Hello, Shifters! This Transformation Tuesday is brought to you by guest blogger: Arianna Vernier!
Hey everyone! My name is Arianna Vernier (: This week, I wanted to take you on a journey with me of how I went from burnt-out teacher to working from home as a virtual assistant with my 6-month-old daughter by my side.
Growing up, every time someone asked me “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I always had two answers: a mom and a teacher. I don’t think I ever wavered very far from either of those two desires when I was a child.
When it came time to go to college, I got my degree in elementary education. During college I worked in daycares, after-school programs, and summer camps. Then, fresh out of college, I landed a job at an elementary school in Texas. So I packed up my belongings and moved across the country from the cold Michigan weather to the crazy Houston heat.
Entering the Education Field
My first year as a teacher I taught first grade. Looking back, that first year is kind of a blur of survival mode. I would spend HOURS after school working on stuff for my classroom, and when I got home I would immediately crash from exhaustion. Although I loved my students dearly, they were a very challenging group, and there were many days that I wondered if my job was always going to be this hard.
After that first year I moved to kindergarten, which was a much better fit for me. I was honored to be the first school experience that my students had, and I loved finding ways to make school fun and engaging. However, I was still spending way too much extra time at after-school meetings, trying to communicate with parents who did not show an interest in their child’s education, cutting 30 feet of laminate on the weekends (hold me), and countless hours working on lesson plans (that went out the window half the time anyway).
In my third year of teaching, one year into my marriage, I got pregnant. During that time, I tried to envision what teaching would look like once my little one came, and it made me cringe. While there are SO many amazing women who can balance their work/home life, I couldn’t imagine how I was going to be present for my daughter when I came home after an exhausting day of dealing with 20 other children. After talking to my husband, we decided that I would take a year off for maternity leave, but that I would have to go back the following year. I planned to nanny during that time to supplement our income.
Then, something amazing happened.
The Shift
The DAY before I went into labor, I found out about virtual assistance. When I read about it, I was very curious if this was the answer I had been looking for. Those next few weeks, every time I was nursing, in the car, or had a spare moment, I was listening to podcasts or reading information about how to become a virtual assistant. I took the time to put together a beautiful portfolio, and about a month after finding out this even existed, I started to apply to jobs that interested me.
Working as a Virtual Assistant
Within a month I had landed my first two clients, and two months into my business I was making $1500 monthly income working an average of 10-15 hours a week. I worked when my newborn was napping during the day, and would sometimes get a bit done during the evening when my husband got home from work.
I have had a wide range of clients. Some were “one-and-done” projects, and some were recurring monthly clients. Some of the tasks that I have done for my clients include:
Writing social media posts
Scheduling social media posts
Setting up/maintaining ads on social media
Engaging with ideal clients on Instagram and Facebook
Creating graphics
Designing logos and other branding elements
Building websites
Scheduling travel
Email management
Purchasing items
Data entry/management
Managing customer relationship management programs
Booking appointments
Email marketing
And probably more that I can’t think of at the moment
As my business as grown, I’ve shared my journey with other women who are in a similar situation that I was, and I have found SO MANY that, like me, had no idea virtual
assistance even existed, but that could really benefit from this type of career.
Now
Because I want to help spread the amazing opportunities that this business have given me, I have recently opened up a coaching program to teach other women how to start their own virtual assistant business. I teach you the strategies I used to grow my business from just an idea to on track to match and exceed my teaching income, all within 6 months of starting my business.
If this opportunity sounds like the perfect fit for you, I invite you to check out my blog at ariannavernier.com/blog, where I dive deep into the services a VA can offer, how to find the time to start your business, what to charge, and a ton more.
And if you’re like me and you’re ready to go all in and want your questions answered, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at arianna@ariannavernier.com or DM me on Insta @arianna.vernier
I hope that I can inspire more women to create the life they’ve dreamed of with their littles by their side.
Arianna
SHIFT: Transition from Teaching 