“Reese, how did you stay motivated when you were just getting started and you weren’t making a lot of traction? It’s all so scary.
A lot of people ask me how I grew a successful virtual assistant business online.
I didn’t just hit the scene making 5k-10k months.
It took a LONG time, a lot of patience and a huge mindset shifts.
Not enough successful virtual assistants talk about their journey to earning that kind of money each month and the so-called “gurus” that say it’s easy? I honestly wonder how they sleep at night.
When you think you’re supposed to make 5k – 10k a month because that’s what the “gurus” are but you’re making more like $500-2k each month, how do you stay motivated?
I’d say that the things that kept me going the most were:
I pivoted slowly but surely
I started working as a VA in 2008 and made $18 an hour while working full-time. I didn’t quit my job for almost two years after I became a VA.
When the excitement of being able to work from home wore off, I realized that $18 is really $13 an hour after taxes. I needed to charge more but I didn’t just decide to raise my rates to what they are today. That process took time.
I continued to do work that I didn’t love doing. Work like executive virtual assistance, and administrative projects. That gave me the financial padding to learn the skills that I wanted to develop and search for clients that needed that help.
I bought courses and coaching to get more skills so that I could offer services at triple my rate AND work on projects that I was excited about.
Projects like executing an online summit launch and building a membership website. For each project, I charged more and more money. I learned how to create proposals on the spot. I learned how to run sales calls and walk away with money in hand. I got more experience and I gained a sh*t ton of confidence that I could actually do this.
This is something I will be teaching in The VA Lifeline.
There was no plan B.
Years ago, my life was ripped apart and left me broke and I wasn’t certain I’d have a place to live. I was so broke that I couldn’t afford to take a bus to an interview.
I felt beaten by life and swore to myself that if I got that job, I would NEVER allow myself to be in that situation again. I would never allow anyone or anything to have that much control over my life. I needed security.
When I started my VA business, I was fiercely driven by the idea that I could forge my own career path and create financial security and stability for myself and my family. I never wanted to worry where the next paycheck would come from or how I’ll pay for a bus to an interview because I literally didn’t have a dime to my name.
I also didn’t want to end up in a career that I hated so I continued to find my path and realized that the only person I could bet on was myself.
I had to make this work. My family and my friends and my passion to work hard and create results for my clients really helped me when things got tough and believe me, as a virtual assistant, there WILL be tough times. That’s the nature of running ANY type of business.
If not virtual assistance, what then?
If I didn’t pour myself totally into my virtual assistance business, what were my options?
Sure, I could have gone back to work full time, but by that point, I had four kids, one with a severe congenital heart defect that needed me home full-time.
I really didn’t see any options in front of me other than to make my VA business work. I also knew that jobs out there were not sure things and wouldn’t pay me what I needed to make.
Who would want someone like me with ALL my requirements (home by 4 pm each day and all the sick days I need for my daughter’s appointments)?
But with the internet, I kept seeing more and more businesses launch online which meant they needed support. It was clear that this industry was only growing and showed no signs of slowing down. If that isn’t a lucrative market, I don’t know what is.
I jumped into the world on virtual assistance and started finding problems online and fixing them for a price tag. I didn’t have the luxury of a lot of excess planning because I HAD to make this work. I had to market hard and fast.
That’s why I stuck to offering generalist services (the one thing then that I knew really well) for two years before I offered something else. There is nothing like being up against a wall to move you into action. Plus, these skills took me forever to learn. Had I had a “Reese” in my life, that learning curve would have been shortened drastically.
Passive income streams
One day I learned that if I refer a software/program that use to a client (web hosting for example) and they purchase using the link I send them, I get around a $50 commission. If I did this 5 times a month, that would be an extra $250 a month and the whole thing took me maybe ten minutes. Holy hell. What is this sorcery?
Realizing that there is this WHOLE other world where people are earning commissions each month for recommending products made my eyes bug out! I had to learn how to scale this so that I could pad my income further. That way if I had a slow month, it wouldn’t put me into stress.
Today I make on average $1,000 – $1,500 a month in affiliate income and that number is only growing. #goals.
Virtual assistants are in the perfect position to make great money with passive income by referring products and software to leads and clients. The financial opportunity here is HUGE. I can’t tell you how many times I get an email saying I just made money for something I promoted in a group on FB months ago.
Why am I answering all these questions? It’s because I sent out a survey asking my readers what their biggest questions are and I’m answering the most asked questions. I’m also getting ready to launch my flagship course, The VA Lifeline and I know you have a lot of questions before joining. The course is going to be a glorious thing FULL of curriculum that actually gets results. No fluff. I haven’t left anything out. I’ve actually given away too much value for the cost. That’s how I roll.
