More Money Podcast - 172 How to Earn $10,000 Per Month as a Virtual Assistant - Kayla Sloan, Virtual Assistant Coach

Episode Date: October 17, 2018

Want to earn 5-figures per month as a virtual assistant? No, this isn't a scam. This is the true story of how Kayla Sloan, a former personal finance blogger, started a side hustle as a virtual assistant that led her to earn $10,000/month. Now, she trains others how to become virtual assistants so they can earn extra money on top of their day jobs to reach their financial goals sooner. Long description: As a sort of companion episode to last week’s interview with Amanda Abella (sales coach & CEO of Make Money Your Honey), in which we talked in-depth about how to get over feeling guilty about earning money, this week I’m chatting with Kayla Sloan, a virtual assistant coach. And guess what, the topic of earning guilt pops up yet again. To be fair, I’m the one who brings it up. I’m pretty sure I recorded these episodes close together and it was something I was thinking about a lot. In any case, I’m excited to share this episode with you because I really want to emphasize the message that earning money is good, not bad. Especially as women, who are still paid less for the same work as men, we need to stop the shame game and empower ourselves to reach our full financial potential! Just take Kayla’s story for instance. She finished university, got a job, then realized she was always flirting with a $0 balance in her account. She had $8,000 in student debt and $10,000 in credit card debt, not to mention a $110,000 mortgage. She wanted to live a better life, but she didn’t have a business background or even felt like she deserved to earn more. I think a lot of us who were raised in low to middle income families feel like this. We are taught to be smart, go to school, get a job at a company, and accept whatever salary we get (we should be so lucky we even have a job when so many people don’t!). The thing is, we’re limited when we work for someone else. That’s why Kayla started blogging (she ran a blog called Shoeaholic No More), then started doing some freelance writing on the side to earn some extra money. She then started getting offers for virtual assistant work, and realized she had a talent for creating systems and project management. After a year of basically juggling two full-time jobs, she was at a crossroads. She had to give either her day job or her virtual assistant side hustle up, or risk burning out completely. Looking at the numbers, she was earning just as much as a virtual assistant as she was at her full-time job. Believing that virtual assistant work was her calling, she took a big risk (since she was still in debt) and left her day job in 2015. Since then, she’s actually stopped most of her virtual assistant work and runs her own business as a virtual assistant coach and instructor with her 10K VA online course. Now, she dedicates her days to training others how to become virtual assistants so they can earn extra money at home in their free time. For full episode show notes, visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/172 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Episode 172 of the Mominy Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Morales. Welcome back to the show. So excited for this episode because I'm chatting with my pal, Kayla Stallone. I've known her for years through the personal finance blog sphere. She was a personal finance blogger, but over the past couple of years, she's pivoted and now runs her own business teaching others how to become virtual assistants because that's kind of her background. She kind of built a business, a side hustle, if you will, doing some virtual assistant work to kind of make some extra money. She had a bunch of debt to pay off. And so that's what she did to crush it.

We're going to get to more of that in the episode. And then because she learned so much about how to be a virtual assistant, how to work with clients, how to find clients, she developed her own online course called 10KVA. And now she helps a lot of people basically go from the ground up, having no idea how to even start to becoming virtual assistants and helping them find clients, which I think is super exciting and empowering, helping a lot of people that want to make some extra money, don't know how, and you can be a virtual assistant from your office, your home office, from your couch, from anywhere, which is pretty, pretty cool.

So we're going to get to a lot of exciting topics in this episode. So I know you're going to just love it. But before I do, here's just a few words about this episode's sponsor. This episode of the Mo Money Podcast is supported by FabFitFun. Have you tried out one of FabFitFun subscription boxes? No? Well, what are you waiting for? In case you don't one of FabFitFun subscription boxes? No? Well, what are you waiting for? In case you don't know, FabFitFun is a subscription box service that provides full-sized beauty, fashion, fitness, and lifestyle goodies for one low price. How low? Combined, all the products in their boxes are valued at $200, but you only pay $49.99. That means you could get a box of 8 to 10 full-size products from brands like The Honest

