My Story … #BossBabe Love Month Series

Fast-forwarding to the present … 9 years later …

I was going through a lot. And not just your everyday struggles. I felt like one giant hot mess! I ended up becoming quite ill (due to the agony and stress I was dealing with at my 9-5) and took some time off work. Yes, good ‘ol stress leave. I was terrified at even the thought of doing so … What would people think? Would the office gossip about me? Would I lose my job? How would it be to go back there after some time off?

But a few of my loved ones made me realized I NEEDED THIS, or I was going to end up in the hospital. I was not myself anymore and others were noticing. I couldn’t keep things under wraps anymore. I myself was being fake …

During this time of healing, I started to let myself relax and reflect on my work, my education, where I was and where I wanted to be and felt a “thud”. I hit a wall and felt myself rise out of the deep, dark black-hole I was living in. A huge wave of ideas started rushing through me. I realized that I was not doing what I wanted with my life. I was not accomplishing any of my goals and just letting the 9-5 take over me … my soul especially. Yes, I was doing graphic design for a job which has always been a true dream of mine, but it felt numbing and I will clarify this by using my famous phrase of a “rinse n’ repeat” day-to-day life. To me, this was not what happiness should be. Just baring the minimum to make a living. To survive. 

Why was I allowing myself to feel this way and for so long …?

Yes, I was gaining experience, learning more design tricks as I moved along and making people happy by designing what they needed but was I making myself happy? No, I most certainly was not.

My life felt chaotic, stressful and unpleasing. I was depressed. Down in the dumps. In a place I feared I could never get out of. My creativity level was draining, and I felt as though I did not want to pursue my passion of design/art/creative writing any longer. I was so filled with hurt, resentment and feeling lost. I kept telling myself that at my age, I should be doing more and on a path that I enjoyed waking up to. But the truth was, that was no longer the REAL ME anymore!

So, this is what happened next?

I sat down with my trusty notebook, my favourite pack of coloured gel pens, started writing and doing a butt-load of research on how to work from home. Hit another wall.

I needed to re-group so I had a conversation with my career/life coach, April and told her about how I was feeling. We talked about the dread, you know that rock in the pit of your stomach feeling, on Sunday nights about having to return to that dead-end 9-5. We talked about me not knowing where I wanted to go next. And we also talked about different skills that I had that I didn’t realize I wasn’t using to my fullest potential. April told me she thought I would make a great virtual assistant. I looked at her puzzled. WTF is a virtual assistant? She then explained and raved about my organizational skills, my creativity and my passion/drive to accomplish everything in the world in just one day. She knew I wanted to make a difference and that I felt I wasn’t doing that. By the end of our session that day I was literally glowing! And, I thought to myself … was being a virtual assistant a real thing? I surely never heard of anything of it, but it was worth looking into. April was obviously seeing something I was not …!

So, after that wonderful mind-blowing coaching session, I raced home to do some research.

After days of reading, signing up for what felt like thousands of sites to “become a virtual assistant”, I realized I was going about things all wrong. Why work for a company half way across the world as a virtual assistant for a few bucks a task (literally 5 bucks a task) when I already have the knowledge and freelance experience to go about it on my own. Realistically, I’ve been working as a part-time entrepreneur with my freelance design business for 7 years now so how could doing something like this be any different?

And once again, with my trusty notebook and favourite pack of gel pens (I am literally addicted to gel pens, LOL!), I started considering all the possible options of quitting that dreaded 9-5, closing my freelance business down and what it would take to move forward as a virtual business. But not just any virtual business … I wanted to take virtual assistance to an entirely new level (maybe even the next level) by combining my hard-earned years of design and web experience into the mix.

And that’s how Virtually Untangled was born!

After making many hard, life-altering decisions and exhausting my brain for hours … no, for weeks … I came up with a plan and two full notebooks of research — filled with ideas for new colour themes, design, creative writing ideas for my re-brand launch, idea boards, etc. — and started on my new path!

Was I scared of failing and having to go back to my dead-end 9-5 job? Yes, of course I was. I was scared to death about my leap of faith (Am I going to make it? How am I going to pay the bills? Am I smart enough? Good enough? Courageous enough? Organize enough?), resigning from my 9-5 and taking my business full-time. But I knew in my gut that this was my true passion in life. Not only the part of becoming my own #BossBabe, setting my own hours and working with respectable clients (yes, some days even in my pyjamas), but for the simple fact that I was FINALLY getting to do what I wanted for a living with no strings attached from other human beings. You know … the ones who control the money and are filled with “power”. Was I afraid I was going to break the bank and end up in a horrible financial situation? Yes, who wouldn’t think that way at first.

But then …

Two months later, I created a fully functional WordPress website to coincide with my new brand and all the other marketing goodies that come along with owning a business. Virtually Untangled had gone live and I was so excited to find out what path my virtual business was going to take me on.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Virtually Untangled was built on the idea of helping anyone, anywhere in the world through virtual creative and organizational services. I help other entrepreneurs organize, build and manage their business goals with ease. I help them finally clear up their ever-growing to do lists and help them make their “big picture” a reality (just like I did with my own) by finding work/life balance. I specialize in helping busy entrepreneurs, just like yourself, organize and maintain their brand through services such as graphic and web design, social media, copywriting, ghost writing, illustration, logo design, project management and virtual assistant (VA) services. In short, I help other business owners who are struggling to find enough time to focus on their true passion by taking care of the projects/tasks they just don’t have time for.

Back to the foundation of my story …

I finally feel like ME again. I’m happy, my anxiety is gone, I’m sleeping normal hours again and just plain ‘ol enjoying life. I also no longer have the pit of dread in my stomach on Sunday nights knowing I must go to a place of work in which I hate. I feel very grateful as have had (and still do) the opportunity to connect with many great VA/entrepreneur’s through online social media platforms (such as LinkedIn and Facebook groups). The members on these platforms graciously helped me along the way by answering any business questions I had and helped me “learn the ropes” since I expanded my services beyond just graphic and website design. Not only did I learn a lot about becoming an entrepreneur, but I learned a lot about myself as a creative individual and the strength, and willingness I had been hiding from myself for all these years.

Don’t get me wrong … I’m not saying it was “easy” (it’s still not some days) getting Virtually Untangled up and running. But, trust me, I drove everyone in my life nuts pretty much every waking hour of every single day, but on the other hand they have all been very supportive of my choices and helped ease the stress of my perfectionism when it came to build my empire.

Off topic … I always joke that as a designer, it is way easier to design for someone else than it is yourself. I’m sure majority of designers also feel this way. As human beings, we are always harder and more critical of ourselves than we are of others.