May 19, 2025 • 51 mins
Emily Reagan is a freelance marketing coach and the founder of the Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant School and the Digital Marketer’s Workgroup. She is passionate about helping her students transition from task-based virtual assistants to skilled marketing professionals who can confidently command premium rates and deliver high-value services.
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Emily shares how she built her business from scratch, why she chose to focus on training marketing assistants instead of general VAs, and the key signs that it’s time to start growing your team.
We get into the real challenges that come with hiring, how to decide between overseas or local support, and why it’s better to start small now rather than wait until you’re completely overwhelmed. Emily also reveals some of the biggest mistakes business owners make when hiring—and what you can do to avoid them.
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- Subscribe to her YouTube channel
- Submit your virtual assistant or marketing assistant job opening
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So if you ever wanted to know, should I hire a team,
how many team members should Ihire, when should I hire and
should it be overseas or localmy new virtual assistants, and
how do I best work with them?
Well, we have Emily Regan hereand she is an expert at teaching
people how to hire a virtualteam so they can scale their
(00:21):
business.
You get to go behind the sceneswith her and us as we listen to
how she built her business, andshe is ultra relatable, in fact
so relatable, might I add, thatwe met already in person.
We've been in a mastermind.
I'm telling my wife, jamie here, which you can see us all.
If you click in the show notesbelow and go over to this
(00:43):
episode on YouTube, you can seeour lovely faces and expressions
.
But I was saying Emily, it'ssuper relatable and that's
pretty cool.
We've been talking now for like20 minutes.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Welcome to the episode Emily.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hey, thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to have thisconversation with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You are very welcome.
Let me read your bio, bless thelistener and not know how
amazing you are.
Emily Regan is a freelancemarketing coach and the founder
of the Unicorn Digital MarketingAssistant School and the
Digital Marketers Work Group.
With over 14 years ofexperience in public relations
Dang and digital marketing,emily specializes in helping
(01:23):
underemployed military spousesand stay-at-home moms launch
flexible, profitable freelancebusinesses.
Her mission is to empower womento monetize their existing
skills, work with alignedclients and create meaningful
impact by supporting onlinebusinesses behind the scenes.
All right, emily, my firstquestion for you is and next I'm
(01:47):
going to ask you about asnapshot of your business and
what it looks like now but whythe focus on unemployed spouses
and military moms?
I mean, I support thatinitiative.
I'm just curious, like how thatcame about.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, obviously that's not only who I serve, but
that's where I came from.
I was a military spouse for 20years, moving every one, two,
three years, always startingover my career, obviously
flatlined, I'm starting overhaving to prove myself.
I am capped at my salary, I amlimited on my paid time off and
holidays and I watched myfriends progress whereas I just
(02:21):
stayed the same like almosttrying to get any job that would
hire me.
No-transcript about sales callsLike this is back in 2013.
(02:59):
And I just said you know what.
I bet I could teach my friendshow to do this and I at one
point had the commander's wifeworking for me, had my own
agency, and then I realized I'mnot good with the people
management my husband deployedfor a year.
I'm like this is not what Ilike.
I'm more creative and I kind ofdo better on my own.
And so I released everyone.
(03:20):
A couple stayed with me and Ijust thought if I could just
take the trainings, if I couldteach Laura the engineer how to
be a launch manager, then I canteach anyone anything.
And that's how I started mycourse and training people.
So it's really just where Istarted, because it was from my
pain point of trying to provemyself, bridging that baby gap
when I chose to stay home.
And there's a lot of women whoare also career changers.
(03:42):
I have a few dudes too.
And there's a lot of women whoare also career changers.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I have a few dudes too, not women only and just
helping them learn the marketingservices that launch a
freelance business Nice.
Nice.
So what does your business looklike today?
Can you give us a snapshot ofthat of your, the offers that
you have, and kind of whatpercentages they make up of your
business?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, I've always done the client work and I've
always loved that because itkeeps me in the trenches.
I like to be a practitioner.
I have that journalism degreeat heart where I love to turn
around and help other peoplelearn what I've learned, and so
I do the client work.
Right now it probably makes upabout 25% of my income.
Obviously, over time I wentfrom charging $10 an hour to 5K
(04:30):
retainer CMO packages, so itmight have started with me on
Pinterest doing hourly work.
Oh, is it working?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
What's a CMO?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oh, at first I thought my audio was going out
Chief Marketing Officer in afractional way.
First I thought my audio wasgoing out Chief marketing
officer in a fractional way, socoming in and helping clients
and monetize their talent intocourses and launch their courses
and memberships and things likethat like their digital
products.
So I do the marketing work togrow and nurture the audience.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Thank, you yeah, okay , sorry to cut you off.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
When you say client work, do you mean like
one-on-one, like kind ofcoaching?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, no, I mean the marketing implementation.
I have always helped clientsgrow their email list right, so
it's a mix of content marketing.
It's Pinterest, it's YouTube,it's podcast.
I help my clients.
I've done even a little bit ofad work and then nurture to sell
.
So a lot of that is also thefunnels.
I've built a lot of quizfunnels.
(05:30):
I've done a lot of lead magnets, slow funnels, things like that
, and so my work has evolvedover time, obviously because we
want to move towards theservices that pay more.
I also have four kids, so Ineed the flexibility and that's
also why I lean into marketingteaching my friends marketing
because admin calendarmanagement some of the
traditional VA work is verynormal office hours and very
(05:52):
rigid and so marketing lendsitself to the projects a little
bit more flexibility and higherpay right, because it's tied to
an ROI.
So right now I do fractionalCMOMO work, coming in and
helping my clients build andlaunch their usually it's
courses.
I'm in the course creator spaceevery now and then it's a
membership.
Yeah, I've been a podcastmanager.
I've done the varieties ofspice of life.
(06:14):
I have done it all and thatadds up in this space so I can
teach also the women in mycommunity how to do that.
So I took what I did for myselfand for my clients, and I worked
with some big clients.
I've been in over 100 differentbusinesses over the last decade
.
Newsflash no one is organizedor perfectly put together.
(06:37):
I will tell you that there'salways room for improvement.
So yeah.
So then I put everything I knewinto a course that is called
the Unicorn Digital MarketingAssistance School.
This is something I've alwaysrun as a live cohort that I'm in
the middle of switching,especially as I saw lesser
launches the last year, and soI've just been kind of
re-engineering what that lookslike.
(06:58):
I have that also on self-study,so that used to be 50% of my
income, but now that I'mswitching the live launching
model, I'm going to have torework that.
But a big portion of everythingis my work group.
It's my membership.
I've shared over 3000 jobs withother freelancers and
contractors.
It is exactly what Stu McLarenteaches where you have your
(07:21):
monthly content, you have youryou know monthly content, you
have your community, wherefreelancers supporting each
other with referrals, advancedtrainings, and then I share jobs
that come through my form,hireunicorncom.
So it's a mix.
I have the e-learning side ofmy business, and then a little
bit of the freelance work.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That is cool.
That is really cool.
Quick note for you, dearlistener Later on in the episode
is when we're going to diveinto what it looks like, because
you might either want to becomea VA Emily specializes in
teaching you how to do that butyou might also want to know when
it makes sense and the signs tolook for in your business to
(08:02):
begin hiring for your team.
So stick around, and that willcome up on the second half of
this episode.
So inquiring minds want to know, emily, as you were building
your business, what was theabsolute artist time that you
(08:23):
can share about during yourjourney?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I've had a lot of low moments and, you know, wasting
money on bad investments.
But I think the lowest, thehardest time and I see this over
and over with my clients too isstarting and starting from
nothing and having to go in andbuild an audience when you're
struggling with.
(08:47):
You know, knowing your offers,creating like visibility
opportunities and just startingas the new kid on the block.
I remember for years I wasbehind the scenes in other
businesses and I told you Ididn't have a website, I didn't
have the vision of what I shouldhave been doing.
That whole time of promotingmyself.
I was behind the scenes ofclients making them money and so
(09:08):
coming out from nothing.
It's like who are you?
Why should we trust you?
Why would we want to buy fromyou?
And it's still hard and I'mseeing that with some of my
clients now.
We're trying to dig into thesocial proof and the
testimonials and just reallyprove the credibility and the
authority there, that whysomeone should buy.
I remember looking at AmyPorterfield and Jasmine Starr
(09:30):
and Jenna Kutcher and thatlittle click.
I remember feeling like I willnever be a part of that click
right Like they've got theirfriends, like they're waving.
They're riding that wave ontothe beach together, and then I'm
going to have to start withpeople at my level and that was
really hard, just to go fromnothing.
And there was a lot of likeignorance there, which is bliss,
like I didn't know what Ididn't know.
(09:52):
So I was able to just jump inand and do it and not be so
scared because obviously I heldonto the vision and the
possibility, the why of you know, creating a business that
supports my family and my kids.
But if you've ever been at highschool and not been invited to
the cool kids table like you,get it Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
All right.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I feel like people knowing who you are and
referring you like you see thatas a service provider, right,
people talking about you.
I would be in a face like well,you need to take this other VA
course because this person'sbeen around longer and
everyone's been through hercourse, but like actually there
was big gaps in her course andwhat she was teaching and not
teaching.
And I saw that in the trencheswhen my clients went and hired
(10:36):
VAs who didn't know a dang thingabout marketing, and so it was
really just like frustrating tosee that and just you know,
start from scratch I feel like Iwant to know how and why you
still started from scratch,though, because, yes, you just
said big names, like you knowjenna kutcher and amy
(10:58):
porterfield and
Speaker 1 (10:59):
like we'll never be a part of that, but yet we got to
start and you started.
I feel like that's like saying,you know, steve jobs, mark
zuckerberg, larry ellis like,yeah, never be a part of those
like tech folks, but of coursewe won't.
Like we started the industry,so to speak.
Yeah, but we, we can stillstart, and you still did, and
when that they might ride thefirst wave, but like we can be
(11:21):
on that second wave.
So like how did you actuallystart with?
Or I guess, what did you do topsych yourself up to go for it?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
yeah, okay.
So one of my big clients.
I helped her make a milliondollars.
I watched her do those Facebooklives every day and she had
such charisma and and she hadsuch strong viewpoints.
And when you're starting new,like you don't know all of that,
like some of your messaging hasto flush out over the years,
that also like a hard lessonI've learned, like how to
communicate and attract theright type of buyers, not
(11:55):
building the wrong email listand so I think for a little bit
I was like, oh, I could never belike her.
I can never be like her.
And then I had this sideconversation with somebody at a
conference.
I went to Stu McLaren's eventit was 2018.
It was Tribe at the time and Ihad this magical side
conversation because I'm so usedto being the other person that
(12:16):
gives the cheerleader, who giveseveryone else a pep talk or
sees the vision.
That's one of my excuse me, topCliftonStrength strengths is
that individualization, likeseeing the uniqueness in people
and where they should go, andlike how they could, you know,
stack their skills and havesomething really special.
