside my head until I do the thing. I've come to think of it as a way my wise self communicates with me that I need time for fun, or soul nurturing, or just a different thing than whatever I've been doing. So I usually don't fight it much.

So it was that, smack dab in the last third of my relaunch of our training program (coming late this week, God willin’!) that I had the idea for a new blog.

Oh, no. It’s not enough that I write VMoxie five days/week. Or that I contribute to Love Lavishly 4-7 times/week, I needed ANOTHER blog. Seriously? Right now?

Apparently so, because it was screaming at me.

It’s partly my fault. And I’m also happy to share that it’s partly Alicia Rittenhouse’s fault. I’ll get to that in a minute.

The issue that sparked the blog? I call it “the 2pm slump.” Chances are you’ve felt it from time to time, but for me, it’s an every-day thing that, by 2pm, I’m really only good for something like stamp licking.

I used to take a nap to get my mojo back. Then I started dancing to music I love. I got about the same benefit, in terms of waking up and getting more bang out of my work day, but I certainly had more fun dancing than napping (if you know me, you know what a HUGE statement that one is!), and there was the added health/exercise benefit of getting out of my chair and moving!

So I would occasionally share whatever I was dancing to on Facebook and Twitter, and others would share it with their friends. And then I noticed other other people (not the people sharing my videos), like my aforementioned pal Alicia Rittenhouse, doing the same thing I was, and I thought to myself, “Self…it would be fun to put all those cool videos and songs in one place and share it with the world, so all the slumpers could have easy access to something that would be helpful!”

And just that fast, Wake Up Your Day was screaming at me to be created. I tried to resist, but failed miserably. Surrender was the only path forward that made any sense.

First step? See if the domain is available. I tend to think that if my first thought is available it’s a sign I should absolutely move forward. It was (obviously). Next step? Set up the Tumblr blog that would make it easy for me to contribute to the booty-shaking cause. And, of course, I had to get the fabulous Jon Nix in there to create a logo for it, and ask my best girls to weigh in on it all. Then I started posting. Every week day at 2pm, ET.

Time spent on this project of love? A couple of hours. Benefit to slumpers everywhere? I hope enormous.

Hope you’ll visit, too, whether or not you get slumpish. If you love to dance, you’ll find music that’s current, as well as music that goes way back (who remembers Motown, or disco?). Everything has an awesome beat—and that’s what really matters.

Once I’d done that, the benefit was that I was refreshed, renewed, and 100% available to myself again to focus on the relaunch. A good thing all the way around!

What do you do to get your mojo back? Would love to hear!

Some Things Must Be Believed to Be Seen

I’m teaching a class loosely called “Get Me Outta Limbo!” It’s for AssistU Virtual Assistants who feel stuck in some context as they build their businesses.

Today was the first of four sessions, and I’ve gotten so much good feedback from participants about a certain thing I shared that I decided to share it with all of you, in case it’s somehow helpful.

If you’re a VA who is stuck in building your business, there can be a wide variety of reasons why… and I can help with a lot of them, as often many of them deal with foundation.

And while there is no magic pill to cure all, I do know the secret to moving forward from wherever you’re stuck.

Know and Believe

The key is in claiming for yourself your right to do what you want to do. To claim your space in the landscape of our profession. To be and offer and do all the things you care to in the ways that only YOU can be and offer and do things.

Balance and Float

Did you know that no one can teach you to ride a bike? It’s true. I mean, someone can teach you the mechanics… these are the pedals and you move your legs like this and it makes the bike move, and these are the brakes, you squeeze here to engage them to stop the bike. You can learn THAT stuff, but until you know you can balance, BELIEVE you can balance, and you claim that for yourself, you will not be able to ride a bike.

The same is true for learning to swim. You have to KNOW that you can float, and BELIEVE that you can float or all the learned mechanics of swimming won’t matter.

Take Action Invitation

Want to move forward? The first step—indeed the main step—is to claim for yourself the right to be successful and happy.

Just claim it. Just decide. Start telling yourself that you’re wonderful and talented, and that clients are going to love you. Start telling yourself that you CAN do this. And I don’t care how many times you have to tell yourself… do it until you believe it inside yourself.

Because, in truth, until you do, all of what I share here with you, anything you read in ezines from other teachers, anything peer mentors share, every skill you learn in order to impress clients, all best practicey sorts of things… all of it will be nothing but mechanics for you.

