Ep 65 Transcript: Delegation, Boundaries, and CEO Energy: Growing a Virtual Assistant Brand with Jazzy Luchini

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors in spelling or inaccuracies in the spoken words.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and I have the incredible Jazzy Luchini joining us today. She is not only is she a virtual assistant who's just like rocking it in the VA world, but she actually is now teaching aspiring VAs how to build this massive business through virtual assistants. And I got to tell you, I've listened to you in the community and I probably with the number one question that I get from this audience is,

How do I get some support with X, Y, or Z? And X, or Z usually falls into VA. And there's a lot of confusion out there, I think, as to what a virtual assistant can and cannot do. So Jazzy is here and she is going to help to clear all of that up for us and probably answer all of your questions and solve all your problems, right? No big deal. Exactly. Exactly. That's what I'm here for. That is pretty much what we expect a virtual assistant to do, though, right? Like that is your goal is to make someone else's life easier.

Am I right? Exactly. I like to say that we're like a business bestie. So we're really here to just support you through everything, not just with tasks, but also with mindset, you know, to like hype you up, be your hype girl. I love that. Oh my gosh. You're a business bestie. I think that's such a great way of putting it because it's true. It's you're not a task bunny, so to speak. You're you're someone who's actually providing legitimate support. And I know you work with

mostly speakers and coaches. Those are high level, high stress jobs and can often feel very lonely too. Like every coach needs their own coach and every speaker needs someone else who can just, you know, they can defer a lot of these things too and be able to get that support in return as well, both emotionally, physically, mentally, all those things. So, so tell me a little bit about how your business operates and how you work with your clients.

Yeah, I mean, first of all, it definitely can be very lonely. And I think that's why it's so important to invest in someone to be there for you, whether it's on a smaller scale or a larger scale. think that's the great thing about virtual assistants is that it's not an employee. So we're contractors. We're here to kind of work with you and what you need in this current moment and maybe scale with you as you go. My favorite thing about it is being able to grow with my clients.

and grow with their businesses and see them flourish. And then, you know, they support me with my skills and the things that I want to offer as well. But for me, I think really I do offer kind of everything under the sun as a virtual assistant, just because I do love it. I love being able to kind of be that helping hand where they're like, can you help me with this? And I'm like, I'm on it right now. I got it. You know, like you need that done. Check, check, check, check. But also to be a little bit of a strategist.

per se. So that's where the higher level support kind of comes in. And it's definitely something that I've had to optimize over time and work on my skills to be able to do so. And that's why think it's so important to build long-term connections with clients because you're able to know the ins and outs of their businesses. And that helps you be able to strategize with them and be a little bit more of a partnership than someone that's just delegating tasks to you to complete. It's more of a business partnership, a collaboration.

And I think that's where most businesses flourish. Yeah. I mean, if I wanted someone just to complete a task or a project, I can go on to Upwork. I can go on to Fiverr. That's not what you're doing here. you even, as much as you said, you are a contracted company, you're a contracted employee, so to speak. But at the same time, even though you're not technically on the team, you're probably more a part of the team because you're so invested in their business and in their success. Their success is your success.

The more successful they are. I think that's the difference when you're an employee. There's a good chance you're going to stick around regardless of whether or not this company is flourishing. But a big part of your role is to ensure that your clients are successful. That keeps you employed essentially. That keeps you in business. So you're invested and it's not like it's just they're just a client to you. There is that partnership there. Yeah, exactly. It's different when

You start with a company as an employee and you're applying and there's already kind of that power difference and the authoritative difference where when you're working with clients and you're getting on that first call, you're seeing if it works for both of you. It's really a collaborative call and that really changes the dynamic right off the bat. And a lot of my clients, it's not one of us, of course, is like giving the other person some tasks to do, but it's not like one of us is telling the other person what to do or really working together.

