Ep. 276 From Corporate Exec to Virtual Admin Expert

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_01]: This channel is dedicated to helping women who want to analyze, apply and amplify their

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_01]: guide giving gifts.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_01]: We accomplished this by discussing business, South Improvement, Health and Beauty, and my

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_01]: random thoughts about life from a Christian perspective.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host, Latasha Johnson.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Are you tired of feeling less than enough just because you're single?

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Then you'll love my new book, How to Live an Extraordinary Life with or Without Mr.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Wright, a Christian woman's guide on how to survive and thrive on single Avenue.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: It's time to acknowledge a dress and dismantle the harmful limited mindset many single

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Christian women have internalized.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Take the first step to discover and embrace the plans God has in store for you.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to be notified when the book is released, please check out the Hustle & Faith

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: website.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I cannot wait to share this with all my single ladies.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_01]: You have everything you need to live an extraordinary life with or without Mr. Wright.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: In this episode, I'd like to thank the pleasure of speaking with a true business boss,

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Wendellin Young.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Guendellin left a more than 15-year career advising corporate executives to start her own company,

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_01]: so she'd have the freedom to manage her loop is condition.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Now at the helm of your virtual admin expert,

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: a multi-six figure results driven agency of professional administrative problem solvers,

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_01]: she brings her full spectrum of expertise to lead the companies and clients success.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Back by no how, her high-level education,

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_01]: organizational leadership and business information systems,

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_01]: along with the pure passion for people, Gwendellin is a recognized authority in her industry

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and a champion who lifts others as she climbs.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the show, Wendellin.

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: How thank you, thank you so much for coming on to the show.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So you have a very impressive background, but I want folks to hear from you

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_01]: who you are in what you represent.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So why don't you tell the audience about yourself?

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, the IAM Guendellin Young, I'm the CEO and founder of your virtual admin expert,

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: which is an online business management and virtual assistant agency working with multiple

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: six and seven figure service providers, professional coaches and consultants.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And we work with them on all of the things in the back in helping them to streamline their

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: operations increase their productivity and of course increase the bottom line.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm super excited to be here with you today.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Need to, need to because good help is hard to find.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_01]: So when you came across my path, I said, all right, let's do this.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes. So what inspired you to create your virtual admin expert?

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that is such a great question. And believe it or not, I had no desire to be an entrepreneur.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody ever believes me when I tell them that today. Wow, okay.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: That was not my dream. My dream was to be the girl to crush the glass ceiling in

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: America with the beautiful corner office like that was my thing. And so I've been working this

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: in the community. Yes, I have been working in corporate America for about nearly two decades

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and in 2013 that got a diagnosis of systemic loop is. And so that altered life for me quite a bit.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, because I didn't even know what loop is was. And so that started this journey of

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: healing and really trying to recover and figure out what was happening with my body.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And during that time, I just told my husband, I'm like, I don't want to go back.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to go back. I don't think that I should have to choose between taking care of myself

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and doing the work that I love. And I remember just saying, God, what am I supposed to do?

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And I heard him say it's in your hands. And I'm like, what does that mean?

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Right? What does that mean? And I'm like, are there really people that need

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: administrative support and background support in the virtual space? And I just started researching

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and found there was this entire industry, virtual assistant industry that had been here for

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: decades. And I was like, people have been doing this this entire time. And nobody thought it was

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: important enough to tell me this. And you know that like that literally was the birth of your

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_00]: virtual admin expert, I went heads down, working. I put up all the job profiles sites on the

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: upworks and the old desk and everything and made a mix of website myself and started telling

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: people this is what I do. And then six months later, I don't count my mom. My mom was my first

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: paying client. But I'm like, my mom is going to support everything that I do. So I'm like, I can count

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: you in the stats lady because that's like a given. But my first paying client who was a non-family

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: member took about six months and it was a lady in Florida and we got on and we connected and she

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: was like, yeah, I definitely want to work with you. And I was like, oh, this is a thing, right?

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So then I started working with her and she was like, do you travel? And I'm like, do you pay to travel?

