Tiffany and Tara recently had the opportunity to speak with the President and Co-founder of VAUSA, Mary Elaine Baker. VAUSA stands for Virtual Assistant United States of America, and is a company you want to know more about! They currently have many telecommute part-time contracting positions available and Mary Elaine breaks it all done with Tiff & Tara. If you’re a military spouse especially, you will not want to miss out on this encouraging episode that brings hope for that fun word most of us Spouses cringe at when we hear… “CAREER”. We hope y’all will enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed having the opportunity to record it.
Real Talk with the Ms’s
Transcription
Tiffany:
You’re listening to Real Talk With The Ms’s, a podcast for all military spouses. I’m Tiffany.
Tara:
And I’m Tara. We hope this podcast helps spouses to beat the loneliness and isolation of being in the military world with some great conversation, amazing guests, encouragement, relatability, and maybe decent advice on how to handle this crazy lifestyle.
Tiffany:
We really are dreaming big with this, so please help us build this community and speak life into one another.
Tiffany:
Hey, friends, before we dive into this amazing episode, I got to tell you about our sponsors. It’s Tara and I. There’s actually two ways that we sponsor this podcast. Number one, we love ourselves some Beautycounter. That’s right. It is clean, nontoxic, high performance beauty products, skincare products, men’s lines, sunscreens, for all. You all, you want to know more about this.
Tiffany:
And if you do reach out you can also find our direct link on our link tree on Instagram or just email us at tifftara2014@yahoo.com.
Tiffany:
Also, we are now selling dOTERRA, as well. If you need your essential oils, let us know. We only sell for the purpose of the oils. We’re not going to sell you any of that, anything. Anything extra. It’s just for the intended purpose of the oil.
Tiffany:
Bug bites, diffusing, helping heal things, toothpaste. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. So, let us know if you have more questions about either of those, would love to talk more. Now, without further ado, let’s get into this episode.
Tara:
Hello, Ms’s. We are back again and I have Tiffany here and a special guest today. Her name is Mary Elaine, and she is the co-founder of VAUSA. We think this is the special secret that military spouses have been looking for.
Tiffany:
I like that Tara, that’s good.
Tara:
We always come to you. Thanks. We come to you guys with problems and then we give you solutions. So here’s our solution of a problem we’ve talked about for a long time. Mary Elaine, go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us a little about who you are.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you, Tara. Yes, I’m Mary Elaine, and I am talking to you from Savannah, Georgia. I grew up as a military brat. My father was active duty in the Air Force, switched to full-time in the Air Guard and retired just a couple of years ago.
Mary Elaine:
So the military life is something I’m very familiar with and then I ended up marrying an Army Ranger just by me swearing up and down I would never marry anyone in military.
Tiffany:
Haven’t we all, okay?
Mary Elaine:
Yes. This is so bad, I didn’t even know what a ranger was when I met him and-
Tiffany:
Texas Ranger is all I ever knew.
Mary Elaine:
He thought I was lying. He said, “How can you live here in Savannah and not know what a ranger is?” I said, “I just don’t. Sorry.” So we have two children. My daughter is 10. My son is six and we have this business called VAUSA, that I’ll talk more about in a little bit, together.
Mary Elaine:
And now we are maybe 10 minutes from the beach and 10 minutes from downtown. So we’re loving life. My husband got out of the military a couple of years ago. So we’re on the other side.
Tiffany:
How did that go?
Mary Elaine:
Yeah, I feel like we can make a whole episode on just that note.
Tiffany:
Absolutely. That’s was a loaded question, right? It’s like whoa, we do not have all night for that. Oh my gosh you all, and she’s … Tara I love that you’ve introduced that because this is true. She’s going to tell us all about this business of hers that she is the co-founder and president of.
Tiffany:
And this is telecommute positions that yes you spouses listening, this is a possibility for you, so don’t turn this off. Don’t think this is going to be boring, this is exciting, this is good news.
Tiffany:
This is something that personally Tara and I when we heard and we kind of heard more about what VAUSA was about, Mary, we were so excited to have this to tell others about.
Tiffany:
I couldn’t believe that this is a real job that potentially exists. I kind of want to get more into that but I wanted people to hear moreso about what is to come. So keep listening, we want to tell you more about that.
Tiffany:
But before we do, I want to hear more about this husband of yours, because this is my fun question and I love this one because they’re hysterical, all the stories. But how did you meet this ranger husband that you didn’t know what a ranger was and you were never going to be with military, how did that happen?
Mary Elaine:
Well, honestly we met downtown in Savannah and at that time in my life I was living up my college crazy years. He was a baby in the army then, so we were both crazy. We were both wild and having a great time.
Tiffany:
It’s crazy, I love it.
Mary Elaine:
I had no business getting into a serious relationship and the maturity factor just wasn’t there yet. But we grew up and honestly we exchanged numbers at the end of that night and I’ve talked to him almost every day since then.
Mary Elaine:
So it is not a fairy tale, I promise you that. It was very dramatic, sometimes traumatic at times.
Tiffany:
Yes.
Mary Elaine:
But we have persevered and we’ve gone through a lot together and over a decade now.
Tiffany:
Wow, congrats. Literally my husband and I just had our anniversary and we cheers each year, we’re like, “Here’s to not being divorced. One more year.”
Mary Elaine:
Absolutely.
Tiffany:
“And thank you Jesus.”
Mary Elaine:
Yeah, yes.
Tiffany:
That’s literally what we say.
Mary Elaine:
Absolutely, yes.
Tara:
We did it.
Mary Elaine:
And you should, every year you should celebrate big time because military life is not for the faint of hearts.
