by The Happy WAHM
Do you know that virtual assistance and crochet have a lot of similarities?
I’m taking a break from my financial management series and talking about my other passion.
In May last year, I learned how to crochet. My firstborn actually introduced me to it. And I’ve been addicted since.
I’ve been so committed to it that I have even set up a website and a Facebook page just so I can feature all my finished projects in one place. And I’m happy to share that this hobby I have taken up has actually been paying for itself. Yes, I’ve been able to sell some items, and orders are coming in, thank goodness!
I think I may have been sharing too much about my crochet activities that people are starting to wonder if I’m switching careers. I’ve actually been asked about a dozen times if I’m leaving virtual assistance to focus on crochet as a business.
The answer has been, and will always be… no.
Much as I love crafting, I don’t think I’ll ever make a decent living out of it. And virtual assistance is so much my personality that I can’t imagine ever giving it up. Oh, maybe I’ll slow down in five year’s time. But for as long as clients are engaging my services, I’ll always be a virtual assistant.
Wait!
Make that… I’ll always be a virtual assistant who crochets.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that virtual assistance and crochet are alike in many ways. And that may be the reason why I’m doing well in this hobby. Here are a few examples:
The foundation row is always difficult.
We always begin a project with a foundation row. The challenge for me is in the math. Most of my past projects were done in freehand, meaning I didn’t use any pattern. You are not going to believe how I have to draw sticks and circles on paper so I can figure out how many chains to start with. Do I make multiples of 5 plus 2, or do I make multiples of 5 plus 3? Do I make my first DC on the 3rd chain from the hook? Or should it be on the 4th?
Another challenge for me is how to make all chains even. I need to keep my strokes uniform, so I am not to be disturbed when chaining, or be on the path of my wrath. I also find myself counting and re-counting my chains. Although I’m using stitch markers for, say, every 50 chains, I’d still repeat counting, because if I don’t get the count right, I cannot move on to the next row. Well, basically I can move to the next row, but the whole project, the whole design, will be bust.
Very similar to the challenges I had to face when I was starting out as a VA. I had to wing everything. I had to repeatedly work on my numbers, being careful not to shortchange myself or the client. I stayed focused on my goals, on why I’m doing what I’m doing. I stayed motivated. And here I am.
There are different ways you can make your foundation row.
The most common is to make the chains, then single or double crochet. But there are also chainless foundation rows, using either the foundation single crochet (FSC), foundation double crochet (FDC) or foundation half double crochet (FHDC). Chaining is faster and easier. But the chainless foundation is cleaner and firmer. I just find myself always missing a stitch or two when doing the FDC, so I just use the FSC when I can, and stick to chaining for most of my projects. To make my edge cleaner to look at, I just do the SC or DC on the bump at the back of the chain, instead of inserting the hook between the V of the chain.
In the same manner that you are free to choose the way to launch a career in virtual assistance. Just go ahead and wing it, being mindful of the bumps along the way, or be totally prepped for it by learning strategies and techniques first before forging ahead. However you want to start it, just stay true to have what you have set out to do.
Follow a pattern, or create your own.
Having a pattern is great. That is, if you know how to follow one. I can follow a written pattern, but not the diagrams. It’s something I have yet to learn. The symbols confuse me. Maybe in time, I’ll learn how to read symbols, too. Meantime, I’m happy creating my own designs with the stitches I’m most familiar with, and simply mixing colors.
In the same manner that I started my virtual assistance career without any guidance. Back in 2006, there were no workshops (that I know of), no other VA that I know of, so I had to learn on my own. I focused on my skills and offered them as a service, while learning new skills that are already being sought by clients overseas.
Different yarn types or hooks for different projects.
This part, I’m still learning as far as crochet is concerned. The yarn I learned my stitches on were acrylic. And I assumed that all yarns were created equal. Not so. There’s cotton, acrylic, soft acrylic, wool, cashmere, and so on. Cotton yarns are heavy. Acrylics are light, and they can catch fire easily. So don’t make potholders with acrylic yarn. Use cotton. But if you’re working on a big wearable project like a shawl, use lightweight materials like cottonberry. The drape is better, too.