Power Statements Rock

To help you get it more powerfully, craft a power statement for yourself. Then print it and put it around the house. Tape it to your monitor. Tape it to the bathroom mirror so you can see it as you brush your teeth. Tape it to the lampshade of the light on your nightstand so you can see it as soon as you wake up and immediately before falling asleep.

It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Short and simple works as well as long and fancy. Just make it say what’s in your heart, and what you know you need to believe about yourself and/or your abilities.

And then keep doing what you’re doing. As soon as your belief catches up with your well-learned mechanics, your practice will be very different. Promise.

Take care of yourself to take care of your clients

Today is VMoxie day (as you know). What you may not know is that I almost never write in advance, choosing, instead, to writing about whatever’s showing up now that I want to share with you.

Unfortunately, today I’ve woken up having caught my DH’s cold, I feel like total crap, and I don’t feel like teaching or being witty. COULD I do it anyway? I could. Would that be authentic? Nope. And do I have to? Nope... I don’t.

But I will, because I can do it quickly and from bed. ;)

If you’re sick, be sick. Tell your clients you’re sick, and push deadlines back (or let them do stuff themselves—you do have a kick-ass policies and procedures doc for each client that gives them step-by-step instructions about how to do their own stuff, don’t you?). In truth, there’s next to nothing work related that can’t wait a day or two—but your health isn’t going to improve if you don’t take care of yourself, or worse, if you push yourself forward when you should rest.

So stop, tell, and rest, is my motto, borrowed liberally from the way kids are taught to survive fires (stop, drop, and roll).

1. Stop working
2. Tell your clients you need some time and when you think you’ll be back (or when you’ll next communicate about how you’re doing)
3. Rest your body and your mind. Just turn yourself (and your technology)off and heal

If you do these things, you’ll be better, sooner, and back to providing top-notch support to your clients. If you power (or muddle, as the case may be) through, you’ll be sub-optimal, probably make mistakes, or be underwhelming. And for what? To sacrifice yourself for your client’s work?

Gotta say, if you have clients who want you to do that, you might want to think about that long and hard as it pertains to being in “good” relationships.

Ok – I’m done. See you guys next week!

Trust your knowing

When I first started AssistU in '97, I did a daily (well, five days/week) email blast called Daily Assistant. Back in the day, I used a majordomo to send it out, the only option was text, and there were no scheduling tools. That meant that I had to send it manually, so I had to be around to DO this thing every day.

It took three years, but I finally burned out. And when I did, I let the subscribers know that I was burned out, but after a break, would be back. 

What I did that day was, in essence, walk away from a list of close to 11,000 subscribers.

In reality, I never made it back. Well, not till I started VMoxie 5+ years ago. But that was five years after I'd told them I'd be back after a break, and I'm not sure that half a decade really counts as a "break," if you know what I mean.

I think I knew, the day I wrote that, that the chances that I'd be back were slim. And I think I said what I said to them because it felt like the appropriate thing to do, and because some part of me wasn't at all sure that I wouldn't be back after a break. 

But I knew. My body knew. I was SO exhausted from creating content every single day (this wasn't short, pithy content, either), from being there to write and post every day, from finding someone to post FOR me when I traveled for vacations and such. It was just hard.

And when I let it go, I just let go.

But the content is still in a directory on my hard drive. I was reading through some of it this weekend, and decided to tell you this story as an intro to reprinting something I wrote in 1997.  

As I read it just two days ago, I realized how applicable it still is today, and how glad I am that I let Daily Assistant go when it was a Problem, rather than waiting for a Crisis to happen (read below and those terms will make sense). I wish I'd let it go sooner. I wish I'd listened more carefully to my body, and to my heart. I wish I would have taken my own advise ;)

In case it's helpful, today's Bit O’Moxie is as follows:

Over the last several days, people have come to me with a personal or professional crisis. They wonder why these things happen to them.... why they find themselves in such uncomfortable places in work or relationships. 

And I believe that those things happen when we're not paying attention to signs and signals we see as we move through life. 

I believe in a four-step model about this. Here's what it looks like: 

Message ===> Lesson ===> Problem ===> Crisis 

Things show up in our lives first as Messages. These are the gentle rumblings inside which make us uneasy, or give us a sudden flash of intuition that something just isn't right. 

Usually, we ignore them. 

When we do, they come back to us as Lessons. A bit of a stronger message -- usually with some consequence involved, and something to learn. 

