I am enjoying interviewing professionals and mom bosses about their line of work or their side hustles. Today I am sharing an interview with Abbey from The Virtual Savvy, a virtual assistant training business.
Tell us about yourself and The Virtual Savvy!
My name is Abbey Ashley! I started The Virtual Savvy to teach other aspiring biz owners how to start and grow their very own at-home business from scratch. I’ve had the privilege to serve nearly 3,000 students with my signature training program SavvySystem – and I also have an amazing Facebook community with other VA professionals. We just hit over 60,000 members so I’m very excited about that!
What inspired you to launch The Virtual Savvy?
I started my own VA business in 2015 while pregnant with my first child. My husband had just got a huge pay cut and we were really hurting financially. I tried out a few different jobs – but they just didn’t work out well for me!
One day a friend of mine told me about virtual assistance and said I would be really good at it. So that same night, I went home and looked up everything I could about becoming a VA. (Thanks Google!)
Only one month after I started my business I was already booked out with clients! It was pretty phenomenal.
I ended up having so many people asking me, “Abbey, how did you do this?” that I decided to launch an online course to teach other people how to become a virtual assistant. The first time I launched it, I had 16 people sign-up!
It was pretty cool because I led them through starting their own service-based business with the same process I used and they were actually successful! That was my “aha” moment and I realized- wow this isn’t a fluke. So, I kept launching the course over and over and now thousands of students have gone through that same program!
What makes The Virtual Savvy unique?
What makes us unique is that we are a people-centered company. We really value our students and look to implement our company values into every single thing we do!
Those values are:
- We serve first!
- We respect all people at all times.
- We creatively carve our own path.
- We practice irrational generosity.
- We value action over perfection.
We actually have an entire channel in our company slack group where we celebrate these core values! Any time we see that someone on our team has implemented them, we will write in there and share the win. It’s become a part of our company culture and I just love it!
Describe what you sell for those of us not familiar with your line of work or product.
Here at The Virtual Savvy we offer two different trainings. The first is our signature SavvySystem training where we teach students step-by-step how to start their own virtual assistant business. It’s a self-paced course, and it literally walks you through everything you need to know from how to make a website, to finding clients and handle your taxes.
It’s pretty much a business in a box. Many of our students become booked out with clients before they even finish the course!
Our second training is a subscription-based membership where we offer over 50 different tech trainings on programs for your VA business or your client’s business. We cover tools like Canva, Pinterest, Planoly, and Asana. There are really so many! I love that we can offer this second option to our students though – it’s a great asset for those who already have their business set up and want to refine their skills!
How does The Virtual Savvy help reduce the mental load of motherhood?
So many moms are in a position where they want to contribute to the household, but they don’t want to leave their kids in daycare…and the beauty of virtual assistance is that you don’t have to choose. You can literally run your own business and still be there for your kids. It’s such a relief to not have to worry about leaving your kid in daycare and going to clock in at a job you hate!
It’s also a HUGE relief to not have to worry about getting fired because you’re your own boss!
What are some of your favorite things about running your business?
There are so many, haha. I love the freedom and flexibility of being able to work from absolutely ANYWHERE and make my own hours. Especially since I’m a mom, having flexibility is HUGE for me. Also, the fact that there is unlimited income potential is AWESOME!
What are some challenges you ran into when starting your business?
When I started out as a VA, I pretty much had to figure everything out myself. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent on Google scrolling one blog post after the next. I wish I had something like SavvySystem to walk me through everything – it would have saved me SO much time!
Any advice you want to give fellow working moms?
My best advice is, just start! If you have a dream of starting your own business or even just having a “side hustle,” know that it is possible for you.
I know what it feels like to be a working mom and have financial hardship. I get it. And starting a business can be really scary! BUT, if I can do it so can anyone else! I’m not a “special case.”
I would just say to do the best you can with what you have – even if that means starting small. But the important thing is, to start somewhere.
For someone interested in what you do, can you share what to expect as far as earning potential and effort?
Virtual assistance has excellent earning potential. If you’re well-versed in general admin tasks, design, or marketing skills (data entry, social media posting, simple graphics, basic calendar management, etc), the going rate for that type of work is $25 – $40 per hour.
If you have advanced skills in creating graphics, making WordPress edits, writing optimized content, or course creation for example you can easily charge $30 – $50 per hour or more!
Any specialized skills like web design, SEO, advanced social media strategy, or email marketing should really be no less than $50 per hour.
As you advance in your skills you can definitely raise your prices.
What does it take for someone to get started with their own side hustle in your line of work?
Honestly, if you have a computer, reliable internet, and a little bit of what we call “figure-it-out-ness” – that’s really what it takes to start. And what I mean by that is – if you’re the type of person who is easily self-taught, you can Google things and you catch on quickly…virtual assistance can work for you! You don’t have to start knowing everything right away.
For anyone who is interested in learning more about virtual assistance, we have a free training they can check out at www.thevirtualsavvy.com/bbo.
If you would like to be interviewed for my side hustle series, please fill out this form.
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