Company, Tarte Cosmetics, Kate Somerville, Free People, Summer and Rose, and more for less than $50. Not only that, shipping is free for most U.S. locations and just $8 for other locations like Canada. And because FabFitFun is awesome, they are offering $10 off to all Mo Money Podcast listeners. Just use the promo code MONEY and get $10 off at checkout. To learn more or to get your first box, visit fabfitfun.com and use promo code MONEY. That's fabfitfun.com and promo code M-O-N-E-Y. Hey, Kayla. Thank you so much for joining me on the Mo Money Podcast. Thanks for having me. I'm excited. Me too. Me too. Me too. I feel like I've known you. I've known your story for years. We both

come from the personal finance world, FinCon and all that kind of stuff. It wasn't until recently that I feel like we really got to know each other well. We're roomies. So that was fun at the retreat. So I'm so excited to finally have you on the show to talk about your story and what you're doing now because I think you're doing some really exciting stuff. Well, thanks so much for having me. As I said, I'm super excited and it was so fun to finally get to know you. I knew you existed in the space, obviously, and I knew your story and your website and all of that, but getting to really know you as a like in person instead of online was so fun. Am I like very different or like? No, no, I don't think so. Yeah. I think it's a pretty authentic brand. So pat yourself on the back with that. Yeah. Patting myself. Also, I'm just like,

that's all I got. Right. Like I literally do not know how to create like some beautiful Instagrammy persona. I don't know how to do that. I'm not like. No, I can't. That's not my thing. I don't even know how to pull that off. So I don't even try. That's not my thing either.

No, I can't do it. It seems like way too much work. Like, let's be honest. Like that is just way too much work. Like I don't want to. I don't want to do that. I don't want to put makeup on every day. Like that's just not going to happen.

It's just not. Like that's why I don't work a real job. Right day. Like, that's just not going to happen. It's just not. Like, that's why I don't work a real job, right? Yeah. I know. Legit. I, like, roll out of bed at, like, 10, like a bum, and it's the best. Have some coffee, shower, don't put any makeup on, and just start working, living my best life.

Super not glamorous looking, but I'm having a good time. I always kind of wonder when I like leave my house, like I don't go to the grocery store or whatever. If people are like, what's her deal? Like, what does she do for a living? Cause I used to do the same thing when I worked at nine to five. And if I had like a dental appointment or something during the day and I'd see all these people just hanging out in the middle of the week, I'm like, what are you doing? Do you not have a job? What's going on? Now I know. I still do that. What do you mean? You still question people? Yes, I do. I still question people too, but now I kind of assume that they have an online business or they're

self-employed in some way. Or they just have money or they're just squatting somewhere. Lots of options there. Anyways, off track a little bit. I want to kind of start off getting to know you and your story a little bit more because I think it's really interesting. You had your own personal finance blog. Now you have your own online business. But what kind of inspired you to start your own blog and kind of documenting your personal finance journey? Yeah. So going back a few years, I graduated college in 2012 and I didn't have too much in the way of student loans. I had about $8,000, which is not, it's not too bad here in the U S and, and about $10,000 in credit card debt though. And that credit card debt was just, I mean, high interest. But I really didn't add it up.

At that time, I still really had my head in the sand and I bought a house for $120,000 at the ripe old age of 21. And when my mortgage payment kicked in, it was the same month as my student loan payments kicked in after graduation. And all of a sudden I was like, I'm working this full-time job and I thought I'd be making all this money and I have no idea where it went. And my account is always flirting with zero. Oh. Yeah. It was very stressful. And I was up super late at night because I couldn't sleep because I was like worried, like, is my account going to be negative when I wake up in the morning?

Did I overspend? And I ended up Googling something about paying off debt. And I just stumbled on this amazing online community of personal finance blogs. And this was back in the day when everybody commented on your post. Nobody does that anymore. No one does that anymore. I miss that. I miss it.

Me too. And so, you know, they were all linked. And so I would like read post after post after post. And like, you know, if you commented on somebody's post and it was linked to your website, then I would go read all of your blog posts. And so, yeah, it was just this whole eye-opening experience. And after reading for probably a couple of months, I decided that I was going to start my own blog for accountability. And so I started an anonymous personal finance blog called Shoeaholic No More back in the day and really just talked about how my shopping problem had really led to a lot of debt based around emotional shopping. And as I worked through that, I discovered that you could make money online, which was just shocking to me.

I thought it was a scam. Yeah. Well, sometimes it is. But sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's totally legit. Yeah. So at first I was like, this must be a total, total scam. And then my second thought was, okay, if these people can figure out how to do it, I can figure out how to do it. I feel like I'm pretty smart, so I've got to figure this out.

