Day in the Life of a VA — Emma Ferrick
We’re so excited to be talking with Emma Ferrick today! Emma, we’d love to learn a little bit more about you. Tell us who you are, where you’re from, about your family, all of those fun facts.
I’m so excited to be here! My name is Emma Ferrick. I’m the founder of ELF Operations, a Consulting Firm, for growing small businesses and entrepreneurs who want to scale their businesses without overwhelm and burnout. I’m from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just right outside the city. I have three beautiful girls. They are why I started my business. At the time, I was a single mama, just me and my daughter. That’s really why I started ELF Operations, and it’s just such a huge part of why I love doing what I do – helping other entrepreneurs be able to live the lives that they love and with businesses that really support that.
LOVE that! Let’s go ahead and dive in. You were a single mom, you had one baby girl. Why were you exploring virtual assistance? What did life look like at that point?
Yeah, it was such a different point in my life at that time. It was pre-pandemic, around October of 2019. I was stuck in a 9-5 corporate job, dealing with issues from a domestic violence situation in my relationship. This was probably about a year before I started my business. I took that year to get everything back on track to get myself and my daughter situated and back on our feet. We had just moved into our own place after living with family for a couple of months, and I was working my corporate job. I kept looking at the finances and looking at the budget, because at the time I was only 22. My student loans were crazy. The bill for full-time daycare was more than my rent. I looked at my budget and I was like, I am negative 400 and some dollars every month, even with a full-time job! And, I couldn’t get assistance because I had a pretty decent corporate job right out of college. There was so much debt and so many expenses weighing on me. I wanted to be able to have financial freedom and not count on my ex for child support, because that was still a way he would have control in our lives. My corporate job was not ideal especially with my situation, not only because of court and custody and all those things, but being the single parent in the situation. I was the one staying home when my daughter was sick and couldn’t go to daycare, had doctor visits, all kinds of things like that. I did not have any flexibility in where or how I worked.
I started looking into ways I could make money online, ways to have more flexibility because I was also a young professional in a very male dominated field. I was a project scheduler for a government contracted manufacturing company and was very much the minority in my business and in my industry. Any time I tried to switch or go somewhere else, they just never took me seriously. I was so frustrated with not being respected, not getting more experience, not getting the chance, and then also with my finances. I eventually found virtual assistance on Pinterest. I was originally like, oh, maybe I’ll blog, maybe I’ll do this, maybe I’ll do that. But my background is in supply chain management and operations management, so I really wanted to keep that piece in whatever I did to help make more money and have that flexibility to be home with my daughter.
What I’m hearing is that there was such a heaviness of this toxic relationship that you were getting out of. Even though it was hard, you got out of that and were looking for ways to make a better life for you and your daughter, but there was still a heaviness of your job and being in the minority and not being able to move forward, and the heaviness of being negative for all the expenses. I want to just stop for a moment and celebrate you, Emma, for thinking, “ I need to make a change. This is not what I want for my life. This is not what I want for my daughter.” I’m sure we’ll talk about this even later, but what an example that you set for your daughter, even at the very early stages.
So, you were looking for a way out, you found virtual assistance on Pinterest. As you were researching and learning more about virtual assistance, what were some of the frustrations that you experienced in getting started?
Yeah, that’s a good question. First was the question of, how can I do this? Is this right for me? You know, would I be taken seriously? Could I actually make money like this? And those weren’t all just frustrations. There were a lot of limiting self beliefs because I was healing from trauma. There were some frustrations I’ve recognized now that I didn’t realize at the time, such as being the face and the brand of my business. It was very hard for me as a trauma survivor and a domestic violence survivor. That is now something I talk about with other entrepreneurs as well. For those of us leaving those situations, it’s not not always safe for us to be putting ourselves out there. When I was getting started, a lot of the coaches or the gurus that I was following were like, just get out there, go out there and go live on Facebook, just be that face of your business. That was really frustrating for me because I didn’t want to just plaster our lives on social media and share that piece of us because who knows? I was so worried about it, like, who’s going to send this back to him? Or would this lead him to us? Those kinds of things. So, that was a huge frustration for me, getting that advice. Now, I know that there’s other ways to market yourself and you can use your brand, etc. I went to business school, but never learned all the things that go into marketing and sales and the admin and the legal, those types of nitty gritty pieces, and how to do them well for yourself when you don’t have a big company backing you.
