We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dawnell Kelly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dawnell below.

Dawnell, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Showing clients you appreciate them is something I think most folks want to do – but it’s not always clear how to do it in a meaningful way. What’s one of the best examples of client appreciation you can share with us?

My client had brick and mortar locations for her business. This was pre-COVID. The first time we met, I suggested that I take her virtual, as she could help even more people. She gave me a shot and I was so grateful!

So, in the midst of supporting the development of a virtual department, I created a virtual training course. She had franchises all over the country, and we thought it would be a good idea to offer a contractor position too. So people could offer her services as an individual without needing a storefront.

This is one of the many benefits of taking your business online. So, I took it a step further, and got it accredited. Now the course provides CEUs in addition to a certification allowing people to work for themselves.

Now, this course wasn’t required as there were training materials available. The idea was meant to save time by having contractors learn at their own pace.

When I saw this opportunity, I not only suggested it, but offered to do it myself to show my client that she had put her faith in the right person. I didn’t just have a job. I was passionate about seeing her business continue to grow and help others from both the employee and customer sides.

I really appreciated her giving me a shot to work from across the country. I wanted to show her I would always go above and beyond by suggesting improvements to her business, not just sticking with the plug-and-play mentality.

Now we’ve been working together for years and feel comfortable knowing that we’re always thinking about what’s best for her business. She has someone she can trust working for her virtually. I have someone that allows me to be my authentic self. I’m more than thankful for this healthy, collaborative workplace relationship.

This course is now worth almost $1000.00 and can be purchased directly from her website.

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 back background and context?

I’m Dawnell Kelly, a Navy veteran, wife and mother to the sweetest 9-month-old baby boy named Rowan. I stumbled upon the world of women-led businesses, and entrepreneurship in general.

I was hired by a women-led business for my idea to take the company virtual. Since I lived in another state I was hired as a contractor, but treated the position as an employee – until tax time came and I had to learn real fast what it meant to be a freelancer.

After a couple years in this evolving role, I was ready to expand my professional development further. I became more active on LinkedIn, formed an LLC, and started building my own business. I treated it like a hobby, and focused on the more fun aspects, like how much freedom there was to make my own schedule and stay home with my family. I also really enjoy working during my personal peak hours – when I’m at my best mentally.

Since taking that first business virtual all those years ago, I have been completing various projects for small businesses. I take care of all the details and help to complete the projects hands-on.

It’s fascinating how many different projects there are for any given business. Everything from rebranding to creating courses (and even getting them accredited for CEUs), to graphic design in Canva, and creating products in Shopify. Being a Project Coordinator has allowed me to become a true generalist so I can support any area of business. It’s certainly never boring!

I’m most proud of my ability to learn quickly. If there’s a part of a project I don’t know how to do I’ll get on YouTube so quick, you won’t even notice. I’ve actually learned the basics of everything from WordPress to image metadata entry for Google Business.

I pride myself in not drowning in pride, however. If there are extremely specific or technical parts of a project I’m not trained in, I’ll be the first person to hire out or coordinate with other existing team members.

While I enjoy completing projects for small businesses, I now prefer to delegate the more mundane tasks. This is why I created my agency, so I could not only get more done in less time, but teach women studying entrepreneurship how it really works. By the time they graduate, I hope to provide the hands-on experience needed to skip what most of us had to go through by learning the hard way.

My goal is build up my agency to provide a healthy workplace culture with top tier pay and benefits, with an underlying understanding that we’re all equal and deserving of respect. I want to work with others and help them step into their power as future women business leaders.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that I needed to figure everything out first before taking on clients. I realized I didn’t need a beautiful website or the perfect signature offer or even an email campaign. I just needed to connect with people authentically and build genuine relationships. Taking this path of least resistance was much less stressful and got me excited about my business again.

I got too much into researching how to build a success business coupled with imposter syndrome, that I lost sight of what I was passionate about in the first place – helping powerful women get organized and finish projects. This passion allows me to support other women in growing their business which then paves the way for even more women-led businesses to grow and thrive.

Building a community of like-minded peers on LinkedIn was a life saver. I realized I didn’t have to be perfect (or even appear to be), and could connect with people who liked me for me. I was able to put up a one-page webpage to start, try a few different offers to see what helped others the most (including playing with pricing options), and I still haven’t started any sort of email campaign.

It’s important to take your specific business into consideration. I work very hands-on with women business owners, so I don’t need a weekly newsletter. The purpose of my position is to save women time, not add to their to-do list with a ton of emails showing them how to DIY. They hired me so they don’t have to do it themselves. Now I continue to learn about growing and running a healthy business, but I make sure to think about what really applies to me and my professional goals.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I had to pivot after getting a degree in kinesiology and psychology. I was getting frustrated being more motivated than my clients to get healthy.

I could see their potential, and gave them the steps to take for them to reach their goals, but I couldn’t do the work for them. I got too involved in the end goal – the weight loss, the strength building, the injury recovery, etc. I wanted it more than they did, which caused me to feel personally attacked when they didn’t reach their goals fast enough or even at all.

I realized I needed a career where I was in direct control of the outcome. I needed to feel satisfied knowing that when I put in 100% effort I will get 100% results. This led me to project coordination. Now my clients simply tell me their goals, and I make it happen. I finish a project, feel accomplished, and get to see my client’s excitement at reaching their goals. It’s the perfect fit!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.auxlyhelp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auxlyhelp/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnellkelly/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dawnellkelly
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChnkQ7EJPQiCW4MvcD0dbDw

Image Credits
Canva