The Perfect Side Hustle for Moms Who Want More Time and Income

Tanya Valentine
May 20
60 min read

0:00

What if you could make real money from home without sacrificing precious time with your kids?

This week on The Mom-entum Podcast, I’m chatting with Laura Nicole—a former college professor turned Virtual Assistant and coach who’s helped over 800 busy moms create flexible, work-from-home businesses that fit into the pockets of their day.

We talk all about:

What a VA actually does (and why you don’t need to be super tech-savvy to start)
How Laura went from broke and overwhelmed to running a 6-figure business from home
The real behind-the-scenes of working part-time while raising little ones
Exactly how YOU can get started—even if you have zero experience

Whether you’re looking for a side hustle, a full-on career switch, or just want more freedom and options—this episode is packed with inspiration and actionable steps.

Don't forget to share your thoughts on today's show, any questions you have, or struggles you would like coaching on in the comments below! I would LOVE to connect with you!

Oh, I almost forgot!! I've been dipping my toes into YouTube, so if you want to watch the RAW, UNEDITED version of this interview click here.

Resources from this episode:

Grab Laura’s free Career Switch Cheat Sheet https://www.laurajtraining.com/career-switch-guest-podcast
Learn more about the Superstar Assistant Academy Laura is offering my listeners 50% off her full program—no code needed! https://www.laurajtraining.com/special-offer-guest-podcast

Connect with Laura:

IG: @hey.lauranicole

threads: @hey.Lauranicole

website: laurajtraining.com

Bonus Resource Just for You, Mama!

If you’re struggling to find time for anything, let alone starting something new, you need to grab my 5-Minute Reset—a powerful time management tool I created specifically for moms.

Unlike traditional time management advice that assumes you have long stretches of uninterrupted time (ha!), this quick but mighty reset gives you a flexible routine that adapts to real mom life. It’ll help you keep your head on straight when you can’t hear yourself think—and includes a simple strategy to help you be fully present when it matters most.

Grab it here for free:

www.tanyavalentinecoaching.com/reset

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Just click this link—it’ll take you straight to the Learning with Kelsey site and automatically apply your 15% off discount at checkout. Easy peasy.

If you have any questions or need help, don’t hesitate to reach out. And if you end up loving these boxes as much as we do, I’d love to hear about it!

Transcript

I cannot wait for you to hear today’s episode with Laura Nicole—because wow, did she overdeliver! Laura is a former college professor turned Virtual Assistant and coach, and she’s helped over 800 busy moms turn their existing skills into profitable, flexible VA businesses that allow them to work from home and still be present for all the moments that matter.

This conversation lit me up. Laura is so passionate about what she does, and her energy is contagious. Whether you’re feeling stuck, craving more freedom, or just curious about ways to bring in extra income without sacrificing time with your family—this episode is going to be a game-changer.

Laura doesn’t just share the how, she plants the belief that this is possible for you. From how she went from paycheck to paycheck and living in her mom’s basement… to building a successful business, paying for her dream home, and creating a life filled with flexibility, freedom, and choice—her story is real, relatable, and seriously inspiring.

So if you’ve ever wondered if there’s more out there for you—something that fits into the nooks and crannies of your day while you’re still fully present for field trips, sick days, and bedtime snuggles—you’re going to love this one. Let’s dive in!

Tanya: all right. Welcome to the show, Laura. Thank you so much for coming on the momentum podcast.

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Laura Nicole: Yes, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

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Tanya: Yes. Well, let's start with your story. I want to talk about how you went from being a college professor to becoming a virtual assistant what sparked the shift, and then how did it change your life?

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, it's a pretty wild switch when you think about it. I went to school for years and years to get a Master's degree, and then became a professor. But then I had a baby, and having a baby kind of shifts, everything right. We had struggled with infertility, so it took us a little over 2 years to get pregnant, and we actually had stopped trying.

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Laura Nicole: And then we were one of those couples that stopped trying, and we actually moved across the country. So we were like, let's just focus on like settling in. And then one day I was in class, and I was like, huh!

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Laura Nicole: It's something's off here, and went home and took a pregnancy test on a random Tuesday, and

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Laura Nicole: there she was, a little, a little nugget growing and once she was born, just a lot of perspectives shifted, which I think does happen for a lot of moms. I always thought I would work. I never. I never really had that desire to be a stay at home, Mom, because I just get a lot of fulfillment out of my work as well.

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Laura Nicole: But I was home. I taught online this semester. She was born, and then I had to go back on campus when she was 5 months old, and I just very, very quickly realized, like, I don't want to have to leave her just because I have a class or office hours, you know, like

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Laura Nicole: she was always in good hands. She was with her dad or her grandma, but we were exclusively nursing. She had a hard time with bottles, and I just I hated having to go just because my work said like, Hey, you have to be here, you know.

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Laura Nicole: But we were not in a place for me to be a stay at home, mom. Financially, there was 0 point 0 chance that I could just forego an income and stay home with her. So I started looking for more flexible options. And my older sister actually had gotten into the online business space. So she had learned about virtual assistants. And she was like Laura. This would be such a good fit for your personality.

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Laura Nicole: And I was 33, and I'd never heard of a Va. So I was like, what? What even is that?

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: What are you talking about? I don't even know what that means. So she explained it all to me, and at the time this was 2020. There weren't a lot of like work from home options right? Like it was kind of either do an Mlm.

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Laura Nicole: Or have a a traditional job and so I was like, you know what? I'll try. I'll give it a go. Let's it's not gonna hurt anything right. And I signed 2 part time clients in the 1st month, and just really started slow, because I was still teaching full time and was in. You know, the throes of newborn land still.

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Tanya: Oh, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Crazy. My daughter is now asking for a baby, and I'm like, - I don't think you understand what that would actually look like, little girl.

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Laura Nicole: I try to explain it. She was like, no, it'd be fine, and I'm like, - you don't understand. But it still was just kind of like a side thing, a supplemental thing until 5 months in. I signed a contract with a new client that was $4,000 per month, which.

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Tanya: God.

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Laura Nicole: Matched my college professor salary with one client, and that was when I was like

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Laura Nicole: what and I just found them on Instagram. It was just someone I've been following who I was like. They'd be fun to work for. They shared on their stories. They were looking for a Va. I messaged. I put my name in the hat. We chatted, and we signed a contract for $4,000 a month to do just a ton of admin stuff for his business.

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Tanya: Oh, my God!

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Laura Nicole: But I had been making 46 a year as a college professor for the last 5 years, like 4 years at that point, and this one client was $48,000 a year. And I was like, okay, maybe this is like, actually the solution. Maybe it's not just a side hustle, you know.

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Tanya: Oh, my God!

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Tanya: It's amazing.

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Laura Nicole: It was incredible. I couldn't really believe it to be honest, and so I.

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Tanya: Captain.

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Laura Nicole: For a couple more semesters, partly because I'm a very like right brained logical thinker, and I was like this has to be too good to be true like. What if this.

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Tanya: Right.

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Laura Nicole: You know, but also because we had some big financial goals at the time we were trying to purchase a home. And so I was like, I'm just gonna hustle and grind and like, get through this. But yeah, I did end up leaving teaching after 2 more semesters. I have never gone back. Va. Work has been my full time income making 6 figures a year. Excuse me.

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Laura Nicole: I actually was able to double that teaching salary within a year and a half, and then triple it within 2 and a half years. So.

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Tanya: Rural Ohio.

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Laura Nicole: It's like. Still, when I say it.

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Tanya: So happy for you.

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Laura Nicole: Like, how did that happen? I was so stuck in a place? I don't know if any of y'all have felt this way where, like I felt like I did everything right. You know. I went to school. I got the degree I used the degree in a field where, like it was required, and I still felt like I was just grinding.

