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August 14, 2025 14 mins

Ready to transform your existing skills into a profitable virtual assistant business? Join Laura Nicole’s upcoming Discover Your Superstar VA Skills four-day live event where she’ll show you what services to offer based on your existing skills!

Think email management is “too easy” to be worth offering as a VA service?? THINK AGAIN.

In this episode, Laura Nicole reveals why this simple service is an absolute goldmine, how to deliver it like a pro, and the boundaries that keep you from being glued to your client’s inbox 24/7.

She shares her proven workflow, time-saving hacks, and the mindset shift that turns answering emails into a high-value, well-paid service.

You’ll discover quick fixes that help you be faster, save time, and always deliver great results.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

  • Why email management is a popular service
  • Boundaries to put in place from day 1
  • Tips for efficient inbox management
  • Why email management is a goldmine for VAs

Join Laura Nicole’s next live round of Discover Your Superstar VA Skills, a four-day live event where she’ll help you identify your marketable skills, package them professionally, and build the confidence to start landing clients. .

What can you expect from this podcast and future episodes?

  • Bite-sized episodes that give you quick, actionable insights into the Virtual Assistant industry
  • Learn how to build skills, boost your confidence, and create a profitable VA business

Get the show notes and transcription here: 

https://www.laurajtraining.com/podcast-ep15-smart-systems-for-email-management-services

Find Laura on social media:
Instagram: @hey.lauranicole
TikTok: @hey.lauranicole
Facebook: Superstar Assistant Academy


Interested in earning sustainable income on YOUR terms, working as a Virtual Assistant? Register for FREE and Click Here to Get Started

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Laura Nicole (00:02):
Welcome to your Virtual Assistant Coach, the
podcast for moms who want tomake money from home on their
own terms.
I'm your host, laura Nicole, asuccessful, six-figure earning
VA and coach, who replaced mycollege professor salary in just
five months back in 2020, aftermy daughter was born, and I
have never looked back.
I'm here to help you build aprofitable, flexible VA business

(00:24):
that fits into your family'slives, so you no longer feel
like you're living just to work.
Let's dive in.
Email management is one of themost popular services that you
can offer as a VA, whether youare a total beginner or a
seasoned vet, because literallyevery small business owner needs

(00:46):
this service.
And here's the thing Answeringemails is not hard right.
Your clients absolutely coulddo this on their own.
They simply do not want to.
Answering emails and keeping upwith the inbox is something
that is an unnecessary drain ontheir time, and that is exactly

(01:07):
why they are completely thrilled, so freaking happy to pay
someone else to take it off oftheir plate so that they don't
even have to think about what'sgoing on in that inbox.
So in today's episode, y'all, Iam going to share how to set
boundaries when you're offeringthis service, so that you're not
glued to your clients' inboxes24-7, and also some time-tested

(01:31):
and proven tips and tricks tomanage your client's inbox like
a total pro.
So inbox overwhelm is a realthing for almost every business
owner, right, because everysmall business especially when
they're online businesses theyhave to have a way for current
customers, potential customers,past customers, anybody who has

(01:53):
a question.
They need to have a way forthose people to reach them and,
because they are smallbusinesses, 99.9% of the time
that's going to be through anemail address and not a phone
number, and so there's going tobe a lot of different things
coming in to this email inbox.
And, again, answering emails isnot hard, right, but each

(02:15):
individual email is going to bedifferent.
It requires decision-making andit truly is draining time and
focus from high value work thatthe business owner could be
doing.
That needs to be done by them,right?
There are other parts of thebusiness that actually have to
be done by the business owner.
Answering emails is not one ofthose things.

(02:36):
Answering emails is somethingthat is actually very smart for
them to be outsourcing.
So when they are outsourcingtheir email, right, they're
reducing their stress, they'reincreasing their time.
They have to focus on otheraspects of their business
because they have more brainspace.
It's not just about removingthe time right from their to-do

(02:57):
list of physically going in andanswering an email.
It truly reduces their mentalload to not have to constantly
be thinking like, oh shit, whendid I last check my email?
Oh crap, I still got to goreply to that person.
And, honestly, not all of theemails that come in are fun,
right?
Not every customer, not everyperson, is happy, and maybe they

(03:18):
want to let you know they'renot happy, or maybe they're
requesting a refund, and thosethings also take a mental toll
on the business owner.
And so when they don't have tobe fielding all of those emails
and taking all of that in, thatis a massive win for them.
Right?
Your clients are not paying youfor complexity when it comes to

(03:39):
answering their emails because,again, it is not hard.
They are paying for relief.
They are paying for stressreduction and they are paying
for not hard.
They are paying for relief,they are paying for stress
reduction and they are payingfor time freedom.
They literally see outsourcingtheir email management as buying
back their time and mentalenergy and protecting their
peace, and that is why they'reso happy to pay you $25, $30,

(04:00):
$35 to take care of their emailinbox for them.
But we do want to make surethat there are some boundaries
in place, right?
Just because you are managingsomeone's email does not mean
that you have to be on call nineto five during business hours
to answer every single email thesecond it hits the inbox.