And so from there, I found online income reports and they were super inspiring to me. And I decided to start, I guess, freelancing on the side of my full-time job. And so I did some writing about personal finance. And at the time it was kind of like, I don't really know anything about money. That's why I'm in debt, but you're going to pay me to write about money. So I guess I'll figure it out. Yep. That is legit how you pretty much start any opportunity. They're like, you pretend like you know, and then you figure it out. Exactly. Like I knew how to write, like I'm a pretty good writer. And so I was like, well, I know how to do that. So I'll just have to research the money part of that.

Totally. So I did that for a little while and I had a couple of clients and then realized that my true calling was in virtual assisting and project management because I love organization and helping people behind the scenes of their business and just really having that attitude of service for online business. And so that's really where my calling came. And I did that part-time for about 12 months before I quit my full-time job in July, 2015. Wow. That's amazing. How did you get into like the world of virtual assisting? Like I know whenever I talk to people about, oh, you know, side hustles or, or do you want to make some money on the side or whatever? Being a virtual assistant is a common one just because it seems like it's pretty easy

to pick up. You can do it from anywhere. You could do it in your spare time and all that kind of stuff. But I think a lot of people are like, but how do you actually like start doing that? How do you get clients? How does this even work? Yeah, for sure. So I'll be honest, for me, it kind of fell in my lap. But since then, I have learned a ton about being a virtual assistant. And I have worked with a lot of people who start virtual assistant businesses. And so really, what I tell people is, you know, you don't like the cold call, but cold email approach. And also, I use a lot of Facebook groups and Facebook communities. And so if you're already in the online space at all with a blog or anything like

that, you can definitely reach out to connections you already have in the community and chances are they need help or they know someone who does. And then if you don't already have those connections, that's where I do a lot of like cold emailing. And, you know, if you follow blogs, most of us obviously do, or they wouldn't be listening to your podcast, you know, reach out to those bloggers and those podcasters and say, hey, I've followed you for three years, you know, or however long. And I was just wondering if you need some help. It's as easy as that. I know it sounds like super like crazy easy, but if somebody would have reached out to me, like I'd be like, yeah, I need help. Yeah. I guess it depends on like how you really phrase it. Cause cold emails can go like a couple of different ways. I've definitely gotten some, um, like,

yeah, I think how you phrase it was good. It's like, Oh, you know, do you need any help? And really like come from a genuine standpoint and not be so like in your face because I've gotten some really crazy cold emails where it's almost as if they're saying, we see part of your business that's not doing well. We can help you with that. And I'm like, I'm sorry, did you just literally slag off part of my business? Like, do you just say, you know, this needs some work and we can help you? I'm like, well, I don't think it needs to work. So I think that's quite offensive. Right, right. But if those bloggers post personal updates and say anything like, oh my gosh, business has been crazy or like I feel overwhelmed, like ding, ding, ding.

So really, yeah, that's a good strategy. Like looking on, you know, finding maybe a niche too. Like if you want to like stick in a certain niche, personal finance bloggers or beauty bloggers or whatever, and just kind of legitimately just listen to their podcast to see if they say something or read their blog to see if they kind of say something and use that language. You're like, oh, I read your post where you mentioned this. That's actually a really good strategy because they're like, oh, number one, you do actually read my blog. Thank you. Because so many times do I get emails being like, oh, I love your blog. And they literally, you were always like, http dot slash slash Jessica Moore. I'm like, you literally just copy and pasted that. You've

never gone to my website. It's like, give me something to prove you haven't my website. Exactly. And that is something I tell all the people that I work with. So now I don't, I don't work just as like a virtual assistant. I actually work coaching and teaching virtual assistants, like how to start their own businesses. And so that is one of the first things we cover is like really being genuine in your business efforts. It's going to go so much further than just being after that almighty dollar, right? Like we all want to make money. Like that's why we're in business, but you really have to have like that genuine spirit and really care about your clients and your potential clients and, and going about that in the right way. What are your thoughts on

lots of the different kind of online job forums, kind of like, um, what are the names of them now? Now they've all escaped me, but you know, like like where like a fiver or something like that or whatever, is that a good way for a potential or like a newbie VA that wants to find clients? Or are those just kind of like you're just going to get nickel? You're just not going to make that much money if you do go that route because they take a cut. Yeah. So I actually recommend those as like a very last resort. Like if you've tried everything else, maybe you can do that short term to get some experience under your belt and be able to, you know, have a piece for your portfolio or something like that to show potential clients when you go back to those other approaches of looking for clients. But that's definitely not

