Though I just volunteered to edit this section of the forums, Tess is the one responsible for the invitation to Kylie Short to be our interviewee for April. And what great timing! Kylie has just been nominated for the prestigious Janet Jordan Achievement Award through OIVAC. Here's your chance to read about how this exemplary VA has climbed to the top. Enjoy! - Mary H. Ruth, Ed.
Kylie Short, owner of
Tilda Virtual Services, specializes in providing administrative support, online marketing, e-newsletter design and web site design to small business owners. She started her practice in 2006, a couple of weeks before the birth of her third child. Two years later, her business has grown to include a team of six associate VAs, plus a full time in-office assistant.
Kylie describes herself as offering mostly 'techie' type VA support, including Website design, e-commerce integration, 1shoppingcart.com, hosting and e-zines. She's also certified in accounting, human resources and office administration.
Clearly a very busy lady, Kylie took the time to talk to us about her entrepreneurial experience, giving some great advice for those just starting out.
Feel free to reply to this thread with any comments or questions you may have for her.
How long have you been a professional Virtual Assistant and how many hours a week do you currently devote to your practice? 15th of May 2008 marks my two year anniversary. I think I’m doing about 40 hours a week including marketing, admin etc which is usually spread over 5 – 6 days a week.
How many hours a week do you devote to marketing and networking? Part of my marketing strategy is blogging (and commenting on other peoples blogs), article writing, forum participation and actual networking events. So about 2 hours a day, about 12 hours a week.
What is your niche or specialty and how/why did you go in that direction with your practice? When I first began, I started by providing bookkeeping services to a local business. After a while I started to wonder about other people working from home and discovered the Virtual Assistant industry. Here was what I’d been searching for since having my first baby almost 8 years ago. I joined a few forums and learned as much as I could. I attended seminars, asked questions and tried to learn as much as I could about this fantastic industry.
What are your favorite services/projects to be a part of and why? Website design and newsletter design. As my team grows I am moving towards a project management role too and this is something I also love.
Least favorite? (Are there any services you *don't/won't* offer? Why?) I don’t offer phone answering or telemarketing services. I’ve also stopped offering bookkeeping because it makes me cranky to have to undo an incompetent attempt at keeping the books.
How long were you 'in business' before you landed your first client? I was in business before realizing it. I applied for a part time job and the business owner took one look at my huge belly and offered for me to do it as a contractor from home. As I began to enjoy what I was doing I started wondering about other people doing this kind of work and what else they did for business owners. I then ‘put my big girl boots on’ and treated what I was doing as a business instead of a job. It was a big thing to have to change my mindset and once I did this (along with some training with Kathie Thomas) (ed. note: Kathie is also a forum member) I decided on a name, registered my business and didn’t look back.
Any advice to new VAs who are having a difficult time with the startup phase/lag time before clients work with them? My situation was a bit different but I still remember the thrill of my second client. I remember wooing them, answering questions and then the almighty ‘lets start!’. It was fabulous, exciting, scary, and nerve racking all at the same time.
My advice to newbies is to surround yourself with people who are totally supportive of your decision to start your own business. This is very important because you need your cheerleaders to shout ‘yay’ for you on the days you need it. Then, every day, get up, get dressed and even if you don’t have client work to do, do one marketing ‘thing’ for your business to get your name out there. It could be a blog post, it could be writing and submitting an article or it could be making a phone call to a work acquaintance to tell them about your new business. Start acting like a business owner and you will be a business owner.
Can you describe the most difficult experience you've had thus far and what you did to get over it? It took me a while to realize that my very first client wasn’t working out. My mindset had changed from employee to business owner and my client just did not respect my expertise, my boundaries, or my need to look after ALL my clients equally. His weekly invoice was a good chunk of change and I was scared to let go of that, after all, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be in business. I felt a loyalty to him and his business that definitely was not reciprocated.
It eventually dawned on me that I would have to fire him as a client. This paralyzed me. But eventually I got out my big girl boots again. I rang him and told him it wasn’t working out. He needed someone full time and I just couldn’t do that for him. He agreed with me and found someone else, and then thanked me for my time and commitment. We parted ways on the best of terms. The next day I had 3 new enquiries from potential clients and by the end of the day signed agreements with all of them and we started the next day! I was working fewer hours and was charging more money. Firing this client helped me to fully change over into that mindset of being a business owner and the freedom I felt is just indescribable.
What is the most important business policy you've set in place and why? I have a strict payment policy. Pay up or don’t get your finished product. If I don’t take myself seriously, then who will?
Were there any obstacles you had to overcome before you finally felt 'successful' or 'established'? Just my self esteem. I had family members saying that my kids were being neglected and my house was filthy because in their mind, I wasn’t the perfect wife, mother and housekeeper. I ignore them now because my husband loves me, my kids are thriving and my house is normal and not a show-house.
What do you enjoy most about working from home/owning your own business? I am the boss! Seriously, I love being in charge, I love learning new things and I love working on different projects with different people. I get to do all this and more in my business because I’m also managing a team.
What is your personal business philosophy? Be efficient, be loyal and be personable. Clients will relate to this and keep coming back, as well as tell all their friends about you!
How did you develop and decide on your company's image (logo, tagline, etc.)? My business and my daughter Matilda were born at the same time and so I decided to call my business ‘Tilda Virtual Services’. I felt I was too close to my business so I outsourced the designing of my logo to another VA. Part of my branding is the use of the hot pink.
How important has that initial branding been in the building of your practice? Until I found my second client, it made me feel proactive and in charge of my business. Having a business name, logo and tagline was one step closer to finding that second client. I also found that other VAs would remember me as the pink lady and I’ve had people blog about me using the color pink and how it’s helped me in my branding and business recognition.
4/2008 Interview with Kylie Short of Tilda Virtual Services
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