How To Prepare Your VA Business For The New Year

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

The holidays are coming to an end in a couple of days. Now is a good time to take stock and prepare your VA business for the new year. While some virtual assistants are focusing on the festivities, others are tinkering about what the new year will bring to their business.

While none of this is bad, in my books, it is better to make concrete plans before partying. That way you’ll have a guilt-free celebration.

I’m a big fan of reviewing your year. Look at everything that worked well for you and note why it worked out.

Look at everything that did not work out for you and discover why it did not work. This also helps you celebrate your wins you might not have noticed. Especially those small steps you took that cascaded into a huge win.

In all this, remember that reviewing your year is only beneficial if you take steps to become better.

Planning is only half the journey. Implementing your plans is what makes the difference.

Once that is done, you’ll be ready to prepare your VA business for the new year.

As a virtual assistant myself, I understand the struggle. We spend all year working in client’s businesses and just want to take time off.

But let’s face it, your clients don’t need a VA this time of the year so it makes sense to use this time to prepare your business for the new year before they are ready to start work in the new year.

8 Steps To Prepare Your VA Business For The New Year

 

Prepare VA Business New Year

1.) Get a head start on your content creation

This is a perfect time to create content for your business. As VAs we get very busy working with clients and often forget to market our own business. That is a recipe for going from feast to famine. It is a mistake a lot of virtual assistants make. Now you have  a down time, it is best to create in advance and use automation to your advantage. 

  • Create social media content for different social media platforms (at least one month worth) and schedule them using a scheduler like zoho social. 
  • Write some blog posts and schedule them on your website.
  •  Write emails to your email list and schedule them to go out on specific dates

You can plan out your strategy for the entire year if you like. But if you don’t have it in you, a 90 day strategy is good enough. You can then check out special events and awareness dates to help you know the kind of content to create depending on your target audience. 

2.) Access Your Tools And Systems 

You need to take time to review the tools and systems you have in your business. Even if they work well they might be leaving a hole in your wallet. Are they better alternatives?

What will it take to use something else? Sometimes it might not even be tools you use in your own business. It might be tools you use to complete client work.

3.) Create a plan for reaching out to past and current clients

What’s your plan to get back in business once the festivities are out of the way?

This is the time to schedule personalized emails to your past and current clients pitching your ideas. You already know their business so it should be easy for you.

Sometimes they may not know that they need help with something. 

Let them know your availability and show eagerness to help. It’s always a win-win.

4.) Plan on how to build your network

In November of 2023, a brand on LinkedIn mentioned one of my blog posts. That single post brought in more than 2,000 email subscribers in one month. Networking and collaborating can’t be overemphasized. Create a list of potential clients you’d like to work with as well as other virtual assistants/creators who also serve your target audience you’d like to collaborate with in the new year.

5.) Gather Social Proof 

This is a good time to ask for strong testimonials from clients you have worked with. You can use those testimonials to market your business in the new year. You’ll find this testimonial request kit very helpful

6.) Create events on your calendar based on special events and awareness dates

You might want to take advantage of special dates like valentines, black Friday, fitness awareness month etc. While specific dates like breast cancer awareness month will not make sense for a lot of VAs, it will make sense for a VA for an NGO that promotes cancer awareness, Make sense?

By identifying these dates early on and putting them on your calendar, you can plan around them and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.

7.) Sort out your finances

Take time to look through your business finances. What brings in the most money? Where is your money going?

What is your income goal for the year? Will your rates stay the same or change? Find out if your business expenses make sense for the income you bring in monthly.

8.) Update your website and social media

If you have the “how to work with me in 2023” post pinned on your Instagram profile, it’s time to update it.

Updating your website is also important.  use the time to update your website and social profiles to make sure your business is prepared for the new year. Run a quick website audit to check your site’s health and make sure it’s working fine. Update things like: copyright info on your footer, site speed, links, content, images etc.

Final Words

It is important that you prepare your VA business for the new year. Do it now rather than later. You don’t have to figure out everything at once. Start with the first 90 days. Next year, don’t focus on only working on your client’s business. Create time to work on yours. Schedule and automate what you can to make sure your business is running while you are working with your clients.

3 Important Things To Do Before Taking Time Off Your VA Business

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

The holidays are fast approaching. Your clients are preparing to take time off and maybe you too. This is probably your first time away from your business this year. There are important things you must do before taking time off your VA business. 

Although you are your own boss now and can take time off whenever you want, you need to be professional about taking time off. So you’ll have a business to come back to when your vacation, leave etc. is done.

Here are 3 important things to do before taking time off your VA business:

before taking time your va business

1.) Hire A Subcontractor

You can make money while away from your VA business when you work with a subcontractor. Now this isn’t something you do at the snap of your fingers. You’d need to have reliable subcontractors before you need them.

This way,  you can take time off your VA business and be rest assured that they can hold down the forte.

What this means is that you’d have to split your earnings with the subcontractor. So if your client pays you $1000 you will have to find a subcontractor and pay anywhere from $500 to carry out the project.

This is a good solution when you are on maternity leave, sick, caring for a sick relative or just need time to relax and unwind.

I recommend you add in your contract that you will be working with subcontractors from the get go. Even if you don’t have any subcontractors yet.

If you would love to work with a subcontractor or hire a VA to handle things in your business, here’s everything you must know about subcontracting.

2.) Inform Your Clients

If you offer services that don’t require contact with clients often, then you don’t have to inform your clients. As long as they get their projects completed in record time, all will be fine.

However, if you have regular meet-ups with your clients, then you should let them know you’d be taking some time off and who will handle things while you are away.