something you want to do long term because just like you said, you're going to be nickel and dimed. They're not going to want to pay well. There's so much competition on those boards, especially from overseas where, you know, people are charging less. And so it's going to be hard to stand out from that crowd. And I think it's also going to be hard to find clients who want to work with you long-term and who respect you as a person and as a valuable asset to their business. Yeah, no, that's a really good point, actually. And that's another thing I think also to consider. I think sometimes when I think about VAs, I kind of see them like hopping from client to client, but that's not always true. Sometimes VAs just have a couple standard clients that they have for a long period of time. And they're not

also another misconception, too. I think also from the perspective of someone who would like a VA is do they have to be like a full-time contractor or employee? Could they be part-time? There's lots of different schedules that you can kind of work with. It's pretty like – I mean, it's all very new. So it's kind of like there's no rules. Right. And since VAs are contractors, too, something I remind both business owners hiring a VA and also the VA themselves is, you know, the VA is in charge of their schedule. I mean, they'll get your work done.

Like if you tell them you have work for them to do as a business owner, but that conversation has to happen, you know, from individual to individual as far as like what that looks like. Because as a business owner, hiring a VA can be super beneficial because they don't have to have a set number of hours per week or per month or whatever. And so it can be super flexible for you to get the help you need in your business without having to pay someone full time. Yeah. And I think that was for me, because I mean, we've had these conversations before. I have always been doing everything I do. And most people are kind of shocked. They're like, how do you get it all done? I'm like, I don't know, but it is all just me,

like legit, like I just do it all. And before it was just like, that's kind of how I had to do it. You know, when I was doing this as a side hustle, I couldn't afford to hire anyone to help me. And also it didn't make sense. Why should I hire a VA when I'm doing this on the side and I have a full-time job? And then when I shifted to being full-time, I'm like, oh, finally I have more hours in my day. So I can't make that excuse like, oh, I don't have enough time to do it. I'm like, I do have more time. But I think the thing, especially as a business owner, is when you realize, okay, I am at max capacity recognizing that and I'm spending time on these administrative tasks when I could be going out there finding more clients or developing new projects or whatever it is.

That's probably when it makes sense to hire someone. But yeah, I wanted to kind of explore when does it make sense to hire out? And I mean, it's another kind of, I think, objection or reason why lots of kind of solopreneurs like me feel like it's a hard thing to like, ah, should I actually hire someone? It's just like, it's money. It's money that could be in my pocket. So should I do it myself or should I get someone else to do it and pay them? Yeah, I definitely hear you. And I think that when it comes to the perfect time to hire someone, if you're already feeling overwhelmed, the perfect time to hire someone was yesterday. Because before that sets in, you know, bringing someone in to

help you before you're at that point of complete overwhelm and exhaustion as a business owner. And, you know, I feel like I have kind of both perspectives like as a VA and a business owner. So this is super fun to talk about. But bringing someone on, you know, the things I start with are some of those, those administrative things and those, you know, kind of in the weeds tasks that are important to your business, but they're also not, you know, the thing that's bringing you your income, I guess. So it's like taking those small things off your plate so you can clear up time and mental space to focus on those bigger tasks and bigger projects and bringing in those high ticket, you know, sales and clients and things like that as a business owner, because those are the things

that need your personal attention. You know, those are, you know, you can't put someone else on a sales call instead of you if you're the one that's going to be delivering the product. But you can have your VA do other things behind the scenes that don't need your personal face or voice or whatever. Well, as an example, or maybe you could provide some insight, what typically do VAs do? That's always kind of a mystery to me too because it doesn't seem like they all do the same thing. Yeah, there's tons of things that virtual assistants can do. And actually, there's different types of virtual assistants. And so I actually have put together a really cool guide for business owners that's new.