Tiffany:
No. You guys were together for how long during military service time for him? You said he just got out a couple years ago, so you were in a for a little bit of time there.
Mary Elaine:
Yes. He was in … I think we met in 2009 and he just got out two years ago.
Tiffany:
Okay, wow. That is a little bit. So, when you went in, when you married into this lovely lifestyle, did you come in, did you have a career that you brought in? Did you have something you were hoping to do while he was serving? What was your life looking like around that time?
Mary Elaine:
Yes. I had big dreams, okay, when I met him. I was in the thick of my undergrad as a theater major. So, I had my-
Tiffany:
No, wait on, what was your kind of play? What did you do? Your husband was show choir or something too.
Tara:
Yeah, he was theater as well.
Mary Elaine:
Everything that I did honestly was behind the scenes. There was only a couple of plays that no one has ever heard of, nothing big, that I was on stage for. But I was-
Tiffany:
I was Mayor Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz, just so you guys know. I know you’re jealous, don’t be jealous, I was Mayor Munchkin. Sorry, go ahead this is not about me Mary Elaine, I’m sorry about that.
Mary Elaine:
Yeah, yeah. Honestly, when I was, the honest truth is I switched my major. I forgot what my original major that I went in for. But I realized math was not my strong suit and I was not doing so well in some of my math classes. I can’t remember what major it was.
Tiffany:
Typical of that, right? Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
So I went to my advisor I said, “Can you show me the list of majors that require the least amount of math as possible?”
Tiffany:
I like how you think.
Mary Elaine:
And so I saw theater and I said, “That sounds like fun. I’d like to do that.” And it was a lot of fun.
Tara:
You just need a degree, that’s it. You need the degree. Who cares what it’s in, that’s all you need.
Mary Elaine:
Yeah, it’s just a paper. Oh my goodness.
Tara:
I love it.
Mary Elaine:
But the more I got into the major and I really did love all the behind the scenes of it. I loved … There’s just so much that goes into putting on a production and I thought, “Okay, well I’m just going to travel to big cities, I’m going to figure out exactly what I want to do within the industry because there’s so many different avenues you could go down on.”
Mary Elaine:
But the biggest thing that I wanted to do was just travel, just go on an adventure, travel, go to big cities and see what would lie ahead, and then I met my husband and then I fell in love.
Tara:
Military, did you get to travel?
Mary Elaine:
Not as much as you would think. But then honestly we got pregnant with my daughter before we got married. She was a huge surprise and we just thought, okay, well now I have to learn how to be a parent and I obviously need to rethink this whole career path because his life is crazy and he’s gone all the time and I need to be more the stable one. I need to be the one more present and I needed to find a career path that was going to give me more of that stability that I knew my child would need.
Mary Elaine:
So, I had an interest in education before and I knew, okay well I enjoy working with children. I’ve had past experiences with that, let me look into education. So, I did complete my degree in theater and then I went back to school right after I had her and completed my masters in two years and became a teacher for the first five years of our marriage.
Tiffany:
Wow.
Mary Elaine:
And within that first five years we also had another child and yes. So things went well.
Tiffany:
So you came in with a whirlwind, everything just changed.
Mary Elaine:
Yes.
Tiffany:
So, I’m assuming this comes into play. Is this what kind of came into play later when you decided to launch VAUSA?
Mary Elaine:
Yes.
Tiffany:
Did all of these moving parts have a part to do with that, I’m assuming?
Mary Elaine:
Yes because why I went into education was because I thought it would help me be able to balance my family life, military life, and my career. But the reality was at one point both of my children were in daycare and my husband was in Afghanistan, I was busting my butt, before the bell, after the bell, and I also had a side hustle to supplement our income, because I don’t know if you all know this but teachers don’t make that much money.
Tiffany:
Yeah, yeah.
Mary Elaine:
And most of my paycheck was going to pay for daycare either way.
Tiffany:
So you had two babies in daycare, you weren’t making anything, you were paying for daycare.
Mary Elaine:
No, no and I would just come home and be beyond exhausted and then I would turn on the TV and I would be so stressed out watching the news and have to turn it off. And then put the kids to bed and I would just go to bed already dreading the next day.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
I felt like I was on this hamster wheel and I couldn’t get off and I asked myself where is my return on my investment here? Why am I doing the things that I’m doing every day? Is there anything better out there for me where I can still show up as a mom and I want to show up as … and also still work. I had worked since I was 13. So, being a stay-at-home mom is the toughest job out there. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, there’s nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom at all.
Mary Elaine:
It is the most honorable and most important job, I think that exists out there. But I wanted to work and I wanted something else that was going to help scratch this itch in my brain and continue serving people in some capacity.
Tiffany:
It’s hard to transition to that. If you’ve been working your whole life where you’ve had those goals, it’s hard to transition from that path to that path.
Mary Elaine:
Yeah.
Tiffany:
And so sometimes as you’re being that stay-at-home parent because I was there, Tara was there, we’ve all been in that situation where you’re like, “Okay, I should be grateful. This is what … These children are a blessing, this is easy.” But at the same time you’re like oh.
Tara:
That’s a morning struggle.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Tara:
Every morning I’m like, “I love my babies to death. I want to be here. Thank you Jesus for giving me the ability to stay home but I want to go back to work.” But why would you go back to your work because then your kids are going to be in daycare from 7:00 to 7:00, that’s not fair to them, blah, blah. It’s a constant struggle.
Mary Elaine:
Yeah.
Tara:
You just … Four years later I still have guilt for being at home and not working. And why?
Mary Elaine:
Why is guilt?
Tara:
Why?
