Last Wednesday, I sat with my coach Anastacia Brice in a half-day, intensive business session, and she had me draw a Hope Card for inspiration before our session.  I drew “the key was in her daring” and I had yet to know how much it meant to me.

Three days later, this past Saturday, I learned that I passed my 4 month long exam to become an AssistU CPVA.  What amazingly happened at the same time, something I am truly humbled by, was that my AssistU colleagues also recognized me with the 2013 VA of the Year award. 

Now, I don’t want to minimize how absolutely elevating it was to know that some of the women of AssistU nominated me for this award, nor do I want to downplay the recognition I was given by then being voted as recipient of this distinction in our community.  I am immeasurably grateful.

I want to, however, talk about the CPVA and what it means to me, because in earning my CPVA, I gave something to myself. I gave myself permission to dream and then I didn’t just stop and sit back and look at it on a vision board as a ‘someday’ kind of thing.  I dared to do it… and the key was in my daring.

You see, in the winter of 2010-2011, as a part of my AssistU training, I wrote my business plan and created my business 5, 10, and 15 year goals. Back then, in reality, a big goal at the time was just to make it.  The odds are definitely stacked against the success of any new business venture.  Another of those goals was to get my CPVA (Certified Professional Virtual Assistant) certification by 2016.

The CPVA designation from AssistU is the first level of certification available to AssistU trained VAs.  It honors those who make the initial investment in our professional growth to complete the roughly 250 hours of training and study to graduate as an AssistU VA, and then work to take things to the next level.

Having solid practical experiences working with my clients and building my business, I felt ready to take this next step, so in May I embarked on my CPVA journey.   I dared to try.

My exam basically ran from May 1 – September 14 and I was tested on both what I know and what I am able to do practically as I work with clients.  It takes mastery of many soft skills:

• balancing responsibilities
• prioritizing
• following-up
• interacting
• communicating
• offering insight
• collaborating
• anticipating needs
• making valuable contributions
• plus many more to achieve CPVA status.

Mastery of these soft skills is really what ensures that a CPVA can work with clients successfully regardless of what needs to be accomplished.

In short, completion of this exam was and is life-changing for me. It was hard.  It was exhausting.  It was often bigger than me.  It seemed unattainable more than one time (okay, maybe eleventy-billion times)… but I kept praying… I kept doing… I kept daring.

And now, today, I sit celebrating on the other side.  I dared to trust and believe and hope and dream. And then, I dared to risk failing and do the work in the face of that and just know that in that daring, I would reach farther, grow deeper, and be more than I was yesterday.

Would this blog post look the same today if I had not passed the exam and moved from being an AssistU VA to being an AssistU CPVA? 

I cannot say for sure, and fortunately it doesn’t matter… because I did.  What I can say is that I am so very, very grateful that I dared to try.  I am indebted to those who supported and encouraged me, and I am beholden to those who walked with me when I doubted myself.

So thank you to my puppy, who finally *got* potty-training so I could actually do the work instead of standing outside every 45 minutes…

Thank you, so much, to those who deemed me worthy of the 2013 AssistU VA of the Year award, I pray that I can be a greater asset to our community in the future…

Thank you, so much, to the amazing clients who fill my practice and my life, with light and love and rewarding work and so, so much more…

And thank you, so much, to those who walked with me on my journey to CPVA, you each know who you are and how very much your role impacted me day in and day out.

I can never fully express to any of you how I feel and the celebration that is in my heart right now.  I can, however, urge you to not only dream, but to dare… because the key IS in your daring. 

Don’t stand at the ledge and wonder… Trust your wings and fly.

What dream are you looking at and asking, do I dare?