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And she's like, yeah, I'm like, well, then I travel. I never did that.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember going down there, I told my husband, I'm like, you're going to have to take

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: the weekend off because like, I don't know this lady from a can of paint. Like, we literally

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: have just met on the internet. I don't know if she's been getting me down to Florida and then I'm

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: going to like never come back. So like, you got to go with me. Yeah. And you know, got there to

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Florida, spent the weekend supporting her in her mastermind for the weekend and it was the

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: first time I saw somebody make thousands of dollars in a matter of 30 minutes. And I was just like,

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: what just happened here? And I was like, oh, this can be a thing. And she started referring

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: her colleagues and they started referring their colleagues. And I was like, oh, I'm on to something here.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Yeah. Oh my goodness. So let me ask you this. I know because you mentioned your

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_01]: diagnosis regarding Lucas. And I hope this comes across the right way, but there's always that

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_01]: statement that things happen for a reason. There's, you know, in negativity, there could be like

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: some some blessings. Like if you think about it, yeah, still never have known,

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: had you not had the diagnosis, not to say that that had to go the right hand to go that route.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_01]: But how do you? How do you look back on that now? Thinking about where you were the situation

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and now where you are now? Yeah. I think it was divine. And I know people are like, what?

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: But I really do think it was divine, right? Because I think it was God's way of shaking me out of that place,

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: because he knew I would never leave corporate America on my own, right? That's not something

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I would have ever done. And so I think it had to be this let me get you out of that element and

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: really kind of get you alone and consecrate you to remind you of who's really your source.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Right? And so to me, it was really a blessing because I went through like this four year of

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I had several years of like hospital visits in and out and all of that.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I went from 14 medications a day to be functional down to two. And so yeah, yeah. So I could see

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: guys hand all through that. And I think it was divine. It was like, I got to do something drastic

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: because this child is not going to listen unless it's something drastic and over the top

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: that really catches her attention, right? That was like, yeah. Whoa. Trust me, I've been

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and I've been reflecting in disguise because now I am literally the person that's probably

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: unemployable, right? Because I'm going to be like, you want to have a meeting with us? Like,

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: you, I got to get fully dressed.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling me I can't have business upstairs and party at the bottom.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh, yeah, you don't get to talk to me that way. So it's like, yeah,

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: like my mind said it's so completely different but my faith is also strengthening that

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_01]: we're saying powerful. I love that. I love that. It's a mud. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. You know, when I want to dig a little bit more into your business.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So when or how do people know it's time to hire a virtual admin expert like yourself because

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_01]: as someone who's type A, I'm willing to, I'm willing to say that. Okay. I'm trying to work on it.

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_01]: But as someone who's type A, when would you believe is the time that I need to hire someone like yourself?

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that is a great question and you are amongst company. Fellow.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Right. I'm thinking, I love my A so I told you to get it. But when you are starting to

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: really feel that overwhelm when you constantly things are paddling up on your plate and you don't

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: know how you're going to find the time to do them. When your inbox is overflowing and you're

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: trying to get back to people as quick as you can but something is still or somebody still

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: going through the loops when you are missing out on opportunities because you can't say yes,

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: because you're so bogged down what trying to figure out the data day stuff. Then it's time for

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: you to get an assistant when you find yourself like doing all of the things that are not making

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: you any money and missing out on those opportunities that could be making you money. It's time

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_00]: to get an assistant. Right. And here's the other side that a lot of people don't think about.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: When you start to hear those complaints or concerns from your family, from your kids,

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: that oh, you're working all the time, are you going to make my game today? Are you going to be

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: able to do this? Are you going to be able to do that? You've got to take a step back to see

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: what's the real priority here? Right. Now don't get me wrong, there's seasons where life is going

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: to require a little bit more of us than business and business is going to require a little bit more

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: of us from life. But if you're finding that that is always your norm, you need some support.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_01]: That makes perfect sense. Yeah, I've definitely found myself in some seasons where I'm like

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_01]: task one more. Yes, and here are point, you know what, there's only 24 hours in the day. It's

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_01]: a certain point. You're just going to end up falling out. So that makes perfect sense what you said.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: So with that said, what responsibility is typically the hardest ones for your clients to delegate?

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my goodness. Control of their calendar is a huge one. Control of their calendar.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_01]: You just took a deep breath. Oh, yeah, yeah. That would that would hurt me too.