Mary Elaine:
Why do we always feel guilty? I felt so guilty whenever I was working because I wasn’t there for my kids. And then if my daughter ran a fever in the middle of the night I felt guilty for calling my boss at 6:00 AM because they would have to cover my class.
Mary Elaine:
Or guilty that I had to have someone else come to my home and take care of my own child that was sick that I should be there taking care of my own kid.
Tara:
No matter what you do you feel guilty.
Mary Elaine:
You just feel guilt. Mom guilt is a real thing.
Tara:
It is, it is.
Tiffany:
Her mom even said, I remember when I had my daughter, her mom said, “You want to feel guilt have kids, you’ll have it the rest of your life.”
Mary Elaine:
Yeah.
Tiffany:
I think it’s something that will never go away but it’s exactly what you said. It’s I think women they speak of this fun word called balance, I don’t think that exists. I think that’s unachievable. However, what you said in the beginning, where’s the return on your investment, quality of life is up to us, right?
Tiffany:
It’s going to be up to us in what we pour into that, the sacrifices we make for certain things or the things we pour into and work harder into. All of that is going to pour into ultimately what do you want in the quality of your life and what’s realistic for your life.
Tiffany:
None of this comparing because we do that too. Oh my goodness, I do that every day all day long, it’s ridiculous. But it’s just one of those things. And so hearing about VAUSA, and sorry, I’m going to let you finish your story, but it’s one of those that it’s not something that’s unrealistic. If you’re a mom that wants to add that aspect into your life, that you feel that’s going to bring more quality to have a potential part-time position, you can work from home and the way she’ll explain down the road.
Tiffany:
But it’s something that’s like hope. It’s a little bit of life for those moms that are sitting there, like you said, they have that itch and they’re just like, “I just need something but I don’t want to go sell my soul where I have no time with my family and then I’m miserable.”
Tiffany:
So, I love the concept of what VAUSA can offer to someone listening that’s maybe walked in Mary Elaine’s shoes or in Tara’s shoes or mine. So, I think that that’s …
Tara:
Maybe it is Tara. Maybe you need to tell me what exactly is VAUSA.
Mary Elaine:
There you go, there you go.
Tara:
Maybe I want to leave this and I’ll be like, “Hey guys, I’m going to get myself a new job.” So why don’t you tell us what it is.
Mary Elaine:
VAUSA stands for Virtual Assistants in the United States. So, we have virtual assistants scattered across the United States that work for small business centers.
Mary Elaine:
So, the industries we serve really vary. We have business consultants, we have restaurateurs, we have top-level network marketers. We have people in the entertainment industry, those types of businesses.
Mary Elaine:
So just a myriad of industries that we serve. So what we do is we take the clients that come to us saying, “Hey, I’m drowning, I need help with my business. I’m so overwhelmed, I’m so task saturated, I know I need to hire someone I just don’t even know where to start.”
Mary Elaine:
And to be honest, most of my clients really struggle with even how to delegate and a lot of times this is the first hire that they’ve ever pulled on to support their new business.
Tiffany:
That’s their baby. Yeah absolutely, that’s got to be hard.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, yes, yeah. So, it’s very delicate when a client comes to us. They’re in a very vulnerable state. “Hey, I’m drowning, my business is growing but I don’t even know how to even take off some of these hats.”
Mary Elaine:
So, what we do as a company to help provide them value is we do all of the finding, recruiting, vetting, and nurturing, and educating as much as we can to find the right person for them.
Mary Elaine:
So, it is, I like to say it’s very holistic in our process because we not only check the boxes of okay, this person needs this skillset and this skillset, but what are their personal values, what is their lifestyle like, what are they interested in, what are their hobbies, what’s their family life like because we are so focused on relationship building.
Mary Elaine:
When we pull candidates, more of the candidates that we’re pulling from have gone through a four-phase process and most of them are military spouses. So, I have to be able to look my clients in the eyes virtually and say, “Hey, this is someone you can trust. This is something that we have poured a lot into and making sure that they’re an incredible human but also very talented.” And they get to interview and then it has to be a mutual match.
Tiffany:
I love that Mary Elaine.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you, yes.
Tiffany:
That’s awesome.
Tara:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
It’s kind of like the match.com of yes, virtual assistants.
Tiffany:
Yeah, oh my goodness.
Tara:
Businessmatch.com.
Tiffany:
But that’s smart because if you don’t have the chemistry you don’t have the chemistry. It’s nothing personal you just don’t have it and you might match better with someone else. I love that. Okay, sorry, keep going.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, yes. So, we get to know our clients very well when they come to us. And then obviously by the end of the process of someone who’s ready for a match with a client we’ve done everything we can to get to know them during that period of time.
Mary Elaine:
And they’ve also been connected with multiple people internally. So, there’s a consensus among a bunch of us that okay, this person has what it takes, they’re invested, they love our culture, they love our mission, and they want to serve and they have the talent, they got it.
Mary Elaine:
And we use the term GWC, it’s an EOS term but it just stands for Get it, Want it, and have the Capacity to do it. So, that’s what we look for. And so our virtual assistants can work for one client, two clients, sometimes three clients but their hours can really vary. It really just depends on what their capacity is and we are always monitoring that, making sure hey, are you good 30 days and 60 days and 90 days in.
Mary Elaine:
And then by the time they hit 90 days they know whether or not they can take on an additional client. So, I hope that answered the question. I can talk forever about it. So okay.
Tiffany:
No that did. And what … No, no, that’s wonderful. And so to get to the meat and potatoes too, if someone is realistically looking into this, do you have an estimated pay that they can expect coming out of this? Is there benefits, all of those fun questions that they may have.
