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

Alright, Kari thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think success can be defined in a number of ways, but for me success means building a company with integrity that helps and supports people. It means leaving someone better than they were when you met them and supporting them even after the business relationship has ended. It means making my husband and my kids proud and significantly contributing to my family and society financially.

Kari , 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 Kari, I am a wife and mama, both birthed and bonus. I love Jesus and Football #GoChiefs, I relate most life happenings to an episode of Friends and I never met a taco I didn’t like.

I was born and raised in the Kansas City area and in 2015 my husband and I hit a rough patch.  After a lot of prayer and faith we decided to make the move to Houston.  I had a newborn in a strange city and I didn’t know how I could make money but I knew my family needed my income.  I started down the journey of Network Marketing and it opened doors for me and introduced me to some of the best people that I know.

In 2021 I opened my Virtual Assistant business and always felt a tug in my soul to do something more.  I have always wanted to inspire and support women in business!  I wanted to show my kids that you can create your own path no matter your age.

I have learned so many things in my time working for someone else, from running a Beauty School to the nuggets of gold I discovered through Social Selling and my VA business that have led me to this place.

I am honored to have the ability and knowledge to be Your Business Bestie.  Whether you are in need of Virtual Support or Online Business Management services, you want to start your own VA business, or you are a small business owner with goals of hiring a VA, but know you need to get a plan in place first I am happy to meet you where you are and walk the path along side of you to give you all the tools you need to make those things happen.

I can not wait to see you succeed and crush all of your hopes and dreams!

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When I am not in Bestie mode supporting my clients, creating content, recording podcasts, or coaching clients you can find me chillin with my husband and youngest daughter eating yummy food, binging a good show or a good book, and making our home as cozy as possible or maybe cussing our cats.

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Thank you for sharing this piece of the internet with me

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XO

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

Relationship Marketing hands down. I was so resistant to networking the idea of getting dressed, leaving my house, and walking in to a room full of women made me want to vomit. I put it off for years, and then one day I felt stuck and wasn’t sure how to grow my connections and in-turn my business (at the time) so I did a search for some networking opportunities near me and I reached out to the lady who was running the chapter I wanted to visit and we became fast friends.

I walked into that room and my life and business has forever been changed. Not only have I met an incredible tribe of women who have my back and I now call some of my best friends and family but I have cultivated these relationships to have some of the most loyal and biggest fans of me and my company.

It’s like I have created an army of sales people out in the world telling people about what I offer without me having to spend a dime.

The connections and collaborations over any petty competition has been the thing, the key to how I successfully started and scaled my business to 5+ figures in the first 5 months and continue to grow!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I am only a little over a year into owning my own company, and although things have mostly been positive and growing. There was a time about 6 months in when we had grown so quickly that I was hardly keeping my head above water and I wanted to just throw in the towel and quit.

I decided to pivot my business into a coaching space and stopped taking on new VA clients. Everything froze, I thought we were going to go under. The clients that I was still working with weren’t enough to support the changes that my team and I needed to implement in order to pivot.

I tried to convince myself that it was going to work for 90 days. I wanted to believe that we would begin to grow and scale this coaching thing and I wouldn’t be so stressed and overwhelmed.

It didn’t, and thank goodness I was able to hear God speak to me and tell me that I was making a mistake and if I didn’t go back to the thing that I was so good at then I was going to lose it all.

In real time, we are transitioning back to full time Virtual Support & OBM Services and building an agency to bring on more help so we can help, support, and serve more business owners.

The lesson here is that it is okay to pivot or try new things, but I also think its important to be open to the signs when that thing isn’t working and not be embarrassed or ashamed to pivot again or go back!

Contact Info:

• Website: ybbco.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/your_business_bestie_
• Facebook: facebook.com/kariandrews04
• Other: I host a podcast and you can find me on all of your favorite podcast players at Your Business Bestie: The Podcast or binge here at ybbco.com/podcast

Image Credits
Branding Photography: Natalie J. Photography Graphic Designer/Branding: JMM Artist/Designer Podcast Photography: SheAuthentic Photo/Hannah Wentworth