And there's literally over 100 things listed. Okay. So I know that sounds overwhelming. Yeah. I promise it. I promise it's not. They're kind of grouped. So, you know, you might find that if you have checked off like, you know, five or six things in one area, like that might be the type of virtual assistant you need. For example, like maybe a social media virtual assistant is what, you know, your business needs the most, Or, you know, maybe you need someone to handle, you know, some kind of sales or marketing or website management or blog management. So there are, you know, different types of EAs that can help you with different aspects of your business. So it's really, I guess, instead of just hiring someone and seeing how it goes, figuring out, okay, what's my business? What are the systems? I know you're kind of like the systems gal. Talk about systems a lot. What do you need the most help with? And then trying to find a VA that fits into that category instead of just picking someone that you're like, let's test it out and see how it goes. Exactly. So like when I work with business owners who are looking to hire their first VA, like that

is one of the things that I tell them to do is kind of look at like, what is your biggest pain point? And what is the thing you want to like outsource to a VA the very, very most and go from there because that will help you find the person that you need in your business. Yeah, exactly. Um, uh, what I also kind of, I want to kind of talk less maybe about the business owners and more for like the people that are like, no, I'm interested in becoming a VA. This would be a good side hustle. Um, I guess at what point, like it could just be a side hustle. You could do it for a temporary

time then, you know, not do it. Or I guess there is the other thing where you could try to make that into your full-time living. Like, I mean, you, you're proof that you can be a VA full-time and make a decent living. But I mean, I guess, like, let's kind of like talk money. Like how much can you expect to make if you wanted to do this full-time? Like how much can a VA potentially make? Because I guess the one limiting factor is it's all about your time. You only have so much time to provide these services. Yeah. So definitely something that you need to think about is that it's not passive income. I always say that up front. You do have to work. You do. It's active. It's very active.

But that said, it is a very good side hustle because it can be so flexible with your schedule and what you have going on, which I know we kind of talked about a little bit earlier. But as far as earnings, I would say like in U.S. dollars, I should probably say because some of your audience is Canadian and some is probably U.S. And so anyway, in U.S. dollars, like as a beginning VA, if you come in and you don't have a lot of background in, um, online business and, um, how to use online tools and things like that, and you do have to have more training, um, you could probably expect to earn around 15 to $20 an hour, um, in us dollars. And then if you come in and you have a really

extensive background with administrative skills and already know how to use a lot of online tools and technology and things like that, you can probably expect to earn probably around $30 an hour or so to start off with. And then there are super specialized skills that you could always work into your business later. And BAs who have those can earn as much as $60 an hour. Wow. That's pretty decent. Yeah. I always kind of expected BAs to like, yeah, kind of like the beginning, you said, you know, $15 to $20 an hour. I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. But I didn't realize, you know, you could potentially make way more. And I mean,

it makes sense if you have specialized skills that people desperately need. And there's obviously less people that probably have that skill if it's specialized than you can, you know, charge way more. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, that's exciting. I guess the other thing to consider too is even though some people are like, oh, that must be easy to set up to become a virtual assistant. You just need a computer and an internet connection. What kind of costs, you know, like you probably have to make some kind of investments in things. Is it expected as a VA to have certain programs or is that the clients, like is the business owner have to have those things? What kind of business expenses do VAs have to think about that they may have to spend some money on to have a business for themselves?

In general, most VAs need to have, obviously, like you talked about a computer and a good internet connection. And then as far as tools and things like that, I do generally recommend that the client or the business owner owns those because if you as the VA stop working with the business owner for some reason, then the business owner retains ownership of their information and their account to use with a future VA. So the costs to start a VA business are super low, which makes it a really attractive option. And if you are looking for a side hustle, you know, there's a few optional expenses you could do, like having your own website or investing a little bit of money in business cards or advertising or things like that. But, you know, as far as essentials, it's very,

you know, very inexpensive to start. Well, that's good too, I guess. Yeah. In general, because you work with a lot, you train VAs, you have a course about VAs. So you deal with a lot of different VAs. Typically, like, what are the kind of the age ranges or who are these people that generally tend to be VAs? Is it kind of a spectrum or is it, oh, that's a lot of these types of people? Yeah. So I would say that demographically, most VAs are women, although I have met some men and there are some men I've worked with in my course and in my coaching program as well. But then as far as age, most of them are probably, I'd say mid twenties. And I think the oldest like client I've worked with is probably in her fifties. And so there is kind of a wide range of ages.