A simple “I’ll be away for x days and so xyz, who has been working closely with me and fully understands your business will be holding down the forte while I am away. Be sure to reach out to them if you have any questions or concerns”.

That way, your clients won’t feel abandoned. You should also give your clients at least 30 days notice before you take time off. If you also have things within your own business, e.g social media management, you can hire someone to do that for you.

3.) Take on more work than usual before taking time off

I do this a lot. Whenever I need a break I work a lot in advance. I let my clients know way before hand and then work in advance. I offer services like email marketing, website design and SEO blog so it is easy to write and schedule email and SEO blog posts in advance. And if my client needs a sales page or any website design work completed while I am away, I do it as well before taking time off.

 My clients are always grateful for the head ups and can manage on their own while I am away.

If they desperately need help and I don’t have a subcontractor assigned to them, I step in. It’s usually for little tasks here and there maybe once a week.

Nothing major.

Depending on why you are taking time off your business, you may not be able to help out at all. So decide what works best for you and communicate with your client.

Final Words

Doing these things before taking time off your VA business is non-negotiable. Especially if you want to have a business to come back to.

Ready to become a virtual assistant, make money online and take time off your business whenever you want? You might want to sign up for my FREE course that teaches you the 5 steps to take. The course also share the people that are in need of VAs, the kind of services they need help with and how to get access to learn in-demand digital skills for free.

It’s perfect for you even if you don’t have any experience and are not a techy person.

6 Things To Automate In Your Virtual Assistant Business

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Running a Virtual Assistant business is no easy work. As a Virtual Assistant, you are tasked with time consuming work that requires you to pay close attention to details. You have to get things done for clients and do your personal business too. The huge workload can limit the number of clients you can handle at once since you only have as many hours in a day. But for you to succeed as a Virtual Assistant, you often need to take on and manage multiple clients. This means that you need to find ways of completing more tasks in less time. Thanks to automation, you can make this happen!

Automation can help you handle repetitive tasks and other time consuming manual processes. It also eliminates human error. If used properly, you can leverage it to take on more clients and offer value-added services that you couldn’t do otherwise. Your clients will be happy as well and your services will blow their minds. Exciting, isn’t it? 

Here Are 6 Things You Could Automate In Your Virtual Assistant Business

 

1.) Email Marketing And Lead Generation

You have to constantly market your virtual assistant business even if you are fully booked. This is because you might need to fire a client or a client might let you go at any time. It is better to have a list of warm leads waiting for an opportunity to work with you.

Lead generation is a set and forget system that I love and use in my business. One smart idea is instead of handing prospective clients your services and pricing guide. You could use it as a lead magnet.

Potential clients only have to enter their name and email to get it. That way, you can follow up, nurture them and turn them to paying clients. Email marketing tools I love are use are: Sendfox and Brevo (formerly sendinblue).

2.) Email Management 

If you aren’t already, email management is one thing you need to automate in your virtual assistant business. You can do this by setting up templates for quick responses and automating things like common question responses and forwarding of Email to appropriate clients. 

By reducing Email management time, you can increase your workload capacity and still get this done. The email management tool I love and use is Gmail

3.) Bookings 

You can use automated meeting and appointment scheduling systems to reduce this stress of scheduling appointments. To do this, you just have to configure your calendar based on your scheduling preferences including preferred times and location. This way, clients and prospective clients can schedule meetings with you without the need for back and forth emails to sync schedules. 

This takes off the stress of manually adding meetings to your schedule and worrying about notifying participants of changes to scheduled appointments or meetings. This also allows either party to cancel or reschedule meetings without needless back and forth communication. Booking tools I love and use are Tidycal and calendly

4.) Invoicing

If your clients subscribe to a monthly package. You could create a monthly subscription payment page like this, to automatically collect payments on your behalf. This way, it will be easy to charge clients when due, follow up unpaid invoices and even charge late payment fees.

You can put much of your invoicing work on autopilot by turning to an invoicing automation solution. With automation, you can send more accurate and timely invoices to clients. You can also use the accounting automation tool to remind clients of overdue bills. Handing these accounting tasks to automation can help you focus on other tasks.

Some invoicing tools I use are Paystack,  Zoho invoice, and Invoice.ng

5.) Social Media Marketing 

Social media marketing is another area you should automate in your virtual assistant business. All you have to do is pre-plan your content and create it in advance. Scheduling tools will publish as scheduled. Social media marketing tools like zoho social can do a lot more like publish already published posts, find the best hashtags, use AI to write engaging captions for your posts etc. 

This can improve your posting consistency which is key to building a larger audience and improving engagement metrics. Some social media automation tools can also help you manage follower interactions on multiple social channel.

Social media automation tools I use and love are Zoho social, planoly and preview

6.) SEO Blogging

SEO blogging can be automated to help you get organic leads. All you have to do is write and optimise your content in advance and schedule them. 

For example I am writing this post you are reading now in July and will schedule it in a few hours to be automatically published in a month’s time while I will be on maternity leave and nursing my son. This way, I can batch create content and schedule to automatically go out at a set date. So even while I am on maternity leave, my business will not close shop. My website will continue to provide help to new and aspiring virtual assistants while I am away.

Wrapping up…

Automation opportunities are not limited to these. But in all, it can help you grow your business and become more competitive. So I hope you start by automating these things today in your virtual assistant business.

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria?

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

I blinked twice when I saw the minimum cost of starting a virtual assistant business on starter story.

According to starter story, it costs $7,466 minimum.

$7,466 is a lot of money for a Nigerian.