My longest client that's been with me has been with me since day one for four years. And I think that's why it's so important to emphasize why these long-term connections are so important because they really do want you to grow. And I do have a really big hand in their business versus if I were an employee just kind of climbing up the corporate ladder, hoping for a raise at some point that's just kind of incremental where

My clients really do care about me and I care about them. And it's this give and take between each other. And I want to circle back to something that you just said, because I hope everyone who is listening to this podcast caught this. When you said that when you are having that interview with them, you are identifying just as much as they are whether or not this is a fit. And so many entrepreneurs, especially my passion driven accidental CEOs who I absolutely adore, but they are

You know, you're operating sometimes in a scarcity mindset, which means that you feel like you need to take every client on and instead of figuring out if they're a good fit for you, you're just trying to sell them on why you're a good fit for them. You're not doing that in your conversations, Jazzy. You are having a conversation to make sure that this is mutually beneficial. This is something that's going to work for both of us because you're going to see your best success. If if that's the case, I can tell you myself that if I've ever taken on a client who wasn't a great fit,

I'm not enjoying the work. It's not to say that I'm going to compromise the quality of work, but let's be real. I'm probably not going above and beyond on things, right? And we want to make sure that we're just as invested in it. I'm sure you go to bed at night thinking about the things that you can be doing for your client, right? Yeah, I will literally wake up in the middle of the night and be like, I have an idea. I'll put a little voice note in my phone and be like, have to remember this for her tomorrow. I want to make sure that we nail this.

My clients are so great because they really are like, where's your zone of genius? Like I wanna make sure that I'm working with like what makes sense to you. I have clients that are like, okay, you like PR, let's move you into some more PR and maybe hire someone else to work with you to do administrative tasks. So I'm honestly kind of moving into more oversight positions with a lot of my clients because again, I'm growing and scaling with them. Even though I'm not an employee, they're still putting me in these positions where.

we really do build a lot of trust with each other. And that's the biggest thing. And like you said on these calls, on these first calls where we're seeing if I'm a good fit for them and they're a good fit for me, I definitely didn't start that way. When I first started, I treated them like interviews. went in waiting for them to ask me a bunch of questions. I didn't have any questions for them. And I was just like, please hire me. Please hire me. And that's why I.

transitioned a little bit into coaching other virtual assistants because I was like, this wasn't working for me. One, if it did work, these clients were a little bit lower paying and it was out of scarcity. Where when I just transitioned into being like, is supposed to be beneficial for both of us, I started attracting dream clients. The calls were so much easier and I was able to land higher paying clients. So really just that small shift in your mindset and how you approach.

going into your business as a virtual assistant makes a huge difference in pretty much every aspect of it. And I love that you're sharing that message with others and helping them to build their virtual assistant businesses as well. I can tell you from my own experience and from the experience of my clients and my colleagues that most people that I work with often will say, I don't want to work with an agency. I want to find my person. They want it to feel more like

Employees not quite the right term. So like you said, it's collaborative, but they they just really want to feel that partnership. They want to feel that connection and that doesn't always come through an agency. They don't always feel like they're getting the best of the quality that they want through an agency. And that's not to say there aren't some fantastic agencies out there. This is not me knocking them by any means. But I love that what you're doing is not teaching someone to work underneath you necessarily. And I'm sure you're going to be building that as you're as you're growing as well. But you are helping to build them up to be their own boss.

to be able to own virtual assistants and their VA work in whatever strategic realm that is. For you, you've mentioned PR and marketing are two of the areas that you're focusing the most in. But as you said, you can do other tasks as well. You didn't necessarily start off there. So helping other VAs to figure out where is their niche, helping them to really thrive in that. I love that. There's such a huge market for that. And I think if they went into it the right mindset, their businesses could absolutely blow up too.

Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest part of being a virtual assistant is being able to incorporate your passions. So, you know, just because I like to do everything, I like the administrative side. Like I said, I do specialize in marketing and PR and just as other virtual assistants, I tell them whatever your passion is, even if you don't have that experience necessarily yet, start integrating it. If you're passionate about it, people will give you a shot. All of my clients are like, what do you like to do? And I'm like, well, I've never done.

you know, social media marketing, but I'd love to try. And now that's one of the main services I offer because your clients will take a risk on you if you're truly authentic about it and passionate about it. And that's the best way to live and work is, you know, being passionate and incorporating that because if not, that's a fast track to burnout and you don't want to burn out in your business. You want to do what you love. And yes, there's going to be hard days, but if you're passionate about what you do, it's easier to get out of those.

kind of holes that you fall into. yeah. I mean, just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. But then the flip side of that, though, is I love what you're talking about in terms of leaning into your passion. And here's the thing. If you're listening to this podcast and you're thinking, well, I have these jobs for someone else to do, but I hate doing them. So that means that someone else is probably going to hate doing it. Let me tell you, you're probably wrong. There are people like myself, for example, who love playing in spreadsheets all day.

Doesn't mean that that's what I actually get to do every day, but I do enjoy when I get to dig into a good spreadsheet. But you might absolutely hate spreadsheets. So give that to someone who wants to do it. There is someone out there who wants to do the stuff that you don't want to do. This is exactly what Jazzy is saying, that there are people out there who have these different passions in different areas. I mean, there are plenty of people who are like, despise posting on social media. I can come up with some of the basic ideas. I know that I should be out there, but

When it comes to sitting down and doing it, it takes me way longer than it should. So here you go, everybody. Here's someone who will do it for you. Like, why are we, why do we continue as human beings to feel as though we need to do all the things? We are in an era of specializing. And if that is not your specialty, outsource it. Yeah, for sure. Even though I love like making content for other business owners, I don't like making content for myself necessarily. So I outsource that. have someone edit my videos and help me write the captions.

And I just hit record and do all that, and then I send it off to her. So even things like that, it's like, love doing it for my clients, but I hate doing it for myself for some reason. So I know where that split needs to happen. As a CEO, that's what you should be doing. You shouldn't have to take everything on and wear all the hats. You're the CEO of your business. Even if you're the only one in your business right now, you're still the CEO. So you have to make these good decisions for the sustainability of your business. Absolutely.

And I also think it's so validating what you just said about how, you know, just because you enjoy doing it for other people doesn't mean you enjoy doing it for yourself. Yeah, it's like the plumber with the leaky faucet. It's like the Cobbler's kids who have no shoes. Like this is such a common thing. I am an interior designer. Please don't come over to my house. Please don't like it's trust me when I say I get zero joy out of decorating my own house and doing any sort of design work in my own house. And it's just how we are. And I fall into that same trap with.

the things that I coach my clients on, there are times where I catch myself like, I need to start taking my own advice and doing the things that I'm doing with them. But you get me going on creating their vision and helping them with their strategic goals and really digging into things. ⁓ I get so excited. You get me to do my own. I will find 16 different things to distract me from doing it and procrastinate on it as long as I possibly can. So it's so validating to hear you say that like.

We're not the only ones who don't enjoy doing the same things that we love doing for our clients, but we don't honestly enjoy doing it for ourselves. And that's important to recognize that as well. Yeah, exactly. And it all comes back to burnout. If you feel like you're not loving it, that's OK. You don't have to pretend that you do. You just need to make sure that you're aware of what's maybe taking a little bit more time or a little bit more of your energy and be willing to put your trust in someone else. I know that's hard for a lot of business owners to do.

I always say like you have to think like people's businesses are their babies. So they really want to bring in someone that they can trust. And as a virtual assistant, you have to be that person. But as a business owner, you have to make sure like your business is your baby. It's like getting someone to help you take care of them. If you need a nanny, if you need to go work and you need someone to help you out, there's no shame in getting that extra support. It's actually going to be very beneficial for you in the long term and for your business in the long term.

yeah, I just think of how much better you can show up for your clients if you've outsourced the tasks that you don't want to be doing for your own business. So you can then do those same tasks for your clients. It's you know, it's the old we've talked about this, the old self care that put on your own mask first. But it's so true. And I know anytime I mentioned burnout, people's eyes just kind of like gloss over the like, I'm not worried about burnout. But what Jazzy was just saying there was.

about how if something's taking longer than it normally would or that then it should, if you're feeling really unexcited and, you know, losing your passion, if you feel like some of those things are missing, if you feel stressed all the time, if you feel like you're you're stuck in a state of indecision, these are all signs of burnout. You are either on the brink of it or you are already experiencing it. And I think that, especially as women, we often refuse to recognize that because we think we really can do it all.

