I recently took a personality test (16personalities.com) and discovered that I am a Defender. Most of the qualities rang true, but the one that stuck out was “creates order from chaos”. This has described me in most of my life experiences.

I’ve worn many hats: waitress, teacher, tutor, wife, mom, homeschooler, nanny, essay scorer, moms group president, internet assessor, house manager…In all of these areas, I have felt a sense of accomplishment by creating order to the (however big or small) chaos.

I’m a planner, a list maker, a superb budgeter, and a creative thinker. I’m a fixer and I find a sense of pride in taking a project and making it work better for everyone. I like to build structure where there is instability. Examples would include taking a newly formed classroom and making it an organized learning space with implemented plans and guidelines. Or turning a social group that was struggling with enrollment and activities and giving it a strong foundation with policies and a variety of activities. I find it to be one of my strengths to know where and who to go to for the assistance I may need to make a project reach its potential.

Throughout these experiences, what I learned about myself is that I work best from home. I embrace the flexibility to be home when there is a day off of school, or run an errand, or even just have all the laundry going while I work from the next room. I have always been great at balancing my time (down to the minute!), and this ability became even more developed once I became a parent. While some people work better away from the distractions of home, I have a more focused mentality, knowing I have this flexibility rather than being distracted at work thinking about everything I need to get done after 5pm.

I’ve also learned that I work best with a variety of projects. When I made a list of all of the skills I have gained from my jobs and life experiences, I realized my skills could be valuable to others.

What better career is there for me than a Virtual Assistant?