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Laura Nicole: but I was very stuck like the thought of even making $50,000 a year felt crazy. I was like I had accepted. Kind of right like. This is just kind of what it is. This is what I'll be doing. I'll never make as much as my husband, Yada Yada, right! And then, 2 and a half years later, I made like 30,000 more than him, almost hit 150 K. But the best part like yes, the money is great, but I got to do that while being home with my baby, you know.

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Tanya: Yes, that is the dream that is the dream.

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Laura Nicole: Literally, I tell people because I'm like, I hate the saying right? Like, it's life changing like, I feel like women hear that all the time about online opportunities, but.

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Tanya: It doesn't.

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Laura Nicole: Time I'm like. But what like if there's a different, better definition of life changing? Let me know, because

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Laura Nicole: my whole family's lives look completely different. You know she didn't go anywhere until she turned 3 and started 3 K. So I got to be home with her for the milestones, but also just the daily routines right every nap time, every bedtime.

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Laura Nicole: every meal.

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Laura Nicole: and it's it's still very surreal. Looking back at the fact that I got to have all of that time with her when she was so little, while

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Laura Nicole: my family right like kind of having your cake and and eating it too. Which is why I'm so passionate about teaching other moms, because so many moms don't even know just like I didn't know 5 years ago that it was an option. It is an option, and it's a great option. And yeah, our lives look very, very, very different now than they did 5 years ago. So.

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Tanya: Yeah, can you paint a picture of what your life looks like now, compared?

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. So I mean at the time, right? Working a traditional job. It was very number one. I was very overworked. I was having to carry a double course load, which meant I was teaching like 7 classes per semester, just to even hit that 46 k. Which meant just kind of working nonstop, even as a teacher. Right? You don't only work when you're in the classroom. It's greeting, it's lesson plans. It's

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Laura Nicole: office hours and meetings. And we were. We were honestly living paycheck to paycheck. My husband and I both have master's degrees. We both had good jobs right as well.

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Laura Nicole: Society would deem

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Laura Nicole: and we were in our early thirties, and we were had tons of student loans. We had tons of credit card debt from our twenties right where we hadn't known how to responsibly handle things. And we were living paycheck to paycheck. I waited tables at a Texas roadhouse until I was 7 months pregnant, just so that we could

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Laura Nicole: Andrew time.

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Laura Nicole: And yeah, I was teaching full time. But that was like the financial situation we were in. You know we could barely keep a thousand dollars in an emergency fund, and if we were in that place, I bet a lot of people will be like, oh, same here, at some point in life, right where we would put $300 in savings, and we're so excited about it. But before the end of the month. At least 200 of that had to come back in

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Laura Nicole: to sit to your checking, to cover something right like you. Never! We never felt like we were getting ahead by any stretch of the imagination, and we even so then we had my daughter. I started Va. Stuff, but we were still very much paycheck to paycheck at that point, and we really wanted to build a home. Now that we had a we'd always been like, oh, we're fine renting. Once we had a baby, we were like, we want her to have

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Laura Nicole: a home right? So at 10 months old we actually moved in, or yeah. When she was 10 months old we moved into my mom's basement.

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Laura Nicole: which we were very lucky to have that opportunity to save on a rent payment, but we moved my husband, our 10 month old, and our 80 pound bulldog into my mom.

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Tanya: Oh, God!

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Laura Nicole: We had. One side was our living room. One side was our bedroom, and then our daughter got the second finished like actual bedroom upstairs.

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Laura Nicole: but we moved into that house, saying, Okay, we're okay. If we have to be here for up to 2 years, because we had nothing saved for a down payment. We couldn't even do a thousand dollars in an emergency fund, you know.

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Laura Nicole: Excuse me, the Arizona Allergies are.

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Tanya: Are they bad?

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Laura Nicole: They're so bad as a Midwest kid. All the new plants I'm like, I can't breathe out here in the desert.

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Laura Nicole: But yeah. So we committed that we would be okay. We mentally prepared ourselves for 2 years, but that was right. When my Va. Income was starting to take off, and when I had signed that $4,000 a month client, and then I signed another client a couple months later, and we moved in in August, and we ended up signing a contract on a new build house on Christmas Eve, and then.

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Tanya: I know.

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Laura Nicole: In April, and all of the down payment came from my Va. Income.

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Tanya: A 100.

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Laura Nicole: Lived off of my husband's income, and then my income went toward saving for the house. So yet again, when I say it changed our lives right. We went from living in my mom's basement to building a 2,500 square foot home with a backyard for our dog and our baby and it was just incredible to get to move our little family in there.

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Laura Nicole: So that's 1 big way. It looks different, right? It's just like our physical surroundings looks very different than what we could have ever afforded before, but more so. It's just the time freedom.

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Tanya: Exactly.

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Tanya: Yes, the time, freedom, the flexibility.

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Laura Nicole: Utility. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: is by far like, yes. Obviously, this is work. It's a job. Women do it to make money. But it's not just about the money. It's about how you can actually earn the money right? Like.

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Tanya: Okay.

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Laura Nicole: Have control of when you work. We've been able to travel so much more. I just actually booked flights last night for my daughter and I well, my husband and my daughter and I are taking a 10 day trip next month to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.

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Tanya: Oh! Congrat and.

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Laura Nicole: Excited. She's old enough now that, like she thinks hearing about like our wedding and all of those things

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Laura Nicole: fun. So we're taking her back to where we lived. All of our twenties where we dated, got engaged so.

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Tanya: Where is that?

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Laura Nicole: North Carolina.

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Tanya: Oh, nice!

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Laura Nicole: So we're really excited about that. But we booked that flight. And then I literally went to a different website and booked a flight for my daughter and I to go back to the Midwest to visit family for 2 weeks in July, and then I booked another flight for her, and I had to go to Colorado for a week and a half in August to visit my mom and my sister, and it's like

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Laura Nicole: we would never have the time. I could never do that with a traditional job. Right?

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Tanya: No, no, because you'd have to get the time off. Find somebody to cover. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: So I just take my computer and my phone with me, and my family knows like I'll have.

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Tanya: Lenny's there.

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Laura Nicole: While I'm there. But.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: I'm there right, and they get to spend time with her. So that's an incredible perk. But even just in the day to day. My daughter woke up sick 2 days ago, and I didn't have to call in. I didn't have to

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Laura Nicole: use Pto or take one of my vacation days to cover her or my sick days, or reschedule a bunch of meetings. I I used to always feel really guilty when I had to leave like call out from work like I always felt like I was inconveniencing people that

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Laura Nicole: there is none of that. I literally woke up, realized she was sick, messaged her school, said, She's not coming today, snuggled her in bed for the next 2 h, and then, while she was taking a nap, I sat in the chair in the room and did some work on my computer like

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Laura Nicole: you just get. I always say you get to live your life first, st like you actually.

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Tanya: Yes.

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Laura Nicole: 1st and then fit your work in around your life instead of that feeling of like, I'm just living to work like I'm just living to work because I have to make money.

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Laura Nicole: It's the opposite when in this scenario. And so I truly get to prioritize things that are important to me and to my family and our schedule, and then work around that

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Laura Nicole: while still bringing in an amazing income to support financially. So it's it's wild.

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Tanya: That that is the ideal I

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Tanya: I'm hearing. Are you hearing? Sorry if I like, look distracted. The reason why is because I'm hearing like this banging and movement, and I don't know where. Oh, you know what I bet it is. I just figured it out. We got it. Sorry to like edit this out. But I kept hearing this, and I'm thinking, because we had issues with a mouse like back in the fall. But turns out it wasn't a mouse, it was a vole. Have you ever heard of Voles before? They look like mice? But it was like

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Tanya: this whole thing like I had to like hire, an exterminator. And all this so I was like thinking, oh, my God! Do we have another freaking house?

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Tanya: Oh, God!

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Tanya: You know what I just remembered we got a letter from Nipsco, our

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Tanya: electric company, or gas company rather.

