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Laura Nicole: 00:02

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: 00:33

If y'all happen to follow me over on Instagram, then you maybe have seen in a couple of my stories that life has really just been lifing lately. And this episode is going to be a little bit different than our norm, but it's something that has been on my mind very consistently recently, which is how insanely thankful and grateful I am on a regular basis. But it's been really highlighted in life recently for just how flexible the ability to earn an income this way is, and how much freedom and flexibility that allows me to be able to show up in my life for the people that matter the most to me while still being able to create this income, right? Without having to forfeit that entirely. I can do both. I can have my cake and eat it too. And that has just been like really, really pounded into my brain recently because there's been some bigger things in life that have called my attention and needed me both physically, mentally, and emotionally to be present and show up for people that I love and also in some smaller ways. So I just want to kind of share those things. Again, this episode is a little more heartfelt kind of a view into daily life over here and less tactics and strategy and mindset and all of that stuff. But I promise we'll get back

Laura Nicole: 02:12

 to those things in next week's episode. So you may have seen either on my social, or I know that my sister Diana, she's at the decluttered mom on social. We share a lot of followers in common, right? Who have found each other through me finding her and through her finding me, and vice versa. So you probably have seen if you follow either of us on social media, you have seen that um she had to have brain surgery at the end of January because they had discovered an aneurysm at the end of um 2025 and it needed surgery. They needed to put a stint in to fix it so that it would not get more serious. And it was terrifying. I'm gonna be honest, okay? It was terrifying. She's my big sister. Obviously, I love her to death, and I don't want anything to happen to her. And if you know anything else about us, you know that our father passed away when we were younger. We were um 14 and 17 at the time. So yay, for a little trauma bonding there. But obviously, anybody in my immediate family having a health scare of something like an aneurysm is going to not only take a lot of mental and emotional um space up, right? But I was able to physically go to Colorado and be there to support her through actual surgery and the first four or five days of her recovery. And yes, I'm sure in a traditional nine to five, if I was still teaching or if I was still working in a restaurant, I probably could have gotten that time off, right? To be able to go and help her. It's not like they would have been like, oh no, sorry, your sister can deal with brain surgery alone. Like that probably wouldn't have happened, 

Laura Nicole: 04:01

right? But what I do know is that there's such a difference and an ease in how I can just adapt my schedule now. I don't have to ask for permission, right? Even if I had still been in my older traditional job and they would have let me take the time, I still would have had to ask for the time, right? I still would have had to use PTO. Maybe in some case I would have had to use FMLA and it would have meant all this paperwork and all these extras that I did not have the time or the bandwidth to mess with, right? But because I am a freelancer, because I am an independent contractor and I am my own boss, I am not the employee of my clients. Well, obviously I had to communicate to my clients, right? And make a plan and set it up for success and all those things. I did not have to ask their permission. And to be quite frank, because the the working relationship in this industry is so cool, my clients didn't even bat an eye, right? They know me, they know like that was where I needed to be. And it was a all clear, we'll handle things here, like go do what you need to do, which again is just a very different vibe than a lot of traditional gigs. So I'm not gonna get into the weeds on her recovery or how things went or any of that stuff.

Laura Nicole: 05:23

 The important thing here was like I was just overwhelmed with gratitude the whole time I was there that I could physically, mentally, and emotionally be there and be present, not just for my sister, but also for her daughters. Obviously, it was a lot for them to handle too. And to be able even to show up and support my sister's husband and know that, like, let him know that he had another person there to help take care of things at the house and help make sure the girls got where they needed to go. And there just was this insane level of thankfulness, and it hasn't gone away. I still think about it almost every day since I've been home of like, I'm just so damn grateful that this is my life, that this is how I earn an income, that this is how I support my family, that I can without thinking twice, make a plan, set myself up for success, move forward, communicate with my clients, and then go do what I need to do and show up for the people that I need to show up

Laura Nicole: 06:27

 for. But it isn't even always in a big dramatic scenario like that, right? Like that's an abnormal. Oh my gosh, your sister's having a brain surgery. Like that is not an everyday thing. But then now I've been home. And in the week, week and a half that I've been home, I've been able to volunteer in my daughter's classroom three times. Literally, yesterday I dropped her off and I stayed for like the first 45 minutes of her day to volunteer and do kid writing. She's in Kinder, in case you didn't know. She's six in Kinder, so they're learning to write and it's very cute. And then I actually even went back at the end of the day, got there 20 minutes before they were going to be let out for the day to do guest reading and read a book to her in her class. And those are the things, it's just like truly the little things, right? Like obviously, the being able to show up for the big stuff is so important. But the fact that last week when I showed up to pick her up and the teacher had put out a sign-up sheet to sign up to come guest read to the kids, and I literally just picked a time I wanted. I didn't have to think about what meetings I had, or I didn't have to feel bad about like leaving the office early after I was just out for five or six days taking care of my sister, right? Like there's always that I used to at least always have that guilt when I'd come back from having used time off where I felt like I couldn't ask for anything or I had to like overperform for a little bit to like make up for the fact that I'd been gone. None of that exists in this world. I literally was able to just look at the signup sheet, pick a time I wanted, plop my name on there, done and done. So whether it's in the big, extravagant ways that it makes a huge difference in your life, or if it's just in the little things like being able to stay and do kid writing or head in early and read a book to a room full of excited six-year-olds.

Laura Nicole: 08:20

 This is what I mean when I say that there is so much freedom and flexibility in choosing to have virtual assistants be the way that you earn an income and provide financially for your family. So, like I said, next week we'll get back to some more of the strategy and the tips and the resources and the mindset and all that good stuff. But I don't know, I've just been a little bit in my feels the last couple of weeks and wanted to keep it real with y'all. And I also think it's just really important to say out loud and put it out into the universe just how thankful and grateful I am because the better it gets, the better it gets. Now, if you're listening and you happen to not follow me on Instagram, I would love for you to pop down in the show notes. Uh, we will link my profile so that you can come over and join the fun and hang out. You will learn a lot of things hanging out on there. And I would love for you to send me a message. Honestly, I would love to hear from you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I love connecting with y'all. That is the best part of this, is getting to have actual conversations with you. So please pop over there, give me a follow, send me a message, say hi. And if you already follow me, but we've never chatted, go send me a DM. Okay. Like literally go do it right now. Say hi. I just listened to your episode. I'm dropping in to say hi. And I cannot wait to get to virtually meet you over in the DMs. 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 you all next time.