Pat Matson's Diary

I'm Pat Matson, a virtual assistant living in California. I started the VTP in April of 2002, and am now a graduate with a growing practice. I'm happy to share my experiences of my training and AssistU with you through my diary!

:: After Orientation ::

It's Saturday afternoon and two days have moved on by. I needed that time to absorb and try to digest the treasure that is Assist U. Okay, okay, and to let the adrenaline dissipate. Whew! Orientation was a rush for me. The technology of the telebridge was seamless. I really appreciate the investment in the telebridge.

Myra is a wonderful trainer: astute, articulate, organized, prepared, calm, entertaining, and empathetic. Her aplomb made the vastness of detail covered seem smooth. And my curiosity about my classmates was nicely fulfilled.

There is a point of confusion that seems fixable to me. Why not simply refer to the first week as the Orientation week and then call Class 1, Week 1 to avoid all the confusion of what is due in which week which is a different class number? There are a lot of plates to keep spinning and it would help me if this piece were simplified.

One of the best things about the classes and about my association with Assist U is the underlying attitude of friendly, helpful, professional cooperation I have found. I am so proud to be a member of this group. I feel that my individual refinement will definitely be improved by my interaction in this organization. I know that one of my own personal goals — becoming a refined marketer of my business — will definitely be enhanced through this association. I can only fantasize what a year from now will have affected in my life. Looking forward is a fun idea!

The class continues it's steady and stately pace. I think we were all more relaxed and comfortable sharing this week. I think I have gotten straight on which week incurs which Fieldwork. I love clarification!

I like the way the Fieldwork breaks the reading down into chewable chunks. I felt a little overwhelmed prior to this week but I have steadied out and see the logical path behind the assignments now. Friends to my house raise their eyebrows in delight when they see the array of books (the ones from Assist U) on my coffee table. More support for me.

I love the Make a New Mind Model, "I am going to have a BLAST doing my Business Plan!" Clever people! One of the parts I love the best about Assist U is it's underlying metaphysical philosophy which so parallels my own. I have known that the creation of my success has to occur mentally within my own self first. Being supported with like mindedness is a dream come true and because of this, I * know* success can be the only outcome. And I am gratitude.

I now know that the specifics I didn't seem able to pull out of myself before are slowly and gently being prodded out via the class. I know the areas in which I need to improve and I know that I can address just them. No overwhelm — just turn to them and do it. The "I Am" of me can create anything I want by thinking with conviction.

I am working hard this week to remember that being specific, being particular, exercising choices, discriminating, and knowing that I can never "eat the whole elephant" will help me from getting overwhelmed at the amount of information that is both available to me and that is being required from me. This is not a class for the weak-hearted.

Having begun the what seems to be a gargantuan task of writing my Business Plan is somewhat consoling. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I know I have time to walk down it, but my oh my, the thought of the job is daunting. I also know that unless I get specific, having proved to myself in the past that success requires specificity, I will not experience the success I so strongly desire. I am eventually and begrudgingly forced into gratitude for the durn Business Plan being required. I like the idea of committing to five minutes a day to work on it. Of course, we all know that the five minutes will stretch to more minutes!

I have very few notes from this week's class. I found it very useful to be given questions to ask when interviewing my support team. I also discovered that I am triggered by setting up a support team. There has never been a time in my entire life when there was someone who supported me: I was generally the one doing the supporting. So, it is foreign to me to have a support team. I think that I have to analyze why my emotions are so triggered over this task. I apparently have some old "stuff" to clean out and I am grateful for that. I suspect it has to do with deservedness. I am also uneasy about saying "forced" or "required." I really want to do these things and yet I discover that the words forced or required are coming out. I don't like it and I will look at it. I am so triggered by this that my fingers and toes are ice cold while I am writing and that is not my norm. I suspect that success and joy are on the other side of this issue and I also feel grateful at being — um, how about "nudged" to take this look within? :) No matter where I go or what I do, there I am in my own face. :) :)

My life has become these lessons from Assist U. There just doesn't seem to be anything beyond my consummate focus on the class, the homework, and the ever-hovering Business Plan. I will be glad to go to Mexico with my sons for Mother's Day, although I'll be taking my small books with me.

