A conversation with Molly Ross Speed, Founder of the Virtual Assistant Academy and Virtual Assistant Management. Molly’s journey from corporate finance to successful entrepreneur is a testament to the power of embracing change and creating a career that truly aligns with your values.
Dreaming of ditching the soul-crushing 9-to-5 and designing a life of freedom and flexibility? Then get ready to be inspired by Molly Rose Speed, founder of the Virtual Assistant Academy and Virtual Assistant Management, Molly’s journey from corporate finance to successful entrepreneur is a testament to the power of embracing change and creating a career that truly aligns with your values. Whether you're a military spouse, a mom seeking work-life balance, or a woman in midlife navigating a career transition or divorce, this episode offers a practical roadmap to building a fulfilling and flexible career as a virtual assistant. Listen in and discover how you can ditch the cubicle, embrace your entrepreneurial spirit, and create a life you love.
In this episode, Molly Rose shares her personal journey and insights into the world of virtual assistants. She discusses the importance of clear communication between VAs and business owners, the skills that make a great assistant, and how to find the perfect match. She also reveals the financial realities of starting a VA business, the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship, and how her definition of success has evolved over time. Get ready to be inspired, informed, and empowered to take control of your career and design your dream life.
About Molly Rose: Molly Rose Speed is a passionate advocate for remote work and the transformative power of virtual assistants. Through her certification programs and boutique placement agency, she's empowered hundreds of individuals, particularly military spouses and moms, to build successful and flexible careers. Molly is living proof that you can create a thriving career on your own terms.
Key Takeaways:
💡 Career Freedom: Discover the possibilities of a flexible and fulfilling career as a virtual assistant.
💡 Work-Life Balance Explore how a VA career can empower you to create better work-life balance and prioritize your personal life.
💡 Entrepreneurial Mindset: Gain insights into building a successful business as a VA or hiring a VA for your business.
💡 Communication and Collaboration: Understand the importance of clear communication and effective collaboration in the virtual workspace.
Connect with Molly on Facebook
Connect with Molly on LinkedIn
Connect with Molly on Instagram
Stay connected:
Connect with Laura on LinkedIn
@Rotters5 on X
Connect with Laura on Facebook
Subscribe to my YouTube channel
Get your free copy of Unlock Your Money Blocks Workbook: Your step-by-step guide to unlocking your blocks to financial freedom.
Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment or financial advice. It’s for informational purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.
Laura Rotter In the midst of midlife, a quiet revolution often begins a shift in priorities, a yearning for something more, a desire to rewrite the narrative of our lives. We've spent years building careers, raising families, and fulfilling the expectations of others, but now a new voice emerges, whispering of untapped potential and unfulfilled dreams.
This is a time of transition, a time of rediscovering ourselves, a time of embracing the freedom to create a life that truly aligns with our deepest desires. For many women in this stage, the traditional nine to five no longer fits. I know it didn't for me. The rigid structure, the endless commutes, the feeling of being tethered to a desk, it all feels stifling.
A barrier to the flexibility and autonomy we crave. My guest today, Molly Rose, speed, founder of the Virtual Assistant Academy. Discovered a path that not only offered her the freedom and flexibility she desired, but also empowered her to create a thriving business supporting others on a similar journey.
As a military spouse, Molly Rose understands the challenges of balancing career aspirations with the demands of family and a mobile lifestyle. Stay tuned to hear Molly Rose's inspiring story and discover how becoming a virtual assistant could be the key to unlocking your own midlife revolution. Or perhaps hiring a virtual assistant could help you design a career that honors your priorities, and finally helps you create a life of purpose.
Flexibility and joy.
Narrator
Welcome to Making Change With Your Money. A podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves. Now here's your host, certified financial planner, Laura Rotter.
Laura Rotter
Welcome, Molly Rose to the Making Change With Your Money Podcast.
Molly Rose Speed
Hi, Laura. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here to talk with you and share some knowledge with your audience.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. And I'm looking forward to learning more about your business. I'm sure our listeners are interested. So I'll start, as I always do with the question, what was money like in your family growing up?