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I can tell that their calendar is like the biggest one that we run into. The second biggest

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_00]: one is giving access to any like financial information. Ooh, that's I can see that. That's

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: two of the ones that are like, wait a minute. You want somebody else to have control over my time?

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I want to say yes to that person and they're going to say no because when they look at my schedule,

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: the space doesn't allow for it. But I would typically figure out a way to just push through and

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: put them in there somehow. Those are the two biggest things because they fear that if I give up my time

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll tell you something that a client said to me. She's like, they're going to be upset with

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_00]: me if they now have to come to you to schedule my time versus coming to me. And I don't like that

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_01]: because I wouldn't make the time for them. I could see that. Yes, I could see that. But at the same time

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like it would be liberating because it's not necessarily you saying no exactly. It's

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: could be very difficult, especially if that person not once time in the calendars that family

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_01]: member or a close friend or someone that you know, yeah, or colleague that you're always making

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: concessions for. And then when they no longer have that liberty to just come directly to you and there's

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: another person who's gatekeeping your time. Yeah, I'm like they're going to be a little bit upset. But

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_00]: that's what they're going to adapt. Yeah, they're going to adapt. They're used to you saying yes. So now

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: when we come in and we say, oh no, she's not taking calls before 10 a.m. Or no, she doesn't have that space

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_00]: available. Right? Because we're not just looking at the appointments that you need to take. We're

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_00]: also trying to consider and factor in what are those life things or what are those other goals that

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: you have, right? Maybe it's a novel that you're working on and you need to make sure you block

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: out space to write. If you keep overwriting that slot and letting people into it, you're never

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_00]: going to get done with the writing, right? If you know that you need to be selling and working on

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: relationships but you keep letting team members who have none emergent things get on your calendar

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_00]: 30 minutes here, 30 minutes there. Guess what? You've gone the day without focusing on some of

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: the most important things in your business, which is generating revenue. And like you're attacking me,

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_01]: but that's what I love you though. I know, I know, I just, yeah, it kind of hurts. But yet,

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_01]: now that does make sense, that makes sense. I, yeah, you got me food for thought, everyone food for

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_01]: thought. It's not a type of, I bet folks. So what are some strategies? You work with so many different

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_01]: companies and people? Like what are some strategies that you've seen that entrepreneurs can use

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_01]: to scale their businesses while staying true to their values? That is so good and I feel like

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_00]: that is such a loaded question but it's such an important one. The very first thing I always say to

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_00]: clients is let's make sure we understand what your values actually are. Right? Because sometimes you'll

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00]: tell me your values but then you're operating out of alignment with those values and so your

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: causing confusion with not just yourself, but with the people around you who are supposed to

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_00]: either work with you and alignment with those values or who are supposed to honor those values. They're

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: good. What's important? And then let's talk through what are the negotiables and what are

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_00]: the non-negotiables? Right? That's going to be super important because if we know where the

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_00]: non-negotiables are, it makes it easy to say knowing yes to whatever the decisions are that come up.

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00]: It makes it easy to say no or yes to whoever the people are that ask us or something. Right?

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's going to be super important. So once we establish the values, once we establish the

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: negotiables and non-negotiables, now let's talk about what the goals actually are.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: What do you want to do? What are you trying to accomplish in 30, 16, 90 days in the whole year?

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Because now once we have that growing and scaling becomes easy because you understand what the focus is

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and every decision leads up to that. So if I know that my larger goal is to get visibility. Let's just

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: say that as an example. Sure. Right? I'm going to say yes to the opportunities that present themselves

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: to increase that visibility. If you ask me to do something that is not an alignment with that,

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to say yes because it's not helping me to accomplish the overall goal.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to get me stuck into something that I shouldn't be focused on. And a lot of times

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: what I see with a lot of my business owners, I like to call it the shiny object syndrome.