It was great to hear that Myra will be sending us an expenses spreadsheet for our own records keeping. I like that bookkeeping method — seems the most simple.

I am being pulled toward not naming my business. One of my sons thinks that's a great way to go; the other thinks a name is a sign of professionalism. Decisions, decisions. At least I feel lucky that I have the computer I do. There really isn't much I have to do to beef up this system. And my office suits me just fine. It's my own little corner of the world.

The classes along with the concept of being/working alone from home are bringing up all sorts of mental workouts. It's certainly an opportunity to do more clean up.

My two greatest concerns right now are that I will be starting up MOUS class soon and how in the world will I have time for all the rest of my life, and that the three days AT&T cannot connect will overwhelm me with emails! Sigh!! Ready, begin.

I love the new business model. I can see why I was so abraded all those years with the former model. Coincidentally, this week, I edited a Business Plan for a friend (and hopefully new client as he grows his business) which followed the masculine model. Oh my! I prefer my own.

It is comforting to me to realize that in my wonderful role as woman, relationship building is so natural. Using it in business completely eliminates climbing that glass mountain only to slide back again. It is the ultimate in support! I can see why this model is results oriented and has validity. Who I am is more important than what I can do. Now, if I can only remember this!

I loved the idea of starting with the self via personality traits and then using that to create standards. It really does get to be about me, for me, and by me. What a way to own a business! As with most truth, the simplicity astounds me and makes me so grateful to be here.

I got a chance to honor my boundaries as soon as I decided what they would be and it was frightening. IVAA sent out an RFP for a local company that I could fulfill – a temporary project. I sent the VA my rates and it terrified me to actually type them down ($45/40), that I charge for travel time and for mileage. Well, I haven't heard back but I received the benefit of this opportunity already so, no problem. If this client doesn't honor my standards, (and the area is one of shylocks), I am being watched over! <G>

The class seemed especially meaty to me this week.

Well, I can see how, having laid the foundation, we are really getting into the meat of this business. Hooray and hallelujah! I recognized what a clever review technique is in place: first, by the initial reading; second, by being taught in class; third, by hearing the high-lighted points from each student at the end of class; fourth, from taking notes; fifth, from the formal notes taken by the assigned student; and sixth, from working through that class's Fieldwork. Absolutely brilliant!

I was happy to send my trainer the first draft of my business plan today. What an effort! I am happy with the result and am eager to hear her comments and suggestions. I know that even though I will never use my plan to obtain monies from the SBA, it has served me so well to have completed it. It has helped me to recognize how valuable the detailing of my desires is. I believe God is said to be in the details, right? :)

I loved this week's Cyberia notes. Man, what a wealth! This old girl can really learn a lot from young whippersnappers. And I am so grateful for the training. It would have taken me months to gather up all those web page references and learn how to use the search engines/directories well. Whew!

I am really enjoying working up my Welcome Packet too. And just in time: I have a potential technical writing client hovering in the wings. Hooray!

The class is becoming even more exciting to me. How the heck I can contain the excitement and follow the advice of the TTFYL chapter to lose the adrenaline is one true dichotomy! I'll muddle through the miasma. :)

It is great to have completed my first draft Business Plan and to have the trainer's great feedback so soon. I like staying on track. This class is so challenging that I can see now why it takes 20 weeks. It's amazing so much work gets done in so short a period of time now that I am on the inside looking out. And I am so grateful for the Welcome Packet and our opportunity to use it however we like. This is a true time savings for me! I still have some dangling rag tag ends in my mind about Marketing and will shape them up within the next few weeks. having to do the timeline Myra suggested will definitely help.