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Tanya: Anyway. They sent a letter out that they were coming to like

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Tanya: do something like change something else around sometime around May 8, th and it's May 8.th

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Laura Nicole: There you go!

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Tanya: That's probably what I'm hearing. I was freaking. I'm like trying to like. Listen. And then, at the same time, I'm like freaking out.

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Laura Nicole: No, please, no, I do not blame you.

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Tanya: Sorry back to you back to you, though. Yeah, like, seriously like, that is the ideal like, it just seems like, too good to be true. But I want to learn, like, I think that yeah, this is like the the

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Tanya: perfect.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah.

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Tanya: Opportunity for a mom, really anyone to be honest, but especially a mom. Because, like, we're in a unique position where

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Tanya: this time, like when, especially when our kids are like young.

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Tanya: when they really do need us. And there really does need to be. I mean, I say need. And I don't want to like make anybody feel guilty because I do understand like this day and age like, yes, like families need 2 incomes, but like, Well, here's the answer like you want to. You want, like the flexibility to be there when your kids get sick, and

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Tanya: not to miss like the milestones but at the same time we want to be contributing like financially, and feel like we have something outside of like motherhood. I don't know

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, it is. You have kind of your own. It's it's not necessarily in some ways it's a creative outlet, depending on what you do.

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Tanya: Clients.

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Laura Nicole: Just having something that I always say like I get to use my brain in a way that.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Brain, you know, like.

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Tanya: Yes.

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Laura Nicole: Usually uses different muscles.

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Laura Nicole: But I'm like, Oh, yeah, I am smart, like, Oh, yeah, I can do this. I can't just put make doctor's appointments and pack lunches like, I can actually help a woman run her business successfully. That's really cool.

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Tanya: Right, and like being challenged, and like having to like figure things out.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, and learning new stuff and growing and getting outside of your comfort zone, cause you guys

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Laura Nicole: outside of your comfort zone. But it's well worth it. So.

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Tanya: I bet

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Tanya: so, for those we're talking about like virtual assistants, but for those who have no clue. What exactly does a virtual assistant do like? Can you give us real life? Examples of some tasks.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. So a virtual assistant is in the Us. You're an independent contractor. So like taxes, you file as a 1099, or self employed. Which is not as intimidating as it sounds. I know a lot of women who stop, and they're like, Nope, don't want to be a 1099, just because they've never done it. And it feels unfamiliar. We're so used to being someone's employee right.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: But it's actually really very simple. But you are working with small business owners. So that's who you're assisting as a virtual assistant, our small business owners a lot of times. They're online business owners. Just because that market is massive and because you can work with someone who lives anywhere they could live near you. They could live in a different state country continent. It doesn't.

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Laura Nicole: They're working virtually

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Laura Nicole: you can also work with local businesses, too. Right? That just limits your scope. But you're typically what you're doing is you're helping them with kind of the back end of their business, like the behind the scenes of their business, because as a small business owner, there's so much that goes into running that business, there's emails, there's admin there's paperwork. There's contracts. There's you know, numbers and data to keep up with in terms of

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Laura Nicole: opt-ins and sales and refunds, and

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Laura Nicole: even things like you know, helping with their social media, like responding in the Dms or responding to comments or setting up many chat automations. And there's so many things but the important, like kind of overarching picture is that virtual assistants are there so that small business owners can delegate and outsource

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Laura Nicole: the things that just kind of take up their time that have to be done in the business. But they don't have to be done by the business owner. Right? Emails have to be responded to. It doesn't have to be the business owner, and so when they can get those things off of their plate, it frees them up to go, do the things that do have to be done by them. The forward facing the relationship building, the showing up on social media. You know, running masterclasses

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Laura Nicole: showing up on podcasts, or if they have their own, podcast those are things the business owner has to do on their own. But they don't have time to also do all of those behind the scenes things right that have to be done to run their business efficiently. So

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Laura Nicole: very common tasks. There's actually a really wide range of things you can do as a Va. Which is also what makes it really cool, because it will fit pretty much every woman's experience and their interests, regardless of what those are. But a really common entry point into the industry is to do like general admin and customer service. So, answering their email inquiries, right questions that come in from people who either have purchased

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Laura Nicole: for them, or want to purchase from them, helping them to onboard their customers who do purchase getting them all set up with everything that they need. If there's someone who does like coaching, and they have contracts in place, being able to edit those contracts and send them out and make sure they get signed. Managing your clients, Calendar, to make sure that

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Laura Nicole: their appointments and stuff stay within the parameters of the schedule that they're looking for.

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Laura Nicole: There's so many, so many different things, but those general admin, are a really good way to step foot into the industry. If you're new, and then, as you are in it, you learn so much by doing as a Va.

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Tanya: Sure.

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Laura Nicole: It's wild. The services I offer now 5 years in are things I didn't even know existed like 3 years ago, and then clients showed me and taught me. And then, now they're what I actually like. Now I build out launch mechanisms for course, creators

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Laura Nicole: doing all of the back end, the funnels and the automations and the

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Laura Nicole: email tags and the email sequences and all of that stuff that literally 3 years ago I'd have been like, what are you talking about? What the hell

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Laura Nicole: yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Sequence? What's a funnel, you know, but you learn you learn so much just by actively doing and being and working with clients. And so even if you start kind of broadly and generally with admin stuff, because pretty much every woman has, like the innate ability to do those things right? We're multitaskers by nature. We can do email inbox management

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Laura Nicole: and then learning those things as you go. And then you can get kind of more specific and really hone in on the things that you enjoy, whether that's, you know, creating newsletters or graphics in canva for somebody or helping them to repurpose their podcast into blogs or into other pieces of content like.

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Laura Nicole: there's a ridiculous amount of things. I couldn't even ever list them because.

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Tanya: Right? Yeah. I'm sure.

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Laura Nicole: Go all day, and people.

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Tanya: On!

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Laura Nicole: They'd be bored to tears right? But.

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Tanya: Yeah, I bet. But the main theme to me like what I what I'm hearing is you don't have to know everything like.

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Laura Nicole: Oh no!

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Tanya: You know, like, don't be intimidated like no.

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Tanya: just if this interests you like, you can just start and like, learn as you go.

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Laura Nicole: Yes, 100%. And that is something that stops a lot of women

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Laura Nicole: for the last like 2 and a half years now I've been a Va. For 5, and I've been coaching for 2 and a half. It was a fun way for me to kind of get back into like that teaching side of my brain, right? But not dealing with students getting to.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Getting to help moms instead. And I can't tell you the number of conversations I have with women who are like

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Laura Nicole: I just don't know what I would do, or I don't have the experience or.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: No, it's just.

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Tanya: Have the confidence.

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Laura Nicole: Right. There's no comment. That's that's the root of it. Right is the.

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Laura Nicole: It's something new. It's uncomfortable.

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Tanya: Yes.

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Laura Nicole: Our ego tries to immediately protect us, and say.

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Laura Nicole: Talk us out of it before we even try, so that we can't fail right.

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Tanya: So then we fail ahead of time by not even trying at all.

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Laura Nicole: We fail ourselves, we flunk ourselves. I tell the women I coach all the time to let people reject you like. Let people reject you make it a goal this year

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Laura Nicole: to maybe get rejected more than ever, which sounds really backward. But it means that they're at least putting themselves out there and having

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Laura Nicole: and trying right? Because if they're if you're if I pitch to you, and you're like, no, Laura, I'm all set. Okay. At least I gave you the chance to say yes, right?

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Tanya: Just talking myself out of it right.

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Laura Nicole: Or even giving you a chance right?

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Tanya: Plus being proud of yourself for doing that like you're

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Tanya: you're really like working your confidence muscles.

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Tanya: Oh, yeah, like, that's how confidence comes, although it is very scary to do.

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Laura Nicole: Oh, it is, it really is, and that's and you get more confident, though, when it gets easier, the more that you do it right.

