April 24, 2025 • 31 mins
Katherine Martín-Fisher chats with Gwendolyn Young about her entrepreneurial journey, influenced by her lupus diagnosis. They discuss the shift to virtual workspaces and its benefits, along with Gwendolyn's favorite productivity tools and password management strategies. They explore delegation challenges, balancing work and life, and client success stories, especially in healthcare. Gwendolyn also shares her experience in system setup, her ideal client profile, and future plans. Tune in to hear about overcoming business challenges and self-doubt. Connect with Gwendolyn and get a sneak peek at upcoming topics.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
I am Katherine Martín-Fisher, and I helpbusiness owners who have lost their vision
because they're struggling with cash flow,sales, marketing, which also affects their
company culture.
By showing them to implement proven systemsthat increase their revenue by 30% in 90 days,
and this allowing them to reignite the passionand that big dream that they started with.
(00:28):
So, the reason that I started this podcast wasto celebrate businesses who have overcome
adversity and have come out on the other sideof it.
And I want you to know that you are not alone.
Good afternoon, this is Katherine, your hostwith The Beyond Business Podcast.
I am so excited to have Gwendolyn Young with ushere today.
(00:51):
She is the go-to business and operationsadministrator for six- and seven-figure CEOs
who have already agreed to greet their nextlevel of growth.
She is gifted with both strategic and tacticalacumen.
Gwendolyn has rightfully earned her stellarreputation as exactly what she is, an
(01:16):
indispensable strategic partner who advancesevery organization that she steps into.
And you know what, Gwendolyn, I want you totell us about some of the things that you have
done along this journey.
Now, I'm so grateful to have you here with us.
So thank you for being here.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, Katherine, for having me andextending the invitation.
(01:36):
I am excited to be here with you today.
So let's start from a little bit, a littlebackground from your journey.
What were some of the things that inspired youto move in a direction and be able to serve the
world with the talents and gifts that you havetoday?
Yeah.
So believe it or not, I did not start outwanting to be an entrepreneur.
(01:59):
I was working in corporate America.
I was the girl that wanted to bust the glassceiling wide open.
I absolutely loved my job.
And so I wasn't the person like, I don't wannahave a boss.
I wanna do this and that.
But in February 2013, I got a diagnosis ofsystemic lupus.
(02:19):
And that completely changed my world.
And so I had to come off of my corporate joband really focus on my health and my recovery.
And in that process, I realized working atraditional job just wasn't going to work for
me.
And so I had a really pivotal decision to make.
(02:41):
Right?
Whether to choose kind of still going in thatdirection or choosing taking care of myself.
And I chose taking care of myself and myhealth.
And so as I was going through recovery, I said,there has to be a way that I can take care of
myself, but I can also do the thing that Ilove.
Right, which is this administration andoperations piece.
(03:01):
And so I just sat and got quiet, and I couldhear God say, like, it's in your hands.
I'm like, what does that mean?
Right?
And so I started thinking about all of theadministrative operations work that I did in
corporate.
And I said, I wonder if CEOs and businessesneed this in the virtual space.
And I just started to do some research.
(03:23):
And lo and behold, I found an entire communityonline that was doing this very thing that I
loved.
And so that is how this business was birthed.
It's amazing.
So I want you to explain to our audiencebecause when you say the word virtual, now a
lot of us knew during a certain season,obviously of what's happened all in the world,
all had to go virtual.
(03:44):
Do you believe that doing things virtually,obviously this is what you do.
I would love our audience to know though, whyvirtual versus in-house?
Like what's the difference and what are theyable to receive by having someone who's
virtual?
Yes.
So I love that question, right?
Because as you know, there's this big thingabout people needing to be on-site.
(04:06):
They need to be here.
We need to see them.
I don't believe that to be the case.
I've been doing this work in the virtual spacefor 12 years now.
And so the key is having the appropriate systemset up so that you can still work as seamlessly
as if you were in an office with someone.
So for us, right, we have up-to-date modernequipment and technology in terms of laptops
(04:29):
and software and different platforms that wecan use that keep us connected to our clients.
And so it's almost as if we're actually sittingright there with them.
It's just not physically, but we can hop on aZoom call or a Teams meeting, you know, and
literally have a face-to-face meeting.
They can contact us through, you know, WhatsAppor chat channels for that asynchronous
(04:54):
communication.
Right.
We have emails on their branded domains and sothey can communicate back and forth with us
that way.
And so it feels as if you've got your executiveassistant sitting right there with you.
They're just virtual.
Right?
We share files via file-sharing platforms.
Everything that you would do in an office,we've just found a way to create it in the
(05:19):
virtual space.
Now how do you stay organized when you'rebalancing different companies and different
clients?
How do you stay organized in that space?
Yeah.
That's a great question.
So there's a couple of things that we do.
Right?
So we have a project management system where wetrack every single client and every single task
(05:40):
or project connected to that client.
They all have their own, what we call, projectinside of the management system.
This is where we have messages, we have files,we have everything in there.
And when we're working with the clients, we setup file systems on their system.
So whether they're using an Office 365 or usinga Google Workspace, we can set up those shared
(06:03):
domains and file systems so that we knowexactly where things are going.
We have weekly standing meetings.
So those are on the schedule.
And so this is how we're able to stay super,super organized on what every client needs,
whether it's a milestone they're trying toreach within a certain amount of time or a task
that they need done by a specific due date.
(06:23):
All of it is in our systems.
And we do that by aligning with each otherevery week in our conversations when we have
those face-to-face meetings.
Love that.
What would you say?
Or I mean that, you know, it's like having aperson in-house.
I actually know many corporations that evenwhen they're in-house, they're having their
(06:43):
meetings on Zoom.
Yes, in a, in a conference room.
I mean, think about it because you havecompanies who are sometimes global.
So they have multiple offices that are on-site,but they're not in the same location.
Right?
If the CEO is traveling, they're not in thesame location as the office, but they still
(07:05):
need to meet with other members of their team.
And so they're essentially doing the samethings that we're doing.
They're just actually paying for office space.
That's true.
Do you find that that's been an added value,not having to pay for that extra space?
