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As part of my series of interviews with small business owners, this is my interview with the lovely Jessica from JM Virtual Solutions.
In this interview, Jessica talks about how she has grown her virtual assistant services into a thriving social media management business and reveals what social media strategy has been instrumental to her success!
Q: Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your business?
A: JMVS offers Social media management and strategy for Service Providers who are ready to elevate their Social Media presence, without the overwhelm, through organic marketing.
At JM Virtual Solutions, I craft dynamic social media strategies that drive engagement, fuel growth, and elevate your brand. I understand the power of mindset and alignment, ensuring your online presence truly resonates with your vision.
With a fusion of social media and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by business owners, I empower my clients to cultivate an authentic and impactful digital footprint that yields tangible results.
My approach revolves around fostering genuine connections and delivering exceptional value. I’m passionately committed to helping you achieve your goals and unlock your full potential. Whether you aspire to establish thought leadership, attract new clients, or foster an engaged community, I’m your dedicated partner throughout the entire journey.
Q: What led you to start your business?
A: My journey began at the start of the 2020 pandemic when I found myself being laid off from my position as a Front Office Manager and Sales Coordinator in the hospitality industry.
It was a challenging time for everyone, and I knew I needed to make some adjustments to adapt to the new reality.
During an insightful conversation with my sister, who was already on her own entrepreneurial journey as a Virtual Assistant, I gained a sense of direction. It was then that I realized I too could run my own business.
Inspired by her, I decided to take a Virtual Assistant (VA) course and by the end of December 2020, I launched JM Virtual Solutions, LLC. This gave me the freedom to pursue my vision of supporting others while utilizing my full potential.
In the early stages of my business, I offered general virtual assistant services and took on any client who was willing to work with a new VA.
It was a period of exploration, trying to figure out the specific services I wanted to offer and the right connections to make. After about four months, I found my true passion in Social Media Marketing, and there was no turning back.
Social media became my main focus moving forward, only offering social media services to my clients.
Q: How have you navigated any setbacks or obstacles in your business, and what did you learn from those experiences?
A: At the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, there were a few challenges I faced at the beginning of my journey and those challenges were time management, imposter syndrome, and my messaging.
As a new small business, you are constantly juggling a lot, especially if you are working solo and do not have any team members to support you.
How I overcame this was first acknowledging that I needed to use the time I had more efficiently to be successful. So I started using a checklist more often but included time blocking for each task. I of course set up my checklist to have top-priority tasks listed first.
By implementing more systems and processes, I noticed I was feeling less overwhelmed and was accomplishing more during my working hours.
The second challenge I faced a lot, especially in the early stages of my journey, was imposter syndrome. There were times when I thought I could not build a successful and sustainable business. After weeks of jumping on discovery calls, and pitching to clients, just to receive a no became very defeating after a while.
What helped me through these moments was utilizing affirmations and positive self-talk. I believe mindset is a powerful thing in everything we do. When we have the right mindset, I truly believe we can achieve anything. So my goal was to use these tools consistently to improve the mindset I had around myself and my inability to achieve success in my business.
I contribute a lot to where I am today by having a positive mindset.
The last challenge I faced was my messaging. As I stated, when I first launched my business, I was unaware of what services I wanted to offer and who I wanted to work with. Not niching down, not only in what I do but also in who I serve, caused the development of my messaging to become a very difficult task for me as I wasn’t clear as to whom I was speaking to.
Once I niched down and decided who I wanted to serve, my messaging became more clear and I noticed greater results because of this. I realized that I couldn’t be everything to everyone.
Q: How has social media & marketing played a role in your business so far?
A:Social media and marketing have been instrumental in the success of my business thus far.
It has provided me with platforms for me to showcase my services to a wide audience, allowing me to connect with potential clients and build an incredible community in a meaningful way.
By leveraging social media platforms, I have been able to reach a larger audience and increase brand awareness.
Q: Can you share any specific strategies that have been particularly effective for your business?
A: One strategy that has yielded positive results on social media and for my business is strategic collaborations. By collaborating with other businesses in my field, I have been able to tap into their existing audience and gain more exposure.
Additionally, I have found that actively engaging with my audience and always focusing on community building has been incredibly valuable. This has allowed me to build strong relationships, foster loyalty, and generate leads.
Lastly, focusing on creating content for each stage of the consumer has been incredible for my overal content strategy on social media. It’s so important to meet people where they are now in their journey. You want to keep moving people through and ensuring that you are creating content for each stage of the journey to ensure that you are continuing to move people forward in the funnel.
Q: What plans do you have for the future of your business?
A: JM Virtual Solutions will be focusing on creating more digital products such as a course and social media templates.
However, within the next 5 years, I would love to see JM Virtual Solutions scale into an agency. This would allow me to help more women in their businesses.
I believe social media is a powerful tool for businesses if used correctly. Building a team of like-minded individuals would allow me to provide more opportunities to those looking to start a career or business in social media marketing, as well as be able to help more women in their businesses.
By growing my business into an agency, I know I will be able to make more of an impact while helping others to do the same.
Q: What advice do you have for other small business owners who are just starting out?
A: My advice to the next generation of aspiring and budding business people is to dare to be different, dare to be bold, and never be afraid to stand up and stand out.
Follow your heart, and your passion, and know that no dream or goal is unattainable.
The only way to reach success is to keep moving forward. There will always be obstacles on your path, but by pushing forward you will always be one step closer to obtaining success.
Remember, there is no failure, only the opportunity to learn and grow.
You can follow Jessica for social media tips on Instagram @smartsocialsociety
If you are a virtual assistant and want to attract more clients, consider the Virtual Assistant Content Kit a set of engaging social media Canva templates for VAs.
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