Episode 337: 3 Tips for Starting Your Virtual Assistant Business While Still Working Your 9-5

Full Episode Transcription:

Arianna Vernier: The majority of my students in the Virtual Assistant Mama Academy start their virtual assistant businesses as a side hustle while they’re still at their nine to five, at least until they’ve mostly replaced their income. I know many of you are interested in doing the same thing. So in today’s episode, I’m sharing with you my top three tips for starting your side hustle as a virtual assistant while still working your nine to five. Jim is to time blocking, which I know I talked about in the last episode a little bit, but this is really going to help you get clear on what timeframes you have available to work your side hustle. So it’s time to bust out that paper planner and block out exactly when You are going to be able to work and what your other priorities are. Those should all be plugged into your planner. So your time with God, your time with your family errands, you have to run, put those things in first, and then you can really get a clear vision of what time blocks you’ll have to work on your virtual assistant business. It doesn’t have to be tons of hours, like all grouped together. It can be 30 minutes here, an hour here, It’ll all add up over time, and if you just sit down to work on it here and there, I promise you will get to where you want to go. But having it mapped out on paper for you is going to help you so much.

Time blocking is a really powerful technique that helps you improve focus, it helps you manage your time effectively. During your time blocks, it’s really important that you eliminate distractions and commit to working solely on the paper. The task that you’re supposed to be working on during that time. If you’re multitasking, you’re not going to be able to get as much done. Okay? So, time blocking is going to help you maintain focus, and it’s going to help you avoid getting overwhelmed by multitasking. I know we all do it, it’s really hard to stop, but it’s really not helping you be more productive. I promise. So if you need more help with figuring out how to set up time blocking for yourself, I recommend checking out episode 233 here on the Ditch the Classroom Podcast. Tip number two for starting your virtual system business as a side hustle is to prioritize the top three money making tasks in your business each day. So I like to use what’s called the cake method. And basically if you just imagine like a tiered cake with three layers, those are your three big tasks for the day. Three tasks that are going to help move your business forward. And make you money. Okay? So, your job is to just get those three tasks done for the day.

And then, anything else you’re able to get done is sprinkles on the top. If you don’t get to the sprinkles, that’s fine. You still have the cake. But, if you don’t do your three big tasks for the day, then you just have sprinkles. And that’s not really filling. Okay? So, that’s your job. Remember cake method, three layers of cake. That means you’re doing three money making tasks a day. And then anything else you’re able to get done is just sprinkles. So it’s really, really important that you’re looking at what tasks are going to generate more income in your business. So think about, for example, what would lead to more income, following up with people who you’ve had discovery calls with, or creating a new Instagram post. I’m willing to bet following up with people that you’ve had a discovery call with is probably going to lead to a new client faster than an Instagram post will. Okay, so trying to prioritize what tasks will actually get me new clients is really going to set you up for success. All right, tip number three to help you start your virtual system business as a side business is to remember that it’s most important to get things done, not perfect.

For example, when you’re launching your portfolio to the world, it doesn’t have to be beautiful. You’re going to tweak it over time. You’re probably going to tweak it like 20, 30 times as things progress. So just get the general idea of it together and start applying to clients. Okay. Remember, done, not perfect. If you wait till things are perfect, you’re not going to get the income that you’re looking for in your business because you’re going to take way too much time trying to make sure everything’s exactly where it should be. The placement’s great. The colors are great. No, just bust it out, get it done. You can always alter it later. All right, guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode. And I hope that these three tips helped you to figure out how you’re going to be able to start your virtual assistant business while still working your nine to five. Let me recap those for you. Tip number one was to implement time blocking. Tip number two was to prioritize the top three money making tasks in your business each day. And tip number three was to focus on getting things done. Not perfect. All right, y’all. Thank you so much for listening to this episode and we will see you next time.