Hi, I’m A Virtual Assistant & I Love what I do!
I’ve wanted to write this since January, but I kept procrastinating till now. I will say it’s because it “wasn’t the right time” and that may be accurate, but… um… three months is a lot, he he he. Anyways here goes.
Hi there! I’m Rutendo, one-half of Nawena Virtual Solutions. If you’ve been following our story for the past three years, you know that it was at the height of COVID when a huge career opportunity fell through because of COVID, and I just fell back to what I knew to make ends meet. I met up with my girl, Lucia, who was in the middle of her own upheaval and, over WhatsApp, decided to start this business. Months later, we had done it, and… the rest is history.
Three years later… I’m happy… and I’m restless. I vacillate between going back to what I went to university to do and continuing on this path that isn’t as straightforward as I had imagined my life to be. And thinking of that made me realise… I’ve always been on this path. I’ve always thought in this direction, it’s just that… with the way my life was set up, I felt like the straightforward path was for me. I never felt like I was built for uncertainty in any way, though if you think of it, all careers are uncertain in their bizarre way, as COVID taught me. What felt like a sure thing was pulled out from under me and made me rethink what was a sure thing and what wasn’t.
What I do know now is what I’ve always known & have come to terms with: I like being in the background. I like knowing how things work. I’ve always been like that since I was young. I have fond memories of my grandfather who had this obsession with how things work. I see a little of him in my son, and even in me. I can handle being in the forefront, but after a while, I start poking around in the background, trying to figure out why things are the way they are. I remember joining the church choir, and almost 2 years in, I was in the admin & operations department because I wanted to know how everything worked in the background to put together every service. I ended up helping plan concerts and events & that was great fun. Whenever I think of what I did before I started Nawena Virtual Solutions, I see myself saying, I’d rather do the admin, the policy-making, and the operations. I don’t want to be in the forefront. That’s when I knew: This is who I am and where I belong.
It was this curiosity that started this business, and this curiosity that’ll take it to even greater heights. I’m fascinated with how to make my clients’ businesses work and work well. How does everything work behind the scenes the way it does? How do I want our business to look to the people who’ll access it? I love tinkering behind the scenes, and I enjoy tinkering behind the scenes for clients too. It’s amazing to see things that I built with my 10 fingers working in real-time and having their clients enjoy the experience. I’m a tinkerer, and I want to tinker more.
All this to say… you’ll see a switch-up in my title in the months to come. I’ve finally come to a point where I understand myself and where I want to excel in our business. It won’t be as straightforward as getting my degree was, heck even starting our business feels more straightforward than the direction I’ll be taking. One thing I do know though, I will work hard, and get the education & certifications I need to become the best I can be in my newly chosen niche. I have the experience (loads of it, to be exact) and the passion. I guess I need the confidence that this is the right step I’m taking
I’m also going to embrace my love for writing more. Again, I talked about it and shelved it because… who am I, but to be honest, who am I to not go for what I love, right? Get ready for a more regular posting schedule, and a monthly newsletter. I doubt I’ll have much to say than my random musings and updates on what we’re up to as a business (with fun things for you guys to have). So… if you’d like to hear more about us, maybe get our blog posts in a condensed format and of course keep up with what I’m talking about, you can sign up here.
Another thing I’ve seen is the power of community in building businesses. I’ll talk about that more next week, because it is a game-changer for real.
For now, what’s been on your mind this Q2? What are you up to? Or what do you want to be up to? Let’s hear it, I’m a fine, fine cheerleader.
With you in business,
Rutendo, Nawena Virtual Solutions