Melissa Smith – ThePVA – Association of Virtual Assistants

Business professionals typically have a million things to do and about eighty hours shy of enough time to get it all done.  But the to-do list isn’t filled with frivolous things.  All of the work needs to get done to keep the business machine running and the cash rolling in.
So what is a savvy business pro to do?  Hiring a virtual assistant is a great way to get your to-do list knocked out.  The best part is, you aren’t the one spending your time doing all of these tasks.
Melissa Smith started ThePVA to help people find the best virtual assistants for their tasks.
Listen as Melissa details how she started her business and how she has grown it to help so many business professionals get stuff done.
Enjoy!
Visit Melissa at: https://thepva.com/
Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

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You have found Authentic
Business Adventures the business program

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that brings you the struggles, stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the country.

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Today we’re welcoming/preparing to learn from Melissa Smith,
the CEO and founder of the Association

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of Virtual Assistants, as well as the PVA.
So, Melissa, how are you doing today?

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I’m doing great.

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Thanks for having me.

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I am excited to talk with you because this

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seems like the type of business
that people either.

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I feel like they should have flocked

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to now as clients, even as
entrepreneurs themselves.

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You seem like you’re ahead
of the curve by a few years, I guess

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as far as that goes. I am, I’m fortunate.

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I started my career in virtual assisting

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back in 2013 and started
my business in 2014.

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And back then, it was a lot of education.

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I mean, certainly there were tons of VA’s
in the industry already that had really

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pioneered it long before
Zoom and things like that.

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But when I started, there was still so
much education that had to be done.

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And fortunately, I enjoy that.

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I enjoy sharing with people how it works
and how virtual assistants can help

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clients and companies and just
a variety of different ways.

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And certainly with the pandemic

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and the world going online,
it really ramped up the industry.

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And now there’s currently a shortage
of qualified VA’s in the industry.

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It will probably take,
I was saying a year and a half six months

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ago, but I still think it’s probably
another year and a half two years

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for the market to catch up with the demand
because there’s a difference between

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a virtual assistant and a
qualified virtual assistant.

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But yeah, I feel very fortunate
to have already been in this space.

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While my personal lifestyle of being
location, independent and nomadic

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and traveling all the time,
that drastically changed my work lifestyle

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and how I got to do things and how I
centered myself, fortunately,

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did not change like many had to and
talking about company culture and how you

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communicate and strategy and all that some
companies are still figuring through.

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I didn’t have to go through that.

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I feel very fortunate that I didn’t have to go through that part.

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The company culture thing is interesting.
You talk about that.

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I was just having a conversation
with my employees about that.

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Like we have to steer the culture where we
want it to go, because you’re going

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to have a culture of some kind,
whether it’s the one that you want or not,

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if you just let it happen,
it may not be the one that you want.

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You have to pursue it.

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Yeah, that’s just one more
thing you got to pursue.

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As far as that goes, let’s don’t
shift to when you first started.

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What made you decide to start your own

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business? Rather than just being
a virtual assistant for somebody else.

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So I had always said I would
never own my own company.

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Really?
Oh, yes.

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I never wanted to own my own company
because I grew up in the restaurant

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industry and in family members who had
their own construction businesses.

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And it was very much you
were married to that work.

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I can’t tell you the number of holidays
that actually spent at the restaurant

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working, and that’s where
my family was as well.

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And I thought, this is awful.

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I don’t want to do this.

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I’d rather be an employee.

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I’d rather get paid to be off.

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I’d rather close and do all those things.

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And it just seemed like just not fun.

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And I didn’t want any part of it.

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Well, I didn’t always
want to be an assistant.

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So my mom was an assistant.

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I grew up knowing that I was
going to be an assistant.

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I went to Secretary school back
when that’s what we were called.

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I was an executive assistant
for over 15 years.

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Very happy.

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Loved it.

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And then in 2012,
my husband committed suicide.

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I was three days into a brand new job.

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Wow.

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So as you can imagine,
life changed drastically.

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Yeah.
And I was in Georgia at the time.

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I’m originally from California.

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I stayed another year in Georgia and then
decided with the help of my family that it

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was probably best that I
moved back to California.

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So I moved back to my hometown
and moved back to where my sister was.

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My son was in college at the time.

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I had a daughter who was going
into her junior year in high school.

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She had friends and even relatives
that went to the high school.

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So we were there for a year.

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I had a job that I loved.

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I never wanted to leave.

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I thought I would be there forever.

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Most of the employees that were
there had been there over 20 years.

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So I really did see myself
being there forever.

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And then my daughter
came to me after a year.

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And actually, it was
a little less than a year.

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And she said, I want to move back home.
This is not my home.

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I don’t want to graduate from school here.
I want to go.

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I want to be back with my friends.

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And during that time, I had felt
like I had become myself again.

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And she had not.

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So I knew I needed to give that to her.

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So without hesitation,

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I moved her back to Georgia so
she could start the school year.

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I went in to my boss.

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I went to get my two weeks notice,
and he said, we don’t want to lose you.

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How can we keep you?

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All right. You would work
there for two weeks?

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No.
I went to get my two weeks notice.

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I had sorry.

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So this is a year and two weeks in.

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Yes, it was ten months.
Ten months.

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Okay.
Still relatively new.

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All right.
And he said, we don’t want to lose you.

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How can we keep you?

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And I said, I could do most
of what I do virtually.

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I don’t have to be here in the office.

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And he said, okay, let’s do that.
Wow.

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So I became their first
remote employee ever,

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and it really does speak to
providing value.

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And I was providing value to that company,
and they knew it, and they realized it.

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And I was smart enough also to only work

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for a company who would value me back,
which is a key factor.

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I was never a person to take
a job because I needed money.

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My philosophy is that there’s always
work to be done in a recession.

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I had three jobs when people were

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complaining there was
no jobs in a recession.

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I had three jobs, so it was never
a fear of loss type of reality to me.

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I’ve never had a job that I didn’t love
because I always valued my work too much.

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And so when I would go into interview,

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yes, they were interviewing me,
but I was 100% interviewing them as well.

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You were advanced there, right?

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I was because my mom, who I wanted
to be like, she was an assistant.

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So I wanted to be like her.

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I didn’t know that she didn’t love her

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work all the time because
my mom is like a Saint.

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So she never once complained about
a boss about a situation about a person.

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Nothing.

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I was probably three or four
years into my business.

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Now, when I found out that there were jobs
that she had that she didn’t like, wow.

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She never says anything bad
about anyone or anything.

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Now, on the other side, there was my dad.

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He was a single dad raising three kids.

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He had one full time job and then two part

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time jobs, and he hated
his work, hated it.

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And he didn’t see a way out.

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He just head down, paying the bills,
had to take care of three kids,

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and he couldn’t wait for us to get out
of the house so he could quit his job.

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And when my brother left home to go
to College, my dad quit his job.

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Wow.

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And so I was like, Well,
life is too short for that.

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I’m not going to be that person.

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So I was very much like I’m
going to be like my mom.

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And it was just kind of I didn’t ever know
that things would be ever differently.

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So if you go into it, having
that expectation, that’s what you get.

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Yeah.
I feel like a lot of people

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employees that I’ve had in the past,
arguably even some.

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Now, despite my attempts, just feel
like you’re supposed to hate work.

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You’re supposed to hate Mondays.

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You’re supposed to jump up and down
on Fridays because that’s when you leave

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work, we seem to be
taught that work is evil.

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It’s bad.

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And whatever you do
outside of work is better.

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And I feel like maybe it should be.

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But a lot of times what people do outside
of work isn’t that entertaining either?

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Yeah.

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And there’s this paradigm,
and there’s this paradox as well of, well,

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my work has to be my total
and complete passion.

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It has to be my life,
school and my fulfillment, right?

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That’s the other side of it.

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And I don’t believe that either.

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I do believe that life is too short to get
up every day, dreading what you do.

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And I also believe because I could see it

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from the other side because I had so many
business owners in my family that it’s not

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fair to someone else to bring your bad
attitude to work

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for someone else out there who would
give anything to have your job.

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There’s someone out there who would
give anything to have your job.

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Your job is their dream job.

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And if you’re in it and you’re not in it

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because you don’t love it,
you’re doing yourself a disservice.

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You’re doing your employer a disservice,

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and you’re keeping someone
else from their dream job.