At the time of writing this, it is NGN 3,733,000

If I had over three million naira lying around in 2019, I wouldn’t have started my virtual assistant business.

I was already working as a Medical Laboratory scientist earning over 100k and still getting financial support from my parents.

My rent was paid by my parents and I got a steady supply of food stuff (sometimes cooked food).

I lived a stone throw from the hospital I worked, so I strolled to work on most days. So I spent most of my salary on roasted plantain (bole) and fish, data and fast food.

I was a baby girl and had no worries.

But When I started, I didn’t start from scratch.

I had two years blogging and digital marketing experience. And I knew how to save on tools and could do some things myself (like website creation and design). That saved cost.

So if you are considering starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria you’re in luck.

This is one of the reasons I started focusing on helping new and aspiring virtual assistants in Nigeria become VAs.

Generic information doesn’t work in these streets. It is probably normal for a virtual assistant in the US or UK to spend that. But in Nigeria, it is not realistic. 90% of Nigerians do not spend that on their entire university education.

According to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics, 40% Nigerians earn about NGN137,430 ($274.86) per year.

Which is very true.

A lot of ad hoc staff at my PPA worked 8-4 for 5 days a week for NGN10,000 ($20) a month

That further brings it down to NGN120,000 ($240) a year.

And they dress up everyday to work early. Pay their way to and fro every day and still smile at people.

I’d be devastated, to say the least.

Thankfully, you don’t need $7,466 to start a virtual assistant business.

Or a full fleshed virtual assistant agency in Nigeria even if you buy laptops for a team of 5 and provide data.

The cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria is not even a quarter of that amount.

Or up to 10%

Depending on your skills and what you already have, you might need 1% of that amount or zero naira.

I started with zero naira.

Recommended: Step by step process to become a Virtual Assistant in Nigeria

Here’s How Much It Cost To Start A Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria

Like I said earlier, your startup costs depend on your skills and what you already have. Most of the startup costs involve digital tools.

So, if you’re wondering exactly how much it cost to start your virtual assistant business in Nigeria pay attention.

First, let’s separate the most common expenses to two categories (compulsory and optional) so you know exactly what to expect.

Compulsory Expenses When You’re Starting Your Virtual Assistant Business

1. A Smart Phone

If you already have a smart phone, you can use it. If not, you need one immediately. You can get a good smart phone anywhere from NGN30,000. Even before you do anything, you need a smart phone. These days you can do everything from creating a free website to email marketing etc. All on your phone. If you provide a service like social media management or canva design, you can run your entire business from your smart phone.

2. Internet

You’ll be spending a lot of time online so you need good internet connection. As a virtual assistant in Nigeria, you already know how frustrating the network can be. It is important to choose the best service provider in your location. This is because when your internet service is down, it can make you lose business and slow down your turn around time for client work.

I spend about NGN15,000 to NGN20,000 on data every month. If I wasn’t a virtual assistant, I’d be spending a lot less. Depending on the VA services you provide, you might need a smaller or higher subscription.

3. Email

You need a separate work email. It doesn’t matter if it is Gmail or a custom email address. You can use Gmail for free

4. Invoicing System

How will you send invoices and receive payments? Paystack and Flutterwave are easy options. You can create invoices in 5 minutes or less and get paid easily. You can even set it to charge your clients automatically until they cancel. The more recent option I found is invoice.ng, you can create and send up to 5 invoices for free. It integrates with PayPal and other payment gateways which is great for receiving international payments.

5. Power bank

As a Nigerian, you already know you can’t bank on NEPA. You need to get a good power bank from a reputable brand like Chuvis. This is will serve better than getting a power bank that might end up draining your phone to charge itself. I got my new age power bank 18 months ago and it is good. A good power bank costs anywhere from NGN5,000.

Optional Expenses to Start Your Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria

In addition to the compulsory startup costs, you need the items below in the long run. I separated your startup costs this way because there are things you can implement over time and don’t need to cough up a lot of money upfront.

The things listed below are equally VERY important but they are just not an absolute MUST to start a VA business in Nigeria.

1. Laptop

Depending on the service you provide, a laptop might be a compulsory expense. So if you don’t already have a laptop, you may need to get one. All your work will be done online and some of them can’t be done with a smart phone.

The potential cost of this can be NGN150,000 or more. My laptop cost NGN250,000 in 2017, and it was a birthday present I got even before I started my virtual assistant business.

Buying a laptop for your virtual assistant business is an investment. So I don’t recommend anything “fairly used” or “UK used”. You need a strong laptop that will serve you for several years. If you must get a fairly used laptop, it is best to buy it from a reputable brand that offers a warranty period. Just to be safe.

2.      Website

Every virtual assistant business needs a website. But I understand that a lot of aspiring VAs in Nigeria don’t have the money for a website. So I offer helpful alternatives in my free email course for virtual assistants in Nigeria.

Although I recommend starting without a website, a website is very important in the long run. So you’d want to put it at the top of your to-do list once you start making any money.

There are two ways to get your virtual assistant website up and running in no time.

Outsource it:

A functional virtual assistant website costs anywhere fromNGN50,000 depending on the exchange rates. I charge NGN75,000 for a basic VA website.

Do It Yourself:

If you have experience creating websites, you can setup your VA website. Here are some of the actual expenses associated with your website:

Domain: Usually this will run you anywhere between $6 and about $11. You can get it for next to nothing if you catch a special sale like on black Friday. I use and recommend namecheap

Hosting: This starts at about $30/year. I use and recommend namecheap

SSL: A lot of hosting providers give this for free in the first year. It renews at $30 or more.