And so this lady took the timeher name was Deanne to reflect
that on me and she's like youknow what.
You actually have somethingreally, really good here.
(12:38):
I went to this conference nobusiness card, no website, and I
just got swamped.
I just got swapped.
I just got swapped.
Everybody wanted to hire me tohelp them market and build their
, their memberships, and so itkind of hit me there.
I actually have somethingpeople need.
I can train people to do this.
And now I like I almost neededlike the tactical, tangible idea
(13:01):
and I also knew I couldn't justlike go copy what other people
were doing or what my clientshad done, like that wouldn't
have been ethical with me.
So once I saw that vision formyself, it was off to the races.
I didn't look back.
I tell the story and AmyPorterfield will steal it
sometimes.
But my very first Facebook liveI did from that conference, put
(13:22):
a clay face mask on my facefrom my hotel room, had a drink
of wine and announced mybusiness because I was so scared
and I was like you have to knowthis about me.
I did journalism.
I did broadcast electronicmedia.
I was the girl behind thecamera.
I was not one of the, the girlswho wanted to be the TV
reporter or the, you know, theweather girl.
That was never me.
I always wanted to be the newsreporter or the you know the
(13:44):
weather girl.
That was never me.
I always wanted to be the newsreporter and I just see that.
Whereas like visibility, thelimelight, it was just never
something I wanted.
And so when I saw my client whowas making a million dollars
doing that, I'm like, well,that's not me either.
So I think it's just likefinding your, your special sauce
you know what you really bringto the world and leaning into
that, and I think that's whatlike made me, made me do it.
(14:06):
Once I saw it, I couldn't unseeit and like that why?
Was screaming at me every dayand it came from business owners
who were like Emily, I need tohire you.
Oh wait, emily is booked out,emily can just go train people.
And I don't know why I'mtalking about myself in third
person like that.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
It's awkward go with it.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Go with it so a lot of it ended up being just word
of mouth recommendations yeah,completely.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It was so crazy because if you're good at what
you do and you see this when youdo ads like your clients just
scream your name.
You need to work with her, youneed to work with her, and so
this is what I coach my serviceproviders it's about your name
being passed around in thoseVoxer conversations in a DM in a
text message, in an email.
Who else do you know who can dothis?
(14:54):
And that's how a serviceproviders can really book out
with the best clients, becauseour top clients aren't scrolling
Instagram looking to hire us.
It's word of mouth that'll,that'll preach right there I
think so you get it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
You're out there making connections and you know
your clients are impressed byyour work and singing your and
we were just discussing doingsomething quite important to
further our reach and meet newpeople, which is going to
another retreat and that lookslike we will be.
Well, I'll be there, but you'llpossibly be there.
(15:30):
Did you already buy tickets?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
no, I just got the baby, the terror child care
confirmation this morning, so II blasted out a couple texts
like are we still going?
So hopefully, I like kayaking,so I really want to go no, but
these are the things.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
These are the way we grow our business.
Okay, so another snapshot forthe listener, but let us in on
like one of the best times inyour business, and it's okay if
it's not currently, but why wasthat the best time for you and
your business?
And what was going well, like,what was contributing to that
being the best time?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Oh my gosh, I could answer a couple of these too.
So I actually had A terriblething happened with a bad
investment and a lawyer whoscammed me, which probably be
the story there.
Probably should be like the lowtime story.
Only it ended well and I havethat hindsight now.
But I had a trademark who atrademark lawyer scammed a bunch
(16:30):
of people in a community thatwe're all familiar with, and so,
but during this process ofslowing down and thinking about
my trademark, I was able torebrand myself and go online and
figure out like, how am Idifferent, how can I evolve in
my messaging?
How can I be different than theVA coaches who just teach how
to set up a business and don'tteach actual services?
(16:50):
And so, out of this bad thingthat happened, I was forced to
slow down, which isn't always mymode of operations.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I rebranded into this whole digital marketing
assistant and I relaunched mycourse and I ended up having
multiple six-figure launches andfor me, I know like our worth
isn't tied into numbers, but itwas like a respectable marketing
number I needed to hit and thefact that I did it for myself
(17:19):
after doing it for clients wasthe boost of confidence that I
needed.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So that was pretty high.
You put your blood, sweat andtears into your business, into
your offers.
You're trying to figure outwhat works, what sticks, what
people are, you know, willing togo all in, and I cracked that
code and that, like that, wasjust one of the best moments.
I hit six figures.
I don't know, I mean, I'm notthe 700th network of people
(17:49):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, I was wondering if you could get a little more
specific on what you did to hitthat for yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, because it wasn't just changing a name, it
wasn't just recording a fewvideos.
So there's also time.
It took a couple years.
Right Like this is four yearsinto my business, maybe three
and a half, so it wasn't thefirst version of my course, it
wasn't the first price.
You know the course hadcompletely changed and evolved
and you know that clarity camewith time and I think that's
important.
(18:19):
People realize that.
You know, even my clients needto realize like right out the
gate, with the first launch andthe first course, it's not
always going to be the bestversion, it's not going to be
the one that lasts.
You're going to have toconstantly be evolving.
And so one thing I realized isseeing with my clients and I
think I hinted at like what ahot mess people are behind the
scenes I realized what my friendBrenna McGowan was teaching was
(18:43):
the pre-launch and I knowyou're like you know you're
familiar with her topic and hertalk.
So I went all in with thepre-launch because again, I was
still in the kind of likeproving who am I, can I really
get transformation?
Why do I trust her when there'sthis other VA coach who's been
around for years and has evenbigger numbers.
And so really leaning into howI was different, my unique
(19:06):
selling proposition I'm teachingmarketing services, I'm
teaching how to do the clientwork.
None of the other VA coursesare doing that.
I don't know why I'm slurringmy words today.
Oh my goodness, I'm like soberhere.
So, yeah, so, like thepre-launch was big, I went in
with Brenna, she helped me, wecrafted a six week pre-launch
(19:27):
plan and I was pre-selling thatcourse before it came out.
And so just being able to havethis asset and reuse it really
to knock down buyer objectionsbefore we opened the cart Cause
I mean I'd had some launches,they were kind of plateauing.
I don't think it ever made morethan 24,000 and it was always
crickets.
I would open the, I would openthe cart and it would be
(19:48):
crickets.
And so I've always had, I'vealways struggled with trying to
figure out my webinar and likewhich one is going to convert.
And you know that's always beenlike a puzzle piece for me.
What do I call it, what do Icall us?
And so when those pieces kindof came together, oh, we are now
officially marketing assistants.
You know, we're not just VAscoming in the new branding,
(20:09):
coming in with a solid prelaunch it just.
It all worked, so I would give.
I would give credit to theprelaunch and maybe the lawyer
who screwed me.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I never, because I was talking with another lady
who also was in the mastermindthat we're in together right now
and she was explaining how someother person screwed her over.
And other clients too, clientstoo I'm just like, okay, I
understand doing or providing aservice, you know with
excellence and making mistakes,like once or twice, but how
could somebody decide toactively go and cheat other
(20:48):
folks and then do it again andagain, and again in an online
space where you know everyone'sconnected too?
It's like how many mentalhurdles do we just have to hop?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
over to be so fast.
I think she's delusional.
I think she's delusional.
So she was collecting money forpaid marks and then not filing
them and then blaming theslowdown of the pandemic, what?
And so I also was doingadditional coaching with her to
figure out my intellectualproperty and be able to license
my course Right.
So I was like thinking like acouple of steps beyond, like how
(21:21):
do I make this courseprofitable without me having a
live launch?
And in that process I had toslow down and look at the
branding and like what is actualtrademarkable, and like I
learned a lot and then realizeda year later she hadn't filed
anything.
It's crazy, it's crazy.
And I think I got one emailfrom her and I she really does
think she did no wrong okay.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Well then, maybe she's more delusional than con
artist.
This guy on instagram andtiktok who just like the worst
it's like total reaction video,right, and he just takes the
worst crazy tiktoks and makesfun of them.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Itty who anyway, kweja has a great story of his
mom, like I mean, this wasalready years and years ago, but
like when she was.
I mean she still doesn't reallyknow how to use a computer, but
when he would like go to herhouse and use the computer and
like cover up the, like thesafari icon, you know, with
(22:21):
something else that he was doing, and she would like freak out
and be like I can't get on theinternet.
The bike is gone oh my goodness,maybe, like mom, just close the
other.
You know the other tab, orwhatever he was working on.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
It's right there, you know yeah, it's like they can't
do like it has to be very ithas to be right there, you know
so where I already go yeah so mydaughter, our daughter, was
watching a video, you know,where people clone themselves
and talk to themselves side byside, you know, and she thought
like her favorite creator of themoment had a twin.
(22:56):
And I'm like that's not a twin,they're just like cornering, so
it's the tiktok and her, hermind was like what it's not her
sister.
I'm like no, that's not hersister, and so then I showed her
a video and she's like superinterested and I was like I
gotta capitalize on this.
My daughter will just launchinto video editing and help out
with the business and this wouldbe a thing we can bond.
And it took like four-ish weeksbecause I'm slow and busy.
(23:20):
But now, now I went and Ifilmed a video with her and she
actually watched a couple ofYouTube videos and successfully
cloned herself and she has itdownstairs.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
And now she's moving CapCut to edit the videos.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I need my teenagers to do this for me and just like
repost it yeah, Put them to work.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Man Pay their IRA.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Right, do this for me and I will fund your retirement
.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I did read something about like having your kids help
in the business and stuff andlike you can write off like 15
grand a year or something like.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, something like that I haven't done it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I don't have the paperwork to start their ira
over here, it's just in the pile.
That's to do the pile of thingsto do yeah, it like are not
important, but one day we'lllike one day do a lot one day.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I mean you still have until they turn 18, because all
of like the personal financesonline always start with saying
if you just save a hundreddollars a month between the ages
of 18 and 25 and then stop,you'll be a millionaire when you
retire.
So that means like we stillhave a moment.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, totallyOkay.
(24:36):
Why the change and whathappened with the value?
And then we'll just go straight.
I'll make sure to also plugwhat you put to plug for your
lead magnet and we'll keep ontrucking, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
So I think my journalism background really
pays off here, because I goaround and I talk to a lot of
our business peers and find outwhat they're struggling with and
why they're frustrated, and Ihear the same things over and
over and I saw this when I wason the seven-figure team about
people coming into the businessuntrained, not having the skills
, and there's a differencebetween an employee and a
(25:11):
contractor.
A contractor needs to come inknowing how to do the work.
If you misclassify them, thereare big penalties, right, and so
it's important that we hire fora skill set.
And this is what's happening iseveryone calls themselves a VA,
but no one knew how to domarketing, and this was a couple
of years ago, and so it makessense.
