Alyssa (00:00:00):
Welcome to the SOAR podcast. We have Alyssa Miller on and I’m emphasizing Miller because she just got married. And so I’m getting used to saying her new, last name. So Alyssa, tell us a little bit about you and what you do and what your business is.

Alyssa (00:00:14):
Sure. I am a virtual assistant and project manager for yours truly, and I help manage all elements. It’s interesting to tell you about this because you literally already know, everything. Yeah, for those who don’t know what a virtual assistant is, you can wear many hats as a virtual assistant. I personally started as a personal assistant and have experienced as an executive assistant and a legal assistant. So basically it means you’re helping with every element of a business, whether it be administrative or creative or there’s a little bit of accounting. It all really depends on what your clients need and what your client’s business model is. So my business model is based off of the clients that I serve. My favorite clients are the creative ones. Like you, we have a lot of different projects.

Alyssa (00:01:50):
We work on content creation, contracts, where we’re doing blogging for clients. And I assist in putting together all of the documents and pulling together all of the deadlines and compiling everything into an easy system so that our team members know what they need, know what we expect from them. They have what they need to complete their tasks. And that’s kind of more on the project management side of this role. As you know, my role has evolved over time with, Chiron, and Cornell. I started as a VA who was working a few hours a week with you and wanting to learn what copywriting was and is, and how that might play a role in my business.

Rai (00:02:55):
And then I was like, I just can’t get enough of you in the business. Be with me basically full-Time.

Alyssa (00:03:01):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it was it’s been a really interesting journey leading up to finding you. And I feel like I’ve found my person!

Rai (00:03:18):
That makes me so happy because that’s how I feel. And you never know, like when you’re, when you’re working with someone so closely and that’s the thing about VAs is, you know, I feel like VA’s get a bad reputation almost online. Like, Oh, she’s just a VA or like, Oh, that’s just VA work, but VA’s do so much. And they have so many skills and to be a VA, you don’t have to be very diverse. You have to be very patient. You have to be very detail oriented. You have to be very people centric and understand how different people receive information and process information and take criticism, or like, Hey, we need this from you on Friday. Are you going to have it? And you know, you need to understand how people are going to respond to you and that’s not an easy job. And so I feel like if there’s one thing that I want people to understand after hearing this episode is just how much work really goes into being a VA and how much of a respectable position that is. Because quite honestly, I could not run my business without you. I just experienced a week without you, because you were getting married, having a honeymoon. And I just about lost my mind.

Rai (00:04:33):
You can ask the team. They were all like Rai doesn’t know, where her pens and pencils are because Alyssa is not here. She’s just pretty much useless. But really when you work with a VA, it’s such a, it’s such an intimate working relationship. You really have to know each other and there has to be this level of trust. And so to hear you say, like, I found my person, I’m like, that’s how I feel. I’ve worked with so many VA’s over the years, all the way from, you know, people who were working for like six to $8 an hour out of the Philippines, all the way up to people who were project said, they were project managers and demanded a hundred dollars an hour and then really did nothing. And I was covering all of their job responsibilities in the business. I’ve Worked with this huge range. And I’ve never worked with someone, had the privilege of working with someone who I could trust as much as I trust you and who I could really rely on to take that stress off of me as a business owner, because that’s really, I think of you more as my integrator, you’re a person who takes, you know, we do this all the time.

Rai (00:05:42):
I’m on Voxer. And I’m like, Oh, I have this idea. I have this idea. I have this idea. And you’re like, okay, I’ll assign this to Kinsey and all assign this to Wes. You’re like making that happen. And that takes really a close, trusting relationship.

Alyssa (00:05:54):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting. What you said about working with such a range of different VA’s in the past is there truly is so many, you could have a hundred different job descriptions for a virtual assistant. And, and I have, I feel like it’s like a personal goal of mine to break the norm. And the idea that being an assistant is any sort of hierarchy and that you’re any lower than anybody else because it’s truly an honor to serve other people. And it’s, it’s almost like being in the hospitality industry is sometimes, depending on where you are and who you’re talking to you, there’s, there’s just a sort of hierarchy like you can be made to feel inferior by certain people. And there’s, I personally do not feel that way. And I want to share that with the world. And I want to share that feeling in that just the idea that you aren’t any less than if you’re an assistant and you are.