And trust me when I say that we can't. I've learned this firsthand. I now teach it. It's a part of all of my programs. It's part of everything that I do with my clients. And so thank you, Jazzy, for touching on how important it is that we are taking care of ourselves. And this is where having that support will help you to build a more sustainable business. We can all grow a business, but at some point that business will come crashing down if you don't have.

systems in place if you don't have the right people in place in order to keep it sustainable. Yeah, exactly. What would you say when people are coming to you? What would you say is sort of the biggest thing that they're up against where they're feeling like now is the time that I need to hire someone else? And again, I keep using the word hire. I know it's more of a collaboration, but you know where I'm going with this. What is the point that people are coming to you? it usually I should also ask this, are they coming to you later than they should be?

⁓ yes, I would say they come to me later than they should be. And I also think that sometimes they kind of think that they need something that there's actually a bigger problem underneath. So a lot of them are like, I just don't have time, you know, and that is like the underlying problem. But really, it ends up being like, maybe they don't have enough systems in place, or they're just very unorganized, or they've been trying to scale but

Again, they're doing all their own administrative work. They don't have any time or energy to scale. usually it's either one, one people have kind of hit a plateau when they're trying to scale or two, when they're just like, I don't have any time to do anything anymore and I'm really unorganized and I just need to get all my ducks in a row. And, you know, it would be easier if they came in and they were like right off the bat, like, okay, I want someone to be my organizational tool instead of like having to backtrack and have someone come in and kind of undo all these wires that they tangled up.

But again, like that's usually where people don't realize that they need help. So that's where virtual assistants come in. But it really does come down to the notion that they need more time. But I think more so it's they just need more mental capacity to do CEO things. Yeah. And to get mental capacity, they do need more time. In order to get more time, what do they need? And I like that you're not just throwing a bandaid on the problem. You're not just.

like here's some pills, go take some pills and you'll be OK kind of solutions to it. You're not treating it as a one off. You're going back to OK, what is causing this symptom and how do we fix that part and what does that look like for them so that there is more of that long term sustainability? So even if they decide to move on from having your services, they've got things in place now that allows them to be more productive, to be the CEO, as you said, to create those growth strategies.

I would say probably one of the biggest reasons why people are not able to grow is simply exactly what you just touched on. They just don't have the capacity to allow their brain to rest long enough to be able to come up with some of those ideas. And I've talked about I've done an entire episode just on the quality of or the value of quality rest and rest is not sleeping. Just to be clear for everyone, rest is when you are awake, but you are allowing your mind to be at ease. That is when your best ideas will come to you. But if you are just

switching from one task to the next and then going and picking up the kids from soccer and then going and making dinner and then making sure that everyone's got their clothes for the next day and doing the laundry and all these different things, you are not actually allowing yourself or your mind to be at rest and you're not going to be able to dream bigger, do more and grow sustainably. So this is where I love that you are really helping them from that root issue as opposed to again, it goes back to I think there's a misconception that virtual assistants

Are there just to complete tasks? If you want some to complete tasks, there are people out there who are doing that. A virtual assistant is more of a partner who you're bringing in, who is going to make your life easier. And I think in my experience as well with working with VAs myself and with others that have worked with them, one of the best things that you can do when you're working with a VA is just asking. Like you were talking about the social media earlier where like you want to expand your horizons and your clients are asking like, where would you like to explore?

