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

Kortney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Before starting our family, my husband and I talked about me staying home with our children. However, we had no context of how that would be possible and knew that we needed my income to afford our cost of living. After getting pregnant and having our son, this feeling intensified for me; I couldn’t imagine leaving him. Upon returning to work, it didn’t seem like this was my passion anymore and led me to being a stay at home mom. I was working with a business coach at the time for a MLM company I was working with and discussed with her of wanting to shift my focus. We both brainstormed and when she suggested being a Virtual Assistant, I knew this was the missing piece. I decide to make my clientele be other mama entrepreneurs because I know the passion firsthand of wanting to stay home and raise your babies. My goal is to help other mothers run a business successfully and have the time freedom they desire to focus on their family.

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.

My name is Kortney! I’m a wife to my husband of over 3 years, a mother to our 15 month old son and our 2 year old black lab and a business owner. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies! I got into being a Virtual Assistant thanks to a friend/ business coach. She saw the demand for this being a business owner herself and I jumped in feet first. Since COVID, the job market has certainly taken a turn. So many more people are working online and have chosen to start their own businesses and a Virtual Assistant fits into this niche perfectly. My goal is to help mom entrepreneurs run their business successfully. As a business owner, a lot of times you are the only employee; which means you are doing it all. Hiring me gives my clients the opportunity to have someone to work alongside them supporting their goals. I help with social media management, email marketing, administrative tasks and any one of tasks a client may need. I’m here for them to bounce ideas off of and ask questions to grow their business. I’m also providing my clients with the time freedom to live the life they want. We start our own business because we don’t want to be bound to the 9-5 schedule. I’m able to work for clients and things get done, while they’re on vacation and enjoying their family! I truly believe what sets me apart is that I’m a mother and a business owner too. I know the struggles firsthand and I can relate to my clients on such a deeper and genuine level. I’m most proud of what I get to do and the impact it makes. Giving a mother back her time to spend with her children is truly the greatest gift I could provide. Time doesn’t stop and it’s such a blessing to not always be busy and just enjoy your family.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I started my business when my son was 6 months old and with zero small business experience! I was a first time mom with a desire in her heart to stay home and raise her babies and I was going to make it happen. Having such a strong, undeniable why is truly what keeps me going on the hard days. Being a mom and a business owner can certainly be overwhelming and come with its fair share of hard days, but I keep my why in the forefront and that’s what pushes me through. YES the days are hard, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As a Virtual Assistant, my business is solely on social media and all of my clients come from social media. If you follow me on Instagram, this is what I share about on a daily basis because I’m passionate about teaching business owners how to scale their business and grow on social media. How I’ve grown my following is by being a user on the app, showing up consistently, and focusing on my target audience. I am on social media based on my schedule and I’m being a user on the app; having conversations in DMs, commenting and liking posts and simply using social media for what it is (a place to be social!). I have a schedule that I follow and I show up on those days of the week with the same topic. My audience knows when I’m showing up and what I’m going to be talking about. Being consistent allows me followers to build the like/know/trust factor with me, which is key as a business owner. Lastly, I know who my target audience is and I’m focusing on how I can serve them in this space.

If you’re just starting to build a social media presence, I’d say just follow my steps above! Don’t focus on being in that space to sell, but rather to nurture and grow your audience. Focus on who you’re serving and what they’d like to see from you. SHOW YOUR FACE. I see so many business owners just showcasing their business, but at the end of the day YOU are the business too. They want to see the face behind it and build the like/know/trust with you. Allow them to get to know you as a person and build connections that way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_kortneysmith/

Image Credits
Casey Owens Photography