August 21, 2025 • 11 mins
Ready to build your VA business the right way from the start? Join Laura Nicole’s free First Client Formula masterclass where she'll show you exactly how to find, sign, and start working with your first client successfully!
Landing your dream client feels amazing - but what happens when that client suddenly pulls the plug?
Laura Nicole knows firsthand, and in this episode, she opens up about the painful (and expensive) lesson she learned the hard way.
She’ll walk you through why contracts matter, how boundaries protect both you and your clients, and the smart moves that keep your VA business stable no matter what.
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- Why protecting yourself as a VA isn’t about distrust—it’s about sustainability
- A common red flag that’s easy to overlook when starting out
- The boundaries that actually make client relationships healthier
Snag your free spot in Laura Nicole’s brand new First Client Formula masterclass. It's designed specifically to walk you through how to find, sign and start working with your first client successfully.
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-ep16-the-one-mistake-ill-never-make-again
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.
A really big part of why I coachand why I am so passionate
about coaching other women onhow to successfully and
efficiently become virtualassistants is because I want to
(00:46):
make it smoother for you.
I want you to be able to worksmarter, not harder.
I want you to be able to learnfrom my mistakes so that you
don't make the same mistakesright, so that you don't get
stuck in those loops of themistakes that I made early on
when I was figuring all of thisout.
That being said, I want toshare with you the one thing
(01:06):
that I will never, ever do againas a virtual assistant.
It cost me thousands of dollars, literally an unbelievable
amount of stress, and it almosttanked my entire VA business in
one snap decision made from aclient my entire VA business in
(01:27):
one snap decision made from aclient.
And whether you are brand newto the VA world or you have been
here for a while, but you canstill learn from this, maybe
it's something you still need toimplement in your business then
I want you to learn from mymistake here right now so that
you don't learn the hard waylike I did.
To give you some backstory onthis I, at the time that I
signed this new client, I wasabout six months into my virtual
(01:52):
assistant journey.
I was very much still a baby VAand I took on this new client,
who I was really excited about.
We had messaged in the DMs fora while.
She was really cool.
I loved what she was doing, butI approached it very casually.
It felt just like two moms whoreally enjoyed each other that
were going to work together andit was going to be good for both
(02:13):
of us.
And, being a baby VA who wasfiguring it out on my own, I
didn't understand the trueimportance of having a contract,
and so we did not put acontract in place.
We really just had a quote,unquote, handshake, agreement,
and for a really long time.
That was fine.
We worked so well together.
(02:36):
It was a very natural fit.
Working together was easy.
It came naturally.
We became pretty fast friends,which honestly actually is
something that I also wouldprobably never do again.
I'm happy to be friends with myclients, but I've learned that
there need to be betterboundaries in place.
Maybe that makes for adifferent episode and episode
(02:57):
number two of things I would notdo again.
But we were working so welltogether.
My hours with her, myresponsibilities with her, my
pay rate with her it just keptgrowing and increasing to the
point that after about a year ofworking together, or a little
over, she actually became myonly client.
I went full time with her andshe was my sole client and at
(03:19):
the time I was so happy to beable to go full time with her
because she was my favoriteclient.
I enjoyed my work with her themost.
I was making really freakinggood money with her and it just
felt easy.
Work didn't feel like workright, it was really fun.
But then my client started goingthrough a really difficult
(03:42):
divorce and I'm not going to getinto any details on that
whatsoever other than the factthat it was really difficult.
It was really hard and herbusiness started declining as a
result of everything that wasgoing on in her personal life.
Her income was slowly dwindling, right, and we were working
(04:02):
hard to do what we could to getit back to where she had been.
And not only right.
Not only was I her VA, but Iwas one of her best friends at
the time, so I knew everythingthat she was going through and I
had so much empathy and felt somuch for her and wanted to help
, so I knew the inner workingsof what things really looked
like for her at the time.
Right, but what I did not seeand what I was a little bit
(04:26):
blind to and, looking back on,maybe a little bit naive to, was
the fact that, despite ourfriendship, I was a line item in
her budget and one day, fairlyabruptly, she decided she could
no longer afford to keep me onas her assistant.
Initially it came in the form ofher deciding that we were going
(04:49):
to go from a full-time positionon a retainer to an hourly rate
, working about half the hoursand at a decreased hourly rate,
and honestly, I was just kind ofstunned by that decision.
But I also didn't have anyother clients.
So I felt kind of stuck.
I felt like, okay, this sucks.
