We recently connected with Grace Ayers and have shared our conversation below.

Grace, appreciate you joining us today. Any advice for creating a more inclusive workplace?

I created Global Assistance so that I could help more women like myself who was searching for a healthy work life balance. Women are often times required to be a nurturing mother while also being a career woman. This task can sometimes become overwhelming. Not only does it become overwhelming, sometimes we are subjected to job loss because of it. Employers may not understand or be willing to grasp the fact that the women they’ve employed have little people waiting for them as soon as she clocks out. Mothers are often burdened with the worries that they may not be spending enough time with their kids, or that they may have inadvertently missed a doctor’s or dentist appointment for their kids because things were just so hectic at work. On the other side of that is the stress caused by the inability to request time off from work to be present with her kids because bills are due or because her employer just won’t understand. This was a struggle for me for a very long time. The unhealthy balance between work and my personal life would even cause health issues (both physical and mental). I decided that even though I still needed to be a provider, I wanted it to be a provider on my terms. I wanted to have flexibility. I wanted to chaperone a field trip or just be able to pick my kids up from school and get home to cook dinner and help out with homework without being exhausted. This is how Global Assistance was birthed. I figured I would use my years of experience in the legal field to offer my expertise to attorneys and solo-preneurs as a freelancer. I have hopes of building my company into a major firm that will be able to offer positions to other Moms experiencing my same grief. We are superwomen! We can be providers and nurturers at the same time if only this society believed in us and allowed us the flexibility to do so.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have been in the legal field since 2008. I am a seasoned paralegal who’s worked with numerous attorneys in both Louisiana and Florida. I am a mother of 5 children, and as stated in my previous statement, I started Global Assistance to offer my expertise to attorneys and solo-prenuers as a freelancer. The idea started due to my desire to have a healthy work/life balance. I wanted to be present in the lives of my children while still being able to provide for them financially. I have extensive experience and I feel like I would be an asset to any attorney or business owner who’s looking to scale their business to the next level. I can assist with all of the administrative pieces for any business owner so that they can focus on more important aspects of their business. I can assist with things such as invoicing, scheduling, calendar management, drafting invoices, and much more. For the attorneys, I can assist with drafting, efiling, discovery, intake, calendar management, and so much more. I take the success of my clients very serious and I work diligently to help them scale their businesses. Time is very valuable and I believe that the more time any business owner has the more profitable their business can become. I grew up that time for them!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele is networking networking networking, but most importantly it is has been keeping a pure heart! I believe when your heart is pure and in the right place, you will be met with the right opportunities. In conjunction with this, I believe preparation for this opportunities most be done. Preparation is very important. No matter how long it takes to get your first client, as long as you are prepared when that opportunity comes you are set up for success.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I originally started a business in retail. I wanted to sell clothes. Although I felt as though I wanted to be a part of fashion, my passion and my expertise was in helping others. For as long as I can remember, helping others always made me feel good. Sometimes we can overlook our very purpose, and I believe that’s what I was doing when I started the boutique. Needless to say, I shut the boutique down and offered all of it’s inventory to my teenage daughter so that she could profit from it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/globalvirtualassistance/