A virtual assistant is a veryvague job title and actually
(25:35):
it's becoming more synonymouswith AI and chatbots.
Even me and my I'm a soccer mom, I have four kids, I drive a
minivan, my Kia Carnival has avirtual assistant button right.
And so I thought how can I helpmake people you know get into
higher paid work?
Because you know, I wouldn'thave been attracted to the title
assistant.
I have multiple degrees.
(25:55):
I was just a stay-at-home mom.
We wanted to work during schoolhours.
You think about business.
There's six main departments.
We have accounting and finance.
Okay, we'll hire a bookkeeper.
We'll hire a CFO, a CPA, tohelp us.
We have product development.
That's usually us as thebusiness owner figuring out, oh,
what is our course, and ouroffers owner figuring out what
(26:16):
is our course and our offers.
We have an in-bar.
We have customer service,operations and marketing and
sales.
All six different departments.
So why would we hire one personto do everything and
Frankenstein that role and notdo it well?
So here's what was happening ispeople, would you know, say
they were a VA but not actuallyknow how to do anything.
So everyone was reallyfrustrated with their teammates.
And so I think, starting off inone department, or maybe a
(26:39):
hybrid of two, like marketingcould go with some kind of
fulfillment, right, withoperations, it could be a little
bit of customer service, likejust narrowing down the scope
you'll get, you'll get betterresults from the person and you
won't be as frustrated thinkingthey're going to read your mind
and save your business byThursday.
I mean, how many times have Igotten a job where people are
launching?
We get the job Monday andthey're like I'm launching
(27:02):
Thursday.
I'm like, okay, that VA is notgoing to save your business.
They also probably don't knowcopywriting.
I mean, I think my biggest petpeeve is can I have a VA who
does Facebook ads?
I mean, these people are tryingto get somebody to do everything
and they're trying to paygeneralist prices to a
specialist, and so let's call itwhat it is.
(27:23):
So I'm empowering my people tosee the worth of their work.
Marketing is tied to ROI.
Right, we're bringing in leads,we're helping with sales.
We might not be part of thesales team, but there's ways we
can do conversions withinfunnels or ads or webinars that
we're still kind of assistingwith, and so that was really
kind of what, like what got meset off.
(27:45):
There is like we're not justunderlings and not that there's
anything wrong with admin orcalendar management, but when
you've grown your clients listto 80,000 and you help them make
a million dollars, like youshouldn't be charging $20 an
hour, right, right, right.
And what's cool is the creamrises.
You know you start off as anassistant.
(28:05):
I've had people come through myprogram or in my work group who
had corporate marketingexperience, just didn't know
this online space, because it'sa little different, it's a
little funky, and once they getit and take on a couple of
clients, they really quicklyrise to the top and become, you
know, specialists of some sortor managers, and so I'm seeing a
(28:26):
lot of people who are have beenburned by the VA, who didn't
really know what they were doingand just wanting someone to be
more specific when it comes tothe outcomes.
They provide, theresponsibilities, even getting
into a little bit more, you know, management of a project.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Right, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
That gets me kind of hot and bothered God.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Marv.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
It's like no more $10 an hour when you're, like you
know, helping your clients makethe big bucks and move big
mountains in their business.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
We're a specialist, right, we should be paid as a
specialist, yeah, and accordingto the value that you're
providing.
You know, I just think aboutlaunches and there's so many
moving pieces there, but thereare several that really do
affect revenue, and so it's like, of course, it makes sense,
like if you can becomespecialized in that specific
(29:20):
area and a number of clients.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
You should be paid accordingly right, yeah,
actually, another podcast I waslistening to at the beginning of
the year was talking about likedifferent positions in the
online space that might bedecreasing in 2025, and one of
them was talking about like thegeneral VA, and this is kind of
exactly what you're talkingabout is having someone have
(29:42):
more of a specific skill thatthey can offer your business,
and once you have that, then youcan be paid more because you
are providing something that ismore valuable.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Oh, you're gonna have to send me that link because
that's exactly what I'm saying.
But on the flip side, I saw somany new VAs struggling to get
work and it's copywriting 101.
You're not clear, you're notspecific, we don't know what you
do.
No one's ever going to hire you, so you're not going to stand
out like.
The general VA term is justdone.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah, so what were the terms again that you were
saying?
That you, you see, or that youuse or prefer?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
well, I think that you know we have.
There are admin assistants,right?
I think that's what a lot of usthink of as va, right, like
we're thinking about admincalendar, maybe inbox.
But the other common hires arean executive assistant, where
you're, that whole job is to,you know, cater toward the
C-suite to make that person'sjob easier.
So if you're this yo, you mighthave your own EA, right?
(30:43):
There's so many acronyms thatbecome alphabet soup here, but I
teach the marketing assistantand they can level up to be a
marketing manager or aspecialist.
Some people decide like, oh, Iwant to do ads or I want to do
only copywriting, because theyrealize I can start charging
more and doing packages there.
One of the jobs that I'm seeingon the rise is marketing
(31:04):
project manager, where you'reable to come in like a launch
manager and make sure thatcampaigns are happening, but
you're not always the one incharge of all of the
deliverables, you're justmanaging the people, and that's
essentially what I do in my CMOwork too.
So operations are another one,seeing people be operations
assistants and then grow up tobe the operational directors.
(31:26):
It just depends on the size ofthe business.
I think people think like, oh,I have to have like 25 different
employees to be successful, andit really doesn't have to be
like that.
You can find what makes sensefor your business.
It could be you just needmarketing help a couple hours a
week and there is a very smartmom not always a mom, but we'll
(31:47):
just use that picture who wantsto work between nine and two and
then go to the bus and thenhave her job be done for the day
and not have the responsibilityof running a business, like us
crazy people as entrepreneurs.
Right, right, he has a goodhire out there.
So people always are asking melike how do I find this person?
Does it exist?
No, not.
All of us want 40 hours.
(32:09):
We don't mind a couple ofclients and being behind the
scenes like the Wizard of Oz,you know, like pulling the
strings, making magic happen,and don't need to be the face of
our business.
And so it really is a personaldecision.
You know what you need and likewhat is.
I don't know like what is themick?
And so for me, my first hirewas actually a bookkeeper.
(32:31):
I didn't need marketing helpbecause that was what I did well
, but it didn't make sense forme to spend my time billing all
the clients and taking a fullday away from the higher paid
billable work to do theinvoicing, even though I love
collecting money and readingnumbers.
You know, yeah, okay, so Iopened up a couple doors there.
Ask me the next question.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yeah, I know, Before we get ahead of ourselves, the
listener's like all right, I gota couple of questions.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Listener um the listener's like.
All right, I got a couple ofquestions.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Listener, I hear you as you're hearing me, I hear you
.
So, first of all, if you're inthe spot where you are listening
right now as she's talking,you're like I want to supplement
my income.
I can become a marketingassistant.
Where, how do I do this?
Go to hire a unicorncom likehigher than the letter a than
(33:18):
unicorncom, and submit yourvirtual assistant or marketing
assistant job opening there,because that is Emily's site and
it's super self-explanatory.
That link is in the show notesbelow.
And then now it's time, emily,for those who are listening
right now and want to know, howdoes somebody know when their
(33:40):
business is ready to hire andwhich position do we hire for?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
first, yeah, well, it's going to be different for
everyone, right?
It's like that dreaded.
You know marketing answer itdepends.
The best thing you can do islook at your business and, you
know, do the time audit.
We all hate that, you know.
Even Rick already told us to dothat.
(34:05):
We all hate it.
But really, what is sucking upyour time and limiting you from
going after the bigopportunities?
And it is a Pareto principle,it's the 80-20 rule.
You need to outsource 80% ofyour business and you need to
work toward that.
We don't all start there whenwe start a business.
So what is sucking up your time?
What are you not getting doneand what will actually move the
(34:26):
needle?
And so, with a lot of my clients, yeah, we start ads right away
because I know we need aspecialist.
Our priority is to list buildand we can make that decision
right away based on our goals.
Other people we might need helpfreeing up time so we can go
make the money.
Right, so we might need to hirethe admin help, the calendar
management, the inbox support bythe way, I suck at those those
(34:49):
are all in my drudgery zone.
I've hired help because I knowit's something I don't do well
and it doesn't light me up, andso it's about thinking about you
know what, where can I free uptime and where can I make money
and what is the most important,with where I am in business
right now?
Sometimes the specialist is theanswer, sometimes it is the
time saving help.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Drudgery zone.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah, drudgery zone yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
And anything repetitive, anything that you're
like okay, this is happeningevery week.
Every week I send out an email.
Every week I do this LinkedInpost.
If it is repetitive, get it offyour plate.
If this involves pushing abutton, somebody else can do it,
and then with that hour of time, you can go and you can I don't
know like meet with a clientand charge your hourly rate, or
(35:36):
you can go make the course thatwill then be scalable, Like
there's something else that youcould be doing with your time.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Right, and, like you said, there's people that that
want to just kind of have thatconsistent, almost like mindless
kind of work that they can dowhile their kids are at school.
And oh geez, I lost my train ofthought with what else I was
gonna say.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
it's okay, you know like I would use the term
mindless for something that Ijust didn't like, but yeah I, I
love the, the spreadsheet or theemail inbox management example.
Like it doesn't work very wellfor me and I lose interest
quickly, but there is somebodywho loves that and can do it
(36:18):
better than you do and justenjoys it.
You know Right, and it's likewhy not save the time?
Okay, but here's the thingthough, jamie.
Did you figure out?
I remembered what I was goingto say All right, cool.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
No, just again encouraging people that it
doesn't have to start withhiring someone at, you know,
full time.
It can be five hours a week, 10hours a week, like, start again
, start small with what you canafford and just start kind of
taking those little things offyour plate and start freeing it
up.
And then you're like, oh mygosh, this is really exciting.
I can do more, you know.
(36:51):
So I just wanted to encouragepeople with that that you can
start small.
It doesn't have to be like, ohmy gosh, I'm hiring a full-time
employee with benefits and allthis stuff, right.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
So go ahead.
Do most people hire full-timeemployees?
No, no.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, a lot of contractors.
I think what I'm seeing rightnow is teams go more streamlined
and they want more hours, morelong-term, reliable, loyal
contractors in their businessdoing a little bit more.
And so you talked about likethe generalist is going away,
like there's a sweet spotbetween somebody who is not so
specialized where you can'treally get a lot out of them
(37:30):
either.
And I'm not saying like use andabuse people here, but that's
what I'm seeing in the onlinespace and it can be like a mix
of people who are assistants.
Like sometimes we get to thispoint where we need more of a
manager.
We need somebody to run it forus.
Like I know for me, I spend waytoo much time in a sauna.
My business is that the 300,000annual revenue.
(37:51):
That's right about the pointwhere I need an OBM.
Right, I'm like living it rightnow and I'm like I'm starting
to need that project managerbecause I am not doing it well.