Absolutely.
It's been an added value because we don't havesuch high overhead in terms of office space,
(07:27):
right, that comes along that.
And so that's been a really huge benefit for usbecause we can work across multiple time zones
as well, right?
So we have clients who are in Eastern,Mountain, Pacific, and that doesn't limit us
from being able to work with
(07:56):
systems or tools that you would recommend toimmediately boost productivity in a business?
Yes.
So there's a couple.
I love systems.
So I'm going to share some really simple onesthat anybody can implement, right?
First and foremost, I have to say start withyour calendar.
(08:19):
If you are spending time going back and forthwith people over email and text and all of the
things about booking an appointment, then youwant to implement some sort of automated
scheduler where you can just send people a linkto program it once with your availability and
days that you want to work, days that you don'twant to work.
And you connect that to the calendar thatyou're using every day.
(08:42):
And then people can book in whenever it alignswith their schedule.
And so that eliminates all of that back andforth, that eliminates the missed
opportunities, right?
You're getting people on the calendar quicker,faster, and easier.
And they're picking a time that works for them.
So that would be my number one.
My number two would be make sure that in yourbusiness you have a very easy way to onboard
(09:05):
your clients, right?
That it's a great experience for them.
And it's an easy experience for you to manageon this side because the onboarding process
like that isn't just about closing the deal.
Your onboarding is still happening even afterthe client says yes, that they want to work
with you.
So you want to make sure those things flowvery, very easily and smoothly.
(09:27):
So these are forms that you might need them tofill out to get started working with you.
This might be contracts or legal documents thatyou need to make sure are signed.
These could be payments that you want to haveset up to automatically bill out for them.
These are the things that you want to make sureyou have set up.
So you want to make sure you have thatonboarding in place.
Super, super important.
(09:47):
And then I would also say your billing isreally huge.
There is a client, I will not mention anynames, but I remember serving them when we were
coming into their business to initially workwith them, that they had $40,000 in outstanding
receivables and had no idea because they weremanually doing invoices.
(10:08):
And so they were manually creating invoices,sending them out via email, but then forgetting
to follow up because they're not really surewhat emails did they send out, who did they
bill to, who did they bill to.
And so it just became so overwhelming.
They just kinda stopped following it upaltogether.
And so you want to automate your billingbecause cash flow is everything.
(10:31):
We know that cash flow is king in businesses,especially in small businesses when you're
first starting out and all of those things.
It is so essential to your success.
And so you want to make sure that you have away to send people their invoices
automatically, an easy way for them to pay thatinvoice automatically, right?
And for reminders to go out automatically aswell so that you don't have to remember what to
(10:54):
do.
So those would be my top three that Irecommend.
Can I give you a bonus one,
Katherine?
Absolutely.
Your password management.
How many times
That's big.
That is so big.
Like, how many times have you spent so muchtime looking for passwords?
Right?
(11:14):
You forget what the password is.
God forbid that you're keeping passwords forsomebody else as well.
Like, there are tools out there that will helpyou to automatically remember those passwords
where you don't even have to think about it.
So you want to look at a password managementsystem where you can just plug all of those
passwords in there one time.
And then every time you go to log in, it'lljust pop up for you.
(11:37):
You don't have to remember.
So that would be my bonus one I'd love tooffer.
And I do have a question about that one becauseI have clients who are insecure with saving
those passwords.
They're like, well, that means anybody can login here and anybody can, you know, if I'm not
here, they can get on.
So what would you, how would you answer thatfor them?
(11:58):
So that's the beauty of using a passwordmanagement system, right?
Because you can give permissions to peoplebased on what you want them to see.
So if you don't want them to see all of thepasswords, you only share the passwords that
you want them to see, right?
Some of the tools, they actually havepermissions where you can say the person gets
(12:18):
to see the password or they don't get to seethe password, right?
So you can block them from seeing the password,but they can still utilize it to log in.
So that is the beauty of being able to use asystem because it helps you maintain that
control that you're looking for.
I like that.
That's really good.
Now, what do you do when you're working with aclient and they have a challenge with
(12:42):
delegation?
So because you're doing processes, you have tohave specific people in charge of specific
things.
And I know that this is something that comes upa lot even with what I do in working with
clients.
So how would you help them navigate that?
That is such a loaded question.
I know.
I know.
But I always love I just need sometimes someguidance as well.
(13:05):
You know, all of us do is how do you work withthe people who have a really hard time
delegating things?
Yeah.
So I love this.
The first thing is just extend them grace,right?
Understand that they are trying to hand oversomething that they've probably built
themselves from scratch.
They're afraid, right?
There's real fear there that somebody's gonnamess it up or not do something right.
(13:29):
And so just acknowledging that.
And so I always say, let's talk about what areyour blocks to delegation.
Right?
What does that look like for you?
Is it fear?
Right?
Because typically that's number one.
Is it that you don't have a system in place fordelegation?
Right?
Is it the fact that maybe your processes arenot streamlined?
(13:51):
Like what is it that is making you afraid toactually give it away to someone?
So that's the first thing that I always say issit down and try and work with them to say,
okay, hey, let's talk about, you know, why areyou so afraid to delegate so that you can
address those fears, right?
You can acknowledge them, they're very real,and then help them to understand what you can
(14:13):
do to support them in giving that delegationaway.
And so the second thing would be setting up asystem.
Because a lot of times people are afraidbecause they don't know how they're going to
delegate or they're afraid that if I dodelegate, how am I gonna follow up?
How do I know that it actually got done?
What does that look like?
So setting up that system that makes you feelcomfortable in delegating.
(14:36):
So whether that's a project management system,if you're gonna use email or a spreadsheet or
Asana, whatever that looks like, set up thesystem so you can put the task in there or you
can give the task to the other person, ask themto put it in there, and then you can track it
from a high-level view, right?
You can see if they're working on it.
They can make notes and comments.
(14:59):
You can see if it got done.
If it didn't get done, if you're concerned, youcan make comments.
So set up what the system is going to be.
Those would be my top two recommendations forthem.
I always say though, before you sit down todelegate, really think about what is it that's
on your plate.