Yeah, but mostly women. Yeah. I wanted to talk a little bit about your course. You have a course called 10K VA. What exactly is in the course? What can someone expect to learn? Like how, what are some of the things that someone needs to learn to become a VA so that they feel like confident and ready to get some clients and help them? Yeah. So my course 10K VA, it teaches you how to go from the very beginning stages of even what is a VA? What kind of services can I offer? How do I set up my business and get my first client? And how do I onboard that first client and seem like a professional and be confident in myself? And then we go all the way through

all of those hot topics, I would say. And then eventually in the last module, we talk about how to scale up your business so that you can earn up to $10,000 per month as a virtual assistant. And I know it's possible because that's something I've done for the last two years consistently. So it's super exciting. You definitely can earn a full-time living as a virtual assistant. And so I share a little bit about my story and then we have a really strong support group of virtual assistants too included with the course so that you can bounce ideas off of each other and ask questions and have support and things like that as well. One thing I really actually forgot to, I probably should have gone to this

at the beginning, but one thing that really I love, because I was reading the About page again on your website, and it was really fascinating to hear part of your story of how you became a full-time VA. So you did kind of touch on like you had a bunch of debt and then you eventually became a VA, but there's kind of a bigger story kind of in there. You had a bunch of debt and you still decided to quit. You had a decent job and you you still decided to quit. You had a decent job and you decided to quit to kind of go off on your own to be a full-time VA.

What made you decide to do that? Yeah. So at the time that I gave my notice, I had $148,000 of debt. Was that like your mortgage or consumer debt? That included my mortgage, but also consumer debt. And I didn't tell anyone until after I already gave notice at my job because like I knew my family would try to talk me out of it just out of concern. Right. So because it sounds crazy. Like why would you quit your job with that much debt? Yeah. But I just knew like at that point, my business, I was running it part time and I was already earning as much as I was at my full-time job. And so I knew that by freeing up those 40 hours a week, that I would be able to increase my business income to exceed what I was making at my day job. And so I really decided that it was kind of now or never,

it was either, you know, give up the job or give up the business because I was kind of running, run ragged doing both. And so I decided to really take that risk and, um, I guess bet on myself is what I like to say. And, um, I knew that I had the hustle to do it. So that was the push I needed to really take my business to the next level. Yeah. And that being said, and you told me before I hit the record button, you're like, but I do not advocate for people to quit their jobs with a bunch of debt. Yes. That does not mean it always works out. I mean, it worked out in my case and I definitely think it can, but you know, not highly recommended, not, don't just like randomly quit your job with debt. Okay. Like it needs to be very thought out if you're going to do something like that. Yes, definitely. And it, well, it sounded like too, you didn't quit your job and then, okay, let's figure out how to make money.

It's like you were already making money. You could prove to yourself that you could expand this into a full-time living. So yes. Yeah, for sure. And the other thing too, that I really liked in part of your story on your about page was that, um, when you were just kind of doing this on the side or even blogging too, you didn't even consider it really a business. You were just like, oh, it's just something I like to do and it's fun and I make some money but no big deal. And then it wasn't until you talked to another blogger, Kat Alford, about how she's like, no, you have a business going on right there. And I think that's a big mindset thing that a lot of us have is when we do have a side hustle, we don't really consider ourselves business owners. But it's like, well, if you're

providing some kind of service or product, whether it's consulting or selling something on Etsy or whatever, you're a business owner. So when you did kind of make that kind of realization or just like, yeah, okay, I need to own it. And I am a business owner. How did that kind of change your way of working? And did it kind of improve your business overall? Yeah. So at the time, I was still, you know, part time as a virtual assistant and freelance writer at the time. And I don't, I don't really write that much anymore. But anyway, and Kat just kind of told me, she's like, you know, she's like, I know that you can take this full time. And this was like, I don't know, six, seven months before I quit my job. She was like, I can see it in you that you have the potential to take this and be so successful.

But you have to decide if that's what you want to do and if that's what you're going to try and do. And I was just kind of like, what? Like, this is just something I do for extra money to help me pay off debt. And she's like, she's like, I know so many people that could use your help. She's like, I know there's work available for you. And so I was like, well, I mean, I guess, I guess it's a business. And, you know, but as soon as I said that to myself, even though I wasn't super confident in it at the time, but even as I said it to myself, I, it was just this like light switch. I mean, there's no other way to really describe it. It was like the moment that I decided that I was going to treat it as a business, even

though I was kind of hesitant, all these things came my way. New clients and new opportunities. And before I knew it, I was like, I have to quit my job or I have to quit the business. That's when I hit that point was like right after I made that shift. And so I think it really does go to show you that if you treat it like a business and you have that mindset, you'll have even more abundance than you do by just acting like, oh, it's just this thing, you know, no big deal. Yeah, I totally relate to that. And part of me was just, you know, growing up just throughout my whole life, I'm like, I'm not going

