Hello and welcome to today's episode of The OBM Educator. I am so excited because today we're talking about my story. We've had a couple of people on the podcast already to talk about their story and their journey. We had Lauren talk about going from a VA to an OBM. We had Galina come on here talk about what she would like to do as an OBM, and I'm so excited to be sharing so many other stories and introducing you guys to so many OBMs out there. But today I am sharing my story. I think that it's always helpful to hear how other people got to where they are. All of our stories are different, they're all unique, but I think that we can all relate to each other's stories in a way. Even if it's not like your specific situation. There are a lot of things that you could find similarities in and that can help you in your own transition from VA to OPM or in starting an OPM business. So I am excited to share this and I hope you enjoy an OBM business. So I am excited to share this and I hope you enjoy. Welcome to the OBM Educator. I'm your host, Amanda McVicker, a veteran OBM who serves seven-figure and entrepreneurs as well as educates new OBMs with the skills and confidence they need to start and grow their own successful online business management business. Follow along as I share valuable insights behind the scenes, sneak peeks, and proven strategies to help you build a better OBM business.
01:32
I started my business my virtual assistant business. I was a VA first in 2019. A little bit of a backstory on me is that I was a conference planner in Northern Virginia, outside of DC. That was my dream job. That is what I wanted to do. I had been planning events since I was like 13. And once I learned what conferences was, that's what I wanted to do, and so when I got out of college, I got a job as a conference coordinator, made my way up to manager for four years, was planning a conference for about 2,500 people each year, was loving it. And then we moved to Kentucky, and so initially my thought was that I was going to find a job down here, but right before we moved, found out that I was pregnant. Find a job down here, but right before we moved, found out that I was pregnant, and so we moved to Kentucky and we decided that I was going to be a stay-at-home mom, which really was never something that I was interested in. I don't think it was something that I really wanted before, but it's what made the most sense when we moved here and I was recovering from a pretty stressful job being a conference planner, and so I was a little burnt out and I was really welcoming the time to just be home with my baby. And so I was home with my baby for a year and literally in that year I had another baby.
03:00
I have two boys that were born within 48 weeks of each other, and in that time I was trying to first be like a mommy blogger and mommy Instagram person. That did not work out, but while doing that, I was on Pinterest all the time looking up how to write blogs, how to do XYZ, whatever, and through the magic of Pinterest ads and the algorithm, I started getting things popping up saying become a virtual assistant. I had also like done some social media management for my sister in the past and I had looked on Pinterest. So all of that was kind of already curated in my Pinterest feed, and so in that year that my first son was born, I had like kept seeing become a virtual assistant, become a virtual assistant, and I'm like, okay, what is this virtual assistant thing and I looked into it and I was like, well, I could do that because I had been finding that you know, I loved being home with my son and being pregnant and all of that stuff, but I felt that there was something missing. I wanted something more, someone who had prided herself on working and being really good at a job for a really long time, not just like in my corporate career, but in college, in high school, like always doing things, I needed to do something. And so virtual assistant seemed like such a great thing to do because I could do it at home, it could be a couple hours a day or however much I wanted it to be, and it just seemed great.
04:39
And so I kind of like pushed it off, thought about it, pushed it off and then, finally, after my second son was born and he ended up being in the NICU for three weeks because he was born early during that time I think it really kind of clicked with me that I really wanted something more. I wanted to have something else besides being a mom, but I needed it to have that flexibility that. You know I was with my kids, but if something were to happen that I could do it from a hospital room or whatever, and so after he came home from the NICU, I decided okay, I'm going to put this together, and so I spent like the next month kind of getting it ready, figuring out what I was going to do, and eventually launched my VA business as an event planners virtual assistant. Because I had my certified meeting planner certification, I was able to help conference planners and event planners at a high level with their events, and so, because that was kind of a niche that VAs really hadn't attacked yet, I was able to book out pretty quickly. I was able to do that via cold messaging, cold pitching.
