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Take your emotions out of your work. Don’t take anything personal. #vatip 
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Hi and welcome to The Business of Being a Virtual Assistant. I’m your host and your virtual co-worker, Tiffany Parson. You’re watching and listening to episode number 124.
Now, before we dive into our topic for today, I want to do a quick, quick follow up to last week’s episode. To those of you that were listening to the podcast, I realize this week that I showed a picture, I even drew the picture on camera, and did not tell my listeners what the heck I was doing.
If you listened to that audio and you didn’t see it, let me apologize to you and I’m going to describe what it was. It was a triangle and at the very tip of the triangle I drew a line, and in the larger space of the triangle I wrote the word “average” and at the tip I wrote the word “best” where the majority are average and only a few are best. Go back, rewatch that episode. Relisten to that episode.
Again, I apologize. I should have explained the drawing and didn’t realize it until this week. I have to remember that if I decide to do any future drawings on the podcast. So all kinds of fun stuff that comes up when I try to incorporate audio and video. Okay, good enough, so on to today’s episode, episode number 124. Now, things are a whole lot lighter today than they were last week.
You have to make a decision to walk in the power that you’ve been given.
Now, each and every one of us is unique in our own right. God has given us a uniqueness, each and every one of us. We both can be providing the same service. But because we are who we are, it’s going to be different.
I don’t want you to think this industry is oversaturated, because it’s not. It’s not oversaturated because you’re not here. How can it be without you? There are people that are a perfect match just for you that are not a perfect match just for me. So you’ve got to find your peeps. They’re looking for you.
Okay, now, the topic for today is I want you to make sure that you’re using up most of your mental space for your business professionally. I’m just speaking from a professional standpoint. I know there are all different parts, everything we have to think about. But today, I’m specifically speaking to in regards to your work, your business, specifically to that.
We have to be selfish. We cannot give 100 percent of our mental space to a client’s business. Why? If you give 100 percent of your mental space to your client’s business, how much do you have left for your own?
I have a small candle here that’s circle shaped. I won’t draw today. I’ll hold up this circle candle. All right, so if you give 100 percent of your mental space to one project, how much do you have left for other things out here, other projects that are coming, other clients that are coming? You don’t because you’re full.
I want to show you today how not to be full on one project.
Here’s how. It may seem simple. But when it’s time to apply it, it can get complicated. Do not get emotionally wrapped up into the one. Do not get emotionally wrapped up into the one, whether you have zero clients or ten clients.
Here’s what usually happens. If you have ten clients, then you’re probably not getting emotionally wrapped up into one, or maybe you have your favorite and you’ve gotten emotionally wrapped up into the one because it’s your favorite. You love doing this. It’s your absolute favorite. You can’t wait to get to it. Well, if that one is your absolute favorite, then why aren’t you serving clients in that particular area all the time?
If out of ten clients, this one client or the one particular thing that you do for a client you love the most and you put 100 percent of your mental space up here. You think about it when you’re not even working on it. That’s what I mean by your mental space. When you’re not even working on the project, you’re thinking about it. It’s taking up space. If it’s your favorite like that and it’s taking up all your space, like you’ve got to free up some of that for the other nine clients that you have.
If it’s because the project itself is your favorite and you’re just, oh, the others are okay, then guess what? You’ve identified your specialty. You’ve identified your area, your slice of the pie and you should look for other clients that need that particular service or other clients that are in that particular industry. That is what you should find so you can love on all ten of your clients equally.
Now, let’s go on the flipside of that. Let’s say it’s three clients that you have and you’re using up all of your mental space on one, and the others you’re just enough, just enough to get it done. It’s not because it’s your favorite. It’s just the busiest.
Take your emotions out of your work. Don’t take anything personal.
I know it can get personal, especially if you’re creating for them. If you’re doing graphics for them, if you’re writing for them, if you’re editing for them, it’s hard because it’s yours. If there’s some criticism that comes or changes that need to happen, it’s yours.
Other things are not so emotional, like the technical side of things is not emotional. Doing email support is not emotional. Scheduling social media is not emotional, so it’s a little easier. But you’ve got to check out. Take the emotions out.
Once your mental space is free, guess what? You’re open to receive other clients, and not only that. As you encounter new prospective clients, you’ll be able to tell which ones are your match. You’ll also know which ones aren’t your match. But if you’re so consumed with the one, you don’t know heads from tail.
