Ep. 107 The Difference Between a Virtual Assistant and a Virtual Expert with Kathy Goughenour

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One of my favorite things about being an online business owner is that it doesn’t matter that I don’t have a college degree or that I don’t have a vast amount of professional experience.

 All that matters is that I produce the results that I say I can produce.

I see too many virtual assistants sell themselves short because they think that:

They’re too young/old/etc to be taken seriously.

They don’t have enough experience.

They haven’t invested in enough training & courses.

Even though none of those things mean that they aren’t capable of doing the work!

Business Coach and VA Trainer Kathy Goughenour knows that confidence is the biggest obstacle that new virtual assistants face...and also the biggest key to unlocking their unlimited potential!

In today’s podcast episode, Kathy is sharing how finding the confidence to switch from Virtual Assistant to Virtual Expert will allow you to earn more and have more fun in your work.

Listen in if you’ve been letting your insecurities hold you back in your journey to build a successful virtual assistant business.

Let me tell you a little bit about Kathy:

After finding the courage to say "bye-bye" to her corporate marketing career, Kathy Goughenour built a 6-figure virtual assistant business from her tiny house in the middle of a forest. 

 Today, she teaches professional women how to create their own work-at-home VA businesses so they can enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and financial security they desire and deserve. 

 Kathy also offers VA Matchmaking sessions to business owners interested in working with Expert VAs®️ and Virtual Experts®️. Kathy and her Expert VA®️ and Virtual Expert®️ Training program have been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, All You, and The Wealthy Freelancer.

Connect with Kathy: Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website

How did you get started as a Virtual Assistant?

 My number one goal in my life is to be happy and cheerful and have fun. That's what takes me back to the very beginning of why I started my virtual assistant business. It was back in 1996, I had been working at AT&T for almost 20 years and I was a marketing manager there. Then everybody thought the corporate world was the place to be if you wanted to be secure.

 But I stopped getting promoted and I went to my boss and I said, “What's wrong. What do I need to do to get promoted again, it's been a couple of years?” 

 And he said, “Do you really want to know why you're not getting promoted and why you will not get promoted again?” 

 I said, “yes, please.” 

 And he said, “You laugh and smile too much. And you are never going to go anywhere until you change that.” 

 Back then I didn't wear feathers on my head. I didn't wear tiaras. I didn't run around in my pajamas. I wore suits and nylons and high heels, all those things that you had to wear back then to fit in. I went back to my little tiny cubicle and just sobbed, as you can imagine. I was 40 at the time and you already have age-ism happening at 40. So I'm like, “Do I change jobs? Should I change careers? What do I do?”

 I thought, “This is my life.” So I decided to quit. When I went in and gave my resignation, my boss said, “You're making the biggest mistake. You will never make this kind of money again. And I vowed to myself right then that not only would I make that kind of money again, but I would double it.” 

 In 2001, I started my virtual assistant business and in three years I was to six-figures. 

What's the #1 challenge most VAs face and what's your #1 tip to overcome it?

I think the number one challenge is confidence. 

A lot of us women, we want to hide. I know I did for a really long time. I was already 40 when I became a VA. I already thought it was an old lady then and here I am 24 years later at 64 and I look every second of 64. I have gray hair and I'm crazy!

 For a long time I hid when I started my VA business, because I thought, “Oh, there's so many young people out there and they're going to look at me and think granny.” 

 Fortunately I had a really good coach who said “Yes, there are going to be people who choose not to work with you, but that's going to be true, whether you let yourself shine or not. And so I challenge you to let yourself shine.” 

 And that's what I think for everybody. When you hide your light under a bushel, you're not going to help anybody, including yourself. 

 “The reality is your clients do not care what you look like. They care about: Can you meet deadlines? Can you do the work you say you can do? And if you can do those two things, there is no certification, no degree, no way you look that matters. They don't care what color you are, how old you are, how young you are, how thin or fat you are. They don't care if you can do the work. 

What's the difference between a Virtual Assistant and a Virtual Expert?

 As I was growing my virtual assistant training program, I began to discover that clients who would come to me to get referred to virtual assistants would not want to pay 45 an hour and up, which is what I really believe people that I train are valued at. They wanted to pay 15 to 25. So I began to research to find out why that cap was in their minds. And they said, they equated virtual assistants to general admins and they did not want to pay more than 25 an hour. 

 I had a really good coach and I talked with her about it and she said, “I totally agree. I'm not going to pay more than that either.”

 I'm crying by then. I said, “I'm going to shut my business down. I am not going to teach women that are valued so much more than 25 an hour, how to make 25 an hour.” 

 And she was like, ”We can work this out. We can figure this out. What I think we need to do is come up with a different thing to call people and see if people will pay more for that.”

  And so she's actually the one, her name is Jennifer Kim, who came up with the term virtual expert.

 And instantly those same people when I went back to them and said “Hey, I know you said you wouldn't pay more than 25 an hour for a VA. What about a virtual expert?” I didn't tell him anything more than that. Literally. Nothing. And they responded with “$45 and up, depending on what they specialize in.” 

 Boom, that's it. 

 If you want to be a general VA go for it, because those are still needed, just know you're going to be capped at 25. Then when you specialize, that's when you can begin to earn more and more and more. It is limitless. 

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