This year I am trying to expand on my format for my 10 Questions posts, in a bid to connect more closely with those who I interview, by actually having a video call to directly get to know them and interview them in virtual person, and also create material which can be shared across multiple platforms so that I can grow my vlog/ YouTube Channel at the same time as my blog. This is the first example of this new format, I hope you enjoy it, I look forward to hearing what you think…
I met Lauren, Your Eco Assistant, through the ever growing Eco Community on Instagram, which I have met so many amazing people through in the past 6 months and I love being a part of and was so thrilled when she agreed to have a video call with me to discuss all things Eco and how she got into being a VA too with lots of tangible advice…
Here is her bio:
Lauren is a Canadian expat living a low impact lifestyle in rural Italy with her husband. She started her virtual assistant business back in June 2020 amidst the pandemic. Through social media expertise, Lauren works primarily with ecopreneurs to increase their reach, sales and boost their engagement via Pinterest and Instagram. In her spare time, you can find Lauren making soap or out walking in an Italian forest listening to classical music.
Lauren
Here are the 10 Questions
{which we kind of stuck to}
- Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself, your background and how you come from Canada and have ended up living in Italy?
- How and why did you decide to set up as a VA?
- Is there any training which you would recommend? Any subscription based networks which you would suggest?
- How many clients do you have? And how did you meet them?
- What has drawn you to specialise in working with Eco Companies?
- What skills do you specialise in as a VA?
- Have you ever used a VA yourself?
- Do you have to do other work on top of your VA work to make enough to live on?
- How do you advertise your business?
- How do you source new clients?
Here’s the video interview:
Here’s the Podcast Episode:
Here’s the transcript of our interview together:
JamJarGill 0:00
Right, let’s, let’s go on to the questions before. The sidetrack, if you can start by telling us a bit about yourself, your background and how you ended up coming from Canada and ended up living in Italy?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 0:13
Okay, Hi, I’m Lauren, your eco assistant, my background, I have no formal education. I finished high school and I went right into minimum wage working sector. I lived at home till I was 28. I mean, somewhat back and forth. And I was always a hard worker, I never really liked working for other people. And I never, I think deep down inside, I didn’t think any of it was fair. But my best job like my favourite job ever, I was working at the Days Inn, which is like a chain, I guess, an American hotel chain. And I was just a housekeeper. I really liked it, I was treated really well. But six years ago, I just finished being a housekeeper out in Jasper, Alberta. In the mountains, I didn’t know what I was doing with my life. And I signed up to be an au pair. I was just like, yeah, you know, it’s like a nanny look at the family. And I hadn’t even put a picture, I hadn’t put up any information, just let us female Canadian looking to go to either Italy, Greece or some other country, you got to pick three. And before I knew it, before I even woke up the next day without putting my information on I had loads of messages from Italian mothers.
JamJarGill 1:51
Wow.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 1:52
So they’re like, when can we get on a call what we want an English speaker. So I had a couple of interviews with mothers here in Italy, I had a woman connect with me who said “Hey, I really want to get on a call. I feel like you’d be a really good fit for my son and I and you know, let’s do this” . We met we got along. And next thing I know I’m on a plane to come over here. Yeah, the biggest blind date of my life.
JamJarGill 2:28
How old was the kid?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 2:30
He was four at the time. Yeah, my three months here in Italy. I really didn’t do much with him. I was really just encouraged to explore. And I hung out with a mom a lot. And we go out. Have a wild time. And I met my now husband. And then but a big reason she wanted a mother tongue is because she would be going to Brighton. So I moved with them to Brighton. She was going to be teaching at the university there. So we moved together. And that’s really where my job started. Because they needed me to.
JamJarGill 3:13
Because then she was started working.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 3:15
Yeah, well, that for sure. And also just needing my assistance with daily life around English speaking people.
JamJarGill 3:24
Yeah. You know, that’s fascinating. And I think that’s, you know, such a great way. If you’re in that space where you don’t know what you’re doing with your life. And, you know, I can definitely see the appeal of that
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 3:37
It was a special relationship. I still close with them. Um, actually, I rent we rent the apartment of her like, old apartment. So, make a long story short, I met my husband and we did the back and forth thing for five and a half years, five years. And then last October, I made the decision to come over. And we got married on the 14th it was hard. I mean, my parents weren’t here. My family wasn’t here. I kind of wish we eloped. It was a really nice day, but it didn’t fully represent me. But isn’t that no one’s ever happy with their wedding night.