Mary Elaine:
Yes. So, everyone-
Tiffany:
I know military spouses don’t need many benefits but if you’re not and you’re listening …
Mary Elaine:
Yes, no, thank you. That’s a really good question. So the pages varies. Honestly we do have people who come in not having been in the workforce for a long time. And maybe they’ve never worked remotely before. But they have a lot of the soft skills and we know that.
Mary Elaine:
And honestly, don’t be afraid. If you have that huge gap in your resume, most people might have that because we’re dealing a lot in military spouses. Or if it’s bouncing around, we get it, you are … If you apply to our company, you’re applying with a company that has a heart for military spouses, so we don’t toss resumes that look like that, one.
Tiffany:
I love that. That’s so good.
Mary Elaine:
But we’re huge on those soft skills. But if you come in and you do have that, just be aware our starting rate is normally around $15 an hour. But there’s a huge potential for growth. We give raises at 90 days annually, sometimes before that if you’re knocking it out of the park with your client and we see a huge amount of growth in a short amount of time, we recognize that. We’re a small business so we have the freedom to do that very easily.
Mary Elaine:
But also because we’re growing so rapidly, we have a lot of internal positions and leadership opportunities that we’re just, yeah, we’re just growing so fast that we need to fill those and we’re looking for strong leaders.
Tiffany:
So this is great news for you.
Mary Elaine:
Yeah.
Tiffany:
Sorry. So there’s a delay. I’m sorry you all, if I keep sounding like I’m cutting her off there’s a little delay so don’t hate me if I keep cutting you off. But this is wonderful because you don’t have to be intimidated. If your resume looks a certain way, you got to pull on those skills you all.
Tiffany:
Military spouses, we’ve got skills. And we all know we do. And there’s things that you can do that you can highlight in areas. You can put in, “I’ve done this community service, I volunteered for this event, I planned this, I …”
Tiffany:
If your kid has been in freaking virtual training for the last year you can say I’m a pro at-
Mary Elaine:
Homeschool teaching.
Tiffany:
Yeah exactly, right?
Tara:
Can you put parent military spouse on my resume. There you go.
Tiffany:
Yeah. There’s a lot of things that they can put on the resume, but then on top of that what sounds amazing is that your company there’s potential for growth, it sounds like, because this is something that is in high demand and it’s going stay. I don’t see this going anywhere anytime soon.
Mary Elaine:
No.
Tiffany:
Because of COVID this is kind of shifting us in this direction. So, it’s like this is what you want to give … This is the latest, greatest stuff. You want to probably get in on this while you can.
Mary Elaine:
Absolutely.
Tiffany:
Because this sounds like you all are growing, so congratulations by the way to you. That’s absolutely amazing.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you, thank you. Yes.
Tiffany:
So, if they’re looking at hours, what’s something minimum to maximum because you said you’ve got some internal, you need some good leadership positions filled, but what’s the very minimum to the very maximum someone can expect when they maybe go look to apply or reach out?
Mary Elaine:
So, because our demand is so huge right now, ideally we want someone that can hopefully juggle two clients eventually. And that means looking about 15 to 20 hours a week. We have a lot of people who do less than that and stick with one client and they may have 30 to 40 hours a month, that can be cut and diced throughout the month.
Mary Elaine:
So, it really varies. But what we really want is someone who can at least dedicate 15 to 20 hours and are open to juggling two clients. But two clients can really vary in what … they could be on the lower end of what they need or they could be two very demanding clients.
Mary Elaine:
So, there’s no one size fits all. I would just say be very honest with yourself about what you can handle right now because the number one concern I have of people in our team is truly just capacity because we have a tendency within the company to say yes to a lot and I don’t know, we have a lot of yes people and that is a beautiful thing because they want to serve but to the extent where they’re burning themselves out and that is just not why we created this, this is not why we’re here, we don’t want people to be burned out.
Mary Elaine:
So, it takes a lot of self-awareness and honestly of what can you truly put into your day that’s going to make you happy and also provide the level of income that you need for your family or want.
Tiffany:
And it’s going to be quality.
Tara:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
Yes.
Tiffany:
You don’t want to overtask yourself with something like this because it sounds like each customer is going to be almost your boss, right? They’re going to be the ones giving that feedback. You want to be able to pour that quality into it so they can see the work you’re capable of, and not for itself. That’s ultimately what we want because if not, we’re just clicking boxes, we’re tasking, we’re doing what we need to do.
Mary Elaine:
Right.
Tiffany:
But are these business hours, does this have to be between 8:00 and 5:00 or can they kind of create whatever works with their client?
Mary Elaine:
They can create whatever works for them and their client.
Tiffany:
So 15 hour a week, you all, yes that’s awesome. All the way up to-
Tara:
You can’t take naps for 15 hours a week.
Tiffany:
But you can even grow to what you would say is the maximum that someone could grow to full-time? Is there any positions like that available?
Mary Elaine:
Yeah, mostly internally for people who want to grow in that way. Like I said, we have few people who take on three clients and get close to full-time hours. The reality is most people who want this job doesn’t want to be wanting to be working 40 hours a week.
Tiffany:
Yeah, I can see that.
Mary Elaine:
But we’ve had a few people get very close. But what we have realized is people think they want one thing until they’re in it and then they realize okay, this is actually my sweet spot.
Mary Elaine:
So, that’s why we wait until 90 days for people to say, “Yes I want another client,” typically because you think you need something or want something but until you’re actually in the job and you’re working especially for people who’ve never worked remotely before, you don’t know until you’re in it what is realistic.
Mary Elaine:
And if you have children at home that’s another curveball if your children are physically in the home with you. Every person is different, every single person.