Content Management System: WordPress.org is free and I use and recommend it. It is idiot proof.

Theme: A theme is what gives the aesthetic part of your website. Depending on your budget you can get a free virtual assistant theme. There are lots of premium virtual assistant theme ranging from $15 to $350.

Page Builder: Getting a theme is not enough. You need page builders like Elementor and thrive architect to customize your pages and build awesome landing pages. I use and recommend both elementor and thrive architect.

Elementor starts at $49/year (I use the free version of elementor)

I got thrive architect when it was still a stand alone product. Now you have to spend $19/month for thrive suite (which is thrive architect plus many other useful plugins).

Want to learn how to create and design WordPress websites? Join the FREE waitlist for my course launching this July 2023.

3. MiFi/Router

You can get a MiFi or router to connect to multiple devices. I work with my phone and laptop at the same time so I got an airtel 4G pocket MiFi for NGN12,000 in 2019 (it is now NGN9,999 and comes with 25Gb data). It helps me keep my data costs minimal because I only have to do one subscription. I can connect with up to 10 devices.

4. Generator

You need one if you live in an area with inconsistent power supply. Even if you have consistent power supply, it is wise to have a standby generator for when NEPA disappoints and you have a deadline. The cost of generators has hit an all-time high since the pandemic. A basic tiger generator (aka I pass my neighbor) starts at NGN45,000. I bought a sumec firman 2900 generator in Port Harcourt in March 2022 for NGN129,000 and a family member got it in Calabar in November for NGN200,000. So factors like location, inflation etc. definitely affects these prices. You should research for what is affordable.

5. Virtual Assistant Training Costs

I started my business without taking any training. So it is not a compulsory thing. Howbeit, I would have paid to learn if I found a coach for Nigerian VAs. Because I could not afford to pay NGN 400,000 and upwards (when you convert to naira) for training. I eventually took trainings when I could afford them.

That said, training can be in a variety of ways, memberships, masterminds, coaching, e-courses, ebooks etc.

You can get a lot of free and affordable information to help you start your virtual assistant business in Nigeria online. I have provided

However, if you have a little money to invest and want to shorten the learning curve, avoid trial and error, costly mistakes, and grow faster, then training is a MUST.

One simple and affordable way you can get training is by working with me. I offer one-on-one, group coaching and courses to help you go pro fast.

One thing that training does is that is gives you step by step info. Consuming information online can lead to information overload very fast. A lot of aspiring virtual assistants never implement and enter into analysis paralysis mode. I highly recommend training if you can afford it. It will help you grow faster.

Read Also: 15 Common Mistakes Virtual Assistants Make (and how to avoid them)

6. Business Name/ Company Registration

You absolutely need to have this on your to-do list if you want to go far. You don’t want to build a business online and find out your competitor has registered your business and prohibits you from using the name all your clients you know by.

I recommend registering a company instead of a business name. It’s more cost effective. Registering a business name costs anywhere from NGN20,000 while a company costs anywhere from NGN70,000

7. Templates For Contracts, Getting Client, Getting paid Etc.

Templates have been a business saver for many virtual assistants. There’s just about a template for everything. You can get contract templates for virtual assistants in Nigeria, instead of hiring a lawyer every time you have a new client.

Recommended: Shop for templates to make your business processes a easier

8. Email service provider

Building an email list is a very important part of any digital business. An email service provider like sendfox is a great option for virtual assistants in Nigeria. It currently cost only $49 for a lifetime plan of 5,000 contacts (which is a steal and you should take advantage of before the price increases!). Other email service providers take up to $25 every single month.

9. Cloud storage

You need a secure place to store your important documents and google drive and drop box offer free versions. Both options store your info “in the cloud” which keeps your info secure and safe.

10. Booking system:

You need to get on discovery calls to close potential clients. A booking system will eliminate the back and forth emails to sync schedules. I use and highly recommend tidycal. It is very easy to use and very affordable. It cost only $29 for the lifetime plan. Calendly costs $8 every single month. Both tidycal and calendly have free versions for when you’re bootstrapping.

11. Social media management tools 

You’re going to need some tools for things like scheduling, hashtag research, fancy texts, graphics etc. Scheduling tools like preview and planoly are free to start with paid upgrade that range from $29/month to up to $100. The free version of canva is great for graphics.

12. Project management tools:

Project management tools like trello and asana, have the free versions. You can start with that and upgrade as your business grows.

13. Time trackers: 

You already know you need a time tracker if you bill hourly. Although I do not bill hourly, I use and recommend toogl just to see how much time it takes me to complete tasks. There are other time trackers that also have free versions you can start with.

14. Office Space Expenses

This depends on if you are building a one person business or an agency. You can set an office space in the spare room in your home or rent out a space. Costs to consider are rent, utilities, equipment, furniture etc.

Rent depends on your location. For an average space in a developing area in Port Harcourt you’ll be considering at least NGN200,000 for a single room. Sometimes without a toilet. Things like NEPA bill depends on if you are using pre-paid or flat rate, and the cost of equipment and furniture depends on the quality and quantity you need.

Depending on your budget, a workspace like kowork located in Port Harcourt and Lagos might be what you need. They provide furniture, stand-by generator etc. Their prices start at NGN10,000 and go up to NGN150,000 per month (which is very affordable). If you decide to start a full blown agency, there’ll still be room for you and your staff and you won’t have to worry about setting up a space, cleaning and all the tax (and tout) platforms that disturb businesses all the time.

