My Sister Likes Shopping Carts – She Can Be Your VA

“Let me call my sister. She wants to work from home; likes to shop online and can do all the internet stuff.”

That is what I was told last week at the doctor’s office by a medical student who was training with my doctor.

I was in for a routine examination and while the doctor took a patient call, the student asked me what I did for a living.

I explained away my virtual assistant work using my ‘Have You Ever’ method which helped to ‘clear the cobwebs’ about virtual ownership. [And, I DID watch closely for signs of the deer in the headlights look.] However, feeling overconfident that I had gotten my point across about this being a ‘real job’, I foolishly added that due to my busy schedule, I referred a potential client inquiry to another virtual assistant earlier that morning.

That’s when the medical student told me to call her sister who loves online shopping carts and wanted to work from home.

Argh!

Online shopping carts! Anyone can USE an online shopping cart but not everyone can CREATE and promote one!

It has taken me years to learn what I know now. Although I am well-educated with more than 30 years in the corporate world, I opened Your Virtual Wizard in 2006, knowing very little, if anything at all about social media marketing, internet business writing, blogging and above all, running an online business. I’m mostly self-educated with real-life experience to back that up.

These are skills which have taken a number of years to acquire.

And I am still learning every single day. Reading and writing blogs, researching for information, scouring business books, watching tutorials, asking questions, networking with the experts, taking classes online, etc…. every single day! Learning new skills is a never-ending feat which takes time, patience and practice, practice, practice…to get it right.

I will not roll out a new virtual service until I am sure I’ve tested and retested those skills for my own business.

My Masters degree never prepared me for being a business owner…I really do not think any academics can thoroughly encompass the complexities of client relations along with dealing with rejections and overcoming objections.

I have blogged previously about about people who feel my job is a ‘work at home gig’…lacking stability and ‘realness’. I do make a concerted effort to surround myself with online savvy people who speak the same internet-ese as myself. My wall-less working world is reap with other virtual assistants just like me. We know who we are and what we do well. I may work from home, but this is hardly a ‘gig’.

But when dealing with non-internet folks who never post a blog or use social media (they don’t have to in their line of business…at least, just yet!), I often cringe simply because, for example, they do not understand that using a shopping cart is not the same as creating and promoting one.

This is not a job that I would farm out to someone’s sister because they want to work from home. And although the medical student didn’t purposely make her statement in a negative way, it WAS insulting.

I wanted to say to the medical student that I’ve put in as much time in my career as she has in her own career…but the doctor walked in the room.

If I had a moment more with the student, I would have said, “I’m sure your sister is a good worker but can she build a WordPress site? Can she set up an email campaign in an autoresponder program? Can she successfully promote a coach’s event from beginning to end using social media networking?” It may take a few months or a few weeks to learn those tasks/logistics…but what needs to be learned by experience only is how it all interconnects. How to tie in a blog post to meet the needs of the target audience. How to attract potential customers from unknown places and lead them gently to a website, capture their interest, their email and begin an engaging relationship. This is the tip of the iceberg. This is what takes time to learn. I do not receive a certification or a degree for developing online marketing skills because it is a learned skill without any structured accreditation.

I know I am not saving lives as the medical student will do but I do enrich the lives of the business owners with whom I work.

I can’t have these folks frazzle my nerves and question my self-worth; my value, through the association of choosing to become a virtual assistant.

I will continue to tout the benefits of the virtual assistance industry and perhaps one day someone will say to me, “…my sister, who is an expert in her online field is looking for work” as opposed to hearing that “someone’s sister who like online shopping and stuff” is willing to take a referral from me.