Virtual Zen

Help for China's Littlest Earthquake Victims

While I celebrate my new book featuring Chinese adoption, I am haunted by the images on the news of all the children injured or homeless as as a result of the recent catastrophic earthquake in China. And then there are the children that the news never mentions; those living in the many orphanages damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. Those without families to look for them or care for them, and those who have now been separated from their families and are alone.

"We know that hundreds of children have been separated from their families, have lost their parents, are hurt, traumatized and in pain. We know we must help."
-Jenny Bowen, Executive Director, Half the Sky Foundation

Tonight I decided to take action and make a donation to the Half The Sky Foundation to help in some small way to support the many orphanages effected by the quake, along with providing emergency care for the many children who have been made orphans by the disaster. For updates from the field, click here.

I decided to share the information on giving in hopes that other will donate what they can to help China's littlest victims.  The preferred donation vehicle for Half The Sky is through the Global Giving Project.  I made it easy for you - the link to the earthquake fund is below. Please give what you can. Thank you!

The Amazingly Collaborative VA Community

I was looking for a particular blog post to print out, and I came across this posting that for some reason, I never published.  I think it's actually pretty good so I'm publishing it now. Enjoy!

I am so thankful for choosing a profession that has introduced me to so many wonderful women! When I  interviewed with AssistU I was told by Laura that the Virtual Assistants of AssistU operate under a belief in "collaboration" not "competition".  It wasn't until much later would I really understand what she meant.

VAs really don't compete for business. Sure we all try to position ourselves to highlight our skills and talents in the best possible light, but if we lose out on a new client to another VA we don't grieve, we celebrate.  Why? Because we know that the match made between client and VA was the right fit.  There is plenty of business out there for us all.

While studying at AssistU, my classmate Laura Jo mentioned in class that she had read that there are around 23 million small businesses in the US (75% without employees other than the owner), and only around 4,000 VAs. Lots of potential business out there (if anyone out there has more up to date statistics I'd love to hear them)!

So instead of competing we unite for the benefit of us all.  When one VA learns a new tip or trick, or better way to operate, she doesn't keep that tidbit to herself. She shares it with the VA community.  And when one VA has a question on how to do something or needs to find a resource, she throws the question out to her VA group and almost always gets one or multiple recommendations.

So if you're thinking about working with a VA - look for someone who is affiliated with a VA community such as AssistU, or others.  You'll benefit by working with someone with the combined resources of possibly hundreds of other VAs. After all, VAs can't always do everything, we just know how to get everything done!

Life Isn't a Dress Rehersal!

I subscribe to a number of good blogs - unfortunately I don't always have time to read them. I usually just scan them when they show up in my inbox to see what's new.  The other day when I received a post from CopyBlogger, the headline caught my eye and drew me in. It read, "The Snowboard, the Subdural Hematoma, and the Secret of Life". I just had to read on and I'm so glad I did! In the post, Brian Clark, the author and  founding editor of CopyBlogger really drove the following point home:

"It’s all too easy to tell ourselves we can’t really do what we want. That it’s not practical, or it’s too hard, or that our dreams are selfish and not the “right thing” to do. ... What do you want to do? Why aren’t you doing it? I don’t care what your answer is … this is the only shot you’ve got. This is not a dress rehearsal. Who are you to chase your dreams no matter what, you might ask? Who are you NOT to?"

Thank you Brian - you are so right! I feel like I'm finally starting to restructure my life to do what I want and not what everyone else thinks I should do. Thanks for making feel so right about it. I'm just glad it didn't take a serious head injury on part to bring me to this realization. :-)