The Proffitt Podcast
Are you thinking about starting a podcast? Launching a YouTube channel? Repurposing your old blog content into something fresh? Hi, I'm Krystal - host of "The Proffitt Podcast." And I'm happy to say you've come to the right place!
Business owners and content creators dream of building a platform where they can connect deeply with their audience, and marketing feels easy. But I also know what it's like to feel confused and overwhelmed.
Join us weekly as we strip down those processes and remove all the overwhelm with new tips, simple strategies, and great conversations with creators like you. Tune in to hear how I help creators start, launch, and market their content confidently. The motto here is, "We all have to start somewhere."
The Proffitt Podcast
Why I Choose Outsourcing Over Doing it All Myself
Unlock the secrets to transforming your business mindset with our special guest, Ed, the founding partner of Virtual Support Wizards. In this episode, we tackle the age-old debate of outsourcing versus doing it yourself, presenting compelling arguments for how virtual assistants can revolutionize your productivity and free up precious time for strategic growth. Listen to firsthand accounts and success stories that illustrate the life-changing impact of delegating tasks, and get ready to rethink how you manage your business operations.
Next, we'll walk you through the intricate process of recruiting the perfect virtual assistant, highlighting Ed's shift towards a specialized virtual recruitment model. Understand the critical importance of vetting VAs to ensure they align with your company culture and specific needs. Discover how a simple cold email can blossom into a fruitful business relationship, and learn about the systems and workflows that make the recruitment process smooth and efficient.
Finally, we unpack the different tiers and expertise levels of virtual support available, from basic administrative tasks to expert consulting. Gain insights into our newly announced partnership between Profit Media and Virtual Support Wizards, designed to help business owners offload tasks and focus on growth. Plus, I share valuable advice for new podcasters and content creators, and my aspiration to inspire young individuals in the Philippines. Tune in to understand how outsourcing can be your game-changer.
Click the "Send Krystal a Text Message" link above to send us your questions, comments, and feedback on the show! (Pssst...we'll do giveaways in upcoming episodes so make sure you leave your name & podcast title.)
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For many years, I took so much pride in doing it all myself, whether it was creating show notes for my podcast, editing all of my YouTube videos, writing all of my copy I mean, the list goes on and on and on of all the things that I did by myself and I took so much pride in it because I was like, yes, like this is what being an entrepreneur is all about, or this is what being a really good creator means. You're doing it all yourself. Well, I am here to tell you actually, I'm here with my good friend Ed, to tell you what it's like to choose to outsource things instead of doing it all yourself. And I want to set up today's conversation just kind of like let's level the playing field here, because I know that there's people that are listening to this today and you're like already popping up with objections, like, well, Krystal, I would love to hire people to help me in my business, but I don't have the time to train them, or I don't have the budget, or I don't have X, y and Z. The list goes on and on, and so I just want to go ahead and take a pause and say, maybe today's episode is for the present you and where you are today and maybe you're struggling and you're looking to hire help or today's episode could be for the future you that in the next few months, few weeks, you're looking to hire someone to help you in your business. You want to know what that looks like. That is what today's conversation is all about.
Krystal Proffitt:So I brought Ed from Virtual Support Wizards. He's actually the founding partner, the founding member and he just brought so much to the table that I really need this community to hear. Because, from a personal standpoint and we get into this in the episode I've been working with a virtual support assistant and he is incredible and we have done like 10X more this year. Because I have support, because I have the capacity to think about business content, so many other strategic collaborations and opportunities, because I'm not bogged down in the day-to-day things that previously held me into the mentality of, oh, I need to do all of this myself. So if you're struggling with any of those today, you're going to be so excited. So I won't make you wait any longer. Here's my conversation with Ed.
Krystal Proffitt:Let's get right to it. Welcome to the Proffitt Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, Krystal Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time-saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we All? Right, profit Podcast listeners, I'm so excited because we have a very, very special guest today. I invited my good friend, ed onto the show so we could talk about all things virtual support. So thanks for coming on the show today, ed.
Eduard:Krystal and the whole listeners of Proffitt Podcast. Thank you so much for having me as well, really excited. Yes.
Krystal Proffitt:Yes, and it's funny because Ed has a totally like different perspective than most guests that come on the show, because he knows more about my business, because we've been working together for several months and he knows more than typically. It's like I'll get a pitch to be on the podcast and they may have listened to an episode or two, but like no Ed's done you know analysis on my business, like he knows who my audience is. So like I feel like this is an extra special conversation because you know more about this show and about my audience because of conversations that we've had. So that's really fun.