I'm not always available to myteammates.
Like my business needs to bealigned with my life.
I'm a single mom of four kids.
Like I don't have a lot of timeto be in a sauna and be on Zoom
(38:14):
calls, so when I am on theclock clock.
It needs to be very strategicand the reason I'm able to do
these high visibility likepodcasts with you since I have a
team doing a lot of the gruntwork it could be mindless and
for some people it's fun in thebackground, so I don't know.
It's hard.
You have to think about, like,the lost time.
You have to think about what isreally important.
(38:36):
Like I use that as example.
I don't think I tied that inreally well, because you have to
reverse engineer, like what isthe goal here?
Right?
And it doesn't always makesense for everyone to be spread
on every platform showing upomnipresent if, like, the goal
is really to sell the course andso you got to reverse engineer.
What is the fastest way and howcan I be more consistent at
(38:56):
getting those leads and what isthat?
And you and I know like adsaren't always for everybody, but
you know I'm always trying itinto ads because I'm like
looking at your face thinkingabout ads management.
There's also this thing thathappens in this space where
people hire somebody new whodoesn't really know what they're
doing and then, it's almostlike the blind leading the blind
(39:18):
they're doing, and then it'salmost like the blind leading
the blind, and so sometimes youdo want to hire somebody with
more experience who can kind ofsteer you to hit your strategic
goals and then grow up withinyour business.
So like that's kind of thebeautiful thing that happens
when you find your right handperson is they will be with you
and they can add on more hourslike an accordion as you make
(39:38):
more money.
And it's really about creating adream business, kind of trying
to operate in that now, eventhough we're not there yet.
So what are some of the thingsyou need to get off your plate,
like, when you are at capacity,your ads work, your webinar
fills up, everybody buys.
What are the things that youneed to get off your plate so
you can deliver for yourstudents and your clients?
(40:01):
And so it's starting to gothrough the process of what can
I offload and outsource?
Even if it's small, even ifit's just an hour, you know, a
week here or there, it will addup to a lot of, you know, time
saving.
But it will also allow you toreach your capacity, max out
your revenue, and I hope thatmakes sense.
I feel like I kind of went onthe box it does make sense.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
What I'm hearing is, as we're growing as business
owners and making money, we needto look at either what we're
not good at or what we just donot like.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
That is not, let's say, tied to the core business
building things that only we cando.
For example, like, just to behonest, do I like all aspects of
marketing myself?
No, not necessarily, you know.
Like, do I like striking up newconversations?
And you know, all the time?
Not necessarily.
(40:58):
But if I hire somebody to dothat for me, possibly, but right
now, no, it's just going to beme um or in this case, jamie, I
got.
I hired that out to my wife topitch people to be on the
podcast or for me to be ontheirs but the point is, like
these things that we don't.
what I'm hearing you say is thethings that we're not good at or
that we don't like per se.
(41:20):
As we're going to build ourbusinesses, hire those out first
, and we don't have to findsomebody full time it can be a
couple hours a day, as ourbusiness can afford so that we
can take that time that's hiredout and then reinvest it into
what we know is growing thebusiness.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
accurate.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, you got it, it's about the reinvestment.
We Is that accurate?
Yeah, you got it, it's aboutthe reinvestment.
We don't just turn around andsit on the couch and watch your
friends and neighbors and eatbonbons, but we're turning
around and doing the highvisibility, high stakes, revenue
generating activities.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
There we go, okay.
So another question is youthink what about hiring somebody
who's local to the country thatwe live in in our context the
US, versus hiring someone who'soverseas, let's say like the
Philippines?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah, this is a sticky.
This is a sticky question,right, Because I've heard
different things, Like if youhire someone overseas and you're
paying them beyond what theirmarket rates are, like you're
creating a false bubble in theircountry and you know like it
was really bad for their economy.
I like what Tasha Booth saysand she's like pay the rate of
the role and the work that youhave, Right.
(42:27):
But there's also the reality ofrunning a business, Like it's
not just the startup cause, it'slike the ongoing human capital
that it takes to be successful.
And so you know I don't havethe most politically correct
answer here.
I think it's right.
It's to each their own, Right.
But I think there's a lot ofvery successful online
(42:48):
businesses who get help overseas.
Especially when it's a processthat is very clear, very
standard, with like good SOPs,with good standard operating
procedures, it can be a hugeblessing to go to sleep and then
wake up the next day and yourpodcast is done and edited
because you have a solid editorright.
I think where it's not okay iswhen you're taking advantage of
(43:10):
cheap labor.
You're dumping everything onthem and expecting them to
completely grow and run yourbusiness and you keep all the
profits.
I do see a certain businesscoach in the online space kind
of telling people to do that,and I think that's unethical.
So I think you have to check inwith you.
It's really great to givesomeone a paycheck, but at what
point do you cross that line andare you using them in a bad way
(43:35):
, because they're humans?
Speaker 1 (43:37):
I think it's actually when you're working with
somebody on your team like itdoes take us as the owners doing
research and making sure thatyou're paying them in a way that
, like they're delighted to dowhat they're good at right, but
not overpaying them.
You know, compensating forwhatever other issues we have,
like emotionally or who knowswhat baggage we bring to the
business owner table, so tospeak but not overpaying,
(43:59):
because that can also be a badscenario.
So as we talk about this, dearlistener, like we are just
random business owners on theinternet or on the other side of
the podcast, you know we're notgiving you tax advice or hiring
advice.
You can't quote us and say thatwe told you to do it.
You need to check with your cpaand your local labor laws to
(44:23):
figure out what can work foryour business.
But we can say that, in orderto scale, if you don't want to
be busy all the time, then couldbe a good idea to figure out
when would be the best time tohire the first person to your
team.
Emily, you have a bookkeeperright I do all right, I have a
bookkeeper.
Actually, technically, I let mybookkeeper go about three weeks
(44:46):
ago and I'm looking for a newbookkeeper.
I hire a talented individual toedit the podcast and my video.
Do you edit your own?
Shout out to you, kin, thankyou for what you do right now.
You're listening, dear listener, don't even know this huge part
that we, in the middle of theepisode where, made a few
(45:06):
mistakes and I had to go use theretro.
But you know, kid, he'stalented and he took care of it.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Do you edit your?
Speaker 1 (45:11):
own media still emily , or do you hire?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
no, I mean, the reality of my business is I have
five contractors helping out.
I told you I have four kids.
Like three of them are inorthodontics.
I have a lot of appointments Ihave.
Like I'm thinking about myschedule.
Tomorrow I'm going to the vettomorrow I probably need a
personal assistant as I speakout loud.
But no, the reality is I can'tdo everything and show up in all
(45:36):
the platforms.
I do, because of my business,hire people from my work group,
so I do pay US VA rates anywherebetween $25, $40 an hour for my
assistants.
I had a friend look at mybusiness and say you pay way too
much in contractors.
But when I think about it likemy business is different.
I'm audience building.
I'm not just a service provider.
(45:57):
You know, like you YouTube,podcasts all of that Of course I
have.
It's very critical that I bevery visible and grow my
audience right.
I'm list building all the timeand so I have to get help with
that.
Because the reality is I alsocan't deliver on my program and
my client work.
I can't do all of it and I'lltell you I know a lot and I have
(46:18):
done a lot of services and Ihave done a lot of these for
clients and I've been a podcastmanager, I've been a YouTube
manager and a Pinterest manager.
But if I did that all for mybusiness, I would never get
anything big done, like the bigrocks that you're supposed to do
to move the needle.
And it's more important that Ido these interviews, that I get
(46:38):
my name out there, that I, youknow, speak on stage, that I go
to coffee chats and network withpeople, that I do sales calls,
that I create the videos that myteam can use, and so it's not
all perfectly perfect, but youknow, even with my podcast, to
be able to pull out of thatprocess like I remember it, just
like eating up time for the Ido a lot of the pre-production,
(47:00):
scheduling, the guests, but thenI just hand it off to my team
and magically shows up onInstagram and that probably
saves me, I would say, fourhours a week.
I don't like, I don't have thattime anyway.
So it's a huge gift when I canlook at it like that.
And that also lights my fire tohow can I monetize this, how
can I get my business to beprofitable and pay for this?
(47:20):
Because it is an expense and itmight not be the expense
everybody needs to take on rightnow either.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Agreed Right, very much agreed.
What is the last thing youwould leave the listener with?
I guess I feel like what youjust said was super important
too, but final closing thoughts.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Emily, One, two, three go, oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
I'm thinking about the people I'm just going to be
direct because I don't know howwho do hire overseas VA and then
they're frustrated that theydon't sound like them, that
they're not copywriters and,like you know, mastering their
brand voice by Thursday.
And I just want people to berealistic about who you hire.
If you can come with a solidjob description, think about
(48:04):
what are the KPIs?
What are the key performanceindicators that I need to track?
What is what are theresponsibilities of this person?
What is the major outcome Iwant?
We can all be more realisticabout who we hire and what they
produce, because you can getreally good overseas VAs but
they might not be the bestcopywriter.
I mean there's always likeexceptions.
(48:25):
So at some point you will needa specialist.
At some point you're going towant an ads manager and not
expect your VA to just gambleyour money away and figuring out
how to build audiences at yourexpense, and I think that is
just something I want to put outthere.
There's a time and place forthe specialists.
There is somebody out there whowill support your business in a
(48:47):
day-to-day operations and justlike know the difference between
the two and your expectations.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Very good.
The right person for yourbusiness is out there, you can't
find them.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
I like to tell this story.
I had a lady that comes to mefrom Amy Porterfield's world.
Her name was Lotus.
She had a course about arthistory and it was helping
teachers.
So she had this weird niche ofart history education and she
wanted someone to know marketing.
And she came to me and she'slike can you help me find
someone?
I was like this is thedefinition of my unicorn Someone
(49:22):
who's passionate about yourtopic and your business and
understands online business andmarketing and can help you.
We went to my community at thetime.
It was like only 300.
I had three teachers in mygroup who knew art history.
I don't know, I don't knowanything about it.
I go to museums.
I don't know what I'm lookingat.
Like, sorry, you know Monet, Idon't really get it, but they
(49:45):
were able to interview.
She ended up hiring two toassist her.
Like that is the definition ofa dream team.
Like somebody who's passionate,can help you make an impact and
gets it, and you don't have toforce it.
That person is out there.
You don't have to settle forsomeone who doesn't have the
skills and just make sure youwrite a solid job description.
Talk to your fellow businessowners.
(50:06):
Your unicorn is out there.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
There we go.
Your unicorn is out there.
Well, if you're listening andyou think that you are a unicorn
in a good way, in a good way,and you want to become the
freelance unicorn digitalmarketing assistant who every
online business owner wants towork with and pay well.
Visit the show notes below, getin touch with Emily.
(50:30):
Her website is down there, herInstagram is down there and the
hire a unicorncom link where youcan submit an application or
start the hiring process, so tospeak, is down there too.
