Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachel Everington. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

I’ve been in the administrative world for most of my career life prior to starting my business. And if it wasn’t in the office, it was retail. Both types of jobs required a heart of service and building relationships. So I had a knack for genuinely connecting with people.

In the beginning stages of my business I really didn’t know how to get clients. I didn’t want to feel sleazy selling my services. So it was one failed message pitch to a failed discovery call. But that didn’t stop me. I was committed and I made sure to keep getting up and moving forward, not just for me, but for my family. Me being able to create and build something that would not only provide me financial freedom but time freedom to spend with my son, who is a miracle baby. One way or another, I was going to figure it out and nothing or no one could stop me from what I wanted.

Two things that I feel have helped with my success and scaling is never giving up. Have the grit to overcome obstacles and finding my way, my path. Business is not linear and it sure is not for the faint of heart, ESPECIALLY as a virtual executive assistant where we are often looked at as “the help” vs being part of your leadership team.

The second is not being afraid to try something different. I love breaking rules and have always gone against the grain. I would test something and failed, and that would just be on rinse and repeat until I found something that worked for ME and MY business and that it felt GOOOOOD.

Where things really started to kick off was when I found my way of closing sales, and that was simply connecting with people and building relationships. It didn’t matter if they were a prospect, a competitor, or someone just to simply connect, the goal was to connect with people and naturally, they became clients, collaborators, friends or simply people who help spoke my name in rooms I wasn’t even in.

I started getting more clients than I can handle in my first year of business, so I started to hire team members that could support me and my clients and it grew from there to now an agency model. BUT this not some fairy tale ending, because growing and hiring now adds a new layer of challenges.

That’s when I started hiring coaches and mentors to support me on next steps. They become the eyes at the back of your head because you can’t. I realized the biggest challenge for me in this new big phase of my business was my mindset. Doubts and fears started to creep in and I was reminded over and over again that I could do hard things. And I did just that.

I moved forward with the knowledge I had, figured it out and built systems and processes and amplified that to make it more easeful to reach the milestones I had set for myself. Most importantly, the number one thing I’m most proud of is, building an amazing and positive company and team culture. Creating a culture that is aligned with my mission, vision and values, helped build a team that is aligned with it as well and now they have become my partners in business to help push that train forward.

Even at a growth stage in my business, you will still have clients ghosting you on payments, team members quitting, or firing clients or team members, but this is where you really start to grow in your leadership. It’s not just leading the company and the team, but you need to learn how to self lead yourself. You need to be able to put the ego to the side and when things get hard, you still show up with compassion and empathy. Doing business with humanness. No one is perfect and it would be laughable if you think you are and can’t do no wrong just because you are the boss or the founder.

You can’t do business alone and I’m grateful for all those that are on this journey with me.

Rachel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the Founder and CEO of an executive assistance and operations agency, called The Executive Ninja. We support business owners by removing the day to day overwhelm so that they can get their time back in order to focus on revenue generating activities. I got into this business because I have been in the support role for 25+ years and I wanted to combine something I love doing and filling in the gap in an organization to create bigger impact.

I am a consultant to businesses to support them on their business infrastructure (team management, systems building, standard operating procedures, strategically map their visions, customer journey workflow strategy and client experience). Helping busy founders bridge the gap with their team by optimizing their EAs, SOPs, client experience and leadership.

And I am also a coach to other done-for-you service providers to create a profitable and sustainable business, including virtual assistants wanting to start their business or virtual assistants and executive assistants looking to level up in their business or career.

After waiting for years to finally get my miracle baby, I had left the corporate world in order to create a business that provided time and financial freedom. I am dedicated to helping others build a business they love in order to create impact in our communities and much more by providing white glove support. I believe that people buy people and not businesses, and that we can all succeed if people were to treat others as humans with love, respect and compassion.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Simply connecting with people and building relationships. It didn’t matter if they were a prospect, a competitor, or someone just to simply connect, the goal was to connect with people and naturally, they became clients, collaborators, friends or simply people who help spoke my name in rooms I wasn’t even in.

We provide white glove service and with great efficiency and effectiveness and treating all our clients as VIPs. The Humanness is the key. The “don’t worry, we got your back” attitude and not just looking at our clients as just a paycheck.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Hire a team that is aligned with your mission, vision and values, and setting out expectations (from both ends) right from the beginning.

Understanding that yes you hired a team to support you and your company but you are there to serve them as well. Create that buy-in. Learn to not only lead the team, but self lead yourself and your team will follow. Create a non-toxic environment and build a community where it feels like everyone is in it together, and it’s just not for you or just for the company.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theexecutiveninja.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/racheleverington/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theexecninja
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/racheleveringtonco/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/racheverington
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHo9DTzDSc47bkGnMGn1wJQ?view_as=subscriber