My current job situation finds me in a quite solitary position. The roles I have chosen to fill, all of them can be done solely by me, albeit with some interaction with others. Ultimately, I could complete a week of work, within all 3 of my job roles and not really have any proper human interaction, if I so wished.

My role within my day job in the store is predominantly now office based. A large part of my daily tasks are carried out from the cash office. This office has no windows, only a small peephole in the heavy duty door and 1 camera screen so I can see who is outside the door. There is no tannoy feed into the office and no music system. So my only form of communication with the rest of the store team is via the phone, if anyone needs to ask me anything. In order to stop myself from going completely stir crazy and not let the silence affect me, I have been using speakers with my iPod, so I at least have my own music on at a low level for background noise. As much as I am much less stressed being away from the customers and the anxiety which that can create for me, I am still part of the store team and I still need to have some interaction on a daily basis. There are certain tasks which require me to go out onto the shop floor, so I try to spread these across my working days and have that bit of interaction with the rest of my team, so I’m not too isolated.

Working from home as a VA could also be a very isolating job. I can complete any required tasks which clients may need completely from the comfort of my own home. If necessary, I don’t need to leave my house at all and I can still work effectively completing any jobs they may need. So to make sure that I don’t fall into a bad pattern with this, I like to keep in contact and network with other VAs. This keeps me up to date with what everyone in my circle is up to, gives me a chance to interact with my peers and stops me from becoming a hermit!

Choosing to start another work from home business, in the form of my make-up business, could have made me even more solitary. In actuality, it has made me so much more sociable. This business is all about networking and creating new, meaningful relationships with people. So even though I do my ordering, marketing etc from home, I still get the interaction with my customers when I deliver orders and also when I do open house events. I have also made some amazing new connections with other presenters within the company. So this latest venture has been a really great boost for my confidence and has made me open up more to meeting new people.

Working for yourself, working from home, does not have to be isolating. There are so many ways that you can do your actual work solo, in your own time, but still find those ways of interacting with others on a regular basis. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be your own boss, so that you’re the one in control and you can work alone if you so choose. It shouldn’t be at the expense of your social interaction though, so make sure that you get out of the house every so often. Even if it’s just for a quick walk or to Tesco! Having that bit of human interaction is sometimes what we need, even when we don’t realise it. Stay social people.

So after a few weeks of complete chaos over Christmas and the new year, things are now settling down again and I am back on track. I have had so much going on, across all aspects of my life.

This week is my second week within my new job role, in the store where I have been working for the last 9 years. I decided to take a step down, from team leader level, to a purely admin based role. By doing this, it means that I do not have management responsibilities anymore and I can focus purely on the admin side of my job now. This new role and the tasks which come with it means that I have a better balance between work and the rest of my life now as well.

Becoming the admin assistant for my day job is the perfect role for me and it also helps me to connect those skills with my Virtual Assistant business as well. I have been using my admin skills within my day job for the last 10 years. It has allowed me to develop and further my skills, through the use of various systems and other training opportunities. I can now extrapolate on these skills and use them to help my own new clients, within my business. The skills I have gained could be of huge use to other small business owners and my hope for this year is to connect with some new people who may be in need of my help.

The new year has brought me some good luck within my business and a fantastic new opportunity to help out another family led business. I was contacted by someone who is keen to work with me, to help him further his business through me aiding him with the administration side of said business. This is a great start to my year and I hope that it is a sign of other good things to come.

I am also very lucky to have new opportunities coming my way via my make-up business. Something that started out as a little hobby, something to get me a little extra cash for Christmas, has turned in to another viable job opportunity. The company that I have joined has so many new innovations and plans for progression this year, it is going to be such a huge year. There is special training available to me, to give me better understanding of the products I sell. I have new products available to me, which are going to revolutionise the skin care range the company has to offer to customers. The company has recently teamed up with one of the top network marketers in the world, to give all of us as presenters exclusive training, which will help all of us to increase our reach and ultimately, our sales.

My personal life has also had a great start to the year, with my focus back on my nutritional well-being. Christmas is a great time of year for indulging in all that lovely food and drink! I had a great couple of weeks enjoying as much as I liked. Starting the new year well for me though, part of that is about getting back in control and not going too crazy with my food. I am currently on a 4 week shred programme, which involves both nutritional changes and an increased exercise regime. I am thoroughly enjoying myself and already feel more energetic. The group which I am doing the shred with are an amazing bunch of people, all with a real focus to improve and/or maintain their physical, mental and nutritional wellbeing. It is such a motivating group to be a part of and I am very glad that I have this as one of my primary focuses.

As you can see, my year has got off to a great start. For the first time in a long time, I feel like luck is finally on my side. My hope is that this luck continues and my year stays this way.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes we find it easier to see our strengths rather than our weaknesses. But if you can come to a realisation about what your weaknesses may be, this can actually be a huge benefit.