Sad to say, we often tend to ignore the Lessons as well. 

Lessons come back to us as Problems. When we have Problems, however, we try to manage the symptoms... find a fast fix for them, rather than looking at the root cause. 

Unfortunately, when we do, the fix isn't long-lasting, and the Problem turns into a Crisis. 

And it's only then.... when we're exhausted, or very ill, or distressed beyond measure, that we actually do something about it. 

Of course, it's in the middle of a Crisis that we look tearfully at friends or family and say something like, "You know, I knew that was going to happen! I just knew it." And we begin to recall the Messages and Lessons, and even the Problems which came before this Crisis which showed it was on the way! We look back and can see clearly the warning signs that we chose to ignore. 

And why? Why don't we tend to pay attention to signs and signals and act on them at the point at which they appear? Why do we have the tendency to let things get out of control in our lives before we're willing to pay attention? Why do we need an actual "wake up call" before we're willing to stare reality in the face? 

Because we're not taught to honor our own knowing. We're taught that unless there's hard evidence of something, we can't know anything. 

We're taught that things have to be seen to be believed. I believe that there are some things which need to be believed to be seen. This knowing of yours is one of them. Each of us knows things.... it's instinctive, and we know them as sure as we know our own names. 

So the reality is that we just don't pay attention. We're asleep. We receive Messages, and we shrug them off, or poo-poo them away. Until, that is, we're in the middle of a Crisis, and we can't postpone the inevitable anymore. Then we pay attention quickly! 

So my challenge to you is this: 

Wake up! 

In all things professional and personal, begin to pay attention to that little voice inside you which whispers Messages to you. It's never wrong. When you hear it, act on it! 

Imagine how much heartache and suffering you could spare yourself if you acted on that first Message, rather than waiting for the Crisis! Imagine how great you'd feel if you acted on a Message, got yourself out of a bad situation, and later could look back and say "Wow... am I glad I didn't have to go through that," rather than, "Oh Noooooooooo! This is horrible! I can't believe I let things get to this point!" 

Trust your knowing. Even when it's not clear why you should. Believe your self when it gives you guidance. It'll always be reliable!

Take care of yourself to take care of your relationships

D and I had a little tiff the other day. We were in the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher together. He had the basket of utensils, and I was doing glasses and plates and such.

Our happy, chatty conversation was interrupted by his strident accusation: “YOU put one of my KNIVES in the DISHWASHER!”

Important backstory: Many years ago, D got serious about cooking. And baking. And he wanted some more-professional tools to help him make the yumminess he was seriously enjoying. One of the things he coveted was a set of high-end Henckels' knives. So one day, I surprised him with the set he so very much wanted. And although Henckels says these things can go in the dishwasher, D was adamant that they shouldn’t. And being that they’re his knives, and he’s made that specific request, I’ve worked very hard to remember it every single time I’ve done the dishes since. And to my knowledge, I’ve never put one in the dishwasher—but he has.

Granted, it was soon after we bought them, and he was dismayed and appropriately chagrined, but the fact remains that he HAS put a precious knife in the dishwasher, at least once.

So, when he flat out blamed me for the knife’s being in the dishwasher utensil basket, the obnoxiousness and arrogance of his assumption weren’t lost on me.

“Why do you think I did it?”

“Because I didn’t.”

Ok, then.

You might imagine that, at this point, things could have so easily gone from bad to worse. And they might have, except for the fact that I absolutely didn’t want them to.

I said, “Listen, I’m sorry your knife ended up in the dishwasher. I know how important it is to you that the Henckels get hand washed, and I know seeing that bothers you. Let’s both promise each other to be super mindful—even MORE mindful than we already think we’re being about this, ok?”

So what does my having taken the high road do for you?

Well, it models something really important. Several things, come to think about it. It models:

1. Relational maturity
2. A commitment to the relationship and to D that was far bigger than my need to be right
3. Responsiveness, not reactiveness (on my part)
4. Compassion/seeing my partner as innocent

And what did D model? The opposite of everything I did.

Depending on many factors (like tiredness, hormones, illness, stress—on the one side—and rest, love, reserves, centeredness—on the other) which modeling a person does could be like mine or D’s. True, that. In our case, he’d had a really nasty day at work. I’d had a really lovely one. He’d not slept well the night before. I had. He was stressed. I was centered.