06:00
2019 was a different time, just as an FYI aside, but because there weren't many VAs out there for event planners at that time or conference planners, it was pretty easy to get clients, which is why I always recommend if you have a niche that is a little bit outside of the norm, you probably would be able to book out pretty quickly, but anyway, so I became a virtual assistant for event planners and as I was working in their business, I was setting up my business, and so Dubsado was the first tool that I used in my business. It is still a tool that I use to this day. I was setting up Asana in my business. I was starting an email list. I think I first started in MailChimp, but then I went to MailerLite, then Flowdesk.
06:51
I jumped around a little bit, but I was setting up all of these systems in my business and I was also following the VA coaches and trainers Sarah Wiles she was a big one who really helped me in all of her free stuff. I was binging really to learn about being a VA, but I was being introduced to the online space business coaches, life coaches, creatives, service providers, all of these things and it was around that time that I learned what an OBM was online business manager and I was like, oh, that seems perfect. That's more in line with what I want to do, and I think that if you're thinking of transitioning to OBM at any point, you have that idea at some point that, oh yeah, that makes more sense for me. And so I was thinking that I would become an OBM for event planners. If you know anything about event planners, usually they started their business because they're really good at planning events but not so great at keeping track of things on the backend, and so I was like this would be perfect. I can set up their CRMs and their email lists and all of that stuff. And so I was kind of in preparation for making that change when COVID happened.
08:06
For the online space COVID was great because it brought a lot of people in it. For the event planners, it was not so great. Within a week, I lost all my clients because all of their events were canceled and I was like, well, they don't need business managers right now, and so I took some time to be I think, like we all might have been during COVID a little angry a little bit. Woe is me a little bit. I don't know what I'm doing with my life, but I eventually, through a lot of journaling and mindset work and talking it out, kind of decided that I was going to continue with being an OBM, and so I started at zero with being an OBM. I didn't have any clients that I could transfer over, and so I had to completely rebrand my Instagram that had only been talking about event planners.
09:00
I had to be more active on Instagram and I had to really put myself out there if I was going to be finding clients, and so I had hired a coach at that point to help me, and I remember our first session where she was asking me well, who do you want to work with? I was like I think I want to work with women business coaches. And she was like cool, cool, how about, to start with, we just kind of say anyone who will give you money? And while like she said it in kind of like a humorous way, it was kind of true, like I was trying to put myself in a box at a point where I didn't even know what I wanted. Right, I had never worked as an OBM with women business coaches. I didn't know that that's what I would want. So she really encouraged me to kind of just be open to what came. I had a call with a guy once and going through that process of the sales call with him made me realize nope, I really don't want to work with men in that capacity, and so that gave me information that gave me knowledge to go forward. But I wouldn't have known that if I had just kind of made like a blanket statement like I'm not going to do that. So she pushed me out of my comfort zone to be open to exploring whoever it is that really did need or require.
10:25
You know my services, and so part of what I was doing during this time was preparing my backend. I think there are some people out there who are like why are you focusing so much on preparing your backend when you should be marketing? Because you're not going to get a client for all that backend stuff without marketing. And then, on the flip side, there are people who kind of hide back and say, well, I got to make all of this perfect before I even start marketing myself, or else how am I going to onboard a person? And I think that there is a happy medium in there and I was trying to balance that. Where I was marketing myself, I was putting myself out there, you know, without clients. That's my job. But I was also needing to get everything set up so that if someone were to hire me, especially as an OBM, especially at that higher level, that if someone were to hire me, that onboarding process would be smooth and wonderful and show that they made the right choice. And so I was kind of balancing that, while also, of course, being home with my kids, who are two and one at that point.
