Episode 216: 4 Years Since I Quit Teaching to Become a Virtual Assistant – Here’s What I’ve Learned

Full Episode Transcription:

[00:00:00] You guys. It has officially been four years since I became a virtual assistant. I literally found out about virtual assistants and what this even was the day that I went into labor. That is not a coincidence. I can definitely say that is God’s timing. So in this episode, I wanna share with you real quick, just a little bit about my story in case you’ve never heard it, and then five lessons that I’ve learned since I quit teaching to become a virtual assistant. So if y’all didn’t already know, I was a teacher for three years. I taught kindergarten for two years and first grade for one. And while I absolutely loved my kiddos, I loved teaching them, I did not love all of the extra expectations that are placed on teacher’s shoulders. I would come home, burnt out every single day, still having lesson plans to do, still having to cut, you know, 20 feet of laminated things for my centers for the next week.

[00:01:06] And, I saw my husband come home from work and he was just done, he didn’t have anything else like still on his mind that he had to do when he got home from work. He just got to veg out and I was like, I still have 10 million things on my plate that I know are never gonna get done. And that was really overwhelming. And we didn’t even have kids yet, but I was thinking, you know, when I, when we have kids, how am I going to be the present mom that I wanna be if I come home from work every day feeling like this? And so when my husband and I got pregnant my last year teaching, we had a discussion about my desire to be a present mom who was there to witness all of our daughters first and our need to still be able to like live the life we wanna live, pay off all our student debt and all of that. So we had a discussion that we would take. I would take the first year of my daughter’s life off from teaching. And be able to pour into her. But at the same time, I was going to try to, you know, do grocery delivery or nanny something where I could take her with me and that would like supplement my income, you know, at least a tiny bit.

[00:02:21] But then the plan was after that year, Being off that I was gonna go back to teaching and she would’ve had to be in daycare full-time. But like I said, God’s timing is always the best. The day that I went into labor, I came across the term virtual assistant. And looking back, I think I had actually seen this term before, but it had never really like clicked that this was something I could do, but. Yeah, on the day that I went into labor, I saw that term and I was like, what is this? Like, is this, you know, direct sales? Because I had tried that before. I did that for like three years before this, and that never worked for me. And then I learned no virtual assistance is not direct sales. It’s providing services to a business in exchange for money.

[00:03:08] And it was something that I could do remote from home with my daughter by my side. So when I figured that out, I was like, sign me up. I’m in. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I will figure it out. I am determined. So I had my daughter later that day and then, the next few weeks, you know, when she was napping or when she was just, you know, when I was breastfeeding, I was learning everything I could about the virtual assistant world within one month of learning what this even was. I had gotten my business going within two months. I think it was less than two months. It was just after the one month mark I got my first client and then within six months I had replaced my teaching income completely working with my newborn daughter by my side, working only 15, 20 max, 25 hours a week. But that was kind of rare and feeling a lot less burnt out. I know that this is totally possible for you, like I’m not just a unicorn. Everybody can do this if they put the time and dedication into it. So I just wanna share with you five lessons that I’ve learned since I quit teaching four years ago and became a virtual assistant.

[00:04:30] So number one is that you do not have to know it all. You just need to have a willingness to learn. You guys, I taught kindergarten. I taught five and six year olds how to stand in line, how to use scissors, how to be kind to each other. I taught them their ABCs. I did not know how to support businesses with different services they needed help with. You know what I did have, I had that willingness to learn. I knew that I could figure out the different services that they need help with. I could teach myself how to do those. Okay? So you just have to have that willingness. You don’t need to have all the pieces in place. There are so many businesses that are willing to train you on the different services they need help with. Maybe they already have a system in place, they just no longer wanna implement themselves. So they just want to hire somebody else to do it, and they’ll literally train you to do it. Okay, so it is possible.

[00:05:23] The second lesson I have for y’all is that done is better than perfect. When you’re becoming a virtual assistant, it can be tempting to try to get your portfolio the best that it can be with all the experience in it, with all the testimonials in it. It can be really tempting to try to become like an expert in a service before you go out and start looking for clients, but I just wanna remind you that done is better than perfect. Get it out there, get your portfolio out there. Start looking for clients even if you don’t feel like you have a ton of experience, because the best place that you’re gonna get that experience is on the job anyway. So, You’re just doing yourself a disservice if you keep waiting. So remember, that done is better than perfect.

[00:06:10] The third lesson I learned is that it is all about consistency. The biggest key behind being a successful virtual assistant and being able to replace your income is that consistency. You have to show up and give the time to this. Don’t treat it like a hobby, treat it like a job. Show up network every day, have that dedicated time where you are working on a virtual assistant business, and that’s when you’ll see the fruit of your labor. It will snowball into something huge, bigger than you ever thought it could be. You just have to be consistent.

[00:06:44] Fourth lesson I learned since I quit teaching to become a virtual assistant, is that the worst someone can say to you is no. If you put yourself out there on a job post that maybe you don’t feel super qualified in, they’re not gonna come back to you and say, uh, no, I’m not hiring you. You’re crazy. You don’t know how to do this. You don’t have experience. They’re not gonna say that. They’re just gonna say, “Hey, we found someone else. We’ll keep you in mind.” I think a lot of times we let this imposter syndrome feeling hold us back from even putting ourselves out there. But just remember the worst that someone is going to say to you is, no, it’s not gonna get any worse than that. Okay. You’ll be okay.

[00:07:28] All right. The fifth thing that I’ve learned since I quit teaching and become a virtual assistant and that I want you to understand is that our jobs should work around our life. Our life should not have to work around our job. When I was teaching, my life revolved around teaching. Like I was coming home, I wasn’t super present with my husband. I was burnt out, just exhausted all the time. Didn’t have the energy to do any of the hobbies I love, and that’s not the way it should be. We should be able to live the life we wanna live and have our job support that. Okay, so that is really crucial to understand. And if it’s not that way for you right now, that can change if you put in that dedication and consistency.

[00:08:14] All right, so if you are ready to. Become a virtual assistant. Replace your teaching income. Be home with your babies. Be that present mom you’ve always wanted to be. If you are ready to take that step, I invite you to come and join our free workshop. The number one way to quit teaching where I’m gonna teach you the five Ps to be become a successful and profitable virtual assistant, going to give you the. First few steps to take in starting your virtual assistant journey. You can totally do this. Come and see what it’s like, and I will give you the tools to figure out what services you would love to offer, where to find clients, and all of those things over in the free workshop.

[00:08:56] So you can get registered for that at ariannavernier.com/free-workshop. Or find the link in the show notes. Can’t wait to see y’all there. And I just, I love you guys so much. I’m so honored to be here pouring into you. After four years growing this to the point where I get to mentor other mamas and teachers just like where I was, it truly lights me up every single day. So I’m really grateful for y’all and I love you, and we will see you in the next episode.