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So when I left, I always left on good
terms, but always left knowing

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that someone else was going to come
in and love this job and be as excited as

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about this job as I was
when I first started.

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That is cool.

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How could somebody not hire you?

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That’s awesome.
So you decide.

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Hey, I got to shift gears here,
start my own gig.

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Yeah.
So I start working remotely,

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and we had contracts every year,
and I was already under contract,

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and I got this new contract,
and suddenly my mind just shifted.

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I had felt this little taste of freedom

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and flexibility that was unlike
anything I had ever experienced.

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I had never known work
where I didn’t commute.

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I’d never really known work where I wasn’t

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tied to a desk where someone didn’t expect
me to be there, even though phones don’t

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ring like they used to, that’s not
the way people communicate anymore.

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My presence was still needed.

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So even just to get up and use
the restroom, which was totally fine.

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It wasn’t like I was under
orders to stay there.

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But if I was going to leave to use

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the restroom, I needed to let someone
know, watch the front door, watch this.

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Watch that someone’s coming in,

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even just as a professional
courtesy, right.

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So not having that anymore was just like,
wow, what a difference.

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This is just incredible.

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And so I got this idea that, wow,

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if I could do it for them,
could I do it for myself?

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And that just was a really crazy question

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that I’d never asked myself,
never asked myself.

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And ultimately, it was because I was
also tired of asking for time off.

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I was an extremely loyal employee,

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and I didn’t want to ever feel like
someone was not taken care of.

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And although everyone was always taken

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care of, even if I was
on vacation or taking a day off.

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I didn’t enjoy asking for time off,

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and I didn’t see the need to because
I can still do what I do.

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So how does this make sense?

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And I thought if I just never had to ask
for time off and I could go visit

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my family, which I was
visiting in California.

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I was sitting my son in Iowa.

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I wanted to be home with my daughter.

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I mean, we’re all still going through

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a lot of changes if I didn’t have to do
that and I could just do my work

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from wherever I was,
which is what I was doing anyways.

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Wouldn’t that be awesome?

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Yeah.

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I set my contract back unsigned without

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a plan or knowledge on how to run
a business with no clients.

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No, nothing.
I finished out my contract.

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I said, I have to start my own business.

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I think this is the time to do this.
I’m going to try this.

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I feel like this is my time,
and they were so supportive.

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They said, Great, we support you.

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Thank you for fitting out your contract.

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We really appreciate it.

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You always have a job with us.

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If you ever want to come back for any
reason, we’d be happy to have you.

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And so that’s what I did.

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Nice. And what year is this?

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That was December 2014.
All right.

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It’s been a little while.
Yeah.

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All right.
So you hang your shingle out there.

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You’re like.
All right.

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I got a laptop.

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I have Internet.

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I can be anywhere,
do anything secure business.

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All I need now are customers.
Yeah.

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How do you get the customers?

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Oh, I had no idea.

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Oh, I had no idea.

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I tell everyone like,

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that first year in business is
a joke I can only laugh about now.

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All right, fair.

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I just didn’t know.

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And in a way for me, that was good.

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In a way for me, it was good because I
had known what I was getting myself into.

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I probably wouldn’t have done it,
but I knew how to be an employee.

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I didn’t know how to run a business.

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So looking back now,
I can see so many things like I would

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constantly tell people I
could never find clients.

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I could never find clients.

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Well, that wasn’t true.

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I was meeting and finding clients every

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single day because I was constantly
networking and meeting people,

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and I was not afraid to tell
people what I was doing.

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However, they weren’t my client.

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So I didn’t know how to monetize
that service that I was providing.

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So what happened is a year later,
I have a light bulb moment,

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and I realized I have a client in front
of me who much like all my other clients

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that I had turned away
and just kind of given away.

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He had needed a service.

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I told him about virtual assistants.

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I educated him or her on all
the reasons why you would hire one.

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All the benefits, how great it is.

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At the end of the conversation,
they would say, Great, can I hire you?

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And I would say, no,
and they would look at me.

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I was crazy, and I would tell them,
I’m just not that type of VA.

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And they would say, Well,
where does one client touch a person?

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And I thought, Gosh,
I know tons of people.

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So I began making introductions like that.

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And I was doing that for a year,
which is what I do now.

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And I get paid to do it now only because
I tell people I charge them for it.

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But I was doing that for a year
without ever getting paid.

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And then one day I had this light bulb

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moment because I was talking
to a person who was my person.

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They did need my services.

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I could tell he needed my services.

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He told me he needed my services.

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But in that part of the conversation where
you know that you’re losing someone.

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I could tell that I was losing
him while he needed me.

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He didn’t necessarily want me.

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Okay, so I flipped the conversation
on him, and I said,

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What’s the one thing in your business that
you wanted to implement, but you haven’t.

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And he got really excited, right?

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The excitement came back now, and he said,
oh, if I could hire a VA to clean up

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my CRM system, send me out
a newsletter four times a year.

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I just need two new clients a year.

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He had a very niche business,
made a lot of money.

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He said, that would be awesome.

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So I said, Well, if I found that person
for you, would you pay me for that?

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And he was like, oh, yeah.

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How much do you charge?

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So I threw out some ridiculous number.

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I still to this day, I don’t know
where this number came from.

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I threw out 599.
I don’t know, the most ridiculous number.

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599.
And he said, okay, sounds good.

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What do you need from me?

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He was my very first client.

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Nice.

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But for that first year,

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I understood how to do things.

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I had people telling me all the time
sell the sizzle, not the steak.

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I’m like, what does that mean?

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It was just so frustrating to know all
the things and yet know nothing to know

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how to be a good employee but not
know how to run a business.

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Everything just felt so daunting.

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And had I not hired a coach,
I actually don’t know where I would be

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right now, but I was so
committed that this had to work.

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Like I was failing.

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I knew I was failing.

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I could hire a coach.

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And then I would know if I failed.

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I went down swinging.

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But the idea of failing and not even

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not even knowing why I failed
was not an option for me.

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If someone could just tell
me why I was sailing.

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Then I would have the opportunity.

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But I would never have
the opportunity on my own.

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And I knew that.

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So when I hired that coach, it really
turned just everything around for me.

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And there were some hard moments.

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I mean, bless her because
I was not the easiest.

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It’s like, why?

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Why are you telling me to do this?

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Why are you saying this like
none of this makes sense.

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And she just kept on pressing me to really

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break the mindset habits that I had in
moving from employee to business owner.

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I only saw it from how an employee
could help a business owner.

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I never saw it as how to be that business
owner that helps themselves.

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So when you that first year in business,
were you trying to get

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to refer out or were you trying
to be the virtual assistant?

[00:17:57]
I was trying to be the virtual assistant.
Okay.

[00:18:00]
I was.
I did pick up clients.

[00:18:02]
I made enough to get by and doing

[00:18:06]
everything, but I didn’t have
the right pricing structure.

[00:18:08]
I didn’t know how to have
the right pricing structure.

[00:18:10]
I didn’t know how to get
business consistently.

[00:18:13]
When you’re an EA and you’re working

[00:18:16]
by the hour, it can be extremely
difficult because you only get faster.

[00:18:22]
So I’m only getting faster at my work.

[00:18:24]
And I pride myself on being
fast and efficient.

[00:18:27]
So I’m actually penalizing
myself for being better as a VA.

[00:18:32]
Sure.
So how is this working like this isn’t

[00:18:34]
a good long term model. What’s
wrong with this picture?

[00:18:37]
Yeah.

[00:18:37]
So we run into a similar situation
with calls on call,

[00:18:40]
because as you get better with calls
and stuff like that, you say, hey,

[00:18:43]
this typical client is going to be
whatever, 510 hours a month, whatever.

[00:18:47]
Let’s just say ten for easy math as you
get better at it faster, more efficient.

[00:18:52]
Now they’re 8 hours.

[00:18:52]
And I imagine with VA stuff,
probably even cut more than that.

[00:18:56]
Your ten hour client turns into a five
hour client when you’re paid by the hour,

[00:19:00]
and not necessarily by the project,
because you’re more efficient.

[00:19:04]
You essentially just cut your pay in half.

[00:19:08]
Not ideal.

[00:19:10]
No ideal.

[00:19:11]
That means you charge by the project,

[00:19:13]
then to reward your efficiency
rather than punish it.