Because here's what I see wrong withdelegation.
(15:22):
We just dump it on people and tell them to doit.
But we don't ever have the conversation andgive them the context of what it is that
they're doing, why we need it, right?
It's like, you tell Sally to go make 10 copies.
That sounds very easy and straightforward,right?
Sally goes to make 10 copies, but what youdidn't say to Sally was, I want 10 copies on
(15:48):
double-sided paper with a staple in theright-hand corner.
Right?
And now you're frustrated because Sally didn'tgive you the 10 copies that you wanted.
Give you 10 copies that you asked for.
That's so true.
So you have to be clear in what it is that youwant the outcome to be.
That is really good advice right there.
(16:09):
Yeah.
Yes.
So what would you say is the most that you findto be the most rewarding thing that you do in
your business?
What, what just brings you joy?
I love seeing, you know, my executives and thesmall business owners we work with get their
time back.
(16:29):
Right?
Whether that is to spend more time with theirfamilies, if it is to take a vacation that
they've not had the opportunity to take inyears because they've been the only person
working in their business.
I just love to see them get their time back andto win, to know that they have someone they can
depend on.
Like this, they just get to take a deep breath,right?
(16:51):
They know things are gonna move.
They're not the only person that has to makesure things are moving.
That they feel supported.
That is what lights me up, right?
When we can find ways to move things off oftheir plate so that they get some sort of
relief, that is what feels really good for me.
You know, I had a client one time, he said tome, You've helped me be a better father and a
(17:16):
better husband.
And that, like, my gosh.
I I can't even begin to tell you what that didfor myself because that's what it's about.
That is beautiful.
Yep.
That is what it's about.
Do you find that when you help people set upthese processes that they become more proactive
(17:37):
rather than reactive?
Yeah, I do because, one, they've got a toolthat's actually helping them to do some of the
heavy lifting, right?
And that in turn frees them up to be able tofocus on some of the other really important
things that maybe they've always wanted to workon or that they need to work on in their
business.
If you, for example, you know that clientonboarding that we talked about earlier, let's
(18:03):
say you put that client onboarding system inplace.
Right now, you know that your leads have a wayto find you.
They can fill out your form.
They can book on your calendar without you everhaving to do anything.
And so you can now focus more on building therelationship.
You can focus more on being visible to bring inmore potential leads because that part of your
(18:24):
business is taken care of.
Right?
It's working.
It's on autopilot working for you.
And so yes, they get a chance to work on otherthings.
So now they're thinking ahead and they're notso reactive to the things that, oh my gosh,
somebody just booked a call.
I need to make sure they get the form to fillout.
Or did I ask the right questions?
(18:45):
Or I need to prepare for the meeting that'scoming up, right?
Your system has already done all of that foryou.
And so now you're just working on building therelationship.
So this is really awesome that you're sharingthis.
And I loved when you gave us the example of thefather who felt like he was, you know, a better
father.
Do you not feel that when there's betterprocesses at work, it also helps to create
(19:09):
better processes at home?
I just feel like you're learning so much inthat area that it actually, you know, kinda
like what you were saying, but it also makesyou pay attention to processes in your personal
life that you might be able to put in order.
Have you had an example of someone that thathelps?
Absolutely.
(19:29):
You know, we have a client right now who's beenon sabbatical for like five weeks.
It's so amazing, right?
And so before she left, she didn't just have achecklist.
Okay.
For all the things that I need to go over inthe business, she had a checklist for all of
the things that she wanted done at home or thatshe needed to do before she left.
Things that she wanted done while she was goneand things to do when she got back.
(19:52):
And so she set those things in motion beforeshe actually left, right?
And so she had someone come and clean thehouse.
She had already gotten her spare keys madebecause she had the checklist, right?
She had somebody scheduled to come over andwater the plants, someone to come over and
clean the house.
All of these things to take out trash thatshe'd been wanting to take out for forever.
(20:15):
And so she set all of these things up.
She had payroll on autopilot, right?
And so she had her credit cards on autopay.
So everything was taken care of so that shecould just go and enjoy the sabbatical.
And we see our clients doing this time and timeagain, whether it's with travel that they're
doing or home things that they need to do.
(20:35):
They've got a schedule where they've got thehousekeeper coming in on a certain day of the
week so that they can focus on building theirbusinesses or being with their families or
whatever it is that they need to do.
I'm telling you, any process that you can applyto your business, you can apply to home.
That's a great share.
(20:56):
And would you give us an example?
I mean, I love when people share these momentsbecause most times the biggest pushback is just
not knowing what you don't know.
And so can you give us an example of someonethat you've worked with where there was a
moment, and they were like, I just didn't knowwhat I didn't know?
(21:17):
Yeah.
You know, there's a client that comes to mindwhere she just didn't know, right?
She was a psychotherapist.
So, you know, technology is not necessarily thething that she's thinking about.
She's thinking about the human and the peopleand how to support them.
Right?
And so I remember working with her, and she hadtwo separate offices.
(21:39):
She was trying to manage all of these things.
She did not have an electronic medical recordin place.
And I said, how helpful would it be if we kindof streamlined a lot of your administrative
responsibilities starting with your electronicmedical record, right?
(22:02):
What if we took a look at that and we upgradedwhat you're currently doing into an electronic
system?
So no matter if you're at home, if you're inthe other office or this office, you can get to
those records, right, of all of your patients.
It'll be safe, client.
And she just went, oh my gosh, like, is that athing?
(22:22):
And I'm like, it's a thing, right?
Like it's a thing.
We could literally sit down with you.
We can map out an implementation plan for anelectronic HIPAA-approved practice management
system that you could literally manage fromanywhere and it will house all of your files.
You can do your patient billing from there.
You can do any new patient intake work fromthere.
(22:46):
And she was just like, oh my gosh.
And that's what we did.
So we did the research on some platforms forher.
We walked through with her on the differentoptions.
She selected a tool and then we did all of theimplementation for her.
And it was so amazing for her.
And it allowed her to move her practice to onecentral location without losing any of her
(23:11):
clients.
point did you realize that this was a gift thatyou had to offer the world?
My gosh.
