Your Goals for 2021 / Meeting Notes January 2021

Location: Virtual

Attendees: Janet, Salma, Cathy, Tamara R., Janice, Carolina, Crystal, Sheila, Tamara W.

Member Spotlight

Caroline Gutierrez led a lively discussion about Office Organization Strategies as captured in the video:

 

Announcements

Upcoming Meetings

February 16 – The Best Business Advice You’ve Ever Received – Website link | Facebook link

March 15 – Dealing with Difficult Clients – Website link | Facebook link

April 20 – Organizing Strategies (Since Carolina’s session was such a hit, we want to dive deeper!)

May 18 – Business and Self-Improvement Books

June 15 – Not-so-everyday objects and how to use them

A Member Spotlight is a great way to share what you know! Let Janet know if you’d like to do one.

Volunteer Opportunities

I have lots of ideas for our group, but not enough time to implement them! If you can help, please let me know how much time you can spare and where your skills and interests lie.

Thank you to Salma and Tamara W. who have already offered to help. I will be in touch with you to discuss details.

Member Cross-Promotion

During our main discussion (see notes below), Salma suggested one of the best ways we can help one another is through cross-promotion. Many of us do that now, through sharing referrals, but we can take it even further.

For example, if you have something you’d like other members to share on social media, post it in the Facebook group and ASK!

Accountability Partnership Program

It came up during our discussion that not everyone knows about this program, which was introduced in 2012 as a way for individual members to monitor their progress towards their goals.

Here’s what it’s about:

Set goals to grow your business, brainstorm ideas, and have a partner that will encourage you to reach those goals. It’s always good to have someone to bounce ideas off – someone to help to think out loud. It’s all about how we can support each other. It’s often easier to come up with ideas for someone else’s business than it is for your own!

Each partnership operates in whatever way works best for the two members, but it’s suggested that you connect at least once between our monthly meetings, and ideally once a week. Meetings take place via whatever method (in person, by phone, by email, Zoom, etc.) or combination of methods that suits both of you.

Unlike mentoring, where a new VA works with a more experienced one, this is designed to be a mutually supportive relationship, so it’s best if both partners are at roughly the same stage in their businesses.

Sheila and Tamara have been accountability partners since 2012! Here’s what Sheila says about it:

This is a fabulous membership perk. It’s so comforting to be able to speak with someone going through the sames things as you so you can get support and bounce ideas off each other. I highly recommend taking advantage of Janet’s match making offer!

If you would like to be matched with an accountability partner, please post a request in the Facebook group. Feel free to reach out to someone directly if you’d like to partner with them.

Vision Board Workshop

Tamara R. is developing vision board workshops and would like to hold a virtual one for our group. It would take 2-3 hours but could be split into two sessions if necessary.

Please let her know:

• Is this something you’d like to attend?
• What timing works best for you?

East Coast Virtual Assistants

Salma is launching a group similar to ours in the Atlantic Region. If you know anyone who might be interested, please send them this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/eastcoastva

Discussion: Your Goals for 2021

We each answered the following questions:

• What are your goals?
• How are you planning to achieve them?
• How can we help you?

Here are how we responded individually:

• Janet would like to sell 10 new Care Plans by the end of the year (only 8 left to go!). If you know someone with a WordPress site that doesn’t know how or doesn’t have time to manage it, please send them to Janet!
• To celebrate her 10-year business anniversary, Sheila is launching a Digital Declutter Club, which will be a paid membership with a Facebook group. She’d like some of us to join the group to make it more attractive to potential members.
• Tamara R. is developing her vision board workshops as mentioned above, which she’ll eventually offer in person. She’d love us to participate, give feedback, and spread the word.
• In addition to spreading the word about the East Coast Virtual Assistants, Salma would appreciate referrals for her Zoom production services, where she acts as a silent co-host so the host doesn’t have to fuss with technical details.
• Cathy is developing a signature program and organizing the back end of her business. If you know of some great tools to help her with that, please let her know!
• Janice has been working on Tracey D’Aviero’s course, Earn 50K as a Virtual Assistant, and is struggling to complete some of the assignments. She’d like people to check in with her and make sure she’s getting it done.
• Crystal wants to get more organized, and is planning to create QuickBooks Online training on Teachable or Thinkific. If you have experience using either platform, even as a student, she’d appreciate your input.
• Rather than yearly goals, Tamara W. is setting goals for 30, 60 and 90 days. One of her goals is to complete  a bookkeeping course through Freelance University. As she’s in the early stages of her business, she needs to build her client base and would appreciate recommendations and referrals. She is a certified virtual bookkeeper and certified online business manager. She’s also looking for an accountability partner.

If you missed the meeting, please tell us about your goals for 2021 in the comments, and let us know how we can help you achieve them.

If you were unable to attend, please feel free to continue the discussion in the comments.