As you probably know by now, life doesn’t always go as we plan.
For example, if you’re anything like me (and many others!), you may end up going to college, only to graduate and do something completely different than your degree.
While this isn’t a bad thing (college still helped me learn new skills and increase the skills I had), it can be stress-inducing, especially if one of the reasons you end up working in an entirely different field is because you can’t find a job.
Talk about a jarring experience!
But, sometimes that experience pushes us to go towards other goals and dreams that we never would have thought of before. That’s exactly what happened with my $10K VA student Kristen Mitton.
In this interview, Kristen shares how she started her new business, how she balances it with her full-time job, and her plans for the future.
If you’re looking to start a new gig or opportunity to make a change in your life, you’ll want to read this interview.
Here’s my interview with Kristen.
To start off, tell us a bit about you and what you were doing before you decided to become a VA.
Before becoming a VA, I had just graduated from college with a degree in Criminal Justice. At the time, I tried finding a job that I enjoyed, but it was very hard for a few reasons. For one, I knew I wanted the flexibility to work when and where I wanted. Also, I knew that work-life balance was very important to me and I did not want my work to control my entire life. At the end of the day, I wanted some freedom with my work so I could do what I wanted, when I wanted.
Why did you decide you wanted to become a VA?
I knew someone who was already a virtual assistant. After learning what they did and seeing how much they really enjoyed it, I knew I would enjoy it too. I realized that becoming a virtual assistant would allow for the freedom I truly wanted in my career and life.
How will being a VA help you with personal goals, personal development, your future life vision, etc.?
Being a virtual assistant will give me freedom! And, I also believe that being a VA will help me in the future when I want to have a family of my own. For me, when that time comes I want to be able to spend more time with my children and husband than a traditional job might allow, and as a VA I can do that.
What struggles did you face when starting your virtual assistant business?
When I first started my business, I was worried about not finding clients. I was also scared that I wouldn’t make enough money to contribute to my lifestyle.
How did $10K VA help you move past that/those?
In the course, we learn how to find clients. It really helped me build up my confidence and know where to look for clients. After taking the course, I was able to find my first clients in my first week!
What was the biggest thing you learned in the course that you want to share with others?
The biggest and most important thing that I learned from $10K VA is about making and having a contract. It’s SUPER important! And the course even gave an example of a contract that you can download and use.
Would you recommend $10K VA to others who are just getting started?
Yes! $10K VA helped me so much with getting started in my new virtual assistant business. I know it will help others too.
$10K VA is my flagship program, where I teach aspiring and experienced VAs how to start and scale their virtual assistant businesses to earn as much as $10,000 per month - consistently!
Now that you’ve taken $10K VA and launched your business, tell us about it! What kinds of services do you offer? What niche(s) do you work in?
I offer quite a few services in my VA business. My services include social media content creation, email management, and any other small tasks needed. I am also currently learning new things, so I can find my niche and what I’m really good at!
Are you a full-time or part-time VA? If part-time, what else are you doing for work? If full-time, how long did it take you to reach that point?
I am currently working part-time in my business. I also work at a post office full-time. I’m trying to go full-time in my virtual assistant business ASAP.
What are your goals for your business in the future?
I hope that I will be able to build my business so I too can earn $10,000 a month as a VA and eventually make my own program to teach others what I’ve learned.
What is one of the biggest business lessons have you learned so far and how did you use that lesson to your advantage?
I learned how to network. It’s really not much more than just socializing! You have to talk with others and get your name known. It’s a great way to book new clients. When I began talking with more people, especially through Facebook, I was able to gain new clients easily.