Alyssa (00:07:20):
And I think that I’ve been privileged to work for some really incredible people. And I spent my college years as a nanny and a babysitter working with amazing families that will be my second families for forever. And that was the foundation of, that’s really what, what built me and what built the beginning of Remotely, because I, I didn’t have the privilege of anyone helping me with college. I was on my own really, financially. And so in college, I was a barista from 4:30 until 9:30 AM. And then I went to school and then I finished school. And depending on the day I might’ve had a babysitting job or a different gig. So my freelancing has sort of always been there and yeah, and it’s evolved from being a catch all help with the kids, help keep the house running, to now solely working online and sometimes trips together and photo shoots and fun stuff like that.

Alyssa (00:08:44):
But it’s just so interesting to see how really when I started as a nanny and that was my, that was really my first job, my first official job, payroll job, I loved it and I thought I could have been a nanny and I got to go on trips with people. And I got to experience families on a level that I didn’t get to experience as a kid. And I, I went to college, studied the sciences. I was on a path to go into healthcare or something that I thought was going to give me a long-term solid, what’s the word like recession proof sort of job because yeah, I wanted, I wanted to go into something knowing that I would be able to, you know, have job security forever. And when I graduated from college, I moved down to California and I was chasing the sunshine and I had in the back of my mind, okay.

Alyssa (00:10:11):
A couple years I’ll work, I’ll get some like work experience and then I’ll go to grad school because that’s just sort of what I thought I was supposed to do.

Rai (00:10:21):
That’s what you’re supposed to in America, right?

Alyssa (00:10:23):
Yeah. I mean, if you want to have,

Rai (00:10:28):
it’s like, that is the formula for your life. That’s what you’re supposed to do. Yeah.

Alyssa (00:10:35):
Well and that’s, what is you know, you know, what a certain role can make per year and you know, the lifestyle that you want to live. And so you sort of choose a career path based on how much, how much work you want to put in on the front end, how much debt you want to take on and how much you want to make on the other side. And I, and I was very excited. I wanted to be an occupational therapist.

Alyssa (00:11:04):
I’m super passionate about working with people with disabilities. And mental health is really important to me. And I really wanted to work in the OT world to the point where I left my full-time job. And I went back to school and I took on you know working, part-time making minimal money, but taking classes so that I could get into grad school. And I went through with that for like two years. And I reached a point where I realized that I really didn’t want the debt. I really wanted, I think that for a long time believed I wasn’t an entrepreneur because I didn’t have a cool business idea. And I couldn’t ever come up with like, you know, you watch shark tank and its so inspiring

Rai (00:12:07):
The gravity of it all and yeah,

Alyssa (00:12:08):
Yeah, yeah. And I actually, my brother was a huge part in my life and why I went down this path because he started multiple businesses and he tried to bring me in on some of them. But I said, you know, I can’t make a long-term commitment to you because I want to go to grad school. And I turned down a lot of opportunities with him.

Rai (00:12:36):
Almost like this path that you’re meant to be on. It was kind of like calling to you, like, Hey, come on, here’s an opportunity. And you were like, wait, this is supposed to be over here. So what was that tipping point for you when you realized, wait, why am I doing this? And why don’t I go over there?

Alyssa (00:12:51):
Yeah, I so I was, I was living with an amazing family in their casita and the back of their house and I was working part-time I was babysitting part-time and I was in my last prerequisite before grad school. And so it was at the moment where I was deciding, do I apply to schools and take the GRE, or do I apply to schools that don’t need the GRE? And I was also faced with a decision of, do I move to another state? Do I leave San Diego where I built this beautiful community of people around me? And I sat down the way that I, my brain works when I’m trying to make big decisions is I take printer paper, and I write out all my pros and cons. And I did that and I did that with about four different schools and included the location, the cost, the timeframes, the, you know, re relational, relational elements of it, of leaving my community. And when I do that, usually I can come up with a solution and usually that’s my way of figuring out what the hell do I do next? And I couldn’t figure it out. And I struggled with it. I was missing a piece of paper. Yeah. I was missing the, build this business. And I remember having a conversation with my brother and saying, you know, I don’t, I don’t know what to do. Normally I can figure out what to do. And right now, I don’t know.

Alyssa (00:14:52):
And he, he was just very encouraging and reminded me that I, you know, I don’t have to go to grad school and get $150,000 in debt in order to have a successful career. And at that point I started exploring ideas of, well, should I start a service-based business in San Diego? Should I do carpet cleaning buy a van, get all the, you know, I was playing with a lot of different ideas. And ultimately I decided on what I’m doing now. Because I sat down with a new piece of paper and I wrote out what, what types of businesses and what types of things can I do without having capital? What, what can I do for work right now without having to go to school, buy anything, get a loan for anything. And I have a good friend who has been, she is a coach and she has an amazing story and she used virtual assistants in the past.