[00:19:17]
Correct.

[00:19:17]
I quickly switched to value based
pricing and still use that to this day.

[00:19:24]
And that’s what I also
teach other VAS to do.

[00:19:28]
And it’s something that was

[00:19:32]
extremely hard for me to adopt.

[00:19:35]
And it was also doing less work.
All right.

[00:19:40]
And I just had such a hard time
wrapping my head around that.

[00:19:44]
So I was used to doing, you know,

[00:19:46]
the core elements of my job, you know,
but every now and then you need to do some

[00:19:53]
other things and you just
want a team player, right?

[00:19:55]
Like you’re not going to say no,
you’re going to figure it out.

[00:19:57]
You’re going to do what someone asked you

[00:19:59]
to do, and it’s very different as
a business owner, and you have to be very

[00:20:05]
careful because
it shifts you outside of your operating

[00:20:11]
systems and what you’re good at and what
you know, you can be successful at.

[00:20:14]
And then how you know
that you’re making money.

[00:20:17]
It’s fine if you want to test it out

[00:20:19]
and you go into it with a
testing out frame of mind.

[00:20:22]
But if this is going to become
the norm now, how does this fit in?

[00:20:26]
So the idea that I was actually going

[00:20:28]
to do less, charge more
just boggled my mind.

[00:20:34]
I mean, I couldn’t.

[00:20:35]
And I remember asking my coach,
like, Are you crazy?

[00:20:40]
Are you crazy?

[00:20:41]
I would get fired

[00:20:43]
if I was working in an office and I told
someone, no, I’m not going to do that.

[00:20:47]
It’s not a good use of my time.

[00:20:49]
And, oh, by the way, I’m going
to start charging you more now.

[00:20:53]
And she said, Well, that’s your problem.

[00:20:55]
You’re not an employee, right?

[00:20:58]
You’re not an employee.

[00:20:59]
You’re not going to your
boss to tell them anything.

[00:21:03]
You’re sharing your information because
it’s a matter of fact with your clients.

[00:21:09]
And I remember thinking, Well, how many
people do you want me to alienate before?

[00:21:14]
Like someone says yes to the small set

[00:21:18]
of services and what I thought
was a large chunk of money.

[00:21:23]
And she said, I want you to alienate

[00:21:25]
anyone who’s not willing
to pay those prices.

[00:21:28]
Smart coach.

[00:21:30]
And I thought, oh, well, that makes sense.

[00:21:36]
All of a sudden, my eyes were open.

[00:21:38]
The scales fell off.

[00:21:40]
It was just like, okay,

[00:21:41]
I get it now because I didn’t see
the opposite side of that was

[00:21:46]
my frustration wasn’t coming
from doing less and making more.

[00:21:51]
It was coming from rejection,

[00:21:54]
from not having the right clients
to pitch in the first place.

[00:21:58]
Oh, so it didn’t necessarily
come from I didn’t earn that.

[00:22:02]
It came from you’re trying
to please everyone.

[00:22:04]
Essentially.
That’s right.

[00:22:05]
All right.
Interesting.

[00:22:09]
I can tell you when I first started
my business, similar situation.

[00:22:13]
I just feel like you have to constantly be

[00:22:15]
working in exchange
trading time for money.

[00:22:18]
It took me a long time to realize
that is not a very smart way.

[00:22:22]
Certainly not a healthy
way to own a business.

[00:22:25]
It’s a great way to own a job.

[00:22:27]
Yeah, it’s not ideal.

[00:22:30]
And I adapted it permanently when I
started making travel a permanent way

[00:22:35]
of my life, because now I knew it was
going to cut into my travel time.

[00:22:43]
That was a no go for me.

[00:22:45]
That was like my sacred cow.

[00:22:47]
No, this wasn’t happening because I
had previously had a fear of flying.

[00:22:53]
But when I signed a few contracts and I
was doing some work,

[00:22:57]
I was actually doing in person events
as well, I was flying more often.

[00:23:02]
Well, I wasn’t flying across the States

[00:23:05]
like I was before,
so I couldn’t take the same amount

[00:23:09]
of drama mean that I had
to I was taking fewer drama.

[00:23:13]
I was also not flying just like once

[00:23:15]
a year there once a year back,
I was flying at least once a month.

[00:23:19]
So having these
more frequent flights shorter,

[00:23:22]
closer together add to limit
my dosage of dominance.

[00:23:26]
So as soon as I hit the ground,
I wasn’t trying to go to sleep.

[00:23:30]
I was actually going to work.

[00:23:32]
And then one day I just realized that I

[00:23:34]
forgot to take my drama mean,
I landed in Florida, and I thought

[00:23:40]
I didn’t take my drama mean, I would get
my phone out of my purse.

[00:23:44]
And there my drawing was.

[00:23:45]
And I thought I didn’t take it.

[00:23:47]
And so I thought, oh, does that mean
I’m over my fear of flying?

[00:23:50]
So I had a long flight to La, coming up
Atlanta to La, and I didn’t take it.

[00:23:56]
And I thought, oh, I’m cured.

[00:23:58]
So I went out and got my passport.

[00:24:00]
And then from there,
I started traveling internationally.

[00:24:04]
And so it was to take on the wrong clients
or just trade time or all that kind.

[00:24:09]
It was just know that it definitely
does not fit into my lifestyle.

[00:24:14]
And again, I went back to the thing.

[00:24:17]
You’re just not a good client for me.

[00:24:19]
I’m not a good person for you either.

[00:24:21]
You’re going to try to get a hold of me.

[00:24:23]
You’re not going to be
able to get a hold of me.

[00:24:25]
That’s awesome.

[00:24:26]
So to be liberating.

[00:24:28]
Yeah, absolutely.

[00:24:30]
Bringing the freedom back to owning your

[00:24:32]
own business, which is when people often
entrepreneurs will say that they want

[00:24:36]
that and then they build
their own little prison.

[00:24:39]
Oh, absolutely.

[00:24:40]
Freedom and flexibility is the number
one reason that people become VAS.

[00:24:46]
We did our last survey and

[00:24:50]
98% that they were actually achieving
that freedom and flexibility.

[00:24:57]
Now I will say that it’s funny because as
they became more successful,

[00:25:04]
their freedom and flexibility went away
because in the beginning,

[00:25:08]
you’re like chasing that dollar,
you’re paying your bills.

[00:25:12]
Well, then when you’re not chasing it

[00:25:14]
and it’s coming at you instead,
how much harder is it to turn it away

[00:25:21]
and say, oh, well, if I take that,
this is going to take some of my freedom

[00:25:25]
and flexibility unless I hire someone else
or unless I empower someone else,

[00:25:29]
unless I hire a manager to do these
things, like, who’s going to oversee this?

[00:25:33]
Is this fit within my personality,
even to be able to mentally disconnect

[00:25:38]
even though I’m not physically,
even remotely doing the work

[00:25:43]
for me.
I think I was also very much

[00:25:47]
guarded and protected because many of
my clients are famous or online famous.

[00:25:52]
So I see what they’re posting.

[00:25:54]
But I know the reality I’ve seen behind

[00:25:56]
the great Curtain of Oz,
and I’m like, that is not true.

[00:26:03]
Oh, man, I cannot believe you’re
selling that trash because it’s a lie.

[00:26:11]
I know your line.

[00:26:12]
I just was on a call with you.

[00:26:14]
I know what’s going on.

[00:26:16]
I know what you’re posting is not true.

[00:26:18]
So

[00:26:20]
I became very guarded knowing
that the people and even my competitors

[00:26:25]
who were hiring me were not living
the lifestyle that they were selling.

[00:26:30]
And I was like,
that will not be me, right.

[00:26:35]
Actually, live the dream
that you’re proposing to people.

[00:26:38]
Yes.

[00:26:40]
And for me, it really
did come down to this

[00:26:45]
crazy thing that many
people can’t understand.

[00:26:50]
Like, for me, I have different types

[00:26:51]
of boundaries and work boundaries
and work schedule than other people do.

[00:26:56]
My kids are grown.

[00:26:57]
I don’t have a partner,
so I don’t need to or have a desire

[00:27:02]
to conform to a nine to five
lifestyle, which I find.

[00:27:06]
So I want it because so many people,
I’m ditching the nine to five.