Because you just never know sometimes when you ask someone like, hey, what would you be interested in? It just might fit something like a need that exists there. Exactly. And on the other side of that, also my clients will be like, I don't know if you've ever done this. Would you be open to trying this out for me? And I'd be like, yeah, I've never done it. But why don't we give it a shot, see if it works out. If not, we'll outsource it to someone else or figure out another way to go about this. But again, it really is like a partnership.

⁓ like being the strategist together and not just ticking off boxes and going back to what you said, I think it's really important that, you know, we kind of teach people both virtual assistants and business owners to catch burnout before it happens. People wait until they're already burnt out to find the solution and you really need to rest. I think we go on autopilot all the time. We don't realize that we've already burnt out and you really want to start

understanding your body and your mind to where you can catch it before it happens and get that rest in and create a sustainable, not just business, but also lifestyle. Yeah, exactly. It's one of the main core concepts of the group coaching program, especially that I do, but I also incorporate, course, into my one on one coaching. But one of the reasons why we're facing burnout, Jazzy's already touched on this about how, you you've just got too many things on the to do list and you're just trying to do too much.

But it's also because we don't necessarily know clearly what it is that we're building. What are we trying to do? What are our actual goals and strategies? We get so caught up. And this is especially common with passion driven entrepreneurs. You started this business because of a passion. So you were just like, I want to do this thing. Whatever that thing was, whether it's making candles or cleaning houses or home staging, interior design, whatever that looks like, you're like, I want to just do this thing.

And that's great because other people want you to do that thing as well. And so then you start getting clients, which gets you more clients, which gets you the more clients. And the next thing, you know, like you were saying, Jazzy, there's no systems in place. There's everything is kind of just this chaos. And at no point did you stop to say, what is it that I really want to be doing here? What is my role going to be? What am I going to be hiring someone else for? And figuring out what that whole strategy is. And that's one of the biggest things that I work on with my clients takes usually about three weeks to get that clarity. But once you do.

It is easy to say no and eliminate like up to 40 % of the things that you're already doing, whether that's through outsourcing or simply by just saying, I don't want to deal with this because it doesn't align with my vision and where I'm going. And that, so the fact that you dig into that with your clients as well, and you work on that mindset and you work on understanding exactly where they're at and helping to bring them back from the brink of burnout or potentially help them heal from burnout if they're already experiencing it.

I think is so critical to the value of what you do. I think people are underestimating how much value there is. Right, absolutely. I think it's important to understand that it's all about alignment in your business. So like you said, if there's just things that don't align with your vision anymore, you have to drop them. And as women entrepreneurs, I feel like we want to white knuckle everything. We're like, we poured our energy and our time into this.

why are we going to give it up? And it's like, if it just doesn't align with you anymore and it's not going back to your why, if it doesn't fit with your why you started, you have to just let it go. And that's sometimes the best thing that you can do for yourself and your business. Yeah, I think we often have a lot of guilt that we shouldn't associated with letting something go that's no longer serving us. I got a whole episode on that one as well for anyone who needs it. ⁓ But yeah, especially as women, it's so challenging for us.

This is, is a, Jazzy and I are giving you permission to let go of some things. It is okay if you don't do all of the things. It doesn't mean you're not capable of doing them. We know you can do it. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Like I have a background in computer science, so I can manipulate a website. I can program it. I could code it for that matter. Doesn't mean I should. That's not where I should be spending my time. Trust me, I get a little bit excited when I do sometimes, but it doesn't necessarily mean that's where I'm supposed to be spending my time.

What would you say as you were building your business? I know it's easy. We talked about this earlier about how it's so easy to like do the right things for your clients and not necessarily for yourself. What are some of the traps maybe that you fell into in your journey of entrepreneurship that you could share with us? yeah, absolutely. This is something that you know, I've kind of you know, going off of what I said about my clients having that to pull them back in and be like, OK, we need to go back in.

create these systems that you didn't create, I did the same thing where I didn't create the boundaries. I really poured everything into my clients. Then I was like, what about me? So I think one of the biggest things is not setting boundaries off the bat in terms of whether it's working hours, being your own boss is great, but you do get caught in the trap of like, okay, I end up working 10, 12 hour days when I don't need to be.

