Start Rising Podcast

Episode 44: Empowering Your Business: Hiring Virtual Assistants and Embodying Success (Part 2)

• Caiti Courtier • Season 2 • Episode 5

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Imagine, a world where you're no longer tied down by tedious tasks, where your focus is honed on the big picture. Does that sound like a dream? Well, it's not. It's the reality we're going to help you create by hiring the right virtual assistant. Inspired by James Wedmore's training series, I'll walk you through the practical steps to select and set up your assistant for success, leaving you free to strategize and grow. We'll also share our own journey, our hesitations, and how we overcame them to trust this crucial process.

But we won't stop there. We're going to discuss something unorthodox yet powerful - manifesting success through crystals. I'll share my personal experience with a beautiful slab of Labradorite, a physical representation of my success, a reminder of my power to manifest dreams. And this isn't just about rocks. It's about embodying worthiness and stepping into the self that deserves success. It's about transforming from the inside out. Whether you're an entrepreneur ready to spread your wings, or an individual looking to bring your dreams to fruition, you're in for an enlightening journey. Let's get started.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome into part two of November to now mindset virtual assistants and crystals. So last time I didn't quite get to the virtual assistant and crystals part that I was looking to chat to you about and we'll go ahead and dive straight in. So, in the spirit of, i like to share with you where I'm at, so that way you feel like there is someone that is walking alongside you in your path. And one of the recent things that basically has been inspired by going through a session by James Wedmore called, like, the rise of the digital CEO. It's a free training series. He has basically three sessions. They're like two to three hours long and it's fantastic. So, if you get the chance, definitely recommend doing that. The amount of value I took away from the free session is just unreal and it was the catalyst for the virtual assistant piece. So, in the spirit of my husband and I working together to start up our business, we basically now we are juggling our regular jobs, we are juggling a newborn and we are juggling wanting to start up a business and then still have some time for each other. So, basically, inspired by this series, he talks about hiring before you're ready and hiring a virtual assistant to do the tasks that you can delegate to them and it's not to hire someone to just hand all of the responsibility over to them. It's hire them to do the lower level monetary tasks. So, for example, if you've got a $10 an hour task and you've decided your time is worth $100 an hour, does editing the thing on Canva reflect the $10 an hour task or does it reflect the $100 an hour task? The mindset piece and the shift within myself, specifically because I've definitely been the one driving this is yes, i can do those tasks that are lower level, and I don't say lower level in a bad way, i'm just saying, like the lower monetary skills, essentially the tasks that would do you're the one driving the business, your vision is bigger, whereas the people you bring on to assist you in the beginning are more probably focused on those smaller tasks that the business needs, but it doesn't necessarily move. Creating the new Canva graphic isn't necessarily going to grow the business.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, what was I saying? So this is basically With bringing on the virtual assistant. It's a mindset shift, it's knowing that, oh my goodness, i'm responsible for paying someone, i'm responsible for managing someone and I'm responsible for making sure they have enough work to do each week And we're starting off on the lower end of two to four dollars an hour with these. Basically there's a site that hires virtual assistants through the Philippines and basically it's a hub for being able to choose someone who can meet the tasks that you need, and it's a great way to take the risk out of hiring someone full-time, say, in the States, and it's something that it's a nice little stepping stone into the responsibility of bringing someone on, so you're not responsible for their benefits, you're not responsible for paying their tax, you're not responsible for getting their W-2s if you're in the United States. Basically, they're freelance contractor for you that you communicate with and you set your parameters to how many hours a week you work and what their rate is. So for us we're currently looking at someone for two to five hours a week and within the scope of two to four dollars an hour. So that's our kind of beginning piece And essentially the virtual assistants start their salary. Their hourly rate starts from a dollar and goes up from there, and so it's a really nice baby step away into the space of being responsible for someone and then being like focusing and being like, holy crap, i am responsible for making sure someone else has work on their plate. So it's huge, it's for us, it's a big leap and it's hiring before we're ready.

