Today I got to chat with Stephanie Blake, a business coach who helps moms start and scale their VA businesses. She’s mom to a 10-month-old baby boy and runs her thriving business from home while caring for him. During the episode, we chat about productivity, why we need to be flexible, and how to handle being Type A and running a business while raising a child.
She’s also got a free gift for all Moms Make Money listeners! She’s sharing a portion of her course, VA Roadmap, for FREE.
You can find her on Instagram and on her website.
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15 Minute Marketing Map
Today’s episode is brought to you by my 15 Minute Marketing Map. If you’re looking for a simplified system so you only need to review your marketing results for 15 minutes each week, PLUS a step-by-step guide to taking action on what you find, you need the 15 Minute Marketing Map. You can find it at learn.amobraskin.com/map.
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Transcript of the episode with Stephanie Blake
Ann Marie O’Braskin0:01I’m here today with Stephanie Blake. And I’m so grateful that you’re here chatting with us. Thank you so much. I would love for you to tell me a little bit about yourself and your family.
Stephanie Blake0:17Yeah, so like she said, my name is Stephanie Blake and I am a business coach. I live right outside of Chicago with my husband, our currently 10-month-old son, and a dog that has way too much energy. So that is our little family and my husband is a nurse and I work from home in my coaching business while taking care of my son.
Ann Marie O’Braskin0:41Wonderful, and that’s, that’s amazing. Staying home while running your business and taking care of your child. I do the same thing. But I did actually start getting a little bit of child care and it’s just it feels impossible. Sometimes, and for some people, it does feel impossible. So I love that it works for you. That’s wonderful.
Stephanie Blake1:06For now, yeah, yes, he’s getting more mobile though. It’s not gonna last. And I will need to get help soon.
Ann Marie O’Braskin1:12Yeah, my daughter is two and a half. And I started childcare about six months ago. Because Yeah, it was too much. SBStephanie Blake1:21I get it.
Ann Marie O’Braskin1:23So tell me: how do you make money?
Stephanie Blake1:26So I make money through a variety of different ways. So like I said, I’m a business coach, but I like to meet my clients where they’re at. So if they are, stay at home moms and they want to start their business online, I have a course that shows them how to do that so they can go through it on their own, it’s a lower cost offer. And then once they get their business up and running, they have the opportunity to work with me in different capacities. So in a group program, one to one support intensives where we just shove a ton of information into a Very short amount of time. So a variety of ways. And like I said, it just depends on where they’re at in their journey.
Ann Marie O’Braskin2:07Very cool. And how did you get into that field?
Stephanie Blake2:10It has been a roller coaster, to be completely honest. Because when I started my business three years ago, it was an Etsy shop. And since then I have had nine other businesses. That because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, all I knew was I wanted to be my own boss. So I’ve done everything at one point while working in corporate as an ice level position, and digital marketing. So like, I’ve done everything at one point. And eventually after doing all of those things, I realized that the one thing that I hadn’t done yet and the thing that I actually really wanted to do more than anything was coaching, and helping people start and grow their own businesses. And once I actually took the leap of faith and trusted myself enough to do That everything felt aligned. And it’s just been the best decision.
Ann Marie O’Braskin3:04That’s amazing. So with your experience and how you you really work with people at different levels, what is your day to day look like?
Stephanie Blake3:15Well, every day is different because I have a 10 month old.
Stephanie Blake3:21I am very type A. And I would love to say that I have a set schedule every single day because that’s how my brain works. But after I had my son, I realized that’s no longer an option. So I mean, every day is different, to be totally honest. So I tried to schedule all of my calls. My husband works four days a week. So I try to schedule all of my calls on the days that he’s off. And then my son usually naps around like 12pm. So then I try to schedule any other calls during those times if I have them or that’s my working time. So, I mean, honestly every day. It just depends on when he wakes up. He decides to go down for a nap. And then I’m just working as much as possible in those times that he’s playing on his own or napping.
Ann Marie O’Braskin4:07Understood. I would love if you could just share maybe some of the tasks that you do related to your the service side of your business, and then how those differ from the tasks that you do. Maybe like even weekly if we’re looking at it like that in your group program.
Stephanie Blake4:26Yeah, so well in my group program is, so we do weekly calls and on a different topic. And they also get like a q&a call where they can ask me any questions about what we’re talking about. But then, and that’s only for a set amount of time. So that’s over the course of between 10 to 12 weeks, depending on which program I’m launching. But then, just on a daily basis, I’m working with my clients one on one I’m checking in with them on Voxer. We’re having calls on zoom. I have a membership As well, I forgot to mention. So I am in my membership hanging out with everybody there answering questions for them, creating content if I’m coming up with new offers, like for example, a flash sale or something like that. So it’s all about focusing on my clients and doing vital tasks that are that are creating recurring revenue in my business, because that’s where my biggest focus is right now is creating recurring revenue in any way it’s possible. So focusing on tasks that allow me to choose to do that.
Ann Marie O’Braskin5:36And so would you say that there’s maybe one thing that you can do each week to move your business forward?
Stephanie Blake5:44Plan ahead. 100%. Because if you do not have a plan, then you don’t have a point like you are setting yourself up to fail. And I know that may sound dramatic, but it’s the truth like if you don’t have a step by step plan, that You’re going to follow, you’re just going to be doing anything and everything. And I know because I have done it for many, many years. And it was a complete disaster. I wasn’t making any money. And I was just doing hashtag all the things as, hey. So really planning for the week and setting myself up for success has been so, so important to the growth of my business.
