3 Skills You Have Right Now to Build a VA Business | Camille Walker & Rachel Gilbert

RACHEL GILBERT [0:00]

So, when I started out, I knew I wanted to have some kind of remote end work that I could schedule myself because again I split my time between Arizona and New York, so that's unique. But I'm also the one picking up, dropping off at school. So, my schedule's all over the place and I needed work that could fit that. So, VA made so much sense to me. And when I saw your course, I was very excited because although I had the background in corporate America, I've been out of the game for a while. I wanted to make sure my skills were sharp that I knew what was happening now, not eight years ago when I left.

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CAMILLE WALKER [0:46]

So, you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business sharing your voice? How do women do it that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO.

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CAMILLE [1:06]

The time has come. I've promised and promised that I'm going to be releasing my course 60 Days to VA and the time is now for you to join in this month. If you are interested in learning about how you too can build a business from home and create the flexibility to choose your hours and how much you want to work while still being able to be at home with your kids, this has been my brainchild, my purposeful gift to you and it has helped so many mothers already. If you are interested and want to learn more, go to www.camillewalker.co/VA. Again, that is www.camillewalker.co/VA and let's change your life for the better.

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CAMILLE [1:54]

Hello, everyone. If you are tuning in for the first time, my name is Camille Walker and I run the podcast Call Me CEO where I share stories of mothers building businesses every single week. I hope you will subscribe and tune in. But today, I'm sharing something special because I'm actually going to be sharing how you can build a virtual assistant business from home with skills that you have right now and I actually have created a course called 60 Days to VA which I am opening up at the end of this month. And you want to get on the waitlist because there are incentives that you can get and discounts if you sign up now.

So, if you're interested in that, you can find that link in my bio, but today I'm interviewing The Dedicated Desk, Rachel Gilbert, who was a student of mine my last round and we're going to talk about skills you have right now that can help you create a business where you have the flexibility to work from home on your schedule and be at home with your babies. All right. So, she's here and ready to join us. I'm going to see if she requests to join here and then we're going to be going live. And if you have any questions as you're watching this, please feel free to comment or ask below. You can send me a DM or any questions that you have. So, Rachel is here. It's going to connect. There she is. Hello, Rachel! How are you?

RACHEL [3:25]

I'm good. I’m just getting used to this live thing. I've never gone live with someone else before, so thanks for having me.

CAMILLE [3:30]

You're welcome. Trying something new is always a good way to stretch, so this is fun. I try to do a live with each of my podcast guests the day after the episode goes live. So, what this is, is actually a teaser to the full episode that we recorded and went live yesterday at Call Me CEO and it was an awesome interview.

Rachel is killing it as a virtual assistant. She has seven clients right now and she's only been running her business for about four months because my course is about seven weeks and she's been off and running for four months and doing so well. Rachel, introduce yourself. Tell us about your business and why it's been a good fit for you.

RACHEL [4:10]

Hey, everyone. I'm Rachel Gilbert. I started my business, The Dedicated Desk after taking Camille's 60 Days to VA course. I was a stay-at-home mom for about eight years. I was in corporate America before having my kids and then I wanted to just stay home with them, do the mom thing, but then they were going to go back to school full-time, both of them, so I needed something to fill my day that was for me and that allowed me to exercise the professional part of my life. So, I saw Camille's course and I thought it really fit with what I had done previously in marketing and business. And I just decided to take the plunge and do something for myself. So, that's how The Dedicated Desk got started and I've been off and running ever since.

CAMILLE [4:58]

So awesome. And what I love too about a virtual assistant business is that you can tailor it to the skills that you have and Rachel is very detail-oriented. She is really good at systems and charts and flow of how to make your business run more smoothly. So, if you're watching this and you're like, "I need someone to help me run things in the background, so I can work on moving forward," Rachel is incredible and she's filling up fast. I want to keep her to myself, so I'm like don't take anyone else on, but she's awesome and I can say that that's true for my other students as well.