Had I not been? My response could have been pretty nasty. Had D felt better, he probably wouldn’t have come at me the way he did. He would have instead said something like, “Dang! Another knife ended up in the dishwasher. Let’s both be extra careful about them, ok? It’s really important to me.”

No blaming, no needing to be right, just the fact, and a reiteration of a request that showed he knew that the knife ending up in the dishwasher could have just as easily been his doing as mine.

Bit O’Moxie: The more self-care you engage in, the better prepared you are for lifes tiffs, or whoop-dee-doos. Also, having reserves of things like time, money, love, community, space, and opportunity makes you infinitely more present to yourself, which in turn makes you more responsive (rather than reactive) to others. So even if something goes awry, you’re more likely to handle it with ease, rather than freak out about it. You’re more able to see many options, rather than none—or just one.

What self-caring things do you need to add into your life? What reserves are depleted and need building up? Obviously, self-care and building reserves doesn’t happen overnight. So while you consider those questions, let me tell you the thing I try my darndest to hold on to—no matter what (and do better and better with over time). It’s a promise I made to myself to always try to actively see the person/people I’m dealing with as innocent. I don’t mean (necessarily) innocent of wrong doing. I mean pure—like a baby.

When I have access to that, no matter the circumstance, it helps to quiet and calm me, and brings me back to center before I need to respond to whatever’s being thrown my way. It allows me to immediately shift to a place where I can give someone else the benefit of the doubt. Where I don’t jump to conclusions. Where I’m willing to ask, rather than assume. And where I can bring love and compassion into the mix to look for options and solutions.

Try it (if you can) the next time you’re in a situation like I was with D—even if your reserves are depleted. And let me know if it helps.

Having the Moxie to pull back when you need to

I’d been thinking that I could write Moxie on Tuesday, as usual. I mean, it’ll be the day after surgery, and I’ve been thinking that, at the very least, I could lay in bed with my Air on my lap and pound out a post.

But then I thought about something Dawn said to me last week as we talked about my schedule, and my anticipated downtime (I’ve only planned for a week—my Moxie post notwithstanding). She said to me, “Well, you’ll probably be ok, but remember to be gentle with yourself, and give yourself the time you need. Ahhh.. I know you, and I know that if you need more time, you’ll simply tell people, and reschedule stuff.”

And she’s right about that—I have absolutely no problem telling people I can’t do what they are expecting me to do. Crap happens to us all, and sometimes things need to be shuffled around a bit. Life’s like that.

And that—that it’s really ok to change your mind, change your schedule, change your plans—could very well be this week’s Bit O’Moxie. But it’s not.

Instead, I’m sharing this:

There a wall that each of us has within us. It’s the wall that each of us sometimes runs face first into while trying to get it all done, or get it all done in a certain arbitrarily defined time. This wall is called "capacity," and it shows up when we over do and things start falling apart as a result of the overdoing.

It’s smart to know where that wall is, and it’s beyond smart to stop yourself when you see it coming, but it’s not quite smashing up against your nose.

For me, it’s right here, right now—Sunday night, T-8 hours. I’m looking at tomorrow, when I’ll be having bariatric surgery and ridding myself of 4/5 of my stomach in an attempt to lose a ton of weight so I will no longer be diabetic. No small adventure, that. But I deserve for it to be an easy adventure. I deserve, then, to be able to get discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, and rest. Just rest. No computer nearby, and no Moxie post needing to be written.

So I’m writing tonight to say that there simply won’t be a Moxie post this week. And there may not be one next week, either, depending on what happens with me this week. I’m thinking good thoughts about being back here with all of you and posting. But if not?

Yeah… life’s like that. And I’m happily giving myself, and all of you, permission to do what you need to do, and to not give a fig what people think about it.

If you're interested, you can follow my journey on my personal blog, and on Facebook.

Until I’m back… :)

Staying positive when someone you love is struggling

One of my coaching clients has a husband who has been out of work for some time, and he’s really feeling the strain of it. Her concern was how to stay focused on her VA practice and upbeat, while trying to support him with a situation she’s helpless to fix.

It’s a story I’ve heard (in one form or another) since the new year. In case you find yourself in a similar place, here’s a Bit O’Moxie for getting through it.

It’s easy to get pulled down with someone who’s struggling. And to do that would be a travesty. It’s unfortunate enough that your husband is struggling. You don’t need to join him in that—or the misery that’s probably accompanying the struggle.

