107: Growing from a Virtual Assistant to owning a Six Figure Virtual Assistant Agency with Sadie Prestridge
The Uncommon Couch
107: Growing from a Virtual Assistant to owning a Six Figure Virtual Assistant Agency with Sadie Prestridge
Today’s guest transitioned from corporate executive assistant to virtual assistant to owning her own virtual assistant agency in the span of two years. But it wasn’t easy. And it didn’t happen overnight.
Have you ever seen those social media ads for entrepreneurs in the online space who talk about making $10,000/month working only 10 hours a week … and how you can do it, too? It isn’t entirely untrue, but the reality is that it takes work to build your own business and get it to the level of success where you only have to work a few hours a week.
In this episode, Sadie Prestridge shares her journey to a six-figure VA business—from putting in the work (even when it’s not fun) to embracing support and growing a team, and the importance of accountability. She also talks about the responsibilities of a VA, how to know when you’re ready to hire one, and how a VA can support solo entrepreneurs.
What you’ll find in this episode:
[01:42] How Sadie landed in the world of virtual assistants and quickly grew to offering higher level executive support
[04:56] What it was like building an agency so quickly after starting her solo entrepreneur business
[07:06] What a VA can offer your business and take off your plate, and how to know if it’s the right time to hire a VA
[18:16] What is was like for Sadie as a new mom and a business owner, and how gaining success in your business doesn’t happen overnight
[26:20] How to avoid burning the candle at both ends and keep your personal boundaries, and why it’s important to have support in your business
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Sadie’s Bio:
Sadie began her online business as a Virtual Assistant in 2018, and now runs a team of highly-trained EVAs. In the beginning, still working her corporate job, Sadie quickly found her stride and was able to quit her full-time job only three months later. With her client roster full, she had surpassed her previous income by June of 2019 and kept growing!
Training and building up a team of highly skilled women, Sadie created Prestridge and Co. to be a leading team that knows how to support and take initiative in leveling up business operations. Prestridge and Co. helps overwhelmed online CEO's focus on serving their clients and grow a thriving, profitable business, by providing custom, high-touch support with administrative organization and projects, streamlining business systems, and taking responsibility for the day-to-day tasks.
Connect with Sadie:
Grab your checklist, The Ultimate Guide to Leveraging VA Support
Quotes:
I didn't know anybody who had an agency and I guess I didn't even really know what it could do for me and my family and other people. I just knew that it was going to allow me to take my leave and still allow my clients to have the support that I know that they need and deserve. And that was really important to me. And that's a big piece of my agency, too, is every business owner deserves a high level executive assistant and deserves to be able to step out of those tasks. [05:12] —Sadie
We truly work with our clients to put them in sales calls, networking, marketing, and kind of that creative space. But other than that, they're not doing anything else. They're not messing with client questions and inquiries, and they're not messing with failed payments. They're not, like they know that we're checking all of those things and we've created processes to ensure that they're done, essentially. [12:06] —Sadie
And then all of a sudden they're like, well, I've got this inbox with 500 emails and I've got this Facebook group with a million questions, and those are not the fun, sexy pieces that they signed up for. And so that starts to wear them out energetically and they're like, I don't want to do these pieces anymore, but I don't know how to get them off my plate. So I'm going to slow down on the coaching side so that I have enough energy to do both. And so I just I really like to empower CEOs and coaches and business owners to be able to take those off their plate. [14:45]
And that's something a lot of people will ask me is like, what are you doing differently? And I'm like, I never gave up. I kept pushing when it was hard. I kept pushing when I lost clients, when I lost a team, when I had a fire a team, when I was sleep deprived and skipping vacations, like I just didn't quit. I just kept pushing. [22:14]
And so that was a big piece of it is like I just don't give up. I do the things that I'm uncomfortable doing. I do the dancing reels and I do the networking calls and I do all the things that are uncomfortable and not fun. And I just keep going because I know that it's going to be worth it. [22:47] —Sadie