Oh, that’s so good. Your story is so inspirational and encouraging that you CAN get to the other side of things.
Emma, you were researching virtual assistance, and working through that. When did you join the SavvySystem Virtual Assistant Course? Was it called the SavvySystem or was it called the VA Bootcamp?
I think it was the SavvySystem. I literally found virtual assistance through different blogs and different pins. But, the pins and videos that caught my attention the most were The Virtual Savvy’s pins, and then I went through the masterclass and the email sequence. I thought about it for a couple weeks and I was like, you know what, if I’m gonna do this, I want to do it with help. I joined the SavvySystem Virtual Assistant Course right away because I didn’t want to take too long to get my business up and running. I took the last little bit of my tax return that I had saved up and I invested that into myself, which was so scary at the time because it was a huge chunk of what I have saved. I knew that the return on the investment would be greater to invest and get started and not have as many hiccups as if I was doing trial and error on my own. Because, I also only had short chunks of time, you know, in between full-time work and being a mama. I wanted all the help I could get to get going fast.
There’s so many golden pieces there and so many pieces of relatability! Looking back from where you are now, the return on your investment was huge, right? Let’s dive into some of that. You joined The SavvySystem Virtual Assistant Course, learned about virtual assistance and getting yourself out there. I would love to hear more about how you marketed yourself and some of the hurdles. When did you find your first client? When did you get over that hump and start being a CEO?
It’s been so long and I’ve had so many clients in between, but if I remember correctly, my first client came two months after I joined. I joined in October and I took all of October and November to implement and deep dive, and then I first got my first client in January of 2020. It felt so good and it was all word of mouth! I had just told people, everyone, like the System says. You know, just tell a few people, you don’t have to pitch anything. I just said, hey, I’m doing this thing, can I connect with anybody? I reached out to a friend and colleague of mine from when I was in college and said, look this is something I’m doing, I don’t know if you know anybody. He put me in touch with my first client, which eventually turned into a mentor for me later down the road. She was local, which was awesome because we met for coffee. Our discovery call was in person! So, I got my first client and then not long after that, because of the pandemic, I quit my job and went full-time with virtual assistance. That was a whole other story, as I was so not ready for that, but because of the pandemic I had to make the jump. Figuring that out was interesting, but the clients did start to come in after I took that leap of faith, so to speak.
When you first started, what kind of services were you offering?
Oh yeah, that was like a huge hurdle, too, pricing myself. Going through that and those pricing blocks and those money blocks. But, I was offering general virtual assistant services and I was doing hourly packages to start.
You talked a little bit about what you were doing in your corporate job. What you were doing in the corporate setting, or maybe even jobs that you had in the past, did you see that those experiences translated over to the virtual space? Did you have any difficulty or challenges with that translation?
I feel like they did translate over really well, especially some things. I was in capacity planning and resource planning, and management and inventory, so it was different, but I’ve applied my background in different ways since I work predominantly with service providers and online business owners. That was kind of a hurdle, of how to convert what I knew into the marketing lingo that the business owners would understand, especially service providers because I was working in a product based business for so long with tangible goods. There was also a tech hurdle. I love tech, so tech itself wasn’t really the hurdle, but there was new tech that I hadn’t gotten to access because the industry I was in was so behind on that front. It was so fun for me to learn ClickUp, Dubsado and all the tools that I think are amazing to play around with. I love learning new tools. But, having that background of Excel, data analytics, operations management, and resource management translated. Especially since once I did make the jump full-time, I went deeper into more online business manager and operations consulting, because I identified that there was such a need for small business owners to get them to that point because they would just skip over that when they got started. Or, they just didn’t know how to translate that into the online space because they didn’t like tech or want to work with tech. A lot of the older entrepreneurs and service providers I’ve worked with are really good at what they do, but they’re not as good at that business management piece.