and then not taking care of myself, skipping meals. I used to skip meals and be like, I don't need to eat lunch right now. It's okay. I'm just going to keep working. And so those boundaries, whether it's with your clients or with yourself or with your lifestyle, those were really crucial for me to start implementing, whether it's turning off notifications at a certain time, setting an end time, setting alarms for breaks, making sure that I'm getting up and walking. I think another big thing was that I

still kind of treated it up until very recently, like a nine to five, because that was what worked for my brain. But it started to kind of stress me out because I was like, well, now I have to go to the gym super early and now I only have time for dinner. And I wasn't really integrating the way I wanted to. The point of me starting this business was to have the flexibility of the lifestyle. And I wasn't giving myself that chance. So I really had to start setting up time where I was like, okay, it's okay if I go to the gym middle of the day on a Tuesday.

and rearranging my schedule, not being so in this cut and dry flow and just letting things unfold naturally. And that was a huge shift that I really had to make because I was burning myself out without realizing it. was like, well, I'm just working nine to five now. It's fine. And then I also started not prioritizing my own business where I do everything for my clients, not doing things for myself. And then I'd be like, I didn't create content for myself this week.

That's okay. I need to put my clients above me. I started creating CEO weeks where I start instead of like CEO days where people do a whole day where they focus on themselves and the rest is client work. do CEO weeks where the first half of the day I start with my work and then I end with client work. And then the next week I flip it. So I'm still doing it every single day because that's just how my brain works where I'm working on both, but I'm prioritizing beginning of the day versus end of the day.

I really like that because I've I've gone into a bit of a routine in terms of I wouldn't say that I'm a strict time blocker, although there is a ton of value to it. I've done it. I've taught my clients to do it. ⁓ But I was finding there were certain things that just weren't getting done. So I'm like, need to just block off time for them. And so I now spend the first two hours of my day working on my client stuff as in I'm putting out a new course. It's.

the content and the materials for that course. So I'm putting out a new webinar training. It's going into that. If I told a client that I would dig into something further for them, I'm working on that. So I do all of that stuff because I find that's where I might when my brain is the freshest and I'm most productive. But I really like what you're saying, though, about because that's all. Yes, it's furthering my business, but it's not necessarily working on my business. I love how you're saying how you flip it because for most people, not everyone, but for most people.

first thing in the morning is your most productive time. Those are your most valuable hours. So I like how you're saying how you flip it one week you're working, you're using those hours for yourself, another week you're using those hours for your clients. So each of you are getting the best of you. I love that idea. Exactly. that's brilliant. my goodness. Okay, so if someone is listening to this and they're like, okay, I am clearly ready for a VA.

How do you recommend they go about finding a VA? Because this is probably one of the number one questions that I get. They're like, sure, I know I need one. How on earth do I find one? Yeah, there's a lot of ways. I've personally landed clients in all different types of ways. I did used to use Upwork. I did used to traditionally apply on Indeed and LinkedIn. But now that social media is my main form of marketing and now that I work with other virtual assistants and coach them.

I think Instagram is the best place to find what you need because I always say social media is your resume nowadays. So when you're scrolling through someone's Instagram, you can really see what their niche is, what they've been working on, clients they've worked with, maybe testimonials, their personality. I think it's really important that you mesh with the energy of the person that you're hiring in. So that kind of gives you a chance to get to know them a little bit more. ⁓ Again, it's pretty saturated on Instagram.

have a lot of people to choose from, but there are a lot of people that will put their specialty in their titles. If you're specifically looking for administrative VA, there's usually general VA's out there. If you're looking for someone that does social media or PR or podcast management, a lot of them, you just have to search and just start talking to them, hop on calls with them. That's the best way. And a lot of my clients said they decided to work with me just because.

