Molly Rose Speed is the founder of Virtual Assistant Management, which provides solutions for virtual assistants.
In this episode, Molly Rose shares a ton of insight on working remotely, leading a virtual team, building a virtual assistant business, and more. Enjoy our conversation!
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LEADERSHIP QUOTE
You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
– Jim Rohn
CONNECT WITH MOLLY ROSE AND TEAM
- Become a VA: virtualassistantacademy.com
- Hire a VA: virtualassistantmanagement.com
- Molly Rose: mollyrosespeed.com
ABOUT MOLLY ROSE
Molly Rose Speed is an expert in creating what everyone wants more of — time freedom. Through her proven methods of intelligent systems, seamless automation, and outsourcing, you’ll experience another 10-15 hours per week of freedom and flexibility.
As the founder of Virtual Assistant Management which provides trusted Virtual Assistant solutions and flawless tech execution for busy entrepreneurs, Molly Rose is the go-to professional for some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the speaker/author and content creator industry.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Molly Rose Speed 0:00
Hi, this is Molly Rose Speed. And the quote of the day is you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with by Jim Rohn.
Podcast Intro 0:10
The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident game changing leader assistants.
Jeremy Burrows 0:21
Friends thanks for tuning in to Episode 145. You can check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/145. And before we jump into my conversation with Molly rose speed, here is a little bit about today’s sponsor, are you stressed about holiday gifting? Don’t be with loop and tie. Giving great gifts is simple. Here’s how it works. You choose a curated collection of stylish artists and made gifts at prices from $10 to $500 per gift. Then your recipients get to choose their own gift from the collection that you send. Go to loopandtie.com and use promo code LEADER ASSISTANT that’s all caps to words LEADER ASSISTANT to get 20% off. And yes, they do ship internationally. So visit loopandtie.com and use the code LEADER ASSISTANT for 20% off. Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to The Leader Assistant Podcast. It’s your host Jeremy Burrows and today I’m speaking with Molly rose speed. Molly, I don’t know much about you. So I’m excited to get to know you today and introduce you to my listeners. Molly, what part of the world are you in?
Molly Rose Speed 1:45
Hey Jeremy. Great to be here. I live in Destin, Florida, which is in the panhandle. Beautiful area of the country. Yes. Nice.
Jeremy Burrows 1:53
So it’s pretty, pretty warm there. Right now.
Molly Rose Speed 1:55
It’s cooling down but temperate based on where you’re at in the Midwest. We’re feeling some good weather today. Nice.
Jeremy Burrows 2:03
So why don’t you tell us a little bit about what you do and who you are?
Molly Rose Speed 2:09
Sure. So I am first and foremost a military spouse, which was something I didn’t see coming when I was bright and bushy tailed 20 year old about married into the military and created a career for myself after ditching corporate America and realizing it wasn’t going to work with our lifestyle of traveling all the time and having a deployed husband more than I thought I ever would. And I created a training and placement company as virtual assistant. So worked as a virtual assistant for several years and loved the work that I did. And then realized there was a gap in the market for military spouses and and wanted to fill it by giving them this career opportunity. So that’s what led me to where I am today.
Jeremy Burrows 2:53
Nice. So were you ever any other sort of assistant before you were a virtual assistant?
Molly Rose Speed 2:58
That’s a great question. I wasn’t I was an analyst at a hospital. So I wanted to do Healthcare Administration. And before that I was a executive team leader at Target. So I never really wore the assistant role, I guess, in college. I did. I was an investment assistant as an intern, but not the traditional EA VA role that we see today.
Jeremy Burrows 3:19
Okay. Target. That’s awesome. I was I worked at Walmart, so you know. Back in the day. Okay, so then, you know, obviously, the virtual remote work from home role was helpful for you as you as you mentioned. But it were there when you were the virtual assistant before you started your firm. Was there a specialty that you had? Were you a marketing, social media calendar, you know, events? What was your specialty?
Molly Rose Speed 3:54
So I kind of fell into the role, I went to a conference that my client ended up being my client put on in Chicago, and at this conference is called succeed faster. It’s now no longer in existence. But for the first time and this is over 10 years ago, I learned what an entrepreneur was, and I just wasn’t exposed to, you know, you can sell a service and make money. I didn’t realize you could do that without a corporate or a structured organization to funnel that through. So my first role was actually for the founder of this organization, because I quit my job after figuring out that we could do this. And it was as a social media manager for a crowdfunding campaign on student loan debt. They were doing a documentary on student loan debt. I had no idea what that entailed and what it meant. But I applied for it and got the job and learned everything I could on it and we successfully raised $75,000 In doing that, and then real quickly after that, the same person had lost his assistant and he is a public speaker. Arthur, financial coach, and I came on board with him and just kind of learn the ropes. So his business over the years.