What I’m hearing is that whatever experience that you’ve had, even if you’re younger and don’t have a whole lot of corporate experience or professional experience, who you are and how you have been shaped by your past experiences can absolutely support you and transfer over in the virtual space. It’s just kind of exploring that and what that looks like and that’s what we teach here at The Virtual Savvy.
Emma, you kind of talked about how you started with general admin, but then you saw a need that you wanted to tap into. Things transformed. Tell me a little bit more about that transformation.
Yeah, I also would like to say, I had internships and things like that before, but I was only in corporate about two years before I quit because I also didn’t want to climb the corporate ladder. So if you don’t have a lot of experience… I was only 22 at the time! That did affect how I priced myself because I was so worried about being younger, but you shouldn’t worry about that. Like Rachel said, I just wanted to preface that it wasn’t like I had tons and tons of experience, but I did have enough experience that I felt confident offering the online business manager services and offering that consulting piece and the tech that I had self-taught. I went through the SavvyVault. I bought extra courses on a specific couple of softwares that I really liked and really enjoyed for my business and went really deep into those. There’s a lot in The SavvySystem Virtual Assistant Course to get you started, but there’s other resources too, to build up your credibility as you’re getting started.
That would be one tip I have, it’s not about a degree, it’s not about your corporate experience, it’s about how you present yourself and the relationships you make. Diving deeper into the operations side for me, and how my services have changed, because now I offer an online membership for operations for business owners who want an OBM but aren’t ready for it. It is giving them support and building those foundations to scale their business and build their team. I have a VIP day, which is something that I thought was never going to happen when I first started my business. My offers have changed in a lot of different ways and I feel like they evolve still to this day. I also have my retainer consulting packages and ClickUp builds is what my team offers and supports other entrepreneurs with, which is very different from the hourly or the retainer that I did based off of hours. These offers are so different, but I love them because they meet entrepreneurs at where they are at, at different levels.
So not only have your offers changed, but your life has changed. How has your why evolved?
I’ve recently gotten so much clarity on this. I felt so stuck for a long time. My why when I started was just to get out of debt, get a hold of my finances. I feel like so many people, that’s why they get started. They want to make more money. My why was also obviously to spend more time with my daughter and that’s still a huge part of my why because now I have three daughters, but my why isn’t necessarily so personal. To me, I feel like in the last couple years, I realized this business could be so much more for women who are in the same space as me. So, my why is really to help as many women love their life as possible, and not just survive their day to day. This is on our website, if you go there or follow me, you’ll see I talk about the ‘thrive over survive’ mission. We do that with our operation services, getting them back on track, helping them have scalable businesses, getting over hurdles like tech or hiring or team building, team management so that they can get their life back on track and be the present moms they want to be. A goal this year was to hire more women who were in similar situations that I was when I started my business. Maybe they struggle with putting themselves out there or being the face of their business, but they really need that flexible remote work and that VA work that can help them succeed in life and be there for their kids. I really feel like my why, is to just help as many women as I possibly can to live a better life.
That’s so good! Now, Emma, you’re not necessarily behind the curtain anymore. We see you out there all the time. Was there a stretch of time where you felt more confident and more able to be out there and put yourself out there considering what you had come through?
Yeah, I think a couple of years ago is when it shifted and I would say it was over a long course of time, a lot of personal development, growth, healing through the trauma. Talking with different mentors about strategies that would make sense because for a long time I was like, do I even want to keep doing this? I had felt so defeated. I was kind of afraid of success because of my abuser, like would I attract this attention? That was something I had to go through in that personal development journey of, okay, I am safe. My now husband has also definitely helped rebuild that confidence and that relationship with myself and with others. When you’re leaving a trauma situation, part of survival mode is, you just don’t feel safe. Eventually I was able to feel safe in the life I was living in, the life I was building, and get my power back for myself. It is self-love, self-worth and knowing that success wouldn’t bring us harm and all those lies that your brain tells you out of fear. My mission was bigger, putting myself out there, it was okay and my message is meant to help someone, whether it be one person every time I go live or whatever it is. It was having people come on my team to help me because I know where my strengths and my weaknesses are now.