What Is Total Cost of Starting a Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria

  • Minimum cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria= NGN 0.00
  • Maximum cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria= NGN 3,500,000
  • Average cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria= NGN 600,000

The total cost to start a virtual assistant business in Nigeria ranges from FREE to NGN3,500,000. It depends on a variety of factors like the digital assets you already have, the skills you have, the service(s) you want to provide and how big you want to start.

Bottom line is that you don’t need a lot of money to start your VA business in Nigeria. If you ask me how to prioritize to minimize the upfront cost of starting your virtual assistant business in Nigeria, I’d say:

Do all the compulsory things first. Then choose the recommendations in the optional category according to your budget.

I hope you found this post useful and actually take action to start your own virtual assistant business

13 Little Ways To Feel Like You Have Your Shit Together This Year

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

It’s a new year and I’m sure you’ve been bombarded with articles and updates about why you should set goals or die a lonely miserable death in penury. I know, I know, I got caught by the bug and told you why new year resolutions suck and what you should do instead. Today, I decided to share 13 little ways to feel like you have your shit together this year because shit happens and you’d have to deal with it without looking like you were attacked by a wolf.

I’ll start by saying this, none of us truly has our shit together all the time and we probably never will. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. I’m sure these 13 little ways to feel like you have your shit together this year even if you don’t will be helpful.

13 Little Ways To Feel Like You Have Your Shit Together This Year

#1.) Clear out your inbox:

Email, WhatsApp etc. Make it a habit to check your inboxes everyday either early in the morning or just before you go to bed at night. You can also use this time to delete emails you don’t need, block out spam emails and unsubscribe from unwanted lists if the information they bring no longer serve you.

Phew! this is a screenshot from my phone in 2018

I finally sorted out my inbox when I was expecting an email from an interview I attended. I had to search through over 6,000 emails to get that one email that said they’ll keep me in mind if they had another opening.

On the flip side, you might just miss an important email telling you, you have won one billion dollars in a lottery. Who knows? There are a lot of things Gmail does that you probably didn’t know about (like organizing and snoozing) and you can use it to stay organized.

#2.) Make your bed:

While this might be something you already do, a lot of us don’t (I’m guilty AF). My husband likes the bed always dressed.

Me too.

Some how I struggle with consistently making the bed everyday. As much as I don’t consistently make my bed everyday, I’ve found that making my bed isn’t that much of a chore and the satisfaction I get when I come back home to a made bed is worth the 1-2minutes effort.

#3.) Organize your shit:

This goes for both online and offline organizing. As a virtual assistant, my clients ask me for files from up to six months back and I can’t say “I’m not sure where it is” or have to look for it for days on end. So I organize everything. Create folders for each client’s work according to the type of job and the month so it is always easy to find something. Apart from making me feel like I have my shit together, it keeps everything clean and organized and makes my clients feel like they can rely on me for anything.

Organizing things in boxes or compartments helps you find something without having to ransack your entire apartment. I know where to find my keys and don’t have to look all over because I have cultivated the habit of keeping them at a particular place.

#4.) Go through your bank statements:

I went through a time in 2019 where I didn’t want to see my account statement or any notifications of transactions. It was so bad that whenever I logged into my mobile app I looked away from seeing the numbers on the screen and just did everything fast enough not to see them. I wasn’t making frivolous financial decisions or anything, but my wedding was sapping the oxygen from my account faster than I had anticipated.

You see, that was a wrong move because when I eventually pulled myself by my hair and checked the account statement, I found that I had spent over 10,000 on airtime in only one month. No. I don’t mean mobile data. While 10,000 might be less than the amount you spend on the floss you use, it was a huge deal for me. Mostly because I had to spend a lot of time on the phone with my fiancé (to keep my sanity).

Going through your account statement on a regular basis holds you accountable and helps you keep track of where all your money is going.

This is important too because I found that someone had sent a lesser amount of money to me and I had confirmed their transaction. I don’t know how many times this happened before I grew the balls to check but I wish I had developed the habit sooner.

#5.) Always have vex money on you

First off, it is classy AF to always have a little money saved up for emergencies. Taking it a bit further, having money when you go on dates, or hangouts with family/friends is classier. Your vex money is essential regardless of if your partner promised you the treat or not.

Vex money is a little amount of money a lady carries on a date. It essentially covers her basic needs like; transportation, feeding and/or accommodation.

Unknown

People have been put in difficult situations, forced to go against their values, manhandled and even assaulted because they thought the other party was responsible for them, and had no money. Nobody can have your back as much as you.

After our wedding, my husband developed the habit of taking cash from my purse whenever he needed cash and making a transfer (some times with interest) to me. As sweet as the extra money is, I was always caught off guard whenever I checked my purse on my way out and found no money.

I’d ask for cash to put in my purse even if we’re going out together just because it made me feel safer and more in control. He couldn’t wrap his head around why I’d want to have my own money while going out with my husband.

Long story short, I just hide extra cash for emergencies and leave the one he can borrow and pay with interest in my purse.

#6.) Find your go-to outfit recipe:

This makes getting ready for work way easier and faster. Truth is, we really don’t want to be saddled with the responsibility of looking for what to wear every day of the week. I used to tell anyone who cared to listen that I was going to hire a personal stylist as soon as I got rich until I discovered my go-to outfit formula. Mine consists of a dress and covered shoes/sandals for work and a palazzo with a fitted top and flats for casual outings. I never feel over-dressed or under-dressed no matter where I go. Yours could be anything. Just be sure to find something that always makes you feel confident and comfortable. It’ll make getting ready in the morning 10 times easier, as well as make sure you always have something ready to go when you’re in a rush.