[00:27:08]
I’m ditching the nine to five,
but they’re not really.

[00:27:11]
They’re just ditching their employer.

[00:27:15]
They’re just ditching the employer.

[00:27:17]
They’re keeping those same hours.

[00:27:18]
And I was like, I have a bit
of a rebellious spirit.

[00:27:22]
So I was like, I’m absolutely not working
those hours just for spite alone.

[00:27:27]
I will not do it.

[00:27:29]
So I’d rather wake up early

[00:27:31]
in the morning, do my stuff, take off
my afternoons and work at night again.

[00:27:34]
Sometimes
if I want to take off on a Tuesday

[00:27:38]
and treat my Tuesday like a Saturday,
I want to be able to do that.

[00:27:42]
I don’t keep long term clients.

[00:27:44]
I don’t always keep clients anyways,
at this point in my career.

[00:27:47]
But when I do, I don’t
keep clients for more than

[00:27:51]
three months.

[00:27:52]
I don’t keep clients
for more than three months.

[00:27:54]
Wow.
Because it doesn’t fit into my lifestyle.

[00:27:58]
It doesn’t fit into anything like that.

[00:28:00]
So I’m very particular.

[00:28:03]
And there’s some people who would say,
Well, that sounds awful.

[00:28:07]
Oh, gosh, it was a good
thing I didn’t ask you.

[00:28:12]
I’ve never been a VA.
Yeah.

[00:28:15]
It’S completely redefined what that means
and what that looks like for me.

[00:28:21]
And I have been intentional that my work

[00:28:25]
week will not be centered around Monday
through Friday, that my work day will not

[00:28:30]
be centered around nine to five and that I
will work when it’s not only convenient

[00:28:36]
for me, but it’s when it’s
convenient for my clients.

[00:28:39]
All right.
I do call at 06:00 at 07:00.

[00:28:43]
I don’t mind.

[00:28:45]
All right.

[00:28:48]
Do I take calls at 08:00 in the morning?

[00:28:51]
Absolutely not.

[00:28:52]
You will not be able to get a hold
of me at 08:00 in the morning.

[00:28:55]
I don’t take Monday meetings before 12:00,

[00:28:59]
and I don’t take Friday
meetings after 12:00.

[00:29:03]
All right.

[00:29:04]
I have just completely redefined it.

[00:29:06]
I refuse to be blocked into that time.

[00:29:08]
And for me, that’s
freedom and flexibility.

[00:29:10]
Now, if I had small children or I had

[00:29:13]
a partner who had a traditional job,
that would be much harder.

[00:29:18]
Freedom and flexibility might just be like

[00:29:21]
choosing that I only
work 20 hours in a week.

[00:29:24]
Well, that’s not freedom
and flexibility to me.

[00:29:26]
If I only work 20 hours in a week,
I would go crazy.

[00:29:32]
I would be eating junk food.

[00:29:34]
I would be sitting around doing nothing.

[00:29:36]
I need to be, like, at zero
or 100 miles an hour, right?

[00:29:40]
That in between space.

[00:29:41]
That just doesn’t work for me.

[00:29:43]
And so a lot of people get thrown off,

[00:29:44]
because when I’m saying I’m working,
they think I’m doing client work.

[00:29:48]
And when I say I’m working for myself,
I’m my first client.

[00:29:54]
So for every 1 hour of client work that I

[00:29:57]
do, I’m probably doing three or
four 5 hours of my own work.

[00:30:02]
I’m my first client.

[00:30:03]
I have writing to do.

[00:30:04]
I have people to meet that’s networking,

[00:30:07]
that’s professional development that’s
reading all that stuff gets put in there.

[00:30:13]
And so people are often amazed that I can
set up a meeting like,

[00:30:18]
the same day I speak to somebody like,
wow, like, your calendar is available.

[00:30:22]
And I said, yes, I have sacred time on my
calendar that no one is allowed to book.

[00:30:27]
I have my time.

[00:30:28]
And then if someone needs me,
which my clients because of the nature

[00:30:31]
of what I do,
if they’re free right now,

[00:30:34]
this might be the only time they’re
free for the next week or two weeks.

[00:30:39]
If I can see them right now,

[00:30:40]
I can speak to them right now, and they
become a client of mine right now.

[00:30:43]
Versus, like, who knows what
could happen in two weeks,

[00:30:48]
then?
Great.

[00:30:49]
That’s my business model.
That’s awesome.

[00:30:51]
Sacred time.
I love that phrase.

[00:30:53]
That’s cool.

[00:30:54]
That is very cool.

[00:30:56]
So it’s very clear that you set
boundaries and there’s no bend in there.

[00:31:02]
That’s really cool.
Yeah.

[00:31:04]
Now the flip side of that is because
I’m not perfect.

[00:31:10]
The flip side of that is that I am more

[00:31:13]
likely to overwork than not sure
when you first start out.

[00:31:20]
And I and I believe this, and I am not
a fan of, like, oh, don’t work hard.

[00:31:24]
Working hard is bad.

[00:31:26]
Money should come too easily.

[00:31:27]
It should be easy to build a business
all that’s out there.

[00:31:31]
I don’t believe in that we’re not
fundamentally even wired to be that way.

[00:31:37]
And there have been studies upon studies

[00:31:38]
that show, like, if you just have people
out there digging a ditch and you pay them

[00:31:42]
more and more each day to do it,
they won’t continue to do it.

[00:31:48]
Not because they don’t want
the money, but because it’s.

[00:31:51]
There’s no challenge,
and that’s what really hard work is.

[00:31:55]
My fingers aren’t getting blistered
because I’m typing 10,000 words a day.

[00:32:00]
That’s kind of what’s
happening here, right?

[00:32:02]
But there’s a healthy amount
of challenge that we have.

[00:32:05]
And that’s really what the hard work comes

[00:32:06]
in, because the challenge we love,
the discipline to meet.

[00:32:12]
The challenge is what we don’t love.

[00:32:15]
And that’s hard.

[00:32:16]
The discipline is hard work.

[00:32:18]
Well, I had, like, over discipline myself
for fear of failure.

[00:32:24]
So I’m more likely to overwork than not.

[00:32:27]
That’s also a danger.

[00:32:30]
And it was hard for people to imagine
before because I was traveling and I was

[00:32:35]
doing all these things and people
didn’t understand that.

[00:32:38]
But now that people have been remote
for a few years now, they can see it,

[00:32:45]
because wherever you are,
they’re wherever your work is.

[00:32:49]
And it’s hard to make those mental shifts.

[00:32:51]
So now, whereas I used to take my laptop

[00:32:54]
everywhere, I was,
even throughout the house or the apartment

[00:32:57]
I was living in,
now my laptop stays in one location,

[00:33:03]
and that’s the location I
deemed to be in my office.

[00:33:05]
It does not come with me other
places as a mental disconnect.

[00:33:10]
All right, shut it down for the day.

[00:33:12]
I say, okay, I’m done now.

[00:33:15]
I physically say, I’m done now.

[00:33:16]
I close the door with my work shirt.

[00:33:19]
I wear the same thing every day.
Nice.

[00:33:21]
So as soon as I’m done working,

[00:33:23]
I change my shirt and I am
immediately out of work mode.

[00:33:28]
Shift gears.
Absolutely.

[00:33:29]
Shift gears.
Very nice.

[00:33:31]
It’s really important because
you can set these boundaries.

[00:33:36]
But if you don’t set boundaries
on yourself, of when you’re not working.

[00:33:42]
It could be all the time.

[00:33:43]
You can be all the time,
because there’s always something to do.

[00:33:47]
If you’re running your own business,
there’s always something to do.

[00:33:51]
And so now I’ve learned know what you’re
going to get done the night before.

[00:33:57]
So the night before, I write down my list
of what I’m going to get done tomorrow.

[00:34:01]
This is like my non negotiable.

[00:34:03]
So no matter what happens during the day,
I’m going to get this done.

[00:34:06]
And all the little stuff that comes up,

[00:34:08]
everyone else’s little emergency,
like none of us are doctors.

[00:34:12]
At least I’m not a doctor.

[00:34:13]
None of my clients are
like no one’s dying.

[00:34:15]
So that is not going to weigh on me.

[00:34:20]
If I have to do something,
I’m going to get my stuff done first,

[00:34:24]
I’m going to figure out what
I can do for somebody else.

