Episode 251: Struggling to Find Balance Between Work and Family as a Virtual Assistant?

Full Episode Transcription:

[00:00:00] Hey friends, welcome back to the Virtual Assistant Mama podcast. I just want to remind you that coming up here in a few days, we’re going to be having our five day series, becoming a virtual assistant, the five step breakdown coming to you here on the podcast. So every day, next week. November 13th through November 17th, you’re going to be able to get an episode here on the show, walking you through the exact steps you need to take to become a successful virtual assistant. And during that time, you’re also going to have access to our flash sale on the Virtual Assistant Mama Academy. This is all the tools, templates, accountability, support, ongoing help, video tutorials, every single thing you need to get your virtual assistant business off the ground and be profitable and be able to completely replace your income and be home with your babies.

[00:01:04] It’s coming. It’s happening next week. Get ready. Talk to your spouse about it. And I am just so excited for you guys. This, this is never this cheap. This program is never this cheap. So I’m just really excited for you guys to get your hands on it. If you’ve been thinking about it for a while, now is the time. All right, do you struggle with balancing your work and your family when you’re working from home? Maybe even not working from home, but like, just trying to find that balance. There are really two key components, I think, that can help you with finding that work life balance we’re all craving. Number one, that first key component is boundaries.

[00:01:55] You have to set boundaries in place for how much you’re going to work, how much you’re going to be spending time on your phone, how easy it is for people to get a hold of you. You need to have boundaries in place in your virtual assistant business. There’s two ways that I really recommend doing this. Number one is in your welcome email. You want to set those boundaries up front and a great way to do that is in a welcome email when a client first hires you and you send them all the information about how you’re going to work together. So in that welcome email, you would include You know, the hours that you’re going to be available, how long they can expect for turnaround on a project, because they can’t expect to give you something at the beginning of the day and for you to have it done by the end of the day. They need you, they need to give you more time. They need to give you the projects and allow you to have more time to figure out when throughout your week you’re going to get it done. So you set those boundaries in place up front, and you also want to set in place how they can expect to be able to contact you.

[00:03:09] Never, ever, ever give out your phone number. I say this 10 million times, and I know some of you still won’t listen. Please do not give out your phone number. You can use an app like Voxer or WhatsApp to communicate with your clients, but I want you to pick something that allows you to turn off notifications when You’re not working. I want you to be able to be present with your kids and not find yourself glued to your phone and at your clients back and call all the time. So I want you to find an app that you can turn off the notifications when you’re not working. The other way to get those boundaries set in place from the get go is to have a contract that outlines your different boundaries. Now, You do have to actually implement the contract and the boundaries you set in your welcome email. If you set those in place and then you let your clients step all over them, they’re not gonna know when to take you seriously. So if they start to encroach on your boundaries, you can just give them a quick reminder like hey, this is what I mentioned in the contract as far as how you can contact me or when payment is due or whatever it is.

[00:04:19] Please make sure to Follow that and let me know if you have any questions. Something simple like that. Okay, but I just want you to make sure you have those boundaries in place so that when you want to turn work off and be present with your family, you absolutely can. Okay, the next. key component of finding that work life balance is time management. I talk about this a lot here on the podcast but it is so important and I think it’s something that we really overlook and we just try to juggle it all in our heads and then we feel like we’re running around like a chicken with a tech cough. So, A great way to help with time management is to use time blocking in a planner. I personally love the Horatio Planner, H O R A C I O, if you just Google that, it’ll come up. It’s faith based, it’s amazing, I love it so much. I’m in my second year of using it, I never, almost never miss a week. It is fantastic. So I can put my time blocks in there for when I’m going to be with my kids or when I’m going to be working or when I’m going to be doing household projects, when I’m going to be cleaning, when we’re traveling, all the different things.

[00:05:36] I put it in there and then I try to stick with it. I mean, I have some flexibility in there, but I try to stick with it so that I can actually get done. What’s in my brain. The really beautiful thing, too, about writing things down is that you can see where you have white space. And if something goes to shit, and you need to rearrange, that’s fine. But if everything goes on schedule, you might have some white space in your week. What would you be able to do with that? Go sit in the hot tub at the gym? Read a book, go walk through a park. Wouldn’t it be great to have some white space? You can absolutely have that. Another really key component of time management is setting up workflows in your work, whether that’s your virtual system business or your current nine to five, setting up workflows is going to help you so that when you sit down to work, you know exactly what to tackle. You can get it done, get in and out and. Move on with your life. I don’t want you working 10 million hours. That’s not what we’re doing as a virtual assistant. I want to get you to the point where you can completely replace your income in 20 hours or less a week. And to do that, you’re going to have to get workflows set up.

[00:06:49] Now I go really in depth on workflows and episode 65, which is called Five Time Blocking Tips for the Busy Teacher Turned Work at Home Mom. So go check that episode out. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend it. Alright, I just want you guys to know that it is absolutely possible to have that work life balance. I know a lot of people don’t think it is because, like I said, they’re running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But it can be totally possible for you. You just have to put a few things in place to get to that point. Again, number one, you’ve got to have those boundaries as far as when you’re working, when you’re not, how people can get ahold of you, when they can, all the things, and then you also need to have time management in place. You need to be time blocking, using a planner, setting up workflows. It will seriously be a game changer. I just double dog dare you to try it for a month and see how much changes. All right, y’all. I love you so much. I can’t wait to see you back here for our five day series next week. The Five Steps to Become a Virtual Assistant here on the podcast. We will see you then.