So, I actually got an email this morning for someone looking for a new virtual assistant and that's my hope is that as people are coming and wanting to learn how to be a virtual assistant, that I can set you up with jobs that are a good fit for you. And today, I wanted to give you the encouragement and a little bit of behind the curtains scene of skills that are everyday skills that you probably already have that you can use to build a virtual assistant business. So, Rachel, take it away. We're going to do top three that we thought were the most relatable, but it certainly goes beyond that. So, what would you say for number one, Rachel?

RACHEL [6:10]

So, number one, email management. There is not a person that uses email that doesn't find themselves drowning with emails at some point or another whether it's their busiest season if it's holiday orders flooding in or just a big event that you have coming up, a launch. You will be buried at some point. And luckily, generally speaking, we all use email pretty much on a daily basis, so it's something that you know that you're familiar with and you can do right away. You don't have to have any training for that.

All email platforms are generally the same. Maybe you click on different spots, but you can do that right now and that makes a huge difference in every business owner's life to not be piled under 1,000 emails that they just can't get to or to have their service lack because they're not getting that response rate right away. So, that's something you can offer today and it will make anyone have a great big difference in their business.

CAMILLE [7:17]

Yeah, I agree. And it seems like, for me, when I'm getting pounded with emails and I'm trying to catch up with that, I don't have the time to think about the growth of my business, so what's coming next for me. And so, I get bogged down with the emails, which there's gold in emails. I hate to miss them because opportunities are waiting for you, but if you're spending all of your time there, you don't have the time to progressively move forward with the next steps that only you as the business owner can do. So, you need each other, yeah.

RACHEL [7:50]

Yeah. When every entrepreneur starts out, they are wearing every single hat, but there comes a time in everyone's business where you need to start letting things go if you truly want your business to go somewhere, to go to the next level. And you're worth too much as the CEO, the owner of your business, to just be answering emails all day when you could be for example proactively reaching out to new potential customers for business or you could be marketing yourself in different ways. So, yeah, let the small stuff go to your virtual assistant. It's one of the easiest things to hand off.

CAMILLE [8:25]

Yeah. And for those of you who are thinking, "I know how to do email. I've been doing email for years," guess what? That's a skill that as a virtual assistant people need right now. Jessie said, "Such a good episode. She is killing it." Yes, she is. Seriously, I talked about it yesterday in stories and I started to cry because what's happened for you as a virtual assistant is why I created the course. It literally brought me tears.

So, if you're watching this and you're thinking, "How could I do this? Is it possible that I have the skills that it takes?" Yes, you do and I'm going to be there to help walk you through step-by-step from scratch to marketing yourself and finding most clients. So, number two. Rachel, what is number two of a skill that someone can do?

RACHEL [9:13]

Social media. So many businesses nowadays, pretty much every single one has some kind of presence on social media whether it's just a basic page where people can go ask questions or if they're putting really great content out. I'm sure all of you see Camille's content, the reels, the stories, everything. So, they run the gamut of a simple page to just give themselves a presence to something really creative. And guess what? You can do that. You can do it starting today.

Most of you are on Instagram watching right now which means you're basically familiar with the platform. And even if you're not, there's so many YouTube videos out there. There are so many accounts of people giving you tips and tricks. You're not having to go out there and do all these funky transitions. Social media, in my opinion, Camille, you can add to this, is really just about consistently showing up and being authentic. And once you do those things, that will make your business grow automatically. So, you as the virtual assistant, can go on and help them post in a more consistent way.

Business owners will actually provide the content to you. You're not having to think or reinvent the wheel for your client. They want to make sure that their messaging and their content is theirs and they created it, but they just don’t have the time to post it and to maybe interact with some of the questions that they get in their DMs, things like that. So, they'll provide that to you. You just go on and post and make sure that you're being active, liking different accounts, and interacting with your followers, something you can do right today.