I attended the So Cal VA's luncheon this weekend and met another Assist U graduate there: Carolyn Dewey. We had a whispered aside and both agreed that our Assist U training was so invaluable. These other fine folks are floundering without it. I think it is the epitome of generosity on Stacy's part to share so fully what she unfolded on the go. Thank you, Stacy. :)

I worked at my son's surf contest this weekend and got to practice my elevator speech three times. Was that serendipity or what? I just wrote it last Thursday!

The elevator and group speeches are a brilliant, useful, practical. I printed them out and glued them to an index card so I can have them in my truck and practice out loud while driving so that my memorization will support a natural delivery. I keep loving and loving this class. This kind of tool is the kind of thing I needed so desperately to refine my approach and I am so grateful for it.

The analogies made by my classmates were so clever. I loved the golfing and caddy one especially - so the golfer can perfect his game. What a picture! Having this written ahead of time allows me to control my smiling and be sure to open my eyes wider, take a deep breath and attract. I am so lucky to be learning these tricks of the trade to support the professionalism and skills I already have. It's hard not to read ahead. :)

I am sustaining a sense of gratitude for the class. I just wonder how I can do a payback? I would really like to do that.

A fragment of verse keeps running through my mind: "slowly she spins". My best recollection is it is about a spider who eventually creates this magnificent web.

I can see how the VTP is slowly but surely doing just that. I have seen much ancillary help in my life as a "go with" to the VTP.

• I have gotten clear about exactly what I want to do. Hey, after 60 years, that's a huge relief! Since I was never planning to grow up, how could I possibly know what I wanted to do?
  
  
• My finances are clearing up. The opportunities to earn money are coming in from many places, not just my VA business.
  
  
• I have begun the single most-challenging spiritual conquest in my life, with the unselfish help of a dear friend, and with the hope of success never felt before.
  
  
• Many, many fears are dissolving; too many to mention here.
  
  
• I am benefiting from the VTP by using ALL of the tools I can.... and there are lots. Shucks, I'd have a perpetual cauliflower tush just from sitting and reading all the ancillary resources! :)
  
  
• My own, zany sense of humor is re-flowering! It had grown sarcastic and dour in corporate America. I like it's coming back within me. I feel so much more lighthearted.
  
  
• I have many new virtual friends. My classmates mean a lot to me as an intimate support system.
  
  
• The VTP community is a wealth of information as is the data on the AssistU site. I am filled with gratitude for these resources.

I feel as though I could go on ad nauseum. That's enough.... Oh, one more thing for certain and for sure: free coaching from Stacy is da bomb!

I have my VTP binder open on a small rolling cart beside my desk. It is nearly half way completed! This feels so good. I feel that I have become a part of this wonderful community even though I am not done with the class yet.

I feel very, very lucky this week - have for some weeks in fact. My life is in the process of a full reinvention. Held in the concept of who Pat Matson is, there is a mistaken sense which forms large body for me. After 60 years of toleration I am learning to undo that. It is frightening and thrilling at the same time. In response to the work I have already done, I am sending up more "smoke screen" in the guise of weight. I now know that that is just the eagle screaming loudly as it plummets, clawing, down the face of the cliff. Oh well! Some habits die hard.... as long as they DIE. :) I have a friend/guru (or is it gura for girls?) who is spending just hours of her own time to guide me through this knotty problem and refuses payment until it is done... completely done.

Another luck is that I finally got dates to begin my MOUS training. July 29th. I feel so linked to Brian the President. We are compatriot souls. I am going to be his VA some day; I can feel it. And then , I'll be able to take any software class I want and have a major link for question asking right at hand. Hoo Yah!!!! Patty likes this a lot.

Another luck is I get to get rid of AOL this week. What a scheme! I suppose some folks deserve it because they won't get in there with computers but for me, I am well shed of AOL. I have decided to pay them $5 per month though so I can answer the referral requests through The Registry from AOL clients. I cannot imagine for a moment actually using it!

Myra was hot in this class! There was *so* much material to cover; we jammed! It was a wonderful review of the VTP material with lots of additional tips from Myra. My thought is that both the class and her adrenaline pumping about going on vacation had a vibrating dynamic. I liked that a lot!

