We recently connected with Carissa Di Scipio and have shared our conversation below.

Carissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I first started off my business as a Virtual Assistant and I almost accidentally fell into it. I was on maternity leave in the dead of winter, honestly feeling depressed. Despite Post-Partum and sleep deprivation, I think what was contributing to the decline in my mental health was that my mind was completely not stimulated. I’m someone that loves to be creative and love to be busy.

I had a friend reach out to me who had opened her business a few months prior and was doing really well to the point where she needed some administrative help a couple hours here and there and that she knew I could be of great help to her. It was perfect for me as it got me to work my brain again and focus on something else other than the 4 walls of my home.

As my maternity leave started coming to a close I started to evaluate my options and life and realized that I had a lot skills that could help a lot of people I know! The digital world can be big, scary and confusing and bringing that clarity and comfort for people was something I could provide. With my background in advertising and administration, I took a chance and started marketing my services as a Virtual Assistant and I began to sign more clients from there. While many people online are Virtual Assistants, I believed I could make this business work past being a Virtual Assistant because of my former 10 years of work in Advertising. It gave me an experienced edge that I saw most competitors didn’t have.

As I began to see success I knew it was time to offer more services that supported small business owners in the digital space. And as I learned more and more about this industry I realized that it really is a scary place. People are quick to take advantage of clients who don’t understand digital lingo, eager to up-sell people on services they don’t need and play on people’s naiveté to create systems that are inaccessible to them. This is where my idea for Helpers Studios was born. An cozy corner for small business to receive the digital support they need that’s safe, comfortable and inviting with a sense of trust.

I learned pretty quickly that being an entrepreneur meant having a work when you least expected it- like when getting my hair done!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Born and raised in multicultural Toronto, my journey into the world of media and advertising began long before I even realized it. As a child, I found myself captivated by the magic of commercials, spending hours with my cousins crafting our own unique spins and remakes of advertisements. Unsurprisingly, later in life I went to film school and later found myself working in the advertising industry in Toronto.

My journey as a Small Business Digital Consultant began as taking on clients as Virtual Assistant. After taking on one client, I took the leap in trying to sign more clients and build my digital business. After seeing success in my Virtual Assistant clientele, I began to offer more services to help small businesses with their digital presence which is where Helpers Studios was born. At Helpers Studios we offer small businesses with day-to-day support as Virtual Assistants and more specialized support in Social Media Management, SEO Audits and work, Digital & brand consultancy and more! So many business owners are insanely talented and busy in their respective fields that they don’t have the time or capacity to understand the digital world and how to represent their business online, which is where I love to come in and partner with them in expressing their creative vision and making their digital presence actually work for them.

What I’m most proud of is what sets me apart. I represent Helpers Studios as a company that is truly here to help you and not take advantage of you. The digital world can be overwhelming with tons of new lingo the average person might not know, tons of ways to sell people services they don’t need, and tons of opportunities to take advantage of people through grimy sales tactics. At Helpers Studios, we provide expert digital support minus the nonsense. We don’t need to sell people on services they don’t need and we don’t need to confuse people with words they don’t understand. By making our company approachable, inviting and safe, we’re set apart from an industry that doesn’t propagate this. And they don’t because it’s very easy not to. It’s very easy sell people a service they didn’t need before you created an inaccessible system for them. So I’m proud of myself for staying true to my values and for developing a brand that others can resonate with.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy I’ve used for growing my clientele is just really making my full effort to do a great job with every client I work with. I’m so grateful that my clients have each referred me out to other potential clients, and those clients refer me and so forth. People will only refer who they are confident about and it’s up to me to build the confidence between the relationship of me and my clients through doing a great job and being an honest and integrous person.

This is the day I interviewed for my very first internship in film that began the trajectory of my career!

Any advice for managing a team?

It sounds simple but the main thing I’ve learned is that people will feed off you, what you say and your energy. I’ve learned this from every boss I’ve ever had down to my first job at a clothing store with a frenzied manager who was anxious to hit her sales targets. If you have anxiety to sell, your employees will now feel anxious about their sales. If you share with your team that your stressed about hitting a certain goal, they will now feel stressed about the same goal or stressed about the fact that they have to deal with a stressed out person. This all boils down to taking care of yourself so that you can be a balanced leader for others. This could mean finding a third party, unrelated person to vent to about your business stresses, regularly attending therapy to work through your personal emotions and so much more. The more emotionally-regulated you are, the more you’re able to manage the complexities of other human beings and the more positivity you have inside of yourself to share with others.

Contact Info:

• Website: helpersstudios.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanoncarissa/?hl=en

Image Credits
For the photo of me sitting on the couch with someone, credit to: Sammie Chan