In my last blog I talked about my education and the subjects I chose to take. Some of those subjects I liked and I was good at. Some of them, I took purely because I had to. When it comes to education we all have subjects we are good at and those which we are not so good at. My weakness is definitely the arts. I am not particularly artistically inclined, I don’t really have any talents in that area. Hence my D grade for my GCSE art. In hindsight, I should have listened to my music teacher and taken that as my art subject. He recognised that I had some talent for reading sheet music and could play the keyboard at least. But I wouldn’t really have used that as a talent after school, so it’s no real loss. My strengths were science, maths and English. These were the subjects which I got the good grades for, A and B grades. The subject which was a surprise success for me was French, apparently I had a talent for that. I can’t say I have used my French-speaking talents much since then, but it was my preference over learning German back then.

My chosen technology subject was Food Technology. This was a useful subject to take and I still use some of the knowledge I acquired in those lessons when I do cooking now. My alternative option for technology would have been IT. At the time it seemed a bit redundant to study a subject which I already had a good knowledge of, thanks to my dad teaching me a lot about computers at home. Information Technology and anything computer related is obviously still something which I consider one of my greatest strengths. I am constantly asked to deal with anything technology based in my day job because “You’re good with that sort of stuff”, a compliment which I am more than happy to take. It was my love for technology and my natural talent to grasp processes that made me choose to explore the world of virtual admin.

Within the VA world there are so many different services on offer, many different types of assistant available and a multitude of specialities on offer. This is another reason for me to define what my strengths and weaknesses are. My experience lies in general admin, as such some of my strengths are word processing, spreadsheets and email maintenance. Since I have been in business I have encountered quite a few VAs who offer accounting services. Now personally, I have no experience of this area and as such would flag anything to do with accounts as a weak area of knowledge.

On the flip side of my business, it is useful for me to know what strengths and weaknesses any potential clients may have. Their weak areas are what may be the parts which I can help them with. So within your business, do you know which areas are your weak ones? What can I help you with, so that they can be made into your strengths?

It takes a lot of strength, determination and perseverance to make a small business work. If I can help others make a success of their businesses, by utilising my strengths to my best ability, well then everyone wins in my book. So, if you know that you have an area where you have a weakness, why not get in Contact with me and see what I can do for you.

Sometimes it is hard to know where you want to go in life. You are surrounded by various people, all with different opinions and all giving you different advice. When you are young and unsure, you have guidance from teachers, parents and other family members to help you make your choices. Sometimes you may have your own idea very early on in life, but equally it can take some people much longer to decide where they want to be.

I followed a very typical path. My family upbringing meant that I knew I wanted to do something involving science, from an early age. My grandfather was a botanist and my grandmother was a biologist. They both used to teach my sister and I so many things whenever we stayed with them. They made me very passionate about science and I wanted to follow in their footsteps. So when it came to me choosing my GCSE subjects, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to pick. I opted for triple science, so Biology, Chemistry and Physics as 3 separate subjects rather than combined. English Language and Literature were mandatory obviously, as was Maths. Being in the top set for Maths, I ended up sitting my GCSE 6 months early. That was my first A grade GCSE. As a class we then studied Statistics for the rest of the year and then sat a second exam, gaining an additional grading for that on top of our grades for basic Maths. I picked 1 language, 1 humanity and 1 art subject to go along with my other choices. I came out with a good set of results, 3 A grades, 6 B grades, 1 C and 1D. The D grade was in art, which I have never been artistic at all but an art subject had to be picked so I just went with it!

Following on from this, I chose to stay at my existing school and continue my education to A Level. My chosen path of wanting to enter the scientific work of work meant that I picked Biology, Physics and Maths for my subjects. Those 2 years were harder for me and I suffered from ill health, resulting in a lot of absence. I came out of my 2 years at 6th form with 2 A Levels and 1 AS Level, having ditched half of my maths modules due to missing so many lessons. Thankfully these results were enough for me to be accepted in to my chosen university.

The University of Hull was my next step. I went to study Marine and Freshwater Biology. My plan at this point was to come out of uni and go into animal husbandry. It was a great experience and I met some interesting people. Those 3 years at uni taught me a lot. I came out of it with a respectable 2:2 BSc with Honours degree.

Upon returning home after graduation, I started to search for work. Through the help of my best friends mother, I found a part time retail job. I continued to hunt for another job within the animal husbandry field whilst working in the store. It was at this time that I met my now husband and we moved in together in March 2006. Due to moving in to our own place it meant that I needed to carry on my current job, so that between us we had enough money to cover our rent and other bills.

Circumstances being what they are, I found myself still working in the same store for the next 2 years. What was supposed to be a stop gap job had turned into my main income. My path took another turn when I was offered a new position within the company, PA to an area manager. We were saving for a deposit on a house, so taking this better paid job made sense. I worked with that area manager for a year and he then offered me another opportunity, to become a department manager in a store. It would mean full time hours and a guaranteed salary, so again, looking to our future together, I took the chance and that was it. 9 years later, I’ve worked my way around several stores as a department manager, taken time out to have my little girl and stepped back down to team leader level.

I now feel like I’m ready to try a different path again. My admin background and experience with IT was what made me take the leap into the Virtual Assistant world.

How many of you would choose a different path if you had the opportunity given to you? Would you follow your dream job?