One of the things that got let go when I had my car accident was this blog.

I am healing slowly but surely.  The accident surely shook the heck out of me and made me go into a deep introspection.

I have wanted to share with you how I was able to walk away from this, even though this is not a “personal” blog.

Farewell my Trailblazer!

As many of my clients know, I’m a student and teacher of metaphysics in addition to being a Virtual Assistant.

Just wanted you to know I’ve been working on the story in my mind for close to two months now.  I’m nearly ready, so please stay tuned!

Warmly,

Pat

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Is he motivated?  Well, sure, for a cement head.    But I want this week’s blog post to be for my sole proprietor clients and their personal motivation and their messy spirituality, which I think go hand in hand.

I think many of us have this tendency to segment and categorize our lives, especially when it comes to business.  I view things a bit differently.  I see things as one, giant, whole.  I think my business is my main way to unfold spirituality. I cannot begin to share with you the hundreds of things I learn about my spirit, my life, and my own heart right inside my business.  So, let me give you an example.  If you’re one of my VA clients, don’t worry.  I never break our confidentiality.

I do a lot of research for one of my clients in a segregated field of study.  We aren’t exactly chatty Cathies with one another.  Mainly, we communicate via email.  I learned from this form of communication one important thing about myself:

• I must exercise courage and ask questions when I don’t understand the instructions completely.  I have this thing from my own childhood called “Never admit you don’t know.” I have had to encourage myself to ask the needed questions even when I thought they’d make me look unintelligent, another childhood foible. So, from this seemingly innocuous incident, I had to get personally motivated to do what needed to be done, and I augmented my own messy spirituality by doing just that.

And, the research got accomplished.  Those VA tasks I perform are viewed as “the things I merely do” because my spirituality gets top billing in my life.  Don’t misunderstand me: there are lots of things, tasks and people standing one rung below my spirituality, nudging for first place.  I made this decision a long time ago and I think putting spirituality first is working for me. That’s why I say my VA business is soulful.

I wonder sometimes if you entrepreneurs can integrate both your business and your spiritual life? It adds a layer of interest, makes me feel if I’m getting double the good out of what I “merely do” and gives me a strong feeling of accomplishment.

Hugs & Love,

Pat

Paperwork Partners.com

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I’m a Virtual Assistant.  Now from a business perspective, this is important to know because it’s my face holding my space on the internet.  But from a spiritual perspective, it matters not one whit, because if that were true, the only way you could gain spiritual enlightenment is to become a VA.  Wouldn’t that be silly?

The job you are in, and I strongly hope you are a sole proprietor or an entrepreneur because you are my target market, requires a certain level of skills in the business world.  If you don’t have all of the ones you need, you hire a VA to compliment your skills set and we both live happily ever after.  But in the spiritual world, you gain your enlightenment as you move through your business day, maybe a bit like this:

A client of yours calls you and makes requests of you.  One of the requests triggers something in you and you have an angry reaction.  You exercise your virtues of patience and courage:  patience to keep your nasty thoughts unspoken and kept inside you; courage to keep on speaking in a professional manner to your client.  You score!  You’ve unfolded a higher, stronger sense of your virtue set and you’re one silly millimeter further on down the path toward complete spiritual enlightenment and understanding.

You can do this on a surfboard, milking cows, serving food at The Olive Garden, powdering a baby’s heine, picking raspberries, or being an entrepreneur as I am.  I look at my business life through soulful eyes and when I am your VA, I look at your business life through the same eyes – oh, plus my business skills for getting your tasks done.  Gotta love the perspective.

Warmly,

Pat

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I love my clients.  We spin ideas back and forth between us.  It’s my work motivation and it’s also my gratitude for them in my life.  I love to dream up new, fresh ways to make their businesses grow.  I love our interactions. I love the work I get to do for them. I love learning about their businesses and freeing them up to do what they do best.  Here is a list of what some of my client’s work is: coaching (lots of these), attorney, technical engineering writer, televised cooking show producer, NLP Practitioner, senior health care caregiver and headhunter.