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: That happens not just with software and systems and platforms and happens with processes.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: It happens with strategies. Oh, so when someone's doing X, Y, and Z, we should try that.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Someone said they're using X, Y, and Z, we should try that. Oh, I went to a conference and

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: they were doing this and I think it'll be good if we do that. How does that help you in

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_00]: relation to what your goal is? Good point. Right? So you have to be firm in that. That's where

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: it's going to start and then building the team that's going to support you in getting there.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'm just going to hire this person. I'm going to go on five or because they could do this

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_00]: for me real quick. But they have no idea how that fits into the big scheme of your brand. They

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: have no idea of how that fits into the scope of your goals. They have no idea of how that fits

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_00]: into a relation of whatever other projects that you have working on in your business.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_01]: You know what, it's so funny. You just brought up fiber. I got to piggyback off of that. How

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_01]: does someone such as your company view kind of those sites like fiber and upward? You know,

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_01]: because there are a lot of people that use those particular sites to your point. I'm being honest,

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I am one of them. But to your point, it's almost like you kind of get what you pay for as well.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I want to go through. Okay. My entire, like this whole thing that I started,

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_00]: a book is one of the first sites where I want my profile is still very active to this day. I will

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_00]: never take it down because it is a great lead generator for me. Oh, okay. Okay. Yes. I will never take

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_00]: it now. I'm not saying that there's not value in those folks because there are. We use them

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes for projects in our own business. Yeah. It's the way that you use them when you try to

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_00]: lean on them to feel a role that is super core to your business or getting to your goal. I think

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_00]: that's where you go wrong. Yes. If you've got quick projects or tasks that you need to be completed

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and you find an expert that can do that for you, absolutely do that. Right? It's in how we use them

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and knowing what we're trying to fulfill within our business when we go looking for them. Right?

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Perfect. Yeah. I had a, like my first client found me on upward.

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, one of my first clients found me on fiber. Yeah. So yeah. To your point you kind of have to,

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah, to your point you definitely have to figure out when to use them. But I've also noticed too,

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_01]: sometimes you do get what you pay for. Like you're helping the little, you know, okay. That's a

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_01]: great deal and then you're like, okay, you know what? That turned out to be a lot more expensive.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Then what I thought it was going to be. I should have just paid for what I

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_01]: did down here. I would have been the price in the first place. So yeah, I completely understand.

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I was just, yes, I come back that. So absolutely because like so for example, sometimes we'll

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_00]: have clients who are like, I just need, I have this large research project, right? Cool.

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a go-file mirror researcher upward. I'm not going to have one of my admin experts. If it's a

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: really big project, have them take away from your day-to-day operations. Yeah. So focus on research

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: when I can go pay somebody to just go search and scour the internet all day. Right? That may be

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: a strategy that we use. If we have spreadsheets where there's a lot of data entry, right? We may

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_00]: go have somebody become a short part of the team for that project to do all of the data entry

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and then we're done. So there's a lot of value in that. You'll go on a work and you'll still find me

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00]: today. And I still use it as a lead generator because people will find me and then they'll go search

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_00]: for me on the internet and they'll find my website and then they'll connect with me that way.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll never take any doubt. I love that. I love that. Yeah, I am. So fun fact, I do voice over work

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_01]: part-time. So yeah. So I got my start on fiber and then people were finding me and like now all of

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_01]: my work is like re-referrals like I'm doing stuff and devoutly and like that's a whole other thing.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_01]: But I totally understand what you're talking about using those sites as a lead generator.

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. And then making sure that you foster those relationships, I love that. That is very smart.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. I will never take it down. That's why it was good to me.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_00]: brought me a lot of business made like 200k off of upwork.

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I will never take it down. I love upwork. I think it's crazy. I hear people all the time.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm a lot of the time. You're competing with the people overseeing them and I'm like,

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_01]: but you're not competing. I love that you said that. It's not when people say that it's competing.

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_01]: First of all, you don't have a unique selling proposition. Yes. Right? So when you're sitting

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_01]: up here saying, oh, you're competing with folks overseas, there is so much that you bring to the

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_01]: table that the folks overseas could never absolutely could never touch. Absolutely. It kind of always

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_01]: makes me laugh. I know what people mean when they ask that question, but you got to dig a little deeper.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And you're not going like, I'm never focused on how I look going up against the other person.

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I am more focused on how am I positioning myself to the person I want to work with?