As for the hooks, there is a tunisian hook used for… you guessed it! Tunisian stitch. And they come in different sizes and lengths. For the size, say you are using a light material that requires a 3mm hook, try to use a 3.5mm or 4mm hook to achieve a lacy feel. And take care of your hands! Use ergonomic hooks.
In virtual assistance, it’s not one size fits all, too. Say your tasks are simple email management and calendar management, then you can survive with a 1.5Mbps connection. But if your tasks will involve video editing, lots of uploads and downloads to and from the net, you should at least have 3Mbps.
Frogging is not fun, but sometimes necessary.
It’s okay to make mistakes. But once you realized that you have committed one, be prompt in correcting it. Imagine having reached the 50th row, only to realize that you missed a stitch on the 25th row. So your project looks askew because you made a decrease when there shouldn’t be. Don’t be lazy and say, it will do. Go ahead and frog, and do the rows again.
Working with clients as a VA for almost a decade now, and in corporate for 12 years before becoming one, I’ve had my share of grave mistakes. But I’ve always managed to make necessary corrections and apologize to whoever got the brunt of the error. And I remember the lessons.
So next time you are working on a project that requires to be really even, take time to count your stitches every other row, so you can catch the missing stitch early. 🙂
These are just a few examples I have time to write today, but you get the idea. And these are the reasons why I’m thriving in both.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, on my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
I’ve been yakking about surviving with just one income, I think it’s time I share this little Excel file I’ve been using in our money management.
So my office desktop is officially dead. And because of that, I have very limited access to online work, much less to my blog’s dashboard. So I’m going to make this short and sweet.
The funny thing about not blogging regularly is that I tend to forget what I have already written in the past. Not just once, but twice!
Check these out:
One-Income Household: The Early Days
One-Income Household: The Current Situation
Notice that I posed the same questions? That’s because I have those questions written in a notebook! And of course I always refer to my notes. 🙂
But anyway, I hope you’ll visit the old posts. And to those who are just getting to know me, my Facebook page and my blog, here’s your chance to download the money management tool I’m using. It’s pretty easy to use. It helped me identify where to cut back on expenses, and how much I should save for whatever big ticket item we’re planning to purchase.
To Liza, who left me a message at my Facebook page this morning, thank you! Timestamp shows it was received at 2:30 am. She left me a two-paragraph message, which ended with this…
Thank you for sharing! You inspired a soul today!
Thank YOU! You have made my day really awesome!
Download your Money Management file here.
Have fun!
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
7/365Challenge: There are several reasons why families can be a one-income household. It can be a lifestyle choice, when a husband works, and the wife stays home to care for the children. Or when a spouse loses a job. Or when you are single parent.
In my first One-Income Household post, I talked about how we are living on a single income, and why. It’s a conscious effort to save.
The family that saves together stays together.
My husband and I, we talk a lot. We talk about anything and everything. And money is a topic we don’t shy away from. Well, I do the talking, mostly, and he listens, and he approves. I present the numbers and lay down the plans. Sometimes, he would question the soundness of my plans, and it could be scary, you know. He’s an engineer, and he’s really very meticulous, and when he starts to cross-examine me, my brain starts to function overtime. He would have these what-if questions, and those were great to have. We get to work on alternative courses of action for any eventuality.
When his past company was bought out by the industry giant in 2013 and he was offered a contractual position for a year, I started managing our budget with just my income, and only took from his salary for big ticket expenses. So when his contract ended and we decided that he would not renew, we were okay. I’ve got it covered. When he landed a freelance gig after eight months of being idle, I told him that we should continue with our one-income lifestyle.
Well, not everything’s as rosy as it looks. I actually had a scare for a while. Coz in January 2014, we had our house extended to accommodate my home office. At that time, we were not even thinking that he would not renew. So a big chunk of our savings went to the house extension, and when he did not renew, we were almost back to zero.
You might ask, how can we even think about saving when we are barely meeting our needs with our current finances?
This is where creating a budget comes to play.
Ask yourself these questions:
What are our essential costs? – You have to know what is essential for your family. Ours are food, shelter, education healthcare, internet connection.
How much can we realistically afford? – Do you really need to buy Starbucks coffee, or will Batangas brew do? Do you really need an iPhone6 or will Samsung J5 do?