#7.) Find your go-to make up routine:

You don’t have to do a makeover every time you want to step out of your door. Mine consist of powder, lip gloss and stud earrings. I picked this look because it is not only effortless for me but because it takes me two minutes or less to complete. I draw my brows on days when I have a little more time to get ready and want to look a little more put together. It takes me less than 10 minutes to complete it. All you need to do is figure out what works for you and can be completed in as little time as possible.

#8.) Develop a self-care routine:

It is important that you take care of yourself. It is easy to forget about taking care of yourself when you have so much work as a VA. It’s even worse when you have kids. But I employ you to pamper yourself; Drink more water; take yourself for a date once a month; cut off friends that do not add value to you; speak out positive affirmations every morning; move on from relationships that no longer serve you; and forgive fools that did you wrong even if they don’t deserve it. You deserve to be at peace. You may even take these steps to stay fit if you hate exercising as much as I do.

#9.) Stop buying shit you don’t need:

I consider myself a good representative of millennials. I use social media often, use filters on my photos, talk about going to the gym (even if I never do), complain about how adulting sucks and even use #adulting on social media. So don’t you dare question how millennial I am!

Minimalism is a big turn on for millenials in today’s world. A lot of millenials want to embrace the minimalist lifestyle, and rightly so, clutter has a way of blocking out creativity. But you can’t be a minimalist if you impulse buy shit, especially shit you don’t need. I guess you just love too many things and want to have it all, but something has to give. Make budgets and stick to them, spend money on only what you must.

If you’re a trying to become a minimalist, you need to understand that it doesn’t happen overnight. It is a gradual process and can start with simply letting go of that leggings from 10 years ago even if you think it still fits. Goddammit, it doesn’t fit! You gained 10kg! Move on!

As a virtual assistant, you might want to sign up for every freebie or course that promises to help you gain 100 rich clients very week and make money in your sleep but don’t. You’ll just clutter your head and find it difficult to take action.

#10.) Have Your Documents Ready. Always!

Get a scanned copy of all your documents and save them to your Email, Dropbox, Google drive or wherever it will be safe and readily available. This is not only important if you are looking for employment, but in case of a disaster like a fire outbreak and all your documents are lost.

Write your CV and personal statement. Constantly update them even if you already have your dream job. You’ll never know when you need it. I recently had to submit my CV, personal statements and other documents and not having it handy was been a torn on my flesh. Trust me, there’s a difference between a CV you write last minute and one you write and update over time.

If you’re interested in bidding for jobs on LinkedIn, it allows you to upload your CV to LinkedIn and have it handy on LinkedIn whenever you want to apply for a job.

#11.) Share Your Achievements On LinkedIn

A lot of us have been focusing on all the wrong places for so long. I’ve lost count of all the family and friends whose LinkedIn profile is gasping for breathe while they are active on Instagram and WhatsApp. WhatsApp and Instagram are not bad. In fact, I have gotten a good number of clients from both platforms so they are good.

How be it, Linkedin is better if you want high ticket virtual assistant clients.

I recently started paying more attention to LinkedIn and I have gotten a good number of inquiries and clients from there. Additionally, I am building my authority as a Medical Laboratory Scientist. So when you view my profile you’d see that I am excelling in both industries. By the way, let’s connect on LinkedIn

Note: A lot of companies would rather hire someone who looks professional with a track record on LinkedIn even if you are more qualified. Don’t know what you must do to optimize your LinkedIn profile? I have a blog post all about how to optimise your Linkedin profile to get noticed by recruiters.

#12.) Educate your mind so you can hold intelligent conversations:

Read books, listen to podcasts, Google stuff, read your bible, listen to news to know when the zombies will attack what’s happening in the world. In all your getting, get knowledge.

You need to know a little bit of everything so you don’t mope like a fool when the topic is not about your village witches, celebrities, your stingy uncle or the secret lives of corrupt politicians. I’ve been in situations where all the person said in response was “deep!”, nuggets!”, “so true!”, “#fact!” and then waited for me to say more without having any point of view to share. If you do this, now you know that it just makes you look uninformed and foolish. When you know things for yourself, you won’t buy everything people say even if they are your pastor, mentor or renowned motivational speaker.

PS: Forgive me for not being a marlian but I’d rather not talk to you if all you’d be contributing to the conversation is “mad oh!”.

#13.) Don’t be too shy to ask for help:

I know we are all trying to get our shit together this year, but that doesn’t mean you should die in silence. You don’t have everything figured out and that’s okay. We all don’t. Acknowledging the fact that you need help and asking for it is classy! And you know I’m all about being classy and shit. So if you need help with anything, ask for help. I’ve found that people might be willing to help when I ask. That said, here are a couple of ways I can help you:

  • Need help with starting your virtual assistant business? Go here to find all the info you need.
  • Want me to take on some of the mundane tasks in your business? Contact me and let’s see how we can work together to achieve your goals this year.

Final Words

I know it might seem like everyone has their shit together except you, but that is almost always far from the truth. Feeling like you have your shit together at all times isn’t always the case no matter how hard you try. Some days are just off. You’re going to wake up from the wrong side of the bed, be unable to draw two identical brows and get your period 2 days early while at work. But that’s why you are human. Instead, keep trying to be classy. I hope these 13 little ways to feel like you have your shit together this year make your life a little more put together.

Which of these tips are you going to practice? Is there anything you’ll be doing to get your shit together this year? Let me know in the comments!