(04:20):
What I always recommend, andwhat I have done with my clients
for the past five years, is Iimplement a 24-hour turnaround
window for responses, and whatthat means very simply right, is
that any email that hits theinbox, it is going to get a
reply from me within the next 24hours.
Granted, that does not includeweekends, because we reply to

(04:43):
emails Monday through Friday.
But the 24 hour window is goodbecause it's a win-win, right.
It's a win for the clientbecause they know what the
expectation is.
They know that their people aregoing to be getting very timely
and thorough replies.
But you also know that youdon't have to be sitting there
staring at your computer justwaiting for it to ding that
there's an email in the inbox,right, you can set time.

(05:07):
So what I do is I check in themorning at some point, I pop in,
I clear the inbox and then I doa lot of work at night after my
daughter has gone to bed, so Ipop back in at that point in my
day and do another quick checkand clear the inbox.
So with that system, for metypically people are getting a
response within 12 hours, butthey're definitely getting a

(05:29):
response within the 24-hourwindow.
And to help ensure that that24-hour window is well received
by the customers and the peoplewho are sending the emails in,
you always want to put up anauto-responder that is going to
reply to literally every emailthat hits the inbox.
Okay, and it can be very simpleyou just want the
auto-responder to obviouslythank the person for reaching

(05:51):
out, letting them know that youare going to get back to emails
in the order in which they werereceived and that emails will be
replied to within 24 hours,monday through Friday, and that
any email sent on the weekendwill be responded to on Monday.
By implementing this 24-hourturnaround window again, it's
keeping you in control of yourtime while still providing great

(06:13):
service to your client andletting them rest assured that
their people are getting timelyresponses.
And a couple of tips that I havefor y'all to manage an inbox
efficiently.
Number one is to use folders sothat after you answer an email
and it has been complete anddone, you can file it away into
the appropriate folder and thenif you ever need to pull it back

(06:36):
up, it'll be a lot easier tofind.
And make sure you use thefolders okay.
Don't just put them there andthen let read emails stay
stacked in your inbox.
It can be really easy to do,but you are going to feel less
overwhelmed when you open thatinbox if it is just nice and
clean and only has the unreademail sitting there.

(06:58):
So once an email has beenanswered and everything is
complete on it, make sure youfile it away in the folder and
get it out of the inbox.
I also want you to createtemplates.
We want to work smarter, notharder.
I am always here for anyopportunity to make that happen,
and in pretty much any emailinbox, especially in Gmail,
which is really common forpeople to use in their

(07:20):
businesses you can turn ontemplates in the advanced
settings and then you can createtemplates that anytime you're
responding to an email or you'recomposing a new email, in that
bottom toolbar you can literallyclick templates, select which
one you want and it'llauto-populate into the body of
your email.
Obviously, a lot of timesyou'll have to make little
tweaks right that are specificto the person that you're

(07:42):
replying to, but the bulk of thewriting and the work will
already be done for you and youcan just personalize it.
If your client that you'reworking for does not yet have
any templates set up in theiremail, that is fine.
Ask your client for a list ofFAQs that they get and have them
help you write out theirpreferred response to those FAQs
and then turn those intotemplates.

(08:04):
And then a lot of times it'llhappen just in different phases
of your client's business thatyou'll start seeing other
frequently asked questions andonce you're like, okay, I've
seen this pop up like threetimes in the last month, I'm
going to go ahead and make a newtemplate for it.
Templates are just so helpfulbecause they can really speed up
the time that it takes you inthat inbox and it also helps you

(08:26):
to provide consistent answersto people who reach out to the
business across the board.
Right and consistency in thebrand is really important.
My third tip when you'remanaging an inbox is to always
keep the email positive right.
There are a lot of times whenI'm answering emails, that it's
probably a good thing.
The person who sent it can'tsee my face because I am

(08:49):
grinning and bearing it.
Right Like, if you have everworked any kind of customer
service job in your life, youknow what I mean.
Right, like, sometimes thethings that people say are just
a little wild, if I'm beingcompletely honest.
Right, but we do not ever wantthat frustration or that
annoyance or any of that to comethrough in our tone of the