Alyssa (00:16:15):
And so she and I have always sat down and, you know, had Epic life conversations. And she actually was a huge piece in connecting my brother with the business he’s in now. And and so we sat down with a piece of paper and she had me draw a flower. And the center of it was like, what I want things to look like. And then the pedals were all of these different elements. And, and she just had me sit on that. And she also explained to me what what a virtual assistant was. Cause I had no idea. I loved the idea of building a business online. So I was exploring you know, how to learn web development or how to learn graphic design and looked into all sorts of different courses. And then she offered me to help her with her social media. So then I got some exposure into just her world, her online entrepreneurial world. And yeah, I feel like the rest is history, but there’s been so much, that’s, that’s changed and evolved since then.

Rai (00:17:44):
So what was the…did you ever feel a click into place once you started that VA path, That was the right route for you, especially after you were considering, it seems like you considered dozens of options from professional nannying to occupational therapy. I know you were in the legal field for awhile. I mean, you’ve done so many different things. How did you know that this was the one for you?

Alyssa (00:18:20):
I started. So at the time I got a job working for an attorney friend of mine where I learned a lot about business structuring, running a business, being a part of like accounts receivable and accounts payable. So I learned a lot of skills in that job and from those women that were necessary skills for running a business. And I had a couple had a couple of moments where I knew that I had this skillset, that it wasn’t, I couldn’t be an attorney. I couldn’t, I couldn’t do the things that the attorneys were doing, but I knew that I had like the business sense and the confidence to do something more. And I knew that I deserved to make more, but in the role I was in it just didn’t make sense for them. They needed, you know, they needed an administrative assistant. And I enjoyed my job doing that. I enjoyed all the different things that I was doing. And I think when I realized I could be doing that role that I was I doing for the attorneys but in such a big way, and in a more creative way, I started doing research. I looked into, you know, what it means to be a virtual assistant, what different things a virtual assistant can do. And I can’t think of any one moment where it clicked, but all…

Alyssa (00:20:25):
When I try to think of a moment, all I can think of is excitement. I just remember being so excited and I had, at the time I was living in a little studio apartment and I would go to work and then I would come home and I would get on my computer and I would just click away and just go down the rabbit hole of the internet of what can I teach myself? How can I do this? Cause I didn’t have very much money. I was living in a studio paying like, you know, $1,300 for rent a month by myself covering all of my own, you know, in addition to rent, it was there. I didn’t have any extra money to invest in anything really, other than buying a domain and a Canva membership.

Alyssa (00:21:17):
But I knew that that was a good first start because I wanted, I knew that I was creative, I know that I am creative and I just started with what was attainable and what was inexpensive and what I could teach myself. And I just, I just remember being so excited and being just on cloud nine, learning new things and exploring what, what all I could learn from other people.

Rai (00:21:56):
Yeah. So it sounds like that excitement was really your, your signal flags saying, this is the right path.

Alyssa (00:22:05):
This is it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I couldn’t, I mean, I, I didn’t have any reason not to try. There was no reason I wasn’t investing money that I would lose. I was just exploring what my options were and what the possibilities were. And I joined a lot of Facebook groups that a friend of mine invited me to.

Alyssa (00:22:32):
I found more Facebook groups that were all virtual assistants still in them today and still you know, connect with people. And I see people post about, you know, I’m in the beginning of, I want to become a virtual assistant, but I just don’t know how, and that really excites me because I remember being in that place. And I could probably go back to my first post in those groups and look at how much progress I’ve made as a professional in this industry. And I want to share that with other people. I also to sort of tie this into another piece of this is, I love adventure. I am, you know, I want to be outside all the time. I could be on my bike or on my skis for the rest of my life. And I would be so happy.

Rai (00:23:42):
Or at the beach and taking road trips with your husband.

Alyssa (00:23:47):
Yeah, exactly. And I have always wanted to see the world. And in the last year we haven’t gone anywhere. International. We’ve definitely taken road trips, definitely had our share of domestic COVID friendly exploration to camping and all of that. But I I knew that if I were to go to grad school and become an occupational therapist, I would be a payroll employee for probably a large system where I would have my, my hours and my time off dictated by a big company that maybe didn’t really care if I wanted to go on vacation with my husband.