Why New Year Resolutions Suck And What You Should Do Instead

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Oh crap! It’s new year, new me o’clock. Today’s no different than yesterday but somehow everyone feels like today is resolution kick off day. I’m sure you feel brand new and feel like you can achieve everything you set out to achieve this year. But you know what? All your resolutions are going to fail.

Why? Because you’re still that same old procrastinator from last year. You didn’t reach your saving goal, didn’t eat mainly fruits and veggies, didn’t exercise every day, didn’t take your VA business dreams seriously or even earn passive income online like you said you would.

At least you lost weight? How much weight? 5kg? But you gained 10kg while trying to have a detty December. By the way, your December wasn’t even detty!

So this year you’re ready again with your list of “resolutions” and shit and feel like you are going to reach the sky. Let me be the first to tell you resolutions have a high potential to fail so it’s not because Timaya sang the song. You know the one about him not killing himself. It’s not because your village people are using your picture to fan themselves. As much as you’d like to blame your village witches for your dumb mistakes, they are innocent. I hate to break it to you, but you are not so important to your village witches. This one’s on you.

WHY DO NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS SUCK?

Short Answer: Because they are unreasonable and unrealistic decisions sometimes made out of peer pressure without a clear course of action to achieve them.

Okay, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for people making decisions to better themselves but then, they are already programmed to fail because they are mostly unrealistic. I know they say the sky is your starting point but honey, chill.

Take a deep breathe. I am not attacking you yet

Bring down your shoulders, humble yourself, the ground is your starting point. Don’t build castles in the air again this year.

Thing is, resolutions suck for everyone. They are a bad move no matter how good your intentions are. Hell, I bet you can’t even remember some of your resolutions from last year. The fact that you had to wait till January 1st to become a better version of you is just nonsense. I really don’t want you doing the same dumb shit you did last year. So call me whatever you choose. The ghost of New Years’ past, fairy god-mother. Have at it.

But this is your chance to make things right this year and onward. So instead of whining about why new year resolutions suck, I decided to tell you what you should do instead.

What You Should Do Instead?

Short Answer: SET SMART GOALS. This is simply and acronym for:

  • S- Specific
  • M- Measurable
  • A- Actionable
  • R- Relevant
  • T- Time bound

When you set a goal, it has to have all five of the above features for it to work. This features will be your road map to achieving the set goal.

I’ll tell you this for free. If your goals are something even a teensy weensy bit abstract—like start a side hustle or become a virtual assistant…you are going to beat yourself up by this time next year because you won’t achieve your goal.

Instead, your goal should look like this:

I’ll take the virtual assistant launchpad training, launch my business in February, hone my skills and actively seek free and paid opportunities to learn.

How To Set Smart Goals

Review the past year:  first step is reviewing the past year. I know they say you have to let go of the past but not in this case. You have to see what went well, what didn’t go well, determine why it didn’t go well and strategize ways to improve.

Write down your goals: I don’t know about you but I’d rather plan with pen and paper. I stick to my goals better when I can write them down in my own handwriting. But whatever works for you is fine. The most important thing is for you to stick to your goals.

See: Habakkuk 2:2 “Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it.” And Exodus 17:14 “…the Lord instructed Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder…”

Create a vision board: Create a vision board of the goals you have written down and put it where you can see every day. This may be on your room wall, inside your planner or in your office.

Get an accountability partner: Having someone to keep you in check and help you get your shit together when you go astray is priceless. I wanted to create a small private accountability group and have a small number of you join me crush your goals but I am too busy to make it work.

Review and Update your goals: At the end of 2019, I made a couple of goals with the steps to achieve them. They were SMART goals so I was going to stick with them. But shit happened. Good shit anyways.

I lost more weight than I had planned (not intentionally), I started teaching people how to start blogs, I got married, became a virtual assistant by accident and started making money online. My goals changed and my focus changed (in a good way) and I couldn’t be more proud of my achievements.

Imagine if I had stuck with my goals and followed through as planned, I would have refused the opportunity to make money from home working as a virtual assistant and refused to get married among other things. Imagine if I had waited till January to start my virtual assistant business.

WHY NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS SUCK AND WHAT YOU SHOULD DO INSTEAD

You will be a fool to keep doing what obviously isn’t working for you. If I move on to create this group, I will send tips and tricks that have been working for me and we can all review our goals for the week/month and the year. I think this will be fun. 

FINAL WORDS

It is laughable that people make resolutions and fail half way through January but have to wait till the next year to start again. If you think the New Year comes with a special resolution keeping spirit or things will be perfect and following through with your resolutions will be easier, you have to think again or I’ll make fun of you. I hope you’ve learned why new year resolutions suck and what you should do instead. Have you set goals for the year or you are going to wing it?

Lest I forget, Happy New Year!

How To Stay Fit Even If You Hate Exercise

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

You want to stay fit but you hate exercise

You want to have a flat tummy, the right shape, maintain your banging body or live a more healthy life but hate exercise?

You are in constant need to tuck in your tummy to look good in a dress have screenshots of your ideal body on your phone, and you just look at them every once in a while and say I can’t kill myself I’ll start tomorrow.

So you eat at 2 am just before going to bed because you know people in your family are fat.

If any of that sounds like you, then pause.

Step away from the fridge S L O W L Y with your hands where I can see them because this post is for you! 

Well, you are not the only one. Not all of us can “find ourselves” with yoga, or by travelling the world. Apart from the fact that I hate travelling, I don’t have enough money for transport.

We all can’t be like Khloe Kardashian who loves the gym and probably sees herself in gym heaven in her dreams. Most of us know that we should exercise more, but we just feel life is short and Jesus is coming soon so we say- ‘I’ll rest for today. After all, this body is not my own. In the end, it shall return to dust’.