11:31
So one of the things that I started doing during the transition in trying to get clients is I started doing project packages and so I think I put it at like three hour projects that anything that's on your to-do list, on your plate, whatever you've been putting off or you don't know how to do it, give it to me, I'll do it. And through that I got a lot of really cool projects. One of them that I mean honestly it was also at a very discounted rate. It's more to get experience and to get people to say yes than necessarily making money. But one person said yes and I remember I ended up spending like five hours doing this project, even though it was only slated for three. But I did that because it got me in Kajabi. Now I had not had experience in Kajabi before. It got me in Kajabi. Now I had not had experience in Kajabi before. This was when Kajabi was like really, really popular and a lot of people were making that switch there, but it's also really expensive. Like there was no way that I was going to be able to afford getting in there when I wasn't making anything in my business. And so with that project package I was able to get into Kajabi, play around, set this thing up for her and then have that project be done and that gave me like one. It gave me a little bit of money, but it gave me confidence in a product that I would not have had previously. Right? So I think that you might be starting like with clients that you could transition or you might have a full slate. But if you don't have clients right now, when you're wanting to become an OBM, say like, for some reason, your VA clients are no more and now you're wanting to transition to OBM, don't be afraid to get creative with some offerings, with some packages right To do, like a project package, to get some experience in something that you wouldn't have normally done before.
13:26
During that time of getting my backend ready and marketing, I was on Facebook groups. I was on Instagram. I was pitching myself. I remember it being very uncomfortable, but I did pitch myself to people who I thought it would be a good fit for. I did like presentations too.
13:48
Nothing was really taking until there was a post in a Facebook group that someone was just like. I think it was lit up and loaded entrepreneur where Lacey had posted like one of my clients is looking for an OBM. If you're an OBM like comment below and everyone's like dropping their Instagram handle or their website. But another person had commented on that post and was like oh, I need an OBM too. And everyone was ignoring that comment. They were just like dropping their handle and being like okay, bye. So I replied to that comment to be like hey, so-and-so, what is it that you're looking for in OBM? You know, if you're interested in talking X, y, z.
14:32
And then I had also found out through a little bit of research that she lived in my hometown and so I did kind of like a PS. I was like PS, by the way, I see, you live in this town. I am actually from there, small world, and kind of like let that be Now. She didn't respond to that, but later on, when she was asking for referrals, someone mentioned my name and she was like wait, I know that name, how do I know that name? And she went back and she found that comment and she was like oh yeah, no, I'll talk with her and she filled out my form.
15:10
We got on a sales call. She said yes, on the spot, and that's how I got my first client, because you'll see this, you know, a lot of people say if you're like going into groups. Don't just put your email address, your Instagram handle, your website, whatever. Ask a question what is it that you're looking for? Ask a thoughtful question that they can give a response to it. But also it's not just showing like, oh, I don't care, I just want a client You're actually like, well, you know, what kind of OBM are you interested in? Like, what is it that you need support on? Maybe I can help you, maybe I can't, and so it does show it's going above and beyond. So, anyway, I had that client and we had our onboarding call and on that onboarding call I talked about her business, I had her fill out a questionnaire and if you listen to last week's episode, I talked about being okay with not being great at the beginning. And I would definitely say that being okay with not being great at the beginning and I would definitely say that I was like not great at the beginning when I was like having this strategy call.
16:08
But I did a lot of research and I used the tools that I knew that I had, one of them being Lucidchart. If you've never heard of Lucidchart, it's a way to like map out processes or flows. I don't use it very extensively even now, but I took one of the processes that she wanted to update and I just stuck it in there, like I got a box for each step and I put arrows. I color-coded it to her brand colors. It was nothing special, but I showed it to her and I was like I think that this flow can work. And here are some like notes, like we could change this or we could change this again. Nothing extraordinary, nothing out of this world, but she one loved it. Two, she showed it to her friend. Her friend happened to be looking for an OBM and she was like wait a second, that's amazing, let's talk with this girl. So I had a sales call with her. She hired me, I got my second client before I technically even started with my first client and then, you know, I booked out pretty quickly. I got another client in September, another client in October, and so within four months I had four clients and I was booked out. And so a couple of takeaways from that. I will preface this by saying it was 2020.
