When you are an assistant, it can be very tempting to put your employer’s needs entirely over your own. To some extent, this is your job, since your role as a virtual assistant is basically to help keep things running on schedule, pay bills and generally smooth the way for your employer and his or her business. However, if you completely eliminate your professional needs from the equation, a job that starts out as a great opportunity can start to feel like a real dead end.

In order to keep the “spark” in your  job, you need to make sure that you are working toward your goals as well as those of your employer. And you should also make sure that your employer is working toward your goals too. You can accomplish this harmonious relationship by talking to your employer about how you can better help the company and yourself in the process.

Request a meeting with your employer when he or she has some time to talk. You can present it as a performance review if you like, since these types of reviews are often the point at which goals for the future are discussed. With your employer, review what your role in the company is and how that role might grow to expand the productivity of the company as well as yourself. Often, that expansion might require training, extra hours or additional education – all of which your employer may be willing to fund and which will make you more marketable and more valuable to the company.

Before the meeting, decide what you want to accomplish. Do you want more hours? More responsibility? More education? A higher salary? Determine how to best present your needs so that your meeting these goals actually furthers the progress of the company. Then, ask your boss to help you identify the company’s goals and how you can further them. Together, the two of you should be able to identify ways in which you can grow while at the same time supporting the growth of the company that requires your main focus.