I would say back in my corporate days when Iwas in corporate, I remember working with the
chief nursing executive, and she had had adeath in the family.
And so she needed to go and really spend timeattending to that.
(23:32):
The problem is that we were in the middle ofbuilding a new ambulatory care center that she
was overseeing.
And so I raised my hand, and of course, I'venever built an ambulatory care center at that
time.
But I raised my hand and I said, I would loveto help you, right?
I can go out to the site, I can talk to thedoctors, I can talk to the vendors, I can make
(23:56):
sure that everything stays on track.
She just kinda looked at me like, Really?
And I'm like, Yes.
And she's like, Okay, let's do it.
And so she went to be with her family.
I went out to the other office to oversee allof that.
And that is where I just like lit up.
And I was like, I absolutely love this.
And here's why that became such an importantthing for me is because as I was doing that
(24:21):
work, I realized that it's the patient that'simpacted at the end of the day, right?
If the front desk doesn't do their jobappropriately with registration and logging the
clients in, then medical records doesn't pullthe right chart.
If medical records doesn't clean the chart,that's what we call it in the healthcare world,
which means making sure that all of thereports, any tests or things are inside of the
(24:46):
chart and ready for the doctor.
If medical records doesn't do that, thephysician doesn't have what he needs when he
walks into the room with the patient.
If the physician doesn't code properly whenhe's seen the patient and document what he's
done, it affects the patient.
They get the wrong bill, right?
Something happens.
They don't have the right information in theirchart.
They get the wrong meds.
All of these things happen.
(25:07):
And so when I realized that all of the partsworking together is what impacts the patient
the most, that is where my love for systems andoperations came into play.
And I said, it's the same thing as serviceproviders.
Even as product-based businesses, the endresult is that there's someone else on the
(25:28):
other side who's going to experience that,right?
And they're going to have a good or a negativeexperience based on how we've packaged it and
processed things on the back end.
And that is so important to me.
Wow.
Now, as you were growing your business, werethere any challenges that you had to overcome?
(25:49):
Oh my gosh.
So many.
There were so many challenges, Katherine.
I was big on systems.
I had to learn early on to implement all of thesystems and processes that I could.
Battling a chronic condition, I was in thehospital multiple times, right?
And I did not want my business to stop justbecause I wasn't available or I wasn't feeling
(26:12):
well.
So that was one, putting those systems inplace.
Two, it's overcoming this whole self-doubt,right?
There's self-doubt.
You think that other people are doing it betteror faster, or they're having an easier time.
That comparison syndrome sets in.
So you have to learn to kinda get over that.
And then being in isolation, you know, Istarted out just as a one-woman show.
(26:37):
I didn't have community around me.
And so I had to learn how to really network andbuild those relationships and to really, like,
start trusting people to be able to share whatwas happening in my business and get support.
And so there were so many things to overcome.
You talk about hiring team members.
We'd have to do a whole other podcast on that,you know, getting people to understand your
(27:03):
vision and have a love and a passion for thework that you do the way that you do so that
they execute at a high level.
You know, there's been so many.
Oh my gosh.
The key is just to be persistent and to reallystay focused on the vision and why you started
your business in the first place.
You know what?
I love that you share that because you're notjust going out and teaching someone else how to
(27:27):
set those systems.
You actually were in a position to have to dothat yourself.
Yes.
So it's not just the service you're providing.
You actually went through that process, had tolearn the process as you were building these
systems out.
So that's always key when you're gonna hiresomeone to help you with something is, have
they been through that?
(27:48):
Have they gone through all of the things thatI'm going through and how are they gonna be
able to show me how to do it better?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I love that we've had this conversation.
I want to ask you though.
So you use virtual assistants and you've hireda team.
Who would be your ideal client?
Yeah.
Thank you for that.
So our ideal client is like a visionary CEO orC-suite executive.
(28:14):
We work really well with them because theyunderstand the value of having support, and
they need us support them.
They don't need to be mired down in all of theadministrative things that are important, but
don't necessarily take their brilliance toactually get done.
And so that's our ideal client.
They are leading multiple six- andseven-figure, sometimes eight-figure businesses
(28:37):
as well.
And so they have a lot of things on theirplate.
And so those are the people that we workextremely, extremely well with.
Got it.
I love that.
And so what's next?
What's next for your business?
I got it.
And so what's next for us is we are working onlaunching a program to help train other
(29:00):
executive assistants who want to maybe launchtheir businesses.
And so I'm currently working on a course thatis gonna be coming out soon.
That's one thing we're working on.
And we're currently working on building morerelationships to tackle the corporate market as
well.
And so very exciting things coming down theline.
Well, Gwendolyn, I'm gonna tell you, ouraudience is probably extremely excited about
(29:25):
what we have brought to them here today andsome of these teachables.
Now with that, I would love for you to tellthem how would they find you?
They're like, I wanna talk to Gwendolyn.
She's got some of the answers for some of thethings that I have going on, and how do I find
her?
So how would they reach out to you?
Absolutely.
So you guys can visit the website atyourvirtualadminexpert.com.
(29:48):
You can reach out to me across social as well.
My handle is youradminexpert everywhere, or youcan even give us a call at (224) 513-9235.
We would love to talk to you.
Gwendolyn, I just thank you so much.
You've just really given us so much informationand so many takeaways.
(30:11):
And, you know, it was just such a pleasure tohave you with us here today.
Thank you so much for the invitation.
And I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with you.
Well, we'll have to do another podcast onactually the hiring processes and things and
onboarding.
And I think that you can really help ouraudience with that as well.
Be happy to.
(30:31):
That would be great.
So again, just reach out to Gwendolyn and we'llhave everything also in the additional notes so
that you can also reach out to her there.
And again, this is Katherine, your host withThe Beyond Business Podcast.
Always grateful to have you here with us todayand always have an amazing day, and we look
forward to our next recording.
(30:52):
Well, if you made it to this point, then youmade it to the end.
And you are my star.
And I just want to thank you from the bottom ofmy heart.
I hope that you enjoyed the conversation withtoday's guests.
And if you did, please leave us a review onApple Podcasts and Spotify and share this
episode with others who may be interested inthis topic.
