The Ramblings of an Aspiring Virtual Assistant

Episode One: Road to becoming a Virtual Assistant

It's June 2020, and almost half of the year is over. While my friends and colleagues are back to the rat race, here I am in the living room, sitting, my butt almost hurting due to prolonged seating, trying to come up with sensible ideas to write about in my post on Wix. The topic has to be relevant to what propelled me to transition to the virtual assistant role.

Minutes earlier, to fulfil the portfolios of the virtual assistant course, I was watching a coaching video on how to optimize a post, a page and an image using SEO. I created a WordPress site with 5 blogs in it but I could not utilize my site's SEO plugins unless I upgraded it to a business account. Then, I came up with a not-so-brilliant idea. Why not write one blog and optimize it? Let's see how it goes. Time check. It's 2 a.m.

What am I trying to accomplish exactly? Am I on sabbatical? Kind of. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, if and when I can go back to my employer in Vietnam is up in the air. That is how one ESL teacher, who was living an easy-going life, making all the moolah and globetrotting all she wants, has lost a lot of opportunities.

Yes, before I got stranded here in the City of Pines, I lived in Hanoi for four years consecutively without coming home to our motherland for vacation and holiday. I only decided to come home for Christmas and the Lunar New Year. And then, coronavirus emerged and made unprecedented changes.

grape-picking with my family

Home is where the heart is, and true enough, I found myself in the comforts of my humble abode. The first days were sweet. I slept soundly and woke up with no alarm clock to snooze. The weather was amazing. The skies are clear blue then there's always a light and heavy downpour, yet it did not dampen my spirits.

I traveled around my city like a tourist, went to visit my family and relatives jumping from one place to another. I am a wanderlust and naturally, I had to rediscover my hometown and my city and see new hubs of tourist destinations nearby.

Boredom? I’m pretty good at entertaining myself provided that there’s the Internet, streaming sites and a good book. It was all about merriment, and I set aside anything job-related. Then came the spoiler. Pandemic and global lockdowns and quarantines. In May, schools reopened in my second home country, with my employer and students' guardians requesting my return. I simply can't, not until international borders reopen, quarantine measures ease-out, and vaccines are available.

This is my longest break ever. How odd though that at the age of 35, my career is taking a back seat. I can’t even see myself teaching anymore as I have lost my momentum. Probably. That is why after months of procrastinating and indolence, I enrolled in two freelancing courses. One is English for freelancers. The other is a Freelancing course for virtual assistants. My sole purpose is to upgrade my skill set by leveraging the luxury of time I have in my hands.

Talk about overconfidence. Never have I imagined that virtual assistance has a huge scope. Up to now, I haven't decided which niche to specialize in. My mindset for now is to finish and submit all the portfolios and then make a life-changing choice thereafter.

To be continued...