Today I am interviewing my team member, Kristy, about her virtual assistant experience. She has been with me since she started her virtual assistant internship in May of 2023. Shortly after that is when I began building a team in July, and she came on as a team member right after her internship.
About Kristy
Kristy currently lives in Texas. She has lived all over because her husband served in the military. Now he’s retired, so they settled in Texas. They have two kids, two dogs and a bird. So it’s a little bit of a zoo. She taught online for a little bit, teaching English to other countries. However, a lot of those got shut down because of government regulations. She began looking for something else that she could do to work from home.
Q&A of Kristy’s Virtual Assistant Experience
Alyssa: Kristy, how did you find out about virtual assistant work?
Kristy: I started looking into virtual assistant work because I had a friend who was doing it, and she was really successful with it. The biggest advice she had for me was try to niche down as much as I could. I looked into a Pinterest course and actually niched down to Pinterest. Which, I still do that today, but I love learning new things. And I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself into just Pinterest.
I began listening to every podcast I could get my hands on that was about virtual assistants. Yours was one of the ones that I would listen to when I went on walks. I would listen to every new episode. I remember reaching out and asking if you needed help with Pinterest. You emailed me back, and a few months later, you sent me an email about your internship. I was super excited because it was a great way for me to learn another skill set that I could add to my virtual assistant services.
Alyssa: I remember you reaching out about Pinterest because we talked about how my Pinterest was looking. One of the things that I try to do when looking for people to be on my team, is to find people that have an area of specialization. That’s something that I highly recommend and teach in my course is to specialize. I like it when someone has gotten to know a specific area of expertise. I feel like you have to specialize in order to truly find the right fit. Especially when trying to find clients, it’s best to do that rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
Kristy: I agree with that, because I’ve heard the saying a lot. It is hard to niche down in the beginning, but I saw the advantages and flexibility of Pinterest. I was lucky enough to find a course, and it was the perfect fit. But again, I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself. I wanted some other VA services that I could offer if I wanted to.
I know a lot of people say, “If you are trying to reach everyone, you’re actually reaching no one.” And that’s a hard concept to grasp, especially as a people pleaser. But it is very true in the beginning. It’s okay to offer different things to see what you’re good at and what you enjoy. However, it is very important to just target a specific group of people once you figure out your strengths.
Yes, because sometimes, especially if you’re just starting out, you may think you’re going to love certain tasks. But then you get into it and realize you don’t like them. I’m more of a creative person. My friend that does VA work is a systems person. She loves creating systems. She loves that. I can do it, but my wheelhouse is the creativity. That’s what I love to do, and I have somebody else create my systems. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You can get burnt out really quick when you’re doing a task that does not bring you joy.
Kristy: One of the things I loved about your course is that it focuses on teaching you about how to serve your clients. But it also teaches the spirit that you serve your clients with. Because as Christians, we want to serve them a certain way. And I don’t want to waste my client’s time or money because I’ve been a business owner. I know how much it takes one to hand something over because as business owners, we want to do it all ourselves. So when you hand that over to someone, I understand that you’re trusting them with that. If you’re not joyful about it, you’re not bringing your best work to your client. I don’t like that because I feel like I’m wasting their time, money, and energy when I could really be serving them in a better way.
Alyssa: Now, you’ve answered what led you to apply for the internship. How was your experience working as an intern?
Kristy: I loved the experience because I got the opportunity to take your course and learn even more about the VA side of things. And I also got to work with someone who has years of experience. I got to pick your brain and learn new skill sets.
Now, when you’re first getting started, never be afraid to reach out to anybody. I never would have guessed that reaching out to you about Pinterest would have led to what I’m doing now. And don’t close your office off. Don’t close yourself off to the possibility of new opportunities.
Anyway, I came across the internship because you reached out to me. I know you interviewed a few people, so I was just super honored. I couldn’t believe you would ask me.