That’s some old southern saying, I think, that I heard [laughs.] You don’t know heads from tail. Oh, gosh. What does that mean? I hope it’s nothing crazy and I’m repeating it. Let’s just say you don’t know right from left because you’re so consumed on this one. Again, consumed meaning not working it, but even when you’re not working it, you’re thinking about it.
How do you get that off? Maybe you need a journal. Maybe you need to write down some things. Maybe you need to text yourself just to get it off of you, to get it out of your system, whatever it is you’re feeling. Maybe you needed to go in your prayer closet and pray about it, whatever you need to do to release.
That’s your goal is to release it because you want to free up your mind so that you can get back to your number one client. I haven’t said it in a while, but here’s a reminder:
You are your number one client. Your virtual assistant business is your number one client. It has to be served just like all your other clients.
You have to market. You have to promote. You have to do your social media. You have to do your emails. You have to do the same thing that clients have to do. So why does it get pushed to the back? No, it has to always stay number one, because if it doesn’t, you’re slipping. Your business is slipping if it does not. But if you’re weighted down with someone else’s business, that affects you.
If you are so consumed, and again, so excited and so fascinated about this other thing because you love the type work itself, you’ve got to get some more just like that and get rid of the others. This can be tough. This can be tough because it requires you to really dig deep and think about what am I doing to myself? What am I doing to the business that I created? Am I creating a work environment that is working for me or work environment that’s working against me?
It’s time to be selfish, and again, I mean in reference to your business. It’s time to get selfish and think about your number one client. Otherwise, down the road, you could really suffer. Guess where it starts? With your numbers, with your clientele, with all the people that you serve when those numbers start to dwindle because your focus has been off. If it’s been off, it’s okay because the good news is you can get right back on track.
You can get right back on track by going back to why am I getting so wrapped up? Is it an emotional thing? Is it because it’s a service that I really love? Why is it? If it’s something that you really love, easy-peasy, you know, oh, I know this is my thing. I’m going to ride it. I’ve got to, you know, eliminate everything that does not fit into that category. If it’s emotional, it may be more difficult.
I tell you, I pray a lot every single day. It’s like God sits beside me, right beside me. Wherever I’m sitting and working, he is there. I’m talking to him and I’ll even get up and have to go to another room and sometimes you’ve got to get low and in the floor, whatever it takes so that you can get some things off of you if it’s an emotional thing, right, because it’s business. You all know that phrase, “It’s just business. It’s not personal.”
Well, it’s just business. Don’t let it get emotional. That’s my tip for you today.
There are so many people that are waiting for you. They need you to be free. When we’re free and we’re focused on our number one client, we’re open to receive the right ones. We’re open to being more creative in our writing and whatever it is we need to do. Our mind is free to think. Our mind is free to think. Gosh, think about that. We’re so wrapped up into somebody else’s thing, our mind is not free.
It just occurred to me that it might not even be a situation where you’re wrapped up into a client thing, but maybe it’s a friend thing. Maybe you gave a friend some advice and you really want them to do it with you. Like you started a business and your friend talked about starting a business and you really want them to do it too and you’re caught up in whatever struggles they’re having and why they’re not getting off to a good start, affecting your number one. Release it. Release it. Release it. Release it. Release it. Release it. Just let it go.
Just release it so that your mind can be free so that you can do what you were created to do.
We can’t be held responsible for what’s going on with somebody else. You’re not responsible for what’s going on with somebody else. Yes, sure, we can encourage, motivate. We can inspire them, all those things. But we can’t take on their load. That’s like picking up their load and adding it to our back. Because guess what? You easily are picking up somebody else’s load, then there’s another load to pick up. Now, you’ve got two loads and no room for yourself. Release it. Let it go. Take care of number one.
Now, I’m going to switch gears. You take care of number one in business and you take care of number one in your life. If we can’t help ourselves, how can we help anybody else? Can’t be done.
Thank you so much for listening and hanging out with me on today’s episode. Come on over to my Facebook page. I am there every day. I want to hear from you. If you have a question, let me know. If you’re watching on YouTube, post your questions in the comments. I get a notification that let me know that you’re there and I can respond to you over on YouTube.
So thanks again for listening and for hanging out with me. I appreciate you so much. You have no idea. It’s because of you that I show up every single week to give you a new podcast episode, and so we can just hang out and talk about the business of being a virtual assistant. You have a wonderful and fabulous day.
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