Speaker 1:

In the piece that James Wedmore talks about essentially is the reason you haven't been able to hire someone is because you've been doing all the low-level tasks yourself. Like I'm paraphrasing here. But basically the reason you're not seeing the progress you want is because you're trying to do everything And as entrepreneurs I know you're probably just as guilty as I am as trying to do absolutely everything yourself because you want it done, you know you're capable of it and you want that little bit aspect of control too. That's something that I've definitely found. As I've been setting this stuff up for this person to come on board, i've been realising that the little voice in the back of my head, the little Katie, goes oh, i can do this, i can do this really quickly, like it'll just take me a minute, it'll just, it'll just take me a minute and I can do this really quickly. And then I won't have to spend all my time creating these process documents for how to do what I want them to do. I can just do it myself. And I've had to take a pause and I've had to say no, yes, well, yes, you can do all the things you're asking them to do because you have done them and that's how you know you need them done, and it would basically take less of a time if you were just to do these things, but it's not sustainable. So, by putting the time to slow down, to speed up is I'm slowing down, i'm writing out the process documents, i'm taking screenshots, i'm writing step one. This is what you do. This is where you will find it.

Speaker 1:

I'm creating documents as far as, like what the tasks are, making sure they have the information they need to do the things. Just as an example, one of the things that we're getting them to do is work with print on demand items through a Shopify store and also creating can for graphics to basically drive traffic using the Pinterest pins back to that Shopify store. So those things are ones that I could do very quickly, but I'm having to wrestle that in a little Katie that wants to hold on to control things, to do it herself, just so tightly, so, so tightly. So that's something that I've been coming up against currently. So I'm in the process of creating those documents and trialling the virtual assistant.

Speaker 1:

We are going to send out an offer today and I'm going to finish writing out the process documents for the trial tasks today, so you heard me hold me to it and I wanted to just share that piece, so actually I might even share. Let me pull up the website so I can share that with you too, in case you are interested in doing something. It's virtualstaffph and that's out of the Philippines, basically like the hub of people who are virtual assistants, and you sign up to be an employer, you write your job description and you post it And we've had 176 or something like that applicants that you then filter through and you work through it to see who might be the best fit for you And even writing the job description. I didn't want to take too much time with it, just knowing kind of like alright, what are the top things that I want them to do? Okay, i want them to be able to edit Canva graphics. I want them to be able to have some experience with print on demand and be able to work in Excel, because that's essentially the document that will be central updating across Trevor, my husband, myself and the virtual assistant, so we can be on one page and they'll have the information that they need. But it's a learning curve like anything else. It's a little bit of a scary learning curve, but it's a tiny little step forward. It's a tiny little step, not a giant ladder that you're trying to run and grab. It takes the pressure off a little bit, but it also puts the pressure on you as the entrepreneur in your business to make sure they have stuff to do. So if that's something of interest, that's definitely an item you might want to trial. I'll keep on reporting back as to letting you know how things are going, where my mindset's at. And, yeah, so that's some new growth pieces that we are moving towards, knowing we only have a smaller number of window to be able to give time to our son, give time to the business and give time to our regular jobs as well. So that's that piece, and then the crystal piece.

Speaker 1:

So I am someone who loves crystals. I believe in the energy of them, i believe in the different properties and things like that. Right from a very young age, i remember going to crystal shops with my Nan, my mum's mum and my mum, and, because I was younger, anyone who's been around the crystal space knows in order to choose the crystal, you have to be able to touch the crystal, hold it and feel if you like it. How does it feel in your hand? those kind of pieces I remember being so. It was being young and was consistently told no, don't touch that, because as a young child you don't want to touch the crystals. And then, because you're young, break the crystals and then your parents have to pay for that. So being able to go into the crystal shop now as an adult and actually hold and touch things really carefully, it's awesome. It's awesome. It kind of feels like that adult pieces there.

Speaker 1:

And it's become particularly important to me as of late with having my crystals. Like I have some crystals along like my windowsill where my desk is. I always have like some type of crystal jewelry on, so like bracelets or a little stud in my ears or something like that. But it's become really important to me as of late, since last year my Nan passed away and that was something that she always had so many crystals around. It was just really really important part of her life and my bond with her. We'd talk about that stuff and kind of all things woo-woo. She was my go-to person for that and she was the only person that I felt like I could really talk to about those woo-woo aspects.

Speaker 1:

But the reason I wanted to speak to you about crystals is tied in with the belief part that I spoke about in part one is the whole. Beliefs create our outer world. I had been eyeing off. For people who may or may not know, i'll describe it. So there is a crystal called Labradrite and it is usually very common, sold in like a giant slab, like I suppose They're kind of the size of your hand and it usually kind of sits almost like a book and piece. So people cut and they polish but they're like cut into it and it's got like reflective, shiny, peacock-like glimmer to it when it's cut into and then it's like shined down And you basically hold it in different lights and different angles to the sunlight and it lights up like this beautiful, like bluey, greeny, yellowy, purpley colours.