Thank you for being a guest.
Speaker 3 (50:47):
Thank you it was a delight.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Emily.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
Thank you.
I hope to see you on a kayaksoon.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Well, I'll be there.
I already got the ticket.
Dear listener, until the nexttime you see us or hear from us,
be blessed, and we'll see youin the next one bye.
So if you ever wanted to know, should I hire a team,
how many team members should Ihire, when should I hire and
should it be overseas or localmy new virtual assistants, and
how do I best work with them?
Well, we have Emily Regan hereand she is an expert at teaching
people how to hire a virtualteam so they can scale their
(00:21):
business.
You get to go behind the sceneswith her and us as we listen to
how she built her business, andshe is ultra relatable, in fact
so relatable, might I add, thatwe met already in person.
We've been in a mastermind.
I'm telling my wife, jamie here, which you can see us all.
If you click in the show notesbelow and go over to this
(00:43):
episode on YouTube, you can seeour lovely faces and expressions
.
But I was saying Emily, it'ssuper relatable and that's
pretty cool.
We've been talking now for like20 minutes.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Welcome to the episode Emily.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hey, thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to have thisconversation with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You are very welcome.
Let me read your bio, bless thelistener and not know how
amazing you are.
Emily Regan is a freelancemarketing coach and the founder
of the Unicorn Digital MarketingAssistant School and the
Digital Marketers Work Group.
With over 14 years ofexperience in public relations
Dang and digital marketing,emily specializes in helping
(01:23):
underemployed military spousesand stay-at-home moms launch
flexible, profitable freelancebusinesses.
Her mission is to empower womento monetize their existing
skills, work with alignedclients and create meaningful
impact by supporting onlinebusinesses behind the scenes.
All right, emily, my firstquestion for you is and next I'm
(01:47):
going to ask you about asnapshot of your business and
what it looks like now but whythe focus on unemployed spouses
and military moms?
I mean, I support thatinitiative.
I'm just curious, like how thatcame about.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, obviously that's not only who I serve, but
that's where I came from.
I was a military spouse for 20years, moving every one, two,
three years, always startingover my career, obviously
flatlined, I'm starting overhaving to prove myself.
I am capped at my salary, I amlimited on my paid time off and
holidays and I watched myfriends progress whereas I just
(02:21):
stayed the same like almosttrying to get any job that would
hire me.
No-transcript about sales callsLike this is back in 2013.
(02:59):
And I just said you know what.
I bet I could teach my friendshow to do this and I at one
point had the commander's wifeworking for me, had my own
agency, and then I realized I'mnot good with the people
management my husband deployedfor a year.
I'm like this is not what Ilike.
I'm more creative and I kind ofdo better on my own.
And so I released everyone.
(03:20):
A couple stayed with me and Ijust thought if I could just
take the trainings, if I couldteach Laura the engineer how to
be a launch manager, then I canteach anyone anything.
And that's how I started mycourse and training people.
So it's really just where Istarted, because it was from my
pain point of trying to provemyself, bridging that baby gap
when I chose to stay home.
And there's a lot of women whoare also career changers.
(03:42):
I have a few dudes too.
And there's a lot of women whoare also career changers.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I have a few dudes too, not women only and just
helping them learn the marketingservices that launch a
freelance business Nice.
Nice.
So what does your business looklike today?
Can you give us a snapshot ofthat of your, the offers that
you have, and kind of whatpercentages they make up of your
business?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, I've always done the client work and I've
always loved that because itkeeps me in the trenches.
I like to be a practitioner.
I have that journalism degreeat heart where I love to turn
around and help other peoplelearn what I've learned, and so
I do the client work.
Right now it probably makes upabout 25% of my income.
Obviously, over time I wentfrom charging $10 an hour to 5K
(04:30):
retainer CMO packages, so itmight have started with me on
Pinterest doing hourly work.
Oh, is it working?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
What's a CMO?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oh, at first I thought my audio was going out
Chief Marketing Officer in afractional way.
First I thought my audio wasgoing out Chief marketing
officer in a fractional way, socoming in and helping clients
and monetize their talent intocourses and launch their courses
and memberships and things likethat like their digital
products.
So I do the marketing work togrow and nurture the audience.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Thank, you yeah, okay , sorry to cut you off.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
When you say client work, do you mean like
one-on-one, like kind ofcoaching?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, no, I mean the marketing implementation.
I have always helped clientsgrow their email list right, so
it's a mix of content marketing.
It's Pinterest, it's YouTube,it's podcast.
I help my clients.
I've done even a little bit ofad work and then nurture to sell
.
So a lot of that is also thefunnels.
I've built a lot of quizfunnels.
(05:30):
I've done a lot of lead magnets, slow funnels, things like that
, and so my work has evolvedover time, obviously because we
want to move towards theservices that pay more.
I also have four kids, so Ineed the flexibility and that's
also why I lean into marketingteaching my friends marketing
because admin calendarmanagement some of the
traditional VA work is verynormal office hours and very
(05:52):
rigid and so marketing lendsitself to the projects a little
bit more flexibility and higherpay right, because it's tied to
an ROI.
So right now I do fractionalCMOMO work, coming in and
helping my clients build andlaunch their usually it's
courses.
I'm in the course creator spaceevery now and then it's a
membership.
Yeah, I've been a podcastmanager.
I've done the varieties ofspice of life.
(06:14):
I have done it all and thatadds up in this space so I can
teach also the women in mycommunity how to do that.
So I took what I did for myselfand for my clients, and I worked
with some big clients.
I've been in over 100 differentbusinesses over the last decade
.
Newsflash no one is organizedor perfectly put together.
(06:37):
I will tell you that there'salways room for improvement.
So yeah.
So then I put everything I knewinto a course that is called
the Unicorn Digital MarketingAssistance School.
This is something I've alwaysrun as a live cohort that I'm in
the middle of switching,especially as I saw lesser
launches the last year, and soI've just been kind of
re-engineering what that lookslike.
(06:58):
I have that also on self-study,so that used to be 50% of my
income, but now that I'mswitching the live launching
model, I'm going to have torework that.
But a big portion of everythingis my work group.
It's my membership.
I've shared over 3000 jobs withother freelancers and
contractors.
It is exactly what Stu McLarenteaches where you have your
(07:21):
monthly content, you have youryou know monthly content, you
have your community, wherefreelancers supporting each
other with referrals, advancedtrainings, and then I share jobs
that come through my form,hireunicorncom.
So it's a mix.
I have the e-learning side ofmy business, and then a little
bit of the freelance work.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That is cool.
That is really cool.
Quick note for you, dearlistener Later on in the episode
is when we're going to diveinto what it looks like, because
you might either want to becomea VA Emily specializes in
teaching you how to do that butyou might also want to know when
it makes sense and the signs tolook for in your business to
(08:02):
begin hiring for your team.
So stick around, and that willcome up on the second half of
this episode.
So inquiring minds want to know, emily, as you were building
your business, what was theabsolute artist time that you
(08:23):
can share about during yourjourney?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I've had a lot of low moments and, you know, wasting
money on bad investments.
But I think the lowest, thehardest time and I see this over
and over with my clients too isstarting and starting from
nothing and having to go in andbuild an audience when you're
struggling with.
(08:47):
You know, knowing your offers,creating like visibility
opportunities and just startingas the new kid on the block.
I remember for years I wasbehind the scenes in other
businesses and I told you Ididn't have a website, I didn't
have the vision of what I shouldhave been doing.
That whole time of promotingmyself.
I was behind the scenes ofclients making them money and so
(09:08):
coming out from nothing.
It's like who are you?
Why should we trust you?
Why would we want to buy fromyou?
And it's still hard and I'mseeing that with some of my
clients now.
We're trying to dig into thesocial proof and the
testimonials and just reallyprove the credibility and the
authority there, that whysomeone should buy.
I remember looking at AmyPorterfield and Jasmine Starr
(09:30):
and Jenna Kutcher and thatlittle click.
I remember feeling like I willnever be a part of that click
right Like they've got theirfriends, like they're waving.
They're riding that wave ontothe beach together, and then I'm
going to have to start withpeople at my level and that was
really hard, just to go fromnothing.
And there was a lot of likeignorance there, which is bliss,
like I didn't know what Ididn't know.
(09:52):
So I was able to just jump inand and do it and not be so
scared because obviously I heldonto the vision and the
possibility, the why of you know, creating a business that
supports my family and my kids.
But if you've ever been at highschool and not been invited to
the cool kids table like you,get it Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
All right.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I feel like people knowing who you are and
referring you like you see thatas a service provider, right,
people talking about you.
I would be in a face like well,you need to take this other VA
course because this person'sbeen around longer and
everyone's been through hercourse, but like actually there
was big gaps in her course andwhat she was teaching and not
teaching.
And I saw that in the trencheswhen my clients went and hired
(10:36):
VAs who didn't know a dang thingabout marketing, and so it was
really just like frustrating tosee that and just you know,
start from scratch I feel like Iwant to know how and why you
still started from scratch,though, because, yes, you just
said big names, like you knowjenna kutcher and amy
(10:58):
porterfield and
Speaker 1 (10:59):
like we'll never be a part of that, but yet we got to
start and you started.
I feel like that's like saying,you know, steve jobs, mark
zuckerberg, larry ellis like,yeah, never be a part of those
like tech folks, but of coursewe won't.
Like we started the industry,so to speak.
Yeah, but we, we can stillstart, and you still did, and
when that they might ride thefirst wave, but like we can be
(11:21):
on that second wave.
So like how did you actuallystart with?
Or I guess, what did you do topsych yourself up to go for it?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
yeah, okay.
So one of my big clients.
I helped her make a milliondollars.
I watched her do those Facebooklives every day and she had
such charisma and and she hadsuch strong viewpoints.
And when you're starting new,like you don't know all of that,
like some of your messaging hasto flush out over the years,
that also like a hard lessonI've learned, like how to
communicate and attract theright type of buyers, not
(11:55):
building the wrong email listand so I think for a little bit
I was like, oh, I could never belike her.
I can never be like her.
And then I had this sideconversation with somebody at a
conference.
I went to Stu McLaren's eventit was 2018.
It was Tribe at the time and Ihad this magical side
conversation because I'm so usedto being the other person that
(12:16):
gives the cheerleader, who giveseveryone else a pep talk or
sees the vision.
That's one of my excuse me, topCliftonStrength strengths is
that individualization, likeseeing the uniqueness in people
and where they should go, andlike how they could, you know,
stack their skills and havesomething really special.
And so this lady took the timeher name was Deanne to reflect
that on me and she's like youknow what.
You actually have somethingreally, really good here.
(12:38):
I went to this conference nobusiness card, no website, and I
just got swamped.
I just got swapped.
I just got swapped.
Everybody wanted to hire me tohelp them market and build their
, their memberships, and so itkind of hit me there.