CAMILLE [10:54]

Yes. This is something. It's so funny because many people that I have interviewed on both sides of it, it's the accountability they're looking for. So, it's not that they can't create the content or they don't know how. It's having a partner there that's like, "Okay. For this week, I need five written whatevers and three stories and I'll fill in the gaps with that and interaction." And that’s something where you can be that accountability partner and that is a huge weight lifted off of a business owner when they're trying to do so many things at once.

So, on both sides, if you're listening to this and thinking, "Man. I could really use some weight lifted off of me," find a VA. If you're a person that's like, "I like being on social. That sounds fun to me. I love scheduling things. That sounds like I should be paid while I'm on here anyway," then yes, you know what to do. You can handle that for sure.

RACHEL [11:51]

Like you said, you might know what to do and like being on it, but to have someone say, "Okay. We're going to do three reels this week. We need five posts." Just outline it for you and to make the plan and then you go execute, just that one part that they don't have to think about will save them so much time and energy and that's a value add to them, even if you think that's something that's easy. That's something that I combat every now and then email management, social media, that stuff to me is easy, but just because it's easy doesn't mean you're not saving someone time and allowing them to take that time to grow their business.

CAMILLE [12:29]

Yeah, and time is money for sure. So, it's something where just because it's simple or you may see it as basic, it doesn't mean that it's not worth a lot on both ends of the spectrum. So, keep that in mind as you're thinking if this could be a good fit for you that it is worthwhile and you can make good money for doing it for other people.

RACHEL [12:49]

Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Sorry to interrupt. One client, the amount of time that saved her in a week, just think if you had even five hours back in your week what you could do with that. So, never second guess what you can do and what it might be worth to someone else.

CAMILLE [13:08]

I agree. Can I hire you? I'm like listening to you and going, "I need another." So, as you're listening to this, you're like, "Okay. Do I need a virtual assistant?" If you're thinking you do, if there's even an inkling of like, "Maybe I should have one," it's probably past the time you should have had one. I know that's the case for me because I have people that help with SEO on my blog. I have people that help me with pictures. I have people that help with audio editing, transcription, social media. I have a Pinterest person. So, if you're thinking there's something niche that you have that you love, that is awesome too because there are so many different options of work that people need help with.

RACHEL [13:50]

Yeah. Like you said, it's totally tailor-made. If you are a marketing guru, if you are really great at SEO, even if it's just that one thing you can do really well, a lot of people can't do that stuff well. SEO is not my forte, for example. I have a VA friend who that is, so I definitely will hire her if I ever need help with that or recommend her to clients that need that that come to me. But yeah, niche stuff is needed and wanted.

CAMILLE [14:18]

Yes. So, what is our third thing today for something you know right now?

RACHEL [14:23]

The biggest one, and as a mom, I think we take this to heart especially, is scheduling. I know it's so second nature to so many of us, scheduling. We manage our own calendars all the time. Yes, but when your life gets more and more complicated by adding a business or maybe you became a new parent or you just have added responsibilities, scheduling becomes chaotic. So, if you have someone that can just have that singular view of either scheduling your orders. What time people need to pick up their cake, for example? That's something I actually have done for a client or travel plans or just even making sure they know that all their kids' things are on their calendar with their work schedule is going to be huge. You're going to make sense of their life, simplify their life, and it's something you can absolutely start today.

CAMILLE [15:24]

Yes. I love that. And I think a lot of us think starting a new business is a leap. It is. It's a leap of faith and that's why I created the 60 Days to VA because I take you step-by-step through the process of starting a business, the blueprint of how to set up an LLC, defining your why, discovering what it is that you want to do and I teach you a lot of different skills so that you can get a feel for things and see what might be a good fit for you. But Rachel, tell us about your experience with 60 Days to VA.