JamJarGill 4:24
But Italian before you sort of came over to Italy? Were you speaking French from Canada and was that helpful?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 4:34
Well, okay, yeah, we took French because it was mandatory, but I really didn’t. It was only helpful in a sense. The languages are very different, but it was helpful in the sense that there’s like masculine feminine and things like this, and they’re both Latin. Yeah, languages, but no When I came here, I’m still not fluent. And also just because I’m like a lazy language learner
JamJarGill 5:02
It amazes me that other people can, can speak multiple languages. And I’m always in awe of them and I just think, wow, I wish I wish I could do that, you know, I like literally and our Italian is just so beautiful
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 5:18
You can. It’s funny how you think the language is beautiful. I still think Italian is beautiful. But then when you start to understand it, it just feels like any other language. So I think there’s a nice mystery when you don’t know Italian Yeah, but now I’m, I can speak. My fluency is probably like 50%. But my understanding is probably like 90% Yeah, and well the child that I was au pair for so when I met him he has zero understanding of English, I think he hated me because he was just like, what do you Who are you? Why are you in my house? You’re speaking this weird sounds. But then we spent a weekend, he spent a weekend with his cousins. And they speak like, they’re from Sweden or somewhere, and they speak five or six languages. And they were like five, six and seven. Because their mom is Afrikan, their dad was Italian. They lived in Sweden. And so there was English, Swedish, Afrikan…
JamJarGill 6:26
So just mind that kids can like capture that. I’m just like, oh my god.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 6:32
It’s amazing, I think when Alessandro saw me because he’s a smart kid, like one of the smartest kids. But he was only four. But when he saw me chatting and like being close with his cousins, because we knew English, he started to make an effort. And he started to be closer to me. And when we went to Brighton, although it’s a really difficult time in a lot of ways for him. He, in six months was fluent because he went to a montessori school. And he had no option. He had to speak English.
JamJarGill 7:09
Yeah, yeah. Amazing.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 7:11
Yeah, it’s and now he’s fluent. Like, yeah, he doesn’t speak it. I don’t see him. Obviously, we’re like not releasing people. But he’s a teenager now. And like it was speak. But he knows he knows it. And he’s just like us, always a super intelligent kid and pick it up like that. So I might worry, that’s why I’m here. And I don’t know how long I’ll be here for but for now.
JamJarGill 7:41
You’re soaking it in.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 7:43
Trying to Yeah, not much soaking going on, because we’re just at home all the time…
JamJarGill 7:48
Okay, question number two. Where are we? And how and why did you decide to set up as a VA?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 7:57
Good question, Gill. I, a year ago right now, I had no idea what the hell a VA was. A year ago now I had just gotten married. We literally moved in here like the day we got married. And then we had to get all my residency stuff figured out still doing that. And then I got a job teaching because I do teach as well. I was just there to empower children’s English learning. It was interesting. And it was fun. Like I was getting into it. And then of course, the first week of last week of February, 1 week of March, things were getting weird about germs, things. Were getting weird about sanitising everything. I took a day off because I felt ill who knows I might have had COVID but what whatever it was wasn’t, you know, bad. But they took a day off. I got home and Luigi is like, Oh, you know, you’re probably not going back tomorrow. I was like, What? What are you talking? Like? Well, they want to shut the school down for two weeks. It’s not official, like, okay, you know, the rest that happened. I never heard a peep from the school, like four months, nothing. They weren’t at the teach online. They didn’t do anything. And so I thought, wow, this whole I was able to work for one hour a week, two hours a week doing lessons like this. But it was nothing. Um, so I
JamJarGill 9:41
What does your husband do?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 9:42
{laughs} He’s a Renaissance man. Yeah, read for he actually found it like a magazine. Okay, really, um, but just it’s about video games, but it’s more or less like a spiritual and existential discussion about video games, he’s a writer. He’s a podcaster. He is a childcare expert man, who I don’t know, he, we both just worked for ourselves and like, he’s like passion driven. He’s a very passion driven guy. So he but we had actually both been working at schools at that point, and both lost our jobs. Um, so you have to reevaluate. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss. I’ve always been looking up ways to make money online. But I wasn’t sure how, without getting into like, spammy stuff.
JamJarGill 10:44
Mm hmm.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 10:46
A young woman that I’d worked with, in Jasper like six years ago, was like, Oh, I want to check where she’s at what she’s doing. So I checked out her page, and I read, oh, I’m a Virtual A ssistant. But is this I want to know more. So I messaged her, tell me about your work. What do you do? What is this? And then I just became like, obsessed with watching videos, researching courses, and enrolling in a course, which I know is one of your questions. After this, and I just got really interested by it. I thought it was great. And then, so yeah, I took a course. And I got into it, I’d never really had a passion before, I never really felt. If I was disliked. If I wasn’t working, I was just watching Netflix, or I was just wasting time waiting for my life to start waiting to travel somewhere, whether it was here, Canada, and just like wasting my time, all the time. But then something, switched . And now, I can’t not be watching stuff about my business about how that’s so cool. Improved,
JamJarGill 12:08
I think, you know, the older I get, the more I kind of look at stuff which lights you up in energy, you know, I’m very much into like yoga and everything like that, and that sort of side of things. And I’d like the idea of energy. I like the idea of like, gleaning from the earth and paying attention to nature and paying attention to what gives you joy and stuff li ke that. And I love this sort of personal development space as well. You know, I love that.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 12:40
And that’s kind of what happens is that with working online, it really snowballs Yeah. And there are just so many ways to work online. And so right now, I’m talking to a lot of, I have a lot of girlfriends who have been coming to me they’re depressed, or they’re just like, I’m unfulfilled, or like, Oh, I have to go to work today. I don’t want to go and I’m like, there’s another way. Yeah. And you know, I honestly think because I spend probably a month of the first lockdown, just like wallowing in fear. Like most people and lots still are and feeling anxiety and feeling like a lazy tub of lard. Cuz just like, I’m just gonna sit here and eat. I still do that. Let’s be honest.