You might ask: “Why such a wide variety of clients?”  Because I do administrative work that is quite similar for all of them, and because my work motivation thrives with variety.

Sunday nights you might overhear me say “I don’t want to go to work tomorrow.”  That just means I want more weekend, because once I slide into my harness and begin to pull, it is so much fun, that Pat Matson is enthralled, motivated, and extremely grateful for my Virtual Assistant business.

When you read this, if you thought “Boy, I’ll bet Pat would be a great help to my friend fill in the blank. If that’s true, have your friend send me an email here.

Hugs,

Pat

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Today, I want to share a few helpful virtual assistant services I provide and then let  you know about some that you can use yourself to make  your life easier.

I am an article writer.  I love to ghostwrite articles for my Virtual Assistant Clients. I write in their voice, because I’ve taken the time to get to know them, their business, and how they want to be presented.  It’s worked handsomely for both of us:  I get to do what I love to do; they get articles posted on the internet with links back to their site (which increases their Google position); and they don’t have to sweat worrying over “how shall I market my business.”

I am a ghost writer. Because I have a metaphysical / psychological background, my writing works really well for coaches.  I find that my experience in self-growth really augments what needs to be written for a coach’s on-line business.  I’ve also found it works well around the topics involving divorce, because that is in my experience, too.  I have permission from two clients to show you some examples of this writing.  You can find the coaching articles here, and you can find the divorce articles here.

I am a website copywriter.  You can see my own site here and a client’s site (again, with permission) here. I’m telling you I have permission because the very foundation of the work I do for my clients demands confidentiality and I wouldn’t share this kind of information without specific permission.

And now, here’s that list of tips you can use yourself, courtesy of the Reader’s Digest, March 2010.

• Free business cards: Vista Print
• Escape from a meeting:  Escape Call Free
• Travel Itinerary:  Trip It
• Electronics Reviews:  Cnet
• Sports Scores: ESPN
• Phone Apps if you don’t use iPhone or BlackBerry:  GetJar

So here’s the thing:  if  the tips above are good for you on your own, phenom!  If you need a great ghost writer who sits in the background, grinding out copy and posting it on the internet while you are out there doing what you do best in your business, send me an email and let’s work together.

Warmly,

Pat

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When I decided to have a blog on my newly re-done website, I scratched my head to decide what Virtual Assistant topics I could share with my clients, friends, and then on out there on the world wide web. That think-a-long became the Categories you see on the right of the screen.

Today, I’m writing about consciousness.  Consciousness,  your mentality, is the primal element out of which each of us is created.  It’s unfolding a full sense of your Self that is the reason you’re where you are and I’m being a VA, blogging my little fingers to the bone. As I do my VA work, I’m concurrently figuring out what virtues I have; the best way to use them; what life is about; and how my preferences get from inside me out in to the world as experience.

I call myself the behind-the-throne whisperer VA because I have a keen insight into the lives of my clients and sometimes, my whispered perspective allows them to see the good I see in them, to sigh back into acceptance and enjoyment, and then be glad that not only do I type and create, but I also share wise counsel.

This consciousness thing unfolding in you as you is one of my favorite topics, but I promised myself to only make these blog posts snippets.  You can always email me for more.

Love you.  Mean it.

Pat

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Hieronymous, the Precious

Get used to seeing pictures of my grandson.  He’s so on the verge of magnificent discoveries and I love watching him unfold his marvelously sweet self.  He hasn’t begun to ask questions yet, but it’s coming.  Oh my, is it coming!

You business folk, have you used asking questions to help you motivate your team?  To share some understanding about another’s troubles?  To engage someone in learning what you most need to teach?

Consider avoiding dead-end, one-word-answer questions.  You want to invite someone to join in the dance, not spit out one word and stand in the stag line.

