Ep 77 Transcript: From Overworked Solopreneur to Empowered CEO with Gabrielle Tongol

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

Shauna Lynn Simon (00:02)

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business Podcast. I'm your host, Shauna Lynn Simon, and today I'm thrilled to be welcoming Gabrielle Tongol also known online as Gabs, and she is a self-employed entrepreneur since 2014. She actually evolved from fitness coach to influencer and now serves as the CEO and founder of Assist Her Agency, which is a powerhouse team that supports overwhelmed entrepreneurs in reclaiming their time and, most importantly, their mental real estate.

So with over a decade of experience building and scaling businesses, Gab's actually now leads a team of eight while also mentoring aspiring agency owners, proving that you can build a thriving business without sacrificing your wellbeing. And I think her mission really perfectly aligns with what we talk about here on the podcast, which is sustainable growth that doesn't come at the cost of, your entire life, basically. So Gabrielle, thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you for having me. think it's going to be so great to talk about all the different things today, just given the history that I've had. And like you said, it aligns so well with your podcast. So I'm very excited and thank you for having me. Yeah. And I mean, so, okay, so take us back. We started in 2014. That's when you started as a fitness coach. Did I get that correct? Yes. So was a little bit of a hodgepodge of all the things. I was in college at the time and I had started as a social media manager, actually. ⁓

And so at the time though, I didn't like who I worked for, but I liked what I was doing. So I was like, okay, let me try doing the social media management thing on my own. At the same time, Instagram had just been taking off. And especially around the fitness community on Instagram. So I was documenting my fitness journey at the time too. I was preparing for my first bodybuilding show. So the opportunity to be a social media manager aligned with getting a sponsorship through a supplement company.

And then because I needed more income, I did the fitness coaching as well. So I was kind of having my hands in a bunch of different things back in 2014. And, you know, that's still the case now having my hands in a bunch of things, that's where it That's where it all started. So it never was something that I like, I knew I wanted to own my own business and I wanted to do an agency at that. Like I had no idea that this is what my path was going to be.

Um, and I think what I love a lot about my first few years of entrepreneurship is like, it was so unexpected. So there was no expectations. So I kind of just leaned into whatever opportunities came about. So while I started as a social media manager, I evolved into a makeup artist, a photographer, a videographer, a video editor, a virtual assistant. And that's kind of like the snowball effect that happened. Um, cause you know, especially in those early years, you're just kind of hustling to, to make it a full-time thing. Right. So.

⁓ Yeah, that's like the shortest way to kind of describe how everything kind of started. Well, I love that you've talked about that because we actually talk a lot about what I call my very affectionately, my accidental CEO. exactly. And so you are the epitome of the accidental CEO who like you started with with a passion. You knew what you love doing and you kind of just kept following that until it took you to a point where it sounds like you have now found your North Star. Like you now have much more clarity on where you're going.

And I would assume, but correct me, of course, on this, that with knowing where you're going, probably feels a little bit smoother, for lack of a better term. you know, but doesn't necessarily make everything easy. Entrepreneurship is not easy. Let's let's not sugarcoat this. knowing what it is that you're building and where you're going definitely helps a lot with that. So I love how accidental you were in getting into this. Where would you say there was sort of that pivotal moment where you were like,

I need to put some structure behind this passion. I think when I realized it wasn't like a side thing anymore, like it wasn't experimental. It wasn't like, let me just give it a try. Like it's like, no, like this is your livelihood. Like this is how you're paying your bills. This is how you're getting into travel. This is how you're, know, like again, I was only, actually haven't mentioned this. I was only about 18, 19 at the time. So I'm very, yeah. So I'm very much like, what am I doing? Like my parents were like, this is just like a phase, right? Like you're going to go back to like,

an HR job that you just went to college for, you know, like they were really hoping that it would pass at some point and then it didn't. And here we are now, right. But yeah, especially during that age, it was one of those things that I was didn't, I don't want to say I didn't take it seriously, but I mean, the best way to say it is like, I wasn't, I was just like, okay, cool. I'm making money doing this and that.

And then I think once I realized like, okay, this can actually become a full-time thing. That's when I was like, okay, I need to start treating this like an actual business. And like what I like to say is like actually be a CEO. And I think that word is so, we don't like to embrace it right away. At least I didn't like to embrace it right away. I was like, yeah, I have my own business. I work for myself. But like, I didn't really like to say like it was a business or I was a CEO. So yeah, I think that that was kind of.

Yeah, the weird, weird phase for me of like, kind of like, am I really doing this? You know? And so it was, yeah, once I, once it became like a couple years, my parents were very much like, okay, this is real. She's not going back to a corporate job. I think you touched on a couple of things that probably a lot of our audience can relate to. One is the quote unquote real job that your family, your friends, that everyone who loves you just really wishes you would get because to them that screams stability. Even if they're an entrepreneur, they all want stability for you.