(31:14):
Also, please feel free to let us know whattopics you'd like to see covered in future
episodes.
Get in touch in the comments or on RocketGrowth's social media platforms to have
conversations with me.
My booking link is in the comments.
See you next week for an all-new episode.
I am Katherine Martín-Fisher, and I helpbusiness owners who have lost their vision
because they're struggling with cash flow,sales, marketing, which also affects their
company culture.
By showing them to implement proven systemsthat increase their revenue by 30% in 90 days,
and this allowing them to reignite the passionand that big dream that they started with.
(00:28):
So, the reason that I started this podcast wasto celebrate businesses who have overcome
adversity and have come out on the other sideof it.
And I want you to know that you are not alone.
Good afternoon, this is Katherine, your hostwith The Beyond Business Podcast.
I am so excited to have Gwendolyn Young with ushere today.
(00:51):
She is the go-to business and operationsadministrator for six- and seven-figure CEOs
who have already agreed to greet their nextlevel of growth.
She is gifted with both strategic and tacticalacumen.
Gwendolyn has rightfully earned her stellarreputation as exactly what she is, an
(01:16):
indispensable strategic partner who advancesevery organization that she steps into.
And you know what, Gwendolyn, I want you totell us about some of the things that you have
done along this journey.
Now, I'm so grateful to have you here with us.
So thank you for being here.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, Katherine, for having me andextending the invitation.
(01:36):
I am excited to be here with you today.
So let's start from a little bit, a littlebackground from your journey.
What were some of the things that inspired youto move in a direction and be able to serve the
world with the talents and gifts that you havetoday?
Yeah.
So believe it or not, I did not start outwanting to be an entrepreneur.
(01:59):
I was working in corporate America.
I was the girl that wanted to bust the glassceiling wide open.
I absolutely loved my job.
And so I wasn't the person like, I don't wannahave a boss.
I wanna do this and that.
But in February 2013, I got a diagnosis ofsystemic lupus.
(02:19):
And that completely changed my world.
And so I had to come off of my corporate joband really focus on my health and my recovery.
And in that process, I realized working atraditional job just wasn't going to work for
me.
And so I had a really pivotal decision to make.
(02:41):
Right?
Whether to choose kind of still going in thatdirection or choosing taking care of myself.
And I chose taking care of myself and myhealth.
And so as I was going through recovery, I said,there has to be a way that I can take care of
myself, but I can also do the thing that Ilove.
Right, which is this administration andoperations piece.
(03:01):
And so I just sat and got quiet, and I couldhear God say, like, it's in your hands.
I'm like, what does that mean?
Right?
And so I started thinking about all of theadministrative operations work that I did in
corporate.
And I said, I wonder if CEOs and businessesneed this in the virtual space.
And I just started to do some research.
(03:23):
And lo and behold, I found an entire communityonline that was doing this very thing that I
loved.
And so that is how this business was birthed.
It's amazing.
So I want you to explain to our audiencebecause when you say the word virtual, now a
lot of us knew during a certain season,obviously of what's happened all in the world,
all had to go virtual.
(03:44):
Do you believe that doing things virtually,obviously this is what you do.
I would love our audience to know though, whyvirtual versus in-house?
Like what's the difference and what are theyable to receive by having someone who's
virtual?
Yes.
So I love that question, right?
Because as you know, there's this big thingabout people needing to be on-site.
(04:06):
They need to be here.
We need to see them.
I don't believe that to be the case.
I've been doing this work in the virtual spacefor 12 years now.
And so the key is having the appropriate systemset up so that you can still work as seamlessly
as if you were in an office with someone.
So for us, right, we have up-to-date modernequipment and technology in terms of laptops
(04:29):
and software and different platforms that wecan use that keep us connected to our clients.
And so it's almost as if we're actually sittingright there with them.
It's just not physically, but we can hop on aZoom call or a Teams meeting, you know, and
literally have a face-to-face meeting.
They can contact us through, you know, WhatsAppor chat channels for that asynchronous
(04:54):
communication.
Right.
We have emails on their branded domains and sothey can communicate back and forth with us
that way.
And so it feels as if you've got your executiveassistant sitting right there with you.
They're just virtual.
Right?
We share files via file-sharing platforms.
Everything that you would do in an office,we've just found a way to create it in the
(05:19):
virtual space.
Now how do you stay organized when you'rebalancing different companies and different
clients?
How do you stay organized in that space?
Yeah.
That's a great question.
So there's a couple of things that we do.
Right?
So we have a project management system where wetrack every single client and every single task
(05:40):
or project connected to that client.
They all have their own, what we call, projectinside of the management system.
This is where we have messages, we have files,we have everything in there.
And when we're working with the clients, we setup file systems on their system.
So whether they're using an Office 365 or usinga Google Workspace, we can set up those shared
(06:03):
domains and file systems so that we knowexactly where things are going.
We have weekly standing meetings.
So those are on the schedule.
And so this is how we're able to stay super,super organized on what every client needs,
whether it's a milestone they're trying toreach within a certain amount of time or a task
that they need done by a specific due date.
(06:23):
All of it is in our systems.
And we do that by aligning with each otherevery week in our conversations when we have
those face-to-face meetings.
Love that.
What would you say?
Or I mean that, you know, it's like having aperson in-house.
I actually know many corporations that evenwhen they're in-house, they're having their
(06:43):
meetings on Zoom.
Yes, in a, in a conference room.
I mean, think about it because you havecompanies who are sometimes global.
So they have multiple offices that are on-site,but they're not in the same location.
Right?
If the CEO is traveling, they're not in thesame location as the office, but they still
(07:05):
need to meet with other members of their team.
And so they're essentially doing the samethings that we're doing.
They're just actually paying for office space.
That's true.
Do you find that that's been an added value,not having to pay for that extra space?
Absolutely.
It's been an added value because we don't havesuch high overhead in terms of office space,
(07:27):
right, that comes along that.
And so that's been a really huge benefit for usbecause we can work across multiple time zones
as well, right?