17:30
It was a different time in the online space, but I think that there are still a lot of principles that apply. I did not let the fact that I was not skilled and versed in a lot of things stop me from using the skills that I did have to show. One, that I knew a little bit of what I was talking about, but two, that I could go above and beyond, that I could learn With all of those clients that I got pretty quickly. I was able to show them. Yes, this was the right decision, so much so that they told their friends who would then want to hire me. I got many VIP days. I got many clients from those initial clients, but I think another thing that is worth noting is that I did put myself out there.
18:18
You can't just put up a website or put up an Instagram page and do nothing and then say why am I not getting any clients? And I apologize if that calls anyone out, but I will say for a time that was me that I was like well, I put out a post, but you know nothing's happening. Why there is a lot more that you need to be doing to get clients. Now, the great thing about OBM any service provider really is that you're not needing hundreds of clients Like I booked out on four clients. That's not that many, and throughout my whole journey and I'm sure I'll share this at some point, but I've been through many clients.
19:02
There was a period of time where I was trying to find the type of client that I really wanted to work with, but I really only needed four. I had up to six clients at one point and that was crazy. But four to five clients is really all you need, and so putting yourself out there to get that first one the first one is usually the hardest, but you put yourself out there, you pitch yourself when it makes sense, you do project packages, you share your knowledge and your expertise, get that first client and then you show them how amazing you are. You go above and beyond. Show the value of what it is that you bring to the table, because they're not going to be able to help themselves from telling their friends, telling their family, telling the guy down the street. And that is how you can grow your business through referrals, word of mouth, all of that stuff. I think that that is still in 2024, a huge way that people book out their business. I see that every day that referrals, word of mouth, that is how people book out their business, that is how people hire. People might put out an application in a Facebook group. But for the business owners that are ready to pay the top bucks, who are ready to turn over operations and give their trust to an OBM, they're not putting out an application. They're asking their friends, they're asking their peers hey, who do you know that's a good OBM? I get DMs like that all the time. Hey, do you know of any OBMs who are looking for clients? So keep that in mind when you're making this transition, when you are starting your OBM business.
20:54
I hope that this was helpful for you. I hope that you found inspiration in this story. I love sharing it. You know it's been a journey and I, you know I stopped the story and the telling of it in my first year, my first six months. I've been an OBM now for four years. I think at the time of recording this today might be like the anniversary of me announcing that Huh, that's fun. But you know it's been four years that I have been an OBM. I'm still learning things. I'm still on a journey. Who knows in a year what I could tell myself that I don't know yet? So always remember that your business is a journey and you're always going to keep growing. Progress over perfection is exactly what we're striving for and I am so excited to share with you that I am having a webinar in a couple of weeks.
21:51
I am putting on a webinar called Build a Better Business Three Steps to Begin your Transition from VA to OBM, even if you don't think you're ready. So this is going to be on Tuesday, July 23rd. If you can't make it, I would still encourage you to register because you will get the replay for it. If you've been on one of my trainings before, or if you listen to this podcast a lot, you know that I bring a lot of knowledge to trainings and you will get so much out of it. We are going to be talking about how high-paying land clients without needing certification or any advanced training. We're going to talk about how to create a deeper impact in your client's business without needing to know all of the skills, and we're going to talk about the mindset tools that you need to believe in yourself and grow into the OBM role, and all of this is to help you truly create a better business for yourself.
22:48
The link to join is in the show notes, so please register. I look forward to seeing you there and if you have any questions, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at amandamcbicker underscore OBM, or send me an email at hello at amandamcbickercom. I'll talk with you guys next week. Bye, thanks for joining me for this episode of the OBM Educator. I hope what you heard today is helpful for you on your OBM journey. If you loved today's episode, I would so appreciate you sharing it and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Want to be a guest on the OBM Educator? Fill out the form in the show notes and I'll be in touch. Join us next time on the OBM Educator.