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Tanya: Sure. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Everything feels awkward the 1st time, but that's also something, and I know I'm getting a little off track here, but it just it makes sense a lot. What I tell women, too, is because a women also tell me in terms of like the confidence and the feeling awkward about reaching out. They're like, I don't want to sell myself. I don't.

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Tanya: Oh, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: And when I tell you I will never in a million years tell you to go sell yourself or cold, pitch yourself to anyone.

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Laura Nicole: I couldn't keep a job at the Gap when I was younger, because I couldn't sell the freaking credit card at Checkout like

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Laura Nicole: I can't. I can't sell. I'm not gonna sell yourself.

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Tanya: I told you.

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Laura Nicole: Women who I coach to focus on connection.

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Laura Nicole: That's what it is. That's how you find, because you want to work with clients and businesses that you feel really aligned with.

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Laura Nicole: that. You like them as a human right. You enjoy them as a human. You believe in them, you believe in their business. You believe in who their business is helping. And it's impacting, because that when you find that kind of working relationship number one, your work's going to be a way more fulfilling and fun.

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Laura Nicole: And that's a perk of this way to earn income. Right? Is like it gets to be fun. You get to support businesses that you're really proud of, and that you're happy to put your time and energy into. But it's also how you create more stable income

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Laura Nicole: as a Va. Because you are a freelancer, you are an independent contractor, but when you find and you take time to just connect with these clients that you want to work with and actually find businesses you are aligned with.

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Laura Nicole: Then those are the businesses that you'll work with longer term.

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Laura Nicole: and that you'll actually grow with, and your responsibilities will grow with them, and your rate will grow with them as their business grows. And now, instead of signing a client you're working with for a month and then trying to find another client to work with for a month. You're signing 3 or 6 or 12 month contracts, or it's also really common to just get into like rolling contracts where it's like, okay, we're working together until one of us decides that we're not right.

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Tanya: Okay, cool. That's.

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Laura Nicole: So you build a more stable income. I had one client I was with for a year and a half. I had another client I was with for 3 years, and the only reason we stopped working together was because she went through a really expensive divorce, and it affected her personal finances. I have a Va. Who works for me in my coaching business. She's been with me for 2 and a half years.

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Laura Nicole: and there's no end in sight right? And so.

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Tanya: Oh, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: It can create stability. If, when you're starting, you focus on connecting with these potential clients and really getting to know them on a human level before you ever even talk about how you can help them. So that mindset shift has helped so many women. I coach, because then they feel just way more comfortable starting conversations because they don't feel like they're going to walk in and just pitch, you know.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, focused on on building a connection.

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Tanya: So I this is kinda off the like all of the questions that I had prepared ahead of time. But like what this just came to me. Like, I'm just thinking what

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Tanya: like about the person who's listening and what may be going through their mind? What does connecting look like.

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Laura Nicole: Like you would if you saw someone, and you're like, I want to be friends with them.

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Laura Nicole: like the same type of conversation, right and genuinely interacting. Typically, it's going to be starting on social media because that's the easiest place to start having conversations. So when it's because what I also teach women is to start first.st And instead of just saying like, I'll work with anyone. I just want a client. Right? I just want to

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Laura Nicole: like, no, we're actually gonna figure out who your dream client is, because again, you get to be a little bit picky here. And you're actually gonna have a easier time finding and signing clients if you're not looking for just anyone, because the Internet is huge and intimidating and overwhelming. And so if you don't have like

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Laura Nicole: of who you're trying to interact with. It's going to take you actually a lot longer than if you kind of narrow your scope down. So then you're the people that you're interacting with are going to be people who you naturally are just interested in right because

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Laura Nicole: they're the they're your dream client. They're your ideal person. So that connection is literally just responding to their stories. You know that they post on Instagram, and with a genuine reaction or a follow up question or something else that interests you about them. If they have a podcast going and listening to it. And then again, it's always just from a place of authenticity of them coming back. And I you know I DM you, and I'm like, Oh, my gosh, Tanya, I just listened to episode, such and such.

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Laura Nicole: This part of it like, really struck me. It's so cool. I love your podcast thank you. So much for sharing right. And then those conversations start. It's filtering in some questions for them here and there, because when you're interacting with people on social right, if there's never questions, it can be easy for them to just heart the message, and then.

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Tanya: Right, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Not respond. And then it kind of the conversation runs dry. But yeah, I tell women to just approach it. Not like it's ultimately someone that they're going to talk about working with or pitching. But literally, it's like, if you wanted to make friends with this person.

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Laura Nicole: what would you talk about with them. What would you.

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Tanya: You bring up.

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Laura Nicole: What would you bring into the conversation? Because the other aspect of being a virtual assistant and being a freelancer is that it's not just a client picking you and saying, Yep, I want to hire you. It's you also saying, yes, you're aligned with the type of client I want to work with so a lot of times. If you see someone on social, and you see their business and you love what their business is.

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Laura Nicole: I still want you to go have actual conversation with them first, st to make sure that y'all like Vibe. Does that?

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Laura Nicole: Thanks.

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Tanya: Right.

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Laura Nicole: But there's a lot of times I've experienced it tons of times where I'm like. Oh, my gosh! I would love to work with this woman, and then I start chatting with her in the Dms. And something will rub me in the wrong way.

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Tanya: Like, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: It's like, like our conversation is different than what you present, you know, on social. And so then I'm like, thank God, I didn't pitch her or

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Laura Nicole: ask her to get on a discovery call, you know. So it's like, it's also that connection. Time is also really important, because then, you know, before you pitch to them.

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Laura Nicole: you feel confident that there's someone you'd really want to work with, you know.

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Tanya: Yeah, oh, that's so good.

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Tanya: So tell me, who is this kind of work ideal? For like? Obviously like, we have kind of already said, like moms, and then on the flip side, who might not enjoy or thrive in this type of role.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, I

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Laura Nicole: I always say that this work is so good for women who love to be kind of behind the scenes, who don't want to have to be super forward facing right now. Obviously, there's big like digital marketing network. Marketing is still a big thing, and a lot of the women I coach are like. I don't ever want to do that.

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Laura Nicole: not as like a shame thing to those, but because they don't want to have to be on social media and posting stories, and you know, doing all the things. So if you're a personality who likes to just be able to kind of

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Laura Nicole: be the one behind the scenes. I like to say, like you are the one who likes to just get shit done like

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Laura Nicole: like to write a to do list. You're a planner. You're someone who's very organized and detail oriented. And you literally get like that getting excited feeling you're like, Oh, I got a new planner. Let me write, and then when you cross, you're like Yup done done.

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Tanya: It's like about.

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Laura Nicole: Feeling to see it crossed out. That kind of personality really thrives as a Va. Because you are that like right hand behind the scenes, and also someone who's open to learning and is a quick learn. You do not have to be tech, savvy? I am not. It took me 5 days to get my frigging Wi-fi printer to actually print anything right like.

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Tanya: I do the same thing. I love that you said that you don't have to be tech, savvy? Because when I see virtual, I think tech savvy? You know.

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Laura Nicole: If you have basic computer proficiencies, if you can, Google something, if you can type, if you can open an email inbox and like, attach a link in an email or attach a document to it, or put an email in a folder or add an item to a digital calendar like Google Calendar. If you can do those basic things.

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Laura Nicole: and you're capable of learning. When somebody shows you the next steps you will be fine because clients don't. I think this is another kind of myth, or like misconception.

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Laura Nicole: Women often think they have to know everything before.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Part.

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Tanya: Yes.

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Laura Nicole: And that couldn't be farther from the truth. Because clients are gonna train you. They're going to teach you and show you their systems, their softwares, their procedures, just like if you were hired into like a traditional job. Right? They're never gonna hire you in. And then just say, here's your desk. Go do it right like.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Gonna show you how their business operates. And if anything, it's almost more so with a small business, because you're working with someone who that business is their baby right like it's their lifeline, it's their livelihood.

