Why I Left The Brick and Mortar World.

byMelaniaM

71 followers

Updated 7 years ago

In April 2010 I worked for a very successful engineering company. It was a job I actually loved. I mean, who can say they actually love getting into traffic every morning and evening to go to a place they may spend 8-12 hours at? In all of my career, I finally found something I enjoyed to do and got paid well to do it. My position name was changed several times and still to this day I do not know what to call myself. For the sake of sanity, I will just say I was an administrative assistant. My role consisted of processing hundreds of workers their security clearances from start to finish. This was detailed as the government would reject if one "i" wasn’t dotted or a period put in its correct place. Once the candidate was processed and their clearance was approved, the next step in my job took place. I worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week for nearly a year. Learning about so many peoples backgrounds and helping them make themselves better off. I enjoyed every aspect of my job. When I took the position I understood that once the project was over there would either place some workers or lay them off.

In August 2008, before I took the engineering position, I was working in another part of the government realm processing healthcare claims and dependent care claims for reimbursement. I had only been working in this position about 3 months before I started to feel what other co-workers felt, low morale. We were criticized more than we were praised and the turnover was awful. As of this year, 2017, the turnover is still the same. During the time I spent with this company, a total of 2 years, I actively sought other employment. Interview after interview, I got asked the same question. Why did I stop at my associate's degree? It seemed to be a stumbling block for me and my advancement in my career. I already had student loans from my associate degree and now I need to consider taking out more for a bachelor?

In April 2011, marking one year since I started working for this successful engineering company, I was laid off. My bubble was busted! I had left my family at home (6 weeks old newborn) to put my all into yet another position to be let go. No, there was no promise I would be employed permanently but the option was there and I worked hard for it! I was in at 4 am and left at 5 pm AND taking a 30-minute lunch. I had to make the decision whether returning to college was beneficial or to accept that it would take me a long time to get past the salary deficit. Fast forwarding into 2013 I decided that I needed to go back to school. My husband worked out of town at the time and since I was not working and my daughter was not of school age yet, we would travel with him weekly.

In 2015 I learned about virtual assistance. I had heard of them a few years prior but I was not willing to waste my time on scams. I did some research but it really wasn’t until 2015 that I really got into it after having my second child. The more I researched, the more I learned, the more I felt overwhelmed on just learning about what my niche was. I researched groups on Facebook, followed important people such as Marie Farlio and Russell Brunson, etc and then I started following an researching the people that followed those important people. Ahha! This research led me to a now VERY big virtual assistant academy. It took me a few months of researching her and her course to finally pay out of pocket for the course. Her courses taught how to become a virtual assistant, what tools you need and the latest platforms to use in your business. Sales funnels and Facebook ads mastered! She teaches about how to find your niche, how to price yourself and she is available as a mentor. Within two years she literally grew her business into a million dollars and adds content to her academy all the time. I went from watching every YouTube channel to learn about different platforms to learning them in the academy she has. Today, I don’t work a 9-5. Today, I do social media and project management as well as administrative work from the comfort of my home. This is why I quit my brick and mortar, so I could be my own boss, get my own clients and if we are not a fit with each other, we don’t have to work together. There is no low morale, there is productivity! The perks are spending more time with my kids and husband instead of working 12 + hours a day. If you have not considered being your own boss, start thinking about it!

Cool Tools for learning: https://melania-macias-pa.com/...