The other thing that you touched on though was about really acknowledging and embracing CEO. And I think women especially really struggle with this. I actually just wrote an email about this ⁓ recently about the delegation aspect of accidental CEOs where when we hire people, we almost start hiring with the idea of like, well, this person is going to take on some tasks. They're going to be like a task bunny or

for lack of better term, minion. I hope nobody actually thinks of them as a minion, but in kind of that, you know, they're going to do all the sludge work. They're going to do all the all this stuff. They're to take all this stuff off my plate. But they forget about the part where I'm the boss. I'm in charge. I'm responsible for this. And even if you're not actually hiring, you are still the CEO of your business. And so many entrepreneurs, especially women and especially creative entrepreneurs, we put our title as things like founder.

and owner. I started off as that. I'll be. still I still have founder in there. yeah, for sure. But CEO is something where it's like, yeah, I'm the CEO. I don't have any employees and it's not a real business, is it? But I like how, you know, you had to have that reflection moment of, well, this is how I'm paying my bills. And I think for everyone who's listening to this, hear that if this is how you're paying your bills or how you would like to be paying your bills, you are running a business and you are a CEO.

full stop. it's so I don't I don't know exactly where all the barriers come from. I know there's a whole lot of societal stuff that's in there, you know, and, ⁓ you know, upbringing, there's a lot of different factors that relate to why women struggle with that. ⁓ But would you say there was anything that kind of helped you to embrace that CEO title? ⁓ I think it was when I started to believe in myself and what I was accomplishing. That's when I really started to embrace it of like, okay, like I'm

I can do this, I am doing this and there is so much more opportunity for me to still accomplish. And like, this was just the beginning of it. And so I think that, I think just saying things out loud more, know, like practicing, just saying that like, this is what you do. And someone says, Hey, what do you do? Right? You know, what are you doing for work right now? It's stuff, right? Especially freshly out of college and stuff like.

Fully saying that and embracing it, think is what really helped me actually believe what I was saying. ⁓ It sounds so simple, but truly like actually saying it out loud versus like internalizing it, I think really helped me like just embrace that too. And like I said, really celebrating the opportunities that came my way and like checking certain things off that like I'd never even had on my vision board of all of this, right? so yeah, I think things like that is what really helped me kind of embrace that. And also hearing feedback from the clients that I was serving.

what it was doing for them and the impact I was making, I think constantly was like that revolving door of like kind of feeding into like, okay, like you really are onto something. So that was really nice too. I like that you're saying how, you you're focusing on what it is that you have already accomplished, big or small, like you're celebrating all those milestones, because all of those are stepping stones to the next step, while you're still also looking to the future, but you're not ignoring where you're already at. At the same time, like we do need to...

I love what you're saying about saying it out loud. Those affirmations, whatever you want to call it, whether it's your manifestation, your affirmations. The point is, like I've talked about this on episodes before, I've had experts on the show about this, that your brain doesn't know the difference between those. If you've got those internal thoughts that are negative, it believes those things. Even if you're not even saying them out loud. So saying positive things out loud actually helps to train your brain to believe it.

And that's key. I think that so many of us, we're our own worst critics. Let's be real. Like how many times are we, you know, looking at something we've done? Oh, I could have done that better. Sure. Maybe. All the time. But can we celebrate what you did do really well? And, you know, and it's of course hard if you've got naysayers around you and everything else, you know, and people tell you to go out and get a real job, so to speak. So, you know, there's a lot of different factors there. So I like that you've got to embrace your own confidence and that confidence comes from you. You have to create it.

Exactly. important. So, okay, so you've you started the assist her agency. What was your motivation to get that agency started? Like, what were you seeing out there that people really needed to? Yeah, so I was a solopreneur up until December 2020. December 2020 is when I finally did the agency route. And it's funny, because earlier in 2020, I actually stopped being a virtual assistant altogether. And I said, I'm going all in on the fitness coaching.

that lasted a couple of months. And then I said, actually, my brain is really on the virtual assisting operations world. So I actually fully shut this chapter down before I did it. And then all of a sudden I went all in and said, And I ⁓ think the breaking point for me was working the 12 to 15 hours. mean, not to say I don't work that still. mean, as, you know, as CEOs, we can all relate that we really don't have a start and stop sometimes. Like I know we're all working on it, but.

⁓ It was in my kitchen table when I didn't even have an office yet. And I was just like, you know, I can't, how am going to do this when I'm 25, when I'm 30, right? And I'm like, this isn't sustainable. And also the impact I was making on individuals and businesses, I was like, I can't do this all alone. I could actually do more if I had extra hands, eyes, ears, brains, right? So I was like, if I want to make a bigger impact, how do I do that? And hiring was the first thought.