Alyssa: The reason I started the internship program in 2011 was because I had done a blogging internship program with a lady who was the founder of the organization that actually helped me get started. Mom Masterminds is the organization that helped me start my business in 2007. Kelly McCauley was actually the person who had a blog internship. I did that internship and learned so much about business. That was why I started the internship for virtual assistance, because I really wanted to give back to other people and use my experience to help somebody else like Kelly had done for me. I think internships are super powerful and give you a ton of value and you just never know what they will lead to in the future.
Kristy: Yeah, I agree. I think sometimes people are a little nervous, especially starting out because you want to start making money. That’s the whole reason you’re trying to provide for your family, right? An internship most of the time is unpaid. If you look at the overall benefits of the internship, what you would pay for that one-on-one coaching would be so much more. Now you’re getting that, for free by doing an internship, so you’re really trading your services to learn new skills. And then, like you said, to get the knowledge and years of experience that you have. That most people do coaching programs and it would cost you thousands of dollars. If someone’s willing to take the risk and guide you be as their intern, it also gives you that confidence to go on and take on your first few clients.
Alyssa: Absolutely. I think so too. So tell us how your role evolved from being an intern to the team member.
Kristy: So originally, if I remember correctly, the internship is what about three months, three months. That was the initial agreement that we had. But halfway through that three months, you were revamping things, and you asked if I would be willing to stay on for six months.
I was like, “Absolutely, I can stay on! Then I can learn more.” So I did a 6 month internship with you. During that, there were a few opportunities where you were able to provide a little bit of work for me that I could get paid for, which was great. Then that just naturally evolved. You said you wanted to start a team, and it’s been so amazing watching that team grow.
There’s never been any confusion. It’s been easy to work with. I can always get in touch with you if I have questions. And I just feel like in the areas where you have us, like take on clients, you’re this vast wealth of knowledge. So I don’t ever have to worry. I’m not thrown out there into the ocean flailing by myself.
Alyssa: On this week’s podcast episode, I talked about what I’ve learned in 17 years in business: what you need to start a business. One of the things you need is someone that’s gone before you that you can learn from. That doesn’t mean you have to do it exactly like them, but you can learn from their experience and take that into your business. One of the things that I shared on last week’s interview with Ashton is that I allow my clients to have their own businesses because that’s really what’s important is that they be able to build a virtual assistant business.
Moving on, you took the “Become a Virtual Assistant” course during your internship. How did that course help prepare you as a business owner?
Kristy: For me, the course helped prepare me by giving me confidence. A lot of times, you may not even realize that you already do certain things that help friends or family out that could be considered virtual assistance, so finding out that those are things that you’re already naturally doing. Think of how many times you get on Canva to help your kids create something for a project. You are basically your kid’s virtual assistant, right? So when you realize that you already have a little bit of experience, you just never knew how to label it, it gives you confidence.
Also for me, it always comes to not wasting clients time or money. So managing your time, and figuring out how much to charge. Especially starting out, because you can charge more as you gain experience. I like to go back through my courses every so often, like every six months to a year. Because as you start getting into a groove, there may be things you missed things you can rework. So even if you’ve taken a course, always go back through it. Never be afraid to learn because we should always be learning more.
Alyssa: I think that is one of the biggest things with a VA. For example, I was a teacher for a short stint, and they had what’s called CEUs (continuing education units) that they had to go. I feel like virtual assistants should have those, because there’s always something new to learn. All the different media platforms change, and there are new programs or tools. So absolutely. And I am working on updating the course right now.
Actually, it will be updated as of January. And when you’re in my internship or purchase the course, you do get lifetime access to the course. Which means you can go back at any time and retake the course, even the update. And anyone that is in the system now that has taken the course will get a notification that the course has been revamped. I like that about courses that I purchased.
Kristy: Absolutely. I know sometimes it can be hard to purchase a course because you’re ask yourself, “Why can’t I just go on Google?” Or “Why can’t I just go on Pinterest?” And there’s so many articles on how to become a VA or how to worl from home. There is a lot of information out there, but you’re going to spend hours and hours trying to find it. But you never know how up to date that info is or they will give you a little snippet, but then you have to go here to find more.