So we have clients who are in Eastern,Mountain, Pacific, and that doesn't limit us
from being able to work with
(07:56):
systems or tools that you would recommend toimmediately boost productivity in a business?
Yes.
So there's a couple.
I love systems.
So I'm going to share some really simple onesthat anybody can implement, right?
First and foremost, I have to say start withyour calendar.
(08:19):
If you are spending time going back and forthwith people over email and text and all of the
things about booking an appointment, then youwant to implement some sort of automated
scheduler where you can just send people a linkto program it once with your availability and
days that you want to work, days that you don'twant to work.
And you connect that to the calendar thatyou're using every day.
(08:42):
And then people can book in whenever it alignswith their schedule.
And so that eliminates all of that back andforth, that eliminates the missed
opportunities, right?
You're getting people on the calendar quicker,faster, and easier.
And they're picking a time that works for them.
So that would be my number one.
My number two would be make sure that in yourbusiness you have a very easy way to onboard
(09:05):
your clients, right?
That it's a great experience for them.
And it's an easy experience for you to manageon this side because the onboarding process
like that isn't just about closing the deal.
Your onboarding is still happening even afterthe client says yes, that they want to work
with you.
So you want to make sure those things flowvery, very easily and smoothly.
(09:27):
So these are forms that you might need them tofill out to get started working with you.
This might be contracts or legal documents thatyou need to make sure are signed.
These could be payments that you want to haveset up to automatically bill out for them.
These are the things that you want to make sureyou have set up.
So you want to make sure you have thatonboarding in place.
Super, super important.
(09:47):
And then I would also say your billing isreally huge.
There is a client, I will not mention anynames, but I remember serving them when we were
coming into their business to initially workwith them, that they had $40,000 in outstanding
receivables and had no idea because they weremanually doing invoices.
(10:08):
And so they were manually creating invoices,sending them out via email, but then forgetting
to follow up because they're not really surewhat emails did they send out, who did they
bill to, who did they bill to.
And so it just became so overwhelming.
They just kinda stopped following it upaltogether.
And so you want to automate your billingbecause cash flow is everything.
(10:31):
We know that cash flow is king in businesses,especially in small businesses when you're
first starting out and all of those things.
It is so essential to your success.
And so you want to make sure that you have away to send people their invoices
automatically, an easy way for them to pay thatinvoice automatically, right?
And for reminders to go out automatically aswell so that you don't have to remember what to
(10:54):
do.
So those would be my top three that Irecommend.
Can I give you a bonus one,
Katherine?
Absolutely.
Your password management.
How many times
That's big.
That is so big.
Like, how many times have you spent so muchtime looking for passwords?
Right?
(11:14):
You forget what the password is.
God forbid that you're keeping passwords forsomebody else as well.
Like, there are tools out there that will helpyou to automatically remember those passwords
where you don't even have to think about it.
So you want to look at a password managementsystem where you can just plug all of those
passwords in there one time.
And then every time you go to log in, it'lljust pop up for you.
(11:37):
You don't have to remember.
So that would be my bonus one I'd love tooffer.
And I do have a question about that one becauseI have clients who are insecure with saving
those passwords.
They're like, well, that means anybody can login here and anybody can, you know, if I'm not
here, they can get on.
So what would you, how would you answer thatfor them?
(11:58):
So that's the beauty of using a passwordmanagement system, right?
Because you can give permissions to peoplebased on what you want them to see.
So if you don't want them to see all of thepasswords, you only share the passwords that
you want them to see, right?
Some of the tools, they actually havepermissions where you can say the person gets
(12:18):
to see the password or they don't get to seethe password, right?
So you can block them from seeing the password,but they can still utilize it to log in.
So that is the beauty of being able to use asystem because it helps you maintain that
control that you're looking for.
I like that.
That's really good.
Now, what do you do when you're working with aclient and they have a challenge with
(12:42):
delegation?
So because you're doing processes, you have tohave specific people in charge of specific
things.
And I know that this is something that comes upa lot even with what I do in working with
clients.
So how would you help them navigate that?
That is such a loaded question.
I know.
I know.
But I always love I just need sometimes someguidance as well.
(13:05):
You know, all of us do is how do you work withthe people who have a really hard time
delegating things?
Yeah.
So I love this.
The first thing is just extend them grace,right?
Understand that they are trying to hand oversomething that they've probably built
themselves from scratch.
They're afraid, right?
There's real fear there that somebody's gonnamess it up or not do something right.
(13:29):
And so just acknowledging that.
And so I always say, let's talk about what areyour blocks to delegation.
Right?
What does that look like for you?
Is it fear?
Right?
Because typically that's number one.
Is it that you don't have a system in place fordelegation?
Right?
Is it the fact that maybe your processes arenot streamlined?
(13:51):
Like what is it that is making you afraid toactually give it away to someone?
So that's the first thing that I always say issit down and try and work with them to say,
okay, hey, let's talk about, you know, why areyou so afraid to delegate so that you can
address those fears, right?
You can acknowledge them, they're very real,and then help them to understand what you can
(14:13):
do to support them in giving that delegationaway.
And so the second thing would be setting up asystem.
Because a lot of times people are afraidbecause they don't know how they're going to
delegate or they're afraid that if I dodelegate, how am I gonna follow up?
How do I know that it actually got done?
What does that look like?
So setting up that system that makes you feelcomfortable in delegating.
(14:36):
So whether that's a project management system,if you're gonna use email or a spreadsheet or
Asana, whatever that looks like, set up thesystem so you can put the task in there or you
can give the task to the other person, ask themto put it in there, and then you can track it
from a high-level view, right?
You can see if they're working on it.
They can make notes and comments.
(14:59):
You can see if it got done.
If it didn't get done, if you're concerned, youcan make comments.
So set up what the system is going to be.
Those would be my top two recommendations forthem.
I always say though, before you sit down todelegate, really think about what is it that's
on your plate.
Because here's what I see wrong withdelegation.
(15:22):
We just dump it on people and tell them to doit.
But we don't ever have the conversation andgive them the context of what it is that
they're doing, why we need it, right?
It's like, you tell Sally to go make 10 copies.
That sounds very easy and straightforward,right?