Rai (00:24:40):
And I think what’s important to note is what you said at the beginning was you were looking for something that was recession proof. You were looking for some sort of employment guarantee. And yet a lot of people think that that is traditional employment W2, right. But as we’ve seen with the COVID era, you can literally get fired. You can get laid off at any moment. When you work for yourself. Unless you have like some crazy split personality thing going on, where you fire yourself and not be fired. You, it literally cannot have it. Even if you look at the model that we have, either with Cornell or with Chiron, you know, in Cornell, we have like what, well, as of this past week where we just signed on five new clients, I think we’re up to like 30 some odd clients at this point, what kind of crazy odds would there need to be for all of our clients to fire us at the exact same time we’re going to happen at Chiron? Like all of our courses shut down. All of our workshops shut down. All of our clients stopped coming. That would never happen. It’s statistically impossible. So for yourself and yeah, it’s hard to get the ball rolling. It’s hard to know where to start. That’s why we have resources like this. But once you get those first few clients, like you’re set, you really can’t ever be fired and there’s only room to go up.

Alyssa (00:26:14):
Right. Totally. And I think that is, I think that for me, I have always been a very determined person and I’ve always, if I set my mind on something, I’m going to do it and nothing’s going to get in my way. And I have, it’s interesting. I’ve experienced like different side gigs. Throughout my time I’ve been sought after, by people working with an MLM type company and nothing against anybody who is selling a product for an MLM company. It’s not for me.

Rai (00:27:04):
I hate MLMs. I will go on a rant about MLMs all day long.

Alyssa (00:27:10):
Agreed, absolutely agreed. But what I, something that I’ve found interesting is people will ask me what I do. And without like knowing me or being friends with me on Facebook you know, I’d say I run a business online if I’m keeping it very simple, because if I just say a virtual assistant, nobody really knows what that means unless they know what one is. And I’ve had moments where I’ve had to say, just so you know, I’m not trying to get you to get a member number and buy a product and only make money if everybody else under you makes money. Like this is an actual business. I’m doing actual work. I’m billing for my time and I’m not cold

Alyssa (00:28:05):
Facebook messaging people. I’ve worked hard to show who I am and articulate what my skills are, what I’m capable of, what I can help people with. And I’ve landed clients like you who need somebody that they can trust in their business. And I know so many stay at home moms that work with those MLM businesses, because it is marketed as well, you’re home with your kids and you have this free time. This is an easy way to bring in extra income.

Rai (00:28:50):
And ruin all your social relationships.

Alyssa (00:28:53):
Totally.

Rai (00:28:56):
Yeah.

Alyssa (00:28:57):
And I would like to tell the world that there are other ways to be a stay at home mom and have an income on the side that you can do while your kids are napping or while the kids are in school. And like, I’m not a mom yet, but that is a huge factor in why I’ve chosen this path because I want to be a mom and I want to be able to be home with my children when they’re home. And I want to be around for all those moments. And I’ve seen so many people that I grew up around just, and you know, it may be working well for them, but I want people to know that there’s more opportunity and I didn’t know about it until somebody told me. And so I am just excited to share with this community and my Facebook community and all of the creative people I know that there are so many opportunities to do work online. And it’s interesting, you posted about this on Chiron’s social before, but like if it’s not a thing, make it a thing. You are responsible to pave your own way in the world. And you are the only person that knows exactly what you’re capable of. And if you have an idea and nobody’s done it before, give it a shot. Or if it’s something that a lot of people do, you can still give it a shot and it’s okay. It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to not be good at it, but.

Rai (00:30:45):
You can do it your own way.

Rai (00:30:48):
You started at the beginning saying there are so many different types of VA and project manager on a spectrum of pay of experience, of level of involvement in the business. There’s so many different ways that you can architect your role. And you’ve really shown that you can do that. I mean, you get to design what your business looks like. And to your point about good jobs for moms and for people who are looking for work and ways to run a business online, you don’t have to join one of those sleazy MLMs that force you to buy a certain amount of product every month. That’s stupid. It’s like, yeah. Don’t be a pawn in someone else’s business, go do your own thing. How many writers on the team at Cornell who are moms, we have social media managers who are moms. We have designers who are moms. You have creative directors who are moms. We have photographers who are moms. We have, we have you, you guys have plans for a family, you know? I mean there’s really no limit to what you can do when you go all in on yourself.

Alyssa (00:31:56):
Right. Totally. And that’s, that’s really, it is. You just have to believe in yourself and you have to know that you can do it and you have to take that risk. And and know that if you fail, then you at least tried.

