Hi from California

[norcal va 8]

My name is Lisa and I live in northern California about three hours north of the bay area in a rural community with my husband and 12 year old son. I've been "lurking" here for a few months now after doing some research on the virtual assistant field and was intrigued to find out more. I've posted a few questions here and there as well.

 

My work experience for the past 25+ years has leaned more towards accounting and for the last 18 years I've been the payroll specialist for a local college. I have no formal education in accounting and I'm not a full charge bookkeeper but I do feel like I've got a pretty deep skill set especially where payroll is concerned. Lots of detailed and specialized work that requires a great deal of accuracy and accountability as I work with taxpayer dollars :-)

 

Here is where my life has taken a bit of a turn.....this past month I was declared "legally blind" due to a disease known as retinitis pigmentosa. I've had pretty poor vision nearly all my life but the "no driving" issue was somewhat unexpected. I've resigned from my f/t job as travel was required and am sort of spinning in circles right now. However I'm a problem solver by nature and this just throws a bit of a loop into my life as I know it so I'm ready figure out what my next step is and move forward in life's journey.

 

I have been chatting with various local bookkeepers here in my small community and all are very encouraging.....until they hear the "no driving" part and then they sort of back away and say "well you won't be able to get many clients nor will you be able to make enough of a living to sustain your family" None of them work virtually and they look at me like I'm crazy when I ask about the possibility of working with clients virtually.

 

So I'm open to suggestions, feedback, criticism, whatever you can throw at me......need some ideas of what paths I might consider and can I make this work for myself and my family? I have no other restrictions other than both eye specialists have suggested that working from home would be a better idea as my work environment would be safer for me to navigate as my peripheral sight is not as good as it used to be but I can certainly see a computer and perform any and all office tasks well :-)

 

Thanks and I'm really enjoying this forum! :-)

[Julian Palmer 511]

Hello Lisa!

 

Welcome to the forum! I am so inspired by your post, that no matter our circumstances that if it's your passion, you will not let this stop you. I do not know which direction to point you towards but I know someone here will help you. Best wishes to you.

[norcal va 8]

Hi Julian and thank you so much for your kind words!

 

I feel both anxious and excited. I worry about my vision issues and not knowing what the future will bring as this is a degenerative condition which will most likely worsen but I'm hoping it will be slowly over many more years. I'm excited about the prospect of doing something new as I've been an employee my entire working life (30+ years) and providing a service to help others is inspiring and empowering to me.

 

I'd like to learn new skills and concepts and I don't want to limit myself to the accounting side of services. I've crunched numbers for many years and with all the new technology available I'd love to be able to take some time and learn about what's out there. A perfect balance for the next few months would be to provide some services with my current skills (to help with our income) while also learning new skills to provide later to clients. I feel like there's an open book laid out in front of me, I'm just not sure which chapter to start with lol.

[MazzaVirtualAssistants 299]

Welcome to the forum!

[Danielle 1,240]

Hi Lisa, welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis. I am also in Northern California.

[Tawnya Sutherland 1,870]

Hi Lisa and welcome!

Sorry to hear of your disability but if driving is just your issue and you can still do the work then working from home as a VA bookkeeper could be the perfect solution! And hopefully your eyesight doesn't deteriorate for a long time (by then you can have a business setup and even start outsourcing the work if your condition worsens). If there is a will there is a way

Lily is our bookkeeping Moderator here and you'll find lots of info about working virtually as a bookkeeper in her forum area.

Anyhow, welcome to a new career virtually! I totally love working from home and can't see working any other way

[Lily Chambers 618]

Hi, Lisa! I am a virtual bookkeeper, have never met some of my clients in person and don't seem to have any issues with being virtual! Remember that you can approach clients from all over the country and as long as you are good at what you do, word of mouth can carry you really far! Feel free to post questions all over the forum and we will answer them as best as we can!

[norcal va 8]

Thanks so much to all of you for your warm and encouraging welcome! My head is spinning with all the information I'm sifting through here on the forums. I was able to catch a few of the live speakers last week with the VAVS and I upgraded my ticket to gold so that I can now go back and listen to those that I've missed. Also thinking of joining the VAinsiders very soon!

 

I'm inspired by all of you and if I can just get my bearings a bit and come up with a game plan of what it is I want to do and how to get it started I'll be ready to roll :-)

 

Danielle its so great to know that you are in northern California as well, I will have to connect with you through your website and perhaps can chat with you a bit via email. And Lily I have MANY questions for you but I'll go through the bookkeeping forum first to see if I can get answers for some of them before pestering you as well :-)

 

Look forward to being part of this wonderful group!

[Tawnya Sutherland 1,870]

Awesome Norah, hang in there you had a ton of information thrown at you at #VAVS to consume. I'm going to do a webinar next week for all #VAVS attendees to help you put a game plan in place to implement what you have learned.

 

I am looking forward to seeing you on the inside too, great compliment to keep the momentum going

 

Danielle is home right now in Canada for awhile then going off to Hawaii for holidays, lucky girl!

[Lily Chambers 618]

I look forward to answering your questions.