Author: Laura Hilmi

In the modern  world, the traditional 9-to-5 job is becoming increasingly obsolete, especially in the post covid era. . More and more parents are opting for the flexibility and freedom offered by remote work opportunities. But what if you could take it a step further? What if you could not only work from home but also build a successful business while raising a family? In the bustling city of Dubai, this dream is not just a possibility; it’s a reality for many ambitious parents.

Meet Laura, a mother of three busy children, who turned her desire for flexibility into a thriving work-from-home business right from the heart of Dubai. Here, we’ll delve into Laura’s inspiring journey and uncover the secrets to her success.

 

Embracing the Work-From-Home Lifestyle

Like many parents, Laura found herself torn between her career aspirations and her responsibilities at home. Balancing the demands of a traditional job with the needs of three young children seemed like an impossible feat. That’s when she decided to take matters into her own hands and explore the world of remote work.

Dubai, with its booming economy and vibrant entrepreneurial spirit, provided the perfect backdrop for her entrepreneurial endeavors. Armed with determination and a clear vision, she set out to create a business that would not only allow her to work from home but also give her the flexibility to prioritize her family.

Finding the Right Business Idea

One of the first challenges Laura faced was finding the right business idea that aligned with her skills, interests, and lifestyle. After much research and deliberation she identified a gap in the market for quality, flexible business support for other business owners. Leveraging her passion for organisation, communication and business strategy, she launched her own Virtual Assistant business.

Building a Strong Support System

Raising three children while running a business from home is no easy feat. Laura credits much of her success to the unwavering support of her husband, family, and friends as well as other business women she has met in Dubai.  By surrounding herself with a strong support system, she was able to navigate the inevitable challenges of entrepreneurship while ensuring her children received the care and attention they needed.

Embracing Technology and Automation

In today’s digital age, technology has become a powerful ally for entrepreneurs. Laura embraced various tools and platforms to streamline her business operations, from social media marketing to e-commerce platforms. By leveraging automation and staying ahead of the curve she was able to not only improve processes in her own business but also in her clients businesses.

Setting Boundaries and Prioritizing Self-Care

One of the biggest pitfalls of working from home is the blurring of boundaries between work and family life. Laura emphasizes the importance of setting clear boundaries and establishing a daily routine that allows for dedicated time both for work and family activities. Moreover, she prioritizes self-care by carving out time for exercise, relaxation, and personal hobbies, ensuring she remains energized and focused.

Inspiring the Next Generation

As Laura’s business continues to thrive, she has had more and more women asking her how they too can set up a work from home business. By sharing her story and insights, she aims to empower fellow parents to embrace the work-from-home lifestyle and create a fulfilling balance between work and family life. Her messgae is simple ‘You too can have a work from home business and build a career, business and life on your terms.’

For more information on courses and details on how to work with Laura click here.

Would you like to build a business from home, maintaining flexibility and living life on your terms?

A stay at home Mum wanting to do something for yourself.

Or just  looking for flexibility to work on your own terms and escape the corporate world?

Are you brilliant at what you do to  support others but would like to build your own business and work for yourself rather than someone else?

Are you feeling overwhelmed by inconsistent and  confusing information online pulling you in different directions, self-study programmes that give you some of the information but leave huge gaps? Are you missing the strategy in  how  to grow YOUR business?

Would you like to feel confident in your  ability to run a successful  and profitable work from home business whilst still maintaining balance in your life?

 

Join our new Facebook group for advice, how to’s, tips, tricks and networking.

I’m so excited to welcome you into the Virtual Assistant world. Congratulations on taking the first step to building
your own Virtual Assistant business.

For some readers, the idea of a VA business, working from home with flexibility around family and work commitments, sounds too good to be true. The holy grail of careers. A world where you don’t have to compromise on family time or the ability to travel. You don’t have to miss out on time with your children (if you have them). You can attend school assemblies, sports days, music recitals, and team practices. You aren’t limited by corporate policies dictating when you can take time off. It’s a world where you can build a career on your terms.

