Today I would like to share an interview I did with my team member Ashtyn. We’re going to be talking about her journey and her experience becoming a virtual assistant.
About Ashtyn
Ashtyn is a mom and a wife and she lives on the coast of Mississippi. I live in North Mississippi and but she’s from my area. And she has a background in marketing and interior design.
I wanted to do this because I talk here on the blog all the time about becoming a VA, but it’s always from my perspective and my experience. I thought it would be nice to hear someone else’s experience, and I might do this with all my team members if they are up to the challenge.
Q&A
Alyssa: Ashtyn, can you tell us a little bit about what you were doing before you joined my team?
Ashtyn: I graduated high school and went straight to four year university. I went to Mississippi State University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in interior design and business administration. Then COVID hit, and life was a little crazy. I didn’t know where I was going to go. I moved to New Orleans, but then I ended up moving back to Starkville where I got a job in marketing and met my husband.
We moved down to Pascagoula, Mississippi. I ended up doing some online work and some residential interior design work. But then I got pregnant with my son and going back to a regular job just wasn’t part of our plan anymore. I saw Alyssa’s post about an intern and thought, I don’t really know what this is, but why not apply?
Alyssa: Yes, I’ve been doing an internship four times a year since 2011, so I do not know how many interns I’ve had. Most people in my small town don’t even know what I do or understand what I do because most people think I’m just a stay at home mom. It’s been exciting to do internships over the years, but this one was just extra special to me because she’s my student. Of course when you are a teacher, it feels like all of them are your children, so it’s really fun to see how they grow and change over the years.
Now, what was the experience like for you working as an intern?
Ashtyn: I really enjoyed getting to learn like what a virtual assistant did. It was nice to work my own hours. I would get my task, and I was available during work hours for like communication. But I also had other stuff going on, and it was so nice to have such flexibility.
Alyssa: Which is why I started as a VA in the first place as well. Because when my children were small, I worked in the nooks and crannies of the day and the time that I had. And that might be early in the morning. It might be late at night. It might be in between. That was what was such a help to me when I was trying to balance it with my family.
How did your role evolve from being an intern to a team member?
Ashtyn: It was like we started and never stopped. After the internship, I was asked to do a couple of tasks ,and then it’s slowly grown into like almost a full-time thing where I’m constantly doing something for the team. It’s been so great to grow without necessarily figuring out the marketing aspect for myself. I’ve learned so much in the year and a half that I’ve been here.
Alyssa: One of the things that I have my team take is my “Become a Virtual Assistant” course. How did that course help you prepare you for the role that you’re in now?
Ashtyn: I loved how it had all of the bits and pieces that you need to start from the beginning. It helped me understand some of aspects of becoming a virtual assistant: the pricing, how to manage your time, all of the different things that a virtual assistant does. I think it was great for the baseline for sure.
Alyssa: One of the things that I wanted to point out is that I have my team members take the course, but at that point they’re in the internship. So they may become a part of the team, or they may choose not to. They also have the ability to have their own business. They’re not tied to being on my team. Instead, they are a subcontractor, meaning they’re an independent contractor, and they can create their own business.
Speaking of, Ashtyn has a WordPress website business. Why don’t you tell us about your business as well?
Ashtyn: This summer I finally got around to setting up all of my stuff, and I started my own business. It is focused on branding, logos, and websites right now. However, I am planning on shifting towards a little bit more virtual assistant work in the future. Which I’m excited because I think I finally figured out what my niche will be.
Alyssa: I always tell people choosing a niche is the biggest step. The reason being, when I first started, I was just taking on work as it came to me. It didn’t really matter what type of work it was or who it was serving. I just wanted to make an income. I did that for several years, and really weeded out what I hated versus what I really enjoyed.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I love that phrase because there were things I was capable of doing that I did not enjoy. So I weeded those things out, and also the types of people that I wanted to work with. That’s one of the things I try to really emphasize.
But now we’ll switch back to what it’s been like for you working with a team. Can you share some like takeaways from collaborating with me and other team members?
Ashtyn: I have a broad background in design and marketing, but there’s some things that I hadn’t learned about yet. So being able to collaborate with you has been so great. You’ve been like a mentor to me, and I’ve learned how to do websites and email marketing, so that’s been great.
Being a part of a team, it’s helped to have someone making sure that I’m actually working. Working with someone else provides a little bit more structure than just working alone. And I’ve loved that aspect of having somebody to bounce ideas off of or troubleshoot with.
Alyssa: That’s one of the things that I enjoy about it too. For the majority of the time that I’ve been a business owner, I have worked as a solopreneur, so completely by myself. And unless I forged relationships with other work-at-home moms, I didn’t really have anybody to talk to during the day or to bounce ideas off of. So that’s one of the things I wanted to find. I have an accountability partner. Now, I have my team, and I can ask questions or get opinions. Plus, it just gives you a sense of confidence that maybe you didn’t have by yourself.
What is something that you think you have grown in over the last year and a half?
Ashtyn: I learned the websites, and then that kind of started my business. But also, in work, sometimes you go to like a nine to five, and it’s pretty much the same thing every day. Now, I wake up every day and have a little bit something different going on, and I’ve learned that I really enjoy that.
Alyssa: Yes, it’s a fun experience because everybody’s different, so you get to know a lot of different people. If we’re working with someone on websites or graphics, then Ashtyn will get those clients. And a couple of weeks ago, I was telling Ashtyn about some of the diverse clients that we have across the United States, which is so much fun.
Moving on, thinking back over the last year and a half, what advice would you give to someone who is starting out on the journey to become a VA?
Ashtyn: Just have confidence in yourself. You can ask somebody for help ,or you can use Google to find out how to do almost anything. Just because you don’t know how to do it, that doesn’t mean that you can’t figure it out. If it’s something similar to something you’re already doing just go ahead and learn how to do it.
Alyssa: And where do you see yourself in the future? Do you have any professional goals?
Ashtyn: I mentioned earlier that I’m planning on niching out. I think I’m going to work on marketing to interior designers because I have the interior design background. I think that I could really help probably most women. Not necessarily being one-on-one with interior design clients like I have before, but be a virtual assistant for those people specifically. So that’s my goal within the next year.
Alyssa: That would be perfect because you know so much about that industry. That’s why I recommend that people find something that they already know a lot about and choose that as a niche.
Next, what’s something that you were surprised that you learned about yourself during this process?
Ashtyn: Well, I learned that I really enjoy like all the different things going on. I really didn’t know that I would want to be a stay-at-home mom, but once I got pregnant, all of that changed anyway. Becoming a mom is just completely different.
Alyssa: Absolutely. I’ve learned that about myself too when I had my first child. Well, I appreciate you taking the time and doing this because I think that everyone will love to see someone else’s perspective.
