In 2005 I worked as an Administrative Assistant and my job was going nowhere. I had enough of the office gossip, politics and games that people play in Corporate America.  It is such a waste of time, I don’t understand why people who work in cubical land think that this is how the work environment needs to be. Thankfully, I soon became pregnant and felt that this was my ticket out of Corporate America and the start of being a full-time Mommy.  However, after crunching the numbers my husband and I came to the conclusion that I would need to go back to work after the birth of our daughter.  I was deflated, my dream of being a stay-at-home mom was never going to happen.

I loathed going to work each day and the thought of having my daughter in daycare while I was in an environment that I didn’t like.  While I was on maternity leave I decided to figure out how I was going to work from home, this became my personal challenge to find a solution. I had seen advertisements for medical billing or doing transcription but those jobs didn’t interest me.   I knew there were people who owned their own businesses and worked from home besides those types of jobs, but what would I do?  I was determined not to go back to Corporate America and I only had a few weeks left to figure out my game plan.

One morning I was folding laundry and my maternity leave was almost over.  I had the TV tuned to a local news show but not really paying attention to it.  Then I saw a local mom of two girls talking about how she owned a Virtual Assisting business and how she was able to work from home yet still be available to be a stay-at-home mom.  This was brilliant and I instantly took notice of the show as I had never heard of a Virtual Assistant before.  She continued to illustrate to the reporter how she was able to help clients remotely with their bookkeeping tasks, Excel Spreadsheets and Word Processing.  Instantly, I was scrambling for my phone, I called my husband at work and said “ I know what I can do from home to make money, I can be a Virtual Assistant”.  His reply was “What is a Virtual Assistant?”  and I said “ I have  no idea but I know they work from home, I will find out more  and get back to you”.  I located the Virtual Assistant who was on the TV show, I emailed and called her, I was desperate and I needed to find out how I could be a Virtual Assistant.  Within a few days we were working together and I was stuffing envelopes for her.  Ok, so this wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned I’d be doing, but I didn’t care.  I was making money from home and I knew that in time it would take me somewhere. Within a few months we were helping a handful of clients with their Word Processing and Spreadsheets tasks.

After working with her for about a year I decided to take a huge leap and start my own Virtual Assisting firm that helps women business owners with their Internet Marketing.  I invested in myself and enrolled in a training course on how to use WordPress, I received my certification in Internet Marketing & Social Marketing Specialist from VA Classroom and soon my company was open for business.

When did you decide to become an Entrepreneur, what were your roadblocks and how did you overcome them?

© 2011 Sunrise Virtual Services, Dawn Cullo

This blog post is part of a 7-Day Blogging Challenge hosted by Brandy Mychals.  You can participate in the challenge too by going to http://brandymychals.com/mb/7-day-blogging-challenge/

Virtual Assistants, are you ready to step it up and play a bigger role with your clients?  I am and I have enrolled in the Online Business Manager Certification program taught by Tina Forsyth.    We just started our Summer School portion of the program this week and are learning about Internet Marketing by jumping into the book Pink Spoon Marketing.  After the first class I have so many ideas brewing in my head and I can’t wait to make them come to life.

If you’re in the Virtual Assistant field, it’s critical that you read through this blog and educate yourself on this trend in the virtual support industry.

Why?

Because as online based businesses continue to grow and thrive many business owners find themselves ‘tapped out’. They simply can’t do it all themselves anymore and are desperately seeking someone to help them manage their business – they are looking to hire an Online Business Manager (OBM).

It’s no secret… Online Business Managers are not easy to find! There aren’t many out there yet and the few that exist are already busy and don’t have room to take on new clients. So business owners are left hanging…

To meet the demands of keen business owners as well as top notch Virtual Assistants, I’m super excited to tell you about the Online Business Manager Certification Program. It is a 16-week Intensive Training Program for aspiring Online Business Managers led by my friend and colleague Tina Forsyth.

Most online business training programs are directed to the business owner (how to start and grow your own business), however this is truly the only training that is specifically and purposefully taught from the perspective of being the OBM for these business owners.

What’s even better is that with this training and support, there is a community of Online Business Managers who are ready to offer support to each other through the training and beyond.

What does this mean to you?

As a Certified Online Business Manager, it means that you can position yourself, demand higher rates, build amazing relationships with your ideal clients and do what you love every day.

Learn more about this elite program and consider whether you are ready for this commitment I suggest checking out Tina’s Book Becoming an Online Business Manager Playing a Bigger Game with your Clients (and Yourself)

What are you going to do to start playing a bigger game with your clients?