[00:34:27]
If it can’t be done today, then I’m
going to tell them when it will be done.

[00:34:32]
But then it takes out that necessity

[00:34:34]
to wake up and have other
people dictate my day.

[00:34:39]
All right. You’re not
constantly putting out fires?

[00:34:42]
No.
And even when I set my out of office

[00:34:44]
emails, I’ll set my office emails,
and I’m like, and because there are no

[00:34:49]
emergencies because it
used to be this thing.

[00:34:51]
People set their out of office emails and
they would write in case of emergency.

[00:34:55]
And I specifically write in my out

[00:34:56]
of office emails because
there are no emergencies

[00:35:00]
because I’ve already
anticipated your needs.

[00:35:03]
Right.
Like here’s all the stuff that you might

[00:35:06]
possibly need,
none of which is an emergency.

[00:35:08]
Now, however, if you don’t need anything

[00:35:10]
on this list like Congratulations,
you stumped me.

[00:35:14]
And for you, you can contact my assistant.

[00:35:17]
Alright, nice.

[00:35:20]
That is cool.

[00:35:21]
I love it.

[00:35:22]
So when did or I guess,
tell me how Ava came around.

[00:35:26]
Association of virtual assistants
that came around, I imagine after it did.

[00:35:31]
So when I started my business,

[00:35:33]
as you can imagine, I was completely lost
and I was looking for resources and I was

[00:35:40]
looking for people like me and always been
very connected to other assistance,

[00:35:45]
which is why networking seems
like first nature to me.

[00:35:48]
It was like, well, that’s what you do.

[00:35:50]
That’s how you get new jobs.

[00:35:51]
That’s how you find new people.

[00:35:52]
That’s how you get introductions.

[00:35:54]
And so I was looking for these places
and there were some out there,

[00:36:00]
but I didn’t feel like they
were all the right places.

[00:36:04]
So just like any other entrepreneur or
business owner, what do you create?

[00:36:08]
You create the thing
that you feel is lacking.

[00:36:10]
And so I didn’t know how or
when I was going to create it.

[00:36:13]
It boggled my mind to think about it.

[00:36:16]
It was so out of my area
of expertise, my comfort zone.

[00:36:19]
You name it.

[00:36:21]
And I actually read a book.
Dan Pink.

[00:36:23]
I think it was his drive book or it might

[00:36:25]
have been to sell as humans
forget I read Drive.

[00:36:29]
It’s a good book.
Yes.

[00:36:31]
And he had said write a rejection letter

[00:36:33]
to yourself for that thing
that you want to do.

[00:36:35]
You don’t know how to do that thing

[00:36:36]
that is not maybe not going
to accomplish it this year.

[00:36:39]
Just go ahead and write
a rejection letter to yourself.

[00:36:42]
So I did.

[00:36:43]
And I still have it
on my wallet dated 314 16.

[00:36:47]
Wow.

[00:36:48]
And so I said the rejection
letter was here.

[00:36:52]
I wanted to create the space for VAS.
And I don’t know how.

[00:36:56]
And the rejection letter was basically

[00:36:58]
from some I don’t know, generic company
saying it’s just not the right timing.

[00:37:04]
And the purpose of the rejection letter is
to understand

[00:37:07]
the gap that you need to close of why
you’re being rejected instead of saying

[00:37:13]
it’s ready now,
because if you do that and you realize

[00:37:17]
there’s not a gap, then there’s
an action that you’re missing.

[00:37:22]
But if you write it and you realize the
gap now you know how to close the gap.

[00:37:25]
And when I realized it was just timing,
there was so many things.

[00:37:28]
But ultimately,
all these things needed to take place

[00:37:32]
within me and my work
and everything that I was doing.

[00:37:36]
But it was so grand that I couldn’t
even name it bigger than timing, right?

[00:37:41]
Because it was 1000 things.
I didn’t know.

[00:37:43]
I didn’t know.
Sure.

[00:37:46]
But it was just always there.

[00:37:47]
And fortunately, it was like,

[00:37:49]
so out there that I could just continue
to build my business into what I do

[00:37:53]
and just kind of look over it every now
and then and say, one day, one day.

[00:37:58]
All right.

[00:37:59]
And then in 2018, I felt
like the timing was right.

[00:38:06]
But now I was super frustrated because I

[00:38:07]
thought it was going to be
more like a marketplace.

[00:38:10]
But yet I’d have no tech background.

[00:38:12]
I didn’t feel comfortable hiring a tech
person because I know so little that I

[00:38:17]
wouldn’t even know what a good
person would look like.

[00:38:20]
I mean, I just felt super
frustrated and I felt blocked.

[00:38:24]
And I was talking to a girlfriend of mine
who was in the same group that I’m in.

[00:38:29]
And she said, Well, what’s stopping
you from creating an Association?

[00:38:35]
And I thought, Good question.

[00:38:38]
Nothing.

[00:38:39]
And she said, well,

[00:38:42]
would that solve any of the problems
and just simply take out the tech piece?

[00:38:47]
And I thought, yes, it would.

[00:38:51]
So then in December 2018,

[00:38:53]
I sent out this super cryptic email
and it’s cryptic because it was one line

[00:38:58]
and none of my emails are one line,
at least not my newsletters.

[00:39:01]
I’m a long form writer,
so I’m just sending out one sentence email

[00:39:05]
that says, who wants to change the VA
industry with me was quite cryptic.

[00:39:11]
And I had a few takers.

[00:39:12]
And so we launched the Ava in March 2019.

[00:39:17]
So you sent that email to VA’s that you

[00:39:19]
knew or just every VA
email you could find?

[00:39:22]
No, everyone.
I was on my email list.

[00:39:24]
Alright.

[00:39:27]
How many we talking.
We talking hundreds, thousands.

[00:39:29]
Whatever.

[00:39:30]
We’re talking hundreds, just under 1000.
Okay.

[00:39:35]
So then how many people said,
yeah, let’s do this.

[00:39:38]
Or responded, like at four people respond
and three people pick me up on the offer.

[00:39:44]
Not bad.

[00:39:45]
Run with it.

[00:39:46]
Changing the world here
wants to change the world.

[00:39:49]
Essentially.
That’s cool.

[00:39:51]
Yeah.

[00:39:51]
Then from there, how did you take it? Did
they become partners or they just refer?

[00:39:56]
They did.
They became partners.

[00:39:58]
And I have one partner still with me.

[00:40:00]
So one partner left
at the end of that year.

[00:40:02]
She actually left the VA industry.

[00:40:05]
We had another partner and she was
with us just until this last October.

[00:40:11]
And then now it’s just
me and another partner.

[00:40:14]
And

[00:40:18]
there’s lots of change.

[00:40:19]
And how I prepared myself was by watching

[00:40:24]
a lot of business movies
and documentaries.

[00:40:31]
It really does.
Yes.

[00:40:34]
The founder, the founder is a great movie.
Yes.

[00:40:38]
I mean, I probably watched that.

[00:40:42]
I’ve watched it maybe ten times.
Sure.

[00:40:44]
You’re talking persistence systems.

[00:40:47]
Yes.

[00:40:49]
When you think about

[00:40:51]
how there was a time because
it wasn’t in my lifetime.

[00:40:54]
Right.

[00:40:54]
But there was a time when you had to train
people to order food at the window

[00:41:00]
and then throw out trash, just that
concept alone was mind boggling for me.

[00:41:10]
And when you see where all these founders

[00:41:13]
end up, whether it’s like
Steve Madden, Steve Jobs,

[00:41:17]
Wall Street, like all these things,
where did they go wrong?

[00:41:20]
Because I wasn’t actually looking for what

[00:41:22]
they did right, I have
to find my own right path.

[00:41:25]
But the one thing they have in common was

[00:41:28]
all the places they went wrong,
where they all go wrong.

[00:41:32]
They all messed up in their personal
relationships, and it all tied to money.

[00:41:38]
So my mission was that

[00:41:41]
we’re going to do this and we’re
going to talk about money a lot.

[00:41:45]
And we’re going to talk about
money before we have it that way.

[00:41:49]
When it’s done,
we already have in writing.

[00:41:51]
We already have contracts because
we may all go our own separate ways.

[00:41:55]
This may not work out.