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Laura Nicole: And that's not to say that they're going to micromanage you, or be breathing down your neck all the time, because their goal, a client's goal, is to hire a Va. Bring them in, train them.

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Laura Nicole: and then let them do their thing, and like.

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Laura Nicole: and truly get that item off their plate right

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Laura Nicole: but they're always gonna train you and teach you. It's very common that you'll when you on board with a new client that they will. You like. You'll hop on a zoom together. They'll screen, share and record it, and show you like, step by step, like, let's say they want you managing their Crm system, which is like where everyone's emails are hosted and held.

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Laura Nicole: and they'll walk you in and say, Look, here's the tags. This is how I do it. They'll show you the process, and then typically they'll then have you do it the next couple of times with them, checking your work right.

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Tanya: Okay.

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Laura Nicole: Saying, Okay, this was right, or, Hey, you missed this piece here so that after a couple of times of them checking you, you're good, and you can do it on your own and then, if you have questions you can always ask, it's just

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Laura Nicole: number one. They'll always teach you and train you. What I tell the women I coach is that you don't have to know it all, but you need to be able to learn quickly, because they're happy to train you once.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: And like follow up. They don't want to train you on the same thing 5 times.

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Tanya: Right? Yeah, because it's their time they're paying.

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Laura Nicole: Right.

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Tanya: For their time. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Right? Exactly. But if you were teachable, if you're a quick study, if you're a quick, learn right again. I now know all these computer programs and softwares that I had never heard of

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Laura Nicole: a couple years ago. And that's when they're passing off things to you that they already do in their business. It also is really common that clients will pay you to learn new things

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Laura Nicole: to implement in their business. I have had clients do that multiple times. A ton of the women I coach have had clients do that where they really let's say they want to start using pinterest. They're like, I'm not utilizing that. It's a great search engine. I really want to start posting pins, but I, as the client, don't have the time or the bandwidth to do it. I had a client a couple of years ago who went and bought a $3,000. Pinterest course.

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Laura Nicole: gave me the login to it.

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Laura Nicole: paid me for my time to go through the program

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Laura Nicole: so that I could then do pinterest for that client.

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Tanya: Awesome. So they paid for the course then paid you on top of that, like per hour, or something, for to take the course.

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Laura Nicole: Depending on the.

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Tanya: Now you're not.

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Laura Nicole: We all have. Yeah.

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Tanya: Okay.

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Laura Nicole: Yep. So then I was able to then do it for them right, which they're then paying me to do. What I learned that they paid me to learn. But also, now I have this amazing skill set.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Valuable that goes on my resume.

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Tanya: For future.

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Laura Nicole: Clients that I assign.

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Laura Nicole: So yeah, you do not have to be really tech savvy? Literally, I say, if you can, I feel like in 2025. Most people have the computer skills, right? Like, you just need basic computer skills. And all you need is your computer and a smartphone like that's it. You don't need extra monitors. You don't need headsets like you're never on the phone as a Va, which is a really cool perk as well.

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Laura Nicole: But yeah, you don't need. And women we just loved. We love to self sabotage and talk ourselves out of things and think.

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Laura Nicole: Make up a million reasons why we're not qualified for it, when in reality the barrier to entry as a Va is so low like. And I'm not saying that in a negative way. It's a huge.

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Tanya: No.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, it's so low you don't need a lot of tech, you don't. There's really no overhead. You don't have to make an Llc. You don't have to spend money on that. If you have your computer and your smartphone already existing.

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Laura Nicole: you need that. And like some gumption and a work ethic like that's truly it. There's no certificates to ascertain. There's no degree that you need.

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Tanya: You can just start. You just have to decide that you want to start making moves.

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Tanya: That's awesome, I feel. And then you literally just answered my next. What? My next question was going to be in all that.

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Tanya: But what kind of income can a Va. Expect to make? And then what factors influence, how much you earn.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, that's a really good question. So starting out in the Us, the like industry standard starting rate is between 20 and $30 per hour. So I always say, 25, right? Yeah, that's like.

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Tanya: That's a good.

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Tanya: I mean that I started out as a nurse. Saving lives for $25 an hour, and it was literally life or death, like type of situations that.

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Laura Nicole: The Emts get paid like 18 an hour.

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Laura Nicole: Emt is.

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Tanya: Emts! Oh, my gosh!

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Laura Nicole: There's like sub 20 an hour. In most states. The national minimum weight, like average starting rate, I think, is like 17, and some change at the moment. So yeah, you're already starting ahead, and that's just the starting rate. So really it pretty much. I've never had a woman start below

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Laura Nicole: 20 an hour. And typically, even when I've had women, I coach who do start at 20 an hour, they could have easily done 25. They just were like, oh, for my 1st person like I'm nervous! The imposter.

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Tanya: Person.

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Laura Nicole: Like.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Actually pay me for this kicked in. So they started at 20 for their 1st client, and then by the second one, they were like, okay, I'm gonna do 25. Like, now, I feel, okay about this. But yeah, that's the industry standard starting rate. And that's just when you're doing those general admin things, answering their emails, helping with their calendar, making really basic graphics in canva or moderating their Facebook group for their community stuff like that is a $25 an hour rate. Vas.

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Tanya: From home that's working.

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Laura Nicole: From home your own pocket

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Laura Nicole: of your day while your kid has tablet time, or takes a nap or plays with Daddy or Grandma.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Or afternoon. I'm a night owl, so I do a lot of my work from like 9 to midnight, because that's just when my brain functions well, but like you can do it anytime, you can work literally. Anytime. Clients don't care when you when you do the work. So that's how you can fit it in around your life, and every day can look different.

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Laura Nicole: I think when it comes to like the top, that vas can make

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Laura Nicole: different coaches are going to give you different answers. I tend to. I don't. How do I want to word this? I don't ever want to like talk bad about anyone else. I tend to be very realistic in my numbers.

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Tanya: Right.

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Laura Nicole: And I'm never gonna blow smoke like

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Laura Nicole: I hear from women. All I go live on Tiktok all the time to talk about this with women, and I hear all of they're like, I just love that. You're so transparent and like honest, that like this takes work. And this takes time. And you're not like, Hey, you're gonna make $20,000 next month like, let's do it.

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Tanya: No, no.

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Laura Nicole: So.

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Tanya: Being, honest, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, I mean, I, we need to be realistic, right?

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Laura Nicole: so typically as an actual Va, because there's a next level that's considered an Obm, which is an online business manager. But as a Va specifically, you're gonna top out at probably like 60 or 65 an hour, you will hear other people say that you can make 80 an hour or a hundred an hour. But to make those rates you're not truly still a virtual assistant. You're shifting into like a business manager role, which is

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Laura Nicole: as a Va, you're very like task oriented as an ob more big picture like project management oriented. So

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Laura Nicole: I say 60 to 65 is kind of where you top out which is still incredible, like.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: A ton of money right?

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: And then the way that you can scale your rate is twofold. Number one. Just your experience. The more experience that you have, and you gain, and the time you get under your belt working with clients, you can increase that rate. And then number 2 is when you learn higher level skills. So doing those things and learning with clients. Once I learned pinterest management.

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Laura Nicole: I could increase my rate because that's a higher level skill, because it's going to turn around and give the client an immediate return on investment, and so they're going to pay more for it.

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Laura Nicole: Excuse me. Once I learned how to do more of the back end for like launches and how to actually build out funnels and automations for my clients, my rate jumped right? Because again, they're higher level skills than just answering email, and those are the types of things I was saying earlier. Right? If you start with the general admin, you'll kind of learn what things you really enjoy, and can kind of

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Laura Nicole: grow on that. If you're like man, I do really love Pinterest. You can really hone in on that, and have that become a specialty, if you really like bookkeeping.

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Laura Nicole: excuse me, that could be a specialty. So when you kind of find those little niches.