It is hard to imagine not knowing how to market my business after this veritable plethora of ways! I think the challenge will be in boiling it down to those — say, five — essentials, and then doing it. I, for one, am going to try Brazen Marketing I have developed a brochure which I plan to have printed in four color, two sided 11" x 4." It'll be mailable, but I plan to distribute them in person for one month three hours a day as a test. I have several industrial areas around me and I am also going to focus on executive suite type buildings.

Over and over the key point of forming relationships was repeated as the most important element. It was also stressed that to be seen as a problem solver for your clients is very valuable. Well this knocks my socks off because if there is ONE thing I do well, it's solve problems. I am one resourceful woman. It made me feel good to hear how good that is.

I have two confirmed clients waiting in the wings for me to finish school. I am starting my MOUS training Monday so my weeks are now fuller than ever. Good thing the garden is already ripening and only needs water occasionally. Phew! I absolutely must get my business plan review done before next Monday's classes begin!

I suspect if I had actually written this directly after the class, would have sounded like a maudlin sycophant. So I waited for the flush to subside. :)

Our last class was great... meaty, practical, humorous, caring, interactive. I really enjoyed it.... well, as much as I could with having to take notes, one of my least favorite tasks. It's a definite "go with!"

I love the concept of ethics and integrity. Because I don't read ahead in the class work, I didn't know this was going to be discussed until long after I had written my ethics statement into my business plan. I am so glad Assist U gives strong consideration to the topics that are so close to my heart: ethics, intuition, attraction, and one that I hadn't seen as fully as I now do, relationships. All these are the reason I am gleefully no longer in corporate America. I love belonging to an association of professionals with the same, strong, core principles as I hold closest to my heart.

I keep my VTP materials open on a small rolling cart by my desk. The left side is now higher than the right side. We are on the downhill slope.

This class was very exciting and also as meaty as the last class. Myra was da bomb - back from vacation fresh and raring to go. There was a valuable discussion about Partnerships. I can see how the concept of Partnering in a Relationship really sets Assist U VAs apart from the field. There are so many suffering VAs who have no clue. I feel so grateful.

Partnering not only addresses client's needs in business, but it addresses their emotional, psychological, spiritual/mental needs as well. I really feel that I excel in this area and I expect it will serve my success in my business well. I started my MOUS training this week as well and that too will serve me.

Seeing the details of what partnering entails gives me a sense of hope that in learning what they are, and then in subsequently do them, might foster success in my own relationship void before I go toes up! This was a great class.

I went brain dead. :( All the little convolutions flattened out, my beautiful green eyes crossed ever so gently, the steam hissed out my ears and petered off to little puffs of wispy. Work was done, and I was ON VACATION. :)

I can tell you about that class though. Thank God, my time in the oarlocks was over and Vonnie had to take notes. Haw, haw! Myra was hot! She drove through client contacts and the key points of discussion with potential clients like Parnelli Jones on new tires! This was pure filet mignon and a very helpful insight on how to establish that ever crucial equality in a partnership. I want to create an interview form for new clients off that list.

I found the conversations with clients very interesting. It was definitely fodder. I think that the practicality of real life examples and real life interviews like this bolster my courage and let me know I too can make it into the arena of successful VAs.

I bragged about Assist U while I was in Pennsylvania. So many (in fact ALL) of my relatives had not heard of Virtual Assisting which makes them perfect for my email marketing programs. I have one cousin who home schools her six (seriously) children and is now looking for an at-home job as they are going to be entering the schools system.

We had a blast "playing" roles with Barbara Lochen, who was a client and we were interviewee VAs. Now that was great fun. I think everyone in the class did a superb job resolving issues on the spot. What came out during discussion was that these scenarios aren't too typical because many clients have no clue which questions to ask of us and that frequently, we have to take the lead. Well, Patty liked that!! I find taking the lead much easier than listening, although any sales trainer worth her salt will tell you listening has to happen first. Two ears, one mouth is worth remembering.

