blog

<p><img alt="Image blog Momenteo" class="aligncenter size-full" src="http://blogmanagement.momenteo.com/Content/blog-img/20210226092808548karine-martineau.png" /></p> <p></p> <p>Freelance Profile - Meet inspiring people who have chosen to earn a living by being self-employed. Through a very humanistic perspective, discover their story, unique lifestyle, and challenges. Today, we meet Karine, who recently decided to make a career change and become a self-employed worker!</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>1- Tell us About Yourself</strong></h3> <p>My name is Karine, and I started to offer my services as a virtual assistant a few months ago. At first, my goal was to compensate until my travel industry&#39;s job becomes stable again after the pandemic.&nbsp; After a few months as a part-time worker, I realized that I love being self-employed and helping people with their administrative tasks. When they have more time to spend on their business&rsquo; growth and development while I take care of the other tasks, success is guaranteed!</p> <p>Among the services I offer, there is content creation for different platforms, whether for newsletters, flyers or social media. I also do proofreading and document layout (ebook, workbook, contact forms) to assure a balanced content that represents the company I work for. I also help with email management and customer service. By working with a virtual assistant, my clients enjoy it and delegate me some tasks that were not planned at the beginning of our partnership; I accept them only if I feel comfortable doing them! For example, I help one of my clients with her new podcast project, and I do video editing. My job is very diversified!</p> <h3><br /> <strong>2- Where Does your Immense Passion for Administrative Tasks and Project Management Come From?</strong></h3> <p>I was always interested. As far as I can remember, when I was in high school, I was the person in charge of giving tasks to other team members (I would often do all the work myself, oops!). I also wanted to be the last to review the work to make sure it was perfect, and there were no mistakes left.</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>3- How Did You Become Self-employed?</strong></h3> <p>I would say it was an accident! Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to reinvent myself. A friend of mine (thanks H&eacute;l&egrave;ne!) was looking for an assistant and knew I had the skills. She did not want an employee because of all the responsibilities (deductions, holidays, make sure there is enough work, etc.) I then offered her to be a freelance assistant and only bill the hours she needed my help. The news spread! I started by creating a simple Facebook page to announce my services. Then one leading to another, I created my website and registered as a business. I am now a self-employed worker!</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>4- What Is the Most Challenging Part of Self-Employment?</strong></h3> <p>There is a particular uncertainty regarding managing incomes since it is not as stable as the pay you receive every week. You need to know how to manage your bank account during off-peak periods. It is the same thing with holidays: you do not have paid holidays when you are a self-employed worker. If you want to take some time off, the expenses are your responsibility.</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>5- Which Part of Being Self-employed Do You Like the Most?</strong></h3> <p>I will not be very original with my answer, but the freedom! The freedom to work when I want, to add activities I like through my day, to be present for my kids when they come back from school. As long as the deadlines are respected, I decide everything else.</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>6- Tell Us About Your Work Routine.</strong></h3> <p>The first thing I do before starting my computer is breathing very deeply for a few minutes in order to realign myself and prepare for the rest of the day. I then open my essential apps: my tasks manager, my time tracker, my emails, and my drive files.</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>7- What Are the Online Tools You Could Not Live Without?</strong></h3> <p>Toggl: To track my time since I bill my clients on a time-spent and because my clients only pay for the work I did.</p> <p>Google Drive: To share documents</p> <p>Asana and Trello: To manage my tasks</p> <p>Canva: To create visuals for social media</p> <p>Momenteo: For my invoicing and enter my expenses</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>8. How Did You Learn About Momenteo, and How Long Have You Been Using It?</strong></h3> <p>A virtual assistant that helped me a lot to start my business recommended me this invoicing software because it is simple and intuitive for someone like me who never had to do her accounting. I have been using it since my beginning in fall 2020.</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>9- What Makes Momenteo Different from Other Accounting Programs?</strong></h3> <p>I cannot answer this question since I have not tried other accounting software!</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>10- How Did You Find Your First Customers?</strong></h3> <p>I am really lucky to be surrounded by extraordinary people. For now, I find customers because of my network of friends, family members, and recommendations.</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>11. What Are Your Tips for Someone Who Would Like to Get Into Freelance?</strong></h3> <p>It is important to be ready mentally to work hard and sometimes accept to lose your grounding; however, we need to stop wanting everything to be perfect before starting. It is unnecessary to take 112 courses, to create 28 templates because you think you need them before starting or paying thousands of dollars for a perfect website. You need to leap; a natural evolution will happen!</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>12. What Would You Say to Someone Who Would Like to Use the Services of a Virtual Assistant?</strong></h3> <p>Most of the time, entrepreneurs are overwhelmed with their work because they do not have the habit of delegating. They want some help, but they do not know how to get it or what they can be helped with. I recommend you start the process by taking some notes. Each time you do a task that you do not like or feel that someone else could do, write it down. Let me assure you that after a few days, you will have a list of everything you can delegate. And as you work with your virtual assistant, you will understand your needs better.</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>13. What Are You Most Proud of About Being a Self-Employed Worker?</strong></h3> <p>I never imagined that I would be a self-employed person. It was not an option that I had thought about until the day I had to reinvent myself. I am proud of being resilient in this actual situation and choosing to move forward with this new project, even if it meant not knowing what would happen!</p> <p></p> <h3><strong>14. How Can We Contact You?</strong></h3> <p>By email at karine@adjointe.ca, via my Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kmadjointevirtuelle" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/kmadjointevirtuelle</a>&nbsp; or my website <a href="http://www.adjointe.ca/" target="_blank">www.adjointe.ca</a> !</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p></p>