I actually have somethingpeople need.
I can train people to do this.
And now I like I almost neededlike the tactical, tangible idea
(13:01):
and I also knew I couldn't justlike go copy what other people
were doing or what my clientshad done, like that wouldn't
have been ethical with me.
So once I saw that vision formyself, it was off to the races.
I didn't look back.
I tell the story and AmyPorterfield will steal it
sometimes.
But my very first Facebook liveI did from that conference, put
(13:22):
a clay face mask on my facefrom my hotel room, had a drink
of wine and announced mybusiness because I was so scared
and I was like you have to knowthis about me.
I did journalism.
I did broadcast electronicmedia.
I was the girl behind thecamera.
I was not one of the, the girlswho wanted to be the TV
reporter or the, you know, theweather girl.
That was never me.
I always wanted to be the newsreporter or the you know the
(13:44):
weather girl.
That was never me.
I always wanted to be the newsreporter and I just see that.
Whereas like visibility, thelimelight, it was just never
something I wanted.
And so when I saw my client whowas making a million dollars
doing that, I'm like, well,that's not me either.
So I think it's just likefinding your, your special sauce
you know what you really bringto the world and leaning into
that, and I think that's whatlike made me, made me do it.
(14:06):
Once I saw it, I couldn't unseeit and like that why?
Was screaming at me every dayand it came from business owners
who were like Emily, I need tohire you.
Oh wait, emily is booked out,emily can just go train people.
And I don't know why I'mtalking about myself in third
person like that.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
It's awkward go with it.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Go with it so a lot of it ended up being just word
of mouth recommendations yeah,completely.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It was so crazy because if you're good at what
you do and you see this when youdo ads like your clients just
scream your name.
You need to work with her, youneed to work with her, and so
this is what I coach my serviceproviders it's about your name
being passed around in thoseVoxer conversations in a DM in a
text message, in an email.
Who else do you know who can dothis?
(14:54):
And that's how a serviceproviders can really book out
with the best clients, becauseour top clients aren't scrolling
Instagram looking to hire us.
It's word of mouth that'll,that'll preach right there I
think so you get it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
You're out there making connections and you know
your clients are impressed byyour work and singing your and
we were just discussing doingsomething quite important to
further our reach and meet newpeople, which is going to
another retreat and that lookslike we will be.
Well, I'll be there, but you'llpossibly be there.
(15:30):
Did you already buy tickets?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
no, I just got the baby, the terror child care
confirmation this morning, so II blasted out a couple texts
like are we still going?
So hopefully, I like kayaking,so I really want to go no, but
these are the things.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
These are the way we grow our business.
Okay, so another snapshot forthe listener, but let us in on
like one of the best times inyour business, and it's okay if
it's not currently, but why wasthat the best time for you and
your business?
And what was going well, like,what was contributing to that
being the best time?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Oh my gosh, I could answer a couple of these too.
So I actually had A terriblething happened with a bad
investment and a lawyer whoscammed me, which probably be
the story there.
Probably should be like the lowtime story.
Only it ended well and I havethat hindsight now.
But I had a trademark who atrademark lawyer scammed a bunch
(16:30):
of people in a community thatwe're all familiar with, and so,
but during this process ofslowing down and thinking about
my trademark, I was able torebrand myself and go online and
figure out like, how am Idifferent, how can I evolve in
my messaging?
How can I be different than theVA coaches who just teach how
to set up a business and don'tteach actual services?
(16:50):
And so, out of this bad thingthat happened, I was forced to
slow down, which isn't always mymode of operations.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I rebranded into this whole digital marketing
assistant and I relaunched mycourse and I ended up having
multiple six-figure launches andfor me, I know like our worth
isn't tied into numbers, but itwas like a respectable marketing
number I needed to hit and thefact that I did it for myself
(17:19):
after doing it for clients wasthe boost of confidence that I
needed.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So that was pretty high.
You put your blood, sweat andtears into your business, into
your offers.
You're trying to figure outwhat works, what sticks, what
people are, you know, willing togo all in, and I cracked that
code and that, like that, wasjust one of the best moments.
I hit six figures.
I don't know, I mean, I'm notthe 700th network of people
(17:49):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, I was wondering if you could get a little more
specific on what you did to hitthat for yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, because it wasn't just changing a name, it
wasn't just recording a fewvideos.
So there's also time.
It took a couple years.
Right Like this is four yearsinto my business, maybe three
and a half, so it wasn't thefirst version of my course, it
wasn't the first price.
You know the course hadcompletely changed and evolved
and you know that clarity camewith time and I think that's
important.
(18:19):
People realize that.
You know, even my clients needto realize like right out the
gate, with the first launch andthe first course, it's not
always going to be the bestversion, it's not going to be
the one that lasts.
You're going to have toconstantly be evolving.
And so one thing I realized isseeing with my clients and I
think I hinted at like what ahot mess people are behind the
scenes I realized what my friendBrenna McGowan was teaching was
(18:43):
the pre-launch and I knowyou're like you know you're
familiar with her topic and hertalk.
So I went all in with thepre-launch because again, I was
still in the kind of likeproving who am I, can I really
get transformation?
Why do I trust her when there'sthis other VA coach who's been
around for years and has evenbigger numbers.
And so really leaning into howI was different, my unique
(19:06):
selling proposition I'm teachingmarketing services, I'm
teaching how to do the clientwork.
None of the other VA coursesare doing that.
I don't know why I'm slurringmy words today.
Oh my goodness, I'm like soberhere.
So, yeah, so, like thepre-launch was big, I went in
with Brenna, she helped me, wecrafted a six week pre-launch
(19:27):
plan and I was pre-selling thatcourse before it came out.
And so just being able to havethis asset and reuse it really
to knock down buyer objectionsbefore we opened the cart Cause
I mean I'd had some launches,they were kind of plateauing.
I don't think it ever made morethan 24,000 and it was always
crickets.
I would open the, I would openthe cart and it would be
(19:48):
crickets.
And so I've always had, I'vealways struggled with trying to
figure out my webinar and likewhich one is going to convert.
And you know that's always beenlike a puzzle piece for me.
What do I call it, what do Icall us?
And so when those pieces kindof came together, oh, we are now
officially marketing assistants.
You know, we're not just VAscoming in the new branding,
(20:09):
coming in with a solid prelaunch it just.
It all worked, so I would give.
I would give credit to theprelaunch and maybe the lawyer
who screwed me.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I never, because I was talking with another lady
who also was in the mastermindthat we're in together right now
and she was explaining how someother person screwed her over.
And other clients too, clientstoo I'm just like, okay, I
understand doing or providing aservice, you know with
excellence and making mistakes,like once or twice, but how
could somebody decide toactively go and cheat other
(20:48):
folks and then do it again andagain, and again in an online
space where you know everyone'sconnected too?
It's like how many mentalhurdles do we just have to hop?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
over to be so fast.
I think she's delusional.
I think she's delusional.
So she was collecting money forpaid marks and then not filing
them and then blaming theslowdown of the pandemic, what?
And so I also was doingadditional coaching with her to
figure out my intellectualproperty and be able to license
my course Right.
So I was like thinking like acouple of steps beyond, like how
(21:21):
do I make this courseprofitable without me having a
live launch?
And in that process I had toslow down and look at the
branding and like what is actualtrademarkable, and like I
learned a lot and then realizeda year later she hadn't filed
anything.
It's crazy, it's crazy.
And I think I got one emailfrom her and I she really does
think she did no wrong okay.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Well then, maybe she's more delusional than con
artist.
This guy on instagram andtiktok who just like the worst
it's like total reaction video,right, and he just takes the
worst crazy tiktoks and makesfun of them.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Itty who anyway, kweja has a great story of his
mom, like I mean, this wasalready years and years ago, but
like when she was.
I mean she still doesn't reallyknow how to use a computer, but
when he would like go to herhouse and use the computer and
like cover up the, like thesafari icon, you know, with
(22:21):
something else that he was doing, and she would like freak out
and be like I can't get on theinternet.
The bike is gone oh my goodness,maybe, like mom, just close the
other.
You know the other tab, orwhatever he was working on.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
It's right there, you know yeah, it's like they can't
do like it has to be very ithas to be right there, you know
so where I already go yeah so mydaughter, our daughter, was
watching a video, you know,where people clone themselves
and talk to themselves side byside, you know, and she thought
like her favorite creator of themoment had a twin.
(22:56):
And I'm like that's not a twin,they're just like cornering, so
it's the tiktok and her, hermind was like what it's not her
sister.
I'm like no, that's not hersister, and so then I showed her
a video and she's like superinterested and I was like I
gotta capitalize on this.
My daughter will just launchinto video editing and help out
with the business and this wouldbe a thing we can bond.
And it took like four-ish weeksbecause I'm slow and busy.
(23:20):
But now, now I went and Ifilmed a video with her and she
actually watched a couple ofYouTube videos and successfully
cloned herself and she has itdownstairs.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
And now she's moving CapCut to edit the videos.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I need my teenagers to do this for me and just like
repost it yeah, Put them to work.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Man Pay their IRA.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Right, do this for me and I will fund your retirement
.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I did read something about like having your kids help
in the business and stuff andlike you can write off like 15
grand a year or something like.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, something like that I haven't done it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I don't have the paperwork to start their ira
over here, it's just in the pile.
That's to do the pile of thingsto do yeah, it like are not
important, but one day we'lllike one day do a lot one day.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I mean you still have until they turn 18, because all
of like the personal financesonline always start with saying
if you just save a hundreddollars a month between the ages
of 18 and 25 and then stop,you'll be a millionaire when you
retire.
So that means like we stillhave a moment.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, totallyOkay.
(24:36):
Why the change and whathappened with the value?
And then we'll just go straight.
I'll make sure to also plugwhat you put to plug for your
lead magnet and we'll keep ontrucking, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
So I think my journalism background really
pays off here, because I goaround and I talk to a lot of
our business peers and find outwhat they're struggling with and
why they're frustrated, and Ihear the same things over and
over and I saw this when I wason the seven-figure team about
people coming into the businessuntrained, not having the skills
, and there's a differencebetween an employee and a
(25:11):
contractor.
A contractor needs to come inknowing how to do the work.
If you misclassify them, thereare big penalties, right, and so
it's important that we hire fora skill set.
And this is what's happening iseveryone calls themselves a VA,
but no one knew how to domarketing, and this was a couple
of years ago, and so it makessense.
A virtual assistant is a veryvague job title and actually
(25:35):
it's becoming more synonymouswith AI and chatbots.
Even me and my I'm a soccer mom, I have four kids, I drive a
minivan, my Kia Carnival has avirtual assistant button right.
And so I thought how can I helpmake people you know get into
higher paid work?
Because you know, I wouldn'thave been attracted to the title
assistant.
I have multiple degrees.
(25:55):
I was just a stay-at-home mom.
