We were lucky to catch up with Alyson Neal recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alyson , thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

All my life I have loved to help people in any way my talents would allow. During the start of the pandemic I found Virtual Assistance and fell in love. I had already been involved with Pop Up Shops and understand as a frequent shopper what to expect from business owners. I realized there was a need for a virtual assistant in the business world based on small business owners struggles I have seen and experienced. Most people don’t even know what a virtual assistant is and that got me more excited. Time for me to spread the word and help others become successful and achieve their dreams.

Alyson , 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?

Hi my name is Alyson Neal I go by Alyson Marie! I am a 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋-𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 multi dimensional entrepreneur but today I want to talk about me as a virtual assistant. My business is called Bratz Brain. I am a single mom from Cleveland, Ohio where I live with my almost 11 year old son who is just as creative and full of life as me. I started my virtual assistance business to help those in their business that struggle with keeping organized with daily business content creation tasks and those who aren’t fluent in using social media.

It’s not easy running a business by yourself and it’s nearly impossible to do if you want to continue growing. There are many components to running a business and hiring employees just to train them and work your business can be costly. When hiring a virtual assistant you are able to pay as you want. You can pay them hourly and use them when it’s convenient for you or you can purchase a monthly package that’s made specifically for the tasks you need completed.

I focus on social media assisting and management, graphic designing, website revamping, video editing, and content creation in my virtual assistant business because these are my strongest talents. I have helped over 100 people succeed in their business just by eliminating one or more tasks from their busy business life or teach them skills that help them to better organize their business. Social media being the biggest task of them all.

Not everyone has time to post daily to gain brand awareness but that’s where I come in. If you just need someone to post the content you already made there is a package for that and it’s cost efficient. If you need content created and posted daily there is a package for that as well. I love to consult with my potential clients and find out what their budget is and see how we can work together based on that. Not everyone is getting grant funding these days so we have to make every penny count.

My clients call me the “chaos coordinator.” They love that not only am I assisting virtually but I can also support them in person as well. I love what I do and I love that the knowledge I have gained over the past 10 plus years can really help someone else boost their brand awareness and spend more time doing things they love.

I’m looking forward to helping more business owners in the future and spreading awareness of virtual assistance to everyone.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Before I became a virtual assistant I watched many YouTube videos on my new found side hustle. It was there that I discovered that as a new virtual assistant I need to immediately tell people that I am a virtual assistant. That changed my life and helped give me so much confidence to work my business.

When I met people I always introduced myself as a virtual assistant. I started working with my friend who is a pop up shop host. I helped give my expertise and helped out when I could. This collaboration helped me to gain more clients since I was surrounded by my target audience and helped me gain the confidence I needed to start my business full time.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Networking is a big part of building a reputation for any business. I identified my target audience (business owners) and attended events that I knew would have business owners there. I love talking to people and I love to shop so going to Pop Up events is a lot of fun for me. It also allows me to support small business owners like myself. I naturally built relationships with a lot of business owners in person and online. I showcased my skills and knowledge to them so that they understood I know what I’m talking about. But most of all referrals from my amazing clients helped me to get where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bratzbrain.as.me/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bratzbrain_?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE=
• Facebook: BratzBrain
• Other: Tik tok- @bratzbrain04

Image Credits
Photographer for photo of myself (@super shots photography) Projects from @canva