Did I know that it was gonna become as big of an agency as it is today? Absolutely not. Like I did not expect that part at all, but it's been such a beautiful blessing to have grown as quickly as we have. So December 2020 is when we became an agency. That's when I made my first hires. And then quickly within a year, we were up to a team of six. So yeah, it was very, really fast, but I absolutely loved.

how much more we were able to help people. And I think that's always been my main driver is helping people. And I think because that's always been my motivator, not the money, not anything like that. That's what's really allowed me to scale the agency that I have today and in a way that I'm very proud of. So yeah, it really came down to just wanting to serve more people. And I knew that my, myself couldn't do it alone. And I think too, again, like just thinking about my future, like, you know, when I want to have kids and when I want to take a vacation, like.

How do you do that by yourself? And it's very doable. Don't get me wrong. But ⁓ with where I wanted to go, and like I said, the people that I wanted to serve, I just didn't know how that was going to be possible. So I said, hey, if I shut it down and I'm coming back, let's try this another way. And now being the agency that we are, I love that like my team is better at half the things that I used to do. And they do it better than me. They do it faster than me, more efficiently. And like,

they are the experts in it. So yes, I could dabble in some of the things now, but like, am I nearly as good? Absolutely not. And I think that's such a unique thing about our agency is that we all have our different pockets of expertise. And so I really love that I stuck to my roots of what I was as a solopreneur. So yes, I did all the things, but now we do all the things, but we have various experts doing it. And so I think it's just so cool how it's evolved to where it is. And like I said,

going in with no expectations has probably been the best thing because I never have been disappointed because it's like, didn't even plan for this. It just kind of happened. So yeah, that's kind of the pivotal point of going from solopreneur to agency model was at that point. Well, I mean, as they say, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Doesn't mean you should. Absolutely. And I'll admit that I've been guilty of it over the years. I think every entrepreneur has been

You know, like I talk to my clients sometimes like, but I really enjoy the marketing. Like, cool. How much time is that marketing taking up of your time each week? And I know that's one of things that you talk about is like you help people get rid of those 20 hours that they're spending on marketing or, you know, whatever it is. And even like with marketing, I will say to myself personally, what I find the most challenging with marketing is that you're constantly dreaming up the next idea. And that is taking my focus away from serving my clients.

And so I like what you say, but you give them back their mental real estate because our head should not be holding as much as it's constantly holding and processing on daily basis. So when you made your first hire, what would you say? Did you say you hired a couple of people at the same time or was it one person? So I did two. So what were some of the fears that you were like that were going through your head for that? absolutely. That no one could do it the same as I did.

I was like, I don't know if you're gonna do it the same way. I don't know if you're gonna deliver the same results. ⁓ I think too, I had no idea even how to train them because I'm like, it's all in my brain. I've been doing this for the past, you how many years and like I've never documented an SOP. I've never, none of that, right? So I think those were my fears for sure. Like, can you do it the way that I would do it? Am I gonna have to review it like so closely before we even send it to the clients? ⁓

⁓ I think also part of that was like, are you going to do it better than me? And I'm going to be out of a job, you know? So it's kind of a double-edged sword there where you're like, you're worried that they're not going to do it the way you're going to do it. But then you're also worried. Are you going to take my job away from me? Right. Like, and you know, I think the idea of letting people into your business is a very scary thing because you know, you hope everyone has great intentions. You hope everyone is going to care as much as you do. And you hear that saying all the time that nobody's going to care about your business like you, but I do think that there are people

who do care about your business as much as you do. I think you just need to find the right people that align in that way. And naturally as CEOs, obviously you breathe, sleep and eat your business. So yeah, I think that was probably my biggest fears there in hiring. And how would you say that you overcame that whole like, can they do it as well as I do and can I actually delegate to them? I don't have any SOPs. Walk me through sort of how you were able to overcome some of those challenges.

I think communication was a big one, know, communicating and being honest about how I was feeling and that this was my first go around at hiring. And thankfully the people that I hired, you know, they were very understanding of that as well. It was also their first time applying for an agency. So it kind of worked out that way too. ⁓ And, know, finding the people who very much did fit the agency model. Not everyone will. So a lot of the people that I have hired, their biggest thing is like, I don't want to be in charge of the...

admin, the invoicing, the marketing and stuff. like, this is like where I want to be like, I want to be more in charge of the actual, you know, deliverables and stuff. So finding people like that, that felt aligned with like what that was actually going to entail. ⁓ When it comes to the SOP part, like I said, like that's something that I say to everybody, I wish I had started documenting how I did things well before I even thought about hiring, because taking it from your brain onto a piece of paper or loom video or whatever is really difficult when you've been doing it so routinely.