So the role playing fit right in with our Listening chapter topic. As the classes dwindle down to so few left, I find my fear factor rising. I know I will just move myself into gear and begin the marketing I have planned, and I am fearful nonetheless. I watch the RFPs flow in from the IVAA site and I wonder what it will be like to actually begin to answer both those and the ones from Assist U. Sweet!

I decided not to take notes during Class 17, the class about listening. I didn't find that easy due to my note-taking habit. I even moved away from my desk during the class to keep myself from the things that allow me to "not listen with my whole face."

This was such a good topic. I really have been aware for many years that I could "listen up" better. I have made efforts in that arena. The class materials were really helpful with the two top ten lists.

And another helpful thing was that I actually read the small print as to where those top ten lists come from and visited that web site. What a cool site! Very helpful and practical. It felt like a bonus!

Only a few more classes to go. Gosh, the time has gone by so quickly. I have changed so much since Class one. More attentive to detail, more aware of my choice of words, definitely more skilled, still as cute as before.

I am beginning to get a little melancholy about this class ending. While I will be so happy to have Wednesday evenings back again, I will miss the other students and Myra. We have had a lot of fun together and learned immeasurable lessons together.

I've been cogitating about how to use the reference materials at the end of each Chapter more easily after the class is over. There is so much good stuff there. I am thinking about moving them all to one place in the book to keep from having to leaf through that humongomanual.

I this that these references are absolutely invaluable and will continue to provide food for my soul long after the class is over. I never thought anything could bring me to my knees as this class has done, but man oh man, that was one meaty challenge.

Talking about reacting vs responding really made me flash back to my days of therapy. I am happy to report that I truly have come a long way, baby and there aren't too many bloody bodies along the path, mine included. I think that responding is a much-to-be-desired skill, one that I am proud to have. As I told Myra, at this point in my life, not too much surprises me any more and I truly know that I survived them all so what's to sweat? :) I am aware that one of my major class benefits, and a topic that came up in Class 18, is the idea of equality with my clients. I love that idea and setting aside the 43 years of blood, sweat and many, many tears it took me to get here, I am happy to say I finally feel equal. You were so wise to include this in the materials, Stacy. Gee, I wonder how you knew that was important? :)

Time has become meaningless and inane since I graduated from Assist U in October of 2002. It's a lot like having a new boyfriend with whom to stay up very, very late. I'm just having so much fun, who cares how late it is. :) It's 10:45 pm as I write this and I could still go on for hours.

Why? Because I have evoked my passion, that elusive little ferret. I've been looking for her for years! Where was she? What did she love? What did she want to do??? It started becoming obvious when I first tripped over the AssistU.com site; more palpable as I worked through the VTP; but after graduation, oy, I found myself saying "I love this job." "I love this work." "I love being at home!" I HAD NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE, so please excuse the scream. It's been bottled up for over 60 years!

I have five clients now and it is four months since graduation. Are they all ideal clients? Nope. They are clients nonetheless. Is my business filled up? Not yet! It grows a little each month. You have tremendous appreciation for clients after you graduate, for certain and for sure. I know I do, because I am not working elsewhere except my own business, Paperwork Partners.

I want to tell you a little bit about how using Attraction has worked in finding these clients. One has been my client for eight years and he doesn't count. The others are all new. I got in touch with so much about myself during the VTP. I learned so much about setting boundaries and about establishing the principles on which I would run my company. My self esteem grew so much during those months so that, when I was finished with the VTP, the individual who graduated was not the same one who started the course! I am serious. I had grown in self love, self respect, strengthened my convictions and got very comfortable within my own skin. *This* is what attracts my clients to me. I talk to everyone I meet about my wonderful new career and my love is like a very bright light.

And not only do I attract clients, I have taken four paid-for-by-others vacations during those four months, had darling 'ole AT&T give me a new cable box, gotten two new students for a class that I teach, and found the most marvelous pricing for getting my brochures printed. I am busting out all over and I love it, love it, love it. And so, diary dearest, aren't we just the luckiest girl alive? I expect so!