Episode 241: How can a virtual assistant help me with Barbie Newsome

links: www.theassistantmagician.com@theassistantmagician on Facebook & InstagramI grew up in eastern Utah in a truck stop town. I thought I was going to be a thespian. The stage seemed perfect for my dramatic personality. I had the opportunity to do a Broadway intensive training where I flew to New York and worked closely with Broadway professionals. I talked with agents and acting/singing coaches. I left with a ton of knowledge, but without a desire to pursue acting anymore. Then I decided I wanted to be a writer! I self-published my first book and came to find out that being a successful writer is very hard. I fell out of it and spent some time working corporate jobs and taking web development classes. I got married and divorced. It was during the divorce that I started really looking at what I was building for my daughter. I was in a one bedroom house that had no furniture, my bank account was in the negative, there was no food in the fridge, and the car had just been repossessed. And I was by myself. At that point, I was working a telemarketing job from home for $10/hr. I could not afford working that job, mentally or financially. I couldn't just go get a job because that would require putting my daughter in daycare. Since I was in the middle of a custody battle, I had to prove that I was stable and could care for her myself.So I hopped on the interwebs and advertised for front end web development. My very first client asked for a website, but then totally ripped the rug out from under me by saying "actually, I don't need a website. I need an assistant. Can you do that?" And I just needed money, so I said yes. She's a dark fantasy author, and she needed marketing help. She put me through courses and taught me everything she knew about that world.That started me on my path to building my business. At first, I was willing to help anybody do anything. I tried to learn every single industry, which was just EXHAUSTING. So I decided to focus on what I was good at: marketing for authors.When I narrowed my services to a single focus, the inquiries from my website blew up. I've been working on my business since and it's been working out great for me and my baby. I have a car that I own outright, and I'm in the process of purchasing an investment property with my fiance.