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Laura Nicole: 00:00

Welcome to Your Virtual Assistant Coach, the podcast for moms who want to make money from home on their own terms. I'm your host, Laura Nicole, a successful six-figure earning VA and coach who replaced my college professor salary in just five months back in 2020 after my daughter was born, and I have never looked back. I'm here to help you build a profitable, flexible VA business that fits into your family's lives so you no longer feel like you're living just to work. Let's dive in. 

Laura Nicole: 00:50

And what I mean by that is that when clients are looking to bring a virtual assistant on, they are not looking for just a task rabbit who can just check things off of a list and call it a day. They want someone who is going to fit their team and fit their culture. And obviously they need somebody who can do the things, right? They need somebody who has the hard skill sets and the ability to learn what they train them on in order for the services and the tasks that they're hiring you for to get done. But business owners always place a bigger percentage and weight and priority on someone's soft skills over their hard skills. So who you are, your personality, your character traits, right? Like being detail-oriented and organized and a quick learner and a critical thinker and self-motivated and all the good things, right? I always tell you that you, those soft skills, you are your superpower. I know that y'all always hear me when I say that, but the vibe I get in return a lot of times is like, okay, whatever you say, Laura, right? Like, it's like you want to believe me, but that almost makes it sound too good to be true, right? And so your brain wants to convince you that, like, no, you actually need to know all these hard skills and you need to know all these softwares and have all these certifications because who you are isn't good enough. It's not enough. Clients are gonna want to hire you for that. They're damn sure not gonna pay you $30, $35 an hour for just who you are. And I get that. I understand that thought process.

Laura Nicole: 02:31

 And so a few months ago, I had seen an online business owner. She's a coach. She had posted to her stories that she was looking to hire a new VA onto her team. And I pulled up the job description that she had written out, right? This is one way I always tell y'all, this is why I tell you to follow, get on email lists of your idle clients, because when they are ready to hire, they're going to put it out first to their audience, their followers, and their email list. And that's exactly what this woman did. And as I was reading the Tom description, I was literally smiling to myself because I'm like, this is proof. Like, this is the proof is in the pudding. This is it. This shows exactly what I have been telling my students for years. So I just have to read you the position overview and the required skills. Okay. This this posting was like two pages long in a Google Doc. It had other details, yada, yada. But this is the bones of what business owners are looking for when they decide to bring somebody onto their team. Okay. It says we're looking to bring someone into our world who genuinely loves the brand, the community, and the women inside it. The role is less about doing tasks and more about helping maintain the standard of care and excellence our clients experience inside our programs. 

Laura Nicole: 03:56

Think of the person at this soccer game who brings snacks even when it isn't her turn. The one who notices when someone needs help and steps in without being asked. That's the energy we're looking for. Someone who cares deeply about people having a great experience, someone who takes pride in things being organized, thoughtful, and handled with care. Okay, that was the position overview, right? They literally said they want the person at the soccer game who brings snacks when it's not her turn. Like, what? Have you ever seen that in a job description before? And then in their required skills, the things that they listed here was problem-solving mindset and attention to detail. Also a soft skill, by the way. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong organizational and time management abilities, the ability to manage multiple tasks and projects simultaneously, and self-driven and able to work independently. Also a soft skill. So not only did their position overview not mention shit about certifications or softwares or years of experience or yada yada yada, even their required skills, more than half of them were still soft skills. They weren't this long list of hard skills. So I saved these two pieces of the job description because it's quite literally exactly what I have been trying to make very apparent that this is really what business owners are looking for. And now you have heard it straight from the horse's mouth.

Laura Nicole: 05:32

 Before we go, I do have to tell y'all, I am hosting a 28-day live challenge that I have not hosted in like a year and a half. I used to do these once a quarter, and to be honest, I don't really know why we stopped doing them, but we did. So I haven't done one in forever, and I'm bringing it back. It is going to run June 8th through July 5th, and it is for women who are members of the Superstar Assistant Academy. So if you are a newer member and you haven't really dove in and gotten through the modules or made your starting decisions, your foundational decisions, like your idle client, your services, your rates, et cetera, and you really want to have the combination of some coaching and feedback on those things, but also really the accountability of like, okay, I have this resource. I'm gonna actually use it. As a member, you can join into this challenge for $55. And if you're listening and you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, I want to do the challenge, but I'm not a member yet. You can enroll in the academy. There is a link down in the show notes with all of the details of the program. You can enroll in, and when you go to submit your enrollment, there will be an option that you can add the challenge on for that $55 rate. I actually decided to run this event again because when I was scrolling through my hundreds upon hundreds of screenshots from students over the past four years, I was looking for something in particular, but I ended up in a part of my photo album that had all these screenshots of women who were like, this challenge was the best thing ever. Thank you so much for the accountability. 

Laura Nicole: 07:22

I feel like I accomplished so much, like I stayed on track. Like just women who were feeling on top of the fing world because they were truly taking the time to commit to this investment that they had made in themselves and this goal that they had set for themselves. And there was really a sense of community because we were all in the group doing it together and everyone could see everyone's answers every day. And it's just we had challenges and there were prizes involved. And reading those messages, I like got in my feels. And then I was like, wait, why the hell have I not done one of these in so long? So we are bringing it back. If you are an existing superstar assistant academy member, I've gotten messages from some of y'all recently who are like, oh my gosh, I bought it last summer and then life happened and now I'm gonna dive in. If that's you, get into this challenge. This is going to be the thing that will help you actually build that momentum and build that foundation in a really fun, effective way. And if you are not yet a member and you would like to get in so that you can add on this challenge and do it with us, by all means, the links for both of y'all, members and non-members, are down in the show notes. Go click the one that applies to you. And I can't wait to do a round of this 28-day challenge with y'all. I'll see you soon.

Laura Nicole:  08:41

Thanks for hanging out with me today on your virtual assistant coach. If you love this episode, be sure to share it with your best friend, your sister, or even your favorite coworker who you know wants to start making a flexible income. I'll see y'all next time.