We wanted to work during schoolhours.
You think about business.
There's six main departments.
We have accounting and finance.
Okay, we'll hire a bookkeeper.
We'll hire a CFO, a CPA, tohelp us.
We have product development.
That's usually us as thebusiness owner figuring out, oh,
what is our course, and ouroffers owner figuring out what
(26:16):
is our course and our offers.
We have an in-bar.
We have customer service,operations and marketing and
sales.
All six different departments.
So why would we hire one personto do everything and
Frankenstein that role and notdo it well?
So here's what was happening ispeople, would you know, say
they were a VA but not actuallyknow how to do anything.
So everyone was reallyfrustrated with their teammates.
And so I think, starting off inone department, or maybe a
(26:39):
hybrid of two, like marketingcould go with some kind of
fulfillment, right, withoperations, it could be a little
bit of customer service, likejust narrowing down the scope
you'll get, you'll get betterresults from the person and you
won't be as frustrated thinkingthey're going to read your mind
and save your business byThursday.
I mean, how many times have Igotten a job where people are
launching?
We get the job Monday andthey're like I'm launching
(27:02):
Thursday.
I'm like, okay, that VA is notgoing to save your business.
They also probably don't knowcopywriting.
I mean, I think my biggest petpeeve is can I have a VA who
does Facebook ads?
I mean, these people are tryingto get somebody to do everything
and they're trying to paygeneralist prices to a
specialist, and so let's call itwhat it is.
(27:23):
So I'm empowering my people tosee the worth of their work.
Marketing is tied to ROI.
Right, we're bringing in leads,we're helping with sales.
We might not be part of thesales team, but there's ways we
can do conversions withinfunnels or ads or webinars that
we're still kind of assistingwith, and so that was really
kind of what, like what got meset off.
(27:45):
There is like we're not justunderlings and not that there's
anything wrong with admin orcalendar management, but when
you've grown your clients listto 80,000 and you help them make
a million dollars, like youshouldn't be charging $20 an
hour, right, right, right.
And what's cool is the creamrises.
You know you start off as anassistant.
(28:05):
I've had people come through myprogram or in my work group who
had corporate marketingexperience, just didn't know
this online space, because it'sa little different, it's a
little funky, and once they getit and take on a couple of
clients, they really quicklyrise to the top and become, you
know, specialists of some sortor managers, and so I'm seeing a
(28:26):
lot of people who are have beenburned by the VA, who didn't
really know what they were doingand just wanting someone to be
more specific when it comes tothe outcomes.
They provide, theresponsibilities, even getting
into a little bit more, you know, management of a project.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Right, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
That gets me kind of hot and bothered God.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Marv.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
It's like no more $10 an hour when you're, like you
know, helping your clients makethe big bucks and move big
mountains in their business.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
We're a specialist, right, we should be paid as a
specialist, yeah, and accordingto the value that you're
providing.
You know, I just think aboutlaunches and there's so many
moving pieces there, but thereare several that really do
affect revenue, and so it's like, of course, it makes sense,
like if you can becomespecialized in that specific
(29:20):
area and a number of clients.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
You should be paid accordingly right, yeah,
actually, another podcast I waslistening to at the beginning of
the year was talking about likedifferent positions in the
online space that might bedecreasing in 2025, and one of
them was talking about like thegeneral VA, and this is kind of
exactly what you're talkingabout is having someone have
(29:42):
more of a specific skill thatthey can offer your business,
and once you have that, then youcan be paid more because you
are providing something that ismore valuable.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Oh, you're gonna have to send me that link because
that's exactly what I'm saying.
But on the flip side, I saw somany new VAs struggling to get
work and it's copywriting 101.
You're not clear, you're notspecific, we don't know what you
do.
No one's ever going to hire you, so you're not going to stand
out like.
The general VA term is justdone.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah, so what were the terms again that you were
saying?
That you, you see, or that youuse or prefer?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
well, I think that you know we have.
There are admin assistants,right?
I think that's what a lot of usthink of as va, right, like
we're thinking about admincalendar, maybe inbox.
But the other common hires arean executive assistant, where
you're, that whole job is to,you know, cater toward the
C-suite to make that person'sjob easier.
So if you're this yo, you mighthave your own EA, right?
(30:43):
There's so many acronyms thatbecome alphabet soup here, but I
teach the marketing assistantand they can level up to be a
marketing manager or aspecialist.
Some people decide like, oh, Iwant to do ads or I want to do
only copywriting, because theyrealize I can start charging
more and doing packages there.
One of the jobs that I'm seeingon the rise is marketing
(31:04):
project manager, where you'reable to come in like a launch
manager and make sure thatcampaigns are happening, but
you're not always the one incharge of all of the
deliverables, you're justmanaging the people, and that's
essentially what I do in my CMOwork too.
So operations are another one,seeing people be operations
assistants and then grow up tobe the operational directors.
(31:26):
It just depends on the size ofthe business.
I think people think like, oh,I have to have like 25 different
employees to be successful, andit really doesn't have to be
like that.
You can find what makes sensefor your business.
It could be you just needmarketing help a couple hours a
week and there is a very smartmom not always a mom, but we'll
(31:47):
just use that picture who wantsto work between nine and two and
then go to the bus and thenhave her job be done for the day
and not have the responsibilityof running a business, like us
crazy people as entrepreneurs.
Right, right, he has a goodhire out there.
So people always are asking melike how do I find this person?
Does it exist?
No, not.
All of us want 40 hours.
(32:09):
We don't mind a couple ofclients and being behind the
scenes like the Wizard of Oz,you know, like pulling the
strings, making magic happen,and don't need to be the face of
our business.
And so it really is a personaldecision.
You know what you need and likewhat is.
I don't know like what is themick?
And so for me, my first hirewas actually a bookkeeper.
(32:31):
I didn't need marketing helpbecause that was what I did well
, but it didn't make sense forme to spend my time billing all
the clients and taking a fullday away from the higher paid
billable work to do theinvoicing, even though I love
collecting money and readingnumbers.
You know, yeah, okay, so Iopened up a couple doors there.
Ask me the next question.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yeah, I know, Before we get ahead of ourselves, the
listener's like all right, I gota couple of questions.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Listener um the listener's like.
All right, I got a couple ofquestions.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Listener, I hear you as you're hearing me, I hear you
.
So, first of all, if you're inthe spot where you are listening
right now as she's talking,you're like I want to supplement
my income.
I can become a marketingassistant.
Where, how do I do this?
Go to hire a unicorncom likehigher than the letter a than
(33:18):
unicorncom, and submit yourvirtual assistant or marketing
assistant job opening there,because that is Emily's site and
it's super self-explanatory.
That link is in the show notesbelow.
And then now it's time, emily,for those who are listening
right now and want to know, howdoes somebody know when their
(33:40):
business is ready to hire andwhich position do we hire for?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
first, yeah, well, it's going to be different for
everyone, right?
It's like that dreaded.
You know marketing answer itdepends.
The best thing you can do islook at your business and, you
know, do the time audit.
We all hate that, you know.
Even Rick already told us to dothat.
(34:05):
We all hate it.
But really, what is sucking upyour time and limiting you from
going after the bigopportunities?
And it is a Pareto principle,it's the 80-20 rule.
You need to outsource 80% ofyour business and you need to
work toward that.
We don't all start there whenwe start a business.
So what is sucking up your time?
What are you not getting doneand what will actually move the
(34:26):
needle?
And so, with a lot of my clients, yeah, we start ads right away
because I know we need aspecialist.
Our priority is to list buildand we can make that decision
right away based on our goals.
Other people we might need helpfreeing up time so we can go
make the money.
Right, so we might need to hirethe admin help, the calendar
management, the inbox support bythe way, I suck at those those
(34:49):
are all in my drudgery zone.
I've hired help because I knowit's something I don't do well
and it doesn't light me up, andso it's about thinking about you
know what, where can I free uptime and where can I make money
and what is the most important,with where I am in business
right now?
Sometimes the specialist is theanswer, sometimes it is the
time saving help.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Drudgery zone.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah, drudgery zone yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
And anything repetitive, anything that you're
like okay, this is happeningevery week.
Every week I send out an email.
Every week I do this LinkedInpost.
If it is repetitive, get it offyour plate.
If this involves pushing abutton, somebody else can do it,
and then with that hour of time, you can go and you can I don't
know like meet with a clientand charge your hourly rate, or
(35:36):
you can go make the course thatwill then be scalable, Like
there's something else that youcould be doing with your time.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Right, and, like you said, there's people that that
want to just kind of have thatconsistent, almost like mindless
kind of work that they can dowhile their kids are at school.
And oh geez, I lost my train ofthought with what else I was
gonna say.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
it's okay, you know like I would use the term
mindless for something that Ijust didn't like, but yeah I, I
love the, the spreadsheet or theemail inbox management example.
Like it doesn't work very wellfor me and I lose interest
quickly, but there is somebodywho loves that and can do it
(36:18):
better than you do and justenjoys it.
You know Right, and it's likewhy not save the time?
Okay, but here's the thingthough, jamie.
Did you figure out?
I remembered what I was goingto say All right, cool.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
No, just again encouraging people that it
doesn't have to start withhiring someone at, you know,
full time.
It can be five hours a week, 10hours a week, like, start again
, start small with what you canafford and just start kind of
taking those little things offyour plate and start freeing it
up.
And then you're like, oh mygosh, this is really exciting.
I can do more, you know.
(36:51):
So I just wanted to encouragepeople with that that you can
start small.
It doesn't have to be like, ohmy gosh, I'm hiring a full-time
employee with benefits and allthis stuff, right.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
So go ahead.
Do most people hire full-timeemployees?
No, no.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, a lot of contractors.
I think what I'm seeing rightnow is teams go more streamlined
and they want more hours, morelong-term, reliable, loyal
contractors in their businessdoing a little bit more.
And so you talked about likethe generalist is going away,
like there's a sweet spotbetween somebody who is not so
specialized where you can'treally get a lot out of them
(37:30):
either.
And I'm not saying like use andabuse people here, but that's
what I'm seeing in the onlinespace and it can be like a mix
of people who are assistants.
Like sometimes we get to thispoint where we need more of a
manager.
We need somebody to run it forus.
Like I know for me, I spend waytoo much time in a sauna.
My business is that the 300,000annual revenue.
(37:51):
That's right about the pointwhere I need an OBM.
Right, I'm like living it rightnow and I'm like I'm starting
to need that project managerbecause I am not doing it well.
I'm not always available to myteammates.
Like my business needs to bealigned with my life.
I'm a single mom of four kids.
Like I don't have a lot of timeto be in a sauna and be on Zoom
(38:14):
calls, so when I am on theclock clock.
It needs to be very strategicand the reason I'm able to do
these high visibility likepodcasts with you since I have a
team doing a lot of the gruntwork it could be mindless and
for some people it's fun in thebackground, so I don't know.