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Laura Nicole: Those are those higher level skills that absolutely grants you the right to bring that rate up.

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Tanya: Okay.

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Tanya: all right. And then, what does a typical workday look like for you? Now? How many hours do you work? And how do you balance it with mom life.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. So my

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Laura Nicole: work, life and hours have looked very different over the years. I had a couple of years right out the gate, like, I said we were trying to buy a home. We were trying to, you know.

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Laura Nicole: actually build up somewhat of an emergency fund. So I was working 40 to 45 HA week, and that was with her home with me, because again I work a lot at night she would spend time with grandma or with Daddy when he got home from work. I always capitalized on nap times, or even like while she had meals right. I'd sit at the table with her and talk to her, but also be answering an email like again asking queens like we can do

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Laura Nicole: so that was when she was littler now she's in school, so she goes to school 5 days a week. And I obviously capitalize on that time when she's not in the house, but a thing that I

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Laura Nicole: really am conscious of as a mom, too, is. I want her to see that mommy is working

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Laura Nicole: to me. There's that balance right of like. Yes.

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Laura Nicole: I obviously want to be able to take advantage of the fact that I can choose when I do it and put my computer away and go spend 100% attention with her. But I also think it's really important that she understands that mommy is working. And mommy does have a job, and mommy is helping to

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Laura Nicole: keep this roof over our heads. And you know that cute little skirt she wanted to buy at the store the other day we could do that and just say, Yes, sure no problem, honey, because mommy is also working so.

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Tanya: Make that possible? Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, right? Like, I want her to understand that.

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Tanya: Yeah, you are her example.

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Laura Nicole: Right. So I have my, I have my office and again, it's always a balance. It's not. I always get kind of not uncomfortable. But I I

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Laura Nicole: I always wanna make sure this comes across the right way. I don't just sit in my office and work while she's home all day right? But I will tell her, and I'll talk and say, Look, mommy has something I have to do for my work. I have to answer these emails like, I explain it to her, what I'm doing. And I say, mommy needs 30 min.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, I have to go do this. I set her up with kinetic sand or Play-doh, or if she hasn't had her tablet time yet for the day, a show for her to watch for her to play, and but then she knows, like mommy is working, and especially with my coaching aspect as well.

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Laura Nicole: she'll say, Oh, are you going to go help other mommies? And I'm like, yes, I am. I'm going to go help other mommies. But I just think it's a cool balance right for her to get to see. So

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Laura Nicole: I obviously capitalize. And a lot of moms do who do this from home

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Laura Nicole: on the times when you know they're focused on doing something else. Or you just don't have them with you at the time, but I think it's totally okay to also work some when they are home, like Daddy goes to work.

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Tanya: Yes. Now, you see, mommy goes to work too. She might not leave the house, but she's working. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Right, and she thinks it's so fun literally. The other day when she was sick right? She was sick. Of course she felt miserable for the 1st few hours of the day, but then they get that like burst of energy where you're like.

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Tanya: Where did that go?

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. Oh, it always happens. And I'm like, Huh, okay, what's going on here? And she got that burst of energy

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Laura Nicole: she had been laying in bed watching a show, and I was sitting there working on my computer in a chair in the room.

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Laura Nicole: and she got a little burst of energy. She grabbed this little cardboard thing she had saved, and she got a pen. And she made her own computer like things like that that I'm like.

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Laura Nicole: that's so cute and like she's seeing it right like it's a positive impression on her computer. And then she came and she sat in the other seat next to me. And she typed on her computer.

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Laura Nicole: That is so cute.

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Laura Nicole: So yeah, I think it's a cool balance. But

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Laura Nicole: when you do va work, this is an important thing, too, that I haven't mentioned. Is that because I know a lot of moms think they hear this, and they're like, but I'm already so busy.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Like my days are so packed. How in

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Laura Nicole: do I make this happen? Right? But

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Laura Nicole: to work? Yeah. And I feel you. I totally understand that. But you get to work in the nooks of your day. I always say you get to work in the nooks in the pockets of your day, because the actual tasks that you're doing for these clients

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Laura Nicole: individually, they only take 5, 1015 min, and so you never, ever, ever have to have. You know this 3 h work block that you're going to sit down and work uninterrupted. You don't have to have that to be successful as a Va. You can

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Laura Nicole: use your phone to answer emails while you're sitting in the school pickup line for 10.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: I go, my daughter.

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Laura Nicole: and so she knows every other week. This is an example of balance, too. Every other week I bring my computer to work while watching her gymnastics. So one week I go and I'm just laser focused on watching her. The next week I go. I bring my computer. I'm answering emails or doing whatever while also watching her.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah, we have so many. If you really stop and think about the times like, there actually are a lot of times that we kind of are just paused in our day while we're doing things with our kids instead of scrolling Instagram right? Like you could be making money in that 30 min.

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Tanya: Absolutely. I love that. Yeah. And and to be honest, and my daughters have been in gymnastics, too. And yeah, like, how about all the times when there are other girls in the class, and your daughter's just sitting there doing nothing like.

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Tanya: Period.

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Laura Nicole: And then you're sitting there just staring at them.

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Tanya: Yeah, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Right. I just think there's such a balance in the way that we show up for our kids that, like

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Laura Nicole: she still feels a hundred percent supported. You know what I mean. I don't have to be staring at her. 24, 7.

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Tanya: No.

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Laura Nicole: To feel supported. And so there's that cool balance. But that's an important thing, too, is like you. Just you can work in the little pockets. Even if you have a bigger project for a client that, like the whole project, will take 2 h.

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Laura Nicole: You don't have to do it all at once. You can do 10 min here and 15 min there, if you have times where like, let's say, your kids are in 4 K. And they're at school for 3 HA day. Cool. If you want to capitalize and knock a ton of stuff out in those 3 h.

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Laura Nicole: go for it. But that's not like a requirement to be successful at this. And that's why it's just so good for busy moms. That's why it's so good as a supplemental income for moms who do work out of the home or have full time jobs, whether it's work from home or in an office. Because, let's say, you have 15 min left at the end of your lunch. Break before a meeting.

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Laura Nicole: Okay, go. Make more money. In those 15 min.

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Tanya: For me.

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Laura Nicole: Client, you know. It's just so so flexible. And the balance looks different for everyone. My work days truly never look the same one to the next. A lot of people ask me like, what does it look like? And I am like, you're probably not gonna like my answer, because.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: My answer is that there's not an answer.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: But to me that's the Perk, right? Like it can be different for every single individual. It can be different in every single season of life, or when things just pop up like that, flexibility is truly unmatched, and it's the biggest perk. So you get to set. If you want to have more of a routine and set times. You absolutely can

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Laura Nicole: if that works for you. But you don't have to. You can also just be flexible and go day by day.

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Tanya: I love that. And you answered my question, which was, is becoming a Va. Something you can do part time while you're still working another job, or raising little ones full time, which the answer is, yes, right.

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Laura Nicole: A 1 million percent, a million. And that's why it's really cool, too. Because a lot of women who do want to replace their 9 to 5. The thought of like I have to quit my job to start something else is really scary.

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Laura Nicole: Yes.

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Laura Nicole: you don't have to do that in this scenario. You can build clients, build your income while still working your full time job until you get to the point that you feel

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Laura Nicole: comfortable enough with your virtual assistant income to step away from a full time like it's not an either, or you can really kind of get your feet wet and build up your income before stepping away from a full time, so that you feel super confident by the time that you do that.

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Tanya: Yeah. And you're the perfect example of that. That's what you did.

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Laura Nicole: It is. Yeah.

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Tanya: So.

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Tanya: So what are the 1st steps someone would take if they want to become a Va. But had no idea where to begin.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. So a couple of steps that are really important at the beginning are number one really thinking about the types of businesses you want to work with like, I referenced earlier.

