The online business world is truly fascinating. There are many ways to make money and build your own profitable empire. Several internet entrepreneurs and small businesses prefer being highly organized and flexible while working remotely. This is where becoming a Virtual Assistant is the perfect solution to capitalize on the technology and work with like-minded people.
One innovator who took the plunge and quit her full-time job to create a safe, empowering, and honest space for the VA industry is Melissa Smith. Melissa is the Founder and CEO of the Association of Virtual Assistants (AVA) and has two best-selling books to her name.
As a dynamic leader she focuses on remaining positive through constant change. She also believes that it is the ultimate mark of any good leader to create more leaders. “I’ve had many people under my leadership who have gone on to do bigger and greater things for themselves than they were doing for me and while I’m no longer leading them, I do actively support them all,” she mentions.
The mission of the Association of Virtual Assistants is to be the most trusted source of information in the Virtual Assistant industry. “We promote a high standard of excellence within our Association, which not only benefits current and future virtual assistants but those we serve – the client.”
Her first encounters
Melissa grew up in a time when virtual assistants didn’t exist. She found inspiration in her mother —an executive assistant. “When I would visit her in the office, everyone knew who she was. All her bosses would tell me how they couldn’t run the office without my mom,” she recalls. Melissa was also moved by the stories of her mother’s kindness and gratitude. This helped her decide to be an assistant like her mother.
Moreover, her dad also played an important role in her life. As a single parent raising three kids, he had three jobs to pay the bills. “I learned very early on that life is too short to have a job you don’t love,” she adds.
As an assistant, Melissa had a knack for identifying talent that was overlooked. She was directly involved in recruiting and would also be asked to join several hiring boards along with her supervisors. “I often predicted how long someone would remain with the company or who would be a good fit for a role they didn’t even apply for.”
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Igniting the spark of innovation
Melissa’s intention behind forming the Association of Virtual Assistants (AVA) was to create an active association dedicated to virtual assistants. As a Virtual Assistant, she missed peer interactions and the limited scope of personal and professional development. She says, “I knew immediately I wanted to create the AVA. I just didn’t know how I was going to do so.”
After plugging away on her vision board, in December 2018 she sent out a short and cryptic message to her email list. It had one simple question — “Who wants to change the virtual assistant industry with me?” and that opened doors for AVA in March 2019.
Like most journeys, Melissa’s was nothing like she planned. The beginning of Melissa’s career was smooth sailing. But, in September 2012, everything changed when her husband committed suicide. “I was three days into a new job and the struggle was real. I was very fortunate to have a great boss and co-workers,” she says. She ended up staying there for a year before moving back to her home state, California.
In California, she quickly landed another job that she dearly loved. Living in the Bay Area also gave her an opportunity to immerse herself into the world of startups. However, this change wasn’t too favorable for her daughter who was heading into her senior year of high school. Melissa knew she had to move back to Georgia and when she discussed her resignation with her boss, he agreed to let her work virtually as an assistant. She became the company’s first remote employee in 2014.
After a few months, new contracts started to pour in, and Melissa thought of kickstarting her own VA business. Starting her own VA business began a ripple effect of great things. On this new journey, she wrote two bestsellers, traveled the world, started the AVA, and created the premier VA matchmaking business in the industry. “It has provided me opportunities to speak and consult in the field of remote working as well. None of this I could have ever imagined when I first began my journey,” she says.
As the Founder and CEO of the AVA, Melissa stays very close to the day-to-day operations as it pertains to connecting with her members. She asserts, “I am constantly trying to learn what they want but don’t know how to ask for.” Her dedication to provide them with answers, anticipating their needs, and making the membership experience better makes it a rewarding process for her.
Finding freedom in challenges
Building a business isn’t a linear process. Opportunity doesn’t always show up with neon flashing lights. Throughout her journey, Melissa found herself to be her biggest roadblock. “I’m the kind of person (like most assistants) who has a clear checklist and maps out things very clearly,” she says. She had to learn and grow a business out of order, consistently.
Further, when something is easy, our value is often taken for granted and we take ourselves down a harder path. But it’s not meant to be hard. “We all love a good challenge, but steer clear of the hard path,” Melissa suggests.
Sharing her chapters of wisdom
We often gravitate towards people who share our perceptions and ideas; so, it is important to ask the community, association or tribe about their conclusions while listening to the same thing.
Melissa’s advice for young business leaders is “Practice active listening before you come to a conclusion.”
As a leader, she points, “you don’t have the luxury of never having your ideas and perceptions challenged.” She believes it’s not important to agree with everyone. One needs to learn to address it properly without being defensive.
“Every leader will have to have a difficult conversation at some point and seeing someone else’s perception will be critical,” she says.
Stepping up the ambition of AVA
Moving forward, Melissa is very excited for the future of the Association of Virtual Assistants. COVID has positively disrupted the market and created a great demand for more VAs. She believes the next two years are pivotal as the industry will strive to create more qualified VAs to meet the client demand.
“The AVA will definitely be pushing for more data to arm VAs within our VA State of the Industry Report,” she assures. After providing a comprehensive 30-day mindset course to her members last year, she will also be working towards more meaningful connections and focus on mindfulness.
Consequently, AVA is on its way to become the most trusted source of information in the VA industry. “We have more trainings planned and expanding our Member Portal library which already boasts over 80 trainings is always a high priority,” she declares.
