Becoming an entrepreneur is a path less traveled, but not in my family. Both my biological parents are entrepreneurs, so it’s no wonder that I followed in their footsteps and set out on my own after a decade working in Education.
I was already fully burnt out before 2020 but after the pivot to working at home and then the inevitable scare when it was time to go back and be surrounded but hundreds of children and adults I knew it was probably time. Over that summer I took a course to learn to become a Virtual Assistant. I probably needn’t have spent so much on it because I had been using a lot of the skills already for years. I will say I feel like the course succeeded in encouraging me to believe I could do it, which sometimes is the biggest barrier anyway.
So fast forward to 2023. I’ve been doing this for 3 years now and while I see “Become a VA”, “Work from home and be with your kids” stuff ALL over the internet I feel like they
1) Forget to mention how much work actually goes into making real money, unless it’s side hustle
2) Tell everyone they can be one but not that they need to actually learn the skills or else they won’t make any money.
As someone who has to hire VAs for my team, I can tell you that I see hundreds of applications every time I post a job and 98% of them have no experience, have no idea how to use most of the tech that online businesses use, have actually very limited schedules because they homeschool or have kids at home and want to make $30.00 hour. But If you are selling someone a course on how to become a VA you can’t tell them that it’s not easy.
The hardest part of being a business owner, is that it needs an unwavering commitment and a willingness to embrace uncertainty. You are facing financial risks, so much competition in the form of people willing to do the work for so much cheaper, blurred work-life boundaries, and a lack of a supportive work environment, especially if you never grow into a team.
There is also this disconnect in understanding from friends and family who have never had their own business. Why can’t you just take a vacation? Why are you stressed? Because everything about the business falls into your plate: accounting, marketing, delivery, organization, payroll…everything. Especially in this industry. If you aren’t working, you aren’t getting paid. You don’t get PTO or benefits.
I know this all sounds like I’m complaining and, well, part of me is. I’m exhausted. I’ve worked more than I ever have in my entire adult life. I wake up thinking about work, work from my desk, my phone, and my ipad, I go to bed thinking about work. It’s constant. So it’s a lot.
But I do have moments where I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that have come my way, the people i’ve worked with, both good and bad, and the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world and the income that has provided so much for my little family.
This week I booked my honeymoon trip. Oh yea, by the way, I got married ya’ll! Anyway, I booked the trip and it’s in a little under 2.5 months away. Part of me over the freaking moon because we are doing it and we can afford this over the top luxurious trip we are taking but the other part? had a mini panic attack when I realized that unless I want to work on my honeymoon I have to close my business “doors” for the first time in 3 years.
Can I do it? I guess we will see.