I know that the idea of running a VA business from home and creating your ideal life on your own terms around family commitments or work commitments can sound too good to be true. But I also know that you don’t know what to do or
how to do it. I’m here to not only tell you that you can do this;
I’m also going to show you how.

This is the book for you if you want to be able to work, have a career and thrive but you want to be able to do it on your own terms. You don’t want to dread Monday mornings, and you’re not willing to get stuck in the drudge of the corporate nine-to-five. You want to create your dream life and are ready to do it now.

I know that there is so much information out there about being a Virtual Assistant, but it can be confusing – you’re left wondering how you will get clients. What will you do? How will you do it? How will you make money? How will you run a business? The questions and doubts can feel endless. The resulting problem is that you get stuck, worried about taking that leap and consumed in doubt and fear. So you trudge along doing the same things you’ve always done, and guess what? … nothing changes.

I have been where you are now – know it can be confusing and overwhelming. I know that there are times when you will
struggle and want to give up. But for every learning experience, the successes tip the scale. In this book, I walk you through everything you need to do (and think about doing) to set up your own Virtual Assistant (VA) business. I’ve made the mistakes so that you don’t have to. I share my wealth of experience with you and guide you through establishing your own VA business.

Over the course of the book, you will grow personally and professionally as I help you explore the infinite choices and array of services you can offer – (shocker – you don’t have to be an assistant, and you don’t have to be good at social media). You will look at why you want to do this – after all, this is your business which you are building on your terms – it really is all about you! You will learn how to monetise your skills and draw from your own unique experience – there is only one of you, you are your superpower, and you will learn how to put this into action.

Then comes all the background but equally as exciting tasks – building your brand and setting your prices – building the essence of your business. As you become established, I will walk you through networking, finding your first clients and running your business. We will also look at troubleshooting and what to do when things go wrong and build a strong mindset for the future as you embark on your VA business.

I’ve been where you are now – I know how confusing and overwhelming it can be. I know that one day you feel full of energy for your new venture, and the next day boom, you can feel utterly deflated. I’ve been there, I understand. I built my VA business and pieced everything together bit by bit. As my business grew and my client base grew, I became the go-to VA for businesses owners; I also had people approaching me asking about how to become a virtual assistant, people just like you (and me) who also wanted to be in charge of their own career, working on their own terms. So, I began to piece together all the necessary steps to running a profitable and successful VA business.

I built the VA business academy, helping women just like you build their own profitable and successful VA businesses. My clients pay a lot of money to work with me, and I understand that that is not realistic for everyone, so this book is your chance to go for it with my support at a fraction of the cost. This book lays out the exact steps you need to take; the confusion is gone, leaving only clarity. You, too, can be part of the success story. So come on… What are you waiting for?

You can find out more about my book HERE

Stress, lack of time, disorganisation, chaos? I don’t want to focus on these points here, I also don’t want to assume that these are issues that you are having, I want to focus on what you will gain from hiring a Virtual Assistant… turn the negatives into positives.

Get back work life balance.

When running your own business often your to do list will be never ending – however not all of these tasks need to be completed by you. If you can outsource even a couple of things from your to do list then you absolutely should. Whether this frees up some time to build more business or to take the dog for a walk, catch a movie or get home early to kiss the children goodnight, only you know what makes you tick – do what makes you happy. You are at your best when you are happy.

Time to Focus

Whatever your line of business is – you have your niche. Perhaps a fine art dealer, a life coach or an event planner. We can’t all be good at everything and when using the services of a Virtual Assistant you don’t need to be – let your VA take the strain – allowing you to focus on what you are good at – your business! Spend your time growing your business rather than struggling inside your business.

You’re ready before you think you are!

The chances are that if you are already considering hiring a Virtual Assistant but you’re not sure if you are ready then guess what? You absolutely are ready! Don’t wait until breaking point – get ahead, outsource tasks that you can.

· Are you ready to grow your business?

· Can you pay someone each month?

· Do you have definite tasks to delegate?

