Out of Sight, Out of Mind

We were having a discussion on our VA forum the other day and one of the newer VAs spoke of the challenge she was having in getting her business up and running. There were a lot of things demanding her attention and it was a busy time in her life but she was concerned that she might be losing focus and sought ideas from the group for things that she could be doing. Which was a good thing to do as many of us have ‘been there’ and were able to advise what we did to keep us moving forward.

When reading her request for help I was prompted to think that often when something is ‘out of sight’ it is also ‘out of mind’. So if you find that lots of things are taking your attention and you have little time to spend on your business it means that you don’t have enough around you or in front of you to keep your mind on your business. This is one of the reasons why I like email forums, as opposed to the board type forums because the constant emails keep me in touch with others in our industry, without me remembering I have to log in somewhere to keep in touch. Don’t get me wrong, I do belong to board forums but I find it harder to remember to participate on a daily basis because I’m not subscribed to every single thread that is running – I need to remember to log in and start participating again. If you do not understand the difference between the two types of forums, why not visit my earlier post on this subject?

Some of the ideas I put forward to this new VA were:

• Put some reminders in your calendar – if you’re using Outlook that can be easily done, so you can make sure you do certain things to help you keep focussed.
• Subscribe to some VA blogs or other relevant sites so that you can get regular information that will help keep your mind on your plans and goals. (Readers of this post can subscribe to this blog in the left menu)
• Set projects for yourself that relate to building your database and therefore, your prospective client base.
• Attend business networking events close to home so you can meet people who may have need of your services.

A couple of other things I didn’t include but which could be done:

• Seek out a mentor or coach to help keep you on track – you will be required to report back to them regularly with updates on your progress.
• Set aside time in your diary to work on your business and not in it. By that I mean plan to spend a couple of hours a week (at least) planning how you will develop your business, market it, meet new clients, develop new skills or services, research the industry and see what others are doing.
• Allow yourself time to dream about what your business could like look 2 years, 5 years and 10 years from now. It is possible!

I hope these help give you some ideas on getting your focus back and getting on track! KMT

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