So just like basically filming like a day in my life was something that I had to do to kind of figure out, okay, what do I even do in these certain tasks that I've been doing? And I think also just being open-minded that there's more than one way to do things. And again, going through kind of like a communication of like, okay, why did so and so do it this way versus how I would do it? What was their thought process between this design versus my design, right? So.

really just like understanding that like I was also in a position of learning to refine and improve and that it didn't necessarily mean I was always right with everything that I was directing, you know, the two new hires to do. So it was a very collaborative effort, I think. And like I said, I think that transparency was very helpful too. Yeah, now I know obviously a lot more different things when I hire, but I would say for anyone who's kind of just like not really sure where to start, especially if you're feeling overwhelmed of

you know, how do I start hiring? Number one is just document how you do things, whether that's an alune video, a voice memo, a document, literally whatever it is, because eventually someday it does need to come out of your brain to somebody else. So that was definitely kind of like how I navigated that piece to it all. And there was endless calls and, you know, co-working sessions and everything like that. It really is a...

It's a process. It's not something that you can just turn on, hand it off to somebody. And I think that's the misconception people have sometimes when they do hire, whether that's internally or a contractor is that you just hire them. They know what to do. It's going to be perfect, but it's like, no, it needs to be a partnership so that everyone is set up for success. And so I think it's a very important thing for people to realize when they're hiring for sure. What I think is especially challenging, like you're talking about some of these roles that you're hiring for probably a little bit subjective in terms of

what they're doing. so you have to look big picture of like you were saying, like, how are they doing things versus how did I do things and why are they doing it that way? Because this is the other thing that I always like to remind people is that when someone does something different than you, it doesn't mean they didn't put thought into it. They just use different thoughts to get to the end result. And I mean, definitely like if you're focusing more on outcome and objective, that definitely helps to guide things. But again, when something can be very subjective.

in terms of what's right, what's wrong. Sometimes the outcome isn't quite as well defined in terms of what you're expecting for results from them. So there's some give and take there for sure. But I like what you say, though, about documenting the processes. I think that so many people get caught up in having these overly fancy SOP models of like back in the day, there were these binders and they were printed and they were bound. And like you wanted to make sure that these were accurate. Nowadays, SOPs are so fluid.

They can change on a dime. So being able to capture them in a way that makes sense for you, that doesn't take a ton of work necessarily. It doesn't mean you have to have this pretty document that everybody can read through. Creating some videos. I have found and I will say that my team has always said they actually prefer those videos. Like I can read, I can go back, I can see exactly what it looks like. If you're just reading something, sometimes you're skimming it and you're missing things. So the videos definitely work well.

And you can always have someone down the road transcribe those videos into an actual document. I think that ensuring that that's not going to be the barrier, like don't let that be the barrier to hiring because that is probably one of the most solvable things. Like you said, if you're doing the tasks right now anyway, then simply record yourself doing the task. Yeah, yeah. No, that's easiest way. And the one thing that we recommend everyone to do is to just literally, like I said, like vlog your day is like I

So silly, but literally just vlog your day. You have no idea what all these little steps are that you might be missing. And to your point, SOPs can be as elaborate or as simple as someone may want or need. just, also everyone is a very different learner. We've learned as well within our team. Some people like the bulleted lists and written it out. Some people like the loom videos. Some people like both. So I think that's an also a very important thing when it came to hiring was asking the new hires, how do you best...

learn how can I best support you to fully understand how this role and responsibility needs to be fulfilled. So I think that's a huge one. And we actually have a free download, is a SOPs guide, like how to create SOPs as well as delegation. Those two definitely complement each other really well. And it's for this exact reason, because I feel like a lot of people who do want to outsource, they get paralyzed in the whole, like, I don't even know how I would delegate or teach someone what I do. it's like, can be, like you said, very simple.

As long as you can show someone a little bit how it goes, it can happen. So ⁓ yeah, no, just wanted to add that ⁓ learning style was a big one too. Understanding how best to support the new hires. Well, I like that. Yeah, you mentioned the delegation digest and the SOP guide that you have. We'll make sure that there's links to those in the show notes, but those are so critical to your ability to scale is being able to understand the delegation and the SOP factors and how those actually work together.

in order to support you as well as your team members. And again, I think something that you said earlier was just about thinking about them as a partner. And so have that communication with them. Talk to them about, like you said, how do they learn? How do they prefer to receive information? And also leave it open for them to be able to say, hey, I think I have got a better way of doing this and being able to bring that to you. Because you mentioned earlier, they do it better than you do. You don't even bother trying to know all the ins and outs.

as a CEO, should be high level on these things. Yes, you can't. We can never just say like, well, I didn't really see what they were doing. Like my left hand wasn't watching what my right hand was doing, so to speak. You can't really do that. People get a lot of trouble doing that. But it doesn't mean you have to have everything in review. I always say that boomerang effect. If you have to review things, that's just a boomerang, which that's not delegation. Delegation is they own it. They are responsible for the outcomes of it. And that is incredibly important. ⁓ I'm not sure if you're familiar with Michael McCallowitz.