If the answer to the questions above is Yes – you are ready to hire your VA. You won’t look back! Get in touch info@laurahilmi.com for a free no obligation consultation.

You did the work or performed the service last month for your client. You sent your invoice and then nothing. The line goes cold, emails are unanswered. You have not received the payment. Perhaps it is a mistake, maybe the payment is on the way, maybe the invoice was misplaced. Either way to find out what the delay is YOU have to spend further time and effort chasing your client. Not only is this time consuming it can sometimes feel awkward – perhaps you run your own small business and deal directly with your clients, the relationship is somewhat closer because it is just you dealing with them. You dread calling them to chase payment but it is a necessary evil as you need to be paid.

Imagine if you could have someone else do all of that chasing and following up for you. You know that time is money? You could be using your time to focus on new business not revisiting old business. Your ‘’Finance Team’’ can send the invoices and ensure that payments are made on time and chase any outstanding invoices without you needing to be involved. Streamline your invoicing processes and outsource to us.

Get in touch info@Laurahilmi.com for a free no obligation consultation.

Answer: What do you want help with?

Do you need to make sure that your diary is organised? Your meetings need to be confirmed for the following day, appointments booked, anniversary’s and holidays remembered?

Do you need someone to keep on top of your inbox and filter through the important emails and the not so urgent emails, perhaps someone to follow up on generic enquiries. Is it overwhelming each day when you open your inbox to be greeted with emails mounting up but you have to run to meetings meanwhile the emails are still coming in. Or perhaps you use social media to reach your clients and need someone to reply to messages and enquiries there.

Do you have an urgent project? Maybe you need some research done and there is not enough time.

Do you need to have a blog or newsletter written? But the weeks fly by and you still haven’t updated either of them, you feel like you’re losing contact with your customers.

Maybe numbers aren’t your thing, you have a pile of receipts in the car or at the bottom of your bag. You know you need to file your expenses but you keep putting it off because you just can’t face another spreadsheet.

Maybe there is something more fun to be done but you just need an extra pair of hands. An event or special occasion, a book launch or birthday party. You need someone to help organise the chaos.

A Virtual Assistant can help you with any task that you don’t want to do. Outsource to us! You won’t look back! Get in touch info@Laurahilmi.com for a free no obligation consultation.

If you have chosen to outsource to a Virtual Assistant they are there to lighten the load. If you have hired a VA you will have some idea of the tasks that you would like them to do for you. Whatever the tasks are here are some pointers to help you build the relationship.

Set Clear Goals

How often do you want updates? Are the tasks rolling– would you like an update each time a particular task is completed or for a longer task would you like to have updates when each stage is completed. Make sure you know how you would like to proceed and let your VA know – they are there to help you.

Communicate Expectations

Be clear with your deadline expectations. If you said you wanted the research project done by Friday but actually, Thursday is better, communicate this. Clear and open communication is important especially in a virtual situation when your VA is not on hand to read a situation for themselves.

Collaborate

Involve your VA in the process and encourange collaboration. Whatever the task or project is consult your VA along the way and if you have a whole team of people working virtually allow them to consult and collaborate – this is how ideas grow and thrive. Make your virtual team work for you.

If you would like a task done that is outside of your VA’s remit – always ask the question!!! Your VA may well have experience in this area and you weren’t aware or they may be able to recommend someone who can do It for you.

Encourage and Reward

A little encouragement goes a long way and one thing is for sure – your VA will really appreciate words of thanks or praise.

Over time your relationship with your VA will grow and evolve and you will see them more and more as an asset to your team.

Would you like to work with a Virtual Assistant or perhaps you would like more information on how to become a Virtual Assistant? Send me an email info@Laurahilmi.com for more info.

Are you spending time searching for files on your computer, files on your desk, papers, stationary … everything?

Some say that the state of your desk, home or car is a reflection of your state of mind as each can be seen as an extension of you. I’m not sure of any exact science behind this but I wholeheartedly agree that if my desk is cluttered my mind will be cluttered too. If your work environment is untidy your productivity can suffer and overall performance can be impacted. It is for this reason that some employers operate a clean desk policy – it is a good habit to adopt – organization is key to productivity, so follow these tips to success.

