Meet The Sparent VA: Jennifer
Who Says You Have To Choose?
For many reasons, I felt like I had to make a choice between two big parts of myself...and I think many moms feel that way.
Virtual Assistant To The Rescue
Since becoming a parent and quitting my job to stay home, I have struggled with trying to figure out if that really was the best decision for me and my family. I knew that I wanted to be the one to spend the most time with my kiddo, and I was thankful for the ability to be present for all of the special little day-to-day moments that I love so much. But it also felt like something was missing; a passion for helping people, that I had always previously fulfilled by working, was no longer being tapped into. I wanted to lean into that purpose once again, but I didn't want to sacrifice my role as a stay-at-home mom. For many reasons, I felt like I had to make a choice between two big parts of myself...and I think many moms feel that way. Once I began searching for a solution, I came across Sparent, and being a Sparent virtual assistant immediately felt like the answer that I had been looking for, but never really expected to find!
Finding My Purpose While Being A Mom
I have always felt that a large part of my purpose was to help other people. I do have my own personal goals and ambitions, but I also have a large desire to support others in taking steps in life. At times that has meant helping people walk out of dark pits toward healing, such as when I worked in Victim Advocacy. At other times that has meant helping support a family through big career changes, working as a Private Nanny and Household Manager. I have gained skills and knowledge along the way that have helped me be both organized and structured, as well as flexible and able to think on my feet. I think this mix of skills is very helpful to have when taking on a role as a virtual assistant. I am very excited for the opportunity to flex these skills and even more excited that in doing so, I will be helping and supporting women who are making their business dreams come true!
Larry Page, one of the co-founders of Google, once said that the best advice that he could give was, "always deliver more than is expected".
I think that this is great advice for many different aspects of life, but I especially like to embrace it in my role as a virtual assistant. I can help business owners in many different ways, including with administrative tasks, organization and structure, creative tasks, or social media management, just to name a few. Having the mindset of always delivering a little bit more than what is required or expected plays into what I think could be two of the biggest ways that I can support a business owner- having foresight into the needs of the company and owner, and taking the initiative to help meet those needs. Nobody knows a business better than the owner, and they will have a grasp on what tasks need to be outsourced or delegated to an assistant. As an assistant, I want to be able to take that list of tasks and find the best and most efficient way to carry it out. Applying foresight and initiative is what, I believe, sets apart a good assistant and a great one.
Passion Over Perfection
I am excited for the opportunity to branch out and learn new things on my journey as a virtual assistant. I think that one of the best ways that we learn is through trial and error. I used to be afraid of making mistakes and that was holding me back from embracing a very large part of myself- my creative side! Being a perfectionist isn't always a bad thing, but when you are worried about making a mistake, it can hold you back from rolling your sleeves up, getting messy, and really letting the creative juices flow. Once I learned how to "let it go" and create from a place of passion rather than from a place of perfection, I was able to start getting all of the ideas whirling around in my mind, out into the world. I love to create art, both physical and digital, put thoughts and ideas into writing, and play the piano to relax for a few minutes at nap time or at the end of the day. I believe that my creativity is something that can be very useful as I help business owners set their businesses apart. That can look like many different things, such as creating graphics, writing blog posts, or maintaining a valuable social media presence.
Getting It Done
The best productivity tip I have as far as working from home is a pretty simple one- to stay organized in a way that works best for you. For me, that looks like making lists of tasks that need to be done and organizing them according to their importance or how time-sensitive they are. I get satisfaction from crossing things off my list and having a visual of what I have accomplished and what needs to happen next. I keep tasks separated by personal or work-related, short-term or long-term, and solo or partnership. If applicable, I also like to keep lists of tasks in a place that everybody involved can see it, to help everybody stay on the same page. I believe in working smarter and multitasking, as long as you can still produce your best quality of work, and lists help me to be able to do these things.
Meaningful Work
Overall, I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with Sparent and start making relationships with business owners. I love that I will get to do work that is meaningful and still get to be home with my son for all the special moments in his life, big or small. It isn't always easy to find a company that meshes so well with your own ideas and values and how lucky I am to have come across Sparent is not lost on me!