JamJarGill 13:39
You’re in Italy – you’re allowed!
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 13:43
But then when, I know, it’s fine. But then when I really like switched my focus into the VA stuff. I didn’t want to say that I like necessarily felt just happier automatically. But I was like, not paying attention to the other stuff. So now I’m trying to help my girl friends. And not just girls, just friends in general, my people, my family. I’m like, hey, there’s stuff you can do online. They’re like, well, I don’t want to be a Virtual Assistant. I’m not really into social media. I’m like, it’s not just that. Like, I have a friend who she really loves research and she really loves organisation. And I said, Oh, my God, people will pay you like…
JamJarGill 14:33
I mean, this is the thing, which is so exciting about this space, and I’ve only really been looking into it properly for my own purposes, recently, and I’ve been blogging for so 10 years and everything. I’ve just got to this point where I was like, you know, I really want to make a sustainable income. I really do want to leave the corporate world at some point and what I like the version of the VA which I’m reading about and what really excites me is similar to what you’re talking about is that it’s about capturing people’s blind spots. And what’s so exciting about it is it has the potential to crush the hierarchy of the corporate world. Because I might have a VA to help me out with my blind spot. So the things I don’t have time to do, and then someone might employ me to help with their business on the bits, which they don’t know how to do, that’s probably paying each other a similar rate. But we’re all just working in community and helping each other. You know, to me, that seems like the way forward and really exciting. And I guess the first time I was opened up to the concept of all this sort of style of working was actually on the recommendation of a book of a friend who also blogs, have you heard of the Multi Hyphen method? No. So I’m gonna send you that link. Because it’s awesome. And it’s on Audible as well. So y ou can listen to it if you prefer, and, but it’s just talking about the future of careers, and how everyone’s a multi hyphenate. And so you’re this, but you’re hyphen, that hyphen this hyphen that. You’re not just a, like, even within VA, you’re not just a VA, you know, your VA, but you’re awesome at this, and you’re author of that. And, and she’s talking about how, you know, this shouldn’t just be for people who have kids, it should be for everyone. And and the thing is current generation, we don’t know what retirement is going to look like, it’s probably not going to be the way it was for our parents, you know, 100% Oh, everything shuts down at 70 or everything shuts down at 65. And then I have 20-30 years of going to the golf club!
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 16:55
Thing is that first of all, I don’t want to wait till that age, because I don’t know what my I mean, hopefully my health is good. I plan on taking care of myself. But like, no, the whole idea of retirement as it is right now is really antiquated. Super antiquated. Like, I talked to my mom daily, and she’s like, I’m waiting to retire. And then she’s like, Lauren, you should invest, which I agree in. Yeah, fun. But she also was like, you know, yeah, should invest in your retirement. I’m like, Well, first of all, I mean, I’m doing that, in a sense, I’m doing that with my work. Because I don’t think that retirement is going to look like what you think it looks like now when your age like it’s not, it’s going to be a completely different landscape. And I’m excited about that. I think that
JamJarGill 17:48
I think this book made me actually feel excited about the prospect of like, our generations life. And for the for not for the first time, but just you know, I’m different. It’s different to me, my eyes to how it could be and the fact that if you potentially had all these income streams, you know, it’s my main goal, rather than saving for a pension, even though I do contribute to a pension, but is pay off the house by the time I retire. Because fact of the matter is, if you managed to pay off your house, then you’ve got rid of your biggest bill,
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 18:23
You’re good.
JamJarGill 18:24
And you have a bit more flexibility financially. So then you can probably cut down on working naturally, because you don’t have to work as much. Yeah, because you’ve got rid of the biggest bill. And so I think that’s, you know, a really relevant point. I’m just saying, I hope that there’s options, and there’s things and I would love to work for myself. The thing is, it can be continuous. So another thing as well is like, we’re being brought up by a generation, who, you know, they were told you have to have a career and you have to stick in that career, and you have to work it forty years, and then you retire. And that’s like the end of then you die.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 19:07
Yeah. Yeah.
JamJarGill 19:09
But our generation can go, Hey, you know, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. But then it’s finding that balance. And I know like, I’ve now talked around this subject a lot now without actually getting to the point of how do you make that transition?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 19:27
So I think my transition would be completely different from yours. But I think that if you set a goal for yourself of when you want to make that full transition, that gives you time to get all your ducks in a row with your own company. I think that’s probably where you’d want to go with that. And there’s stuff you could be doing and connections that you’re making. That will help you on that road, but like everyone’s transition looks different and just imagine where you’d like to see yours. At the end of 2021, working for myself is highly freeing. Of course, like I said before, I’m not a mother, I’m not a mother of twins. I don’t, I didn’t, I don’t have very many responsibilities at this point in my life. So it was “easy” to, like, make this decision because I was in a place like financially where I could invest in these things, and I could, we were locked down. So I could like, have the time to do this stuff. So I feel blessed that I could do that. And I still can, because we’re still locked down like at that. A nd but yeah… It’s just…
JamJarGill 20:47
I mean, that that you you have captured that opportunity when you had it is, you know, great that you did that when you did that.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 20:57
Finally, I was like, Oh, I can do something right now. And I can just learn it, learn something and keep like upscaling, adding my skills higher and higher.