Molly Rose Speed
Yes, great question. Um, money for me, I came 10 years after my siblings, same parents. Oh. It was, it was there, it was never a worry. It was, um, it was available right? And when I was in junior high, my parents separated and my dad was more of the breadwinner than my mom. And, and that's when I really started to understand, um, you know, having to budget and having to make sacrifices on a restaurant or a place to eat because she didn't have as much as she used to.
But it always, it was always okay. It was always. There was always enough to go around. Um, but I think because of that situation, it taught me, um, how to be responsible with money. 'cause you don't, you can't, you don't always have it.
Laura Rotter
Hmm. And so how did that translate when you say it taught you to be responsible about money?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah, I'd say in a good way and also kind of in a detrimental way. 'cause I'm extremely frugal. Um, um, I, I'm very res. Responsible. I'm a steward of my finances. I've always been the girl that saved before she spent, you know, if I was given a hundred dollars bill, I'd hang onto it. I wouldn't. I wouldn't spend it.
That was me. So I've had to be as an adult. Now I'm in my thirties, you know, I go to the grocery store and if I want the blueberries, but the raspberries are on sale, I get the raspberries. I still have that.
Laura Rotter
I love the self-knowledge that you're watching. Make these decisions.
Oh, definitely. So were you someone who had a job from a young age?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. The minute I could have, I could start working. I was 15 and up the, around the corner from where we lived there was an ice cream shop, and that's where I started working for five 15 an hour.
Laura Rotter
Yeah. And was that money yours or were you expected to contribute it to the family?
Molly Rose Speed
No, it was all mine, which was pretty cool.
Laura Rotter
Yeah, that is very cool. It's nice, yeah. Spending money when you're younger.
Molly Rose Speed
It was, yeah. Even just a little bit. It's all you really need when you're that young.
Laura Rotter
Exactly. To buy some fun things that you don't have to ask your mother for. Mm-hmm. And what were the expectations around education? I always like to get a sip.
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah, yeah. Um, so ex expectation was to go to college. I remember being. In, I later in my high school years, I worked in restaurants as a hostess and I, I was like, oh, it'd be so cool to be a chef. I wanted to go to culinary school. And my dad quickly stomped that. He's like, no, we're gonna go to college first, and then if you wanna cook, you can do that.
And I, you know, I'm very grateful for that. 'cause I know there's, it's a, it's a lot to make it in that world. Um, so the expectation was to go to college and I went to a private school for. A semester my freshman year, and then I transferred. I didn't, I didn't love it. I wasn't prepared for it. Um, and they didn't have, they didn't have football and that was a big deal to me.
So I came home at Thanksgiving and I said to my mom, I don't think this is the place for me. Should I transfer now or at the end of the year? And she's like, do it now. And now I understand why. Yeah. I transferred to a state school and she said, um, you know, the cost, so what my debt was from one semester at the private school is what I graduated with in student loan debt from the state school.
So I'm also very grateful that I made that decision.
Laura Rotter
Yeah. So it's nice that the, that decision was not purely a financial one.
Yes. Yeah, no.
Laura Rotter
That you had wanted to leave the private school to begin with? Mm-hmm. And was there a football team affiliated?
Molly Rose Speed
Oh yes. Oh yes.
Laura Rotter
Yeah. It is very fun to go to a rah rah school.
Yeah. Also works out academically. Did you have an idea, Molly Rose, of what you wanted to do?
Molly Rose Speed
N not, no, I wasn't one of those. You know, I wanna be a nurse or I wanna be a teacher. I ended up graduating with a degree in finance, actually. So that's kind of where my finance love comes from. Um, and, but I, I bounced around business school, you know, I didn't know if I wanted to do marketing or accounting or whatever, and I landed on finance, which is what my dad did.
So I kind of just followed that path to start. And then I. Didn't keep going with it.
Laura Rotter
Uh, I'm, I'm just curious, having, being someone who's obviously been in the financial industry my entire life and different iterations, finance is quite a broad term. Mm-hmm. What specifically both did you grow up watching your father do and, and what did it mean to you when you
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah, so my dad was in insurance.
I'd say he didn't have his series seven, so. What was it, series six? Was that the one that you could do Insurance? Roth and 4 4 0 1 Ks and all of that. Um, he, that's kind of where he, he hit, but just sold a lot of life insurance. Sold a lot of that. He, he was in sales.