Tiffany:
What about the startup as far as training? Is there a set, a number of hours in the beginning that you have to commit to being trained as you’re coming in? Is that a set 15 or is it all, not OJT, what are my terms?
Tara:
Self-led.
Tiffany:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mary Elaine:
It is self-lead. So we’ve created a few classrooms in Google Classroom. This is my education background coming into this.
Tiffany:
Okay, that’s cool.
Mary Elaine:
I wanted to make sure we provided curriculum and opportunities for people who needed it or wanted it because we have people who come in who hey, I’ve been working this virtual world for years, I got this, I got my tools, I got all my systems and processes down, so I really don’t need that much nurturing.
Mary Elaine:
But we do have plenty of people who come in saying, “This virtual world is a little new to me I really would like to know what are best practices, guidelines, tools, resources.” So that’s all available as soon as you come on board, “Here it is.”
Mary Elaine:
And we hae it structured and laid out. We don’t force people to do it but it’s definitely … Most people opt in and say, “Yeah, I want it. It’s a free resource, it’s created for me, it’s only going to help me be more competitive and stronger at what I do.”
Mary Elaine:
And then we also offer optional, twice a month, group coaching. So, that’s in the evenings, you can come in, it’s a great way to get connected with other people in our team, ask questions.
Mary Elaine:
We are hoping to launch, hoping in the next quarter, basically a virtual hour where you log on and you’re working for your client especially when you’re within the first 30 days. And we have coaches there, so usually they’re people who are well seasoned and have been here a while that can give you live question and answer or guidance or live coaching while you’re actually working for your client.
Tiffany:
How cool.
Mary Elaine:
And so they’re there in a chat.
Tiffany:
I love that.
Mary Elaine:
Or you can … Yeah. So I hope we can launch that maybe this quarter, I don’t know.
Tiffany:
That’s supportive, that’s really good, that’s having that realtime kind of access where you can learn certain things you only can learn while you’re living them and working them. Sorry Tara, go ahead.
Tara:
I was just going to say like a community work hour is what it sounds like, or we can check in.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, yes.
Tara:
Nice if you’re all together, maybe you’re having a challenge that the other person has already walked through and now they can help you out.
Mary Elaine:
Exactly.
Tara:
The map has already been planned out, you don’t have to recreate the wheel, it’s already figured out, it’s just giving that information.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, yes. I say that all the time, all the time, “Do not try to reinvent the wheel if you learn something.” And when I was a teacher it was always the case. If something rocked for one person and you’re a teacher, okay, you shared it.
Mary Elaine:
It was just how we worked together. And so internally that’s how we are as well. We are very tight knit internally and we hope to maintain that no matter how they grow.
Tara:
That’s awesome. When people start out with you or when you guys are looking for somebody, what are the basic qualifications? Do they need to have a computer, do they need to have … What’s the basic?
Mary Elaine:
That’s a good question?
Tara:
But I have nothing.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, okay. So, you need good stable internet. You need a computer. We don’t provide any equipment at all. Again, this is a contractor position, so we just expect you come to the table having the tools necessary.
Mary Elaine:
But if you go to our website, hire, H-I-R-E-V-A-U-S-A.com, you click on the careers tab, all the information is there. So, we do look even if you haven’t been a virtual assistant before like I said, we’re not really hung up on okay you’ve had to have had virtual admin experience for X amount of years. We don’t really look for that.
Mary Elaine:
But we do look for transferable skills. So, if you’ve worked in any kind of admin related whatever, even if it was volunteer, we want to know that. We also hey, if you have worked in a service industry at all. I don’t know why people do this where they’ll say, “I’m just going to leave that out of my resume,” and then it comes out in an interview.
Tiffany:
No.
Mary Elaine:
No, that’s so important. I worked in the service industry almost all my life. It taught me so many skills that I needed.
Tiffany:
Those people got skills, they’re like let me do whatever, yeah.
Mary Elaine:
Yes.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
Absolutely. So, you must have essentially just the tools, the basic tools and I would say transferable skills related in the admin or service type businesses or industries. Does that make sense?
Tiffany:
Yes.
Tara:
Yes, absolutely.
Mary Elaine:
You don’t have to have a degree or anything like that.
Tiffany:
It’s saying you guys got to have some talent of course. You can’t come in here and just to not be able to do anything. But at the same time this is an achievable, this is realistic, I think that’s the biggest thing I’m trying to get to.
Tiffany:
This is something realistic, that again, so many military spouses out there listening and even if you’re not, if you came across this, you’re not a military spouse and you’re listening to this and you’re a mom or you’re just starting out and you’re not really sure what you want to do, or this even sounds like something potentially so you decided to go back to school and you’re needing a job on the side while you’re rocking college or whatever the case, there’s so many potential candidates for these positions that they just, I think that they just don’t know that something like this exists.
Tiffany:
It sounds too good to be true but it’s not. It’s still work, you need to show up, and be ready to work, and do your part when you are plugging in for those 15, 20, 30 hours a week. But that’s something that is hopefully a given but at the same time I went to your site and I looked, yeah, it’s a very easy, you can follow and track. She explains it all, she tells you what’s preferred or what’s required.
Tiffany:
It’s listed out. Your website is made beautifully. You all did a great job with that.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you.
Tiffany:
It’s not confusing. You can track it. And this is something that may sound super weird but you all looked happy. It looked like a joyful, happy work environment. It was bright and lots of smiling. And then on Instagram I don’t know if you do that on purpose, it’s almost like you have [inaudible 00:33:03] on all of your team. They get to go on and they’re real people and you get to see.