Eduard:I love the pillars of guests that you've had before this podcast guest. I just wanted to mention that part and take note, note we're turning one year this partnership that we've had next month, so I'm really excited to unfold new journey of us together.
Krystal Proffitt:so, yeah, I didn't even realize that that's so great. It's like I love that you, I love that. You know that. So let's just we'll have to talk about all the little details that ed and his business have brought into my business, because they are so special. But we've just been going on and on. So let's take a pause real fast and, ed, tell us what it is that you do, how long you've been doing it and how you got into it.
Eduard:Well, that's well. There's that's a lot of questions, but I'll try to answer it one by one. So, my, yeah, you can call me Edward, Ed, whatever works for you. My mom usually calls me Edward whenever she's hungry, but at this point I'm the founder of Virtual Support Wizards and was previously the founder of MySapp Virtual Solutions. Virtual Support Wizards exists to help clients or business owners from small to medium-sized enterprises to really find a perfect fit. We call Perfect Fit our wizards, so these are virtual assistants that can help you in any aspects of your business either marketing, sales, appointment setting, admin, creatives anything that you think consumes a lot of your time and can be done offshore and online, our wizards can take over. So we specialize in, you know, providing facelift uh, you know, social media facelift to some of our clients because we also do social media management services and video marketing initiatives. So been doing this for quite some time.
Eduard:I've been doing this pre-pandemic actually, that was 2019, 20 ish, 2019 ish before I left my corporate job. I actually started this as a side hustle. I was a va before um, I started as a virtual assistant and then I took the initiative I've had. I've worked with a confidence coach client and little did. I know I was actually getting free sessions because of the meetings. I was getting all those gold nuggets during our meetings and he actually pushed me to start my own agency, which was my Staff Virtual Solutions before we can talk about that later. And then I started embracing the coaching and then that coaching industry reached out to several clients. They really loved the work that I did and they needed a different, you know VA sort of thing and they'd reach out to me if I know someone.
Eduard:And then that's where Virtual Support Wizards comes up, Because there's a lot of those common issues that they're always complaining about, about the previous VAs that they've hired before or experienced before, and they were so glad about the process of the social media agency but they needed more assistance in the other areas. So they reach out maybe you know someone, and then they figure that's an area where I think I can shine and a big fan of Harry Potter by the way, you can see the glasses. There's a purpose there. But yeah, that's the reason why we call it Virtual Support Wizards. So that's what we do. We help clients find a perfect fit and eliminate that and bridge the gap of the recruitment side, finding the one. You know scrolling through and you know jumping right in and finding the right person to interview. On those pile of resumes, we cover everything to make sure that you're all set up for success. So yeah.
Krystal Proffitt:Well, if you're watching the video and not just listening on the audio, you'll notice that I kind of started laughing when Ed said, like people that have gone through like multiple VAs or worked with multiple this is legitimately what I said to him whenever we hopped on our first call. I was like I have tried, I have tried. So if there's anybody that's listening and you've like, you've tried to hire a VA and you're just like this isn't working or what am I doing wrong? Like I remember, I just kept thinking like gosh, like I just must be a terrible people manager, I just must not know anything about my business, like I, as a business owner, had so many wild thoughts that I was just going about this all the wrong way.
Krystal Proffitt:And one thing that has just I mean, like you said, a year it's almost been a year of us working together, like a year has flown by because there hasn't been any hiccups, like it's just, it's been very seamless. So this, this is just a testament. Now it's just turning into a testimonial another review for Ed and like virtual support wizards. But I just think it's so fascinating that this is kind of like a subset, like this is a niche in the virtual support world is people that have had these bad experiences Cause I know I'm not alone.
Krystal Proffitt:I've talked to so many of my online business friends and this is a trend that happens. So I do want to back up because you know, like you said, this isn't the first business that you've started. So you were doing virtual support and, uh, tell us about your first business and why that was something that maybe didn't work out, because when it comes to content, people try something and then they're like this isn't working out, for whatever reason. Like, what kind of decisions did you have to make? Like what, what was that experience like?
