So often, I hear from VAs who say, “I don’t know what to do next.”
But maybe it’s not that they don’t know what to do. Maybe it’s that they don’t know how to guarantee to end up with the outcome they believe they want.
Think about it. You usually do know what the next step is. It’s just that you can’t be 100% sure that taking it will land you exactly where you hope it will. And I get that the uncertainty in that can feel paralyzing.
I learned this in a very personal way. Years ago, as I was marching toward getting approval for bariatric surgery, one of the required steps was a psychological evaluation. The psychologist asked me then: “How do you know you’ll be successful?”
My answer surprised even me: “I don’t. This isn’t something I’ve ever done before. All I know is that I’m willing to take the journey and do my best.”
Apparently, it was the right answer because I got approved. But more importantly, that’s when the truth really landed for me that the journey itself is really the important bit, even when I knew it would involve experiences I couldn’t yet know about.
We don’t need to know the entire path, or have the destination tied up with a bow before you take the first step. What you do need is conviction that you want to take the journey along with the willingness to move. And the willingness to take the step after that, and the step after that. It’s also good if you come with insane curiosity and an explorer’s heart. .
My VA journey is also 100% a testament to this. I started with one client. I thought it would be amazing and I would be so successful if I had a few. I didn’t know how I was going to find them, or what my life would look like once I had them, but geezie, I wanted that practice. I moved forward with one, then there were two (by referral, no less!), then four (all by referral), and then…the opportunity to create AssistU and the VA profession appeared.
Yikes, was I scared!
I really didn’t know how to do it, and it was a huge side-step away from the solo-VA practice I thought I was going to have an enjoy. But I knew in my heart that what I was doing with clients could be a whole amazing profession, and I thought, “If not me, who?” Man, that sounds egotistical as I write it. But it wasn’t that, it was that I was genuinely a pioneer in a bunch of different ways. And, I was the only person I knew with as much experience as a VA. To me, I simply seems like the right person for it.
And, for a time, I built AssistU and the foundation for the profession while I worked with clients. But one day, I realized it was all too much and something had to give (a lesson to share another time!). I stood at a fork in the road—one way was my solo-VA practice, and the other was building AssistU. I chose to build AssistU and let my clients go, which put me on a completely different path toward a different journey and destination. It was one I never could have anticipated, or planned for, but it was truly meant for me.
Sometimes, the outcome you imagine isn’t the one you actually need. Sometimes, what’s waiting for you is even better.
You don’t need to know the whole path, or have the outcome tied up with a bow before you move. What you do need is the willingness to take the next step. And then the next.
Because the journey itself (the detours, the lessons, the discoveries) is what shapes you and prepares you for the outcome/destination that’s truly meant for you.
So, the question isn’t, “Do I know how to guarantee the result I imagine?” The real question is, “Am I willing to take the next step, even without the guarantee?”
Trust that each step will teach you something, move you forward, and connect you with what’s right for you. It may be entirely fun, it may have upsetting moments, and the future will not be clear, but I promise it will be incredibly and wonderfully rewarding.