He wrote Profit First, but he also wrote a fantastic book called Clockwork. And that is the whole premise of the book is about the fact that you should be in terms of delegating. You want to make sure they're owning it, that you're actually as a CEO, you don't necessarily need to own everything. Yes, there's certain things you need high level. The reality is as a CEO, you should be able to take off for weeks at a time and know that your business is still running without you. Does it take some effort to get there? Sure.

That's our ultimate goal. We all started these businesses for some level of freedom. Whether it's financial freedom or time freedom or whatever you want to put on it, we're looking for freedom. And then we find ourselves chained for, like you said, 15 plus hours a day. So delegation is key to untethering yourself from your job and being able to be more high level. So in terms of the clients that you work with, what are some of the things that they're

coming to you for support? What would you say is the biggest thing that you find entrepreneurs are like, just take this away from me? I think honestly, it's all the different moving parts in the business, right? There's so many different elements, especially nowadays with social media. think back then when social media wasn't as complex as it is today and the different platforms that we have, right? It was a little bit more manageable. But I think now that there's so many different possibilities of what you could be doing for marketing, what you could be doing for systems, what you could be doing for your strategy, everyone is feeling a bit overwhelmed on that.

and really just want someone to lead them in the way that works for their business. So the way that we've structured the agency is we kind of take care of a lot of the backend of people's businesses. So whether that's marketing, operations, admin, social media, you know, it's been very nice to help all the clients in different buckets of their business and have someone help them in that direction. But I would say, honestly, especially nowadays in the last probably year, the biggest thing that people want is that I don't like to say balance.

but the balance between the personal life and being a CEO. I think for a lot of the early years and a lot of the people who come to us are kind of been in business for about three to five years. So they've been in the hustle that's in the beginning. And now they're like, okay, how do I make this sustainable? I wanna grow a family, I wanna take vacations, I wanna do this, I wanna do that. And so now they're looking for, okay, how do I get that time freedom, that mental real estate so I can start focusing on things.

outside of my business. And so trying to find like what, do I do that? And how can I find a team that's going to take care of it as if I would, or, you know, in a way that like, I can feel good about stepping away. So that's where a lot of people are coming to us, like in what they're feeling. And then there's the technical piece to it. Like, you know, people kind of see what other people are doing and they're like, I literally don't have the time to even try to figure this out on my own. I don't want to YouTube it. I don't want to DIY it. Like just do it for me.

I think the biggest thing is because on the topic of time freedom, people don't want to spend time trying to figure it out, trialing and airing it, right? So people are just like, get it done for me, let me know what I need to know. And then we go from there and like also manage it for me. So yeah, I would say that's the biggest thing that, you know, entrepreneurs are coming to us with like what they're feeling and what they desire in the various services that we have to offer. And I think what I'm hearing here is that they essentially are looking for

being able to do what they do best and not have to feel so bogged down by the rest of it. I want to dig into that just a little bit more. We're going to talk about that a little bit further when we come back from this really quick break. All right. Welcome back to the Real Women Real Business podcast where I've been talking with Gabrielle about our Gavs as she's known online, all about ⁓ delegation and all the systems and such that you need in place in order to be able to grow your business. And one of the big parts of that is being able to bring on other team members who can assist you with things and

We've talked on the show previously about the value of being able to outsource to a virtual assistant, to an agency, because they specialize in those things. And that can be a lot easier sometimes than just trying to find someone, that specific person for your team. Maybe it doesn't feel like it's quite a full-time job or you have a multitude of things that you need some support with. But one of the big things that we're always seeking is some of those freedoms, like the financial freedom and the time freedom. So before the break, we were talking about just getting that,

life back, that integration. I don't call it a balance. I call them the integration of work and life because they are going to overlap at all times as an entrepreneur. don't you can't literally turn off a switch that says I'm going to stop thinking about my business, but there should be a way to make it feel like there's some boundaries in place and be able to. We're talking about, you know, get back to I want to do the thing that I love to do because accidental CEOs got into business to do the thing that they love to do and then find themselves spending most of their days doing anything but.

So you are helping them get back to that passion essentially, which I think is huge. And so if someone is looking to bring on an agency, ⁓ what are some of the things that they should be looking at? is there, because someone would be thinking, well, this is my favorite thing that I often hear people say, well, no one's going to want to do this job. ⁓ It's two little hours or it's a boring job or it's really annoying.

I've got one of my coaching clients, for example, she just loves digging into numbers and she's like, no one else geeks out on numbers the way that I do. I'm like, well, you'd be surprised. I'm sure if you really wanted to delegate that, there are people who would like to geek out on those numbers the same way that you do, because that shouldn't actually be her main job. So when it comes to finding an agency and offloading some of these things to a virtual assistant, what are some of the things that people should be looking at if they think that they're in a position where like I'm ready to do that? What should they be thinking about?