[00:41:56]
All these things may happen,

[00:41:58]
but at the end of the day,
if we’re not still friends,

[00:42:02]
then I will not have I will not
have succeeded at anything.

[00:42:06]
Right. What’s the point?

[00:42:08]
What’s the point?

[00:42:09]
And so that was one
of my biggest takeaways.

[00:42:12]
So I can honestly say that when I had
these partners leave, it was great.

[00:42:17]
We wished each other.

[00:42:17]
Well, we have great
respect for one another.

[00:42:21]
I can’t possibly do anything,

[00:42:22]
but thank them for their time
and service that they gave.

[00:42:26]
And still, yeah, we have contracts
in place, so we never have to go back.

[00:42:31]
What do we do about money now
or like money in the future?

[00:42:34]
Because it’s easy to do that when
you have nothing right.

[00:42:38]
For some reason, it’s the opposite.

[00:42:41]
It’s great to talk about money
when you don’t have any.

[00:42:43]
It’s very hard to talk
about money when you do.

[00:42:47]
Well, people get militant, then they do

[00:42:50]
something they can take
before it’s just a dream.

[00:42:52]
Yeah.

[00:42:53]
So I mean, when it’s all just
a dream and it’s all out there.

[00:42:55]
I mean, that’s the perfect time.

[00:42:57]
So we did that very prematurely,
but it also saves us.

[00:43:01]
And I think it’s a great business

[00:43:02]
principle, because then it also
helps center you as an owner.

[00:43:07]
How much is too much?

[00:43:08]
How much is enough?

[00:43:09]
When is it going to go to charity?

[00:43:11]
When are you going to give back?

[00:43:13]
Are those things important to you?
Are they not?

[00:43:16]
Are you aligning yourself with other
people who feel the same way as you do?

[00:43:21]
Because there’s a lot of things
that we can’t see eye to eye on.

[00:43:24]
I don’t even want to see eye to eye.

[00:43:25]
I want you to challenge me.

[00:43:26]
I want you to poke holes in my plan.

[00:43:28]
I want you to do all those things.

[00:43:30]
But money is the one area
where we have to see eye to eye.

[00:43:35]
We have to do that.

[00:43:36]
Everything else can be up in the air.

[00:43:39]
We can battle it out.

[00:43:40]
We can hash it out.

[00:43:41]
We can come to terms, not the same.
Not the same.

[00:43:44]
With money.
Yeah.

[00:43:45]
Fair.
Totally fair.

[00:43:47]
I wouldn’t say premature at all.

[00:43:48]
That’s the perfect time to get
that stuff laid out in writing.

[00:43:52]
So essentially, I always think
of it like a game of Monopoly.

[00:43:56]
You wouldn’t play a game,
Monopoly or otherwise without rules,

[00:44:00]
because then you feel like you’re
playing with a five year old.

[00:44:02]
It’s just changing the rules on the fly.

[00:44:05]
It’s tough to play with them, especially
in business, when money gets involved.

[00:44:08]
So you just lay out the ground rules.

[00:44:10]
These are the rules of the game.
We’re going to play the game.

[00:44:12]
We’re going to have fun playing the game.

[00:44:14]
But these are the rules.
We all agree.

[00:44:16]
We’re cool.

[00:44:17]
Let’s go make some money
and have some fun.

[00:44:19]
So very cool.
I love it.

[00:44:21]
Was it challenging to start something
from scratch like that with partners?

[00:44:26]
In a way it was challenging.

[00:44:28]
And in a way it wasn’t because

[00:44:30]
thinking about starting my own business,
even though I had a coach and I have

[00:44:33]
a super loving family, it’s daunting
that everything is your responsibility.

[00:44:40]
So it was so nice to have other people
to have areas of responsibility that are

[00:44:45]
not my strong suit and be able
to collaborate with one another.

[00:44:50]
You just don’t feel like
you’re alone in business.

[00:44:53]
And so that part was really great.

[00:44:56]
Now it was challenging to have an idea.

[00:44:58]
And someone said, no,
I don’t think that’s good

[00:45:05]
as much as I wanted it right
as much as I wanted it.

[00:45:09]
And I actually had to tell my team.

[00:45:11]
Here’s the thing about me.

[00:45:13]
I say things with total,
incomplete conviction.

[00:45:16]
It’s my personality that I won’t even say

[00:45:18]
something if I think there’s
a tiny chance that I can be wrong.

[00:45:22]
So it means that I only say
things with 100% conviction.

[00:45:26]
It does not mean that I’m right.

[00:45:28]
It only means that I’m convicted to myself

[00:45:31]
that I think I’m right
at that moment in time.

[00:45:33]
You believe that?
Yes.

[00:45:34]
So I said, I need you
to show up and say, no.

[00:45:40]
I want you to imagine something different.

[00:45:42]
I think that he could be wrong.

[00:45:44]
I said, don’t take the tone of my voice.

[00:45:46]
That’s just how it’s going to come out.

[00:45:48]
But I am always willing to take
that advice because, believe me,

[00:45:52]
I have been wrong more times
than I have been right.

[00:45:58]
I’m going to own that.

[00:45:59]
I’m going to own it 100%,
and I’m more likely to own it when it’s

[00:46:03]
coming from you all, because now I
have you all to answer for as well.

[00:46:07]
If something goes bad and I have to say,

[00:46:10]
wow, we could have totally avoided
this if I had only listened.

[00:46:15]
I don’t want to be that person, right.

[00:46:17]
I don’t want to be that person.

[00:46:18]
I’d rather be the person.

[00:46:19]
And this is still true.
One of my partners said,

[00:46:22]
we need to shut down membership
after we open, then raise prices.

[00:46:24]
We’ll shut down for a month,
and we were like, what?

[00:46:27]
What are you talking about?
That’s crazy talk?

[00:46:30]
No.
Like, oh, no, that’s not happening.

[00:46:33]
And she just kept on persisting.

[00:46:36]
And she is my silent giant.

[00:46:38]
And I thought, all right,
this is what I hired her for.

[00:46:42]
This is what we wanted to partner for.

[00:46:43]
This is what she knows better than I do.
I’m going to listen to her.

[00:46:46]
And to this day,
instead of saying, I should have listened

[00:46:49]
to you, I get to say,
I still think that’s one of the best

[00:46:54]
decisions I ever made
was to listen to you.

[00:46:56]
Nice.

[00:46:58]
We had a strategy session a few weeks ago,
and we were going through everything.

[00:47:02]
And because of that one decision, it’s
completely changed our entire trajectory.

[00:47:08]
And every time I look at it,
I can’t possibly forget.

[00:47:11]
And I tell her if I did anything right.

[00:47:14]
I listened to you when you told me that.

[00:47:17]
That’s cool.

[00:47:19]
So I guess how do you market this?

[00:47:23]
It surprising me that an Association
for VA’s didn’t exist before.

[00:47:27]
Oh, they did.
They did.

[00:47:28]
Okay.
Yeah.

[00:47:30]
There are several.

[00:47:32]
They didn’t speak to me and they
didn’t meet the needs that I had.

[00:47:35]
So I wanted to create a different one.

[00:47:38]
You got the Association of
Virtual Assistance as your Association.

[00:47:42]
And there were associations before
that didn’t have that name.

[00:47:46]
Correct.

[00:47:47]
That seems like the most
obvious name in the world.

[00:47:51]
Well, some of them got more
like niche in their names.

[00:47:56]
All right.
So maybe like, there’s one in Canada,

[00:47:58]
there’s international one
there’s like other ones.

[00:48:01]
But yeah, just blanket statement.

[00:48:03]
No one had it interesting. And is
yours nonprofit or for profit?

[00:48:07]
It’s for profit.
Okay.

[00:48:08]
Nothing wrong with that.
Cool.

[00:48:11]
So how do you market
to existing virtual assistants?

[00:48:15]
Because I don’t want to throw this
little dangler.

[00:48:19]
I guess out there the people that I’ve met

[00:48:23]
that are virtual assistants, and it’s
a small pool, but decent sized pool.

[00:48:27]
A lot of them are just kind
of hanging out on their own.

[00:48:30]
They’re one, maybe two person shows.

[00:48:33]
And their big thing is,
I don’t want a boss,

[00:48:36]
but from my point of view,
a lot of times, they still own their job.

[00:48:42]
A lot of them, despite what I recommend to
them, have very little desire for growth.