Ann Marie O’Braskin6:21Very cool. Yeah, I feel similarly I’ll do like a brain dump, to get everything just out of my brain and onto paper. And I don’t know if you do something similar, but I’ll do that. And then I’ll pick three things to do like for my entire day. And then I have this extra list of Okay, if I finish those things, I have all this other stuff I can do. But I find that if I just give myself one giant list, it gets way too overwhelming. And then even if I were to accomplish 10 tasks, it feels like I failed because I didn’t get my whole list. Done. Have a list of three things. Three is doable.
Stephanie Blake7:05Yeah, I did the exact same thing I am I like to say that I’m a recovering perfectionist, and I like to do everything and I like to do it really well. But I’ve learned after having a baby that’s not possible I just need to get done as much as I possibly can short amount of time. And that I yeah, I like that you mentioned doing the three things because I have that too. I have that for my week. And I have that for like, I have a top list of things I have to do every month too.
Ann Marie O’Braskin7:35I should do it each month, but I don’t. I do it for the week and then for the day, but I’m in the same boat where which I’m sure a lot of moms are in that after having a child you’re realizing you know what this type of planning is not the same, like the productivity and all of that that I used Pre-baby cannot apply. Post maybe because you need to be so much more flexible, but still, figure out how to have a plan in all of that. Oh my gosh, just being 100% flexible doesn’t work.
Stephanie Blake8:13Yes, that is so true. So one of the businesses that I had out of those nine, I was a VA and I would help entrepreneurs automate and organize their businesses because like I said, I’m type A, like, it’s what I love to do. So I was very good at it. But then after I had my son, I was like, now I understand why moms were saying that they couldn’t get everything done. Like even though I would create a plan for them. I get it, like, totally understand now, but it took, like actually having a baby and putting yourself in that situation to really get it. And yeah, some days are just a disaster. I’m going to be honest. Yeah.
Ann Marie O’Braskin8:48Exactly. Some days I don’t get those three things done.
Stephanie Blake8:52It’s like, well, these things will move to tomorrow.
Ann Marie O’Braskin8:54That’s right. Exactly, exactly. But I think that’s probably also why Having like, the three things for your week are so important too, because then it’s like, Okay, if I just focus on getting those three things done this week, even though they’re larger, I mean, they’re larger than a daily task. But if I have that then like yesterday, not as much got done for me. So I’m just like, okay, but I still have the rest of the week to get those tasks accomplished. And so it didn’t absolutely feel like as much of a setback, I guess.
Stephanie Blake9:32Yeah, totally. And that’s one of the things that we talked about in my membership to not to like, like my ownership, but like, every Friday, I send people an email saying, like, what is one big thing that you want to accomplish next week, so that if nothing else gets done in their life, they know that they need to focus on that one thing. So I like that you mentioned that as well.
Ann Marie O’Braskin9:48That’s fantastic too, because even just you sending that email, it forces them to think about it. And if you’re asking them on Friday, like that, so many people, don’t think about it until, say, Monday morning, or Monday afternoon or Tuesday, like what you want to get done for that week. So that’s great. And that’s a really good tip also just thinking about it ahead of time. So yep, obviously, you have a ton of experience and you work with a lot of moms. Um, so from all of that, and from just as being an expert, what would your advice be to a fellow mom looking to start a business right now?
Stephanie Blake10:31Use skills that you already have to start a virtual assistant business because I honestly think that’s the lowest barrier to entry. And that’s why I tell people to do that because you can use even if you don’t think that you have skills you do like you have worked a job at some point. You may have been a server in a restaurant in high school or done, I don’t know, data entry in high school like there could be a ton of different things you can do and all of those skills can be used. As a virtual assistant business, and even graphic design, I have a degree in graphic design. So this hurts my soul. But you no longer need a degree in graphic design to be a graphic designer, you can use tools like Canva. And you can offer that as a service. So really focus on using skills that you have or skills that you want to learn. So for example, if you’re not a graphic designer, but you really want to do that you can get good at doing that behind the scenes and then offer that as a service in your business.
Ann Marie O’Braskin11:29That’s great advice, and how can they learn more about you and the programs that you offer that can help them get even further ahead in growing their own business?
Stephanie Blake11:40Yeah, absolutely. So come and hang out with me on Instagram. That is where I am at all the time. I’m always live on stories. And my handle is @theBlakecollective. And you can also go to my website, same thing, www.theBlakeCollective.com, and I’m also giving you guys a portion of my course called The VA roadmap for free, and it shows you how to build a virtual assistant business from the ground up. So using skills that you already have, and then so much other info that I have learned over the course of the past three years, I’m giving you guys access to that for free. And she’s gonna post a link in the show notes, correct?
Ann Marie O’Braskin12:18Yes, I will, I will share that link with everybody. Thank you so much. That’s so generous of you. I’m really excited for everybody to see it. And I know that there’s a lot of people who are listening to this who want to take those first steps, or finally have either the time or the push right now to bring in some extra income. So I know this is going to be really helpful for them. Thank you so much for being here with me today. Stephanie. I really appreciate it. This was really valuable information. And I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.
Stephanie Blake12:50I’m so glad. Thank you again for having me.