Today, we are continuing our series on four programs or services that I am thankful for. I am actually going to do something a little different than I had planned for this episode. My original plan was to talk about Headliner, which is an app that I use to create an audiogram for each podcast episode. An audiogram is a little picture with a small audio clip embedded. The audiogram is a minute or less, and I use it on social media to promote my podcast. There isn’t much you can say about it other than just state what it does. I also felt deep in my heart that I should share with you that I am thankful for my team.
This is the first year that I have had a team.
In the summer, I decided to bring on some subcontractors to my business, and this has been a huge blessing. It is something that I tried years ago, and it did not go well. This time around has gone so well, and I have been so encouraged and supported by the team members I have. I felt like this Thanksgiving season was the perfect time to let them know how thankful I am for them. In this episode, I will share a little bit about each of them and what they do for the team.
All of my team members began as interns. I have added interns to my business since 2011. My process is that my interns do work for me, doing various jobs for my business, and in return, I offer my expertise and training to them so they can learn to become virtual assistant. Most of what my interns do is deal with scheduling, social media, creating blog posts, pinning the blog posts to Pinterest, creating the audiogram for the podcast each week, creating images for the podcast, and a lot of other things that I come up with on the spot. I have had more interns than I can count on two hands. Interns generally stay for 8–12 weeks. Sometimes interns like to stay on longer than that.
Ashtyn is the first team member we will talk about, and she is kind of a unique case for me because I taught school from 2012–2015 and Ashtyn was one of my students. I put out these intern applications online and shared them on Facebook and social media, and I was thrilled when she applied. When I decided to take on team members, I decided that I wanted to use the interns that I had most recently worked with. She happened to be one of those people. She lives in my state. Out of my three interns, she lives the closest to me. She just had a baby, and it was just a great fit. I always enjoyed teaching her. It is so wonderful to be able to work with her and come full circle. Ashtyn does a lot of graphic design because she actually has a bachelor’s degree in interior design and a bachelor’s degree in business from Mississippi State. She has a portfolio of projects that tell a story for her. She has worked in marketing, and now she stays home with her son and helps me as a part of Alyssa Avant and Company. I am so thankful to have Ashtyn, and I am really happy that she applied to my internship.
The second person on my team is Kristy Feltis. She is our Pinterest extraordinaire! She has helped me a lot with Pinterest. She became my intern right after Ashtyn. She actually stayed on for six months instead of just three months, because I wanted to train her to help me with some specific pieces of my business, and I knew that I wanted her to become a part of my team. She is a dedicated virtual assistant and Pinterest manager. She is from Ozark, Alabama. She has moved around a lot because her husband is in the military. She has two children, and she has just helped me so much with email marketing. She is a wiz when it comes to formulating lead magnets for our clients. She has truly helped me with Pinterest. I have really enjoyed getting to know Kristy and having her on the team. She is always willing to do whatever I need her to do, and that is a huge blessing.
Finally, my newest intern, who just started a few weeks ago, is Chasity Seay. Chastity has been wonderful to start working with and getting to know. She is eager to learn and wants to do whatever I need her to do. She is a homeschool mom. She lives in Madison, Alabama. She is in the midst of her internship. It is my hope and prayer that I can bring her on the team as well.
I have these team members or subcontractors help me with pieces of the projects that I do for my clients and with many of the supportive things like helping with the lead magnets, helping with emails, formatting, creating graphics, they help me with Headliner (which this podcast episode was supposed to be about), creating audiograms, and things like that. I have wanted to have a team for so long. This is truly a dream come true for me to be able to support other moms who want to work from home as VAs and to be able to support their families. This is my dream becoming a reality by being able to do that. I am thankful for these ladies, Ashtyn, Kristy, and Chasity, who are such a support to me and my business. I am thankful for my team.
STAY CONNECTED
I have a Facebook group for Christian authors, speakers, and coaches. It’s called The Christian Business Advantage, and each month I do a FREE training around the third Wednesday of each month. Please come join our group, and you will learn tips and tricks for your business.
