Fully Booked VA Blog

Student Success Story: Rebekah Hutchins

It’s time for another awesome Student Success Story here at Horkey HandBook! 

Why do we share these stories? Great question! 

We love featuring students of our 30 Days or Less courses who have applied what they’ve learned and taken action. These are real folks, just like you, and each of their stories brings some unique wisdom and insight.

In this post we’ll be hearing from Rebekah Hutchins – she’s a graphic designer, Pinterest manager and blogger. Rebekah took an approach we teach in 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success and literally had her first client find her. 

Read on to hear Rebekah’s story! 

Name: Rebekah Hutchins

Website: rebekahhutchins.com

30 DOL VA Course enrollment date: April 1, 2016

Business launch date: April 10, 2016

Date hired by first client: April 18, 2016

Hours worked per week: 10-25

Top three services/niches: Graphic design, social media, admin tasks.

Hi Rebekah – tell us about yourself!

I’m a millennial with a love for all things entrepreneurial, design and marketing. Seeing things progress and improve lights me up and inspires me to keep trekking!

For the record, I’m also very risk averse and don’t make investments unless I’m sure there’s potential to make an ROI within a reasonable amount of time. And the 30 Days to Virtual Assistant Success course definitely delivered on that front.

For fun, here are a few words I’d use to describe myself: Caring, introverted, free-thinking and focused.

What about your business?

I’m a graphic designer, Pinterest manager and blogger. I help women entrepreneurs beautify and share their message with a larger audience.

I got my start in online business with Gina’s course, and it’s been exciting to see how much my business has evolved throughout the past year.

From niching down my services and now starting a blog, my business has taken a few turns over time. You never know how things will develop, so it’s been fun to enjoy the ride and see where things take me.

At first, I was offering three main services to clients, but as time went on I was getting more and more requests to do things I’d never done before. So I tried out a lot of different things and was able to see what I really loved and didn’t like so much.

Close to the end of last year, I knocked out a lot of what I was offering and niched down to solely offering graphic design and Pinterest services.

If you’re still not sure what virtual assistant services you can offer, we’ve put together a list of over 150 services that webpreneurs need help with.

How did you decide to start freelancing or working online?

I decided to become a virtual assistant after hearing an interview with Gina (more on that below). She was working from home, living on her own terms and making an awesome living.

The thought going through my head while listening was, ‘Could I do that too?’

She then mentioned her free courses and I was really drawn to the idea of becoming a VA.

How did you find 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success?

Last year I was listening to the Side Hustle Show with Nick Loper and Gina was a guest speaker.

She talked about her success, and how the listeners could get started with her free courses. So I took to my computer and signed up for each of them.

I loved the VA course. So after the week was up, I signed up for the full course. I’m incredibly grateful to both Nick and Gina for sharing their knowledge.

And how long did it take you to earn your course investment back?

It took two hours of client work to earn back my initial investment.

I landed my first client just over a week after starting the course. Since it was a quick design project, I was able to make my investment back fairly quickly.

The first thing I did was join a few Facebook groups where my target market was hanging out. Then I introduced myself in each group and had an influx of comments from people who were interested in checking out my website and rates. A few days after my initial introductions, I got a contact submission on my website from my first client and we started working together.

What was your biggest fear before you started your business?

Feeling like an imposter was my biggest fear at the time. And also being asked to do things I wasn’t knowledgeable about. I have since learned that Google is our friend and everything is “figureoutable.”

What was the most challenging part about getting started?

Setting up an online presence, for sure.

Before taking the course, I didn’t have an account on any of the big social media platforms and because of that didn’t really have a handle on how to grow my business on each platform.

How did you overcome that?

First, I want to give a big shout out the amazing Facebook community you get access to when you join the course. They’ve helped me so much and gave me awesome advice and lots of encouragement when I was starting out.

Second, I just went for it! I created a Twitter account, joined a few Facebook groups relative to my niche and signed up for a Pinterest account.

I landed most of my clients through Facebook groups, but I was able to network with some really cool freelancers on Twitter as well.

What has been your biggest success since you’ve started?

Helping one of my clients feel like she’d shed 50 pounds.

She was struggling to keep her business and personal goals in order, and after a week of working with her, she let me know how much I was able to help her get things back under control.

Getting sweet messages from clients is one of my favorites parts of being a freelancer. It’s super rewarding!

Can you tell us about your highest paying project?

When I first started out, I think my highest paid projects were all about creating Powerpoint presentations and editing WordPress sites. I was making $25/hr, and since these projects took a bit more time, I noticed I would have higher paydays when I did them.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m working on growing my blog and spreading its reach so it can be seen by more people and help them in their online business journeys.

What are you looking forward to most over the next 12 months?

Growing and monetizing my blog, while being able to share experiences and knowledge with my audience. And becoming more skilled in graphic design so I can create incredible designs that inspire people when they see them.

I learned graphic design through courses, blog posts, podcasts and lots of practicing! Also, my younger sister used to give me Photoshop lessons that were actually a big part of my getting into graphic design.

Right now, I’m offering workbook and content upgrade design. I may add to the list later on but for now these are the services I’ve noticed bring me the most joy.

Rebekah is a millennial obsessed with online business and creating new income streams. She’s also a graphic designer, Pinterest manager and blogger. Follow along if you’d like to learn more about making money online, blogging and Pinterest!

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Gina Horkey

Gina Horkey

FOUNDER & CO-OWNER

Gina Horkey is a married, millennial mama from Minnesota. Additionally, she’s the founder of Horkey HandBook and loves helping others find or become a kickass virtual assistant. Gina’s background includes making a living as a professional writer, an online business marketing consultant and a decade of experience in the financial services industry.

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