You already just kind of answered this, but how have you seen yourself grow? And another thing that I heard you say, is that you were afraid of success. You were afraid of putting yourself out there because you were going to be successful. I think that is important to understand, that for some of us, it’s not the fear of failure or not being able to succeed, it’s what if I actually do succeed? That fear of success can be attached to a variety of different circumstances, but Emma, you have owned your fear and come so far!
What does life look like now? I know you have three girls and you’re married, but how long have you been married? Tell us a little bit more.
It looks so different! It’s going to be five years since I’ve started my business this October. When I started my business, I never would’ve thought that I’d meet these women from all over the world and connect with so many. That’s another piece that connected me to so many clients and so many women, was sharing my story and them saying, oh, I’ve gone through that. I’ve impacted and connected with so many because of my story. Getting to work with women from Australia, New Zealand, and learning about other people and connecting with them has been so crazy to me. And just the fact that now, yeah, I am married! And in my business, when I talk to other people about it, it’s that my business helped me heal and helped me grow because it connected me to women who do RTT, which is rapid transformation therapy. I’ve connected with women in the online space who do such unique things that aren’t talked about. Getting to heal through my business has been such a big part of my journey. It has brought me closer to my husband, because it changed our communication. It’s tough being an entrepreneur. Luckily my husband is also an entrepreneur, so that brought us a lot closer, too. We’re a young, self-employed couple, so we’re very much a minority. We get to have this time with our children. We’re so ecstatic that we can give our kids these memories that we never got as children because he grew up in poverty and I grew up lower middle class, as well. The fact that we can take them on vacation, that we can work from wherever and our businesses can support that. We’ve been married for two years, but we’ve been together for about four years. He was a big reason I even started my business and has kept me going through my business. I know that not a lot of women can say that because it is hard to talk to their spouse or for their spouse to understand, but every time I’ve wanted to give up, he’s always been there saying, you know you’re not going to be happy in a 9-5. You want to be with the kids, you’re so good at what you do. I don’t think I could have made my business what it is today without him. And now he’s actually one of my clients, with his construction company. I do things for his business that I don’t do for a lot of my clients, but the social media, the marketing, content creation, things like that. I just love being able to be so present for my girls. I wouldn’t get that in a corporate job.
That’s so good. And the thing that I want everyone to hear is that Emma got to the point where she was able to share her story and put it out there, maybe not so much right at the beginning, but she overcame her fear. Once she shared her story, the doors opened for other people to be encouraged and influenced and inspired.
What is one piece of advice you would give to those considering virtual assistance, or they’re just getting started?
First, and this is going to be cliche, but it’s so true. If you’re thinking about virtual assistance, a business, or a side hustle or anything like that, just do it. It’s so worth it, you’re going to get the return on your investment. But, I know the fear that’s gonna come up. So, my second piece of advice would be, trust your gut and trust yourself. That is one thing I wish I would’ve done way more when I got started, was trusting my ability and my gut so much more. There’s a lot of good advice out there, but make sure you weigh in on yourself, like, is this right for me? So trusting your gut would be huge.
I love that! Okay, if you could travel back in time, to yourself and when you first started your business, what is something that you would tell yourself, knowing what you know now?
Probably stop getting in your own way and stop sabotaging yourself. I feel like the biggest hurdle I’ve had is my own mind and my own limiting beliefs. If I could go back, I would tell myself, you know, here’s some good offers and don’t be afraid to go out there and share your story. Don’t hold yourself back.
SO GOOD! Seriously. So. Good.
How about a few questions from our followers? First, did you stick to your pricing for your first few clients? When did you start increasing your prices?