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Laura Nicole: really deciding who your idle clients are, so that you can network efficiently right and actually kind of know what you're looking for when you go to search on Instagram to find people to connect with, but also so that you're setting yourself up to find those longer term relationships to work with. And when I tell people to think about their idle client a lot of times, they just kind of look like deer in headlights. And they're like, Okay, Laura. But like, what does that mean? Right like, how do

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Laura Nicole: think about your hobbies like? What are the things that you love doing right, because another cool part of this is you don't have to stay in the same lane as you have been in for a career like. Let's say you said you were a nurse before right. You can be a nurse and love health and fitness. But maybe you're really passionate about helping kids learn how to read

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Laura Nicole: or really passionate about baby led weaning from your experience as a mom. Right? You could work with course, creators and coaches who are teaching moms how to do. Baby led weaning correctly

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Laura Nicole: or so.

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Tanya: Andrew.

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Laura Nicole: Your babies, or maybe you're a nurse. But you're like, I just love the freaking stock market

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Laura Nicole: so fascinating. It doesn't matter right like there are coaches and businesses in every industry, teaching everything out there these days, and so thinking about the things that you just enjoy, that are, that you have a passion for, because your skills from being a nurse or being a teacher or being a stay at home. Mom, right? The skills are transferable to support any kind of business

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Laura Nicole: in what they're in, what they're teaching or coaching or selling. And so thinking about your hobbies. What are the things that you truly just enjoy that you'll feel fired up to go, support those business owners and then also identifying your skills and and seeing those services we had chatted before hopping on. Here. I just created a new free resource

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Laura Nicole: for women that helps them identify. It's called the Career Switch cheat sheet, and it will help you identify from the current career that you either are in now or you have worked in in the past

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Laura Nicole: the skill sets of things that you do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. And then so it's got those listed on one side. And then it shows you exactly what kinds of services those actually translate to as a virtual assistant. So we're helping you kind of connect the dots from okay, these are things I do as a teacher on a daily basis.

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Laura Nicole: But those actual skills, how do they turn into services that I can be monetizing as a virtual assistant and offering the clients?

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Laura Nicole: so that's a really fun resource, because it can be. Really, it can be hard to

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Laura Nicole: identify the skills that you have if you're not sure

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Laura Nicole: if you don't have a good enough understanding of the Va industry. Right? And so this kind of helps to connect the dots. Because you'll need to know what services you want to offer before you go out and start talking to clients as well. Right? But

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Laura Nicole: right, I think that's so smart. I'm grabbing that resource. By the way

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Laura Nicole: I was up to like 2 Am. The other night. I've been thinking about it.

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Laura Nicole: I'm like

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Laura Nicole: a week and a half, and then I was like, I'm gonna start it. I'll just like, Get it going. And then, 3 h later, I was like, Oh, my! Gosh, Laura, go to bed! But I just got.

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Tanya: You have the momentum. You gotta work that one.

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Laura Nicole: I just know it'll be so helpful because it's really it's it's wild. How many women I talk to like. I said. I go live on Tiktok all the time, and the I have a very similar conversation over and over where women tell me I don't have experience.

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Laura Nicole: Say, that's Bs like, I'm sorry, but that's simply not true, right? But.

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Tanya: Yeah, but they believe it.

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Laura Nicole: Quiet, right.

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Tanya: But you're creating this evidence that they do right?

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Tanya: Resource. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Right, because it's just kind of a situation of like. You don't know what you don't know right? And so, if you don't know what those services would be as a virtual assistant. It's hard like, I said, to connect the dots, but I have never had a conversation with a woman that at the end of it. I say, you're right. You don't have any experience. Sorry this won't work for you.

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Tanya: Oh, my God!

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Laura Nicole: That's never happened. I've coached over 800 women in 2 and a half years, and I've never once had to say.

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Laura Nicole: sorry this isn't gonna work for you. Right? It's just a matter of knowing what to look for and how to identify those skills. And so that cheat sheet is a really good starter place to say, Oh, okay, like, there's 7 or 8 items in each profession. So you'll get like a clear idea of some really good skills that you could turn into services.

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Tanya: Okay. And how do they get that resource? I did. You say it already? If not, say it again and and I'll include it in the show. Notes, too.

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Laura Nicole: Yes, I will share a link with you specific for y'all, so that they can just click on that. And they'll just drop in their name and email, and then the cheat sheet will come right to their inbox.

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Laura Nicole: It's a downloadable Pdf.

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Tanya: Perfect. Okay, so and you offer training and support for new vas, so can you tell us about that, and how someone can work with you.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. So I have a full program. It's called the Superstar Assistant Academy. And it is basically like a step by step roadmap. I took all of my experience and then tapped into that teaching side of my brain, and it walks you through the whole process. It is a self paced program. It's designed for busy moms. I say that it's the lessons are like, Mom sized.

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Laura Nicole: It's all video based. But the lessons are 7 to 15 min in length. So you can listen to it on the drive to school, right? Just plug it in and listen like a podcast

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Laura Nicole: it comes with a course workbook to help you implement, you get access to our Facebook group where you can ask questions. So it is self paced. But you're not just like on your own once you do it. I also always tell women like you're never just a number in the Academy like I will know your name. I will know who you are. You're never just a number who pops up, and then I never hear from you again or talk to you again, you know.

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Laura Nicole: But the program walks you through every single step, every single decision you need to make your ideal client, your services, your rates, helps you with templates to create your marketing materials like a resume. How to do discovery calls. There's a contract template that was created by an attorney that you can use. When you sign clients, we walk you through, how to onboard them, how to decide. If you want to do an Llc. Or not how to actually get paid like, how do you actually get the money

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Laura Nicole: into your account from your clients? Right? How to prep for taxes? Because it is a usually a newer thing for women to be a 1099, basically any resource that I've thought of that I'm like, that would be helpful. Is inside of the Academy, and you get instant access. You get lifetime access. You get access to any updates, as they go. So

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Laura Nicole: I mean, I don't want it to my.

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Tanya: Answered all the questions that I had access updates. That's awesome.

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Tanya: Go ahead.

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Laura Nicole: I was. Gonna say, we just now are starting to have some guest speakers come in. We've had a guest speaker in the past. This is a really cool thing, too, that I think is

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Laura Nicole: fairly different from. There's a i mean, there's a lot of Va coaches out there right? There's a lot of us. One thing I think, that separates the Academy is number one. I still work as a Va, so I'm not just coaching. I actively, am a virtual assistant who is still in the world and in the space and doing the networking and all of the things that I'm teaching you and number 2. We also touch really heavily on mindset.

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Laura Nicole: because even just in this conversation, right, we have identified multiple times that your confidence matters and your mindset matters, and how you talk through things and set yourself up really matters. So when women get.

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Tanya: Everything.

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Laura Nicole: It's everything. Yes, a hundred percent. So when women get into the Academy

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Laura Nicole: they'll watch the course overview. And then the very 1st thing after that I send them to watch a mindset video from a guest speaker that I brought in over a year ago. She's now done. We have one called building belief and mastering your mindset. That's where I have women start, because I want your mind in the right place before diving into logistics. Otherwise they're going to feel really hard, right? But if.

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Tanya: Remind me.

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Laura Nicole: I guess it makes it.

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Tanya: The doubt. The doubt creeps in.

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Laura Nicole: Oh, a million percent. Yep. And that's why I love the Facebook community, too, because when the doubt starts to creep in or the imposter syndrome. Right? You can come and just

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Laura Nicole: post and be like. I'm struggling right now, and you'll get tons of feedback from not only me, but there's 550 other women in there.

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Tanya: Wow!

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Laura Nicole: Same thing right? And they're.

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Tanya: I don't know.

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Laura Nicole: Very supportive. It's a great community. So you'll get my perspective. You'll get their perspective getting to see other women celebrating signing clients and getting discovery calls. It's that kind of proof of product. Right? It's that

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Laura Nicole: like, okay, they're doing it like, I can do this too. We also have. So there's the building belief in mastering your mindset. And then we also had the same speaker come back, and she talked about vision casting so how to actually like, cast a vision for your life and your business. And then also did a talk on imposter syndrome.