JamJarGill 21:09
Yeah.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 21:10
And people will pay for that, because people don’t want to do these things.
JamJarGill 21:15
I mean, the thing, which excites me is, if I can establish myself in the first instance, with the skill set, which I currently have, which is actually of value, I believe, you know, the whole blogging side, social media side, organisations and that sort of thing, then, you know, if I make myself as successful at this, then I can then get into the space and have money to do training to do stuff like graphic design, and then I can offer that. And that could be part of the package too. And I could maybe do yoga teacher training at some point. And that can be part of the package to you.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 21:53
I mean, like you really want.Excited.
JamJarGill 21:58
Yeah.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 22:00
Yeah, no, you can do whatever you want. That’s really, I think, I don’t know, I like I think it’s great that we can do whatever you want. But I also think that this whole like VA thing and working for yourself, it does come from a place of privilege. Like I know, a lot of people who this isn’t even on their radar, whether it’s because of their skin colour their economic status in the world, just because of who knows why it’s just how it turned out. So a big part of my business m odel, in the future, when I start making more money is like giving back like, That, for me is a huge thing. And, well, one of your questions that will be part of…I mean, we could we could we could…
JamJarGill 22:59
Shall I just go on to the next one.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 23:01
Yeah, do it.
JamJarGill 23:03
Okay. See? And so my next one was around the training thing.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 23:06
Yeah.
JamJarGill 23:07
So, is any training, which you would recommend?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 23:11
Yeah. So I took Esther Inman 90 Days to VA course. And I would recommend it, the things that she talks about, and the coverage that you get with everything is, I didn’t see it anywhere else online, I think it was like 400 USD.
JamJarGill 23:31
Yeah.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 23:32
And you get like lifetime access to the course the course covers everything, I believe it’s like, it’s like 15 modules, at least. And each module has like tonnes of stuff. And then you get six months in there, like private group where you get like, leads for jobs and connect with other people in the course. And I don’t feel I’d be where I am without the course. And like, I know that if I need to go back and look at a training I can. And she also like updates all the trainings. Yeah, of course, isn’t for everyone. So another option would be like, for example, with me, I do offer these intensives where we just go in there for like an hour, an hour and a half. And you ask me everything, and I give you all the stuff like all the resources. So yeah, I know a few people that offer that as VA is and I think maybe I would have done that.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 24:38
And like one of your last questions. How do you find your clients? – and so I found all my clients on Instagram or Facebook. My first client, or like I work in her agency was the woman who like introduced me to being a VA and I just took a whim and was like Cuz she was looking for someone to do social media. And I was like, I know I’m new, but I’ll do it. And now I’ve worked in her team for four months. So that was a really nice introduction. Everyone else I’ve met on. Yeah, Instagram and Facebook. Just by like getting into conversations. It’s time consuming, looking for clients.
JamJarGill 25:28
Mm hmm.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 25:29
It can be I mean, my hope is that going forward, I get clients through referrals. That would be really nice.
JamJarGill 25:37
Yeah, exactly. You want to get to the point where you have some testimonials on there. And people can go to your site and look it up and be like, oh, okay, like she’s been recommended. So yeah, and you get kind of word of mouth stuff going on. But well, to set yourself up to a level before that happens.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 25:56
And I’m also I’ve changed the direction of my company, “my company”, Oh, my, my, my business, my small business. And I now I’m offering nearly exclusively Pinterest and Instagram services. So that’s also going to change who I’m going to who I’m looking at, you know, and in terms of like invoicing and legal stuff, the legal stuff is not so complicated. You don’t really need a legal, you need a contract, you need an agreement, but I just found mine online.
