When I graduated from college, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I had a degree in journalism, but honestly, reporting did not really appeal to me. I hoped to find some freelance work with a company and eventually get signed on full time to the 9-to-5, health insurance and paid-leave lifestyle. However, in the interim, I needed a paycheck.

To make my rent, I took a virtual assistant job. It seemed like the perfect transition from my carefree, parent-paid college days to the real world. I could work from home, and a lot of the responsibilities that I had, like answering the phone, I figured I could do from just about anywhere since all calls went to my cell. I was excited to get started on this liberating career path, and thought I might just VA forever.

However, I soon found myself bogged down with work. It was not because the job was more than I signed up for, but rather because I just was not putting the effort in to keep my responsibilities under control. I would put things off all day, sleeping in, going out for coffee, jogs and lunch dates with friends, reassuring myself that I would just stay up late to get things done. It didn't seem that much different to me than pulling an all-nighter for an exam, but after multiple weeks of this, I found myself burning out fast.

I got out and got a regular job, and loved it. Then, I got married and pregnant. I wanted to stay home, but we didn't want to give up my income just when we were adding a new baby to the mix. I decided to give VAing another try - this time, with my priorities straight and my gameplan in place.

I have an office separate from the rest of the house, and I work regular, part-time hours (in my case, a pleasant 10am to 2pm). During that time, I do what I promised to do: work. And when it's over, I'm done. I don't work late, and I don't play until I'm done with my office-time. So far, it's working out perfectly. I know that when the baby arrives things will change. For starters, the office is the future nursery, and I may need a more flexible schedule. I think I can make it work, though, and it means that I'll get to stay home with my little one until I'm ready to go back to work in an office - if that ever happens!
 

When I first started as a virtual assistant, I knew next to nothing about how it would work. I did not realize how flexible this job title and VA jobs really are. I thought I would probably sit at the phone for a couple hours a day, working on the computer - possibly on a novel I was writing - and basically answering the phone whenever it rang. I was newly married and had a good degree from a good school and was basically just looking for some work from home so that I would have time to "nest" a little in our new home while making some money and working on my "real" work, my creative writing.

You can see I had no idea what I was signing up for, and that led to trouble fast. I landed a job with a company that taught seminars on making money from home. My job was to answer emails, handle and direct basic customer service inquiries and mail out teaching materials whenever the product was ordered. I thought it sounded pretty easy - and I really wanted the job - so I said that I would work for 10 dollars an hour. Sounded great to me at the time - I would do a few odd jobs and hit the post office once a week, and in return I would haul in 200 extra dollars a week for the budget.  I had no idea.

Turns out, they really got their money's worth. The phone rang constantly, and every morning when I sat down at the computer there were at least 10 messages on the voicemail and 20 emails in the inbox waiting. Soon, I began to realize that I was in for more than a bargained for. Now, if I had negotiated a better hourly rate, I probably would have been fine. However, at 10 dollars an hour I started to get resentful fast. I forgot I was the one who offered to work so cheap, and basically spent my time shuffling as much of the customer service off to other people in the chain as quickly as possible so that I could get done with my work and back to my novel that I was being so "rudely" dragged away from by my "low-paying" job. I'll admit it: I was a crud employee.

About the time I convinced myself that I was within my rights as an underpaid servant to let the answering machine get all of the messages - even when I was theoretically in the office - they let me go. And I deserved it. I didn't hold up my end of the bargain. But fortunately, I learned my lesson and was able to land another job a few weeks later. This time, I was clear that those people were paying me for my time, and that it was my responsibility to make sure that I gave it to them. We worked out a rate that worked for both of us, and I worked for them for nearly 4 years before I hung it up to have kids. Now I still do their books each month, but the phones are someone else's problem.