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Laura Nicole: specifically conquering limiting beliefs. So those are really cool. I think they're very integral in being successful at starting something new. And then we're also starting to have some guest speakers come in. So in the middle of May. I have a social media content expert coming in because I am a staunch advocate for the fact that you never have to market yourself on social media to become a Va. If you do not want to.

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Laura Nicole: Ever you don't have to. You need to network right, use social media platforms to have conversations, but I will never tell you. Hey, you need a business, Instagram, you need to be posting content. You'll never hear that come out of my mouth.

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Laura Nicole: But there are a lot of women who I coach, who want to have a business Instagram, right? Because it is a tool. It is a resource. And I want to support the women in the Academy in all ways. So I have a guest speaker coming in to talk to them about content and optimizing their bio all that good stuff. And then in June we have an accountant coming in to speak about tax things, because

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Laura Nicole: I can provide you the basics. But I'm not an expert or an accountant, right? So we have an account coming in to talk about

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Laura Nicole: What's the word?

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Laura Nicole: Business expenses like what you could file

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Laura Nicole: right? Business banking benefits and pros of an Llc. Or when you want to be an S. Corp, just way more technical things than I feel comfortable teaching, because I'm not an accountant, but I can recognize where my gap is, and I'm gonna bring in an expert so that the women who are in the Academy have all the answers and have the support that they need. So that's a fun thing that we have coming up too.

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Tanya: That's awesome. And then you do coaching calls, too. Is it like private coaching? Or are you doing like group coaching.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. So for women who are in the Academy, just the self paced program. We do office hours twice a month. That's like Co. Working body, doubling situation on zoom. But you can ask questions in the chat and get feedback that way. And then I recently started a group coaching container called the superstar accelerator. So for women who are like, I love this.

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Laura Nicole: All of that sounds great. But like I know, if I'm in a self paced environment that life will happen, and then 3 months will pass, and I won't have actually made progress.

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Laura Nicole: which there's no shame in that. I'm that person. I'm that person who's like, let me buy this program myself.

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Laura Nicole: Let's see. 2 min later, I'm like, Oh, I haven't done any of it.

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Laura Nicole: Yeah. So

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Laura Nicole: it's so bad. I have so many courses just sitting there that I'm like, I gotta get to those.

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Tanya: I know.

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Laura Nicole: So if you know that personality type, and you know that you would want to be able to ask more questions, have more hands on support, and also the accountability. I am a great cheerleader, but I'm also I played sports my whole life, so I'm also good at like the Tough love coach where it's like, hey? You said you were going to do this like, Where's where is it? You know? And I'll

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Laura Nicole: to what you say you're gonna do because it comes from a place of love right? Like, obviously, I know what your intention is and your desire. And if you're making an investment in yourself and your family financially.

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Laura Nicole: I'm gonna help you get the most out of that right like we're not just spending money to spend money and then not make money as a Va so I just started with a group coaching. I have that available as well, and that includes weekly coaching calls where women can have a hot seat and come up and basically get like a little mini one on one. And then we also have telegram.

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Laura Nicole: A telegram chat available throughout the week. So women ask questions there, it's just really great, because like, we've touched on to just the the mindset, the confidence. We can get so much done in a 10 min conversation on a call. I literally have a woman who is in the my group coaching right now, who's been in the self paced for like 6 months, decided.

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Tanya: And then.

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Laura Nicole: Need to have that added accountability. We got on a coaching call and talked through she had picked her ideal client, but she wasn't sure how to adapt her services. By the time we were off that call she knew exactly what services she was gonna offer

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Laura Nicole: that were specific to her ideal client, and then went and created her resume. By the end of the day, like she had felt stuck for months.

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Laura Nicole: It's we talked it through and had.

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Tanya: Oh, my God!

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Tanya: She was like, why did I do this? 6 months ago?

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Laura Nicole: Right. But it's like, sometimes you just need that extra to be able to talk it through with.

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Tanya: Oh, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: It's different. So we offer those varying levels of support. I do have one on one mentorship. But that's obviously a different price point, which is why I wanted to create group coaching, because it's nice in the middle.

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Tanya: It's accessible for a little bit more people. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: Right, and that's my main one of my main goals. If you for women who are interested in this and go out and search and look

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Laura Nicole: it's very common that the an average course on this in the industry as a self-paced course, is like one to 2.5 K.

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Laura Nicole: Is pretty standard, and mine goes for 3, 47. So.

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Tanya: No.

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Laura Nicole: And that's an intentional choice. I could. There's enough content in there. You have everything you need. I could easily say, Hey, this is $2,000, but I don't want to, because I want it to be as accessible to as many women to help as many women as possible. Like. That's my mission. That's my goal is to help as many women as possible. Obviously right. I wish I could give it away for free. But I do have to support my family too.

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Tanya: Right.

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Laura Nicole: No.

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Tanya: Yes.

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Laura Nicole: But yeah. So we price it pretty aggressively at like 3 to 5 times less than pretty much anyone else on the market. Just because I want. It's really important to me that it's accessible.

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Tanya: That's amazing. Thank you so much for all that you do. And you just gave us so much in this episode. Seriously like, Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. And lastly, before I let you go for the mom, listening, who's craving more freedom, but feels stuck or afraid to pivot. What do you want to tell her.

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Laura Nicole: That you just have to step.

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Laura Nicole: You just have to make the 1st move.

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Tanya: Hmm! It's.

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Laura Nicole: Gonna feel less scary once you do. But

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Laura Nicole: you you just have to trust that your intuition that this is a good move for you, and and and step.

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Tanya: Oh, I love it!

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Laura Nicole: It's simple. It doesn't feel simple when you do when you're doing it right.

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Tanya: I know. Yeah.

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Laura Nicole: But yeah, it's just a matter of you know, even when it's scary. You're never gonna feel ready. I like kind of liken it to like when we became moms right? Like.

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Tanya: Oh, oh, yeah.

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Laura Nicole: If we had waited until we were like, I'm a hundred percent ready to birth a human and become a mom and be responsible for human life like we wouldn't have kids like.

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Tanya: And we wouldn't be. Moms start before you're ready. Yeah, start before.

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Laura Nicole: You're ready and trust that you're going to figure it out. And you're gonna learn a hell of a lot as you do it. And then in 6 months you're gonna look back and be like. Thank God, I did that like. Thank God, I took that step because.

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Tanya: You know, like, look at where you are today, you could still be renting an apartment, or like living in your mom's basement like this is.

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Laura Nicole: No.

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Tanya: It's beautiful. And then I love that. You're turning around and you're helping other women do the same thing.

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Tanya: Find freedom and flexibility and be able to earn an income while being at home with their family. It's amazing. I love it, and thank you so much, Laura. Again for your time. Also, where can they find you? You're gonna we're gonna include this in the show notes. But yeah.

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Tanya: you're on Insta. Are you on Instagram?

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Laura Nicole: Yup, I'm on Instagram Tiktok, and threads, and they all have the same handle. It's hey like, Hey, Hey, dot Laura, Nicole.

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Tanya: Hey, dot Laura Nicole?

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Tanya: Okay, awesome. All right, guys. Thank you so much for listening. Today. I cannot wait to hear feedback on today's episode and take that 1st step, head on over to the show notes and download that free resource that Laura stayed up till 2 Am. Making for you.

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Laura Nicole: Typos in there. Don't judge me, but.

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Tanya: Oh, my, gosh, so funny! Alright! Well, I'm I'm gonna download it for sure. I'm interested to see how my skills are transferable.

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Laura Nicole: Absolutely.

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Tanya: All right. Thank you so much, Laura, and thank you everybody today for listening. I will talk to you next week. Bye.