Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeannine Warrick. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jeannine, 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 came up with the idea to start doing virtual assistant business coaching and virtual assistant matchmaking after many inquiries for both services came across my plate.

I started only providing virtual administrative services to construction trade businesses, then expanded to assisting small business owners in different industries. I then began receiving messages from virtual assistants asking me how I got started, gained clients, what business structure was best, etc. It was flattering to be asked for help, and I love helping people grow! It was fun to support, motivate, inspire, and educate virtual assistants because I did not have that when I started, and I remember how hard it was to build my business. I spent countless hours educating myself and being my own motivator, never to give up, and I felt that if I could help people jump-start, it would be so worthwhile. Then I found myself spending large amounts of my time providing coaching, but when it became pretty constant, I added VA coaching as a service and structured a way to charge virtual assistants that needed help growing their businesses or even starting their businesses. I charge for one-on-one sessions and go into detail to answer questions they may have, along with 30 days of support.

With my coaching service, I also help my virtual assistant clients actually find clients. God blessed me, and I began getting new leads from small business owners looking for a good and reliable virtual assistant. I cannot take on new clients needing virtual administrative services; therefore, I would give my leads to my virtual assistant clients. When it became pretty consistent, I started to help small business owners looking for help and matching them with a virtual assistant that I knew would be a great partner. I am in the works of creating a directory for virtual assistants (not just my clients) to join, and I can help them gain clients with my matchmaking service. The service is free to small business owners, but there will be a fee for the virtual assistants.

There are other VA coaches, but my coaching service is unique. I help my clients jump-start their business growth, offer 30 days of support and two accountability calls, promote their businesses to my network of professionals, and introduce them to new leads at a very affordable rate. There are also other VA matchmakers, but I have not found many.

Now I can help so many more people, and I love it! I get to coach, motivate, educate, and inspire my virtual assistant clients and watch their businesses prosper. I also get to help small business owners find excellent virtual assistants to partner with at no charge to the business owner. I do this because again, I know how hard it is to grow a business and I know how hard it is to find a great and reliable virtual assistant to help with back-office work. When I step into my office, it’s exciting to get to work and see who else I can be of service to.

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

I am an administrative professional with thirty-plus years of experience in the administrative field. Fifteen years were spent in the construction industry, working for GC’s and a national painting company as a contracts administrator, office administrator, and office operations manager. Other industry experience includes education business liaison executive assistant, insurance office manager and sales, real estate receptionist, telecommunications executive receptionist, IT coordinator, and property manager administrative assistant. My passion is helping others succeed, and I love assisting virtual assistants in starting their businesses.

My thought process behind starting my own business was first to help business owners succeed, and second, I was tired of being laid off due to downsizing, and I wanted better control of my career. It all started after I was laid off in September 2009 due to the Great Recession. I am good at what I do, I love helping people succeed, and I knew businesses still needed administrative help but could not afford it. I had a strong inner feeling that there had to be something I could do! So, I started searching for ways to help businesses by being an independent contractor and how to start a business doing this. Lo and behold, I discovered there was such a thing, and it was called Virtual Assistants. Since people had hardly heard of a virtual assistant, there was little info on it. I found a couple of virtual assistants that gave me a tiny bit of information, and I knew this would be the answer to starting a business doing something I love and am good at. I thought I had struck gold! In March 2010, I created JL Administrative Services. This was perfect because I am passionate about keeping small business owners organized and free to run their businesses. I could assist enterprises from home, and I knew this was a win-win.

The services I offered for small business owners needing virtual administrative assistance were general administrative services, social media services, customer support, HR-related services, and, last but not least, VA coaching and VA matchmaking. Because of my tenor of being in the administrative field, I know what it takes to keep business organized, and customers supported, and what it takes to grow a solid and profitable virtual assistant business. The fact that I also worked in the construction industry helped me to speak to the pains of growing a business in that industry.

Now that my focus has shifted to coaching virtual assistants to grow their own businesses, my coaching services are unique, and I have not found anyone to offer what I offer or to the extent that I go to help my clients – both virtual assistants and small business owners looking for a virtual assistant.

I am proud that I have been able to help so many virtual assistants grow that some have even been able to quit their full-time jobs to work full-time for themselves in a relatively short time. I even had one client begin to scale her business and hire VAs to work for her due to significant and steady growth. It also brings me so much joy that with the small business owners that have come to me looking for a VA to work with, I could pair them with the perfect VA to help them!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Three books have helped me to stay focused and not give up. Being an entrepreneur is hard work, which also means putting in long hours and reading business books to help keep the course. I learned never to stop learning!

My favorite book is Mr. Monkey And Me by Mike Smerklo. It is a REAL survival guide for entrepreneurs to deal with those negative thoughts and grow a successful enterprise. This book helped me tremendously! I now know to tame and use my monkey to my advantage.

The second book is Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Dr. Susan Jeffers. We are afraid to do something different and put it into motion from time to time. The thoughts of “what if I fail,” the fear of moving forward, indecision, and even sometimes anger can keep a person from moving forward. When I started, and even when I added virtual assistant coaching as a service, I was scared I would fail and that no one would want to work with me. No matter how frightened I was, I knew that I would never know if I didn’t take the first step. So I did it and started JL Administrative Services, and I get to coach virtual assistants too!!

The third book that helped me is Daring Greatly by Dr. Brene’ Brown. It taught me the courage to be vulnerable and how that transformed how I think, live, manage, and lead. I don’t claim to know everything, but I use that to learn more to be a better leader, coach, and person overall.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Yes, my business has multiple revenue streams. I offer wellness products to keep us entrepreneurs going and consumer goods that can be purchased at very reasonable prices. Now I am also in the process of adding legal services to my business and gift services.

It’s hard to keep going and stay focused; even sometimes, we get down and need to boost our mood to get out of that funk. I can offer my clients cell performance products that are natural to increase energy, relieve brain fog, and boost mood! I even have fantastic natural skincare products that are amazing and work great on all skin types to give that healthy glow.

Another source is I offer my clients products that we use daily, like toothpaste, hair care, body wash, and even makeup, and the products are very affordable and are also all-natural.

The last two services I am in the process of adding are the legal and gifts. I can’t emphasize how important it is to have an attorney you can go to for business structure, to go over contracts, and just in case you need legal counsel. I will soon be able to give my clients that without breaking the bank. Another thing that I encourage is for my virtual assistant clients to show their clients gratitude by giving gifts to them for special occasions, holidays, and birthdays. Being grateful is something that should not be taken advantage of. Gifting shows how much your clients mean to you and is a way to say thank you for being a fantastic client and thank you for your loyalty.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jladminservices.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jladministrativeservices/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JLAdministrativeServices
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jl-administrative-services/?viewAsMember=true
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JLAdmServices
• Other: LinkedIn Professional Page: www.linkedin.com/in/jeanninewarrick