Yes, I did keep to the pricing for my first few clients and I would say it was probably once I jumped in more full-time, about six months later, that I started really factoring in my time vs what my budget needed to be, what I could be doing. I reevaluated after those first few clients because I also had a problem where I was over going above and beyond for my clients like a lot of us do. I had let myself scope creep, so I did stick to that pricing and then I started to say like, okay, I really need to shift to the retainer model because my clients like having so much access to me and like these are the services we’re kind of bleeding into. Once I learned those lessons, I started implementing that for newer clients as they started to come on, and I would renegotiate pricing with the current clients as our contracts came up.
You used the term scope creep. Can you give a quick definition of what that means?
Yes! Scope creep is when you agree on your terms and conditions, and your contract when you first start services and you go beyond what is agreed upon in that contract.
Thank you! Scope creep is something you have to protect yourself against. Having those strong boundaries is so, so important.
How do you know when it’s time for you to start hiring and start growing a team? What did that look like for you? How did you know you were ready?
I learned this lesson from hiring too soon. I was like, okay, I’m going to invest in my team and hire these women to help me. I knew there were things I didn’t want to do or like to do in my business. I said, okay, I’m going to hire and I’m going to delegate and I’m going to take a leap of faith. I hired before I was ready, which was a huge mistake. I still didn’t have my mission or my values totally defined. I kind of thought that was fluff and I didn’t have a good direction yet for a team. I just thought, you know, they come in and they would fix things for me in my marketing, they would guide me through things, which was not the case. So, you know, when you’re ready, when you’re close to burnout, you’re just working too much, you just don’t have enough time. That’s usually a good indicator that you need to build better systems, automate some more. I always say that to clients, automate before you hire because it’s easier to manage tech than it is to manage another human. I hate putting a number on it because it’s really on a case by case basis. When you have it in your budget and when you’re starting to feel yourself at capacity, and if you’ve already streamlined as much as you can. And, when you’re looking to hire, I always say to make sure you’re passing things that really need the human touch. You’ll know when you have it in your budget and when you’re at capacity. One of my personal finance and business friends always says, if you can put away money to hire for at least two to three months before you hire, then your budget is ready for it.
100% agree with everything that you said!
How do you schedule yourself time off for sick days or vacation days? What does that look like inside your business?
Having a good infrastructure is so important to schedule yourself time off or for sick days. What I did at the beginning of my business looks very different from what I do now. So, I’m going to give both pieces of advice for anyone who’s maybe still really starting off and doesn’t have the team or the support because if it’s just you, you are the sole person providing those services. It looks a lot different than if you do have a team.
If you’re newer, just be open and honest. As someone who does manage remote teams and has dealt with it on the other end, please communicate to your client, to your manager, to your team leader, whoever that may look like. Just say, hey, I’m going to need the day off. A sick day is going to be way more impromptu than scheduling a vacation or something like that, so communication is so key. Don’t leave anyone guessing. And as someone, like I said, who manages remote teams, it’s super frustrating when our VAs don’t tell us, or they only tell one person, or there’s no policy in place on the team. I’ve had that happen for a lot of teams, when I’m new to getting their operations cleaned up. If you’re a business owner, make sure you have that time off policy in place with your team. And then if you are scheduling time off, make sure that it’s planned ahead of time when possible.
Then, as I grew, one thing for me was making sure I had a good lead gen strategy. I still have referrals and pipelines so things aren’t going stagnant. For my clients that I serve, I will bulk prep my services and I will do a lot of work the week before, but they knew well in advance when I’m going to be off for an extended time, and what they can expect to get done and what they can expect to be put on pause.
Such great advice!
Emma, thank you so much for joining us for the day. We learned new things about you that we didn’t know before. Congratulations on all the success that you’ve had and all the success that you’re going to continue to have. We believe in you!
Thank you so much for having me. I am so thankful to give back to The SavvySystem Virtual Assistant Course. If anyone is on the fence or anything, it’s been what jump started my business, so I’m so thankful to have the community and to have the team.
Meet Abbey
Abbey Ashley is the Founder of The Virtual Savvy. She helps aspiring virtual assistants launch and grow their own at-home business from scratch. She's since gone on to grow a multi-six figure business and retire her husband ALL from her at-home business. It's now her passion to help others start their own VA business so they can taste the freedom and flexibility of entrepreneurship as well.
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