Mary Elaine:
Yes.
Tiffany:
It makes it relatable.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you. I’m so glad you said that because we’ve gotten quite a few people who have said to us, “I thought you all were a scam.” It’s so funny because one of the first people I ever hired was 100% convinced that it was a scam and she even called her friend who referred her who was already working with us and said, “Are you sure this is not a scam?”
Tara:
Because it sounds too good to be true.
Mary Elaine:
And hey we are happy. Right now we’re experiencing a lot of growing pains and I will say that last year it tested us, it really did. The beginning of the year, January, February, March 100% of my leads dropped off. And our business almost came to a screeching halt in the very beginning of the year.
Tara:
What? Oh my goodness, oh man.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, yes because everyone is so scared.
Tiffany:
That was terrifying, yeah.
Mary Elaine:
You know what, I was more concerned for our current clients that we had because most of them had been with us since we were in infancy, which we still are. We’re still babies. We’re only what, three. We’re into our fourth year now, so that’s very young in the business world.
Mary Elaine:
But then we were even younger and we’re just starting to, I feel like, get a good grounding of okay, this is where we’re going, we’re rocking it, this year is going to be amazing. And then the rug was just pulled out from underneath us and our clients.
Mary Elaine:
And I was just so worried for my clients because I knew I was going to be okay. My husband and I knew that we were going to be okay and it was very scary for my clients. And we were just very fortunate that we’re able to keep 100% of them, they made it through and we were able to also thrive in the midst of a pandemic.
Tiffany:
Well and if anyone is listening and you’re wanting to take this as bring on someone to work for you, if you’re a small business owner, that should tell you something about the bones of this business.
Mary Elaine:
Yeah.
Tiffany:
Your business plan apparently was pretty strong and you did a great job in your development of this. You kept it from going under, that’s amazing especially when small businesses it makes you sick to know what’s happened to them this last year. It makes you just your heart breaks because it’s just insane, uncalled for, ridiculous.
Tiffany:
But the fact that you were able to pull through, that might give more people listening, if you’re wanting to bring on a personal assistant, apparently this is a great company to go with you all because they sound pretty … You got good bones girl.
Tara:
Solid foundation.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you. Well we just care for our people. And at the end of the day, I just had to make individual phone calls to every single client and say, “Ask them, what’s going on with you right now? What are you most afraid of? How can I help you get through this period of time?” That’s all you can do, when there is a crisis, you just have to come together and they …
Tiffany:
Really, you called every one of your clients and asked them this?
Mary Elaine:
Yes.
Tiffany:
Oh my gosh.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, absolutely.
Tiffany:
You went up by 10 points, okay, I love that. You don’t hear that. “Are you okay?” What? That doesn’t happen. Go on you lady?
Tara:
The whole world was imploding and for you to check with your clients, you guys it just shows the type of company that you’re working for as you choose to go work for her because there’s not many people in the world now that actually have that heart to reach out and check on other people during something like that.
Tiffany:
To be a good human being.
Tara:
Yeah I know it’s horrible to say.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you. Okay, no maybe.
Tara:
No.
Tiffany:
That’s true because it’s doesn’t and that’s the thing, when you come on for a company, people need to hear stuff like that what you just said because that was not a show, that was just your heart. You just spoke your heart in there and what you did when the times got tough.
Tiffany:
I remember I was in the military before and I had to get out because my husband was tempo, super fun. I remember there was only one female person I worked for but I remember saying this at the end when she retired, and I said, “Mom just so you know, if you would have told me to go scrub the porta potties, I would have done it.” Because that’s how much respect I had for her. I was willing to do anything because she would be right there with me.
Tiffany:
She knew our job from down all the way up, there was never any degrading about that, she’d be the last to leave, the first to be there. That was her mentality. And when you see someone talk like that, and she genuinely cared about people’s lives, right? That was something that also, not to cross boundaries, but just to a point where she gave … you weren’t just a number. Okay? You’re not just a number showing up on her payroll.
Tiffany:
And so to hear that, that’s something I hope people can listen if there are, that’s a kind of boss and a company you want to be affiliated with and you want to work for. So, that’s my personal two cents.
Tara:
I agree whole heartedly.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
That’s exactly what I tell everyone is my biggest fear is that someone would feel like they’re just a number on a piece of paper and leaving the education world I never felt that way because we just loved each other, and I worked in incredible schools and if someone had a life crisis, everyone banned together and helped that person get through it.
Mary Elaine:
And I went from that to being completely alone and then to starting a business. And there is nothing more terrifying and scary than starting something like that, and I have no one else to look to.
Tiffany:
Love it.
Mary Elaine:
It’s me. It’s me and God, that was it.
Tara:
You were looking in the mirror, we’re going to do this today.
Mary Elaine:
You’ve got this. But I never wanted anyone else to feel that way. So, when I started this I knew I wanted to have a lot of intention in making sure that we built a culture where no one felt like they were alone working on an island. That is the last thing I wanted.
Mary Elaine:
And so I feel like we’ve been very successful at achieving that and I really … We have so many opportunities to connect internally that if someone feels that way at this point, it’s 100% a choice. It’s not because it’s not there and not right there at their finger tips to tap into, it’s because they really just want to be on that island. And some people are like that.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
Some people want to be on the island but that’s not why we built this. This is not why in the heart of everything.
Tiffany:
That’s not your overall mission.
Mary Elaine:
Correct.
Tiffany:
And that will show. You can see that too, it’s coming, it’s oozing out of VAUSA, in a good way.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you.
Tiffany:
Sorry, I’m a nurse so my comparison needs a little bridging sometimes.