Rai (00:32:14):
That’s one of the many things that I love about just your whole attitude towards work, because I’ve worked with people in the past who, I’ll say, okay, so we need to do this. And they go, well, I’ve never done that before. I don’t know how to do that. I can’t do that. And I’m like, well, neither have I. That’s why we’re going to do it together. And we’re going to figure it out. We have to do it. So we’re going to do it, but there’s so much resistance. And there’s so much fear. And there’s so much there walking back and stepping away from it. And you from day one, you’ve been the complete opposite. I’m like, I just signed up for Convertkit. Never used it before. How do we need to start using it? You’re like, okay. I don’t know what it is either, but I’ll figure it out.

Alyssa (00:32:56):
That’s always been my attitude. Just figure it out.

Rai (00:33:00):
Alyssa, we need to do this SEO thing for this client. They need help with this thing. Okay. What’s SEO. I mean, not to that extent, you knew what SEP was from the beginning, but you’re like, it’s this thing, what’s the rush. What’s KW finder. What’s this. And you’ve always been, you’ve always had that can-do attitude. You’ve always been willing to approach every new challenge with yeah. At this moment in time, I do not know how to do this, but give me a week and it’ll be done. I will figure it out. That is my job. And I’m capable of doing it. And that’s why whenever things come up in the business and you know, I’m kind of like tying in and all these different things that you’ve said so far, it’s, everything’s in place for me right now.

Rai (00:33:44):
But before you said, there’s really kind of like this perceived hierarchy where VA’s are somehow lower. And the executive that they’re supporting is higher or the business owner. They’re. And it’s really not that because I see you and I as equal. That’s why, whenever the team has a request, I’m like ask Alyssa or I am not the sole decision maker in the business. Like we do this together and we couldn’t do it with each other. And how did I get on this? Oh yeah. So like, I’m the one who’s like, okay, I want to do this in the business. I’m going to do this in the business. I’m going to do this in the business. Like I have these goals, I have these visions. I have these ideas that I want to bring to life and I cannot tell you how good it feels to know that my partner in the business is someone who goes, okay, let’s do it. Okay. Okay. We’ll figure it out. Okay. That sounds great. No idea how that’s going to happen, but it’s going happen. So I’m wondering if, what would you say to the, one of the VA’s or the current VA’s who are listening to this? Like what would be your biggest advice for approaching client relationships?

Alyssa (00:34:59):
Well, I, so many things, I think that, I think that going back to the reason why you hired me is because I never gave up and I had, I was in the very beginning of my freelance journey and, you know, I knew how much I was making at the, like, I knew how much I needed to make in order to survive. And so I set my prices higher and you, I was out of your budget initially.

Rai (00:35:57):
Yeah, initially for like two months once I saw the value that you brought.

Alyssa (00:36:02):
Well, yeah, no, I know. And that’s part of it. That is totally part of beginning a relationship with a client is you have to be open and willing to prove yourself because this day and age, when you’re meeting people online and it’s not a referral, you have this responsibility to prove who you are and prove your integrity to people. And I think that that’s something I learned as a legal assistant, having access to a lot of different files and, you know, people’s credit cards and social security numbers and all of that. And none of that really matters, but it’s important to prove who you are so that you know, that you can trust me.

Alyssa (00:36:53):
And part of that is, is being open and willing to have open conversations around your pricing and why you think that you’re worth the amount that you’re asking for. And I think the other piece of it is not being afraid to bother people. And I applied for your role and then I stalked your, your website. And I read everything on your website. I read your blogs, I read your about me. I just, I was so intrigued by what you do and I didn’t have your email. I didn’t want to just go through your website. I wanted to get ahold of you. And I went to your business Facebook page because I have a business Facebook page. And I know that if anybody messages me there, I’m going to respond to it. And so I went to yours, I said, Hey, I just applied for a role working with you. And I’m really intrigued by and made it personalized. It wasn’t just, Hey, I submitted an application. It wasn’t like it was kind of like a cover letter, but it was more thoughtful and more it was also two weeks after you posted. So I thought, Oh, well, she might have somebody already, but I’m going to give it a shot because I can tell that I like what she’s about and not.

Rai (00:38:38):
You didn’t fall in the trap of, Oh, she must have filled the position already. Oh, I bet she’s gotten a million applications. You didn’t let those questions, those downs get in the way of you.

Alyssa (00:38:46):
Yeah.