[00:48:49]
They have more desire for comfort.

[00:48:52]
Or I think of it as complacency,
but they probably don’t.

[00:48:57]
But you know what I mean?

[00:48:58]
Like, they’re not necessarily looking
to reach for the stars kind of thing.

[00:49:01]
Not necessarily good or bad.

[00:49:02]
Yeah.

[00:49:04]
So we have gone through several ideas

[00:49:08]
for marketing, and you think, well,
you’ve been doing this for years.

[00:49:12]
You should start this.

[00:49:13]
You should know exactly
who your person is.

[00:49:15]
And that’s just not the case.

[00:49:16]
We’ve had to test a lot.

[00:49:19]
We’re still testing.

[00:49:21]
We’re still trying to figure out who our

[00:49:23]
person is and what stage
that is in their business.

[00:49:27]
So we have some members who have joined

[00:49:30]
because they have always lived a life
where they are part of their

[00:49:36]
industry Association because of what we do
to help promote and protect the industry.

[00:49:42]
So we have industry report.

[00:49:44]
We have industry standard pricing,
we have free resources.

[00:49:47]
We have free training.

[00:49:48]
You have some people who feel like they

[00:49:51]
want to join because
they want to give back.

[00:49:53]
So in our Association,
much like Association rather than a group,

[00:49:57]
everyone has free rein
to speak within a group.

[00:49:59]
No one’s going to be going against

[00:50:01]
my business model that I
think is the right one.

[00:50:04]
So if someone asked a question in slack,

[00:50:08]
there can be five different responses,
five different types of responses,

[00:50:14]
and then it’s up to the person
to determine which one suits them best.

[00:50:18]
They don’t believe in blanket responses.
All right.

[00:50:21]
We have a very core set of individuals

[00:50:24]
who just don’t believe
in doing business alone.

[00:50:28]
They don’t know when they’re
going to have a question.

[00:50:30]
They don’t know what their next question

[00:50:31]
is going to be,
but they want a trusted resource

[00:50:36]
of individuals who’s going to provide them
with some kind of help and information

[00:50:42]
in real time.

[00:50:45]
Ask questions.
All right.

[00:50:47]
And then certainly we have
those who want to become VA’s.

[00:50:51]
They have lots of questions.

[00:50:55]
And so really, our premise
is when a lot of VAS don’t feel valued.

[00:51:00]
This is a place where you can feel valued.

[00:51:02]
The other side of that is the question

[00:51:05]
that you have now in business is not
the question that you’re going to have

[00:51:09]
a month from now, a year from now,
five years from now.

[00:51:13]
But we’re still going to be here
to help you answer those questions.

[00:51:17]
So there’s plenty of VAS in our

[00:51:19]
Association that they’re out
to build their next Empire.

[00:51:23]
They’re going big.

[00:51:24]
And there’s other VA’s
that say, you know what?

[00:51:26]
I want to work 20 hours a week
and that’s it.

[00:51:32]
And there’s no right or wrong.

[00:51:34]
It’s whatever suits your business.

[00:51:37]
But whatever question you have in order

[00:51:39]
to do that, whatever question you have
in order to maintain that,

[00:51:43]
that’s what we’re here to help you
with and give you resources and provide

[00:51:47]
options and then also just serve
as a point of contact, right.

[00:51:54]
It can get lonely sometimes

[00:51:57]
you’re like, when is anybody out there?

[00:51:58]
Is anyone going through
what I’m going through?

[00:52:00]
We have events twice a year,
so they’re both online.

[00:52:04]
We celebrate Admin Week.

[00:52:06]
We just finished up our holiday party
where we give away amazing prices.

[00:52:12]
We don’t compete with other groups.

[00:52:15]
So every VA leader in the industry
loves to work with us and collaborate

[00:52:21]
with us because we’re not saying, oh, no,
we don’t want to be with them.

[00:52:26]
We don’t want to be associated with them
because they might take our money.

[00:52:29]
This is a great person in the industry.

[00:52:31]
Have you heard of them?

[00:52:32]
They’re awesome.

[00:52:33]
What another great resource for you.
Nice.

[00:52:36]
All right.

[00:52:37]
And then this year we’ve decided that it’s
time we’re going to do some pop up events,

[00:52:41]
so we’re going to have some pop
up events coming 50 people.

[00:52:46]
We’re going to cap it.

[00:52:47]
We’re going to meet live and in person.

[00:52:49]
It’s what our members
have been asking for.

[00:52:51]
It’s what members of the VA community have

[00:52:53]
wanted as well, and just being able to
get what they need in real time.

[00:53:01]
Vas are notorious for being
behind the scenes.

[00:53:05]
And so a place where you
can kind of be in front

[00:53:11]
without feeling like you’re losing your

[00:53:13]
security blanket behind and meeting other
people and other individuals and giving

[00:53:19]
them something for that is something
that we’re super excited about this year.

[00:53:24]
Nice.
That’s cool.

[00:53:25]
The pop up events are they
happening all over the country?

[00:53:29]
They will.

[00:53:30]
Our first one is going
to be in Atlanta in March.

[00:53:34]
I’m keeping it close to home for me.

[00:53:36]
Since this will be our first one,

[00:53:37]
we want to make sure that I can
have plenty of boots on the ground.

[00:53:42]
But when we pulled our members and even

[00:53:44]
our non members, we want to see
where they would want us to go.

[00:53:47]
We were quite shocked that single

[00:53:50]
individuals would say,
I’d be willing to travel to these States.

[00:53:53]
These States all surround me.

[00:53:55]
I’d be willing to travel to these States,

[00:53:56]
and we thought, Gosh, are people willing
to travel more than just in their city?

[00:54:00]
Okay.

[00:54:01]
We’ll probably do it in States that are
certainly more open and flexible.

[00:54:07]
So we won’t be going to New York
or California anytime soon.

[00:54:10]
Probably likely to go to Texas or Florida

[00:54:14]
next, just because planning is
hard and they have easier access.

[00:54:20]
They’Re building a wall
around New York now.

[00:54:22]
Yeah,

[00:54:24]
but yeah, Atlanta will be our first one.

[00:54:26]
This coming in March 2022.
Nice.

[00:54:30]
That is so cool.

[00:54:32]
So when you look back at all that you’ve
been through as far as you’ve come

[00:54:36]
with your business,
how does that make you feel?

[00:54:42]
I have really mixed feelings
because I’m a recovering perfectionist.

[00:54:48]
So I think it’s hard for me not

[00:54:51]
to remember all the things that I’ve done
or that I could have done differently.

[00:54:56]
I’ve certainly failed more
times than I’ve succeeded.

[00:55:00]
But this past December,

[00:55:02]
we’re in December right now,
but it feels like a forever go now.

[00:55:06]
I was named top virtual assistant
consultant of the year,

[00:55:10]
and I went to New York and we were
at the Plaza, and it had actually been

[00:55:15]
a dream of mine to stay at the Plaza
and to have this whole experience.

[00:55:21]
And I was there three years ago attending
Hustle Con East,

[00:55:25]
and I walked around the Plaza, and I
thought, Gosh, I should be staying here.

[00:55:29]
This should be my life.

[00:55:31]
And so to be able to have that and to be
able to share it with my mom and have

[00:55:34]
that dream literally come true was quite
extraordinary, because while people would

[00:55:39]
tell me, oh, you’re living the dream,
you’re living the dream.

[00:55:41]
Well, it was never my dream
to be a business owner.

[00:55:44]
It was never my dream to travel the world.

[00:55:45]
I was afraid to fly like it was never
my dream to do a lot of these things.

[00:55:49]
I just one day said,
I’m going to do that, and I did it.

[00:55:54]
So it was really kind of hard
to separate those things.

[00:55:58]
And then the other side of that is when I

[00:56:01]
look back and I see the things
I’m like, oh, gosh, I wish.

[00:56:05]
Just imagine what you could have done if

[00:56:07]
you did this instead or if
you made this decision.

[00:56:09]
But it’s not fair,
because I didn’t know that I know that now

[00:56:14]
to make a foolish decision
now would be foolish.

[00:56:17]
Then it was the only
information that I had.

[00:56:19]
It was not foolish.

[00:56:21]
I took a calculated risk.
I failed.

[00:56:23]
Right?
That was it.