Speaker 1:

And for the longest time I had been I remember distinctly I was in Montreal, travelling with, basically travelling with my parents and my husband and we went to a crystal shop, because anytime there's a crystal shop I need to go in and so does my mum. We saw this big giant slab of Labradrite, like probably one and a half times your hand and it just had the most beautiful colours. And I remember seeing the price tag on that and it was probably about $170. I'm guessing and thinking to myself wow, that's amazing, i would love to have that, but I'll only get it when I'm successful. And I say that because I couldn't justify the price and, as you know from previous episodes, i've been working on my money mindset for shifting from everything is tight, contracted, restricted, to being more open and flowing and abundant. I marked that Labradrite slab as something that I could only get when I'm successful in my business as an entrepreneur, and that was 2019 because it went on like a family moon after our wedding. So from 2019 onwards, i've been holding on to no, i can only get this Labradrite slab when I'm successful, and that essentially became my beacon for when I make $10,000 in a month or when I feel like I've had a successful launch, that's the only time that I would get that. It would be like my reward. So my belief in not doing that was that I wasn't successful and I think that sat with me for quite some time and maybe even blocked me And challenging that whole piece from that.

Speaker 1:

James Wordmore, training as far as what if you gave yourself the thing that you were wanting before you were successful, before you reach that milestone? So you embody the entrepreneur who has just had the successful $30,000 launch or whatever that may be for you. You embody it, and then the world and the energies and all that stuff. I kind of show up as that, and you know me, i like to get woo with this kind of stuff, but you have to embody it in order to see it. That's, you know, require various resources for these different cookings versus allow. The general frame of mind is I need to see it before I can believe it. But it's actually backwards.

Speaker 1:

So what I did is I went ahead and used my own little personal Venmo money to. I spent quite some time. I was like I'm gonna let myself Purchase this library slab, i'm gonna let myself do it and I'm gonna use my money. Then I'm not gonna feel like I'm taking it away from anything. It's not that dollar hasn't been assigned for something else, this one's just assigned just for me. So I spent probably two to three weeks Trying to decide on which piece of Labradorite Off Etsy would be the one that I wanted and also justifying a little bit of the price too.

Speaker 1:

I Was doing my best to, because I gave myself the permission and for quite some like most of the time, i was like, well, this is, i've released it, it's something that's now, oh, it's off my shoulder, it's something that I give myself the permission to do and I'm willing to go ahead with it. But I couldn't choose which one and I was beginning to think well, maybe it's the permission piece that I needed, maybe I don't need the physical thing. And I thought, no, you know what, katie, you need to have it to be that physical representation of you are successful and then you become Successful. It with that weight, like giving yourself the permission. So I did it, i went ahead and I finally chose off Etsy.

Speaker 1:

This beautiful like slab of of Labradorite that is the manifestation, is a physical representation of I give myself permission to be successful. And It was incredibly hard to choose, because with crystals, as I mentioned, you have to touch and feel them and get that thing, and all I could go off Was a couple pictures and a little video on Etsy. But she's here, she's a she. She arrived today in the box And with I saw it was Mark fragile. I was like I'm so excited. I got the scissors, opened up this box and Unwrapped her and I was like, wow, this, this embodies, this feels right, this feels like what I needed and Just having that now sit on my desk here as I sit at my window at my desk with her off to the side, i will see her as I go ahead and do like, do regular tasks, come in, come out, pick her up, feel her, move around, like, shine her in the light. So she shimmers this beautiful, like green and blue and a little bit like a yellowy green In the light. So that's why crystals are important to that mindset piece, for me at least.

Speaker 1:

Maybe there's something that you might have that you wouldn't allow yourself to get Until you feel like you're worthy of it. And I'm here to tell you and to give you that story, to remind you that you are worthy now And embody the version of you that's worthy. That way you become it. You become it and you are. You see it on the inside and then it becomes on the outside. So I hope you enjoyed our two part chat as to giving you an update as to where I am and things like that. I'm gonna go and I will chat to you next week. Thank you, bye.