The first mental picture I had of the gym was of sweaty angry looking men lifting heavy weights with Dwayne Johnson-ish muscles, huffing and puffing, Chanting ‘no pain! no gain!’ and making the face you make when you are constipated and trying to poop. But now I know better. It’s not only about losing weight or building scary muscles, but staying fit and healthy.

However, I still haven’t been inside a gym at the time of writing this post. Truth is, everyone wants to be fit or at least a nice figure these days. Hence, the tsunami of product adverts like:

  • Get 6 packs in 2days with this natural syrup
  • How to get your flat tummy in 5minutes
  • Newly discovered belly fat sucker
  • The ultimate quick action fat terminator
  • Dr. Ogbonge  overnight six packs syrup
  • And the weird person in your comment section on Facebook saying “Hey Rose I lost 10pounds……”

Before I list out the various ways you can exercise without even knowing, note that in order for any of these procedures to work you must follow these simple rules

Rules Follow To Help You stay Fit Even If You Hate Exercise

  • Pick an exercise you enjoy– first of all I understand that you hate exercise but I am sure there’s that one thing you can do that isn’t too overwhelming. Find it and do it.
  • Take baby steps- I remember some 3 years ago I decided to join the association of morning joggers. I jogged until I was drenched in sweat and that was mostly because I wanted to jog for longer than my roommates. It is rather difficult to say if I jogged for almost an hour or almost 10 hours. It sure felt like 10 hours to me. Although my roommates think it was under 45 minutes. 45 minutes, one hour, 10 hours, who cares? I jogged for a very long time. After I was sure that they’d have gone back to the hostel, I jogged back feeling like the one with the greatest stamina. Well, they weren’t back, I desperately needed to bath and felt really nauseous. Throughout that day and the next, I felt excruciating pain in my legs and that was my last day. For someone who last jogged 7 years ago to do that much on the first day, I killed my fitness dreams before they even had a chance to mature. I guess all I’m saying is, you can’t do everything over night and don’t try to impress anyone with your stamina. Start small then grow into it!
  • Consistency is key- exercise is like everything in life. Be consistent. Even the bible acknowledges consistency when it said “pray without ceasing”. Find a routine you can stick to with a little effort and build up from there.
  • Set feasible/realistic goals- Don’t deceive yourself by saying you’ll lose 50kg in a week. Start with 5kg in a week and you might lose 1 or 2kg, that’s progress.
  • Reward yourself- I did not say you should reward yourself with a box of pizza before and after meals for a week! Instead, set targets like “if I lose 2kg this week, I’ll get myself a new pair of shoes”.

With all these struggles in mind, I penned down these simple things we can incorporate into our daily routines to make exercising not seem like a chore and more importantly, yield results.

8 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay Fit Even If You Hate Exercise

1.) Eat right

I can’t emphasize this enough. Waking up every morning to jog and then drinking a big sized carbonated drink after jogging, to “cool down” because you feel hot is funny. Engaging in stupid fasting isn’t the answer either. Like my mum will say, eat 3 times a day but reduce your ration and change your menu.

2.) Take the stairs

Taking the stairs can help you burn fat more than you know. It involves more muscle movement than jogging or running on a flat surface. It also works on your glutes, biceps etc

3.) Trek

How To Stay Fit Even If You Hate Exercise

Trekking is one underrated form of exercise. The benefits of trekking are very important. If like me, your feet swell up as a result of sitting or standing too long in one place, taking a walk might be just what you need. In my case, it totally removes all traces of swelling. The fun part is you don’t have to trek from Calabar to Lagos. Just around your neighborhood in the evening is all it takes. Thank me later. Trekking a good way of exercising without knowing it. Plus, you save money and help the planet.

4.) Dance

I can’t dance to save my life, so don’t worry, I got you! I dance in the secret and my only audience is my mirror. When I do this, I sweat so much and sometimes pant. Because all that body movement can be all you need. You can dance like a mad person without any judgement or risk of seeing your dance video on the internet with the hashtag #whenyouaresecretlymad. It’s just you and your mirror.

5.) Clean your house

Cleaning and decluttering is always a win. All that high dusting, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning is part of exercise. I’ll be the first to say cleaning isn’t fun for me. It is not my idea of a good time. However, cleaning as a form of exercise helps me kill two birds with one stone. To make it fun, you can play a good song, sing along, and dance while at it. In the end, you’d have exercised and cleaned house

6.) Stop eating late

This has been my habit for many years, I eat whenever I am hungry I don’t care what the time is. I eat whatever is available. Now I try to drink water instead of eating. Drinking water not only keeps me hydrated, it fills up my stomach and helps me forget I am hungry.

7.) Avoid lying down immediately after eating

One of my bad habits I am also trying to curb. I could just eat, push my plate aside, lie down and start fidgeting with my phone or start seeing a movie on my laptop. 2hours later I would wake up to my phone or laptop in an absurd position.

8.) Try swimming

Have you ever seen a fat mermaid?

Exactly, that’s how they keep fit! My pet peeve for many years has been swimming in public swimming pools. But if you have no problem you could spend time swimming.

It’s 2020 in a about 2 weeks, how much longer are you going to ‘tuck in your tummy to look good‘?

How much longer are you going to say ‘everyone in my family is fat so I can’t help it’?

I can’t assure you that you’ll ever be an instagram fitness influencer with 10million followers and a verified account, but you’d surely derive all these amazing benefits of exercise.

Your Turn!

Do you also hate exercise? Which of the points are you guilty of? Let me know in the comments!