Jeremy Burrows 5:08
Nice. Yeah. So what did you find? And what do you find the most challenging, as far as you know, working from home
Molly Rose Speed 5:20
the most challenging, I think you’re definitely in a silo, when you’re by yourself, you have to make the effort to, you know, get ready some days and actually feel good run up, even if you’re in the Zoom call, or get out and go to a coffee shop or network with people, we just destined a pretty small town. So we just got our first co working space. So trying to go there, or network with virtual assistants of the like, I think you really have to kind of force yourself into that otherwise days go by, and especially when my husband’s deployed, I’m like, I haven’t talked to anyone in real life in five days. So I think that’s probably the hardest thing about working virtual, you kind of have to make the effort to get out and make make a point to do it.
Jeremy Burrows 6:05
Yeah, so what what do you like to do when you get out?
Molly Rose Speed 6:09
Yeah, I love meeting girlfriends out and just meeting for wine or going to book club like normal women do. And then I go to a lot of networking events. So lots of volunteering at like local events. I’m a big extrovert. So I just like being around people as much as I can but have to force myself to go find those things to do. And traveling when my husband’s deployed, or or home. I travel as much as possible. This was a lot of pre COVID. But it’s finally coming back. So he’s gone. I’m you’ll find me in Europe working remotely.
Jeremy Burrows 6:48
Nice. Yes. Well, part of Europe,
Molly Rose Speed 6:51
all over my last trip I did. Budapest, Vienna, Prague. And then one. Prior to that my husband, I was actually in Croatia, and then Slovenia. And he met me on the back end of that trip. And we did all Croatia together, celebrated his birthday in October fest, and then went over to Ireland. So all over, it’s so easy to travel when you’re working virtual and when it’s just you because it’s super affordable, hopping in and out of some pretty amazing hostels that I found, or Airbnb ease. So I love that life. I’m ready for it again.
Jeremy Burrows 7:31
Nice. So okay, so you mentioned that you saw a need in the market for a virtual assistant training and firm. What, what were the steps you took to kind of transition from just being a virtual assistant to actually running a virtual assistant business?
Molly Rose Speed 7:50
Yeah, I was consistently having the same conversation. And you know, they say, if you repeat yourself more than three to five times, so you should record it. And that’s what I did. So I was having coffee with several military, spouse peers, and just women that were interested in what I was doing, and saw the lifestyle that I created for myself, like, wow, I have something here. So I, I just started map, Mind Mapping what a program would be, you know, there’s the business side of running your own virtual assistant company. And there’s also the technical side, which you can learn over time. But if you’re going through a course, you really need both. I started with really mind mapping the business side. So you know, starting an LLC, invoicing, pricing, marketing, proposals, contracts, pitching yourself, onboarding clients, communicating with clients, all the more that goes into that. And then I added on the technical to really get them up to speed with what online entrepreneurs are really asking for and demanding today. So social media management, inbox management, calendar, travel booking, blog, posting, simple website updates, and then it gets more complex as you go into, you know, of course, creation and helping authors publish books, and all all those things.
Jeremy Burrows 9:15
Nice. So did you have already had an audience, essentially, for this program for this course? Or were you like, I just gotta get this out there. And I’m starting from square one.
Molly Rose Speed 9:27
No, yeah. So that’s something I would coach current clients on now to how the audience before you create the program. I had a really great network of military around me and it kind of just started to take off so I haven’t ever really marketed a bunch. A lot of it’s been word of mouth, and it within the network. It’s gone really well that way, but I didn’t have a big list I just started and it it turned into something. It was more of a give back to start now I realized I have a community and I’m For a really great business out of it.
Jeremy Burrows 10:03
So do how many of your assistants so you have a two sided two sides to your business, maybe you have more you can share if you have more, but there’s the training people on how to be a virtual assistant. And then there’s actually providing virtual assistant services to clients. And so you have, you know, I’d be curious to know how many assistants you have on your team and, and all that. But yeah, tell us a little bit more about the two sides or maybe three sides if you have another? Yeah,
Molly Rose Speed 10:33
yeah. So the training portion or certification, which we’ve created over the past couple years. So students come in and purchase the course. And they get certified as a virtual assistant through the virtual assistant Academy, which is what we created and join our community. And then they apply for our management team. And we have a little over 40 bas in the management team actively. And then we have a placement arm. So great network of past clients, or people that I’ve just met over the years that, like, wow, you’ve trained virtual assistants, I need a virtual assistant who doesn’t really these days. And that’s brought in a really great influx of really amazing business owners meeting the services that our virtual assistants are trained in. So we have a placement agency where a client comes in and purchases a placement through us and we match them with virtual assistants, they interview and hire them directly.