Can we afford our current house? – Lucky for us, we had the foresight to take care of buying a house before we even planned my second pregnancy. I adamantly insisted on it. But if you are still renting, think about how much you can really afford.
How much are our current monthly credit card payments? – Don’t use one if you know you are an impulsive buyer. Go ahead! Cut it in half. Now!
Can we afford maintaining a car? – Some families even have more than one. If you are a dual-income household and you have two cars, you might want to think about letting go of one. Mother Earth will be so happy.
How will be cover health insurance? – Or do you even have one?
Is our life insurance adequate? – Again, do you have one?
What’s our overall debt situation? – Credit card balances are debts, so consider those. House mortgage, car mortgage, and even insurance premiums.
How will we cut back on costs? – I have so many tips on this, starting with letting go of the househelps! How to survive without a househelp will be another good post, don’t you think?
How will we fund retirement? – Uhmmmmm… can I invite you for coffee one of these days? 🙂 Seriously, let me know if you’re interested on a financial management talk, I will sponsor you. I sleep better at night because I know we are covered. 🙂
What are our options? – How determined are you to make it work? Then you’ll know you won’t run out of options.
Can we find or create additional income? – Definitely! Just ask me. 🙂
My 15 minutes is up! Let’s meet again tomorrow for a continuation of this talk.
P.S.
I’m squatting on my kids’ PC coz my office desktop has been acting up for the last four months, and today has been the worst. Monitor dies every so often. Well, it celebrated it’s 5th anniversary last November, so maybe it’s really tired. Maybe it’s time we consider getting a replacement. And the good thing is… I’m not worried about a possible purchase because I’ve been saving for it for two years! Companies replace computer units every three years, so from the time my desktop turned two, I’ve been saving up for it.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
Wordless Wednesday: GirlBoss
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by The Happy WAHM
Is it at all possible?
I’d say, yes, it is!
My husband and I are work-at-home parents, and we are a one-income household.
Errrrrr… how is that again?
We are both working from home, but we are a one-income household.
Simply put, both of us are earning, but we are living on one spouse’s income. The other spouse’s salary goes to a bank account.
Why are we doing this?
My husband and I started a family at a time when we were both gainfully employed. Both of us were enjoying the tenure and all the benefits that go with that tenure. We were with a company that was part of a conglomerate. The pay was good, and so were the benefits. So we enjoyed life. Regular lunch outs. Weekly out of town trips. Two househelps. Living on no budget. We simply spent on what we want. Although I was already saving, it was being done without a clear purpose.
But our circumstances changed. I had to give up my salary and benefits. But of course, we all know how I thrived on my WAHM career. And then, it was his turn. So we had a lot of practice on being a one-income household. We had a lot of practice on putting all our ducks in a row and making them stay there. Now that we are both freelancing, we have decided to forget about the rehearsal and make it the main show.
Again, why?
Because freelancing actually offers no safety nets. We are not getting any younger, and we have three kids. One started college last year. And our youngest is only ten. A lot of years ahead that we have to prepare for. So we need really deep reserves. Health, education, daily living, emergencies, investments, retirement. These are the major items in our list. I don’t want for us to grow old and be burdens to our children. Or if we go early, we want our kids to have something to start with.
We need to always be prepared for emergencies, like when Glenda happened and we needed to have repairs done around the house. Like when we were burglarized and we needed to install security cameras.
As online workers, we have to always be on top of our game with gadgets. We have to always have some amount stashed, ready for equipment repairs or replacement.
We have three kids, all needing dental braces. We already started our middlechild’s treatment. In summer, the firstborn has to start hers. Two kids are already wearing prescription glasses. These are maintenance expenses. And God forbid, if any one of us gets sick, a single hospitalization can create a big dent to our savings since we no longer have health insurance coverage. Just the SSS.
And just today, we had to pay our daughter’s mid-term tuition, and I have to renew my business permit, while hubby is out renewing our car’s registration. Tomorrow, I need to pay our real property tax. And it’s not even middle of the month yet. Imagine if we don’t have funds stashed somewhere.
So yes, we are living (or trying to live) on a single income. And yes, it is possible.
How?
On Part 2 of this post, I’ll share with you how we’re doing it.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