to be like, I'm not good at business. I didn't go to business school. I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not like one of those people out there doing their thing and motivational speaking and all that stuff. Like I, I'm not that kind of person. So I can't relate to that. So I don't consider. So even when I was, you know, similar to you, you know, making money by freelance writing, having my blog and all that stuff. Um. I never considered myself a business owner. I always downplayed. I'm like, oh, no, it's just something I do. It's no big deal. But I'm like, actually, it was a big deal. It was a really big deal. I was spending a lot of hours and time and effort into all these things. But I had the mindset. I'm like, well, no, I'm just making

money so I can invest more, save up to buy a house, all these kind of things. Always kind of justified it. But yeah, and I just, I think I also had some negative connotations towards earning money, making money. I was afraid people would think that I'm, and especially in the personal finance world, we get a lot of flack for, oh, aren't you supposed to be out there just helping people? And lots of the people you're helping don't have money. So how dare you try to ask for money? But I mean, at the end of the day, it's like, I'm still, I am a business and that's free, you know, same thing that happened to you happened to me. Once I really started putting myself out there, I'm like, no, this is what I do. I'm, you know, this is kind of a professional thing that I do. I am a business. The abundance

kind of kicked in and I started getting more opportunities or at least I started seeing opportunities where I probably wouldn't have seen them before and taking more risks and stuff like that and stopped feeling so guilty for wanting to make a living. You know what I mean? Yes. A money guilt is a huge thing. And sometimes we don't even realize that we're doing it. It's like this hidden thing in the back of our mind.

And even though we don't consciously tell ourselves that we don't deserve it or that we shouldn't make money, it's in the back of our heads. And it's exactly like you said, I think coming from the personal finance space, I mean, that might be something a little bit unique, but I think that everyone has a block somewhere no matter where they're coming from. But yeah, kind of just, shouldn't you be teaching people how to be frugal and how to save money and live on a low income? Why should you try to earn more? And you're like, why shouldn't we try to earn more? And that was a big thing just in my own life that I had to kind of recognize because I literally thought I would, especially if I continued, if I tried to pursue my dream of working in the film industry,

which I didn't, or if I continued to work in the newspaper industry, which is dying, I kind of knew if I kept on doing this and didn't try anything else, didn't ever start my blog or a side hustle or anything else, I would have to live on a low income. And that was just how it is. And some people are like, okay, that's just fine. I'll make it work. But for me, I'm like, no, that was my childhood. I don't want to be restricted so much. I want to have more. And that's when I started kind of, I don't know, exploring other people that were talking less about cutting back and more about, yes, cut back, but the next step is earning more.

Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely a shift too. And like, just like you said, I want more. And that's not a bad thing. Exactly. It's definitely a shift too. And just like you said, I want more. And that's not a bad thing. Exactly. It's not a bad thing. It doesn't mean you're greedy or you're going to just hoard all of your money.

And because you're earning more, someone earns less because of it. And that's exactly why you do what you do because it's like you want to earn more, but you also want to educate and teach people that they can also do the same. Exactly. And that was super fun. It's been a really fun shift to go from, you know, just doing the business, just doing the work for clients to being able to help other people get started because this business has been so life changing for for me and being able to share that with the students in my course and the people that I coach, it's just, it's amazing. It's such a great feeling to know that I get to do that and be a part of that and not take credit for it because they definitely have

to do the work, but you know, being able to help them change that mindset and get started with their business and just see their personal development and growth through that process. It's amazing. Yeah, no, exactly. And I get to hear kind of the enthusiasm in your voice. And I'm the same way when I coach people with their finances. It is so exciting to see that, you know, again, they do the work. I just facilitate and educate. But it's so exciting to see lives changed because, you know, how I always tell people, it's like, I got into this business because I got inspired by lots of other people that were educating me. I read blogs, I read books, I just, you know, watch TV about personal finance. That, that's what changed my life.

So I want to be able to pay it forward and do the exact same thing. So, and you're, you're, you're doing the exact same thing too, with what you're doing with the, your, you know, everyone that wants to become a virtual assistant, which is super exciting. So before I let you go, um, where can people find more information about you and the course that you're offering right now? Yeah. So, um, my website is kaylasloan.com and there is a link to the course right there in the menu bar, or you can find it by going to 10kva.com, which is spelled out T-E-N-K-V-A.com. Awesome. Cool. Well, thank you so much, Kayla, for taking the time to chat with me. It was a pleasure as always. And that was episode 172 with Kayla Sloan. Make sure to check out the show notes, jessicamoross.com slash 172. And also check out Kayla's website, kaylasloan.com.

