Last year, one of my clients recommended me as a virtual assistant to one of her contacts. When I spoke with her, she was in the midst of a large project and already had admin support in place, so we agreed that we would connect again once that project was complete. She quickly realized she needed another person on her team and gave me a call, however, what she wanted me to do wasn’t admin work at all, but calling employers to invite them to take part in a job fair. My immediate reaction was “I don’t do that” so I told her I wasn’t sure I had time. She realized that it was right out of the blue and told me to think about it, but it was clear that she needed my decision that same day.

When I got off the phone, I realized that although I had committed to working on three other client projects, I hadn’t actually received the work for any of them, and money is money, so I called her back and agreed to work 10 to 15 hours per week. I figured it might not be too bad, because it wasn’t really selling, although I am not and have never been a phone person.

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I find it very refreshing to see recognition and acceptance of introversion increasing, and to see the growing number of professionals whose mission isn’t to help us be more like extraverts, but to help us achieve success by being who we are. Nancy Ancowicz is one of those professionals. A business communication coach in New York City, she “offers lively exercises to help you explore promotional methods best suited to your personality type” and has written a number of helpful articles which may be found on her website.

Her one-day course, Self-Promotion for Introverts, ran yesterday (sorry I didn’t find out about it sooner!) but be sure to bookmark her website or sign up for her newsletter, as I’m sure it will be offered again.