We love hearing about the journeys of our #FullyBookedVA System students – and sharing them! In this post, we’ll be following along on a six-month adventure with intermediate VA Natalie Keifer.
You may remember Natalie from our Student Income Report Series. We followed along with three kickass VAs in various stages of their businesses to hear about their successes, their challenges and how they pursued – and achieved – their goals over the course of six months.
We’ve compiled their stories into individual case studies so you can catch all the action in one place!
Let’s take a trip from the beginning of that story and hear about the incredible things that happened in Natalie’s business. Ready?
Part-time preschool teacher to a thriving VA business
We’ve loved sharing Natalie’s story because she’s a great example of what happens when you not only set a goal, but you take massive action to reach it. After realizing that being a teacher wasn’t the right fit for her – and that it wasn’t going to pay the bills – Natalie knew she needed to find her thing.
After doing a little research, she jumped into 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success (now known as VA Foundations and included in The #FullyBookedVA System) and instantly knew that she was in the right place!
“I’ve been given a new sense of purpose, and every day I wake up loving what I do. I’m also making more income with my VA business than I make at my part time job. That is a huge win!”
Natalie finished the course two weeks after purchasing it and started networking in Facebook groups and pitching every single day.
Within a week, Natalie had her first client and had made back her investment in the course. About another week later, she landed her second client and within a month of purchasing the course was officially in profit!
The pattern Natalie set in the early days of her business was one that would continue over the course of the next several months.
Natalie leveled up her business by taking the Pinterest VA course about a month after taking 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success. Before she’d even finished the course, Natalie had landed her first Pinterest client with a second one following within a few weeks.
How was she able to build her business so quickly?
“I can say to you with full confidence that the training I received with Horkey HandBook’s courses and materials gave me all the tools necessary for success.”
We saw Natalie put what she had learned into direct action, with awesome results.
We also heard from her right away that Natalie’s plans to scale her new business involved creating a virtual assistant agency and working with her sister and sister-in-law. In the beginning of our check-ins, Natalie shared that this would be an important goal for her to reach because “…this VA business will be helping me, as well as my family.”
A steady climb to the top
Over the course of six months we saw Natalie build her client roster at a steady pace. Early on she shared a couple of her “secret weapons” when it comes to pitching:
“This month I focused on only doing video pitches. The response I received back from this was amazing – every person I pitched thanked me for taking the time to make a video…
“Another strategy I used this month was to follow up with potential clients, and I received way more responses by doing this.”
Natalie even landed a couple of clients because of her follow up – including one that she reached out to six times!
Natalie shared another strategy that paid off for her – pitching even when she didn’t have 100% of the skills the lead was looking for.
How did this work for her?
“I let him know in my pitch that I’m a quick learner and told him about my other skills. I didn’t hear back from him, so I sent a follow-up email and guess what? He told me I was the only one to follow up with him!”
And later, with yet another new client:
“A very cool detail about this pitch – she needed a video editor and social media manager. Even though I didn’t know much about video editing, I pitched her anyway. While we were emailing back and forth, I was completely upfront with her about not having a ton of skills in the video editing department. I let her know that I was very willing to learn, though…
“…I love that about this work – we’re being paid to learn, and I now have a new, marketable skill to offer my current and potential clients. This is the second new client I’ve landed this way!”
Natalie kept her eyes on the prize and kept at it with pitching.
“Consistency is the key! I’ve been sending several pitches a week – all video pitches – and then following up three days later. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been thanked for following up!”
You’ve gotta have goals!
One of the things we’ve loved about sharing Natalie’s story is her commitment to delivering excellent services to her clients. While it’s easy to get caught up in the daily dynamics of building a successful VA biz, Natalie consistently made it a goal to knock it out of the park for her existing clients.
“Great news! I’ve seen growth in each one of my client’s social media accounts! I’m so happy to have achieved this goal and so are my clients. I made it happen by following my plan – creating an engagement strategy and working on content that was sleek and eye-catching.”
We also saw Natalie achieve that very exciting goal we mentioned earlier – starting an agency with her family.
“Another really exciting development – I’ve taken on my sister and sister-in-law to do design for my social media clients. I’ve started a small agency that will benefit my family and will be a huge step up for me!”
Aside from consistently adding clients to her roster, delivering excellent service and starting an agency, Natalie also set the goals of adding $500 per month to her income and successfully taking a week-long workaction. She achieved those also!
Being the go-getting action taker that she is, we saw Natalie set – and reach – her goals on a monthly basis. All except for one…
“To be honest, I didn’t do much with my website this month. It’s just not my favorite thing to do.”
That’s right – Natalie built a successful VA business that has allowed her to leave her “day job” and start an agency with her family… All without a website!
During the six months that we followed along with Natalie, her monthly income grew by 33%. Her short-term financial goal was $2,000 per month and when we left off with her she was almost there!
Natalie’s long-term financial goal is $4,000 per month within a year. Based on her track record of eating goals for breakfast, we’re confident that she’ll get there.
Has it all been easy for Natalie?
Not necessarily – we saw Natalie overcome “technical challenges” by reaching out to the course’s then-membership group, the VA Leads Community (now known as the #FullyBookedVA Community and included in The #FullyBookedVA System) for some ideas when her invoicing system crashed. As a result, she implemented a new system and kept on trucking.
Natalie was also forthcoming about her challenges with managing her time – particularly while still working her day job. She shared with us that setting clear blocks of time for working on, and in, her business and turning off notifications outside these hours was a “game-changer” for her.
Natalie also shared that she experiences what many of us do – feeling overwhelmed by her business.
“It’s okay though! I know things won’t always be easy, and I also know that every month makes a difference when it comes to the big picture. I worked really hard this month and I’m sowing seeds for the future.”
Making moves
Each month that we checked in with Natalie she had landed another client and checked another goal off of her list.
And where did we recently leave off with her?
Within less than a year of taking 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success, Natalie has more than replaced her income at her part-time job and will be leaving at the end of the school year to run her VA business full time.
She’s started an agency and is just within reach of her short-term monthly income goal. Natalie recently enrolled in the Podcast Production School course to level up her business even further and is keeping her pitching efforts strong to provide more than enough work for her and her sisters.
We can’t wait to catch up with her in a few months to hear how it’s going!
Natalie is a great example of someone who looked around their life and realized that she wasn’t 100% in love with her circumstances. She made a plan and is making it happen in a major way.
Natalie consistently hones her craft by investing in herself and learning new skills and has kept the integrity of her business and services top-of-mind as she’s been building. We’re confident that her commitment to delivering real value to her clients, investing in others, taking massive action on what she’s learned and setting clear goals will continue to pay off for her!
Ready to kick off your virtual assistant journey like Natalie did? Get started here!
Natalie Keifer is a freelance writer, social media manager and Pinterest strategist from Pennsylvania who enjoys connecting with others. She is strong in her faith, and loves to spend time reading her Bible. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing and watching Netflix. She’s building her VA business and loves every second of it!