Eduard:so my first business, it was called my staff virtual solutions. The idea there is that they can call someone as their staff, like whenever they talk to someone oh, I have my staff. So that's the reason why it's called my virtual solution, and virtual solutions is kind of the solutions that we do. But I really love the create, the ideation process of creative social. That's why I started social media agency. It did work. Actually, it did work out very well. We've been consistently getting clients and same thing with with um, the same model right now, virtual support wizards. 45 percent of our clientele came from referrals because they really love the process, they really love the content. But the reason why we had to stop there and open up a new venture is because this is actually the exact number out of the 370 plus clients that we've had, certainly when we've served from my virtual solutions. That was very fast. Um, 72.5 percent. I have had my admin check on it. 72.5 percent of it actually gave.
Eduard:Get sent an inquiry. They sent an inquiry about do you know someone who can do zap? Do you know someone who can do Zapier? Do you know someone who can do like GHL? Do you know someone who can do email newsletter Because I'm only offering social media management services. But prior to that I was a project manager for a corporate company and I take pride in saying that I was one of those pioneering people who was responsible in growing that company from zero to 100. I was actually the scholar they paid for my college tuition and then I worked for them for two years. That's another story. But 72.5% out of that 370-plus clients that inquiry.
Eduard:And there are three things that they always ran. One they had bad experience with their previous va. They sort it, they source it online. Second, they just it was a perfect. They felt like they have the va kind of it has. They have the perfect skill set. They just don't know how to delegate. There's no, no process there, there's a gap. And then the third one is the cost-wise. Like it's too much for them, like this is not going to work for me.
Eduard:And they reach out to my admin. They reach out to me hey, ed, do you know someone who can do this? I can pay you a commission, just find me a perfect fit. I was like, yeah, you know what? I'm just going to refer you to either my wife, because my wife is also a virtual assistant. She's a social media manager and then she does some VA work and then I'm going to refer you to my friends and then, you know what, during the course of time, I felt like there's that kind of gap there and there's an opportunity there for me to really uplift not just the virtual assistant industry but the culture itself, the, the ideation that vas are not really good for business. Because I've had complaints before from previous clients that, uh, that reach out and ask for assistance, like they really complain about vas are not a really good bird, they don't really do well, they it's so hard to delegate and I want to bridge that, I want to change that area. So, yeah, that's the reason why we changed the model, we changed the name and then added, still doing the social media services.
Eduard:But, you know, focusing and our new bread and butter is the virtual recruitment, the recruitment process, outsourcing, wherein we help clients find the perfect fit so that they find the perfect missing puzzle, so that they don't have to worry about interviewing people, testing it out again, seeing if they really do well, you know all sorts of stuff.
Eduard:So it shortens the time, the learning curve, I would say for the VA to adapt and embrace the culture of the company and, at the same time, the task. Because interviewing, you can always interview someone and then you can always tell like, oh yeah, he's a good fit, but you can't really know if he is a perfect fit or if he's a good fit, not until such time that they really are inside the company and doing the task itself. So we kind of bit, you know, shorten the process itself. So we kind of bit, you know, shortened the process itself, that whenever we provide you the top three VAs or wizards, these are perfect fit, they've been tested, they've been vetted. All you have to do is pick one interview, then check the sense of their character. If you guys fit with the personality, so yeah, that's a back story.
Krystal Proffitt:But this is really what makes you so different. And I have to go back to kind of the moment where, like, our two worlds collided and it was. This may shock people. This was from a cold email that I got and so, like, when I think back to it, like I had been actively looking for support but I didn't really know what that was going to look like. Do I need to hire, like you know, someone to just do email management? Do I need to help them with my content? Like I wasn't sure as the business owner, like I can openly admit that, like I just wasn't sure I knew I needed help in my business, but I didn't know what that looked like or what that could look like. And so I got this email from you know someone on your team and they were like it was so beautiful. I know this is sounds so cheesy Again, I'm just going to brag on y'all because you did this so well that it prompted me to learn more, because it was a well thought out email, like specifically about the business.
Krystal Proffitt:It's like, hey, you know, this is what we do, this is how we can support you. Here's documentation and I can't remember if it was a PDF or a YouTube video or something that was like hey, this is how we work. If you wanna learn more about it? So you just made it so easy right from the beginning to where all I had to do was decide right then and there do I want to learn more about it. It wasn't this like high pressure sales Cause this is what I do. I still get these to this day is like those cold emails. It's like let me help you in your business, this is what I do. Then it's, it's not professional promotion.
Krystal Proffitt:It's just, and it's just. It's not well presented. Like you have such a clear brand model to what everything like from the accounting emails that I get you know to when I my invoices are due, like all of it is very seamless and professionally well done, and so that's why it was just easy to start that conversation. But I want to kind of go back to the beginning of setting up your processes and your systems and your flows and everything that you do so well today. What was that process like over time? Like it was just getting feedback from your clients and then refining that process, because there's so many people right now listening that are working on their workflows, they're working on their content processes and they're like I know I need help, but I don't even know where someone could help me.
