The Thankyou Payroll NZ VA Awards

This week I attended the Thank you Payroll NZ Virtual Assistant Awards. From the moment I walked in you were made to feel so special. They had big gold drapes in the entrance and the set up was amazing!

There were lights, a photo booth, a stage, AV equipment for days and everyone looked so good all dressed up. I was nervous walking into a room full of people I’d never met. I’d met heaps of them online and spoken to some of them quite a few times but never face to face and it was quite daunting. This year I entered the Best VA Newcomer category, and I was stoked to have been a finalist!

The night started with the awesome Natalie Tolhopf as our Keynote speaker, and she did an amazing awards takeover. I won ‘person who successfully dragged their partner’ and ‘person most likely to be late’. I won that last award because we were the last ones there, but we were only later because my husband was repotting his bloody tomato plants…of course he was…on awards day! Loved the awards takeover it really set the fun and relaxed tone for the evening, and I knew from that moment it was going to be an amazing night.

It got my category, and I was completely convinced I hadn’t won. I didn’t really read the instructions and was poised ready to clap and cheer for the winner. When they announced my name as the winner I almost fell off my chair. I was shocked, honored, scared and felt unworthy all in the space of like 2 mins. My speech is a blur all I know is my first word was shit…not the best start but hey.

Later on in the evening they drew the WFH raffle, and I ended up winning that too! I know my night couldn’t get any better! I won over$2k worth of office products including a Deskbird stand up desk, a chair, camera and microphone!!!

It was an incredible evening of pure belly laughs, meeting people in real life, joy and celebration.

I have been reflecting on the weekend and it’s strange, I go through moments of pure pride. I am so proud of what I have achieved in my first year of business, the hurdles I’ve overcome and the growth I can see coming. At the same time, I have plenty of moments of doubt, why did I win, do I really deserve this? It comes in phases, and I have to remind myself that if I’m not feeling uncomfortable then I’m probably not growing. I take winning the raffle as a sign that I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. Give your office aglow up and get back out there girl!

My goals for the next year are huge, I have so much I want to achieve not just for me and my family but for my team and the community. If I achieve what I set out to do imagine how much MORE I could give back. Imagine the possibilities and the opportunities.

I’m going to try and enjoy the moment for a little longer and kick that self-doubt to the curb.

Thank you to all of my clients and team for making Virtually Anything possible. Of course, thank you to The VA Foundry, The Virtual Assistant Network, Thank you Payroll, You’re A Team and all of the awards sponsors. The Community wouldn’t be what I was without you guys.

Thanks team!

AC

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