So, first, simply decide that you won’t go there. Refuse to join the pity party. Remember that this isn’t YOUR situation—it just seems to be yours because you’re in a relationship with him and you care about him, and your family. In truth, the situation belongs to him. And, as such, it’s not yours to fix in any context. He has to fix it. Your “job” (assuming you want it) is to be supportive.

Before you begin that, though, it’s most important to remember that you absolutely have to take great care of yourself, first. As with an emergency in an airplane where you’re cautioned to put on your own oxygen mask before helping your child with hers, you have to be sure that you’re super well before you can even think about how to help with a situation like this.

And you have to stay super well. So eat well, and exercise, and get plenty of sleep, and focus your thoughts and your self on happy things, and things that make you feel good.

The happier you are, the better you feel, the better your business is doing, and the more forward you’re moving, the more hopeful a picture you portray to others—including your spouse. And it should be noted that it’s really hard for someone to stay down in the muck and mire when surrounded by people who refuse to be. So continue to refuse to be, no matter what.

In short, the very best thing you can do for your spouse is be the best you can be to yourself—and taking care of your practice is no small part of that. What you do internally will radiate out and impact him…even if seemingly slowly, or in small measure, making him ultimately far more attractive for whatever job(s) he decides to go for, and far more available for good jobs (it’s hard to be available for good when you’re feeling down and out).

By focusing on being good to yourself, you will absolutely also be able to focus on helping him be good to, and for, himself.

You get what you ask for

Are you focusing on what you don’t want, rather than what you do?

So often, that’s just how people think about things, isn’t it? A client is upset, and you think, “I don’t want this to be a big deal/hassle!” Or, your computer is having a problem, you need to call tech support, and the first thought is, “UGH. I just *know* I’m gonna have to sit on hold, and then talk with some foreign guy I won’t be able to understand!” Or you’re feeling fearful (a problem thought right there!) because money’s tight and you really WANT the client you’re interviewing this afternoon, and you think, “I don’t want to come across as desperate!”

There are oodles of things many people process in the negative, unaware that in doing so, they actually invite what they don’t want into their lives, because their energy—their vibrations—match that which they focus on, and that’s what they end up manifesting.

See, the Universe really doesn’t know the difference between “want” and “don’t want.” It hears “big deal” and “hassle” and “foreign guy I won’t be able to understand” and “come across as desperate” as what you desire, and that’s what it brings you.

Bit O’Moxie: Knowing that, stop the negative talk.

When you align your energy with what you DO want, there’s a magic, and an ease. Today, make the commitment to yourself to shift every negative thought—to reframe it in a positive way. Turn, “I don’t want this to be a big deal/hassle!” to, “There’s an easy fix for this!” Turn “UGH. I just *know* I’m gonna have to sit on hold, and then talk with some foreign guy I won’t be able to understand!” to, "I know the person I get on the phone will help me easily fix this problem!" Turn, I don’t want to come across as desperate!” to, "I'm damn good at what I do; I'm going to convey that today when I talk with Jane so she can leave the call absolutely knowing how I could support her!

The more you do it, the more automatic it will become for you, as it’s like a muscle you’re training. The more automatic it becomes for you, the better and easier everything in your practice will become for you.

About manifesting, I’ve shared that you have to get clear on what you want, and then make sure that every step you take leads you in that direction. Every thought you think has to support it, too. And negative thinking only supports negative results.

Do you trust what you can't see?

In one of my coaching groups yesterday, I had occasion to tell my clients about an interesting ezine article I’d written back in ’96 or ’97 when I was crazy enough to publish a zine (called The Daily Assistant) five days/week. See? Crazy, I tell ya. I did it faithfully for three years before I burned out. I feel quite certain that’s why I can’t blog “normally” now (several times/week). Blege.

Anyway, back in the day, I wrote a piece on intuition. And when I shared it with my coaching clients yesterday, they loved it. I thought it might be something you’d enjoy and find helpful, too. So, here it is, changed a bit, and updated for VM, but with still the same information.
----

A VA pal calls to discuss an exchange she had with a client. She's clearly frustrated -- she's said so, and you can hear it in her tone. Even though nothing more is said, as you listen, you know there's more going on. You don't know what it is, and although you think exploring it with your friend might make her angry or upset, you decide to broach a deeper conversation with her that uncovers some things your friend wasn't even aware of. How did you pick up on them, when she didn't even know about them? How did you know there was something else going on?