Jeremy Burrows 11:35
Okay, so you see you take the course, and then get certified, and then you basically become one of the on the roster, essentially. And then you can kind of point match people match clients with an assistant. And then you’re basically hands off after that, after that transaction.
Molly Rose Speed 11:56
Yes, we do have a model where the the client, if they prefer to pay us hourly, and we oversee the virtual assistant, that’s an option. But for the most part, they pay a one time placement fee. And then we, the virtual assistant and a client go on their own relationship, which works out really well for everyone, because I really want the BAS to have the autonomy of running their own business and the freedom to do that. Yeah, that that’s, that’s how it works. And the placement part surprised me a lot, because it’s not just what they know, but it’s also who they are. So we’ve come up with a lot of questions and you know, taking personality tests like this, or the Enneagram, or things like that, that the clients really benefit from to be able to match with the right person. So our success rates really strong as well.
Jeremy Burrows 12:48
Cool. So are they all are all the virtual assistants that go through your training? Are they all military? Spouse?
Molly Rose Speed 12:57
No. Don’t have to be Yeah, don’t have to be. Yeah, complete range of of candidates. Primarily we do cuz that’s our network. But we have we have everyone. So let us stay at home moms world, we have some digital nomads. And then military spouses are kind of the buckets that we come through.
Jeremy Burrows 13:22
Cool. So I’m asking lots of questions. Because for those listening, who don’t know, I have never spoke with Molly rose. And I’ve never haven’t done a ton of research on her. And I kind of wanted to try that out and let you all learn as I’m learning about her Academy and you know, virtual being a virtual assistant or a remote executive assistant, is is always a topic of interest to executive assistants, maybe they’re thinking, hey, I want to, you know, a side hustle so that I can make a few few bucks on the side, even in keep my day job. Some people are thinking, oh, I want to transition completely to work from home remote virtual assistant, have my own clients and all that. How have you seen or let’s put it this way. Molly rose. Have you seen full time executive assistants successfully be a virtual assistant on the side but keep their day job?
Molly Rose Speed 14:20
Not we haven’t had specific executive assistants side hustle, ba i guess that’s what I would call that. But we do have other professionals. So their job wasn’t necessarily being an EA during the day. But nurses teachers. Let’s see some people in like graduate programs that are doing this on the side while they go to school. So a little Yeah, a little bit of that.
Jeremy Burrows 14:49
So what if somebody’s interested? Let’s talk about pricing. So do you let the clients in the in the virtual assistants app Do you hand it off, like let them agree on pricing? Or do you kind of start have a pricing structure to start with.
Molly Rose Speed 15:07
So that’s a big thing that we can do during our consulting with the client making sure that their budgets on par before they even purchase a placement package from us. We want to make sure bas are at the adequate price. And we recommend to our virtual virtual assistants where to start, that keeps getting higher as the world is changing, and everyone’s going virtual. And the demand for virtual assistants is really high higher than I think the pool is of what’s available. So we pre arranged that between the client, but it is completely dependent upon the virtual assistant and what they want to charge. So we have virtual assistants that charge $22 An hour and some that charge $45 an hour, and all that in between. And we really try to guide them based on what they know and the tasks that they’re doing for clients versus others. Because it really is broad what a virtual assistant can do these days and what people think they can do.
Jeremy Burrows 16:06
Yeah, I was gonna ask next, what would you say is the most common, you know, two or three tasks that of your clients are looking for virtual assistant to, to handle.
Molly Rose Speed 16:20
I think the biggest is the day to day admin that we probably all know that email, inbox management, calendar, scheduling, travel, booking, just making sure all the communication and everything is kept up to speed for the entrepreneur or client business owner. Social media is always a big one. And then I think lastly, I kind of started training virtual assistants. And we’ve been marketing on this a little bit, but almost content spinning. So if you think about online entrepreneurs, they create content. But how do you take one piece of content and then spin it on five different platforms in different ways. So that’s something that they’ve also been working on. So they might take a podcast recording like this and create a blog out of it and post it get around year to create social media posts for it. Newsletter blasts, all those things to make sure that one piece of content can be delivered in 70 different ways.
Jeremy Burrows 17:21
Yeah, fan of repurposing content?
Molly Rose Speed 17:24
Yes, I’m sure Yeah. As an entrepreneur yourself.
Jeremy Burrows 17:27
So okay, so how what about leading virtual teams leading remote teams? What are some things that you’ve done to kind of cultivate the culture of your virtual team?
Molly Rose Speed 17:40
I think the biggest thing, and this might sound obvious is communication. I think when virtual teams don’t work, it’s because something’s, there’s a breakdown in communication and expectations. So when I teach virtual assistants, and we actually are teaching clients to and we discuss this with them to make sure that everyone’s off on the right foot forward. It’s all about if there’s an issue or don’t assume something that’s extremely important, make sure you’re talking about it and actually scheduling those times every week to just check in like, what’s going well, what’s not going well, where do we adjust and just making that a part of the conversation. And then secondarily, using a project management tool and getting out of inbox and text and Voxer or whatever form or Skype, whatever form of communication people are used to using something like Asana or Monday, or Trello. And really sticking to that as a team is so key to just protecting boundaries and keeping people focused.