Laura Rotter
In sales and I guess that's part of it in financial services sales.
Molly Rose Speed
Yes. Yes. And um, so I watched him do that, you know, l. Love, hate kind of for it. But, um, it was, I loved it. I could sell anyone insurance 'cause I love insurance. So I would go with them on, on um, meetings at night, around dinner time and stuff and just talk about it. So I kind of got into that and, um, I took a lot of insurance classes in college because of it, instead of the investment classes.
I kind of went that way. Um, but yeah, it was just. Something I was interested in but didn't know that I wanted to have a career in it, I guess.
Laura Rotter
What what'd you like about it?
Molly Rose Speed
Um, I love numbers. I was always the girl that loved algebra before English, that kind of thing. Um, I love, yeah, I love a good spreadsheet, love budgeting.
I love money. And I thought when I graduated I was like, you know, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go to Chicago, I'm gonna get into, you know, corporate finance or investment banking or do something crazy like that. Um, and I graduated college in. 2010, you know, so no one's really hiring a 22-year-old female, um, to go do those things at the time.
So I just, I, I did do some corporate finance in Iowa where I grew up and kind of got my taste of that, and then life went a different direction.
Laura Rotter
So when you say corporate finance, you were like mergers and acquisitions for a small, no.
Molly Rose Speed
Worked for a corporation, so maybe that's not the right term. Um, so I, I was in a finance rotation at an office furniture manufacturer, a pretty large one.
And so I did, um, cost accounting in the plant for six months and then I did internal audit at the headquarters. So kind of.
Laura Rotter
So really getting into, um, debits and credits and understanding balance sheets and profit and loss statements and accrual accounting Right. And all of that, which, yes. Yeah. Given my, my pre, well, I don't know.
I was an investment analyst for most of my career. I thought it was really interesting. Because, yeah. 'cause there's so much that goes on in putting those statements together and interpretations and mm-hmm. And then really backing into what the actual cash flow is versus the income statement and the rolled depreciation plays.
And I, I, I just found it very fascinating. But, um, it, yeah. Everybody's drawn to different things. So it sounds like right out of college, you, you know, you took that kind of a role and mm-hmm. Then how did, how did it progress?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah, so I met, uh, my now husband in college and he was, he was in the Air Force, so he went, um, to pilot training.
While I had that first. Job. And then he dropped an assignment in Florida and I, without him even asking, I'm like, well, it's time to move 'cause I'm going to Florida. You know, I grew up in Iowa. Um, and so that caused me to, to leave that job and I became a manager at a Target, which is what the job. It's the job I wanted out of college.
It's the only interview I didn't pass outta college. And, um, I interviewed down in this market and did that for a year, which was fascinating. Leading 120 people at the age of 25. Wow. You know? Yeah. It was cool. It was a, I learned more in that job than I have ever learned. Um, and, and lasted about a year, which.
I thought I could do it longer, but you really give up your life. Working in retail, you know, you all the holidays and the hours and 4:00 AM. Opens, midnight, closes, all of that, um, black Friday, all the things that Target used to do, do. Oh my God. But it was fun. Um, and then I got a job as a, in finance at a hospital system, and that was my last job before going off on my own and.
It was, you know, hired for 40 hours a week, had to be there at eight, leave at five. But I probably had about five hours of work to do a week. And I'm like, what am I doing? This isn't enough.
Laura Rotter
So it's the opposite of the target.
Molly Rose Speed
It was the opposite.
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. Um, so Molly Rose, um, I'm curious, you said manager of a target was a role you had wanted, what about that role?
I know spoke to you.
Molly Rose Speed
So I. When I was in college, I volunteered for the career fairs and I helped plan them with the career, um, office at the business school. And Target was one of the jobs that when you were in college, you wanted, because it was, it was competitive. You had to be at the top of the top to get the job.
Um, and you really. Got a lot of responsibility, or it's called an executive team leader. So there's the manager of a store and then there's three managers below them, and then there's about three managers below each of them before you get to a team member. So you're really high level for being the age you are.
Um, so I just knew that the experience would be really valuable for any job. That I would be marketable. 'cause, 'cause a, a lot of corporations hire from that pool of people knowing what they've learned. Um, so that's kind of where my head was at with it. And I had some friends that had done it and weird thing to want to do.
