I’m Darlene.
It’s so nice to meet you! I want to say that I am grateful you are here. I want to write or blog, whatever it’s called!
Because I want to teach.
I want to be heard.
I want to help.
There are so many things I want to share.
Writing is the therapy that I need right now. And for myself, I believe I am at that point in my life where I wish to share my knowledge and experiences about business and life, with both women and men.
Speaking of men, don’t you think the social media leaves men out a lot? I do. Especially in the business owner world. Men operate some of the BEST businesses. We shouldn’t leave them out. My 2 cents. ( LOL)
I have spent many years building my own work from home business. Which led me to helping businesses of all sizes grow for a living. Let me add that I love it!
However, my personal goals for my business and life have been put on the backburner due to being busy with clients.
Here’s what I have decided:
I am making my business and personal goals a priority
Teaching and helping people how to build a successful businesses, is one of my many passions.
Slowing down to live a happy life full of love, patience, smiles, friends, family, and laughter is a minute-to-minute goal of mine.
I’m confident in my vast knowledge, experience, and skills in business, social media, computers, and customer service. I’m passionate about sharing it.
Dedication, inspiring, teaching, and motivating others keeps me going through this wild world too!
Blogging is scary animal! Ha!
I am not a writer at all. I did okay in English class. I struggled to get a ‘B’. I took a medical terminology course, and working with computers these skills kept my grammar and spelling polished. Or so I thought! LOL:)
A business I assist with has a team member who is a teacher. She graded my writing in the beginning. I did horrible! Red marks all over the page. Ha! Guess what? I still got the job!
“This is all for fun”, she said. It told her I was a poor writer and this exercise made me aware that the proper spelling and usage of grammar had slipped away from me. It woke me up! I thank her for that. I’m still work in progress you would say.
Nevertheless, I’m still not a writer. I write how I speak and it all just flows out. So, WARNING to you that if you are looking for a 100% correctly spelled and no-grammar flawed blog, you won’t find it here. I will proofread and I will spellcheck. I will do my best. That’s all I’ve got.
The topics I choose will circle around life, health, fitness, and business. What I’ve learned on my journey and how I’m still learning.
Darlene McKinney – Who I Am, and I Have Many Pieces. Stay tuned!
I was born, raised, and still live in Ohio. I worked during high school at McDonald’s in Oxford, Ohio – was promoted to management and stay there for about 12 years. It was the BEST management training and the best customer service experience I could of ever received.
In 2000, I made a switch to a medical career. However, I started in the hospital kitchen. One day, a supervisor in the scheduling department came through my lunch line and commented how my customer service was awesome. She offered my an interview for a different job in the hospital (see people do notice!) I took a medical terminology course and became an Outpatient Scheduler. I loved it!
11 years passed by. I began to get depressed. That cubicle kept getting smaller and smaller! I hated traveling in the snow. I did not like working for a place that kept taking our help, when what we really needed was more help. I was tired. I desperately wanted to work from home.
I did my research about Virtual Assistants, it was a new concept and new term. This book changed my life and gave me a great guide. Virtual Assistant – The Series 4th Edition Thank you to the authors. I highly recommend this book
Soon, I started my own Social Media Management business mixing my knowledge of business, computers, social & customers/patients. The business skills came from helping my father as a young lady on the family farm and with his bar/restaurant. And then, I married a cement mason. I operated all the office duties, taxes, and marketing for our construction business for over 25 years.
We raised our 2 boys and now we are living a very good life. He’s still doing concrete, I’m still helping clients. I contribute our both our successes to on the hands learning, great teachers, and hard work.
It seems like there is a period of 20 years (the middle ages) where you are going full-throttle. You never stop. It’s exhausting.
We are both slowing down to enjoy what we have a little more nowadays.
Last Thoughts for Today.
I’m writing a blog for 3 reason: as an outlet for myself, to help you in any way that I can, and for my own brand awareness. I’ve slowed down to almost nothing on my personal social media accounts because #1 I handle so many accounts for clients, it’s exhausting. #2 Social Media is not important to me any longer in my life, it’s not a priority that I check it every 10 minutes. It will never be a priority. Yes, I enjoy it. Yes, it’s what I do for a living. Yes, it keeps me connected to special people. But, it’s not going to consume my life any longer. If you need help with that, I suggest that you read 10 Ways to Control Social Media, and Not Let It Control You (I’ve Been There, We All Have)
I have learned so much so far in my life, that I want to share it with you. I will teach you, I will tell stories. I hope to help you laugh. I hope you take away something each time you visit that will enhance your life or improve your business.
I would like to be a trusted friend you can rely on when you need help. Oh, and that pup with me in the picture is Maggie and she is such a sweetie! I share my house in the woods with 4 dogs and enjoy them very much.
Until next time,
Darlene