Eduard:Very good question. Actually, I did receive this kind of question a few weeks ago, like probably two to three weeks, when I jump in on a VIP call this VA of mine. The business development representative that we have, you know, looked me in and they needed some assistance. I think it's really important that you know, during the process, during the ideation process and incubation period for true support wizards, it's really important. I've learned this from my clients and my clients and learning from different videos from coaches. You have to put yourself in the position of your ideal client, your client avatar. You have to really identify their problems. It works for every businesses, I think. And then you think of how you want to be accommodated.
Eduard:I'm the kind of person who really loves convenience. You know I would. It sounds funny, it sounds funny on your side, but I would. I would just rather sit on a couch and get rested and then watch Netflix and chill with my wife and my two month old baby and my family, because I'm a I was, I grew up, you know, on a very family-oriented person, so I would rather pay someone to do the thing rather than actually do it myself. I would rather just eat outside because of the convenience itself. So that's the ideation process that we did. I wanted my client to experience a really good, seamless, yet fun, and still get results from it on the process itself. So when we did those things, I figured client don't respond well to cold emails. Client won't respond well whenever they get straight to the face.
Eduard:Promotion Like this is what I can do. What I'm going to do is I would let my clients tell you what I can do, rather than me telling you what I can do. I think that was the email sequence that was for you. It was a series of testimonials, a summarized testimonials, and then a case study and then an introduction to the founder. So that's our sequence. We tell them this is what our client have experienced and this is their problems, and then this is kind of what we did. So when you know that was laid out, that was our sales acquisition process, and then we built out the process internally when we onboarded the client. What we did there is we crafted it in a way that it's personalized, because we don't do templated approach as much as possible. That's one thing, that what we do try to be very personalized study the branding of the client, check if they really needed the services and they would. They benefit from it. So, yep, setting the right process is really important, but in order for you to do that, put yourself in the position of your client avatar. Ask yourself what would? Why would they pick you against those competitors? What's your edge? And then that's where we built the process.
Eduard:You know what, instead of you jumping on the platform and then finding the vas doing the recruitment for you, it takes so much of your time. Interviewing someone takes like 30 to 45 minutes, and then you are not able to test them on their skill set, because they just promised what they did on their resume. They just presented a portfolio. Yeah, if they have video testimonial, then great, but if not, no, and then you would receive more than 100 emails for a project. If you posted something on a website, you would receive 100 emails applying for the job. You would have to swim through those emails and then do those stuff, and I want my client to just sit there. You need this, let me. Let me find this for you. Just sit there for three to five business days and then, when we present it to you, I can assure you this are pre-vetted, they've been project tested, they have the skillset. All you have to do is just pick, just say which one. Yes, the aviation process that we did there.
Krystal Proffitt:Well, and I think it. This is what is so interesting too, and this is what I've told people when they've asked me, cause I've been openly talking about how I love Mike. We've gotten through this whole book. We haven't even given Mike a shout out.
Krystal Proffitt:Mike is incredible. He, like we have been working together and it's so much fun just having conversations. We send uh, we're on Slack and so I'll send him voice memos, he'll send me stuff back. We send looms, you know, back and forth, and it's just. It's such a great relationship with him and working with him and I think that it's just. It's just a right fit.
Krystal Proffitt:But what's also awesome is I know that if Mike suddenly had a family emergency and he had to be out of touch you know he had to take time off of work then Ed could step in and say, hey, here's how we can backfill his position without this, without this big disruption in your business, and that's the difference in working with an independent virtual agent or virtual support person that can help you versus an agency like that. So I just have to say that's another differentiator for working with VSW that I didn't see anywhere else. Like I mean, and we don't think about that right, like we. Just we think, oh, we'll hire someone and everything will be seamless, but has there been any examples of that, like where a situation has come up? Yeah, go ahead.
Eduard:Actually, just right now, here in the Philippines, right A week after, before we were actually recording this video, there were floods, we were hit by Typhoon Karina and some of our VAs are in a location where they were flooded and they cannot work. Of our vas are in a location where they were flooded and they cannot work. Um, so you know some of our clients they rely really well on the vas work because some of our vas they do work on sales and sales is really important. It's it's the, it's the thing that fuels your business, it keeps the oil and it fuels and runs the business itself. So our clients are very, very accommodating and they're very understanding.