But yeah, it was, it was the job I was going for.
Laura Rotter
Would, would I be correct in assuming that you, you enjoy competition that you Yeah.
Molly Rose Speed
A little bit. Yeah. I do like to win. Yes.
Laura Rotter
I'm, I'm hearing that because that, you know, as you described, you, you had faith in yourself that you were someone that could take on a role like that at a young age, and you wanted to compete to have that role.
Molly Rose Speed
Yes. Yes. Absolutely.
Laura Rotter
Um, what I, I'm just wondering what the skills are. Um. When I, you know, because managing people is what you're doing now and you're about to describe us and managing people is what you did at Target. What about, what do you know about yourself that had you believe you could do it?
Molly Rose Speed
Um, well, I think.
I'll take it back to how I started this conversation. I think being the youngest of 10 years caused me to grow up, to be able to speak to adults at a really young age. And when I stepped into this role, I could have a conversation with anyone and I had to, you know, performance manage people that were 40 years older than me at the, at that, well, not quite 30 years older than me.
Um, and, and I think that's, that was the biggest thing. It was all about how you. You convey a message to get people either to do something for you, like build a, a end cap in record time 'cause everything had to be done fast. Or you know, show up to work on Saturday so I don't have to fire you. Right. And you had to figure out how to encourage and get them on your side, but also have them respect you at the same time.
And I think I just grew up having to do that. 'cause I was just. The youngest of everyone around me and I was raised by four adults. So, um, if you count my siblings who were teenagers, right? Yes. So, um, yeah, I think that was the most important skill. And then it just got stronger when I worked there. And
Laura Rotter
I, I'd have to believe that part of that is intrinsic to you and who you are.
Even independent of being the youngest, you are describing interpersonal skills that many people.
Molly Rose Speed
Mm-hmm.
Laura Rotter
I was gonna say never get good at. Um, but I'm stepping back to say many people even don't realize what it is. You're talking about leadership.
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah.
Laura Rotter
Which, um. We have examples of, of leaders who are not about building consensus and are not about motivating others.
Um, so, uh, it's um, a great skillset to have Molly Rose. So, um, I'm assuming. I don't wanna assume, actually, you and I spoke to each other, um, before, uh, your role as a military spouse. I, is that what led you to start this business? How did that come about?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. Yeah. So when I quit the hospital system. My husband, well, we were engaged at the time.
Uh, he was deployed and he came home to a fiance who was unemployed and we got married, and he is like, all right, you got, you know, five month bandwidth and. I became what we now know all is a virtual assistant. At the time I didn't know that wasn't what it is today. This was about 12 years ago. And um, and so I just started working for some people that I knew and I was managing his, his business, um, basic.
Work, like email and calendar scheduling. And then I got into helping him with his website and helping plan events. And um, he was a speaker, so I helped book speaking engagements and so on. And I just learned a ton. And then I started taking on more clients and my peers, my military. Spouse peers saw what I was doing and they're like, how do I do this?
You're working remote when your husband's home, you can be home, you know, from these deployments. The ops were really heavy back then. Um, you can travel and take your job with you. And so I just started training military spouses around me. Like we'd go to Starbucks and I teach 'em what to do, and we get a client and we coach 'em along and I was like, wow, this is, this is something.
Um, and so I created my first. Program to do it to reach more military spouses. Um, and that's gone through several, several iterations and now it's a certification program. And it's, it's been amazing. We've trained 160 assistants, and I'd say about 80% of them are military spouses at this time. So it's been really, my mission has been fulfilled.
I guess I just wanna do it bigger, bigger now.
Laura Rotter
So, Molly Rose, how, how did you. I'm, I'm interested in general of how you find clients and then of course how you find people interested in being VAs. But that first start, the gentleman you talked about, this was a friend of yours. How did you find
Molly Rose Speed
Yes, so out of the target job, um, I had gone to high school with a girl who also worked at Target, had the same role in Iowa.
And so when I was quitting the job, I reached out to her just to kind of. Pick her brain and she said, yes, do it. You need to get your life back. Um, and come to this conference with me. And it was called Succeed Faster. And it was a, a conference for high potential young professionals, so seniors in college and then right out of, out of college and come and, and have three days of speakers and networking and, and all of this.