Mary Elaine:
It’s okay, got it.
Tara:
Sometimes they get a little dark.
Tiffany:
I know. Before I forget, you said something that triggered me. What, if you can tell us maybe just a quick day in the life of a personal assistant, right, I’m saying that, right?
Tara:
Virtual.
Tiffany:
No, virtual assistant, I’m sorry, it’s the same.
Mary Elaine:
Virtual assistant, it’s okay.
Tiffany:
What would a day in the life of a virtual assistant look like? I read … By the way, she has a blog you all, if you’re listening. If your curious and you want to go a little bit more in depth, one of your virtual assistants wrote about what her day looks like, she’s a mom, she broke it all down, literally broke it all down which was awesome and very helpful.
Tiffany:
But if someone is listening can you maybe give them a little peek into what it might look like?
Mary Elaine:
Of course. So, again it varies depending on if you have one client or two clients or working internally or not. But typically and if you have children at home, if you have children at home a day in the life for you is going to look very different than a day in the life for someone who doesn’t have children.
Tiffany:
Yeah, did you get puked on that day or peed on. These are things we got to ask, right?
Mary Elaine:
Every day, yes. So, I will say this, one, yes you can go without a blog. But two, on Instagram we’re Hire VAUSA
Mary Elaine:
We have plenty of people on our team that come in and talk about what is their day in the life like. But normally people wake up and they start their day and they work during their most productive hours, which can vary.
Mary Elaine:
For me I’m a morning person so I like to wake up, do my morning routine and then get straight to work. Other people are more like night owls and like to do late afternoon or early evening and we have some people who like to work late evening hours and they love that, they’ve very productive during those hours.
Mary Elaine:
So, for someone let’s just say they have school-aged kids and they have during the day opened to them, they can get up in the morning, do the morning routine, put in a couple of hours of work and the types of tasks that they’re doing really stem from communication management.
Mary Elaine:
So, that can be email management, social media, and DMs, Facebook messages management to task management, so making sure that they are on top of what their clients are doing for the day, for the week, and also what’s on their to-do list, what kind of projects do they have going on.
Mary Elaine:
And relaying that information, making sure their client is aware and then also time management or calendar management. So making sure the client is aware of what is on their calendar for the day, for the week or even two weeks out and communicating with the client about that and making sure that their calendar is 100% accurate.
Mary Elaine:
So really all the tasks kind of stem from those three pillars, is what we say, and yeah, you can have lunch whenever you want to eat lunch and go wherever, you can work at a coffee house, you can, whatever you need to do to get the job done, no one is there telling you, “Okay, it’s time to clock in now.”
Mary Elaine:
It’s really just however you can fit the work into your normal lifestyle.
Tiffany:
That’s amazing.
Tara:
You get to make your own schedule, you get to work in your pjs if you want to, maybe from the bottom down so at least you look presentable from the top up.
Mary Elaine:
Yes, so special.
Tara:
This truly does sound like a great job for a military spouse, a mama, and not only that, the company. The fact that you guys understand the lifestyle and you’ve been there, you’ve done it, you’re a mom, and just everything you guys have built I think that isolation that military spouses get sometimes, this company understands and they don’t want that.
Tara:
So, you have the ability to plug into something, not only have a job, but also plug in and have a community to work with. So, if you’re out there, you’re struggling, you need to go to Hire VAUSA and check it out and talk to them and see what you can do and if it’s the right fit for you.
Tiffany:
Do you have one more … Sorry, I’m all about the technical questions. So say someone is sick or they want to go on vacation, how does that work and is it standard PTO or leave, however you want to say it? How does that work with the company? And I don’t think I let you finish on the benefit.
Mary Elaine:
Yeah absolutely. So, since everyone is a contractor we don’t do any paid leave or have any other types of benefits. There is just a lot of perks that you get from being able to make your own schedule and make your own hours and work however you want to work.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
But if you ever need to take time off, again, that’s yeah, you take whatever time off you need whenever you need to take that time off. It’s just a matter of communicating with your client, making sure they’re aware. So, you just have to be an excellent communicator.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
But also have your ducks in a row because what we do is we don’t want work to be piled up and obviously for you as a contractor, as the one running the shift for you and your client to be stressed, “Oh no I have to go take care of a family emergency for a week.” Or maybe it’s a planned, maybe it’s I’m going to Hawaii for two weeks or whatever it is.
Tiffany:
Yes please.
Mary Elaine:
You want to make sure that you have piece of mind knowing your client is still being taken care of. So, we have processes in place to make sure that whatever you were doing for your client consistently on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, that you haven’t documented, usually they’re just videos, walkthroughs of okay, this is how my client likes this, this done.
Mary Elaine:
And we like to have the bulk of that done by the time you hit 90 days. So, if an emergency ever happened or a planned engagement that you have or want to take care of, someone else from our team can come in, step in, make sure that your client is still taken care of, you have piece of mind, you can actually mentally clog out and not stress or worry and your client is happy because whatever they’ve delegated to you is not back on their plate or piling up.
Mary Elaine:
So, that’s our normal process. It’s worked out great for us so far and I always tell my clients, “Hey, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when life happens.” And I like to set that expectation up very clearly and our clients love that. We’ve thought ahead and prepare for that in advance.
Tiffany:
That’s awesome.
Tara:
And you don’t feel like you’re failing as the employee either because there’s a system to back you up because emergencies could happen.
Mary Elaine:
Absolutely and yeah, there’s … I’m a mom. I’m married. I was a military spouse so there was always curveballs thrown at us. So, those curveballs we just like to be ahead of and there’s no shame, no worry, no stresses. That’s a whole, another reason why we want people that want to be plugged in into our culture and really want to be invested in who we are and getting to know everyone because we do work together so closely as a team, we take care of each other so that you can take care of life and family comes first.