But I felt empathetic because Iknew the situation she was in,
(05:12):
but I also needed at least thatpartial income coming in.
And then, maybe two monthslater maybe I don't even I can't
remember the exact timeline,but a very short amount of time
after her making that decisionand informing me of our move
(05:33):
from full-time to an hourlylower rate, I got a new set of
voice messages on my phone oneday.
Mind you, both of these thingshappened via very long, like 20
minute voice notes that weresent to me, but this time it was
to notify me that she wasofficially not going to utilize
(05:53):
me as her assistant at allanymore, that she simply could
not afford it, and that was justkind of that.
And at this point we had beenworking together for almost
three years, so a very long time.
A relationship had beendeveloped and there was really
no conversation with me, noheads up, no transition time.
(06:17):
She clearly had talked throughit on her own with herself or
maybe with someone else, andcome to the conclusion this was
the right decision, and thensimply notified me of that
decision.
And because there was nocontract in place because I had
never signed a contract at thebeginning, because I didn't know
(06:38):
better when I was firststarting out and I was like, oh,
we're two moms, this is goingto be great, like we'll help
each other.
And then I never introduced acontract later on, even when our
rates changed or our likestructure and our pay structure
and everything changed.
I didn't implement a contractlater on, which I should have,
but because I didn't, I had noprotection.
(07:00):
I had no protection.
I had no way to require anotice period.
I had no way to require her topay me out for X number of time
based on the work I had done orfinishing out the retainer for
that month.
I simply had no grounds.
I had no grounds to do anythingto make the scenario better for
(07:24):
me and less abrupt on my end,on the financial end of things.
All that to say, it was a verypainful lesson to learn.
It was a very frustratinglesson to learn, but in the
grand scheme of what my life andcareer and business was going
to look like, moving forward notonly as an assistant working
(07:46):
with clients, but also as acoach it was a wildly valuable
lesson for me to learn becausenow I can teach y'all about the
fact that you need to have acontract in place, signed by
both parties, prior to doing anywork for a client.
Because contracts are not aboutdistrust, right?
(08:10):
Contracts are not aboutthinking, oh, this client's
going to screw me over, so letme protect myself now.
No, If you have any inkling inyour gut that the client you're
about to sign with might screwyou over down the line or might
not be well-intended, then don'twork with them, right?
But even with the clients thatyou're so damn excited about and
you can see the big picture andyou can see the long-term
(08:31):
working together you both shouldwant to have a contract in
place, because a contract simplyprotects both of you from
different aspects.
Your contracts are going tooutline your payment terms, your
work scope, termination clauses, notice periods, and that is
beneficial for both you as theVA and for the client.
So even if you trust someoneand you're getting along great,
(08:54):
you still need one in placebefore you do any work for them.
And if a client ever resistssigning a contract for like, oh
yeah, we don't really need that,da, da, da, mm-, that Big ass
red flag, okay, even for a trialperiod, put that in a contract,
y'all.
I'm in a trial period right now, a 30 day trial period with a
(09:16):
new client who I'm freakingobsessed with, who I plan on
working with for a really longtime to come.
But you best believe thatbefore we shifted our
conversation into actualonboarding her as a client, we
both signed a contract and thenthat contract will get updated
at the end of our trial periodand it will get updated anytime
in the future when we have likesignificant updates to
(09:38):
responsibilities or hours or payrate.
So if you raise a contract to apotential client and they seem
hesitant to sign one, pleasetake that seriously as a red
flag to really consider ifthat's actually someone you want
to work with.
And if they flat out refuse tosign it, my recommendation would
be to walk away from thatclient.
And I guess another quick,unintended lesson here out of
(10:02):
this episode is that boundariesmatter.
It is so fine, it's honestlygood, it's healthy, it's part of
that connection and alignmentthat I talk about all the time
with clients.
It's good to be friends withyour clients, but there is a
boundary right for where thatfriendship, where that working
(10:22):
relationship, needs to staywithin.
It's good to know about yourclient and know what's going on
in their life or with theirfamily and vice versa.
Those things are good.
That is healthy, but you haveto have clear boundaries and
roles, otherwise emotions cancomplicate business decisions,
and so having those healthyboundaries actually helps to
(10:43):
keep your working relationshipsstronger in the long term, which
is exactly what we want.
As a virtual assistant.
If you are ready to land yourfirst client the right way, with
clarity, confidence andcontracts in place, then I have
got something for you.
