Episode 336: Balancing Your Business and Family as a Virtual Assistant
In this episode of the Virtual Assistant Mama podcast, I’m sharing how to balance your business and family life as a Virtual Assistant.
So many of the teachers I talk to who want to quit teaching battle major guilt for letting their family down or “wasting” their teaching degree.
In today’s episode on the Ditch the Classroom podcast, I’m sharing some advice on what to say to those you love who are concerned about your desire to leave teaching.
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Love,
Full Episode Transcription:
(00:07):
You guys, so many of the teachers that I talk to who wanna quit teaching, battle major guilt for letting their family down or quote unquote “wasting their teaching degree”. You know, you go to college, you spend all this money on a degree, or maybe your family helped you pay for it. And now you feel guilty for not wanting to use that. I know I felt the same exact way, but today’s episode. I want to share with you some important things to remember when you’re trying to deal with this guilt. The biggest thing that I want you to know is that other people’s expectations are not your responsibility.
(02:00):
Oftentimes they’re only saying things to you that might make you feel guilty for one of three reasons. Number one is their own fears. They’re scared of putting themselves out there and chasing their dreams. And so they’re projecting those fears onto you. So they’re not necessarily thinking that you can’t do this, they think that they can’t do it and then they project that onto you. The second reason that people say things to you about your desire to leave teaching is their own unhappiness. People don’t do this intentionally, usually, if they do it on purpose, they’re a jerk. But if they’re unhappy in their job, but they feel stuck, they just want other people to feel stuck with them. It’s kind of that idea of like, if somebody’s sinking, they try to take somebody down with them. And you just need to understand that again. It’s not about you. It’s just about how they are feeling. And then the third reason is that they just fear for your safety. They want to know that you’re gonna be getting a steady income. They wanna know that you’re doing something that normal people do. They just wanna know that you are going to be secure. And if this is something new to them that they’ve never heard of before, which a lot of people have not heard about virtual assistance, that kind of triggers the, “uh, I don’t know what to think about this. It’s not safe. I don’t know anything about it.” And that’s, again, them just reflecting their fears onto you. So I just want you to understand that it’s not about you. And most of the time, like 99% of the time, these people are not trying to make you feel guilty. Again, it’s just projections of what they’re feeling onto you.
(04:02):
Now, if they are doing it on purpose to make you feel guilty, they need to be booted because they don’t deserve to be in your space. But for those that aren’t doing this intentionally, what can you say to them? I have a quick response that you can just give to somebody. If they are reflecting these issues at you, you can just say, “thank you for your concern, but this is my life. And this dream has been given to me for a reason. I don’t want to regret not following it.” It’s clear. It’s concise, it’s simple. And it just lets them know that you are not open to taking on their beliefs around this. Also big, big, bold letters here. If I could capitalize my sentences or if I could yell in your ears without hurting your eardrums, I would, I want you to understand that you do not need anybody’s permission.
(05:05):
Okay? You don’t need anybody’s permission to do what is on your heart. You get to chase it. God put that dream on your heart for a reason. Go pursue it. Now also, real quick, lot of, a lot of you, I know will have guilt around not using your degree because I had that. I just -. I went to school for this. I wanted to do this for myself now I’m not using it. But I want you to understand you’re still going to be using elements of your degree, just not the entire thing. You’re still going to be teaching just in a different capacity. You’re going to be serving businesses. You’re gonna be teaching them how to do things effectively in their business. It’s just going to be a different capacity. So I want you to understand that.
(05:52):
All right, all this, again was a bit of a tough-love episode, but I wanted you guys to understand that the guilt that is placed on you is oftentimes not because of something you’re doing, but because of what others feel. All right? So I just want you to understand that.
(06:10):
If you are loving this podcast and it’s just bringing value into your life, I would be so appreciative. If you would go and take a moment to leave a review on the podcast, you just go to apple podcast, search Ditch the Classroom, click on it, then you just scroll down and you can leave a five star review. Write a few sentences about how this podcast has helped you. This is the number one way that we can grow this show and so I can reach more mamas and teachers just like you, who had this desire on your heart. And I have a free gift for those who do leave a review on the show, once you type out your review before you hit submit, take a screenshot of your review. If you submit it first, sometimes Apple podcasts don’t show the review for a couple days. So take a screenshot first before you hit submit. And then you can email that screenshot to me at podcast@ditchtheclassroom.com and you will get free access to my Ditch the Classroom Toolkit. You guys, this will help you take the first foundational steps into becoming a virtual assistant and you can get it absolutely for free. If you leave a review here on the show. ‘Kay, y’all I hope this episode helped you. I love you so much and we will see you next time.
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