Hi there! The future of this blog is looking like a blend of lifestyle along with my entrepreneurial journey, tips and tricks for virtual assistants and people in general, and who knows what else!
The big thing about my life right now is that I’m in the midst of starting a whole new chapter in my life. Not even a chapter – a whole new section! Maybe even a whole new book in the series?
I’m not sure, but I’m here for it.
What I’m going to share next is how I got to this point. I will share once, and then move forward and not bring it up again here. It’s happened, its over, and I’m not looking back, but its a part of the story and I feel it needs to be told.
In August of this year (2024) a relationship I was in for 4 years ended pretty traumatically. He made some poor decisions and avoided the consequences of these decisions for a long time. Sparing the details, I was the financial support for our life for a long time, even after I was laid off from a corporate operations management job that I loved. So ending 2023 and starting 2024 was stressful to the max. As time went on, more poor decisions were made, and more running away occurred. Last summer everything I had tucked away ran out, and I needed help. I needed my support system. When I expressed this in August he ran away. Literally. Packed a bag of clothes and left our life.
So, this left me and Woods to clean out the apartment, sell what we could, pack up my ex’s stuff, and move into the guest room at my dad’s house.
That was the relationship story. Let’s talk about my professional story.
In September of 2023 I was laid off from my operations management position at a CRM company in the senior living industry. I LOVED this job! Unfortunately the company was sold, and I did not survive the second round of layoffs. I spent months on the job hunt – applied for hundreds of jobs, interviewed for a few dozen, and was rejected from all of them. The job market as a whole is just the absolute worst right now, and for my own mental sanity and well being, I needed to make a change.
In April of 2024 I decided to take a step back. The way I was doing things was not working. I made a list of my skills, what I had to offer, and what options I had. Then the lightbulb turned on – I have the PERFECT skillset to help small businesses and entrepreneurs grow their businesses! From general administrative work to social media to photography and branding to even some light bookkeeping. I’ve got the experience, the Google skills for what I don’t know, and a passion for helping others.
So I bought a little course on how to start a little virtual assisting business, (which I was unsure about because there are so many courses out there now that its just ridiculous), and it turned out to be extremely valuable for the setting up and prep phases of starting a business as a sole proprietor! I have no regrets on this decision.
I remember it like it was yesterday – I was dog-sitting for a friend, working at their kitchen island, and it all came together. I launched a business as a virtual assistant! Within 2 weeks I had clients and that was that! Now, clients have already come and gone, a few have stayed, and as a freelancer that’s just how it will be.
The reality of being an entrepreneur and a service-based freelancer is that it is ROUGH. Real growth moves very slowly, and I’m only 8 months into this business. I’m working on my first rebrand, I’m focusing on my own marketing and social media, and I’m exploring what I can do and offer to expand my services and streams of income. I love helping my clients every day, but the reality is that its not enough. And having a business completely online means almost infinite possibilities!
I’m still living in my dad’s guest room with most of my belongings packed away in the basement. There is no timeline for when I’ll have my own place again. I am extremely grateful and fortunate to have my dad and all that he’s done for me, but I’m 34 and want to be out on my own! I have dreams for what I want my next home to look like and include, and now its just the “hustle” of getting to that financial goal.
Honestly, I’m in the perfect place to grow a business. My overhead is extremely low, my time is flexible, and I can make this next chapter literally whatever I want for myself and Woods.
If you didn’t know, Woods is my fur baby, my ride or die, my partner in crime. He’s probably tired of me, but also knows that I have all the snacks LOL
I have a lot of dreams for this business, and I’m taking opportunities as they come my way! This business and this life can be anything and everything I want it to be right now and I’m doing my best ot enjoy the ride. I know future Maggie will appreciate all of this when she looks back, but right now I just have to get comfortable with being in the uncomfortable. You know, that Pinterest quote 🙂
On top of ALL of this, I’m taking this time to prioritize my physical health. I’ve always been active, but I also tend to pick up the habits of those around me. In this case it was my ex who had the diet of an elementary school kid + lots of alcohol. I’m not here to bash, but that’s actually what it was. So I stopped putting in the effort to cook the things I loved because it was just easier to do the same thing. This is a lesson I have learned the hard way, and will never make this mistake again!
A good friend of mine is a trainer (shoutout to Jason Kramer at Hero Physiques!), and I now see him 3x a week in person. Its been a couple of months now, and while the scale hasn’t moved I’m definitely seeing changes in my definition and how my clothes fit! This is in addition to walking 5 miles a day with Woods to get my 10k+ steps in daily. I’d like to add more training days into my schedule, but for now this is working. I’ve also simplified how and what app I use to track my food. I had been stressing so much about hitting all my macros and doing everything perfectly every day, and that’s just not real like for someone like me (as in not a professional athlete). So I’m using a different app now, and focusing on calories, protein, and water tracking. If I’m making the good food choices then everything else will fall in line.
So – welcome! Thank you for being here, reading my story, and joining me for this ride! Please subscribe to get updates on each blog post, and you can follow along on my Instagram account as well as my upcoming YouTube channel!
Virtually Maggie 
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