My brand new first clientformula masterclass is happening
(11:04):
in just a couple of weeks andit is designed specifically to
walk you through how to find,sign and start working with your
first client successfully.
Head to the link in the shownotes to save your seat.
It is a completely freemasterclass and please learn
from me.
Okay, learn from me and mymistakes.
Get the contract signed beforeyou do a single piece of work
(11:26):
and make sure you join me forthe first client formula
masterclass to learn how to signthose clients.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday on your virtual assistant
coach.
If you love 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.
(11:47):
I'll see you all next time.
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.
A really big part of why I coachand why I am so passionate
about coaching other women onhow to successfully and
efficiently become virtualassistants is because I want to
(00:46):
make it smoother for you.
I want you to be able to worksmarter, not harder.
I want you to be able to learnfrom my mistakes so that you
don't make the same mistakesright, so that you don't get
stuck in those loops of themistakes that I made early on
when I was figuring all of thisout.
That being said, I want toshare with you the one thing
(01:06):
that I will never, ever do againas a virtual assistant.
It cost me thousands of dollars, literally an unbelievable
amount of stress, and it almosttanked my entire VA business in
one snap decision made from aclient my entire VA business in
(01:27):
one snap decision made from aclient.
And whether you are brand newto the VA world or you have been
here for a while, but you canstill learn from this, maybe
it's something you still need toimplement in your business then
I want you to learn from mymistake here right now so that
you don't learn the hard waylike I did.
To give you some backstory onthis I, at the time that I
signed this new client, I wasabout six months into my virtual
(01:52):
assistant journey.
I was very much still a baby VAand I took on this new client,
who I was really excited about.
We had messaged in the DMs fora while.
She was really cool.
I loved what she was doing, butI approached it very casually.
It felt just like two moms whoreally enjoyed each other that
were going to work together andit was going to be good for both
(02:13):
of us.
And, being a baby VA who wasfiguring it out on my own, I
didn't understand the trueimportance of having a contract,
and so we did not put acontract in place.
We really just had a quote,unquote, handshake, agreement,
and for a really long time.
That was fine.
We worked so well together.
(02:36):
It was a very natural fit.
Working together was easy.
It came naturally.
We became pretty fast friends,which honestly actually is
something that I also wouldprobably never do again.
I'm happy to be friends with myclients, but I've learned that
there need to be betterboundaries in place.
Maybe that makes for adifferent episode and episode
(02:57):
number two of things I would notdo again.
But we were working so welltogether.
My hours with her, myresponsibilities with her, my
pay rate with her it just keptgrowing and increasing to the
point that after about a year ofworking together, or a little
over, she actually became myonly client.
I went full time with her andshe was my sole client and at
(03:19):
the time I was so happy to beable to go full time with her
because she was my favoriteclient.
I enjoyed my work with her themost.
I was making really freakinggood money with her and it just
felt easy.
Work didn't feel like workright, it was really fun.
But then my client started goingthrough a really difficult
(03:42):
divorce and I'm not going to getinto any details on that
whatsoever other than the factthat it was really difficult.
It was really hard and herbusiness started declining as a
result of everything that wasgoing on in her personal life.
Her income was slowly dwindling, right, and we were working
(04:02):
hard to do what we could to getit back to where she had been.
And not only right.
Not only was I her VA, but Iwas one of her best friends at
the time, so I knew everythingthat she was going through and I
had so much empathy and felt somuch for her and wanted to help
, so I knew the inner workingsof what things really looked
like for her at the time.
Right, but what I did not seeand what I was a little bit
(04:26):
blind to and, looking back on,maybe a little bit naive to, was
the fact that, despite ourfriendship, I was a line item in
her budget and one day, fairlyabruptly, she decided she could
no longer afford to keep me onas her assistant.
Initially it came in the form ofher deciding that we were going
(04:49):
to go from a full-time positionon a retainer to an hourly rate
, working about half the hoursand at a decreased hourly rate,
and honestly, I was just kind ofstunned by that decision.
But I also didn't have anyother clients.
So I felt kind of stuck.
I felt like, okay, this sucks.
But I felt empathetic because Iknew the situation she was in,
(05:12):
but I also needed at least thatpartial income coming in.
And then, maybe two monthslater maybe I don't even I can't
remember the exact timeline,but a very short amount of time
after her making that decisionand informing me of our move
(05:33):
from full-time to an hourlylower rate, I got a new set of
voice messages on my phone oneday.
Mind you, both of these thingshappened via very long, like 20
minute voice notes that weresent to me, but this time it was
to notify me that she wasofficially not going to utilize
(05:53):
me as her assistant at allanymore, that she simply could
not afford it, and that was justkind of that.
