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

Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about making remote work effective.

As a Virtual Assistant agency, all of our team members work remotely (mostly in the US). We communicate through Slack which is a great tool for chat, video calls and sharing resources! We have regular virtual team huddles on Zoom too, and we are able to share resources and tools through a varitey of software platforms.

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 background and context?

MC Virtual Assistants is a boutique Virtual Assistant agency solely supporting Interior Designers with their administrative and operational needs. We are a team of VA’s who provide virtual support for the day-to-day administrative tasks within our client’s businesses, such as procurement, tracking, and operations.

Many of our clients are solopreneurs and don’t need to hire full time help but want to start to scale their businesses – that is where we come in! We offer packages of support from 10hours a month right through to 70+ hours a month. Our clients don’t have to worry about employment tax or training someone new as we know the industry and are experienced in the software they use. We are a small agency and I personally take great pride in every single one of our clients – we only onboard 2-3 clients a month to ensure they get the dedicated service they deserve. There are many VA agencies out there, but by niching in this industry, we take the stress away from our clients by having VA’s on the team who have hands-on experience with Interior Design.

I’m originally from the UK but relocated to the US 5 years ago (via Shanghai!) due to my husband’s career (he works in the automotive industry). I left my career in Advertising behind when we moved to China, where I had our (now 6-year-old) daughter. Upon moving to the US, I was ready to return to work, so I spent a couple of years with another Virtual Assistant Agency. I took a break to have my twin boys and decided to go solo once they were born (and after COVID). I went back to work virtually for a couple of my previous clients who were Interior Designers, and the referrals grew from there! I am truly passionate about this industry and supporting designers to help them grow their businesses. I love having the flexibility to build my business at home with the children while they are young – it also allows me financially to get back home to the UK to visit family once a year!

I am proud of how we have grown quickly in a short space of time – it was my husband who encouraged me to take the next step for growth by investing in a sponsorship collaboration and taking on more team members, and I can’t thank him enough. We have gone from a team of 5 to 15 in the last year and tripled our client roster. It’s an achievement every day to see how we support other creative entrepreneurs in their businesses!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I took a big risk when I was less than 12months in business and invested in a sponsorship collaboration with another Business whose clients were also Interior Designers. Their clients were my potential clients so whilst it was for me, a large sum of money, it was targeted spend. Thankfully it paid off, as it generated 40% of my custom for 2022 and the revenue generated covered the cost of the initial outlay. What was priceless though, is the brand awareness, respect, knowledge, growth and feeling of community that I gained from it.

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

I think the biggest stage of personal growth for me was stepping outside of my comfort zone and moving to China when I was 6 months pregnant! It made me realize that life is what you make it and nothing comes to you – you have to make it happen. Anything worth having never comes easily – otherwise, everyone would do it! Being an expat and living abroad is hard at times, but it’s the best thing we ever did – sometimes, you have to take the leap into the unknown to see what is waiting! I feel the same with my business – I don’t think I would have taken the step to start and grow the agency if it wasn’t for the personal growth I have experienced through living abroad. Sometimes you have to believe in yourself – you are your biggest cheerleader!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mcvirtualassistants.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mc_virtualassistants/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcvirtualassistants
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mc-virtual-assistants/

Image Credits
Photography via Flint & Flower Photgraphy. Stock Canva images.