Eduard:But you know, from the business standpoint, I had experience before there was no business continuity. Uh, before on the first agency, like whenever someone is absent, like oh my god, who's gonna do the graphics? Who's gonna do the creatives? I'm gonna do the content, but who's gonna do this? Because I don't want to do this. I, I again. I love convenience. That's the reason why I love outsourcing.
Eduard:So they were hit by typhoon karina. They had to stop for a week and a week it's it can give you 10, 5 to 10 discovery calls which can turn into a sale of like a high qualified lead of four, and then two of those can be a sold subscription and it's already a feeble for the company. So it's a huge loss. So what we did there, so here at Virtual Support Wizards we do have business continuity process wherein your wizard is the main account holder of the account but the documentation of all the whole processes it's covered with a privacy agreement that we've had. But the business continuity plan that we offer is that whenever, say, for an example, worst case scenario, like in that case that VA had to pause for a week, we have an immediate replacement who already understands the process, who can really jump right in steps, right in. All they have to do is just to really go through with the sup and then they can continue to work. So that is something that I think an edge that we offer that some other agencies do not, the other agencies, all they.
Eduard:I wouldn't say these things but they would only put a va and then that's it, and then they're just going to recommend a replacement because unfortunately he cannot work for a week. We will have to replace and then that's it, and then they're just going to recommend a replacement because unfortunately he cannot work for a week. We will have to replace and then you'll have to start over again Training a VA, jumping over into SOPs and you lost the relationship as well. So that's one thing that we would like to commit. And again, from a project management perspective, business continuity is really important. When I was working in a corporate, there should project management perspective. Business continuity is really important when I was working in the corporate, like there should be a documentation, there should be SOPs, decks I did that before it was tiring. It really supports the business and, yeah, that's kind of what we do operate here.
Krystal Proffitt:So, yeah, yeah, this is, and this is so great. I love that we're talking about SOPs, because there's people that are listening and they're like I want to have that in my business. I don't have that, so I want to just go back to that person that's listening to this. They've always wanted help. Or maybe they're at that breaking point where they're like I need help, but when do I hire? Like maybe they're even in the beginning stages and they're feeling overwhelmed. They want to be a podcaster, a YouTuber, a content creator, and they're like I'm not great at video editing, I don't like doing my podcast stuff. Should I just keep doing it or go ahead and hire someone Like what would your thoughts be?
Eduard:My thoughts. I would normally so. Whenever we jump on a call, I always teach my team to actually ask the client first, because we don't always. I don't like the idea of hard selling. If I do think that you're not ready, then we're not a good fit, because you know that's the promise that we commit to you. Your business is ours, so we need to set you up for success.
Eduard:But there are checklists. So in order for you to derive the idea and in order for you to identify if you're ready to actually have a VA or find the right fit is first ask yourself. Or find the right fit is first ask yourself are you so much overwhelmed? Are you overwhelmed so much that you are too occupied and you cannot do the main the sales acquisition, the business development and the expansion of your business? Is that like a hindrance? Like, say, for an example, if you're working, I've had an interview with a client and then she is actually offering coaching services and then she has to do the contracts, she has to do the accounting, and then they ask her uh, do you think it's that those tasks are are giving you the hindrance to get new clients? And they immediately said yes, because I cannot attend college. That's you and you want to expand your business but you cannot do it because you're still tied to this admin task that's consuming of your time. Then that's an indication. That's one indication. There's another indication that you need.
Eduard:So if you take on that part, then you need to ask yourself are you ready to delegate? Because I've had, I've had several clients before way, way, way back. They hired me as a va, so I have project management experience. I onboard them on a platform, I set them up, I created an sop based on what I have understood. But really they have anxiety and they're very anxious to delegate the task because you know some things that they, they read online and they really want to hold into that process.
Eduard:If you're not ready to delegate, then it's not the right time for you to actually hire. You need to accept the fact that you need a person, a help, an assistant, to do those tasks for you. And if you can answer yes, I'm ready to delegate, I can trust someone to actually do it, I already kind of know what to delegate. Then that's an indication. And the good thing about this partnership is, even if you said no like no, I don't know how to delegate, there are processes as well that we can also put you on, so that we can type in the sops and see where, what areas of your business, can you actually delegate. And if it's a good fit, then it is, but if not, if you still can do it, then yes. So those two indications.