JamJarGill 26:33
Cool.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 26:34
And it’s nothing too scary.You know…
JamJarGill 26:38
One thing which I have sort of considered, I guess, because my budget is lower, but there’s a lot of these sort of women entrepreuner networks where you pay a monthly fee of like £15.00 , £17.00, that sort of amount, and then you’re part of like, an inner circle. And yeah, so you can actually join I got that. Do you think that’s a worthwhile thing?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 27:02
Yeah, I was part of one, I’m actually still, actually, I’m not still part of one. It’s like a way more expensive thing that I won, that’s a good thing to enter giveaways. Because I won. In the course of a week, I want to give away ways that have really helped me one was social incubator. Anyway, you pay a monthly, I think it’s a bit more than £15, I’m gonna say it’s more like £50, if not £100. And yeah, you’re in a community with these women. And you can ask whatever you need, they have weekly trainings, they have calls, you can hop on calls with them whenever you need, because they have like office hours. Actually, Esther Inman, like course that I took, you can just pay to be part of the group as well, like, you don’t have to be in the course I don’t think group was good, because they had like, you could connect with other people in the course. And you could like see how you could get your feet wet by applying for jobs because they’d have like exclusive job postings and but now, like all of my leads, and all of my clients I found on my own, and I found on Facebook and Instagram. So…
JamJarGill 28:26
It’s learning to sell for the first time, this is the other thing, which is interesting. I was talking to my friend about it. Who’s trying to actually get into a completely different entrepreneurial path around properties and investment in properties and such. But I was just like, oh, like I I kind of even though I’m from like Marketing and Communications and Media background, I think a lot of people who don’t know about that space, they quite often go Okay, so you know, sales, and I’m like…um no….no sales scares me like that. I’m very aware of like not wanting to get into icky sales.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 29:07
So when I got into when I was learning about being a VA, I was like, Oh, is this multi level marketing? Because I really didn’t want to get into that I didn’t want to get into like, yeah, just not being scammy I’m not a sales woman. I I’m finding it really hard to ask for sales from people. And I think maybe I’ve lost potential clients from not knowing how to close the sale, but I’m just learning, you know, yeah,
JamJarGill 29:35
I think you can maybe take it every call that you do. Everything that you do your is a learning experience. You know, hopefully, we’re getting a lot out of this call.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 29:46
I think so…
JamJarGill 29:47
And the great thing about it is that then, you know, I’m then publishing it and hopefully we’re helping other people just on the internet, you know, and I love that and that kind of feeds into that whole community aspect which I’m so passionate about as well, which…
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 30:03
Yeah
JamJarGill 30:04
I just think that’s exciting. But it’s, I mean, for me, it was talking to my friend the other day, because, and, you know, I kind of got a bit of a lead from someone who recommended me. I initially jumped in with, oh, you know, do you want to pay me my hourly rate? Because in order to have our first phone call, and she was like, No, no, don’t don’t go in with that go in with, you know, let’s have a chat. And then that, then it will hopefully lead into then you can start saying I want the hourly rate for whatever and learning those skills, you know, and it’s been like, okay, you know, I just want to talk to you, I want to be a nice person and learn about what you want to get out of this.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 30:55
Yeah, there’s a fine line between being nice and being like, fierce and wanting, because it is a business. And so I’m like, I’ve had a lot of people lately wanting to do trades, which is fine. But I also I’m trying to be smart about it. And I’m like, is this gonna benefit me? And um…
JamJarGill 31:21
I think it’s about finding what is of value to you as well, because I know, you know, another friend who’s a bookkeeper. And she was saying, you know, as she builds up that business and certain things, sometimes she doesn’t get paid in money, sometimes, like, for example, she does books for a garage. And so basically both, like both their cars get serviced and MOT without any money changing hands.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 31:43
Okay, that’s nice.
JamJarGill 31:45
And I’m just like, that’s so valuable. That’s great. You know, kind of exchange is amazing, isn’t it? Because it genuinely helps your monthly income.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 31:54
Yeah, if I could, if I was doing socials, for like, a local business, a local restaurant, they’re like, you have free food for life. I be like, okay, no problem, cool. I’m gonna do it all. Or if like, I love soap, like handmade soap. If someone is like, Listen, you have free soap for life. Do my socials, I’d be like, we can talk. So yeah, it’s all about what you feel comfortable with doing. Oh, I remember I was gonna say in terms of like referrals. I learned? Oh, because I did like a mastermind with the same young woman that I work with. And her team, she had a mastermind like month, and I enrolled in that. And we spoke a lot about how the power of referrals and how it’s also, if you say to your clients, hey, like working with me actually pays you because if you refer me and that person signs up for a set amount of time and it’s successful. I’ll give you an incentive. Okay, so it’s a really lovely way to keep the money circulating. They’re helping you you’re helping them. And so I think that’s a really good way to do it.
JamJarGill 33:20
So, I’m starting out in this sort of “having leads” space. I kind of feel like every time I get given a lead, just give you a metaphor, it’s like it’s someone’s handed me a bubble to carry. And like, I don’t want to pop it don’t pop it. It’s kind of like, Oh, damn it, you popped it. Oh, yeah. How do you get out of that mindset where you’re almost scared to deal with it?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 33:47
Good question…
JamJarGill 33:47
I’m currently listening to the Matthew McConaughey book and he talks about how never approach a job opportunity. Like you need it. You just do it like you want it not like you need it, but people can smell desperation a mile off. And I guess because I’ve always been a heart on my sleeve kind of girl. I I struggle to find that balance where you know, I don’t want to come across as desperate.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 34:15
Yeah, I think I did in the beginning. And maybe I haven’t been on a sales call for a while. So maybe I would again, but I am starting to just try to be like easy with myself. And also Oh, like one thing. And my client. He said this to me. He said, because I think we were on a call together like talking to someone and I said, I’m not I’m not gonna ask you for the sale but are like, this isn’t a sales call. He said Lauren, you should just say it’s a sales call because you want the sale. So like, I own it. And just like listen, we’re all trying to make money. Don’t be ashamed that You’re selling your product that is gonna benefit their life.
JamJarGill 35:03
Hmm. I think that is the masculine feminine aspect to that in that women. I don’t know, do you follow Rachel Hollis at all? I know or I don’t follow her. And so she sort of talks about how we’re just innately brought up as women to be small. And to like, be like, Oh, sorry, trouble you but on the web? It’s I think, unfortunately, men are not. You know, I know this is a sweeping statement. But men have less of that. Naturally, society wise. Yeah. Okay, for them to ask for more money, it’s okay for them to sell something. It’s a more black and white scenario, whereas I just feel so like, no, like, Yeah, get into this space equally, where I’ll say, I want this amount. And they’ll go, Well, we can’t pay you this, but we can give you the product. And I’m like, Okay, thank you so much for working with me. Yeah.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 36:05
Oh, yeah. And I was gonna say, me too, is that, like, I’m getting out of working hourly. So my next step is working in packages.