CLEAR YOUR CLUTTER

Go through all of the papers on your desk. Do they need to be there? Are they duplicates? Get rid of anything that is unnecessary. Clean out your drawers and throw out or give away things that you don’t need / use. Get rid of old notebooks, papers, anything that isn’t used needs to go.

If you need to file papers, make a pile for filing (we will come back to this later)

ORGANISE YOUR DESK

One you have moved the unnecessary clutter from your desk you can organise the essential items so that everything is in easy reach. Make sure that there is allocated space for everything. You don’t need piles of stationary or overflowing pots of pens. Keep only what you need. Put everything in it’s own space and make sure you return it there after use.

Make a place for those papers that need to be filed. Do you need an in tray and an out tray?

ORGANISE YOUR FILES

Files and filing – a necessary evil. It is so easy to neglect this however organisation here is key to organisation in the rest of the office. If filing is difficult there will be overflow onto the desk, the floor or elsewhere and chaos will ensue. Make it easy for yourself. Make sure you have space to store your files? Is the space adequate? Can you easily reach the files? Make sure that the answer to these questions is a resounding yes!!

Are you files logically ordered? Go through them and establish a system – Tidy your paperwork, get rid of duplicates, label your folders, use an index so that you can easily access and find documents. Whether it is ordered alphabetically, by client or by matter make sure that you and anyone else accessing the files understands and sticks to the system. This goes not only for traditional paper filing systems but online files or those on your hard drive or computer storage.

Once the filing systems are established, regularly sort and maintain them.

WORK SMART

When working focus on one task at a time. See each task through to conclusion before moving onto the next task. Remove distractions, put your phone on aeroplane mode and don’t check emails. Patty Kreamer, (a certified organizer coach, certified professional organizer, author, speaker and president of www.byebyeclutter.com) says that we should not pick up a document, look at it and place it back on the desk. Decide on an action for that paper and follow it through, if not possible to see through to conclusion immediately place it where it is needed for the next step in the process.

SCHEDULE YOUR TIME

Each week and day allocate time in your diary to fulfil tasks. Recurring tasks can be allocated in advance at the same time each week and allocate time each day for tasks specific to that day. Work on each task during the allocated time without distraction. Also allow some time at the end of each day to file any completed items, update your to do list and clear your emails. This ensures that you will start the following day organized and primed for productivity.

I was talking this week on my social media pages about time blocking. As a Virtual Assistant I often have many tasks to complete for clients who have outsourced tasks to me. I always schedule my tasks but realised recently that I hadn’t been time blocking effectively.

What is Time Blocking?

Blocking off hours of time in your calendar to do a certain task and focussing on only this task during that allotted time. Turn your phone onto do not disturb, mute your emails and close the door. Do Not Disturb! By adopting these habits, you can focus entirely on the task in hand. Therefore increasing productivity and effectiveness. You must be unapologetic with this though – draw boundaries for yourself as well as colleagues, family and friends. Soon these habits will become second nature.

Annually, Monthly, Daily.

Set aside one day each year for long term planning and one day each quarter quarter. Dedicate an hour each month to monthly goals and weekly you need to allocate your time blocks for most effective working. Remember to schedule time for holidays and time off so that you can plan ahead work effectively to prepare your business to continue growing whilst you take your time for yourself. If you don’t do this you could fall into the trap of wanting to take a break but your workload wont allow it.

Most Important First

Always schedule your most important work first. If there is a task that makes all your other work easier or even unnecessary allocate this task to the first 4 hours of the work day or whenever you are most productive. If it is the big tasks that are the most important and seem a little daunting, you can ease the stress on yourself mentally by breaking these down into manageable chunks as well. For example instead of listing business development as a task break this down into: list potential leads, collect contact information, first contact, follow up.

