The global pandemic gave rise to unprecedented times causing businesses to shut shop while others had to learn and embrace the new normal. However, despite the challenging circumstances across other industries, the Virtual Assistant (VA) sector witnessed immense growth. This can be likely attributed to remote working and increasing online presence that took precedence for successful business operations.
One forward-thinking leader who found an opportunity in the virtual space several years ago was Gwendolyn Young. Gwendolyn is the Founder & CEO of Your Virtual Admin Expert, LLC — an online business management support agency for professional service providers. Her dynamic leadership style inspires strength and positive change in others. She says, “I intentionally ask my team for their ideas and thoughts and give them an opportunity to use their voice to play an active part in how they work with our clients.”
She advocates having the right people in the right positions doing the right things. This holds importance for her as she wants her team to feel passionate about the work and impact they make in every step of the process. Gwendolyn further adds, “By involving them in the process and being a part of the process, they drive their behavior, as they realize that their work not only impacts the agency but every client we work with.” This also reinforces that she, as a leader, holds herself to those same standards and expectations. That is true transformation at its core.
Charging ahead with focus
Gwendolyn was born to a single mother who was then just 17 years old. Looking back at her growing up years, she recalls “I was what some would consider a latchkey kid as I was responsible for coming straight home from school, making sure the doors were locked, doing my homework, and reading my bible scriptures daily.”
She believes this was her first stab at being a leader; learning to lead herself and doing what was expected of her without question. In fact, she spent a big part of her childhood being responsible for several people and activities like leading Sunday school lessons, babysitting younger cousins, or organizing church events with her mom.
Gwendolyn’s teen years took an interesting turn when at the age of 19, she became a mother and by the age of 23, she was a mother of 3 and married. She shares, “There were some tough times, some great times, and sometimes that I didn’t understand anything that was happening in my life.”
But all these experiences shaped her as a woman leading her to be a self-assured and committed entrepreneur that she is today.
Establishing her empathetic goal
Standing strong in her vision, Gwendolyn Young has established her company as a highly sought-after administrative support services agency in the virtual space. Moreover, she is also recognized as a well-respected thought leader in the virtual assistant industry, the go-to-support pro for professional service providers, and the best place to work for virtual assistants.
In fact, the seeds of inspiration to launch Your Virtual Admin Expert, LLC came from a life-altering event in her life. She mentions, “In 2013, I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus and had to go on long-term disability from my corporate job. A job that I absolutely loved.” After spending months barely able to function, she soon realized that she did not want to return to a working environment where she would have to choose between taking care of herself and doing work that she loves.
Talking further about her decision, she adds, “I knew that it had to be possible to do both, so I set out to research opportunities working from home and realized that there was an entire industry doing what I was good at.” Later, she learned that people had been supporting others administratively and operationally online for years. After much prayer and consulting with some close confidants; Your Virtual Admin Expert, LLC was born.
Gwendolyn’s role as the CEO and Founder of the company is to ensure that every effort should drive the vision and mission forward. “I focus on driving the growth of the organization, building long-term sustainable relationships with our clients, and ensuring our team has the training and resources they need to do good work for our clients,” she asserts.
A substantial amount of her time is spent talking with new potential clients, new potential partners, appearing for podcast guest-speaking to build visibility, releasing her new podcast episodes to keep authority front and center, meeting with clients to ensure they understand their goals and developing new programs and/or services. She is very involved in staying on top of her metrics and goals to ensure everything is on track and understanding the need to pivot when need be.
Striving for excellence
One differentiating factor that makes Gwendoyn’s company a success story is the exceptional client satisfaction. There is a roadmap that clients go through from the very beginning so that they are well-informed about the entire process.
She shares, “We kick-off every account with a client call to discuss the client’s vision, goals, and what success looks like within 90 days. After 90 days, we come together for a check-in call to talk through what worked well, what didn’t work well, how we can support them even more, and what they need for us to improve upon.”