JamJarGill 36:14
Nice.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 36:15
So that way, because you had mentioned Oh, like I, I said, This is what, you know, I need hourly. And the person was like, Ah, so you just don’t give them an option. Like, it sounds kind of cut throat. And it is kind of, but you’re providing a service.
JamJarGill 36:34
Mm hmm.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 36:35
And so now I’m, I’m rolling out packages of my services. Because I’ve just found myself in situations where I’m just working like a couple of hours a month for someone and I’m like, so waste of time.I can’t do that.
JamJarGill 36:53
Thing is maybe it’s, it’s, it’s kind of setting up your business in such a way where you have your bread and butter clients who cover your main wage. And you do it in that way. But maybe you do, like the hourly stuff on the side as the bit of a top up a little bit. Yeah, I might be quite good.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 37:13
The the thing that I’ve run into this problem a couple of times with prior, previous, clients is that at the end of the month, I said, Okay, we’re at this many hours, and they were like, oh, because they didn’t realise how much time it would take to do certain tasks…
JamJarGill 37:33
Right. learning curve for you?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 37:36
Um, yeah, for both of us…
JamJarGill 37:38
I working out what the expectation is. And I guess, when you’re learning how to do something, because something which I think is key is that, you know, whilst I’ve set these things up for my own business, and setting them up for someone else’s business, you don’t know what the limitations of their technology they’re providing you with? Or, or like all the different things. Yeah. Then you know, how long it actually takes for something to be done?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 38:06
And, you know, like, if it’s a package, and you’re like, it’s set amount, they pay you in advance, and then there’s no confusion.
JamJarGill 38:15
Yeah
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 38:16
In the end
JamJarGill 38:17
And then I guess you don’t feel under pressure as well. Okay. So when you were working on Sorry, I’m gonna go off on a slight tangent here, but I’m just interested. And so when you were working on the hourly rate basis, how did you did you get paid up front? Or did you invoice once a month, how did you manage that?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 38:33
I’m still working on hourly, an hourly wage basis with pretty much all of my clients at the moment. But going into the new year, like this is what’s changing, not necessarily with them, but with like, new clients that I take on. And I do just invoice once a month.
JamJarGill 38:53
And do you kind of let them know as you’re going along, right? I’ve done x hours? The lady who I’m working with, she kind of actually she only does currently she dives into and does some broken links to me like kind of a few times a week. But she’ll do a few minutes at a time and then at the end of the month to invoice me. So it would literally be like half an hour, 40 minutes a month, which is what I need. And I have capacity for at the moment. And she usually checks in with me each week when she checks into my site, and she’ll go, okay, I’ve just dived in. I’ve come across this, this and this, and I’ve been into this amount of time. So do you think that’s kind of good in terms of keeping the lines of communication?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 39:41
So the first month I worked with a couple of people and with one of them we had already established what we’d be doing the other we established it but we, it was like a trial period and then that’s what ends up being more than she had anticipated. So going into December, we like outlined the hours. And that was what we were doing. Um, and same with the other with my other client we just outlined, this is what needs to be done. This is the cost of what you’re doing. And I think going forward, we’re just going to have like a monthly budget that I work within, it won’t necessarily be timed. So this is a retainer that you have goals to do. And like, you know, how much time needs to go into them. And you just work within that budget.
JamJarGill 0:42
Yeah, ah, it is such a learning curve. It’s so many different,
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 0:46
I’m still learning so much. I am by no means an expert, but I also don’t want to disrespect myself, I’m becoming an expert. And I’m, like, at least by month, or like, every two months or so I’m investing in my growth as a service provider.
JamJarGill 1:08
The older I get, the more I kind of think, well, they’re just my kinda people and not my kind of people. And you don’t have to get on with everyone. And, and how wonderful to like, work with people who do get you.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 1:22
Yeah. Oh, my God,
JamJarGill 1:24
And how that lights you up? And how? Because they find you and they see they see you. And I think that’s like a really wonderful thing. And I think so wonderful. If you read Big Magic that you need to say that Big Magic Yeah, by Elizabeth Gilbert. The woman who wrote Eat Pray Love, okay. And and if you don’t follow her on Instagram, do it immediately because she’s amazing. She, she’s awesome. But Big Magic. It was her first non-fiction book. And it’s all about the art of creative living, and how we’re all creators. And, and she’s actually stemmed off into a podcast called Magic lessons, where she’s talking to people, I mean, you’d love that podcast as well. And she’s just talking to people who are, you know, stuck in a corporate job or something, but they have this side thing, which, which they love, but they don’t know how to invest in it. And she kind of, she interviews them. And then she has a call with like one of her friends who’s an expert in that area. And then they listen in on that. And then they’ve got to like, learn what they’ve got to do. And then by the end of the podcast, like the podcast, it’s like one hour. And so within that podcast, she’s interviewed the sort of normal person who’s had the situation and the expert in the middle, and then goes back for the follow up with the person. And like, why have you learned why have you written? How have you done this, and it’s just so if you need an uplifting podcast, if you’re having a down day, magic lessons honestly is what you need.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 3:08
I’ll check it out, for sure.