And so I went and my mind was. Blown. It was, it was like, it was life changing on so many levels about, I didn't, I learned what the term entrepreneur meant, which I know sounds crazy today, but they didn't teach that in school when we were younger, you know? Mm-hmm. I learned that you could, you know, make money offering your own services without a W2.
I did know that, um, among a bunch of other things, and I was seeing my peers at that. At that conference do some of the same. They were out starting their own businesses. Uh, so as a result of that, the, the founder of that conference, uh, lost his assistant throughout that time and he was hiring someone for a project actually, um, to, to help.
Crowdfund for a student loan debt documentary. So I would, it was my role to go out on social media, create a campaign and get people to, to donate for this cause. And so we successfully raised $75,000, had this documentary. In the meantime, he lost his assistant, like I mentioned, and so I asked him no less than seven times to hire me as his assistant.
And then it just grew from there and, and I got really good at. Supporting him and then he would tell people about it and then it was a ref. I'd have a referral and then a referral. I've never marketed and that's something I teach my VAs or anyone, just be so good that people talk about you and you'll never have to find a job.
I've never had to go try to find work, and that's, if you can get that under your belt, it's, it's a lot easier.
Laura Rotter
I'm, I'm thinking Molly Rose, have we just talked about how you take for granted a certain level of communication skills? Mm-hmm. Like both sort of, um, being politically savvy, if you will, to motivate people.
It, it seems to me that communication between a business owner and a VA is one of the most important things, so Absolutely. Could you comment on that? And how do you teach that if you Yeah,
Molly Rose Speed
Absolutely. Both
Laura Rotter
To the business owner, frankly, as well as the
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah, and a lot of it is to the business owner. Um, I think that.
What business owners don't recognize and Virtual assistants is, is an, a virtual assistant. Isn't just an assistant, isn't they're, they're not. I think of the old Mad Men and even back then, they weren't just assistants. Um, I think of the old Mad Men. Uh, picture, right? All the women are out in the lobby taking phone calls, scheduling and walking the little appointment cards over to the desk, you know?
Right. That's like what we saw assistants do, and today they're so underutilized. So what I, what I see happening is business owners aren't, aren't. Letting their assistants be autonomous and come in and say, Hey, I need you to fix this. Figure it out. And have them do that. You know, take on big projects, don't have to just go task by task and, and do this, do that and, and check off a a to-do list.
So the communication really comes in with trusting one another and, and building that rapport and getting them involved in your business. And it works so much better than you having to come up with everything that they do all week, you know? They should hold a higher role within your business, A really important role, if that's hitting on what you're asking?
Kind of…
Laura Rotter
Yes. And could you be more specific? Like is there a template or questions that you, um. That help people who might not be as natural at communicating as it sounds like you are.
Molly Rose Speed
Yes. So we do have onboarding, you know, templates that we have our assistants use, and then if you hire through my agency, we, we give them to the business owner on their side of how to get to know one another.
But at the end of the day, we're all human and we need to be treating each other that way. Right. So the. Relationships that I see breakdown are the ones where they don't meet on Zoom once a week. Right? Even 15 minutes on a Monday morning. It makes all the difference for how productive an assistant's gonna be within your business and how you're gonna treat them and honor their work.
Um, so that's extremely important. And then another thing that I tell both parties is how you task and communicate. So where things can get really broken down is if a business owner is. Is tasking a virtual assistant, and they're doing it via a project management tool like Asana, email, text, phone call, Google Hangouts.
This has happened to me. Voxer all in one day. You know, how, how, how can you possibly be successful? Um, and that really starts with a business owner being clear about what they do, how they do it, what they need an assistant to do for them, and then letting them do that. Without this micromanaging effect.
Yeah. So a lot of it's just you have to kind of release control as a business owner and trust that you have a professional working for you with time. Right. It doesn't, yes, happen overnight, but you, you can, you can get a good sense if you have a good assistant from the get-go.
Laura Rotter
And what do you think makes a good assistant?
Molly Rose Speed
I think an assistant that really understands your business. So you can tell when you're hiring someone if they're gonna be good by the questions they're asking. So for example, are you clear that they understand how you earn revenue? Who your customers are, what your systems are, um, what you do all day that you shouldn't be doing.
