Mistakes Will Be Made --> They Shouldn't Cost You Everything
I made a mistake with one of my clients 😅
About 2 years ago, my husband and I bought a house that needed completely remodeled. We had 3 littles at the time and as you might know...I work from home.
We closed on our previous home and had to be out before we even started working on the new house.
Thankfully, the house was big enough that we were able to live in one section of it while the main part of the house was being renovated (So we had all of the perks of no kitchen and no furniture)
If you've gone through any sort of remodel, I'm sure you can agree that this living situation is pretty miserable. Especially for someone who works from home with their littles every day (no relief from the construction site)...
I'm also one of those people that needs things to be in order around me to function properly. You know, those people who are super fun, go with the flow and spontaneous... 🤣
So my stress level was maxed out and my anxiety hit an all time high...
I made a LOT of little mistakes in my work. My head was just all over the place and I couldn't stay on top of things like my clients were used to.
In most jobs this sort of thing might lose you your job (look at how many people have been forced to leave their jobs during the pandemic to juggle their home life... instead of the companies working WITH them during this time)
Instead, my long-time client reached out and asked if I was okay.
He noticed a difference in my work and knew there was something off.
He basically made me take a week off to recalibrate, told me everything would be fine and that he was there for what I needed while I was figuring out how to handle the situation.
Roughly six months later, everything was back to normal, if not better than normal after having a finished house, finally a kitchen, and a lot of grace.
Almost TWO YEARS LATER...
I found a fedex box from that same client in some storage when we were going through things that got put away during the remodel. 🤦♀️
And suddenly, I remembered something on my to-do list that I had clearly spaced back when…
My client had sent me his old iPad and iPhone to sell on eBay for him.
It wasn't detrimental but I could've lost their trust.
But when I texted to tell them about the mistake they responded with:
"😂😂😂😂😂"
So they were understanding and it ended up not being a big deal
We had also been working together for 5 years when this happened, so there was a pretty solid relationship there, as you can tell from how he responded to the original situation.
Which reminded me of how often I get asked, "Is your job as an assistant really stable?"
I never really understand that question because we don't usually go around asking people with office jobs "Is your job really stable though?" 😂😂😂
If we did, I wonder what people would say?
How would you measure your response?
If you have an employee agreement in place?
Have consistent income/benefits/401k?
By working with a company that's been around for a long time?
A good relationship with your boss/team?
I would measure my response (which is yes, btw) with:
Being in control of who I work with
Being in control of what I charge (how much I make)
Being able to land clients when I need to and not losing ALL of my income if I lose one client (vs losing ALL of your income if you lose your job)
Good relationship with my client
The stability of my role as an assistant and others who work as project managers, OBM's or service-providers in general is very much dependent on myself and the type of relationship I have with my clients...
In other words, I am in control of my stability because I am the business owner. I am the employer, I am the customer service and marketing team, etc...
It’s an entire shift in mindset from employee to business owner
So I’m not relying on my employer to keep the business running and to keep me in my position, because I’m in control of how many clients I work with and my work...
I’m not relying on getting paid because my employer agrees to pay me a certain time each month (on their terms) or having benefits, because I charge my own rate, decide when to bill my clients and can make enough to afford private insurance if I want to...
And I’m not relying on just one client for my income because well... this quote lays it out:
“Think of your income as a table. If your table has one leg and it’s removed, your table will collapse. If your table has several legs and it’s removed, it may wobble, but it remains standing.”
And when you are in control of the outcome of your work, you work harder and you own it way more.
Fyi, I now work from home with 4 littles. So there is still plenty of chaos but I manage it because I’m able to create my own workflow AND I work with amazing people who want to work with me, so they are understanding when life is happening around me.
If you’re like me and want to have a career and want to stay home with your littles, check out this getting started course Tianna and I created for mamas who are considering a Virtual Assistant career.