Jeremy Burrows 18:40
Love it. So what’s your favorite product management tool?
Molly Rose Speed 18:43
Definitely Asana I lead with it, I love that company. I think that they’re, they’re great. Those are all great. That’s just my I know it inside and out. And that’s what I recommend and teach.
Jeremy Burrows 18:57
All right, well, so if somebody is listening, thinking, You know what, I think it’s time for me to take the jump to being a virtual assistant. Now, you know, most of my listeners are already administrative assistants or executive assistants or Chiefs of Staff. What what are the, what are the first two steps that you would encourage them to take if they’re ready to take that leap and try to become a virtual assistant?
Molly Rose Speed 19:27
I think if you’re coming from a traditional EA role or within an organization, it’s really about deciding if you want to have this work from home lifestyle, if you want to balance it with your current career or if you want to transition fully and and commit to, to being able to do that from home. I think there’s a lot of structure that going into an office brings or even working virtually with an organization. You really are self motivated, working virtually in your own business. So really deciding if that’s your skill set your mindset and how you want to operate. So I think that’s extremely important. And then I always say, you know, being a executive assistant having all the skills likely, but making sure that you can translate those virtually is really important as well. So if you can, you don’t necessarily need a traditional training program, but they are out there. And I have my virtual assistant academy that you can look into if you’re ever needing the structure to get started, and or the opportunity to have the placement and the management team to follow.
Jeremy Burrows 20:33
Love it. And then my last question, is pretty much the number one question I get from assistants when they talk about virtual assistants. So how do I find clients?
Molly Rose Speed 20:51
I love this. So I would argue that most of us don’t put ourselves out there enough. And I have seen so much success in creating emails to what I would call your power 100 list. So these are the 100 people in your life that have your back. And if that list is only 50, or 25, that’s okay. And you email them and you say, Hey, my name is Molly rose, this is what I’m doing. Now, I would love for you keep me in mind, if you ever hear of anyone needing an assistant, it doesn’t mean that you’re asking them to hire you. It means just keep that in mind and be very, very specific and what you’re asking for, and translate that also to social media, Facebook and Instagram these days, go a mile. So post a headshot really excited, this is what you’re doing. This is what you offer, this is how to get in touch. And nine times out of 10 When my virtual assistants do that, they get something and it trails. So I think we just need to talk about it more and be really proud of the work that we’re doing and ask for it. That’s where it comes down to
Jeremy Burrows 21:57
love it. I I can’t remember if it was shoot, I can’t I can’t remember who I originally heard this from. But basically, when I was starting my side hustle business. There was like a couple of people that I was following as like, hey, you know, here’s how to get to your first 100 email subscribers. And literally, step one was texture, Uncle texture, friends texture, you know, your mom and say, Hey, I’m starting this new thing? Would it? Would you like me to keep you updated? And if so what’s your email? And that’s all you do? And you just do that to everybody? You know, like you said, your What did you call it the list? Power 100 Or your power? 100? Do you do that to your power? 100. And you never know what’s going to happen. And it just starts starts you somewhere. And then you can kind of take that moment on and run with it.
Molly Rose Speed 22:53
Yeah, and you’ll start to just just pay attention and you’ll hear so many people say oh, oh, my uncle how the business selling this. He really needs an assistant and it’ll just start to happen. Like, they’ll hear it. You’re just planting the seeds. Yeah.
Jeremy Burrows 23:10
Awesome. Well, Molly rose, thanks so much for sharing a little bit about what you’re up to. And being on the show some great tips for working remotely even if you’re not a virtual assistant. And then also if you want to become a virtual assistant, what what could people or where can people find you online if they want to learn more?
Molly Rose Speed 23:30
Yeah, so if you’re looking to become a virtual assistants, virtualassistantacademy.com virtualassistantmanagement.com If you want to find a virtual assistant, and I’m at MollyRosespeed.com
Jeremy Burrows 23:42
Perfect. Awesome. Well, I’ll put those links in the show notes and I really enjoyed chatting with you. Thanks so much again for being on the show
Molly Rose Speed 23:53
you as well thanks Jeremy This is great. Appreciate it.
Jeremy Burrows 23:57
Don’t forget to check out our sponsor for this episode loopandtie.com use the code LEADER ASSISTANT all caps to words LEADER ASSISTANT At loopandtie.com for 20% off their holiday gifting and we will talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 24:24
Please loom you on Apple podcast. Goburrows.com