Eduard:One ask yourself are you, is your business slowing down because of you working on those time-consuming tasks? And then are you ready to delegate, answer questions? So those are a few things. Is your business slowing down because of you working on those time consuming tasks? And then are you ready to delegate, ask your question? So those are a few things.
Krystal Proffitt:I mean this is it's so helpful, because I think that anybody listening like they're going to know immediately there I'm like, yes, that's me, that's me, I need help.
Krystal Proffitt:And there's going to be a lot of people that are like I'm just not there yet, like I'm just getting started. Well, awesome. Like you've heard Ed and I talk about SOPs multiple times, then that could be the beginning stage is just maybe not even developing all your SOPs, maybe just thinking about what SOPs you want to create for your business, and then that could be the first thing that you outsource to someone to help you with. Because one thing that Mike and I do so well is, as soon as we put together a process and we see, oh, this happens every week or this is something that, like, somebody does time and time again, we immediately say, okay, stop, we're creating an SOP for this, we're going to document this and it's just, it's such a great process again because if something does happen and I have to be gone for a week, mike's not waiting for me, something happens for my family, and I'm out of touch, but he's like, oh no, I got this, I'm going to keep working.
Eduard:This has actually happened multiple times. Yeah, I heard that. So Mike and I and the team are always in contact and they're always in the loop of the conversations and I did saw that and we were very happy that it's still working. And then Mike is Mike is still moving forward and yeah, so that's an experience as well.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, it's just, it's so important just to have all that documentation. But I want to you know before we wrap up this conversation, cause I feel like I could ask you a million more questions about VAs and support. I did want to point out and I'd love for you to explain this because I'll do a poor job of explaining how awesome this feature is. But you know, you've talked about that, if someone's interested in getting a VA, that they could interview people. But can you talk about the different levels of expertise, Because there's actually tiers to VAs and oh sorry, I should call them wizards.
Krystal Proffitt:Okay, this is really what they are Like, come on, but can you talk a little bit about like, just the different experience levels of wizards and what that could look like if someone is listening and they're like okay, I want to do this, but I don't know how much support that they need. What are their options?
Eduard:Of course. So here at Virtual Support Wizards, we commit to our clients that well, this is actually a disclaimer. This is another edge that we do offer. Unlike any other agencies, our VAs are pre-vetted and they have at least a minimum of three years of experience in VA. We don't recommend someone who has no experience. We want you to think like whenever you hire someone, they're going to put something new in the table. You're not just going to teach them how to do it, but they can actually add to it. So that's one thing. So the ideation process there is that you know there are three different tiers of wizards that we offer Four, actually Four. It is categorized by the numbers of hours that they can commit. So one either they can actually just do one hour a day, two is two hours per day, then second is three hours per day, four hours per day, and then the other one is full time, then second is three hours per day, four hours per day, and then the other one is full time.
Eduard:Now, in terms of the expertise, there's tier one, two and three, wherein they're considered as an admin va, someone who just can say, for an example, you only needed some assistance in engaging in your, in your social media or say or just responding to emails, or or just organizing your calendar, or booking a plane ticket for you, or maybe buying groceries for you on Walmart, registering and delivering that at home, or buying gifts for your loved ones. Those are very admin stuff and those are considered as very basic level VA. The second one is someone who is considered as an associate or someone who you can rely on specific tools like Canva, designing email, mailchimp, someone who really knows the tool and can definitely help you on a recurring basis but at the same time, still adds on to it. And then the last one would be the experts. These are expert wizards. They are VAs or virtual assistants who can definitely become your consultant. They can also become your virtual partner, business partner. They can create the process.
Eduard:All you have to do is just say, hey, I think we need to email our clients, I want to email our clients, I want to do something, I want to inform them, I want to launch this yada yada, and then this particular va, the expert way, will just okay, this is what we're going to do. These are the tools. This is surprising. This is the sop. So those kinds of va so yeah, the basic ones, the associates, and then the experts. Those are the tier experience wizards that we do offer and then that you should also consider, of course. The higher the expertise and the skill set would be, of course, that's something that you should also consider the costing would be much more higher. So the more basic the VA skill set would be, the more it becomes more affordable. I would say, more wise, cost-wise for you. But yeah, that's kind of the expertise of the wizards that we do have.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, and thank you so much for explaining that, because, again, I think that what you've done so well is taking out the overwhelm of the decision-making process, where I felt like it was a menu of options, of where I could go in and say, oh, this is the type of support that I need, because I could see it all out there, instead of just someone saying, I can help you with your business. Well, that's pretty general, like there's so many different ways that a different person could interpret that. So I love that it's like oh, I can see it because it's right here on the page, like this is the type of support that I need. So I love that you've laid it out that way. And you know, I just also love and Ed and I, you know we're here. This is our big announcement that we actually have a partnership that anyone that comes to virtual support was yeah, like we need like one of those like DJ, like noises, like like confetti, like on the screen.