Socrates had it knocked when he used questions in his “Socratic Method.” They stimulated the individual doing the thinking into using reason, and they lit up new ideas for the participants on both sides of the issue.  Oh, did I mention the learning occurred between two opposing sides?  What a cool idea! Like debate classes.

Learning how to ask questions that are pertinent can be a grand blessing for everyone concerned.  I used to be a “let me tell you how it is” kind of individual.  It irritated lots of people.  I changed.  I now make the same points through asking questions and I seldom experience resistance.

Little Hiero will be asking questions soon, and his mommy and daddy are currently asking him questions, so he’s learning quickly.

Do you think this method might be helpful to you folks in management? You parents?  You in a relationship? You with noisy neighbors?    Hummmm?

Pat Matson,

Executive Virtual Assistant, Girl VA, and Writer of Grand Ideas

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' Tis I !

I am filled with such gratitude about my new website.  I’ve heard many wonderful comments about it from my Assist U partner VAs, and from my family and friends as well. Thank you, every one.

I want to formally thank Matson Graphics. Seth, my son, and his programmers did a phenomenal job.  Did you notice they put  the date and time at the top of the Home Page?  I really like it – a practical and useful touch.  Oh, and you must check out the Bucket List.

Keep checking this blog.  I’ll be posting useful and practical Office Tips here as well as stories of an inspirational note.

Hugs to y’all.

Pat

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Einar’s Little Pigsfeet - a cookbook created by me and my good friend Marilyn Johnson in 1983 – and still enjoyed! Please download a copy and savor the tastiness. My dad used to say he’d never seen two women cooperate in a kitchen as Marilyn and I did.

Top Ten Ways This VA Helps Coaches- I love to work with coaches and I’ve compiled this list of the best ways I know to help you grow your business while I do your admin work and  you do what  you like to do best.

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I grew up in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.  I’m the eldest of five children. I was a high achiever back in the days before mentally gifted was the “in” term.  I’ve since learned that having an “east coast work ethic” is valuable.  I was raised with old-school values and ethics, many of which I’ve retained when my family moved to California during my high school years.

I’ve always been dedicated to the highest of ethics.  In tribute to my early religious training, I became a teaching Sister of St. Joseph out of high school. I returned to Pennsylvania for this incredible experience.  I’m still friends with my many “sisters” long after I decided there had to be more out there and I wanted to discover what that meant. I have friends who say “Can you believe she used to be a nun?”

I’m the mother of two incredible young men – Thad and Seth Matson.  I’m the Halmonie (Korean for ‘mother of the father’) of Thad and Amy’s little son, Hieronymous Rex. Completing my single motherhood was tantamount to earning a Ph. D! My sons and I are great friends and I’m very proud of them and of my own accomplishments. Single parenthood is how I unfolded boat loads of virtue. I have a joy-filled family life.

I am both a student and teacher of The Walter Method of metaphysics called Eschatology.  This philosophy about the Science of Life is the mainstay of everything else I accomplish in my life. It’s not for sissies. I force it on no one, but if you want to talk about it, reserve a few hours, because I can go on, and on, and on……

I’m honored to have completed the Virtual Training Program at Assist U. It’s said the course is likened to a Master’s Degree Program.  Whew!  That’s a minimalist description.  It was an extremely thorough training which aggrandizes the businesses of many certified virtual administrative assistants today. Read my Class Diary if you’d like.

I live in the mountains above San Bernardino, CA in a community called Arrowbear Lake.  I love living at the 6,050 foot level.  I get snowy winters, four seasons, and a ten minute drive out of it when I need to unthaw or shop.  Two tuxedo cats, Percy and Chi, are my roommates here.  Percy is the Official Inbox Warmer, and Chi is his Lady-In-Waiting. I turned my backyard hillside slope into four levels of terracing in the summer of 2009 and I adore gardening back there. If you’re jonesing for a trip to the mountains, here’s our local webcam.

What else would you like to know about me?  Just send me an email.

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