our energies match. And I think that's the best way to go about it is you have to just start talking to people and make sure that it's a good fit. I that's a really good point. Yeah. Don't necessarily just pick the first person that comes into your feed. But of course, even if you're listening to this episode, then probably your phone is listening to you and it's going to start showing you some ads and some social media from some virtual assistants anyway, because we know that's how it works. ⁓ Can you give me an example maybe of like one of your greatest

accomplishments with a client and it doesn't have to be, I'm not necessarily saying accomplishment, like I made them six figures, but like what was one of the most gratifying things that you did with a client that just really helped you to feel like what you did contributed to their business? Yeah, I think I would go with my first client. I started with them when they were just starting out as they were speakers and authors. It was a husband and wife duo. are speakers and authors.

and they were speaking on their book. And we started off very small. I was their first assistant and they were like, we really just want to start getting booked for speaking gigs. So we can do some things for free. We can do smaller things and start working our way up. And now four years later, that's their main source of income. ⁓ You know, they make like six figures from speaking and their book. And I think, you know, I didn't do that alone, of course, like working with them, but.

together, like seeing them grow as speakers and being able to travel the world, do what they love and share their message, seeing the impact that they make and now having people reach out to them to be like, we saw you speak at this event, we'd love you to speak at our next event. And just seeing like the major impact that they make is the most rewarding thing. think that's why like working with speakers and coaches, because they all have such an important message, no matter what it is. And that's rewarding for me to be like, I help them.

put that out there to the world. At least it impacted one life that's more gratifying than anything. Yeah. I love that. That's so beautiful. And that must be so great to have been a part of that. And like you said, because you both grew together as well, it just makes it a little extra special as well. But to be able to see them living the life that they set out to live, especially when they first started off with you keeping things kind of small and not even totally sure I'm sure of what it actually they needed. But ⁓ so if someone's listening to this and they're saying,

I don't know if I'm ready for a VA yet. What's your advice to them? Because it's different for people who are like, you need a VA. She gave you some tips for how to go out and find them. But if someone's like, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I'm ready. Maybe I'm not ready. What should I do? Yeah, I think this comes up a lot, a lot with people that I get on calls with. Even if they book the calls with me, sometimes they're like, I'm not sure if I'm ready. And that's OK. I think the first step is getting on the call and having that conversation with a virtual assistant.

because they can give you a little bit more insight. If you haven't worked with one before, you're probably not fully aware of the logistics behind it, what they can and can't do. And I think it's great to find virtual assistants that kind of personalize their packages a little bit more so that you can start small. Something that I do and something that I help my BA students do is start at a smaller scale and then kind of work their way up with their clients. If their clients aren't comfortable, if it's their first time hiring.

I kind of say we can start small and then see what you need from there. And I think that builds a lot of trust with people. So if you're a business owner, try to find a virtual assistant that does something like that. And you can always do a trial and see, think, ⁓ make sure that you kind of go through your business operations and see what can you pass off? What are you willing to pass off and get on those calls and just give it a chance.

And so what is looking, what is starting small look like for someone? I think this can be a bit of an intimidating part too. They're like, I only need someone for maybe five hours a week. And especially I know in some areas people are so accustomed to, it's anything less than 20 hours a week, they assume that they just can't get any help. So what, what does starting small look like? I mean, I know you can only speak for yourself and for your students, but what, what does that look like when working with you?

Yeah, so for me, I actually don't work hourly anymore. I work on a package system. So I usually set a minimum of $450 is the baseline to start with me. So any we can work together to kind of create a personalized package, as I mentioned, and just be like, what tasks do you need? If you're like, I only need this amount, we're like, OK, what else can we throw in to meet that minimum? And then you can work your way up from there. I think the great thing about most virtual assistants, ⁓ especially ones that aren't

you know, an agency is that it's a month to month contract for most people. So you're never tied into a long-term contract like you would be with most agencies. So, you know, if it doesn't work out one month, you don't have to worry about, oh my gosh, I'm stuck for six months to a year. And I think that scares a lot of business owners. So I think that's a big thing is like, just try it out for a month or two and, you know, see what you can pass off. And there are some virtual assistants that

work hourly that will maybe start at, I think like one of my first clients, started at like $350 a month on an hourly rate. So there's a lot out there that you can do. You can hire people from other countries that work for a little bit lower rates. There's a lot of options. Just do your research. And so, you know, for someone who's looking to ⁓