Eduard:Bring something here.
Krystal Proffitt:We need like a bell or something that's like well, you know, we have this awesome partnership, but can you tell everyone a little bit about that and what it looks like, if they want to learn more about virtual support, wizard and hiring someone to help them in their business?
Eduard:Perfect, yeah, so this is a pro part in their business. Perfect, yeah, so this is a promo part. So, anyways, so, profit media and virtual sport research is now entering a new partnership and if you guys are interested and if you feel like you are overwhelmed on the task and it it gives you so much hindrance and pause and it's slow things down for you to expand your business, then there is, I think, the process there is. You can actually use the link that was added onto this uh path form, uh on this video and it's posted on socials or whatnot on the links. But the process there is. You can sign up on the form. It's actually a seamless process as well. The form allows us to capture the problems, the pain points, the skill set that you need, and then, once that form is filled out, it automatically connects to our recruitment team.
Eduard:There are three stages that we do. That puts you in a position of confidence that we're going to find you the perfect one. So what we do is we interview. All you have to do is just sign the form, wait for three to four business days. We normally jump on a discovery call during those times. So during the three to four business days.
Eduard:We normally jump on a discovery call during those times. So during the three to four business days my recruitment team will dive right in selecting people who has the right skill set and tools, matches that to your criteria, and then from there they do the initial interview and then they do the pre-vetting. Then they usually do a paid project test and then from there the idea is 100 applicants, they would pick 30, they would pick 10. I would pick from the 10, pick top three, and then you will receive the top three VAs or the wizards, and then from there we'll set you up on a call meet and greet. All you have to do is get a good sense of their character. You can also ask questions about the project and the tools that you want them to be really an expert at. And then from there we do the onboarding. So that usually happens around three to five business days, the whole process itself. So that's the onboarding model that we do offer.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, this is awesome and so if you're listening and you're interested, you can go to krystalproffitt. com/vsw, so that's where you're going to learn more about this and see it. But fun things to come. Like that's all I have to say. Like, I have already have ideas and Ed and I we've talked about, you know, possible other opportunities that I want to bring into my business and more support as I look at how can I offload more tasks so that I can focus on the things in my business that make the most money and make the most impact, because that's my expertise and I want to hand off all the everything else to all the other subject matter experts that Ed and his team do so so well.
Eduard:I'm really excited for those fun things as well.
Krystal Proffitt:So yeah, yeah Well, Ed, are you up for some rapid fire questions that we ask all of our guests?
Eduard:Kind of yeah, go for it.
Krystal Proffitt:It's okay, I promise. I promise that these are not painful questions. These will be easy. You will breeze through all of these.
Eduard:Go for it.
Krystal Proffitt:Okay, so what piece of advice would you give to a brand new podcaster or content creator?
Eduard:Oh my God, piece of advice. I would say embrace it, embrace the journey. I think that's one thing that I really love about my journey. I started with. You know clients do love it whenever I talk about it. Like you know, I started with nothing. I had to support myself through college. I was a scholar before for a company and then they supported me. I think what you want to do is embrace every step of the way and then use that, record it and then put it in your notes. I love taking down notes. I know tech thing is going to help, but I love taking down notes so that you can look back and then check your milestones and that fuels you more to do more things next forward and it pushes you more forward. So that's kind of a thing.
Krystal Proffitt:Yeah, I would say, oh, it's beautiful, it's beautiful, I love that. I love that. Okay, my next question. It's a two part question, and the first piece is what is your dream podcast that you would love to be on one day, and do you have a dream podcast guest that you would love to interview or sit down?
Eduard:and have a conversation with I'm already in my dream podcast Krystal. No, I love being here here, but you know what I've been following. I'm not sure if you're familiar with j shetty yes, yes you know, what I have this dream that one day, soon, I'll be a well renowned person who can do things in a specific way. So I'm still trying to figure out what type of business that is and I want to be on that podcast helping young individuals who has?
