Ep. 030 Why Your 20s Might Be the Perfect Time to Start A Business with Kristi Monte

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Something I’ve thought about a lot is how much I wish I had known about this kind of business earlier.

But I feel that we’re taught that success looks like going to college, majoring in a thing, getting a job in the thing, and working 9-5 for 40, 50 years. And since that path just never interested me, I felt totally lost and unsure of my worth. 

That’s why I love that Kristi Monte’s mission so much. If you don’t know Kristi yet, let me tell you a little bit about her: She’s a serial entrepreneur and virtual assistant living in Nashville, TN. After starting and scaling multiple businesses before the age of 22, Kristi began her project-based virtual assistant service, VA for a day, in July 2018. VA for a day combines Kristi’s natural organizational skills with the experience she has gained from her diverse and ambitious professional pursuits by helping creative entrepreneurs streamline and automate their client experience. In 2019, Kristi launched her unique program, Booked Out VA, to educate and inspire young women to use their skills to become a virtual assistant and design a life they love.

Now, I want to be clear: I’ve mentioned Kristi’s age, but Kristi is not just impressive because she’s 23. This girl is incredibly savvy no matter which way you spin it. But I do love that she is such a role model and inspiration to young women. I am all about empowering women and girls to create exactly what they want and to dream big and be creative and innovative. So, that’s why I’m thrilled to share her with you today. Let’s meet Kristi:

Kristi’s Virtual Assistant Journey

Kristi’s journey began a year ago. (Whoa! So much can happen in a year!) As a new college grad, she was hoping to avoid getting a “real job” and heard about the virtual assistant life in a Facebook group.

One day, she decided to hire a virtual assistant for her own businesses (she owned a couple different ones at that time.) She wanted someone to come in and help her out...just for one day! When she couldn’t find a virtual assistant that would do that, “VA for a Day” was born!

She got the idea on a Thursday, and by Sunday she had a logo, a website, a menu of services, and her first 3 clients! 

VA for a Day looked very different then than it does today. Her services included simple things like writing a bio, cleaning out email inboxes, and organizing Google Drives for photographers and she was charging $15/hour max.

It took Kristi 2-3 months of being very overworked and underpaid to realize that the way she was doing things wasn’t going to be sustainable in the long run. She started to eliminate things from her service list and realized that one of her most in-demand services was setting up client management systems. She started offering Dubsado set-up as her premium service and is now charging almost $1000 for that offering!

Building a Business as a 20-Something

Kristi is a young entrepreneur (she’s only 23!) and has a mission of empowering other 20-somethings to build their dream businesses. And as she shares, one of the benefits of starting a business when you’re young is that you have nothing to lose!

Her biggest advice for young entrepreneurs: Know that a net will appear! So let go of worry and dive all in. 

The Value of Brand Photography

Kristi has 2 different Instagrams, a newsletter, a YouTube Channel, a podcast, and a blog. That’s a lot of content! And she needs beautiful photos to go with all of that content.

When she went to search for a photographer last August, she made sure to find someone that specializes in brand photography. It was important to her to find someone that understands being a business owner. 

Kristi finds that the $400 investment every 3 months is well worth it because people need to see her in order to know, like, and trust her. She believes that there’s a direct correlation between having beautiful brand photos and converting clients!

Working with Subcontractors

Kristi works with 20 subcontractors for her different businesses (not just her virtual assistant business!) For VA for a Day, she has a virtual assistant that helps her set up Dubsado accounts. This has enabled her to take on 4 times the amount of clients that she could have previously!

Kristi works with 20 subcontractors for her different businesses (not just her virtual assistant business!) For VA for a Day, she has a virtual assistant that helps her set up Dubsado accounts. This has enabled her to take on 4 times the amount of clients that she could have previously!

Kristi’s tip for training a team: Make sure to take the time to give them all the direction, how-to’s, and tutorials that they need to be successful!

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