Intuition is your Wise Self talking to you. And that "knowing" I referred to is your Wise Self talking to you. It sees, hears, and senses things that are deeper than the things we, as humans, “normally” pick up on, and communicates that info to us in various ways. Some people see visions. Some hear the information. Some get sensations in their body, others a more general "feeling" or "sense." However it comes to you, your intuition can be a great help!

Trusting your intuition--trusting what you know, even when you can't see it--is incredibly wise, especially when your clients and colleagues are at a distance from you. One wonderful way to use it is in support of your handling situations before you're frustrated, upset, or something spirals out of control.

I use a four-step model:

Message ===> Lesson ===> Problem ===> Crisis

Your Wise Self will touch you first with a Message. A Message is always sent in a very subtle way. You always get the Message, but you either don't understand it, or you brush it aside, sure it can't be accurate.

When you do, the Message returns--this time in the form of a Lesson. Lessons are a bit louder, and always bring with them a consequence. Lessons are most always ignored, as well.

Ignoring the Lesson brings it back as a Problem. Problems are too big to ignore or brush aside, but most often get quick-fixes, not your time and attention to find the source of them.

Ignored once again, the Problem returns as a Crisis. At that point, you can no longer ignore, or do a quick fix. A Crisis usually takes the form of severe illness, loss of an important relationship, maybe a client... something BIG enough to wake you up.

In retrospect, you'll find yourself saying, "Gee, I saw this coming, but I didn't do anything about it." A valid reference, of course, to the Messages, Lessons, and even the Problems that came before the Crisis. You saw (meaning you noticed, got the hints) what couldn't be seen.

Wouldn't it be better to learn to listen to the Messages when you hear them, and act on them even if it doesn't make any "rational" sense? At first, I didn't think so. But when I paid attention long enough to watch how things happened in my work, and saw that, indeed, there were Messages that could have been acted on that would have prevented problems for me, that would have helped me make smarter, better, quicker decisions that would have served me well, I learned to listen to my intuition -- to my Wise Self -- and to act on Messages right away.

An example of how this might play out:

You're interviewing a prospective client, and he says things about assistants he's worked with in the past that make you uneasy (Messages). You shrug them off, telling yourself they don't mean anything, that those relationships were in the past, or that you're being sensitive. You move into a relationship with him, and a month later, he makes an inappropriate joke that hits you the wrong way (Lesson). You decide not to say anything because you don't want to offend him or make it a bigger issue than it is. A while later, he asks you to reprint something he didn't write in the newsletter you do for him (you're the editor). He says he has permission from the author, but something inside tells you that’s not true (Problem). You admit your discomfort with it (the band-aid), but he insists that it will be ok, so you publish the article. A while later, you, the editor, receive an email from an attorney representing the actual author of the article you reprinted. They're considering suing your client, as owner of the newsletter, and you as editor, as well (Crisis!!!!!).

You knew this was a bad-news client. This client had zero integrity, and simply wasn't a good choice for the kind of VA/Client relationship you wanted. You got the Message, and chose to ignore it. Imagine what trouble you could have saved yourself if you had acted on the Message!

So the challenge? That’s today’s Bit O’Moxie: Wake up and pay attention to the Messages you receive, and to get good at acting on them. Learn to trust your knowing. When you do, you'll find there's far less drama, heartache, and frustration in your work. You're also likely to attract a higher quality of client. Your Wise Self will never steer you in the wrong direction. You can trust that, too!

Economy post: What we should be doing NOW

Like everyone else in the world, this week, I’m thinking about what’s happening globally with the economy. I know people are scared. And I know some people are already making rash moves in an effort to protect themselves from what they fear could happen to them.

The other day, I caught Suze Orman on Oprah, and she gave five (six, actually, as her first tip was by far the best) tips for what we should all be doing right now. They were:

1. Don’t panic. Do not withdraw your money and hide it under your mattress
2. Make sure that your money is kept in one of the following places:
-- an FDIC insured account. You can check that by visiting myfdicinsurance.gov
-- a credit union insured by NCUA
-- Government backed bills or treasury bonds
3. Pay down debt. Do not be late on payments. As this crisis grows, lenders are likely to shrink/reduce the amount of available credit made to people. The better your credit, the less this will impact you
4. Buy health, and term (only term) life insurance
5. Continue to contribute to your retirement plan
6. Stop spending what you can’t afford

