Continual Learning: A Virtual Assistant's Life!

The plateau of a “knowledge comfort zone” often doesn’t last long in the virtual assistant world, or for the entrepreneurs that we support for that matter. With each client comes a learning curve, and just keeping up with the dizzying pace of technology demands a spirit of cheerful willingness in order to successfully support businesses from a home office.

Just when I think I’ve got things figured out – I have another piece of humble pie. I haven’t gained weight yet, but I’ve eaten enough over the years to start watching my waistline.

The Growth Mindset

Cultivating a fluid mindset toward growth rather than a fixed mindset, is an absolute necessity for staying nimble in the VA landscape. In fact, lifelong learning is now recognized as one of the most important competencies a person can possess for any measure of career success.

I think we can all agree – far from slowing down, things are speeding up. To keep up and maintain sanity requires a strategic way of working with good time management skills, while simultaneously learning on pretty much a continual basis.

Edutainment

After a 3-month writing course to brush up my skills, I’m pondering what the next course will be. I’m striving for a balance between strategic learning specifically for my VA work, versus other general interest courses.

Luckily the world of online learning is matching, (and profiting from) the insatiable need for continual information upgrading in todays’ working world.

It’s getting easier than ever before to become a “course junkie”, because free, and low-cost online courses about everything are becoming a dime a dozen. Instead of Netflix dominating my week nights, I find myself drawn to watching a course or two for a new kind of “edutainment”. I liken it to entertainment for the creative mind, and it helps to stay current and gives me a sense of moving forward rather than stagnating.

Check out these 20 websites to learn new skills.

Client-Specific Learning

When onboarding a new client, I’ve come to expect there’ll be something that I’ll be required to learn that I have no experience with, such as their specific programs for task management and communication platforms. Enter the humble pie. Whether it’s a CRM I’ve never used before, such as Infusionsoft or Insightly, or project management tracking like Trello, Evernote or Teamwork, jumping in and learning the ropes is part of the fun and sometimes, a temporary dose of frustration. Unless advanced skills are required by the client from the get-go that I don’t have, I’m happy to conquer a new program in order to maintain a smooth and successful VA partnership.

As a new or experienced VA, you’ll look back at everything you’ve learned in one year that you never imagined you would, and have a real sense of accomplishment.

What are some new skills you’ve learned as a virtual assistant?

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Shari Montgomery

After fifteen years of navigating the corporate world, Shari jumped aboard the growing trend of virtual assistance in 2008. Building on her administrative experience, she carved a more flexible path with her VA work, supporting dynamic entrepreneurs. With niche training in copywriting, social media marketing, proofreading and editing, she has had the privilege of working virtually alongside amazing entrepreneurs, inspiring creatives, and business professionals to get their work out to the world. She is pretty stoked every day to be part of the virtual workforce movement.

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