How I Went From a 9-5 Job to a Virtual Assistant
As a new mother to an eight-month-old boy, we lived 12 hours from any family and my husband was a full time student in graduate school. It was the winter of 2017, and I had recently been promoted to a new job. While I was excited about my new position, I was worried about the demands of a full time job, taking copious amounts of leave for a sick baby in daycare, and unsure if I had enough days off for traveling to see family for my baby’s first Christmas. I kept thinking there has to be a better way than all this chaos and stress. Surely, there had to be something I could do where I could work from home and make consistent income. I saw friends on Instagram who did Multi-level marketing. I had never understood why they would succumb to this, but once I held my precious baby boy in my arms, I knew. They wanted to stay home to cherish those sweet moments, while making money. The problem with an Multi-level marketing job is:
You have to make a considerable investment in products / buy-in
You only make money when you sell products
You are consistently having to ask friends and family to buy from you
You have quotas to meet
You only get a small percentage of sales
I knew I didn’t want to do Multi-level marketing. It wasn’t my style. I searched the Web for nearly everything: medical records work (this sounded so boring), teaching golf (I had played and coached college golf, and knew this would require hiring a babysitter/childcare), baking (that sounded a little too similar to selling Girls Scout cookies). Then, I began thinking about becoming a Virtual Assistant, but I didn’t know much about it. I had a background in consulting and project management, but had no clue how to find a client virtually. And, what value could I bring to a client? How would they pay me? I had so many questions, I didn’t really pursue it.
While I was volunteering with a nonprofit organization for a Christmas event, I got to know the Executive Director of the organization. I discovered she was overwhelmed with too many projects on her plate. I told my husband I was going to offer to be her Virtual Assistant -- even though I didn’t really know what it involved. When I offered, she immediately accepted! I made it clear that I would be moving across the country, but could work with her and get to know her style before I moved. When she asked what my rate was, I came up with an amount on the spot, and she agreed to that, too! I was shocked, excited, and scared. I blared Taylor Swift music all the way home. This was my stepping stone to leaving my full-time job.
Two months later, I was Googling Virtual Assistant jobs when I stumbled on a Virtual Assistant placement firm and, after undergoing some virtual interviews and submitting writing samples, I landed a Virtual Assistant job with the CEO of a manufacturing company. That’s when I quit my full time job.
What I learned in these first two Virtual Assistant jobs helped lay the groundwork for my starter course. I wish I had known these details before starting out. Going through a Virtual Assistant firm is great, but I wanted something more “mom-friendly.” My first client was very mom-friendly, but the second and third clients through the Virtual Assistant firm were not.
This is one of the reasons I started Mom to Virtual Assistant. Moms make great Virtual Assistants and are eager to use their brain in a different capacity than “which flavor jelly for the PBJ?” But, moms can’t always be ready to be FaceTimed on the fly (or at least I couldn’t be!). After three years of being a Virtual Assistant I learned, the hard way, what moms need to become a Virtual Assistant and make consistent income. I knew being a Virtual Assistant was a much better opportunity than selling products. I knew there were moms out there, like me, who wanted something different and that’s how I ended up where I am today!
I am launching a starter course for moms to become Virtual Assistants on January 3, 2021! It will include my lessons learned, email and resume templates, tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way, and 10 steps to become a Virtual Assistant. This course would have made my journey to Virtual Assistant much smoother. My hope is to inspire you to determine your niche, find your client, and become a Virtual Assistant.