If they're asking you those questions, they're, they're, they understand business a little more than the average bear. And those are the ones that you kind of wanna look for that are coming in and, and you're, they're interviewing you just as much as you're interviewing them. It's a good way to do it.
Laura Rotter
So Molly Rose, how do you find people like that?
Molly Rose Speed
How do I find it's hard? Um, so a lot of our, our assistants come to us word of mouth, so big on referrals. We do do some marketing and I, I share webinars and they go through my certification program. Um, and that's been interesting 'cause we get. We get trained virtual assistants that come in and want to work with us, but when I've done let that happen without them going through my training, it something hap always happens.
So it's really important that we vet and certify everyone that we work with and make sure that they're doing the things, a lot of the things that I've mentioned on this, on this podcast already. Um, so a lot of it's that personal touch. You know, I, I don't just take anyone we really. Get to know who's interested in the program and if it's a good fit and we're honest about it, and then have them come through.
Laura Rotter
And are your assistants working part-time for various businesses? Um, how does it work exactly?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. So the beauty of, of being a virtual assistant or hiring one is it's a, it's a fractional. Contract. Right? So fractional virtual assistants is kind of the term that I like to use for that. So as a business owner, it's great 'cause you can just hire for 20 hours a month, five hours a week.
That's kind of the minimum that I, that I recommend and what we offer 'cause it's not worth it for anything less. Um, and then you can grow it from there. So it's, it's common for a virtual assistant to have about three accounts that make up. 30 to 40 hours depending on how much they wanna work. Um, and then some get hired full-time into agencies or, or bigger entrepreneur companies where they have to have a full-time role.
And that's really cool to see as well.
Laura Rotter
And do the virtual assistants work for you? So you're shaking your head so they work for you and not directly for the business. So for example, if they need to take time off. Are you bringing other assistants in to help or how does that work?
Molly Rose Speed
Yes, so we have a hybrid approach.
So my program teaches assistants how to go get their own jobs if they would like to do that. Or, and, or they can come through and get clients from us, however you wanna do it. My goal is just to make sure you get, you have clients and you're, you know, you are making the money you wanna make. Um, so we do that and then in the case of if they're through our agency and an assistant goes on maternity leave as an example, we do have a process to fill in for those.
Those bigger chunks, you know, if it's just a, a week vacation here and there, it usually works out with the business owner to take that time off. But yeah, works really well.
Laura Rotter
Uh, it sounds like it works very well. I'm, I'm curious how you made the transition from what I. I'm making another assumption whether or not I should write that you had income coming in, you were working as a virtual assistant on your own.
What change that had you mo move into a more entrepreneurial mindset? Yeah,
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. Um, honestly, it was just the opportunity and people, uh, business owners were coming to me saying, how do I hire your virtual assistants? And so we were, we were doing it for free. We were. Doing these placements. I was like, there's a lot that goes into this.
A job description, making sure it's the right match, giving 'em candidates. I'm like, this is a surface. And, and mostly helping them get clear on what they need is, is 80% of what we do. Like they're overwhelmed and we have to go through that pro process to, to consult them on this is the type of virtual assistant, these are the things you need and, and help them through that.
Um, so it was really just. Solving the need that we saw coming in and doing a good job at that. Yeah.
Laura Rotter
Who's we?
Molly Rose Speed
Oh yes. I have a partner, um, who was a former. Assistant of mine and she has an HR background, so she was, we used to laugh 'cause when I was working at the hospital and she, she was working in HR at a staffing agency and we would just call each other crying because we were like, we have to go to work today.
And we hated it. And she was making like $15 an hour. It was a joke. And, um. So when, when I, this came up, she was my first call 'cause she had all that staffing experience. So she runs that side of the business beautifully and I couldn't do it without her.
Laura Rotter
Oh. It's always nice to have a partner.
Molly Rose Speed
It is, yeah.
Laura Rotter
And you've been doing it for over a decade now, correct?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah, I've been training that long. We've had the staffing agency for probably five years. Five or six years.
Laura Rotter
Mm-hmm. Molly Rose when you started. I guess I, um, um, I am curious about the money was, was the initial impetus to start as a VA and a a, a financial drive.