So it is worth it to invest yourself and your business in a course, just so that you have that confidence going into it. Courses will also usually tell you like how to get started and the do’s and don’ts, so you don’t make the same mistakes that they made in the beginning of their business.
Alyssa: Right? So you’re saving yourself like years just by doing a course. I’ve taken so many. I have a folder in my Google Drive of courses I’ve taken.
Okay, now what has it been like working as a part of the team? What have you enjoyed about it so far?
Kristy: Well a lot of people don’t really know what we do. They think you’re still just a stay at home mom. So it’s nice to be on a team because you have a community of people who understand it, and every single one of us has a different area of expertise. I can go and pick Ashtyn’s brain and, or even reach out to someone on our team who does copy. From there I can just pay them to look over my content and tweak what needs to be tweaked. So you get access to multiple people with different areas of expertise.
You also get the accountability, which is great because it is so easy to take care of everyone else’s business and put yours on the back burner. When you’re on a team, you have that accountability and then that camaraderie. You have people, so you don’t feel like you’re stuck at home all day with no adult conversation. You get to chat with other people in your team and bounce ideas off of each other.
We can send each other a message and get their opinion on something before we send it to our client. Instead of feeling like you’re sending it and the client’s going to hate it. You at least get some other opinions first.
Alyssa: Yes, so true. Now, you have been on the team officially for a year and a couple of months. How have you grown in that time period as a virtual assistant?
Kristy: I can’t say it enough, the confidence that you gain by doing it. I think we all suffer in the very beginning from imposter syndrome. You know you have the skills, but you’ve never actually done anything for anyone like professionally. So my confidence has grown.
I have also learned so much more about WordPress. WordPress used to get me so lost, and now I am helping one of my clients just like I did in your internship. I get to go in and input her blog posts into her WordPress. As weird as it sounds, she hates doing this. I love getting the little green bubbles. It’s like a shot of dopamine. I’m like, “Yes! I got the green bubbles for SEO!” So I’ve discovered. I love that, which is something I never expected.
Alyssa: That’s part of the intern task that I have interns to do is learn about SEO and putting my blog post into WordPress. And that’s actually a service that you can provide for clients because there’s a lot of clients that don’t want to touch it. They just want to write the blog and make it look pretty. So that’s really what we’re here for. Right. Even as business owners, you have certain things in your business that you love, and you have certain things that you don’t love. And the things that you don’t love are the things that you hand off to a VA. Whether you’re a VA or a business owner, you’re going to get burnt out if you’re doing things in your business that don’t bring you joy. So those are the things that you pass off to a virtual assistant.
One of my interns specialized in bookkeeping one year. She has been my bookkeeper ever since, because putting in all the numbers and figuring all that out, I do not want to have to do it. It causes me a lot of grief. I’ve always gotten people to check over the bookkeeping because it made me nervous
Kristy: Yes, and that way, you’re not as worried you missed something. Also, I think a lot of times business owners, when something’s not working in our business, it’s hard to pinpoint what’s actually not working when we’re trying to do everything ourselves. Whereas when you have experts working on certain things, then it’s easier to pinpoint and to correct what’s not working in the business.
Alyssa: Sometimes we’re too close to it, it’s like we’re married to our business. So we can’t see the little holes or problems that other people looking in from the outside can see and identify. And sometimes we can have our clients be that extra set of eyes to try to figure out what’s causing it not to work.
Switching gears a little bit because I really want to help people who are wanting to become a virtual assistant. If you could give one piece of advice to someone who is looking to start their journey as a VA, what advice would that be?
Kristy: Two pieces of advice I would give are:
1. Take a course. Invest in yourself, invest in your business. That course is not just going to sit there. You’re going to make your money back. If you’re serious about being a VA, take a course and write down the things that you’re already doing that could be considered VA services because you might surprise yourself.
And then 2. Never be afraid to reach out to friends, family, businesses, because I never would have guessed that reaching out to you would lead to where it has for me. So don’t be afraid because the worst thing somebody can say is no.
Alyssa: Exactly. Thank you so much, Kristy, for taking the time to do this interview, so that others can see what becoming a VA is like and what your journey is like versus mine.