More information about just her services and also her course called 10KVA. I also will include some more info in the show notes. I also have it listed in one of my kind of recommended courses on my website. There's recommended courses on my website. There's a section on my website called courses, I believe. Yeah, that's it. JessicaMorehouse.com slash courses. And I have a few courses that I've taken myself that I found I really liked. I thought they're really well put together and could be really helpful for others. So if you want to check out some of my kind of recommendations, go over there.

Now, I've got a few important things to share as always, don't I always? So please stick around for just a tiny little baby minute. I've got a just a few words to share about this episode sponsor, but some exciting things to come right after. This episode of the Mo Money podcast is supported by FabFitFun. If there's one thing I love, it's saving money. I honestly can't remember the last time I bought something that wasn't on sale or had a promo code that made the price go down. And that's exactly why FabFitFun is right up my alley. Not only do you get eight to 10 full-size products for beauty, fashion, fitness, and lifestyle, but you only pay a fraction of the price it would cost you to buy them individually yourself. I'm talking about getting $200 worth of goodies for only $49.99.

And right now, FabFitFun is giving all Mo Money podcast listeners a special $10 off promo code to try it out. All you have to do is go to FabFitFun.com and use promo code MONEY to claim the discount. Once again, go to fabfitfun.com and use promo code M-O-N-E-Y and get $10 off your purchase. Okay, I promise some exciting things. So, first and foremost, if y'all missed my side hustle webinar last week, that's okay. It was awesome. So you did kind of miss out. But if you would still like to watch the replay, you're okay not watching it live. That's cool because you're still going to get a ton of value out of it.

It's awesome. Got some really great feedback from it. So just go to jessicamorehouse.com slash side hustle webinar and you can sign up to watch the replay whenever the heck you want. Basically, I teach you kind of some really important things you need to know in order to understand what a side hustle is, how to pick a side hustle. Should you have a service? Should you sell a product on Etsy? What should you do? How to find your customers, all this kind of great stuff. I do this presentation all the time. So it was really, really fun doing it to people that I know that listen to my podcast, go to my website, on my email list, all that kind of stuff. So if you missed it, that's okay. You can still

watch the replay. It ain't too late. What else? What else? What else? Oh, yes. Super exciting news. I am pretty much done the finishing touches on my investing course that I've been teasing for months since the summer. So I'm about to launch it. No date yet. I will share that hopefully next week with a firm launch date. But I can tell you that it was going to be this kind of mega course and then it just got too big and I'm like, no one is going to finish this. It's just too big. So I've split it into two. So the first course that I'm going to be launching is called Investing Foundations for Canadians. So if you're American, I'm sorry, I do not have your course ready yet. I will definitely work on one specific to Americans, but this one is specific to Canadians.

So I know as Canadians, we have all these amazing books by Americans and talking about 401ks. And we're all like, what the heck is that? We got our RSPs. We got our TFSAs. Well, this course is for you because I talk specifically just about Canadian stuff. Stuff that you probably have a ton of questions about. So I literally walk you through all the important things that you need to know to be an informed and empowered investor. Stuff that literally took me hundreds of hours and three plus years studying to really put into this really intensive course that I know you are going to love. So

I will share more details about that very, very soon. So stick around. One last thing. So I mentioned it on the show last week, I believe. So I am heading to Ottawa the weekend of November 10th and 11th. And I want to do a little meetup, just like a kind of informal meetup, probably just do it at like a restaurant or bar or something and just like hang out and chat and get to know each other. So I've already gotten a bunch of emails from people, which is super awesome, super excited. So I'm definitely going to set something up. But I just want to put that out there. If you missed last week's episode, you're just getting this one. You live in Ottawa and you want to hang out. Yeah. Send me an email,

Jessica at JessicaMorales.com and let me know that you're interested. And I will start putting the plans together and it'll be super fun. And yeah, and you'll probably meet my husband because he's coming and he's not going to like just stay in the room. He's probably going to come with me. So he's really nice. I promise. And he's also, I hope he's listening right now because he's editing this. So yeah. Anyways, thank you so much for listening to this episode. I'm going to be back here next Wednesday with a fresh new episode of the Bow Money Podcast. So until then, have a great rest of your day and see you next week.

This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.