Alyssa (00:38:47):
And I definitely thought about them. I went through the motions of, okay, how do I approach this? Like I do with any other professional relationship. Like I always tell people, if you interview always send an email right afterwards, and then also maybe a couple of days later, and it’s not annoying. It shows that you want the job. It shows that you aren’t afraid to be vulnerable. You’re not afraid to show up and, and maybe be annoying. But at the end of the day, this is the story behind why I got a nanny job at 19 for, who is now my best friend. And she wasn’t going to hire me. She was, I was in a rough place with my family. And I was very honest with her about that. And she had, she saw it as a bit of a red flag because she thought, well, she’s, you know, why isn’t it, what’s wrong with her if she isn’t in a good place with their family. And, but I was honest and I was transparent and very persistent. I called her and emailed her a few different times cause I really, really wanted that job. And she tells that story to this day, when we have dinner parties or we go on a trip somewhere and we meet someone, they hear the story of persistent Alyssa.

Rai (00:40:27):
I’ve told that story. I don’t know how many times one of my clients is like, well, I applied to this job or, Oh, I reached out to this client that I really want. And like when people, did you follow up? No, I don’t want to be annoying. I don’t want to be persistent. I don’t want to be pushy. Yeah. I like, and I tell the story of you and me and how we met because that job for a VA. Two things I want to say about that One I had been in a position where I had been burned by previous people who were lying about client communications, who were snooping through my email, through things that were not applicable to them that were very personal and that they really shouldn’t have been in. I learned by people who said, Oh yeah, I will have this massive project done in six months, six months later, it’s still not done. And yet I’m out $10,000. I had really been burned by a lot of VA’s and project managers. And so when you came along or I should say, when I posted that listing, I was literally looking for the most simple version of a VA who could just come in and do a little of admin work for me, nothing invoicing, nothing where I had to put a lot of trust in someone.

Alyssa (00:41:37):
Yeah. I remember. Yeah. I remember it being very, very minimal. And then as time went by

Rai (00:41:45):
And that’s why my budget was so low for it, I’m like, there’s no way, you know, $30, $40 an hour for this work when it needs to be very, very tight. That’s all right. Then when I did put the listing out there, I got dozens and dozens of applicants. I didn’t where to begin sorting them out. And you made that job so easy for me. You were the only one who sent a follow up message and you said, I’ve gone through your website. I love what you do. I love your philosophy on this. I really want to learn about copywriting. I would absolutely love to work with you. I know it’s been a couple of weeks since you put that listing up, you may have already filled the role, but I wanted to reach out and express how interested I was in this position. And I was like done. She’s the one

Rai (00:42:34):
Through all the applications because you, so if you’re the only one who’s following up on a job that you really want and you’re expressing your passion and your interest for it, it just exponentially increases your odds. And then earlier point, once we got to know each other and I realized, okay, this girl is totally different from all those previous people who I worked with and who totally burned me. Our trust grew. And the role expanded from this AP video, little admin assistant role into now, you’re my project manager. We’re talking about partnership opportunities. We’re talking about growing our businesses together. I mean like there’s no end in sight. There’s no, there’s no glass ceiling on us with what do can do together. So it just goes to show when you put yourself out there and you are honest about what you want and what you can do, the whole world opens up to you.

Alyssa (00:43:33):
Totally. Yeah. And you just, can’t be afraid to be vulnerable and you, you just have to be willing to be uncomfortable for a little while.

Rai (00:43:42):
Right. And what’s the worst that can happen. Someone doesn’t respond to your email. Oh my God. How horrible, like, right. We’re not in any worse position than you really, that you can only get in a better position.

Alyssa (00:43:56):
Yeah. And that is what I would, I mean, you know, we’ve talked about this a lot. That is what I would love to see happen in Remotely is help people who are, who have that attitude and are just struggling to find clients and are just struggling to land that right person. And I think something that has always been very relevant in my life is having relationships and networking with people and just opportunities coming my way for different things. And I don’t see that stopping. I don’t see that slowing down. It never has. And with being a part of multiple different businesses online that is only going to grow. And I just, by working with you have already been connected with dozens of other, mostly women, but some men, people online who eventually will need help with something. And I ideally would love to bring people in and teach them the Remotely way of being an assistant.

Rai (00:45:27):
In my opinion, some would say, insanely high standards, your way is the only way. In you are ever going to take any kind of VA training. It has to be with Alyssa because the difference that your clients will experience is night and day, and you will just stand out way beyond the competition.

Alyssa (00:45:52):
Thanks. I appreciate that.