Eduard:here in the philippines is really a lot of the students here are really struggling finding education. So I want to be in that podcast, talk more about it, how you can actually get access to it and be an inspiration. So I want to be there and talk more about that topic. You know, embracing um traumas and, at the same time, embracing those um I don't know what word would it be the, the, the struggles that you have to go with and then use that as a fuel to keep pushing forward. So, and my dream guest, I don't know, I mean, if I'm going to be guest, definitely jsh, it will be the host. But I want, if I'm going to start a podcast, I want to talk more about motivations, that's for sure. And then business development, and I want to interview the CEO of Apple. Oh, that's a good one, big Apple guy. I love Apple, the story there. So the CEO, right now I want to interview him.
Krystal Proffitt:Awesome, that's great. Yeah, those are great recommendations to you, like Jay Shetty's podcast is really awesome, so I love that. And then my final question is do you consider yourself a perfectionist?
Eduard:I think that's a very, very big question that you cannot. You know, we always call it our tagging is we help you find a perfect fit. But there's no such thing as perfect. I think there's such thing as growth. I would say, um, I'm not a perfectionist, but I do love the idea of striving for perfection. Yeah, you know, whenever there is and whenever there is a problem that arises and or a mistake that did happen, I see it as an opportunity for us to really find something new and learn something from it so that it doesn't happen again. So I'm not really a perfectionist guy. There's always room for improvements, but there's always a way for us to strive for perfection or to keep pushing on that area.
Eduard:So I hope I was able to answer more questions.
Krystal Proffitt:Yes, this is so great, this is so awesome, and I think that you've articulated so many important concepts today about getting support, like helping other people, and I think the tagline is like just making a bigger impact, because everybody that's listening, like they have the powerful message to go on and, you know, really do big things with what they're trying to do.
Krystal Proffitt:And having support has helped me, like in my own business. So I'm not just going to say sit here and say you need to do this, because you need to do this. I'm like, no, you need to hire someone to help you, because it has really transformed everything for me this year. And again, I'm so grateful to you, I'm so grateful to Mike, like shout out, like this has just been such an incredible year for me and I encourage everybody to go check out krystalproffitt. com/vsw, and also I'm going to link to some of the other virtual support wizards that like the uh resources that helped me make my decision, like your website and all the other places. But is there anywhere else that people should go to learn more about the business?
Eduard:Yeah, they can go to wwwvirtualsupportwizardscom. I mean, everything is already in there. Like I, we've designed the website that whenever someone jumps right in, they see the case studies, they can immediately see the testimonial, so that they would put themselves in a position of confidence. And there is also a VIP link on that website that if they want to meet the founder, they can immediately meet me, but if they want to meet someone from the sales representatives, they can also get access to them. So get on our website.
Krystal Proffitt:Awesome. Thank you so much, Ed. Thank you for coming on the show today. This was so much fun.
Eduard:This is definitely an experience and definitely a milestone, so thank you so much for having me as well.
Krystal Proffitt:Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. Like I said so many times in the interview, I'm so grateful to have found Mikey and I just I'm just really blown away by how much I was hanging on to in my own journey that I thought I needed to control or need to have this sense of okay, no, I created all of this. This is my creator business. I need to have created all the things that are happening that are behind my brand. But in reality, and especially after listening to some of the biggest creators in our space, I realized, oh, it's only when you let go of that control and you have other people that are just as talented and probably even more so, okay, like, let's be real. Like, let's throw that out there. People that are more talented than you really step into the spotlight and let them shine and do incredible work for your creator business, for your business, for your brand or whatever you're trying to create. But I highly encourage you to look at hiring someone to help you. I mean, I started out with having Mikey I think it was like five hours a week in the very beginning and we onboarded and we figured out our workflow and how things work together and he's still only part-time, like I don't have someone 100% fully supporting me in that capacity, but it's something that works for me and my business and what I'm doing today and I highly encourage you to check it out. So, again, go to krystalproffitt. com/vsw to check out what Virtual Support Wizards has to offer and, like Ed was saying, is we have a special partnership and promotion going for you.
Krystal Proffitt:So let them know that you came from Krystal Proffitt, the Proffitt Podcast, and I am just so excited for what hiring someone to help you in your business could mean and all the different things that it could open up, because I see so many more opportunities now that I've learned to outsource other tasks in my business that can help me focus on the things that I really need to be doing, the things that are my zone of genius, and I just want that for you as well. But that's all I have for you today. So if this is your first time tuning in, make sure you hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you are listening to this today, and I would love for you to take a screenshot and share it on Instagram. Let us know what you thought about today's episode, tag me and I would love to hear what you thought. But as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.