Yeah, I think one of the first things that I get people to do is write out like kind of like a T chart of like, are things you and your brain can only do? What are the things that you could teach someone to do? If it's something that's teachable, you could delegate it. And to the statement that you just made of like, no one else cares about this. There are many people who actually love the customer service, who love the data entry, who love the video editing. Like there are people who love certain elements of what we all do and, you know, have to do to start.

But there are people who are a bit more micro on those certain skill sets, just like how we have our own specialties and skill sets. There are people who are also in that realm when it comes to supporting the back end of a business. So ⁓ I think that mindset of like, there's no one else out there is just something that we constantly need to work on that. Like there are actually other people out there. Same thing as like, you know, in the beginning, I'm sure we've all had moments where like, no one's going to want this service. No one needs that. Like they don't need a coach like that. They don't need a service provider like that. And then what do know? You have a business that actually serves to those kinds of people. Right.

It's kind of the same mentality in that aspect. ⁓ I think something that we pride ourselves a lot in is that we will approach our relationship as a partnership. Like we really do wanna be invested in the bigger picture of the business. So while you may delegate things out to us that is admin specific, social media specific, we also wanna know the bigger vision of the company. ⁓ I think that's a very important thing to ask when you are interviewing virtual assistants, agencies, whatever that might be is like,

how do you align with the bigger picture? Because at the end of the day, if you don't want just a task doer, you need someone that is going to be invested into some degree in the bigger picture that you're working towards. Because I also find when they understand the role they're playing in the bigger plan, it allows them to feel more valued in what they're doing. Because I think too, something I've learned is that oftentimes virtual assistants can feel like I'm just admin, I'm just this, I'm just that. And that can cause some frustration between the service provider and the client.

But when you understand the impact that each role does to the business, I think that can really help ⁓ make sure that you are supporting in a way to that person and vice versa. So I think that's also very important there. ⁓ And so, yeah, I think that's a big thing is just really finding people that want to contribute to the bigger picture and not just a task doer. Now I say that and I think that people enter the virtual assisting world.

and are expecting just a task doer or they're expecting someone to be very forward thinking. There's a lot of different virtual assistants out there, whether that's a social media manager, operations, but like the virtual assisting umbrella has definitely expanded significantly. And so I think another thing as someone who's looking for an agency or an individual is to really think about the kind of individual you're actually looking for. Are you really looking for someone to just complete tasks?

Are you actually looking for someone to be a bit more on the strategic side and the more like forward thinking side, because every person is different as to how much they want to be just a task doer versus, you know, heavily embedded into the strategy piece to things or, you know, looking out for other things that they could be doing. So I think it's honestly just really being so open and communication of what do you really expect from this person and how can they contribute to what you're working towards.

and beyond just the actual skillset that you're looking for, who are they as a person and how can they contribute to that and align with what you're trying to do as well as a big one. I think too, ⁓ a lot of people nowadays are looking for long-term relationships versus short-term because it's, like I said in the beginning, it's very hard to let people into your business, re-brief them on what you've been doing, what you're doing, where you're going, right? And so that's honestly why the agency is structured the way it is, is because...

people were tired of working with multiple contractors and having to adapt to multiple ways of working, project managing, communicating and all that stuff. So we kind of wanted to minimize that as much as possible. And so, yeah, that kind of answered a few different things that- No, I love that. was fantastic. And one of the things that you hit the nail on the head with where you talked about, you got to let them in on the big picture, but even further to that-

You have to know what that big picture is. So I think that that is a key thing. And it's easy to get lost in all of the to do's, all of the tasks that we're working on that we kind of lose sight of what it is that we're actually building. But if we can get clarity on what that big picture is, it's a lot easier to understand going back to what you saying about like, which tasks do I need to do versus what can I delegate to someone else? Well, when I know what the big picture is, I know where the areas are like, well, if I want to grow to whatever that big picture is and growth can look different to everyone, it might.

It might not be dollar value growth necessarily, but whatever your growth looks like, whatever that future, the business you're working towards is, what are the things that you need to have happen in order for that to happen? And which out of those items are you the one that's going to be responsible for? Because everything else should be delegated off. But you also don't want to, by understand that big picture, you're not delegating tasks for the sake of delegating tasks and you're not delegating things that actually don't even need to get done.