During such meetings, clients are introduced to the wins and value-addition that the team brings in with their expertise and experience. Gwendolyn’s goal is to never let issues get so far ahead that it’s too late to pivot and improve. Invariably, her team also sends appreciation gifts throughout the year and after the completion of major milestones. She asserts, “We are clear that the reality of business is relationships and that clients can choose any administrative agency to support them in their work, but they chose us, and we don’t take that lightly.”
From the team’s side, weekly project meetings are held where each member is personally responsible to share their progress. The project manager also has monthly 1:1 meetings with every member on the team so that there is a strong hold on the pulse of everyone working with the team. This helps to address any behavioral or performance issues before they jeopardize the client relationship or the internal relationship. Every step leads to a client-focused experience.
A bitter-sweet courageous journey
In Gwendolyn’s own words, “the journey has been nothing short of amazing.” It has been a blend of overwhelming emotions —challenging, rewarding, heartbreaking, and joyful. However, looking back over the years there are a few things she shares she would have done differently.
Firstly, she would have hired a business coach sooner rather than later. Additionally, she would have also joined a community of like-minded people and invested in her development as a person, a leader, a business partner, and a support professional.
Secondly, she would have learned the importance of selling and marketing early on. “I’m so glad that I built this agency organically with minimal marketing efforts, but I know that if I had learned to market and sell earlier, I would have reached my goals even faster,” she shares.
And finally, she says she would have hired people sooner to help her provide services. Gwendolyn adds, “For years, I did it all solo, but I saw the true power of scaling when I started to trust other people to help me.”
Enabling females for tomorrow
Empowering young girls as well as women leaders to start their entrepreneurial journey is very dear to her heart. 11 years ago, she created Seed of Hope Foundation — a non-profit dedicated to building leaders of integrity for the next generation. This has also helped her empower both teen girls and women through her mentorship programs.
In fact, her mother has also helped her to provide thousands of hours of mentorship for teen girls in life skill development, social skill development, identity, and entrepreneurship. Moreover, Gwendolyn Young also created platforms and spaces for girls and women to be authentically themselves without judgment. That space has helped them to shed old behaviors and mindsets that have not served them well. This has further encouraged them to learn new behaviors and mindsets that steer them towards their goals.
Besides this, she’s also helped girls reconnect with their mothers and create solid relationships, while helping other girls to come out of abusive homes and relationships. She has constantly encouraged women to realize how powerful their voices are and how amazing their gifts are. This confidence gave them the wings to rebuild their own life, build businesses, start nonprofits in their communities, buy property, and so much more.
“I share my heart, my experiences, my knowledge and my resources; I give them hope by being an example of what’s possible,” she concludes.
Smashing barriers with her fearless attitude
Challenges are disguised opportunities that pave the path towards long-term success. Similarly in Gwendolyn’s career, the biggest roadblocks lead her to learn to love and care for herself, especially physically. She believes her vulnerability helped her to form a strong connection with her clients on a whole different level. Even though she faced tough days due to her autoimmune disease, she learned that she didn’t have to hide that from the world or her clients.
Along her journey, she also learned to take care of herself mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. She says, “Being a person who loves to serve and help others, putting myself first was a foreign concept, but I had to learn none of this would work without me.”
Gwendolyn’s humility is inspiring. She points out that “growth doesn’t happen in a silo and building something of great value requires you to continually evolve as an individual; the learning and growing never stops; even after you reach your goals.”
Her humble advice to all the emerging and aspiring women leaders is to believe in themselves and their dreams. She emphasizes on the motto “You matter. Your voice matters. Your gift matters.”
Moreover, she encourages everyone to embrace the fear and chase your dreams in every way possible. She also inspires them to stay connected with other women, sit, and learn with them and use that wisdom to grow themselves and others.
Optimistic foresight for future
Gwendolyn Young is beyond thrilled about the future of Your Virtual Admin Expert, LLC. She and her team are working on releasing a new podcast, a new course, and helping even more women become frontrunners on this entrepreneurial journey.
Personally, she sees herself in the coming years still leading this organization to seven figures, speaking across the country, and inspiring women to know that they don’t have to choose between what’s important to them and what’s important for them.