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I love that. Right? How am I highlighting my skillset and my value so that they themselves

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_00]: can see the difference. And if they can't, how I can create that for them, right? Like how do I

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: communicate that to them so they can see it? I'm not competing with them. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I tell people this all the time when you compete on price, that's a race to the bottom anyway.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean? Like, we can be no price. Don't even look for me. Exactly.

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Not your person. I definitely am not your person, especially when I see some of the rates and I'm like,

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_01]: how are you pulling that off? How are you pulling that off? You know, so I tell people that all the time.

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I tell people that all the time. Just keep looking. Hey, not everyone's meant to be in our world.

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_00]: That's fine. I wish you will. There's enough out here. I just believe that there's enough work out here

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_00]: for all of us. Right? There's enough work out here for all of us. And there's so many different things to

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: look at, right? And I tell business owners, you're not just going off a price. Like,

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_00]: there has to be a personality chemistry fit. There has to be a work ethic fit, right? People

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_00]: have to be able to be step-in-step and understand how you work. There's responsiveness. There's communication.

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_00]: There's so many different elements. We're not even going to talk about skillset. Right?

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_00]: There's so many different things that go into that. You can't base it just off of price. Yes.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I can guarantee that you will be disappointed if you do that. Exactly. All heartedly agree.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Again, you've worked with so many different companies entrepreneurs. What's been the most

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_01]: rewarding compliment that you've ever received from a client? Oh, my God. I know you probably have a lot,

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_00]: but just if you can't try to narrow it down the one. I can. I will tell you one that just really

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: stays with me. It was a male client of mine and he said to me one day, he said,

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: gwindling, you helped me be a better father and husband. Oh, wow. That nearly took me out.

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I bought for days. Oh, I could see that. He said, you helped me be a better father and a

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00]: better daughter than I was like, whoa. That's when the connection for me happened that this is

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: so much deeper than just admin support. Right? It's so much bigger than that because of

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: things that we're supporting people on in their businesses are helping them be better fathers,

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_00]: better mothers, better wives, better husbands because the time that they're getting back

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: that time freedom they're now able to give to their family. The reinvest. Yeah, I love you.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Huge for me. I love that. That days with me because it keeps me like, oh, there's a bigger

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_00]: reason why we do this. I love that. Yeah, that is my part the most impactful one. I love that.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I could see that. Yeah, I could definitely see that. I mean, time is like a scarce resource.

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We can't get that back, right? So you being in a position to give that time back to them by taking

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_01]: something off of their plate has got to be incredibly rewarding. And it's such a stress reliever for

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: them, right? Because you're giving them their time back, but then you're also taking the stress off

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: their mind because they're not worried about it. They know that things are going to get done.

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_00]: They have a person they can trust with the thing that they built, right? Yeah, our business

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_00]: is on this. Our businesses are like our babies, right? Yeah, my coach would tell me all the

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_00]: time stop treating it like it's your baby. It's a grown-ass asset. She says it's to be all the time.

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, okay fine. But the reality of it is it's like the blood that's the literal

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_00]: tears that we put into building these things and now you're saying trust somebody else

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_01]: with him. Yeah, you know what now you just prompted another question. What should someone be

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_01]: looking for in a virtual admin expert such as like because there are so many different

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_01]: conflicting pieces of information. You have so many as a client expectations,

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_01]: which is what you want to be looking for to know that they found the right person. Yeah,

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_00]: you definitely want to look for I like to call it that synergy, right? Do you guys have that,

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_00]: does it feel good? Do you feel like this is a person that you could essentially grow the trust?

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_00]: But you also want to look for those tangible things. Are they responsive? Right? Do they have

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_00]: great follow through them? Test their skill. I cannot say this enough. Please test their skill

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_00]: because in this virtual space people will tell you a thousand things that they can do

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and then they get to you and they're really just testing and experimenting on you, test their skills.

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Right? Because depending on where you are in your business determines if you need somebody that can

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_00]: jump in and like hit the ground running, running versus somebody that can jump in that you need to

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of train. It's been a lot of time training right in bringing up to speed. So you want to test their

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_00]: skillset. You want to look for those soft skills. How do they treat people? How do they talk to you?

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Right? Ask them for some real world examples. They should be able to tell you on how they've

[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_00]: handled situations. Right? Look at how they show up when they come to the interview.