I think that's a big thing too. I would imagine when you're working with people and especially when you get them to get that clarity on the big picture and communicate that to you, there's probably some things that you identify along the way of like, are you sure you really need someone to even do that? Like, does this even need to get done? And that I'm sure lightens the load for them as well, where they're like, ⁓ I can just let go of that. Like that can just disappear, doesn't even exist anymore. Well, I think also people get caught up in what other people have delegated, right? They think that because someone's those delegated that I need to too, but it's like,

our businesses are all so different. You the way we all operate, the way the data we all need, like that's also different. So I think it's interesting, right? Because especially as we all have become entrepreneurs, we have peers who are now doing it and stuff. Everyone's talking about what they're doing and what's working for them. But I think it's important to keep in mind that these conversations are great, very insightful, very like interesting. But at the end of the day, all of our businesses are so different and the needs of our businesses are also very different. So also honor that and respect that to yourself.

and not overwhelm yourself of like, because so-and-so is doing this, I do too, and that's gonna work for me because it's definitely not the case. So yeah, I think that's a huge thing in itself too, is like really unpacking what do you actually need in relation to where you're wanting to go? And I think people don't take that time to really understand that. so honestly, a lot of the beginning phases of working with our clients is sorting that out before we even say, yeah, here's all the tasks that we should be doing is that we always start with an audit and strategy to figure out what do even need?

versus what you think you need. And that's been a very, very helpful way of making sure the investment makes sense for both parties. ⁓ And a lot of clients have really appreciated that kind of initial audit and strategy, I guess you could say, before saying, okay, yeah, here's the package I recommend for you. It's like, would you have known that just through a 30 minute discovery call, right? We need to kind of like get, what I like to say is look under the hood of what are we really kind of like dealing with here and how can we truly support you?

Well, yeah, mean, as you said, like there's you can't compare yourself to what someone else is doing. You're all on your own journey. You have different skill sets. You have different opportunities. Your businesses are potentially even headed in different directions. Yeah. I mean, there are times where how often are you looking at what something else is doing and saying, like, I'm really excited about that for you. Yeah. For you. For you. It's one of my favorite phrases. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. That is a very polite way of saying you do that. Yeah.

You know, we talked pre-interview here before we hit record here, we were talking about our animals. Like you've got dogs, I've got cats. Like I talk about my cats as, you know, like anybody actually wants to know about the cats. I think that everyone's interested in my cats. And so often people are like, yeah, no, I love that for you. Similar to, mean, coming as a fitness coach, like I'm a runner myself, ⁓ very much into fitness, very active. ⁓

My alarm goes off at 420 AM. One of these days I'll document my full routine and do a whole podcast episode on it. people are shocked. They're like, what do mean you're up at 420 AM? That is the sweet spot. My body, once I changed my alarm to 420, it was like, yep, this is where we'd to yeah, it's brilliant. But of course, when I tell people this, people are like, yeah, no, I love that for you. So again, we're all on our own journey. I don't tell people I get up at 420 AM with the way of like, you should really get up at 420.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but you're clearly slacking off if you're sleeping until 5. Yeah, yeah. Or whatever that time is. We all have different things. mean, there's a lot of studies. Yes, as they are most productive hours, for example, or in the morning. There's also plenty of people who are like I get rallied up at 9 o'clock at night. yeah, lean into that same thing goes when it comes to the different tasks in your business, the things that you actually want to keep, the direction that you're going in and the company that you're going to work with and partner with.

to support you on that journey. It sounds like you've got a really well-rounded team that can support a lot of different things. ⁓ But I'm sure that there's also times where you're finding clients coming to you, like, know, we're not the best fit for you. think you might need someone else because you're not going to stretch yourself beyond your expertise either just to try to help a client if you're not the best suited for them. And I think that's really critical as well as we're growing our businesses to ensure that we are given the best support that we can to our clients.

So what is next for Assist Her agency? How are you planning to, are you going to grow? you like, I got eight people, this is my sweet spot. Or do you have something on the horizon where you're like 16 more coming onto the team? Like where are we at here? Honestly, I wanna stay pretty boutique style is what I call it. So being the team of eight that we are, I think this is good for now. I always say that I won't go more than 12 because I think this is a whole other topic in itself is.

I never thought about how much I had to learn about leadership, communication styles, ⁓ and more specifically the leadership. That has been probably the biggest challenge for myself personally when it comes to having my own team. Whether you have an internal team, whether you're hiring out, those leadership skills really, really need to get honed in on when you're in this industry and especially in a virtual environment. so...

I'm definitely very mindful of how many team members I want to have on the agency just to protect the integrity of our team culture and being mindful of the different people that are at my company ⁓ and the culture that they get to show up to every single day. And I really like the intimacy that we have being a smaller team. I like to know everyone's kids names, pets names, what they're doing on the weekend. You never wanna lose sight of that. That's always been something that's very important to me is to keep that kind of relationship with my team. I never want...

it to be one those big companies where it's like, don't even know who the CEO is. I've never talked to them in my day in my life. So, you know, I really want to keep that element to the agency. You know, we're going to continue to be that done for you agency that takes care of just about everything, which I really, really love. It can be confusing to people at first. I will say when they search us up, they're like, so what do you do? ⁓ I love being the unicorn agency out there. There's definitely not that that operate the way that we do.

