Motivational Monday Interview with Loralea Prentis
Loralea Prentis is our Motivational WAHM today. She´s been hanging around in the comments section for a while now, so when I found out that she works as a VA and has recently started a business in this area, I thought it would be fun to interview her. I think you will enjoy her interview as much as I did.
1. What is your business?
I am a virtual assistant. My business is called Esprit Delegation.
Esprit is French for spirit, or freedom. That’s my aim, to give business
owners (in particular other work at home moms and real estate
professionals) freedom by delegating administrative tasks they don’t have
to be working on themselves.
2. How did you get started?
I actually started out as a copywriter. I’m a military wife, and decided
I needed a “portable” career when I was job-hunting for the third time in
about four years. My clients wanted more from me than writing alone; one
day I realized what I was slowly becoming was a virtual assistant.
3. What mistakes did you make when you were starting out? What did you
learn from them?
I didn’t hire a coach, and should have done that first. She’s help me so
much, I can’t even tell you. I didn’t make good enough use of social
profiles; I’m working on that now. Teleseminars are a really good idea; I
didn’t participate in those before either. There are so many things I
just didn’t know. Being a work at home mom is extremely challenging; and
the learning curve isn’t so much a curve as it is a steep climb.
4. How long have you been working from home? (was this your first business
or have you had others where you worked from home?)
I’ve been working from home for about 18 months. I had another business I
started in 2004, but I was going to school at the same time and it didn’t
really work. School, children and starting a business aren’t the best
combination for success!
5. What are your tricks for balancing work, kids and household chores?
No question its organization and delegation, although they aren’t really
tricks. I’m really organized by nature, so meal planning, shopping lists
and having the kitchen optimized for efficiency are easy for me. I have a
really hard time delegating though, I *think* I can do it all. This is
how I can relate with my clients being reluctant to let tasks go. We’ve
recently hired a cleaning service, so that takes a lot of the pressure off
both my husband and I. I’ve also started working more set hours, instead
of just whenever I walk past the computer.
6. How many children do you have? How old are they?
I have two boys, ages 4 and 5. The oldest is in school part-time this
year, and that helps a lot.
7. When do you usually work?
I work Monday to Friday from 12PM until 2PM
or 3PM, depending on when naptime is over. I work again from 6PM until
midnight or so. Sometimes as late as 2AM, but I’m trying to cut back on
that, as the boys wake up around 6AM and I need more than four hours of
sleep to function.
8. What is the best part of being a mompreneur? And the worst?
The best part is not commuting to work, or dealing with winter weather (I
live in Canada). I don’t miss heating the car up and scraping ice at
6:30AM. I love being home to put my son on the bus, and pick him up at
the end of the day. I’m enjoying watching my youngest grow into a boy,
and what he discovers day to day. I do miss the social aspect of working
outside the home. It’s really easy to just work and not get out. The
balance between family and work can be a struggle sometimes too, if a
deadline is approaching and you need to get it finished.
9. What are your plans for the future of your business?
Make it grow! I want to start writing some e-books and other products and
packages to sell. I have ideas for many, but haven’t had the time to
write.
I’d like to meet other virtual assistants who would be interested in
working with me, taking over some of the workload once it’s busy enough.
Eventually form a virtual team and go on vacation without taking the
laptop along.
10. What advice would you give new work at home moms?
Don’t be afraid to just jump in and get started. Market yourself. Hire a
coach, as they’ll keep you on track and give you someone to be accountable
to. Set the times of day you are going to work, and don’t forget the
reason you are home is your children- pay attention to them.
It’s terrifying, we tend to be our own worst enemy and hold ourselves
back. Remember that everyone else is just as scared as you are.
Contact information:
Esprit Delegation
Online: http://www.espritdelegation.com
E-mail: Loralea @ espritdelegation . com
Phone: 613 845 0230
[...] and is full of tips and resources for work at home moms (and dads!). You can read the interview here. Thanks for featuring me today [...]