We were lucky to catch up with Adriana Richardson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Adriana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
As an Online Operations manager, our industry seems to focus moreso on the tech side of things versus the strategy/process of it all. Online Operations/Business Managers are still a newer concept despite being around for years. So when people do end up hiring one, they assume they operate like a Virtual assistant or that the Manager should handle every aspect without them.
What I do differently is teach business owners how to operate things themselves versus me coming to “save” them. This allows them to understand what they need from their business more, so things flow better when they hire someone like me.
That said, I focus moreso on the documentation/strategy portion of Online Operations versus building.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Adriana is the owner of The Lazy Millennial, an Online Management and Consulting Company for business owners and executives ready to uplevel their current forms of documented processes to better utilize their teams & start removing themselves from doing “it all”. Adriana has challenged the hustling lifestyle to create a simplified method she refers to as “duplicate me” by ensuring Business Owners & Executives at any level are prepared for the growth and freedom they desire through proper documentation of their internal processes and systems.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I originally started my business as a solo Virtual Assistant and turned it into an agency. Well, I attempted to. The lightbulb went off in my head when Covid first hit in 2020. The business was booming. I had team members, and I could hardly utilize them because I lacked clear systems. At that time, I was waking up at 4am to try and get a head start on work, working throughout the day when I could with my kids home, and working some in the evening. At that point, I knew that changes needed to be made. I started a business for freedom and the path I was going down wasn’t going to allow it and force me to close early. I ended up shutting down temporarily to get myself and systems together, and eventually relaunched officially as The Lazy Millennial in 2021.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
What helped my build my reputation was “learning out loud”. I’m amazing at what I do, but I had some issues translating what I do to my audience. I started going live more, even though it took a lot out of me. I put myself in spaces that would allow me to sound like an expert. I am constantly learning and it shows through my content. My tip would be to tell everyone to just get started and put themselves out there.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thelazymillennial.net
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_lazymillennial
- Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriana-richardson-4ba81840/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriana-richardson-4ba81840/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi3trqZB_guI5QNLq4C2BXw
Image Credits
Jen Wilson Photography I-hope Business Center