Get started with a VA maybe they might be a little bit intimidated by I know this has come up sometimes as well as is sort of the tech stack for anyways not filled with it what I mean by the tech stack this is like the different software programs that you are using how much do do we need to Do on our end for a VA like are you normally having for example someone said not send you up with your own email address within their company to find it's a bit of a mix of things

Are they setting you up on their project management software, whether it's a sauna, Monday, click up, whatever? Like how does that initial onboarding, what does that look like for most of your clients? Yeah, so it's usually a mix because I personally specialize a lot in like outreach for speakers in terms of like the email. It's a personal preference. I say I can pitch as myself, I can pitch through your email or we can make a whole new email under your domain for just me to use.

So the email thing is kind of like, I always say it's a personal preference. I haven't seen too much of a conversion rate difference in terms of whether I'm pitching as myself or as them. So it's really a personal preference for them. In terms of like onboarding, I usually have everything systemized on my end so that my clients, if they have systems, I'm happy to work within their systems. If they have a CRM already, if they have a project management, I'm happy to go into that.

and work with what they already have. But if they don't, I integrate them into my own. Perfect. I like that too. That's probably a little less intimidating because I think this is also a big misconception of it's sort of ⁓ the chicken and the egg scenario, right? Of, well, I need systems in order to hire someone, but I need to hire someone so I can get systems in place. So it sounds like you can help them with that hurdle as well. Yeah, absolutely. I think most people don't even realize.

sometimes what a system is, they're like, yeah, I've gone to clients and they're like, I do this here and I do this here and I do this there. And I'm like, this is not a system. Let's kind of map this out together. And sometimes it's something super basic. You don't need anything super complicated for a lot of business owners, especially smaller business owners starting out. Sometimes it's just having an organized Google Drive and just kind of like the steps to work together.

Definitely don't be intimidated because most of the time virtual assistants will have systems that they've used with previous clients that they can just integrate with you and pull you into it and walk you through it. If that's not a selling point, I don't know what is. And you've actually got a systems and automations guide on your website. So we'll give a link to that in our show notes too. You can find her at the thejazzyva.com But like I said, we'll put a link to that in the show notes because you've got a systems and automations guide.

that you have as a resource on your website that people can check out. I think that would be, this is a great example of like, yes, go and check that out, but also just hire the VA to help you to implement all those systems as well. Amazing. So if someone listening today were to take one takeaway away from what we've been discussing, one takeaway, one action item, one thing that they can do today, what would that be? What would you tell them? I would say remember

who you are, remember that you're the CEO of your own business and that you don't have to do everything alone. And it's okay to let go and to ask for help. It's more than okay. It's actually admirable to ask for help and to bring someone in and trust them. It's a lot harder than just doing everything yourself. So it is admirable to do that, but let go and make sure that you're stepping into your power role and letting other people help you.

I love that. I couldn't have said it better myself. That is so perfect. Jazzy, I can't thank you enough for coming on today. I think this was such a powerful episode. And I'm hoping that everyone listening to this either gets in touch with you or at least goes and finds a VA that they do find is going to work well for them. Because I think that the more we lean into this, the better businesses we can all build together. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.

I'm glad to provide the value. There's so many virtual assistants out there that would love to be a business bestie for any business owner. And I think that's the first step to creating a sustainable business so that you can live the life of your dreams. Yeah, everyone needs a business bestie, right? It's lonely as a CEO sometimes. Amazing. So all of the resources that we talked about here today, of course, you will be able to find those in the show notes. Be sure to check it out.

Don't forget to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a review that helps other people find us too. And of course, as always, if this episode is resonating with you and I know it will be, and you know someone who might also benefit from it, the best way that we can continue to support each other as female entrepreneurs is to share this episode with someone that you know could really benefit from it. Until next time, keep thriving.