Um.
Molly Rose Speed
No, 'cause I certainly took a pay cut. Um, so it took me about two years to make up my corporate income.
Laura Rotter
Yeah.
Molly Rose Speed
Just because I didn't know. I didn't, and this is part of what I teach my assistants. I didn't know what we should charge and charging your worth and what things are worth and projects and tracking time appropriately so, um, no, it was, it was more for freedom.
It was more that I could do this job whenever I wanted, even if I made less money and it. That's still for everything I do. That comes first. Yeah. Um,
Laura Rotter
I am curious, what are the things you enjoy doing with, with the, with the time freedom?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. Um, I'm a huge traveler, so when my husband deploys or he did all the time, now he doesn't as much.
I'm waiting for that though. I, I go off and I go to Europe and, um, travel and I work and meet people and hang out and, and that's. That's my big, my big thing. Um, my mom is 75 this year, and so we go on a lot of trips together now because I wanna spend that time with her, so, yeah. Yeah. Prioritizing relationships.
Is he still in Iowa? She's in Wisconsin.
Laura Rotter
Wisconsin, okay.
Molly Rose Speed
Same, same.
Laura Rotter
Exactly. Not in Florida.
Molly Rose Speed
No. We all retirees I think should be right. I don't know.
Laura Rotter
So are there particular kind of business owners that you tend to work with?
Molly Rose Speed
Me personally, yes, I flock to public speakers, authors, coaches. That's kind of my, my vibe.
And I still do a lot of client work 'cause I love it. But I do a lot of project work. Like I'll come in and fix your systems or get your website up and running, things like that For the agency, we get all sorts of clients. We don't have a, a niche at all. And it's something I thought maybe we should, because.
Maybe it'd be better, but I'm like, there's no consistency. How do I choose what direction to go? Um, so everything from real estate agents, financial advisors, um, a lot of agencies like marketing agencies just 'cause of the network I'm in. And then the speaker, author, coach, just again through referrals and the networks I'm in, it's kind of where we get our business.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. So not necessarily, um, service oriented businesses, it sounds like They could be.
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. Yeah. Not a lot of, yeah, not a lot of brick and mortar or anything like that. It's mostly online businesses. Yeah.
Laura Rotter
Okay. So, so it is more service oriented. You're not getting, you know, a manufacturing,
no business or that kind of thing?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. CEO needs an assistant, not usually. Mm-hmm. We've had some product based companies, but very few and far between.
Laura Rotter
Is it mostly solopreneurs or small businesses?
Molly Rose Speed
Um, we're actually getting a lot more small businesses now. A lot of agencies. So like, you know. Five to 10 people working there. Um, medical, we're getting, we just got a big account for a, a medical like doctor that is growing his own personal, um, clinics and stuff.
He hired three of our assistants. I was like, this is great. So that, I'm excited to see how that goes.
Laura Rotter
And by the same token, we, you know, most of my listeners are. Um, career changers women who may making a transition. What you, you of course mentioned military spouses, but what other sort of demographic or psychographic would you say your assistant?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah. Yes. Uh, a lot of moms. So empty nest and empty nesters. So we have gotten some of those that have kids that are going off to college and they're like, I don't, I don't wanna go back to the office. Um, so that's, again, it's always about that flexibility and freedom. Someone that's like, I, I can't be tied to having to work Monday through Thursday, eight to four through fri, whatever it is.
Um, that's the main drive I think of this. And then being able to make pretty great money just. Working when you wanna work, um, and doing admin work.
Laura Rotter
And so by the same token, if someone's thinking about, um, the potential need for a virtual assistant, you mentioned that, um, at a minimum it would be, you know, five hours a week, 20 hours a month.
And um, how much should one expect to pay?
Molly Rose Speed
But, you know, yeah. So if you're hiring through an agency, it's always a little more, um, v I'll just speak to the VA side. I, if I had a virtual assistant, I don't wanna see her, she or him. I, we have a lot of women, so mostly women, so I'll say her charge less than, um, $25 an hour.