Tiffany:
I was about to say that’s awesome again but we’ve said it 45 times on this podcast.
Tara:
We need to get another word.
Tiffany:
I was going to say sign me up.
Mary Elaine:
You’re probably my biggest hype people, I love this. I’m going to call you when I’m moving on beyond.
Tiffany:
Listen, this is all it and we’re not drunk, I promise. This is just us, this is just what you get.
Tara:
This is just who we are.
Mary Elaine:
I love it.
Tara:
Well we’ve heard all about the company, we’ve heard a little bit about you, I don’t want to say this is awesome because we’ve said it again. But it sounds like an absolutely amazing company to work for. The perfect job for a military spouse. This answered all of the questions we’ve been saying for so long and looking for that job for us to work at home.
Tara:
So, a little bit about your company or about you, what legacy do you hope to leave behind?
Tiffany:
That’s not a hard question at all.
Tara:
Yeah, just round it out.
Mary Elaine:
Something that is very simple for me, my faith is very important to me. So, I don’t really want people to remember let’s say things about Mary Elaine or things about VAUSA. I really just want people to when they think of me, be it my children or my loved ones or people that have worked with me is that she really loved people and that love came from only one source and that is God.
Mary Elaine:
I really believe you can use your business as a ministry. You can use your business as a way to love on people and yeah, and you can also make money at the same time. It just all goes back to I think personal values. And for me it’s just I just love people and you have to remember why you’re doing what you’re doing every single day and that’s what helps you have those tough conversations.
Mary Elaine:
And I will say being a business center has been next to being a military spouse has been one of the toughest, the most rewarding and fulfilling jobs or things I’ve ever done in my life ever, and that’s because I’ve had an opportunity to serve people in a huge capacity.
Tiffany:
You’re bringing that salt and light, girl, good for you. She’s living out Matthew 5 right there. Love it.
Tara:
Didn’t think I could like your company or you anymore. But you just made it happen.
Tiffany:
You loved it. Okay. So before we close this out so that we don’t talk for hours and hours, you know we could, is there anything else you want to say to someone listening other than that? That was kind of epic, so I don’t think we really … But is there anything else on your heart that you just kind of want to say that they hear if they’re curious more about you or working for Hire or having Hire VAUSA come and be a VA for their company?
Mary Elaine:
Yeah honestly what I want to say goes directly to military spouses who are in the thick of it. We all know what that means.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Mary Elaine:
But I personally have been there so many times where I feel like there was no light at the end of the tunnel and I felt like any of my own hopes, dreams, passions, desires, were always in the back seat, on the back burner.
Mary Elaine:
A lot of it I never even spoke into existence because I felt like it just didn’t matter. If it didn’t matter to anyone else why should I speak it.
Mary Elaine:
And I just want to be a word of encouragement to you if you’re listening right now. If that is you and if you’re feeling that way, you don’t have to be that way. And you should speak it. The first thing is speak it. Find someone that you know and trust that you can speak those things to, then write it down, then come up with a plan and it may take you one year, two year, three years, five years, seven years, but you can start today building on that dream, on that plan, on that desire in your heart. Don’t try to shush it out.
Tiffany:
Well said lady. Hello.
Tara:
Yeah, so good.
Tiffany:
Tara is writing things down right now. Look at her.
Tara:
I’m getting ready to cry too. Okay, you just spoke to my soul. That’s why I was composing myself, I had to speak again. So, I don’t feel like I need to say anything to close that up because that was beautiful.
Tiffany:
No, but how about basically if someone wants to find you.
Tara:
But yeah, how can our listeners reach out to you or the company and find you guys maybe if they just need a good conversation and want to reach out to you, but how can they find you?
Mary Elaine:
We are all over social media. I personally I’m on LinkedIn, Mary Elaine Baker. You can also find in our website, hirevausa.com and did I say that right? H-I-R-E. Yes, okay.
Tiffany:
I was actually saying it as you were. I was like, “Did she get that right? I don’t know.”
Mary Elaine:
It sounded off when I said it. Anyway, but that is where you can find out more information about our story but also careers. There’s that tab I told you where you can go to apply. And we’re also on Instagram and Facebook.
Mary Elaine:
Instagram is where we do a lot of the fun showing people on our team and what not. You can also share my email if anyone ever wants to reach out to me directly and that is maryelaine@hirevausa.com.
Tiffany:
Letting you all have it. You can get all the information. And if you can’t, if so some reason, whatever, you can reach out to us too, we can direct you. We’ll have it in the bio of this. We’ll have it on our Instagram as we promote and Mary Elaine I’m just so glad you came on. You’re a breath of fresh air.
Mary Elaine:
Thank you.
Tiffany:
You brought, like you said, you brought something just exciting to military spouses.
Tara:
Refreshing.
Tiffany:
This is very rare. You don’t hear a lot of things being offered to that community. I’ve noticed a lot of people are like, “How can I help?” And it’s like, “Well you can’t really. But this is something that can be helpful and I’m very encouraged by this. I hope someone listening, I hope you are just as encouraged as us. Share this, please share her Instagram or share this podcast with your girlfriend.
Just you never know. They may be needing something like this. Share this story with others. Tell them about Hire VAUSA, let them be able to go in case they need the opportunity in their life.s
Tiffany:
So, other than that you all, I’m so glad you stuck with us and listened to all of this. I hope you were just as encouraged as Tara and I and Mary Elaine thanks for coming again and we will talk to you all soon until then God bless.
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