What I want to add is strictly about you and your Virtual Assistance practice. Here’s what I think we should all be doing right now:

1. Don’t panic (it’s really great advice!).
2. Don’t watch/read/listen the news if it upsets you and makes you worry. It’s not that I’m advocating sticking your head in the sand, exactly. But in reality, if it gives you anxiety, it’s not good for you. Look – you can’t do anything about what’s happening. You can’t make it better, you can’t make it worse, you can’t impact it one little bit. All you can control is what’s going on with you. And your focus, right now, needs to be on self-care, and business as usual.
3. Continue taking solid steps in the direction of your goals and dreams. Do not take your eye off the prize for even one second. This includes your business and personal goals/dreams.
4. Spend time doing more of what you love and what brings meaning to your life. Do not get caught up in the drama, and do not sit and stew over “what if.” Instead, go outside and ride bikes with your kids, or visit a local museum and look at beautiful art. Whatever reminds you that life is about more than money, do more of that.
5. Continue to show your clients what great value is in working with you. The power in this work is in the relationship, and now is a good time to show that in spades. Share this post with them if they’re worried. See what you can do to keep them focused on their own dreams and goals, and taking all the great steps toward them that they should be taking. If they seem to want to back up, urge them forward. Look for ways to help them more, not less. And while I'm on this topic of value...
6. Educate the public at every turn that Virtual Assistance is not about getting one-off tasks handled by the least expensive person who can do it. I mean it. Given what I've been seeing on Twitter and in blog posts, it's clear some people could almost get a trained chimp to do the work they're delegating to Bangalore, or get their research done for free by ChaCha. Let them know that you aren't just a little worker bee awaiting their every task, but a fully strong, capable, virtual professional standing ready to be a right hand--dealing with the tactical and strategic in ways no chimp, Bangalorean, or ChaCha guide ever could.
7. Spend time with people who are not letting the economy stand in their way. Nothing is better for the soul and the jangled nerves than being with a group of upbeat, confident, this-ain’t-gonna-stop-us people. If you don’t have a local network of these people, come find me on Twitter, and I’ll point out a bunch of them to you. Hang with us. See what’s being created, even now. In spite of now.
8. Maintain your standards; raise them, even. Don’t freak out and think that you suddenly have to work with anyone, just to make money. The more you want great clients, are open to having great clients, and take opportunities to connect with great clients (while continuing to grow yourself and your skills) the more great clients you’ll have. If one of the important pieces of “great client” for you is (and I actually suggest this be a standard ALL the time, not just now) that the client needs to be easily able to afford your fee long-term, then be open to finding great clients who can do that. You’ll end up hearing from far less of the ones who can’t. Oh, and introduce that topic in your interview/consultation process. It won’t hurt to be sure new clients are in a good place financially.
9. Reduce expenses (always good advice). Don’t spend—even in business--what you can’t afford. There’s no reason to become overly frugal, but consider if there are ways to do what you want to do for less money or no money. The less you spend, the more you keep, or have to invest in the retirement account you should continue investing in.
10. Be willing to be flexible. Your business is small and light. It (and you!) should be facile...quick. You don't have the bloat of larger organizations, so flexibility and change to take advantage of opportunity should be far easier for you. The more solid your standards, the more flexible you have room to be...to see opportunities around you that you couldn’t see before, or to connect with people you wouldn’t have connected with before and who can introduce you to a whole new world of possibilities. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, baby!
11. Step up your game. In times of plenty, people have a tendency to relax—sometimes too much. They get too comfy, and somewhat complacent. Unfortunately, what they’re doing is creating a vibration that will attract less, not more. Now is a good time to make sure that you’re really watching for opportunities, as mentioned above. Raise your game, raise your vibration, raise your attraction quotient.

And lastly, what might seem like a shameless plug, and is...but only partially. Hire a coach. Now, more than ever, you need someone on your side to both hold you accountable for what you say you most want, and to make sure that you aren’t going to head off in any direction that might be ultimately detrimental to your business. You can consider working with me—I have both coaching groups (at incredibly affordable fees!), and a few spaces in my practice available for 1:1 coaching. With me, you get peer and professional coaching—a rare combination.

If you don’t want to work with me, do work with someone. This is a lot to manage alone, and there's absolutely no reason to.

I hope this helps you (and your clients/friends if you choose to share it with them). If you think of other strategies we should be implementing now, I do hope you'll tell me about them by leaving a comment!