Um, but we're just seeing that go up and up as the economy is. You know, I, I drove by the pizza place the other day and you can flip pizzas for $25 an hour and I think being an assistant is, is a lot more than that. So, um, so yeah, that's kind of the starting rate and then it just goes up from there based on their skillset.
So it's not unheard of to pay $40 an hour for an assistant, but they're really at that rate. You wanna make sure they're really efficient.
Laura Rotter
Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. Thank you for that.
Molly Rose Speed
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Laura Rotter
Um, I will of course be including, um, your website and other information on the show notes. Is there anything else before, as we're starting to wrap up, that, you know, any information that you would want our listeners to, to know about?
Yeah. In your service?
Molly Rose Speed
Um, yes, so I'm Molly Rose speed.com Online. You can find that website does a catchall for everything that I do. And then virtual assistant management.com is our agency, and you can, if you're interested in, in learning more about hiring an assistant and creating some more time freedom for yourself, Christina does free discovery calls and she'll.
Tell you if you're ready or she'll tell you to call you in six months. She's very straightforward. So that's, that's why we have her. So that's a great phone call place to start if you, if you're interested and don't know if it's the right time, or maybe you're overwhelmed and you're like, it's time. This is it.
Um, and then I'm on Instagram at Molly Rose speed.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. And, uh, you're then bringing up a question to my mind was, when would she think that someone is not yet ready?
Molly Rose Speed
Um, I think to listen for.
Yes. I, a lot of it comes down to clarity. So if, if we can't get you clear on what you do and how you do it and who you do it for on our call, um, it's pretty, it's a pretty good sign.
Like, oh, okay, you're, you're, you're still in that deciding factor. You're playing with a lot of balls. You gotta kind of clean some stuff up, um, before we can get someone in there to be really productive for you. Um, we kind of have a rule that if, if she or I wouldn't take. Take a client, we're not gonna allow our team to, we wanna make sure that everybody's a good match before we kind of.
Have you make the investment and, and have the assistant make the investment of time. Um, so it really comes down to having that kind of buttoned up. You don't necessarily need to know all the things you need an assistant to do. You know, I have a great exercise for people where if, if you're unclear, just take a week and, and write down everything you do.
Just have a notepad back next to your desk or in your kitchen and you'll quickly see that there's a ton of things on your plate that you don't need to be. Doing, and they could be things that a virtual assistant could take off your plate. A, a cleaning lady, a snow removal person, Instacart for groceries.
If you're a really busy person, you have the resources to do that. It's, it's worth it, I think. I don't think women ask for help. We use Instacart for sure. Yes. So that's a great place to start and it'll start to create your job description and, and then from there, Christina, my partner. She'll pull up all sorts of stuff just by Googling you.
We'll be like, oh, who's doing this? Who's doing this? Who's doing this? And that'll create even more, um, opportunity for, for support for you.
Laura Rotter
Hmm. I love it. Uh, I do like to end with the same question and that question is. How has your definition of success shifted Molly Rose from the time that you got the position at Target that you imagined?
Mm-hmm. Where you are now?
Molly Rose Speed
Yeah, so I used to think it was making a hundred thousand dollars. It's like this, this is, that's it. This is the goal. This is it. It's all about money. And I made a lot of bad decisions just to make more money. Um, and today, that's not the case. And I don't, success for me is, is the freedom to do what I want when I want, and I truly believe that I have that.
And so I feel. I feel great about it and yeah,
Laura Rotter
That's it. Wow. Thank you for that. And I agree that sometimes it, it takes being older and going through many iterations. Um, it sounds like you've discovered it at a young age that mm-hmm. Um. Money can't give you the, I mean, once you have basic needs met, et cetera, the freedom really comes from being in charge of your time.
Yes. Because you can be making multiples of a hundred thousand, but somebody expects you to be at a desk from, you know, 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM and that's not, that's not freedom.
Molly Rose Speed
No. Nope. And money. You don't die with your money, so.
Laura Rotter
Exactly. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to describe what gets you excited and your business that I think may speak to a number of our listeners.
Molly Rose Speed
Thank you for having me.
Narrator
Thanks for listening to Making Change with Your Money Certified financial Planner, Laura Rodder specializes in helping people just like you. Organized, clarify, and invest their money. In order to support a life of purpose and meaning, go to www.trueabundanceadvisors.com/workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.