Rai (00:45:57):
You know, me, I mean, you know, I can be demanding. I can have really high standards. I can. I mean, I added like what 30 new tasks for us this week. I mean, it never ends when you’re working with people who are creative and like producers, especially if your client is a generator, if you know anything about human design, but it can be challenging. And yet your way you have a system, you have it. I think what you really bring is not to sound cliche, but the complete package, because you don’t just have the systems, you also have the mindset, you also have the healthy perspective on building boundaries and life balance. You have the social support and, you know, insights on how and when to take breaks, step away. How do you maximize your productivity when you’re VA? You know, I’ll, I’ll kind of go on a little tirade here for most creatives.

Rai (00:46:58):
It’s not about being ultra productive and trying to do as much as possible in a single day. It’s usually about doing your highest quality work that brings you the most joy and the most fun fulfillment, but for VAs, especially in project managers, actually it is about productivity. It’s about how can I get this much stuff done in this amount of time, right? And that way, the rest of the time is mine. Your ability to be productive is directly related to your quality of life and your freedom, whether you’re a VA or a project manager. So the way that you approach this role to me is so refreshing because you really take that holistic approach. And it’s not just about a system. I mean, it’s not just about a mentality, it’s really everything.

Alyssa (00:47:47):
I love that. Yeah. Thank you.

Rai (00:47:54):
We will cut this section of the recording out for your, your commercial.

Alyssa (00:47:58):
Yeah. Totally. Or make a brand essence with it.

Rai (00:48:04):
So, what’s the one thing that you would want to see change in the VA world?

Alyssa (00:48:11):
Oh man. I don’t know. I mean, there’s a lot of scam jobs out there. There’s a lot of, a lot of the things that I see the postings that I see people complaining about, you know, being low balled, or not being happy with somebody will come into to a group and list out what the expectations of the role are. And then also say, well, I have a super low budget. And I, I don’t know what I would like to see change, but what I would like to be a part of is helping creatives who need work, done connect with creatives, who can do the work, but within their budget. Because I think it’s a lot of work to go into a Facebook group. And I know there’s a lot of different agencies but it’s, it’s a lot of work to go into a Facebook group and look at all the job listings and, you know, you see one and then there’s 125 comments on it already.

Alyssa (00:49:41):
And it was posted two hours ago. So it can be very, very discouraging. And then there’s also this idea that working with an agency would mean that it’s, you know, just beginners. And I would like to have something that is a solution for all of that, where anybody can come with whatever budget they have in mind. And I can be honest with how much it actually is going to cost and give them, okay, well, this is what we can do with your budget. And this is the type of person you should be looking for. And I know I’m not the only one I’ve seen a lot of people that are VA matchmakers and

Alyssa (00:50:28):
It’s awesome to see. And I, I want to be a part of that because I feel like I have this experience and then also like big picture vision of helping creative people get jobs and do things that are fulfilling to them and that they love.

Rai (00:50:49):
And even with those VA matchmaker situations, the views have to be careful there because what I’ve seen happen firsthand is I’ve seen this who position themselves as VA or project manager matchmakers, and they attract all these people in, and maybe these people have to pay like a monthly fee or a one-time fee to be on their list to get connected with employers. And then what happens is that matchmaker only ever refers one or two people on that list who either give them a kickback or are their best friends or and they don’t do the actual work to find out, okay, who do you need?

Rai (00:51:32):
What kind of skills do you need? What kind of personality, what kind of business who would be interested in that? They just go, Oh, I recommend this person. Yeah. Instead of actually caring about the match.

Alyssa (00:51:44):
Yeah. And what their personality profiles are and who they work the best with. Yeah. So I would say that maybe that’s, that’s a problem I would like to solve is, is just connecting business owners with the right people that are going to be around for a long time, that aren’t just looking to, you know, work a couple of gigs and then be done with it, but to have a long-term partner in your business so that you can grow your business and not be afraid to grow and not be afraid to not have the support that you need when the growth comes.

Rai (00:52:25):
Yeah. And that was something else I wanted to ask you about, because I know even over the course of us working together, which has been a little about a year now, we’re, we’ve got to be coming up on our one year anniversary soon. It’s going to be any day now. I’m not sure which one, but I’m gonna send you flowers.

Alyssa (00:52:41):
I think it’s like April 10th or something

Rai (00:52:46):
I don’t know. Anyway, even while we we’ve been working together, there’ve been times when you’ve had other clients you’ve had three or four other businesses that you’ve been working for. And I know some VA’s they go, okay. I want to have, you know, four different clients that I’m working five to 10 hours a week for, and then other clients or other VA’s go, Nope. I want to have one business that I’m working like 30 to 40 hours a week or 10 to 20, depending on their availability. What’s your take on whether someone should go and find multiple clients or go all in on one.