Sally goes to make 10 copies, but what youdidn't say to Sally was, I want 10 copies on
(15:48):
double-sided paper with a staple in theright-hand corner.
Right?
And now you're frustrated because Sally didn'tgive you the 10 copies that you wanted.
Give you 10 copies that you asked for.
That's so true.
So you have to be clear in what it is that youwant the outcome to be.
That is really good advice right there.
(16:09):
Yeah.
Yes.
So what would you say is the most that you findto be the most rewarding thing that you do in
your business?
What, what just brings you joy?
I love seeing, you know, my executives and thesmall business owners we work with get their
time back.
(16:29):
Right?
Whether that is to spend more time with theirfamilies, if it is to take a vacation that
they've not had the opportunity to take inyears because they've been the only person
working in their business.
I just love to see them get their time back andto win, to know that they have someone they can
depend on.
Like this, they just get to take a deep breath,right?
(16:51):
They know things are gonna move.
They're not the only person that has to makesure things are moving.
That they feel supported.
That is what lights me up, right?
When we can find ways to move things off oftheir plate so that they get some sort of
relief, that is what feels really good for me.
You know, I had a client one time, he said tome, You've helped me be a better father and a
(17:16):
better husband.
And that, like, my gosh.
I I can't even begin to tell you what that didfor myself because that's what it's about.
That is beautiful.
Yep.
That is what it's about.
Do you find that when you help people set upthese processes that they become more proactive
(17:37):
rather than reactive?
Yeah, I do because, one, they've got a toolthat's actually helping them to do some of the
heavy lifting, right?
And that in turn frees them up to be able tofocus on some of the other really important
things that maybe they've always wanted to workon or that they need to work on in their
business.
If you, for example, you know that clientonboarding that we talked about earlier, let's
(18:03):
say you put that client onboarding system inplace.
Right now, you know that your leads have a wayto find you.
They can fill out your form.
They can book on your calendar without you everhaving to do anything.
And so you can now focus more on building therelationship.
You can focus more on being visible to bring inmore potential leads because that part of your
(18:24):
business is taken care of.
Right?
It's working.
It's on autopilot working for you.
And so yes, they get a chance to work on otherthings.
So now they're thinking ahead and they're notso reactive to the things that, oh my gosh,
somebody just booked a call.
I need to make sure they get the form to fillout.
Or did I ask the right questions?
(18:45):
Or I need to prepare for the meeting that'scoming up, right?
Your system has already done all of that foryou.
And so now you're just working on building therelationship.
So this is really awesome that you're sharingthis.
And I loved when you gave us the example of thefather who felt like he was, you know, a better
father.
Do you not feel that when there's betterprocesses at work, it also helps to create
(19:09):
better processes at home?
I just feel like you're learning so much inthat area that it actually, you know, kinda
like what you were saying, but it also makesyou pay attention to processes in your personal
life that you might be able to put in order.
Have you had an example of someone that thathelps?
Absolutely.
(19:29):
You know, we have a client right now who's beenon sabbatical for like five weeks.
It's so amazing, right?
And so before she left, she didn't just have achecklist.
Okay.
For all the things that I need to go over inthe business, she had a checklist for all of
the things that she wanted done at home or thatshe needed to do before she left.
Things that she wanted done while she was goneand things to do when she got back.
(19:52):
And so she set those things in motion beforeshe actually left, right?
And so she had someone come and clean thehouse.
She had already gotten her spare keys madebecause she had the checklist, right?
She had somebody scheduled to come over andwater the plants, someone to come over and
clean the house.
All of these things to take out trash thatshe'd been wanting to take out for forever.
(20:15):
And so she set all of these things up.
She had payroll on autopilot, right?
And so she had her credit cards on autopay.
So everything was taken care of so that shecould just go and enjoy the sabbatical.
And we see our clients doing this time and timeagain, whether it's with travel that they're
doing or home things that they need to do.
(20:35):
They've got a schedule where they've got thehousekeeper coming in on a certain day of the
week so that they can focus on building theirbusinesses or being with their families or
whatever it is that they need to do.
I'm telling you, any process that you can applyto your business, you can apply to home.
That's a great share.
(20:56):
And would you give us an example?
I mean, I love when people share these momentsbecause most times the biggest pushback is just
not knowing what you don't know.
And so can you give us an example of someonethat you've worked with where there was a
moment, and they were like, I just didn't knowwhat I didn't know?
(21:17):
Yeah.
You know, there's a client that comes to mindwhere she just didn't know, right?
She was a psychotherapist.
So, you know, technology is not necessarily thething that she's thinking about.
She's thinking about the human and the peopleand how to support them.
Right?
And so I remember working with her, and she hadtwo separate offices.
(21:39):
She was trying to manage all of these things.
She did not have an electronic medical recordin place.
And I said, how helpful would it be if we kindof streamlined a lot of your administrative
responsibilities starting with your electronicmedical record, right?
(22:02):
What if we took a look at that and we upgradedwhat you're currently doing into an electronic
system?
So no matter if you're at home, if you're inthe other office or this office, you can get to
those records, right, of all of your patients.
It'll be safe, client.
And she just went, oh my gosh, like, is that athing?
(22:22):
And I'm like, it's a thing, right?
Like it's a thing.
We could literally sit down with you.
We can map out an implementation plan for anelectronic HIPAA-approved practice management
system that you could literally manage fromanywhere and it will house all of your files.
You can do your patient billing from there.
You can do any new patient intake work fromthere.
(22:46):
And she was just like, oh my gosh.
And that's what we did.
So we did the research on some platforms forher.
We walked through with her on the differentoptions.
She selected a tool and then we did all of theimplementation for her.
And it was so amazing for her.
And it allowed her to move her practice to onecentral location without losing any of her
(23:11):
clients.
point did you realize that this was a gift thatyou had to offer the world?
My gosh.
I would say back in my corporate days when Iwas in corporate, I remember working with the
chief nursing executive, and she had had adeath in the family.
And so she needed to go and really spend timeattending to that.
(23:32):
The problem is that we were in the middle ofbuilding a new ambulatory care center that she
was overseeing.