And at this point we had beenworking together for almost
three years, so a very long time.
A relationship had beendeveloped and there was really
no conversation with me, noheads up, no transition time.
(06:17):
She clearly had talked throughit on her own with herself or
maybe with someone else, andcome to the conclusion this was
the right decision, and thensimply notified me of that
decision.
And because there was nocontract in place because I had
never signed a contract at thebeginning, because I didn't know
(06:38):
better when I was firststarting out and I was like, oh,
we're two moms, this is goingto be great, like we'll help
each other.
And then I never introduced acontract later on, even when our
rates changed or our likestructure and our pay structure
and everything changed.
I didn't implement a contractlater on, which I should have,
but because I didn't, I had noprotection.
(07:00):
I had no protection.
I had no way to require anotice period.
I had no way to require her topay me out for X number of time
based on the work I had done orfinishing out the retainer for
that month.
I simply had no grounds.
I had no grounds to do anythingto make the scenario better for
(07:24):
me and less abrupt on my end,on the financial end of things.
All that to say, it was a verypainful lesson to learn.
It was a very frustratinglesson to learn, but in the
grand scheme of what my life andcareer and business was going
to look like, moving forward notonly as an assistant working
(07:46):
with clients, but also as acoach it was a wildly valuable
lesson for me to learn becausenow I can teach y'all about the
fact that you need to have acontract in place, signed by
both parties, prior to doing anywork for a client.
Because contracts are not aboutdistrust, right?
(08:10):
Contracts are not aboutthinking, oh, this client's
going to screw me over, so letme protect myself now.
No, If you have any inkling inyour gut that the client you're
about to sign with might screwyou over down the line or might
not be well-intended, then don'twork with them, right?
But even with the clients thatyou're so damn excited about and
you can see the big picture andyou can see the long-term
(08:31):
working together you both shouldwant to have a contract in
place, because a contract simplyprotects both of you from
different aspects.
Your contracts are going tooutline your payment terms, your
work scope, termination clauses, notice periods, and that is
beneficial for both you as theVA and for the client.
So even if you trust someoneand you're getting along great,
(08:54):
you still need one in placebefore you do any work for them.
And if a client ever resistssigning a contract for like, oh
yeah, we don't really need that,da, da, da, mm-, that Big ass
red flag, okay, even for a trialperiod, put that in a contract,
y'all.
I'm in a trial period right now, a 30 day trial period with a
(09:16):
new client who I'm freakingobsessed with, who I plan on
working with for a really longtime to come.
But you best believe thatbefore we shifted our
conversation into actualonboarding her as a client, we
both signed a contract and thenthat contract will get updated
at the end of our trial periodand it will get updated anytime
in the future when we have likesignificant updates to
(09:38):
responsibilities or hours or payrate.
So if you raise a contract to apotential client and they seem
hesitant to sign one, pleasetake that seriously as a red
flag to really consider ifthat's actually someone you want
to work with.
And if they flat out refuse tosign it, my recommendation would
be to walk away from thatclient.
And I guess another quick,unintended lesson here out of
(10:02):
this episode is that boundariesmatter.
It is so fine, it's honestlygood, it's healthy, it's part of
that connection and alignmentthat I talk about all the time
with clients.
It's good to be friends withyour clients, but there is a
boundary right for where thatfriendship, where that working
(10:22):
relationship, needs to staywithin.
It's good to know about yourclient and know what's going on
in their life or with theirfamily and vice versa.
Those things are good.
That is healthy, but you haveto have clear boundaries and
roles, otherwise emotions cancomplicate business decisions,
and so having those healthyboundaries actually helps to
(10:43):
keep your working relationshipsstronger in the long term, which
is exactly what we want.
As a virtual assistant.
If you are ready to land yourfirst client the right way, with
clarity, confidence andcontracts in place, then I have
got something for you.
My brand new first clientformula masterclass is happening
(11:04):
in just a couple of weeks andit is designed specifically to
walk you through how to find,sign and start working with your
first client successfully.
Head to the link in the shownotes to save your seat.
It is a completely freemasterclass and please learn
from me.
Okay, learn from me and mymistakes.
Get the contract signed beforeyou do a single piece of work
(11:26):
and make sure you join me forthe first client formula
masterclass to learn how to signthose clients.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday on your virtual assistant
coach.
If you love 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.
(11:47):
I'll see you all next time.
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