(09:11):
email.
So, obviously, keep it positive.
Even if we're delivering badnews to somebody like maybe they
requested a refund and theydon't qualify we always want to
make sure to close an email outprofessionally and also with
warmth.
We do not ever want to comeacross as like cold or brash.
Right, remember, when you areanswering these emails, you are

(09:32):
representing your client andtheir business and even if
someone's not getting the answerthey want from us in that email
, we still want them to feellike we cared and we took the
time to respond kindly.
I also always recommend having avery clear signature.
So, for example, I have aclient who I've been in charge

(09:52):
of her inboxes for several yearsat this point and I close out
every email by saying cheers,laura.
And then the business owner'sbusiness name support team,
right, so people know whothey're communicating with.
This is important for tworeasons.
Number one a lot of timespeople will think that they're

(10:13):
actually going to get thebusiness owner, and we want to
make sure that they know it'snot actually the business owner,
right, so it's your name andthen the business's name support
team and it also again addsthat kind of personal touch.
I don't know about y'all, butI've had times where I get
answers from customer serviceand it doesn't have a person's
name and it just feels much morerobotic, right?

(10:37):
Like you're like oh okay, theycared a whole lot.
Like I just got a random AIresponse, cool.
So making sure that you havethat clear signature is
important, and my final tip fory'all is to always ask if you
feel unsure.
Your clients are paying you tohandle their inbox, right, but
that doesn't mean that theynever, ever, ever want to be

(11:00):
bothered with an email everagain.
Right?
They understand that things aregoing to pop up that you might
not know the answer to or youmight not know the best way to
handle it, and I can guaranteeyou that pretty much any client,
any small business owner outthere.
They would want you to run itpast them first and get their
input, rather than be too proudto ask for help and then send an

(11:23):
answer.
That is not what they wouldhave wanted out there.
Right, it's always going to bebetter to double check.
So if you have something, comein, you're like oh, I think this
is what I would say.
Or sometimes you, just straightup, are like I have no clue.
I have no clue what to do withthis email.
Forward it to your client andjust say hey, I wanted to get
your input on this.
If it is something that youthink you know how you want to

(11:46):
handle, say this is what I'mthinking about saying, but I
just wanted to make sure thatthat was in line prior to
sending.
Or if you truly don't know whatto say, just say look, I just
got this.
I've never received an emaillike this.
I am not sure what to say.
How would you like me to reply?
Clients are going to be happythat you checked with them first
before sending something thatthey wouldn't have approved.

(12:07):
But then you also need to payattention to how they reply.
Okay, pay attention to whattheir response was so that in
the future, if you get questionsthat are similar in nature, you
do have an idea of how toanswer it without having to
forward it to your client.
Offering email management y'allis a literal goldmine service
for new VAs because it is soeasy to learn and implement and

(12:31):
I guarantee you can already dothis.
You already handle your ownemail inbox.
You already send your ownemails.
I'm sure you know how to addattachments to an email or put
it into a folder, like youalready know how to do this.
It simply is just learning theclient's business and their
answers and they will walk youthrough that, they will teach
you on it, they will show youwhat you need and it's a way to

(12:54):
build trust very quickly with aclient.
It's a wildly easy kind ofgateway service right, something
that you can start with.
That leads to higher level workand more hours with clients.
And if you want to learn how topackage services like email
management together and alsofind other skills that you

(13:15):
already have that we could beturning into services like email
management that are incrediblyvaluable to potential clients, I
would love for you to join mefor the next live round of
Discover your Superstar VASkills that is coming up in just
a few weeks In this four-dayevent that requires just one

(13:36):
hour of your time each day.
For those four days, I am goingto show you exactly what
services to offer based on theskills that you already have,
and help you get your skills andservices into a professional
resume with the confidence toget out there and share it with
potential clients.
This event is about takingquick action and getting very

(13:58):
strong, tangible wins andbuilding your confidence in four
short hours spread over fourdays.
The women who have gone throughit in the past literally rave
about it, and it's an incredibleopportunity to jump start your
virtual assistant career.
We do have limited spotsavailable for this event, so I

(14:19):
highly recommend dropping down,grabbing the link in the show
notes and securing your seatbefore they're full.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday on your Virtual Assistant
Coach.
If you loved this episode, besure to share it with your best
friend, your sister or even yourfavorite coworker, who you know
wants to start making aflexible income.
I'll see you all next time.
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