JamJarGill 3:10
But she’s, um, it’s just this kind of thing that I kind of took ownership after reading that book of being like, Hey, you know, I’m a creative soul looking for other creative souls. And I love that, because I don’t have to define myself as being one type of creativity. You know, maybe that manifests as being a into yoga, maybe that manifest is loving to dance, maybe that, you know, maybe you’re watching draw art one day, I don’t know, you know, yeah, it can manifest a different point in your life. But I’m what’s so lovely, as she says, when you don’t have a definite path of what you want to do next, and always investigate the route of curiosity, and start doing something you you find curious, and then now into something else. And I just love that whole concept.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 4:05
It’s just that’s like, I just started making soap because I, I love soap. And I was like, Oh, I can make it. You know, I’ve made about three batches in the last two weeks. And it’s brought me joy. And I just don’t have right now like a lot of passions going on in my life. And so this is one of them. So when the sun’s out, I set up my little soap making floor set up outside and like, yeah, it’s just really rewarding. And it’s like, oh, not only do I get to control who I work with, I get to control what I put on my body.
JamJarGill 4:21
And helping the environment too, it’s just brilliant.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 4:57
Yeah, yeah. It’s great. I’m all about that. So, um, no, it’s great. You’re totally right about curiosity, and just, it’s all comes down to expression, like creative expression in whatever way. And you know, for some people that might be math, maybe that’s creative for them. I don’t know. But um, now it’s
JamJarGill 5:20
It can change throughout your life as well. You don’t have one set thing right now. And I think she certain things can feed you at certain points in your life.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 5:31
And like you said before, just the generations before us how it was like, all right, you go to school, and you become this thing. And that’s what and who you are. Yeah.
JamJarGill 5:43
It’s not have to be that way anymore.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 5:46
Yeah.
JamJarGill 5:46
I love that
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 5:47
It can be if you want, like a lot of people thrive on being a nurse or thrive on being a cop and…
JamJarGill 5:53
I mean, it is very sensible, it is very sensible and I’m from a family of people who have had that route. My dad was an accountant. He’s retired now, my mom is a teacher. My sister is a behaviour analyst. my other sister is a nurse. So they’re all have kind of set things, which they do. And they pick careers, which people always need. And I’d look at that now. And I’m like, why didn’t I do that? But I do wish that potentially, I did graphic design in college rather than media production.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 6:31
Because okay, but Media Production can benefit you now, too.
JamJarGill 6:36
Yeah.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 6:37
Yeah. 100%. Yeah, totally. And I mean, that now,
JamJarGill 6:43
I’m glad I have and started this vlog. And it’s, you know, very much in its infancy at the moment, I’ve got, like, 60 followers,
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 6:51
I’ll subscribe…
JamJarGill 6:53
Oh, thank you, bless your heart. I kind of love that. Actually, if I went back and talked to 16 year old me while I wanted to do was be a TV presenter. So wouldn’t it be a beautiful thing if I didn’t actually kind of make it on YouTube? Because I, I would have actually achieved that goal of 16 year old me without having to work for one of the big production companies in London.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 7:15
YouTube is different. YouTube is definitely a self momentum kind of growth place, although people can randomly come across your content, of course, but it’s so saturated now, like, well, I’ve
JamJarGill 7:31
been on to like, because I do quite a lot of product testing. And so now I’ve got into like, I’ll do an unboxing video. And that will be the first thing I do with people. And then that will be included in the blog post.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 7:44
And then I just saw that I saw you did a wild review or unboxing. I’ll watch them after we’re sure.
JamJarGill 7:53
Oh, bless you. Thankyou. Right. I’m aware that I’ve been keeping you forever.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 7:57
So it’s okay.We can get through these questions.
JamJarGill 8:01
Yeah, yeah. We will, we will!
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 8:05
I’ll just answer them and we’ll move on. Okay, let’s do that. Okay,
JamJarGill 8:09
What has drawn each specialising to working with Eco companies?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 8:14
Okay. Well, I mean, I think from everything else, I’ve said, you can see that I try to live a pretty eco friendly lifestyle myself, way before it was popular. I feel like I was doing it. I’ve definitely gained more awareness in the last like, two to three years. And so it’s a journey. But when I was trying to find my niche, which everyone’s liking even niche, which I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but I just thought, Oh, I definitely want to work with I didn’t know the word ecopreneurs. Before, but I wanted to work with people who were, you know, in their own little way. Doing good for the earth? Yeah. Whether it was like educating people about how to live differently. And alternatively, whether it was people selling a product that can help you live better, just in any way Really? Yeah, I don’t specify in a certain company. Like, oh, I only work with clothing. brands, oh, I only work with this. I work with anyone who deems themself an eco type relator
JamJarGill 9:25
I love that. And that’s kind of the space I’m in and I kind of add into that the well being stuff as in like yoga, alternative therapies and everything like that. I’m interested in working with them too
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 9:27
Same, same,
JamJarGill 9:39
Because I love how there’s a crossover between those two kind of areas
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 9:43
It’s so important and are we are the planet the planet is us. So our health is completely contributes to how we’re going to treat the planet. If we’re feeling shitty, if we’re feeling down. If we’re feeling like not loving ourselves, we’re not going to love them. Planet just like we’re not gonna show the love to our kids or our spouse. So it’s the same thing.