It's hard.
You have to think about, like,the lost time.
You have to think about what isreally important.
(38:36):
Like I use that as example.
I don't think I tied that inreally well, because you have to
reverse engineer, like what isthe goal here?
Right?
And it doesn't always makesense for everyone to be spread
on every platform showing upomnipresent if, like, the goal
is really to sell the course andso you got to reverse engineer.
What is the fastest way and howcan I be more consistent at
(38:56):
getting those leads and what isthat?
And you and I know like adsaren't always for everybody, but
you know I'm always trying itinto ads because I'm like
looking at your face thinkingabout ads management.
There's also this thing thathappens in this space where
people hire somebody new whodoesn't really know what they're
doing and then, it's almostlike the blind leading the blind
(39:18):
they're doing, and then it'salmost like the blind leading
the blind, and so sometimes youdo want to hire somebody with
more experience who can kind ofsteer you to hit your strategic
goals and then grow up withinyour business.
So like that's kind of thebeautiful thing that happens
when you find your right handperson is they will be with you
and they can add on more hourslike an accordion as you make
(39:38):
more money.
And it's really about creating adream business, kind of trying
to operate in that now, eventhough we're not there yet.
So what are some of the thingsyou need to get off your plate,
like, when you are at capacity,your ads work, your webinar
fills up, everybody buys.
What are the things that youneed to get off your plate so
you can deliver for yourstudents and your clients?
(40:01):
And so it's starting to gothrough the process of what can
I offload and outsource?
Even if it's small, even ifit's just an hour, you know, a
week here or there, it will addup to a lot of, you know, time
saving.
But it will also allow you toreach your capacity, max out
your revenue, and I hope thatmakes sense.
I feel like I kind of went onthe box it does make sense.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
What I'm hearing is, as we're growing as business
owners and making money, we needto look at either what we're
not good at or what we just donot like.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
That is not, let's say, tied to the core business
building things that only we cando.
For example, like, just to behonest, do I like all aspects of
marketing myself?
No, not necessarily, you know.
Like, do I like striking up newconversations?
And you know, all the time?
Not necessarily.
(40:58):
But if I hire somebody to dothat for me, possibly, but right
now, no, it's just going to beme um or in this case, jamie, I
got.
I hired that out to my wife topitch people to be on the
podcast or for me to be ontheirs but the point is, like
these things that we don't.
what I'm hearing you say is thethings that we're not good at or
that we don't like per se.
(41:20):
As we're going to build ourbusinesses, hire those out first
, and we don't have to findsomebody full time it can be a
couple hours a day, as ourbusiness can afford so that we
can take that time that's hiredout and then reinvest it into
what we know is growing thebusiness.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
accurate.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, you got it, it's about the reinvestment.
We Is that accurate?
Yeah, you got it, it's aboutthe reinvestment.
We don't just turn around andsit on the couch and watch your
friends and neighbors and eatbonbons, but we're turning
around and doing the highvisibility, high stakes, revenue
generating activities.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
There we go, okay.
So another question is youthink what about hiring somebody
who's local to the country thatwe live in in our context the
US, versus hiring someone who'soverseas, let's say like the
Philippines?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah, this is a sticky.
This is a sticky question,right, Because I've heard
different things, Like if youhire someone overseas and you're
paying them beyond what theirmarket rates are, like you're
creating a false bubble in theircountry and you know like it
was really bad for their economy.
I like what Tasha Booth saysand she's like pay the rate of
the role and the work that youhave, Right.
(42:27):
But there's also the reality ofrunning a business, Like it's
not just the startup cause, it'slike the ongoing human capital
that it takes to be successful.
And so you know I don't havethe most politically correct
answer here.
I think it's right.
It's to each their own, Right.
But I think there's a lot ofvery successful online
(42:48):
businesses who get help overseas.
Especially when it's a processthat is very clear, very
standard, with like good SOPs,with good standard operating
procedures, it can be a hugeblessing to go to sleep and then
wake up the next day and yourpodcast is done and edited
because you have a solid editorright.
I think where it's not okay iswhen you're taking advantage of
(43:10):
cheap labor.
You're dumping everything onthem and expecting them to
completely grow and run yourbusiness and you keep all the
profits.
I do see a certain businesscoach in the online space kind
of telling people to do that,and I think that's unethical.
So I think you have to check inwith you.
It's really great to givesomeone a paycheck, but at what
point do you cross that line andare you using them in a bad way
(43:35):
, because they're humans?
Speaker 1 (43:37):
I think it's actually when you're working with
somebody on your team like itdoes take us as the owners doing
research and making sure thatyou're paying them in a way that
, like they're delighted to dowhat they're good at right, but
not overpaying them.
You know, compensating forwhatever other issues we have,
like emotionally or who knowswhat baggage we bring to the
business owner table, so tospeak but not overpaying,
(43:59):
because that can also be a badscenario.
So as we talk about this, dearlistener, like we are just
random business owners on theinternet or on the other side of
the podcast, you know we're notgiving you tax advice or hiring
advice.
You can't quote us and say thatwe told you to do it.
You need to check with your cpaand your local labor laws to
(44:23):
figure out what can work foryour business.
But we can say that, in orderto scale, if you don't want to
be busy all the time, then couldbe a good idea to figure out
when would be the best time tohire the first person to your
team.
Emily, you have a bookkeeperright I do all right, I have a
bookkeeper.
Actually, technically, I let mybookkeeper go about three weeks
(44:46):
ago and I'm looking for a newbookkeeper.
I hire a talented individual toedit the podcast and my video.
Do you edit your own?
Shout out to you, kin, thankyou for what you do right now.
You're listening, dear listener, don't even know this huge part
that we, in the middle of theepisode where, made a few
(45:06):
mistakes and I had to go use theretro.
But you know, kid, he'stalented and he took care of it.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Do you edit your?
Speaker 1 (45:11):
own media still emily , or do you hire?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
no, I mean, the reality of my business is I have
five contractors helping out.
I told you I have four kids.
Like three of them are inorthodontics.
I have a lot of appointments Ihave.
Like I'm thinking about myschedule.
Tomorrow I'm going to the vettomorrow I probably need a
personal assistant as I speakout loud.
But no, the reality is I can'tdo everything and show up in all
(45:36):
the platforms.
I do, because of my business,hire people from my work group,
so I do pay US VA rates anywherebetween $25, $40 an hour for my
assistants.
I had a friend look at mybusiness and say you pay way too
much in contractors.
But when I think about it likemy business is different.
I'm audience building.
I'm not just a service provider.
(45:57):
You know, like you YouTube,podcasts all of that Of course I
have.
It's very critical that I bevery visible and grow my
audience right.
I'm list building all the timeand so I have to get help with
that.
Because the reality is I alsocan't deliver on my program and
my client work.
I can't do all of it and I'lltell you I know a lot and I have
(46:18):
done a lot of services and Ihave done a lot of these for
clients and I've been a podcastmanager, I've been a YouTube
manager and a Pinterest manager.
But if I did that all for mybusiness, I would never get
anything big done, like the bigrocks that you're supposed to do
to move the needle.
And it's more important that Ido these interviews, that I get
(46:38):
my name out there, that I, youknow, speak on stage, that I go
to coffee chats and network withpeople, that I do sales calls,
that I create the videos that myteam can use, and so it's not
all perfectly perfect, but youknow, even with my podcast, to
be able to pull out of thatprocess like I remember it, just
like eating up time for the Ido a lot of the pre-production,
(47:00):
scheduling, the guests, but thenI just hand it off to my team
and magically shows up onInstagram and that probably
saves me, I would say, fourhours a week.
I don't like, I don't have thattime anyway.
So it's a huge gift when I canlook at it like that.
And that also lights my fire tohow can I monetize this, how
can I get my business to beprofitable and pay for this?
(47:20):
Because it is an expense and itmight not be the expense
everybody needs to take on rightnow either.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Agreed Right, very much agreed.
What is the last thing youwould leave the listener with?
I guess I feel like what youjust said was super important
too, but final closing thoughts.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Emily, One, two, three go, oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
I'm thinking about the people I'm just going to be
direct because I don't know howwho do hire overseas VA and then
they're frustrated that theydon't sound like them, that
they're not copywriters and,like you know, mastering their
brand voice by Thursday.
And I just want people to berealistic about who you hire.
If you can come with a solidjob description, think about
(48:04):
what are the KPIs?
What are the key performanceindicators that I need to track?
What is what are theresponsibilities of this person?
What is the major outcome Iwant?
We can all be more realisticabout who we hire and what they
produce, because you can getreally good overseas VAs but
they might not be the bestcopywriter.
I mean there's always likeexceptions.
(48:25):
So at some point you will needa specialist.
At some point you're going towant an ads manager and not
expect your VA to just gambleyour money away and figuring out
how to build audiences at yourexpense, and I think that is
just something I want to put outthere.
There's a time and place forthe specialists.
There is somebody out there whowill support your business in a
(48:47):
day-to-day operations and justlike know the difference between
the two and your expectations.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Very good.
The right person for yourbusiness is out there, you can't
find them.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
I like to tell this story.
I had a lady that comes to mefrom Amy Porterfield's world.
Her name was Lotus.
She had a course about arthistory and it was helping
teachers.
So she had this weird niche ofart history education and she
wanted someone to know marketing.
And she came to me and she'slike can you help me find
someone?
I was like this is thedefinition of my unicorn Someone
(49:22):
who's passionate about yourtopic and your business and
understands online business andmarketing and can help you.
We went to my community at thetime.
It was like only 300.
I had three teachers in mygroup who knew art history.
I don't know, I don't knowanything about it.
I go to museums.
I don't know what I'm lookingat.
Like, sorry, you know Monet, Idon't really get it, but they
(49:45):
were able to interview.
She ended up hiring two toassist her.
Like that is the definition ofa dream team.
Like somebody who's passionate,can help you make an impact and
gets it, and you don't have toforce it.
That person is out there.
You don't have to settle forsomeone who doesn't have the
skills and just make sure youwrite a solid job description.
Talk to your fellow businessowners.
(50:06):
Your unicorn is out there.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
There we go.
Your unicorn is out there.
Well, if you're listening andyou think that you are a unicorn
in a good way, in a good way,and you want to become the
freelance unicorn digitalmarketing assistant who every
online business owner wants towork with and pay well.
Visit the show notes below, getin touch with Emily.
(50:30):
Her website is down there, herInstagram is down there and the
hire a unicorncom link where youcan submit an application or
start the hiring process, so tospeak, is down there too.
Thank you for being a guest.
Speaker 3 (50:47):
Thank you it was a delight.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Emily.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
Thank you.
I hope to see you on a kayaksoon.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Well, I'll be there.
I already got the ticket.
Dear listener, until the nexttime you see us or hear from us,
be blessed, and we'll see youin the next one bye.
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