And so I raised my hand, and of course, I'venever built an ambulatory care center at that
time.
But I raised my hand and I said, I would loveto help you, right?
I can go out to the site, I can talk to thedoctors, I can talk to the vendors, I can make
(23:56):
sure that everything stays on track.
She just kinda looked at me like, Really?
And I'm like, Yes.
And she's like, Okay, let's do it.
And so she went to be with her family.
I went out to the other office to oversee allof that.
And that is where I just like lit up.
And I was like, I absolutely love this.
And here's why that became such an importantthing for me is because as I was doing that
(24:21):
work, I realized that it's the patient that'simpacted at the end of the day, right?
If the front desk doesn't do their jobappropriately with registration and logging the
clients in, then medical records doesn't pullthe right chart.
If medical records doesn't clean the chart,that's what we call it in the healthcare world,
which means making sure that all of thereports, any tests or things are inside of the
(24:46):
chart and ready for the doctor.
If medical records doesn't do that, thephysician doesn't have what he needs when he
walks into the room with the patient.
If the physician doesn't code properly whenhe's seen the patient and document what he's
done, it affects the patient.
They get the wrong bill, right?
Something happens.
They don't have the right information in theirchart.
They get the wrong meds.
All of these things happen.
(25:07):
And so when I realized that all of the partsworking together is what impacts the patient
the most, that is where my love for systems andoperations came into play.
And I said, it's the same thing as serviceproviders.
Even as product-based businesses, the endresult is that there's someone else on the
(25:28):
other side who's going to experience that,right?
And they're going to have a good or a negativeexperience based on how we've packaged it and
processed things on the back end.
And that is so important to me.
Wow.
Now, as you were growing your business, werethere any challenges that you had to overcome?
(25:49):
Oh my gosh.
So many.
There were so many challenges, Katherine.
I was big on systems.
I had to learn early on to implement all of thesystems and processes that I could.
Battling a chronic condition, I was in thehospital multiple times, right?
And I did not want my business to stop justbecause I wasn't available or I wasn't feeling
(26:12):
well.
So that was one, putting those systems inplace.
Two, it's overcoming this whole self-doubt,right?
There's self-doubt.
You think that other people are doing it betteror faster, or they're having an easier time.
That comparison syndrome sets in.
So you have to learn to kinda get over that.
And then being in isolation, you know, Istarted out just as a one-woman show.
(26:37):
I didn't have community around me.
And so I had to learn how to really network andbuild those relationships and to really, like,
start trusting people to be able to share whatwas happening in my business and get support.
And so there were so many things to overcome.
You talk about hiring team members.
We'd have to do a whole other podcast on that,you know, getting people to understand your
(27:03):
vision and have a love and a passion for thework that you do the way that you do so that
they execute at a high level.
You know, there's been so many.
Oh my gosh.
The key is just to be persistent and to reallystay focused on the vision and why you started
your business in the first place.
You know what?
I love that you share that because you're notjust going out and teaching someone else how to
(27:27):
set those systems.
You actually were in a position to have to dothat yourself.
Yes.
So it's not just the service you're providing.
You actually went through that process, had tolearn the process as you were building these
systems out.
So that's always key when you're gonna hiresomeone to help you with something is, have
they been through that?
(27:48):
Have they gone through all of the things thatI'm going through and how are they gonna be
able to show me how to do it better?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I love that we've had this conversation.
I want to ask you though.
So you use virtual assistants and you've hireda team.
Who would be your ideal client?
Yeah.
Thank you for that.
So our ideal client is like a visionary CEO orC-suite executive.
(28:14):
We work really well with them because theyunderstand the value of having support, and
they need us support them.
They don't need to be mired down in all of theadministrative things that are important, but
don't necessarily take their brilliance toactually get done.
And so that's our ideal client.
They are leading multiple six- andseven-figure, sometimes eight-figure businesses
(28:37):
as well.
And so they have a lot of things on theirplate.
And so those are the people that we workextremely, extremely well with.
Got it.
I love that.
And so what's next?
What's next for your business?
I got it.
And so what's next for us is we are working onlaunching a program to help train other
(29:00):
executive assistants who want to maybe launchtheir businesses.
And so I'm currently working on a course thatis gonna be coming out soon.
That's one thing we're working on.
And we're currently working on building morerelationships to tackle the corporate market as
well.
And so very exciting things coming down theline.
Well, Gwendolyn, I'm gonna tell you, ouraudience is probably extremely excited about
(29:25):
what we have brought to them here today andsome of these teachables.
Now with that, I would love for you to tellthem how would they find you?
They're like, I wanna talk to Gwendolyn.
She's got some of the answers for some of thethings that I have going on, and how do I find
her?
So how would they reach out to you?
Absolutely.
So you guys can visit the website atyourvirtualadminexpert.com.
(29:48):
You can reach out to me across social as well.
My handle is youradminexpert everywhere, or youcan even give us a call at (224) 513-9235.
We would love to talk to you.
Gwendolyn, I just thank you so much.
You've just really given us so much informationand so many takeaways.
(30:11):
And, you know, it was just such a pleasure tohave you with us here today.
Thank you so much for the invitation.
And I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with you.
Well, we'll have to do another podcast onactually the hiring processes and things and
onboarding.
And I think that you can really help ouraudience with that as well.
Be happy to.
(30:31):
That would be great.
So again, just reach out to Gwendolyn and we'llhave everything also in the additional notes so
that you can also reach out to her there.
And again, this is Katherine, your host withThe Beyond Business Podcast.
Always grateful to have you here with us todayand always have an amazing day, and we look
forward to our next recording.
(30:52):
Well, if you made it to this point, then youmade it to the end.
And you are my star.
And I just want to thank you from the bottom ofmy heart.
I hope that you enjoyed the conversation withtoday's guests.
And if you did, please leave us a review onApple Podcasts and Spotify and share this
episode with others who may be interested inthis topic.
(31:14):
Also, please feel free to let us know whattopics you'd like to see covered in future
episodes.
Get in touch in the comments or on RocketGrowth's social media platforms to have
conversations with me.
My booking link is in the comments.
See you next week for an all-new episode.
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