[00:56:25]
And so

[00:56:27]
in times, it’s challenging
to think like, oh, wow.

[00:56:31]
You’ve come a long way,

[00:56:34]
and at times it’s like, wow,
you still have so far to go.

[00:56:39]
So

[00:56:42]
one of my words for 2022
is actually endurance.

[00:56:45]
Endurance.

[00:56:46]
Okay, because there is
no real finish line.

[00:56:51]
This is like the ultra marathon

[00:56:55]
you have to endure every day.

[00:56:58]
And we can often see endurance as
something that’s bad and hard or painful

[00:57:05]
when, in fact, the ability to endure is
actually changing your tolerance for pain

[00:57:11]
and discomfort to make it
seem like not a big deal.

[00:57:16]
So when there were studies done
on the difference between an athlete

[00:57:19]
at the state, local and National Olympic
level,

[00:57:23]
it had nothing to do with the talent that
would predict how well they would do.

[00:57:28]
In fact, it had to do with how long they

[00:57:30]
were able to endure a painful
or uncomfortable situation.

[00:57:36]
All right.

[00:57:38]
And those who are at the top or
at the Olympic level, and it’s

[00:57:44]
miles apart from those even

[00:57:45]
at the national level,
and then at the state level.

[00:57:48]
Right.

[00:57:49]
But the amazing thing is that the athletes
don’t actually have a higher.

[00:57:57]
They didn’t know that they were enduring
more pain or more discomfort.

[00:58:01]
And we’re talking about, like,

[00:58:02]
having your hand in ice and things that
weren’t like sticking people with it.

[00:58:06]
But

[00:58:08]
they had just let their
mind go to another place

[00:58:13]
that it didn’t occur to them.

[00:58:15]
And so for them, endurance was just, well,

[00:58:19]
this is what you have to do
if you want to compete.

[00:58:22]
And so really changing my mind around
that and seeing like, okay, yes.

[00:58:28]
Put all those things on.

[00:58:30]
You take what you know,
move on and get ready for the next thing,

[00:58:35]
because if you continue to take
the failures and the mistakes and all

[00:58:41]
that you could have done into the future,
you’re bringing all those things with you.

[00:58:45]
You don’t actually learn from them.

[00:58:47]
You’re not actually learning from them.

[00:58:49]
It’s the lie that we
like to tell ourselves.

[00:58:51]
Well, I’m learning from that.

[00:58:53]
I’m shaping it.

[00:58:54]
But the fact is, you already learned it.

[00:58:59]
You’ve already learned.
It time to move on.

[00:59:01]
It’s time to learn something new.

[00:59:03]
And the flip side of that is to learn
to ultimately succeed in your plan,

[00:59:09]
succeed in your goal,
and hopefully even be surprised that what

[00:59:14]
you didn’t think was going to happen could
because some of my best experiences

[00:59:18]
in business have been the things
that I had no idea were possible.

[00:59:24]
Nice.

[00:59:25]
I love it. Melissa,

[00:59:27]
we went a little over on time here,
but that’s all right.

[00:59:30]
I feel like I could talk
to you for another 3 hours.

[00:59:34]
That’s just how it goes. Really quick
here for all the VA’s out there.

[00:59:39]
What are a couple pointers that you
would give them as far as either starting

[00:59:42]
their business or what you have learned
as far as growing the business.

[00:59:48]
Sure…Start,

[00:59:51]
don’t wait till everything’s perfect.

[00:59:52]
I know that we love to make
a plan and stick to the plan.

[00:59:56]
That’s great.
It’s a great framework.

[00:59:59]
It’s not how business happens.

[01:00:00]
Business does not happen in a linear

[01:00:03]
shape, and I know that we
try to plan for a B and C.

[01:00:06]
I’ve done it.
It still doesn’t work that way.

[01:00:10]
And if you want to look at the positive

[01:00:12]
side, the flip side to that is that you
don’t have to take every step in business.

[01:00:17]
You can actually skip steps.

[01:00:19]
So if you’re not so tied

[01:00:20]
to that framework, you can actually
make leaps and bounds over your plan.

[01:00:25]
Right.
But you do have to start.

[01:00:28]
And I would say the one thing that VA’s

[01:00:32]
really struggles with is where
to get clients, how to find clients.

[01:00:36]
And you know what?

[01:00:37]
You just have to start talking to people

[01:00:39]
when someone asks you,
hey, what are you doing?

[01:00:42]
How are you doing these days?

[01:00:43]
Don’t say I’m fine.

[01:00:45]
I’m great.

[01:00:46]
I’m starting a VA business.

[01:00:47]
I’m looking for these types of clients
so I can do this type of work.

[01:00:50]
Do you know anybody that’s awesome.

[01:00:53]
That alone.
That alone.

[01:00:55]
Instead of just saying I’m fine, I’m good

[01:00:59]
for the common.
I say, How’s it going?

[01:01:01]
They’re like it’s going,

[01:01:04]
what’s wrong with you?

[01:01:09]
At any rate, Melissa,
how can people find you?

[01:01:12]
Sure.

[01:01:14]
If you’re on LinkedIn, I live on LinkedIn
so you can find me at Melissa Smith The PVA.

[01:01:18]
You can email me melissa@thepva.com.

[01:01:21]
That’s also my website, thepva.com.

[01:01:23]
If you’re interested in the Association
of VA’s it’s associationofvas.com

[01:01:27]
or melissa@associationofvas.com.

[01:01:30]
I love email, so I answer
email and LinkedIn.

[01:01:32]
You can find me on other social media

[01:01:34]
platforms, but you can expect
a delay in a response.

[01:01:37]
I don’t live there.
Linkedin.

[01:01:39]
That’s the be to be world.

[01:01:41]
Just how it rolls.
Yes.

[01:01:43]
Awesome.

[01:01:43]
Well, thank you so much
for being on the show.

[01:01:45]
Melissa, thanks for having me, James.

[01:01:47]
This has been Authentic Business
Adventures,

[01:01:49]
the business program that brings you
the struggle,

[01:01:51]
stories, and triumphiant successes
of business owners across the land.

[01:01:55]
We are underwritten
locally by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[01:01:57]
If you can do us a huge favor,
share this with your VA friends.

[01:02:01]
Your entrepreneurs, give us a thumbs up
and of course, comment and let us know

[01:02:06]
anything that you want to share
with Melissa or ask her questions.

[01:02:09]
She’s got a lot to share,
so much to share.

[01:02:12]
I normally don’t go over time.
This is cool.

[01:02:14]
My name is James Kademan.
Excuse me.

[01:02:16]
And Authentic Business Adventures is

[01:02:18]
brought to you by Calls on Call, offering
call answering and receptionist services

[01:02:23]
for service businesses across
the country, on the web, callsoncall.com

[01:02:28]
as well as Draw In Customers Business
Coaching, offering business coaching services

[01:02:32]
for entrepreneurs looking for growth
on the web at drawincustomers.com

[01:02:36]
and of course,
The Bold Business Book, a book

[01:02:39]
for the entrepreneur in all of us
available wherever fine books are sold.

[01:02:42]
We’d like to thank you our wonderful
listeners as well as our guests.

[01:02:44]
Melissa Smith,

[01:02:45]
the CEO and founder of the Association
of Virtual Assistants as well as the PVA.

[01:02:50]
Melissa, we were talking so
much and had so much going on.

[01:02:54]
I forgot to ask you about
your books. So really quick

[01:02:57]
can you tell us just the title of the
books and where people can find them?

[01:03:01]
Sure.

[01:03:01]
If you’re looking to hire a VA, Hire
the Right Virtual Assistant is on Amazon.

[01:03:06]
And if you’re looking to become a virtual

[01:03:08]
assistant, Become a Successful
Virtual Assistant.

[01:03:11]
Also on Amazon.
Awesome.

[01:03:13]
We’re going to have to chat again because

[01:03:15]
I feel like you got a lot to share and we
just have to squeeze it in time here.

[01:03:18]
So thank you so much
for being on the show Melissa. My pleasure, James.

[01:03:22]
Past episodes can be found
morning, noon, and night.

[01:03:24]
The podcast link found
at drawincustomer.com

[01:03:27]
Thank you for listening.

[01:03:28]
We’ll see you next week.
I want you to stay awesome.

[01:03:30]
And if you do nothing else,
enjoy your business.

 

 

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