JamJarGill 10:05
Absolutely. It’s so true. It’s so true. So I did have one question in here in terms of how many clients do you have? And how many clients? would you suggest you need in order to have a sustainable income?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 10:23
Well, because I’m still on off for the month, but I’m still doing a bit of English, like, nine to 10 hours a week, which still kind of eats up some major time, in my opinion. I have about five, I have four going on five clients. So it’d be onboarding someone new in the next week. But I think ideally, I want to grow to kind of like a mini agency. So I’ve a couple of people work with me providing different services that I don’t necessarily provide. And then
JamJarGill 11:01
So that’s your goal going forward. That’s what you’re aiming for…
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 11:04
I’d like 10 to 20 ongoing clients.
JamJarGill 11:08
Okay, so what VA skills do you specialise in?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 11:12
Yes. So I think I briefly mentioned earlier that I’m going more into just providing Pinterest support, so that scheduling, pin creation, Pinterest management, SEO, and then of course, just simple engagement. So I mean, not simple, it’s not simple. But in engagement, post scheduling, I don’t create content, but I create captions. And I do hashtag research as well, which there is more of a method than people think. I just invested a little bit of money in a, like a webinar about a friend’s strategy that she she sells, and that she has coined and it’s done really well. And it works. So her name is ask Anya media and she, she’s like the hashtag queen. Um, so yeah, just Instagram and Pinterest, but like, if people come to me and have something that they want, and I can do, I’ll do it, but it’s not necessarily up on my website.
JamJarGill 12:29
The other really positive thing about this whole culture of community is actually it’s okay to ask for help. And it’s not you’re not being lazy by asking for help. You’re just focusing in what lights you up and what you’re capable of doing. And, and that’s a great thing.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 12:47
Yeah. And you’re getting help doing it and spreading the word. So it’s important. I’m just gonna see how the year goes because I know that it can’t fail like I’m feeling and even if it does, that’s just part of life and I’ll figure something else out but I’m just excited to see how it grows organically. In the outer universe come find me at your Eco Assistant. I’ve gotten active in like the meetups and stuff, which, okay, so one of my big clients big uses just is my family. My plastic free Family Feud. Brad?
JamJarGill 13:27
I think I’ve heard of him
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 13:28
yeah, this man, he’s everywhere. He’s, and, you know, we met through the meet, and I feel like, I just feel connected to him. We we get along really? Well. he’s a he’s a cool guy. He’s a cool ego, dude. He has the ego dudes. You know, hang out. And yeah, I just think, Wow, had I not met Brad, or had I not met people that I’ve met through the meetups? yourself included? Yes. That’s where we connected and yeah, such a great space whether it leads to work or not.
JamJarGill 14:04
And I’m so glad I kind of stumbled across the whole meetup thing because yeah, I kind of Initially, I found out about it. I think I found a meeting mommy Friday or something. I noticed that had meetups because, like, obviously, there’s the kind of underground thing which people don’t like to talk about over like looping and loops, And the thing is, like people quite often in order to grey their account, they get into that for a while, and I did. But every time I did one, I literally just felt icky. And I was just like, this is totally quantity over quality. You know, you are just getting all these people you’re following and they’re not necessarily following you back and it’s all
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 14:51
They’re not your niche, They’re not who you want to be talking to.
JamJarGill 14:57
Then I stumbled across this meetup idea. And I was having Hmm, okay, so there’s like me to mommy meetups. Okay. Yeah, I just kind of like literally put in the search like Ico meetups and I was just like, oh my god, this is a thing and it literally changed my life in the last six months and I’ve met so many cool people and and then I’ve started my own one and my own wellness one because I didn’t know that there were any other wellness ones. So I’ve got wellness Wednesday and sustainability Sunday.
JamJarGill 15:33
Right, I think I’m going to go but thank you so much. It’s been so lovely talking to you. Where do people find you?
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 15:42
So you can find me on Instagram at @Yourecoassistant on Pinterest at @yourecoassistant? You can find me on Facebook, Lauren e Lan, and just feel free to follow me send me a message I love to connect and meet people in not just the Eco realm anyone or if you’re looking to know more about living more in harmony with Mother Earth. Give me a follow. Give me a give me a message. I look forward to it.
JamJarGill 16:16
Fabulous, well thank you so much for your time.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 16:19
Thank you and talk to you. Okay, bye, Gill. Happy Thursday.
JamJarGill 16:25
Happy Thursday. Have a lovely Christmas.
Lauren – Your Eco Assistant 16:27
Thank you, you too.
JamJarGill 16:29
Okay, bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
You can find Lauren on:
I hope you find this an interesting read/watch/listen, I do hope to expand this section of my blog further to talk to inspiring women from all walks of life to get an insight into their worlds. Please do drop me a line at gill@jamjargill.com if you are interested in getting involved in my next 10 Questions post 🙂