RACHEL [15:56]

So, when I started out, I knew I wanted to have some kind of remote end work that I could schedule myself. Because again, I split my time between Arizona and New York, so that's unique. But I'm also the one picking up, dropping off at school, so my schedule's all over the place and I needed work that could fit that. So, VA made so much sense to me. And when I saw your course, I was very excited because although I had the background in corporate America, I've been out of the game for a while. I wanted to make sure my skills were sharp that I knew what was happening now, not eight years ago when I left.

So, I decided to take the course and honestly, it went so much deeper than how to set up your business. It showed me different platforms, different programs that I had never used before that now I feel comfortable with. It really did talk about the skills that I had then, not only the ones that you were teaching in the course, that I could utilize in my business. It talked about branding, marketing. It really gave me everything I needed to feel confident and ready to start that business.

So, I came out of it with so much more than I thought I would get frankly. Maybe you don't talk yourself up enough, I don't know, but you get to talk to Camille. You get to talk to different experts and ask your questions and really make sure you are building a business for you, not just a cookie cutter product. You're not signing up and then everyone who comes out to graduate is exactly the same. We're all very different, our unique brands, our unique services and skillsets. And so, there really is something for everyone. So, that's my experience that I came overly prepared after graduating and I tried to hit the ground running and keep that momentum up after the fact.

CAMILLE [17:52]

You have. You've done an amazing job and that is such a compliment. So, I wanted more than anything to pack it with everything you could need. So, there's probably more than you need that you can use. So, we have a comment here from @thefarmapproach. She said, "I have so many questions about branding. It's far more complicated than I ever thought." I know. I know that that can be overwhelming and hard and what's interesting about that is that I love talking branding. Listening to what someone else is offering and their unique skillset.

I actually helped someone yesterday name a business and come up with her logo in probably 20 minutes. That part of the consulting is so fun for me. If I could get paid to do that all day, I would because it's just so fun. So, if that's something you need help with, we talk about that too. Yeah. Go ahead, Rachel.

RACHEL [18:46]

Yeah, not to interrupt, but Camille really does step in and help. She was helping people with names. She was helping people with logos, brand colors, and just talks you through that process. What is important to you? Like for me, The Dedicated Desk, I knew that I liked that word "dedicated" because a lot of people's fears when hiring a remote worker is that they might disappear on them. They might not be as invested, so I wanted to try to get right down to the, "I'm dedicated. I'm there for you and I will not ghost you or disappear."

But also, I used for my branding, for example, colors that meant something to me. So, on my page, you'll see a bunch of periwinkles, which is one of my absolute favorite colors, so easy that I chose that, but the navy blue that I use a lot, the color code is actually my dad's birthday. So, it's something that means something to me and they luckily went really well together. But once you just develop that base of your branding, which again, you will be walked through and coached through with Camille's course, you just keep it simple and you try to just carry that through in the things that you do, even if it's in a very subtle way and that branding, you'll see it start to connect over time. So, if that's your fear, don’t worry. It's gone over very thoroughly in Camille's course.

CAMILLE [20:10]

Awesome. Thank you to everyone who is here today. If you have questions or you're wanting the waitlist or DM me directly you're ready to join, please do so. You can also go to www.camillewalker.co/VA to get on that waitlist. And don't miss Rachel's episode that we recorded yesterday about building her own virtual assistant business. Thank you so much for being on today and Jessie's so proud of both of us.

RACHEL [20:44]

All right guys. Take care.

CAMILLE [20:45]

All right.

RACHEL [20:45]

Bye.

CAMILLE [20:47]

Bye.

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CAMILLE [20:52]

This episode is brought to you by Station Park in Utah. If you are looking for a place to connect and support other small businesses locally-owned, please search no further than Farmington Station, only 20 minutes north of Salt Lake City. I love spending time at Station Park with my family and we'll often find afternoon simply enjoying the community events, going to the local shopping or enjoying the restaurants that they have to offer.

Hey, CEOs. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment and a 5-star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram @callmeceopodcast and remember, you are the boss.

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