Work that isn’t work

To do lists, goals setting, spreadsheets, all of those little tasks that we love to fiddle with that feel like work but actually aren’t! DON’T – you can waste a load of time here! These tasks aren’t actually going to make you money, they aren’t going to get the important tasks done. Schedule time daily to clear emails out, answer calls, texts, whats apps. – however your enquiries come in. Communicate this in your voicemail or email signature so that your customers know when you will get back to them. Remember: It is fine to take care of the little details and plan and organize – just don’t waste your high productivity hours on this!

Once you start time blocking you will see your productivity improve. You will also see where you are losing time and also where you are underutilising your time. Go and smash your goals!

We’ve all been there … you’re fully immersed and excited about your shiny new Virtual Assistant business and suddenly from left field a friend or family member throws in a scathing comment.

‘Yeah, but it will never work …’

‘Who does she think she is?’

‘Why would somebody ask you for support – they can just hire someone full time?’

And one of my favourites … ‘Why don’t you get a proper job?’

Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common issue – when your friends or family don’t share your dreams or your vision It can hold you back and it can stop you showing up when you need to. Even worse these comments can make you question what you are doing and whether you should continue.

Don’t panic! Your thing – doesn’t have to be their thing. They might be completely old school and not understand the VA world or on the online world. They might feel threatened by your new life or they might be completely uninterested. Mostly the negative reactions say more about them than it does about you.

Whichever way- it can hurt. BUT don’t take it personally.

I used to have comments from a husband of a friend of mine– he thought it was funny to mention my social media posts, and mock whatever I had been posting about – then his wife (my friend) joined in. To start with it hurt – and it did make me think twice at times about going live on Facebook or posting my content. Slowly I came to the realisation that I didn’t have to justify my actions or activities to these people. If they didn’t understand my work – it wasn’t my issue. I was making good money and if anything it made me even more determined to succeed.

I know it isn’t this easy for everyone to shrug the negativity off – especially if the negativity is coming from a source which is closer to home. If this is you – find a coping strategy.

Remember your why

Why are you doing this? What is your long term vision? Always keep this in mind when dealing with the Negative Nancys – this will strengthen your resolve to succeed.

Pick and choose who you talk to about your business.

I definitely don’t want a full on download from my husband about his job so I can understand that he might not want one from me – in addition to this – if your husband / partner /significant other is going to be uber negative about what you are doing – think about the effect that this reaction will have on you. Pick and choose who you discuss your business with and to what extent.

Pick and choose who you listen to about your business.

Is the opinion as valid as you are making it in your head. Does this person have experience in the VA world or even the online world? Do they understand your positioning or are they coming from a ‘safer’ place as they know it – is it fear of the unknown that is making them negative? Remember that negative reactions are almost always more about the other person than about you and your business. Listen to those who understand where you are coming from.

Remember – unless they are paying your bills their opinion doesn’t really matter.

My friend and her husband mocking me didn’t really matter – it just dented my ego slightly and wasn’t particularly nice of them. Likewise Great Uncle Bob’s opinion also doesn’t really matter – unless he’s paying your bills, then it is a slightly different story. If the negativity is coming from someone who you rely on financially there are still options. You CAN build up your VA business on the side, part time so go ahead – build it up and always be on the look-out for possibilities rather than obstacles.

They aren’t your ideal client.

These people –the Negative Nancys aren’t your ideal client. It doesn’t actually matter what they think of your marketing or your business. It’s nothing to do with them – they aren’t paying you so put them out of your mind and don’t dwell on them – or their opinions. Focus on those ideal clients.

Find your ‘people’

Find your VA besties – from those going through the exact same struggles as you to those who are more experienced and can offer advice and support. Find your gang of people who will lift you up and hold your hand when things are tough but also celebrate like crazy for you when you achieve. These are the people whose opinion matters. You will find a fab group of VA’s here.

Go to events (if flipping COVID allows), join networking groups – online and offline, work with coaches and speak to other business owners and VA’s. Find your people – make a new gang and work together to succeed – which you will, I just know it!

If you have any questions or want further information feel free to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin. Book a 1-1 Strategy call here. Join The VA Networking and Support Group and download The VA Start Up Checklist.