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Super important, especially in the virtual space, people get very, very comfortable

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and they show up in a way that says I would never put you in front of one of my clients. Exactly.

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_00]: You want to look for those things. Are they dependable? Listen to the language that they use

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_00]: when they're talking about you. Are they positive? Are they complaining about a previous client,

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER_00]: a previous boss, a previous work situation? Right? Do they take accountability? That's huge.

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Ask them about when they've made a mistake and how they handle that. That is huge. Those are all

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_01]: the things that you want to look for. I love that. That is a fantastic list and I know the audience

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_01]: probably soak that up too because sometimes it's difficult to figure out first of all when you're

[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Taipei. You want to delegate in the first place. It's like baby steps. I finally got to the

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_01]: point. Well, maybe but they're a little bit bigger. A little bit. What am I looking for?

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_01]: What are the things? Thank you so much for sharing that criteria. That's a good point.

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a mutual thing. Yes. They should be engaging with you. Are they show any entries? Are

[00:30:37] [SPEAKER_01]: they asking you questions? It's one way I would get nervous. I would get nervous. This one way.

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Very. When they say I don't have any questions, I'm like, oh my. Okay, well thank you.

[00:30:55] [SPEAKER_01]: To me that's almost like, okay. That was a great combo. And we're done.

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's just really realistic. Yeah, from my goodness. Well you know what? It's so funny

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_01]: when I look at the calendar, we are just blind by with this year, right? So I ask all of my guests

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_01]: question, if you had to choose one word to represent your goals for this year, what would it be

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and why? I would have to say fearless. Okay. Okay. They are some big goals in my mind. Okay.

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's going to take me stepping out of some of the comfort zones that I've created.

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So make them happen. So yeah, I got to do a lot of kick and fear to the curb this year. So for me,

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_00]: they're like, I just, I gotta be fearless if I'm gonna hit the target. I love that. I love that. And so

[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_01]: far, how has it felt to get outside of that comfort zone? Yes. Very uncomfortable. Very

[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_01]: uncomfortable. Yes. Yep. I know. Hey, Taipei right here because I'm trying to work on some of that myself.

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So I like to be an environment that I can control. I get it totally get it. So you said fearless. I'm like,

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_01]: who should I use that as my word to be more just again? I'm fear of being fearless. So I'm trying

[00:32:35] [SPEAKER_00]: to be like, oh, it's maybe that. Baby's done. I'm really gonna do this. I'm really going to send

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_01]: that. I'm not really going to say this all out. Yep. Yeah. But you know what right on the other side of

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_01]: that fear is freedom. That's what I've been reminding myself because I'm trying to kind of get out of

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER_01]: that as well. And yeah, it's funny that she said fearless. I think I'm going to put that next to my stick

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_00]: note. I think I'm gonna put a stick you know if freedom on it. Yeah, I mean, it really is because I

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_01]: been an interesting couple of years for me in the past. But it's I've noticed that on right

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_01]: on the other side is freedom and I just have to keep reminding myself of that. So yeah. Oh my goodness.

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation last but not least what is the best piece of advice

[00:33:28] [SPEAKER_01]: that you have for women who want to start their own business? Oh, the best piece of it.

[00:33:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I think so much. I think the most important thing that I would say to them is that your voice

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_00]: matters, your service matters, your product matters like depending on what the business is,

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_00]: but it matters. And so go forward at fourth, right on like and make sure that you invest in some sort of

[00:34:01] [SPEAKER_00]: community or coach to be along the journey with you. It's one of the things I wish I had done sooner

[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_00]: rather than later was fine a coach to help cut the learning curve and a community of people who

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_00]: understood the challenges that I were going through. So that would be my advice to them.

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I love that I love that. Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and I know the audience has as well.

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_01]: It folks want to get in contact with you. How can they go about doing so? Yes. So you can reach me

[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_00]: across all social media. Our handle is your admin expert across the board. You can also go to our

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_00]: website, your virtual admin expert dot com and reach us that way as well. What love, love, love to connect.

[00:34:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I love that. Love that. I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, Gwendolyn. Thank you so much,

[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to show them. Thank you so much for the invitation. Thank you.

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks so much for listening to this episode. If you enjoy listening to hustling

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