And I love that I'm going to continue to be that agency. The team, myself and the team are going to continue to be that agency. ⁓ I want to continue to consult with other agency owners on all the things that I've learned over the past few years, because I truly, because everything was so accidental and unplanned, I think there's so much to have learned. And I love sharing what I've learned with others so that they can expedite their journey as well.

in cultivating whatever team culture or agency that they want. And then honestly, trying to maintain the whole influencer side of my personal brand, that's been a whole thing in itself of managing the agency and that, but ⁓ just continue to serve the clients that we do and hopefully more to come and just really, it's so beautiful to see the impact that we make on people's lives and what they're able to do in their personal time and their professional time and their...

professional milestones and that is truly our why and what we love to see on a day in and day out. So for as long as that's needed in this industry, we will continue to do that. But yeah, that's kind of what's next for us. I love it. I'm sure it's quite gratifying to see what your clients are achieving with your support and knowing that you are a part of that. I think this is the thing that people underestimate. Again, if you're just looking for someone to take on some tasks, think bigger picture. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves and that's one way of doing it.

But I also, everything that you're describing there, as much as you wanna maintain your culture and you wanna maintain your team being small and you're calling it boutique style. And at the same time, small doesn't mean low revenue or, ⁓ like this is small but mighty. Boutique doesn't have to mean that you're just getting by. You've built an incredibly powerful business that has the revenues to match and your clients are ⁓

quite thrilled, it sounds like, with everything that you're doing. So you've really built something that's quite special. You said you're the unicorn out there. And I think that we often mistake boutique for meaning small. You can maintain that intimacy, but still be a grand business without having to feel like you've got hundreds of people running around and you don't even know what their name is. Like you said, it's nice to know what their pet's names are, what the kid's names are, where they're spending their weekend time. Those are great connections to have, for sure.

Yeah, and I think it's just so important that like, for me personally, like the agency wouldn't be what it is without my incredible team that I have. And so really making sure that I have that time and space to continue to point to them and again, just get to continue to get to know them as our lives continue to progress is just very valuable to me. Oh, yeah, they're going to continue to grow. You're going to continue to grow as a leader, as an entrepreneur, as all the things that that you need to be as the CEO of your business. So I love that.

Wonderful. Sure. Well, listen, if people listening to this episode, we covered a lot of different things. We went in a lot of different directions. So if someone's listening to this and there's that one tangible thing that you want them to be able to walk away with, one thing that maybe they can implement today or one thing that they can kind of focus on, what would that one thing be from this episode? I don't know if it's necessarily something I mentioned today, but I think something that I would love for people to walk away with and something that I've learned in being in business over 10 years.

is that honor where you are today because you need to be there in order to be the person that you're going to be in the years to come. I know oftentimes I've questioned, you know, is what I'm doing right? Is this, you know, is this something that's gonna be worth it? And I think I've realized that like all the previous versions of me were needed to be the version that I am today. And so I think really leaning into all the unexpected that comes your way in your entrepreneurship journey.

is very, important to just trust the timing of everything. I know that's so cliche, but truly like now that I get to look back on all these years, I'm like, that's why I went through that. That's why this didn't happen to me yet. And so I think it's very important to lean into that. And then I think the last thing would be really, again, the bigger vision involves more than just you. So involve everyone into that, especially if you're thinking of delegating, because I promise you, the more that you let people in into what role they play to...

to make that bigger picture happen for yourself and for themselves, the much easier it can become of being a team of one, two, five, 10, whatever you want. So just really include everybody as well, I think is a big one. I think those are both very important. And I think, you know, I love what you said about just honoring who you are. I think it's something that I haven't always been as good at that. I'm always like chasing the next big thing without really spending that time reflecting. But I've definitely experienced my fair share of challenges over the last, I'd say, five years.

But when I look at them, like, you know, I wouldn't be, it's easy to say, you know, some decisions, I look at them like, well, it wasn't necessarily the best decision, but would I change it? No, because again, to get to where I am today, I needed to go through certain things and who I am today is so much better for all of that. Could I have enjoyed some things a little less painfully? Sure. ⁓ absolutely. all could. Yeah.

But I love what you're saying about just like honor who you are and where you are. And I think that goes back to what we talked about earlier about just really speaking kindly to yourself and really embracing your confidence and who you are and everything that you're building. So, Gabrielle, I honestly cannot thank you enough for coming on today. I have so thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. We're gonna make sure that the delegation digest freebie and the SOP guide are in the show notes for everyone to grab them.

They're gonna be on the Assist Her Agency website. And ⁓ thank you so much. I'm really thrilled that we were able to have this conversation today. Thank you for sharing anything you did with my audience. Absolutely, thank you again for having me. Thank you. And so listen, if what we're saying here is resonating with you today, I hope that you will continue to allow us to be a part of your journey by tuning in each week. We drop a new episode every Tuesday and we'd love to be able to have this opportunity to continue on with you.

Be sure to leave us a review, of course, on your favorite podcast platform and to subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. And until next time, keep thriving.