Alyssa (00:53:26):
I think there’s a couple of factors. I think that with you, it was just so easy.

Speaker 3 (00:53:36):
My husband would love to hear that.

Alyssa (00:53:41):
Well, I think because we think so, similarly, I mean, looking at like what our personality profiles look like, it’s weird.

Rai (00:53:52):
We, so just for those of you who are listening Alyssa and I met in person in November, in DC for our client’s photo-shoot event. And we, this was the first time that we met in person. And of course we spent like 45 minutes hugging and we have tattoos in all the same places, like different tattoos, but in every single location of the exact same location, it was the weirdest thing

Alyssa (00:54:16):
Yeah. And we’re both chameleons. So when we looked at our, when I did the DISC assessment, you saw it and you thought, Oh my gosh, this is mine.

Alyssa (00:54:32):
Yeah. So I think it, it comes down to a couple of things. I think it comes down to the relationship that you have with your client and the way you work together, the expectations that they have for the role. There have been a couple of people that I’ve worked with that need availability and need me to be present during specific operating hours and you know, going into it. I said, no problem. I can absolutely do your work during these hours. But that became challenging. It became challenging because not only did I have their work, but I also had your work and my own work. And it’s, it’s all about managing the expectations. And, you know, if you go into a client relationship with certain expectations and you think that you can meet them it’s important to note when you can’t. And it’s also okay for me to not want to be available to somebody from 8 to 5 on Monday through Friday, because that’s why, part of the reason why I’m in this business. Cause I like to work at night sometimes. I like to sit up until midnight and when my brain is going, that’s part of the creative entrepreneur world is when you have the creative juices flowing, you got to go with it. You have to embrace that. And sometimes you can’t force it. Sometimes you can’t force that, you know that.

Rai (00:56:29):
And I think it’s actually really important to note, if you have a client who’s saying, I need you to be available from 8 to 5 or from noon to five or whatever it is, and they’re dictating your hours. That’s not an independent contractor role anymore. That is a employee role, whether that’s part-time and that’s illegal for a client to impose and working environment, working any kind of circumstances around your work. Yeah. A client cannot do that, an employer can.

Rai (00:57:08):
Its important to know your rights to as an, as a

Alyssa (00:57:11):
That’s very true. And it is, you know, for some people, for some people it might work well for parents whose kids are well, this last year, kids weren’t at school, but whose kids were, who are at school and those are your only hours for you to work, that might be the type of opportunity you should seek out. But for, for myself it just, it wasn’t ideal. It was, I, you know, I like to take my dog to the beach in the middle of the day and I like to sleep in sometimes, sometimes I like to, sometimes I wake up at seven and sometimes I wake up at nine and I like to not wake up to an alarm this, you know, so I think it is about the relationship. It’s about the expectations. And then it’s about your quality of life and how you want the work to fit into that. And you have to know what you want and that, I guess that’s another piece of it is knowing, knowing what you want and knowing when you work well and knowing yourself enough, to be able to set those boundaries for yourself and be okay with not setting an alarm in the morning and sleeping in.

Rai (00:58:41):
And being not afraid to change things. If your life circumstances change, if you become a parent, if you decide, Hey, I want to actually lean more into my natural energy pattern. And I don’t want to force myself to wake up at five in the morning. It’s things changing your life, allowing your business to change with you. Awesome. Well, Alyssa, where can people first, let me ask what’s next for you and where can people find out more about you?

Alyssa (00:59:10):
Yeah. next is going to be creating a course for other creatives and anyone who curious about how to make this happen, how to do it. It’s – you’re going to be a big part of this? It was actually your idea.

Alyssa (00:59:39):
I’m really excited to put it together. So that will be at the end, probably at the end of the year will be available for purchase for a pretty low amount. And then next steps, bringing more people in and teaching people how to do work my way and finding jobs, getting, connecting people with the right kind of work that they like. And growing Remotely from this little business idea of me being, it’s a solopreneur to a agency where I connect people with others who can help them. And you can find me on Instagram @remotelyvirtualservices and my website, if you’d like to join my newsletter I will be sending out emails to keep everyone updated on the progress of the course and when it will be launched. And that is at remotelyvirtualservices.com. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you can join the newsletter.

Rai (01:01:01):
Perfect. Perfect. Thank you so much for being here. We know, especially how busy you are because you’ve worked in both of my businesses. Goodness. So thank you so much for taking the time. I’m so glad.

Alyssa (01:01:13):
Yeah! Thanks for having me!

Alyssa (01:01:13):
Yeah. Thanks for having me.