Kelly Reynolds 

Today I have a wonderful guest for you on our agency series. Her name is Erica Fullerton. And I would like to welcome her to the Get your act together podcast. Hello, Erica.

 

Erica Fullerton

Hi, thank you for having me.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

I would love for you to tell our listeners a little bit about your business and about you and what you do.

 

Erica Fullerton

Absolutely. So I am the owner of Ovello. We are a virtual assisting agency. We specialize primarily in MLMs and network marketers. But we also work a bit with small businesses, we generally help with more general admin customer care type tasks. But we have recently ventured over into social media management as well. So it's kind of a whole new sector of our agency that we just started. And we're really excited about that.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

That's awesome. Because that's like my kryptonite. I am like finance in numbers like social media, I get like all itching. So that's wonderful. So you are offering admin stuff. And now you're adding in social media, like, why did you pick these things? Like where did that come from?

 

Erica Fullerton 

We kind of started organically, to be honest with you, when I first got started, it was just me as a solo person doing this. And I posted on Facebook that I had launched this virtual assisting business, I had no idea what I was doing. And I got some people on my friends list that I didn't really know that asked if I could help them in their businesses. And they happen to be in the MLM, and network marketing world. And then through helping them I just ended up getting a lot of referrals from them. And that area of our business just grew so much to the point that I had to bring on a team and become an agency or else I was going to be turning business away. And so that's kind of how we got started with that. And through that we realize that a lot of people really need social media help, and they don't have any idea what they're doing when it comes to their social media. But they know that it's important to be on there. So we've decided to build up that sector of our business to further help the clients that we have and some other clients that we don't have yet but definitely need help in that area.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

That's great people coming to you and then finding what they need and then solving their problems. Right. It's classic, that that was me too well, and avoiding launches on my part because I try to avoid those at all costs. I think you alluded to this little bit, why are you an agency? Why did you go the agency route instead of going to VIP days, or retainers or whatever else you could have done?

 

Erica Fullerton

For me, I my number one thing was I just wanted to be able to help as many people as I could, it was a passion of mine to be able to help these people in their businesses and not have to turn them away and say, No, I'm sorry, I can't help you. And with the kind of clients that we've always served, it didn't make sense to do like a VIP day or something like that. Because that just really wasn't what our particular clients needed help with. It just didn't it didn't fit for them. Basically, it was either I made the decision to turn people away and say, Hey, I'm sorry, I can't help you because I'm booked or bring people onto my team that could help them. And I really didn't want to have to say no, I can't help you. So I went the other route and decided to start hiring on a team.

 

Kelly Reynolds

I think a lot of people start agencies for exactly that reason, right? Like the works coming in. You don't want to say no to the work or the cash coming in. Right? So you're like, Okay, if I have more people helped me that I can keep bringing in this work. Yes. Yeah. Cuz I mean, that's that was me too. I put a call out to my mom, she was my first VA was like I was like overwhelmed, So tell me more about how your agency is structured. Because I think that this is going to be one of the interesting things over the series is going to see how people build things. Are you very like? Do you have lots of layers? Or they're like, do you follow a strict system like EOS? How is it structured? Like, give me some like, what's the size of your team? What's your org chart? Look, I look like

 

Erica Fullerton

we have 15 people on our team currently, basically, the way that we're structured is it is myself as CEO and owner of the business. And then we have a business manager underneath me. And she basically handles most of the day to day client interactions, she handles our team, all that sort of thing, I really only come in when there's like a big issue that needs my help. And then I would say kind of under her ish, maybe sort of next to her is the social media director. And she handles the entire aspect of our social media business doing exactly what our business manager does just on the social media side. Each one of our VAs is once a client comes to us and decides, hey, I'm interested in your services, myself and our business manager will do a discovery call with them. When they decide to book and they've signed contract paid an invoice, we will do a kickoff call with them in the VA that we have paired them with. And then they're basically off to run on their own, like the two of them will work hand in hand together. I'm not filtering tasks saying like, hey, this person needs to do this task for this client. It really is just we have paired you with your client and your VA and you guys now work together unless we need to come in on something. So we do periodic like check ins with clients but otherwise we're really out of A mix that that point.

 

Kelly Reynolds

And that's like a true agency, like they have a book of business kind of thing that they're dealing with. Yes. And that's great. I mean, good for you. Because so many people get stuck in the, well, I have to touch every part of it. I have to, like, tell everyone to do and I have to set up the Asana board or the teamwork, like all that kind of stuff. So good for you for getting the hell out of the way, right? Because there's no way you can be touching all the things with 15 people in your team? Like there's no way to do it. No.

 

Erica Fullerton

And that's, I mean, I kind of knew that, like, I had to decide what I wanted it to look like, right? Because if I wanted to touch everything, I couldn't have as many clients as we have, because there's no possible way that I could manage all of that. So for me, it became like, what's more important, having more clients or giving up some control?

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yeah, and giving up control is like the hardest thing, right? Anyone who comes to me talking agency and coaching or whatever, they're always like, I don't want people to touch my stuff. I don't like anything. You know, everything is about control. At that point, giving up that amount of control gives you so much more freedom, because you're not thinking about it all the time. 

 

Erica Fullerton 

Yes, absolutely. I honestly work a couple hours a week in my business. And that's pretty much it, because I have other people that are here to do it for me.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

See everyone out there, let go let go. So what are you doing them?

 

Erica Fullerton 

So I primarily handle discovery calls, I handle any, like big issues that come up with our clients. And then I do have a client of my own that I've had for a long time that I've just kept, because she's been my client for so long. But otherwise, like, I hang out with my family, and I don't miss my kids events, like I'm able to tomorrow, we're going to the zoo, just because we can and it's the middle of summer, and we wanted to do that. So really, I'm not doing much, I will say I'm kind of the idea person in the business. So I am constantly like throwing new ideas at our business manager and saying, Hey, let's do this. Let's do that. And then she gets to implement them. But that's really what I do in the business is just like think up new ideas and throw them at them. And then they handle any issues that arise. But otherwise, I'm really not doing much of anything.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

That sounds fantastic. I just came off a massive June where a client was selling their eight figure business and we had to help a lot. I went from having that like, Oh, I'm gonna go paddleboarding on a Friday morning to all hands on deck and crazy. So I'm a little we're getting back to that now. And like hearing you say that I'm like, right, right. That's where we want to get back to. Is your team Contractors? Are they employees? Full time part time? All?

 

Erica Fullerton 

They're all contractors, everybody?

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah. Okay, that works well, especially with the hands off way You're talking like their contractors, they're gonna go off and do their work. So it kind of works in this whole scenario. Exactly. You're at 15 People now, how big do you want to get? Alright? Is this a good size? Do you are you? Are you feeling like you want to get bigger people wise?

 

Erica Fullerton

You know, it's funny, because I never thought we would be this big. Like when I bring on a couple of people to help. I've never really had a goal of how big we want to get, I just don't ever want to get to the point that I have to turn people away, honestly. So if we continue getting clients that are coming to us, then yeah, I would love to grow the team. The other like the flip side of this is my other big passion is being able to help people get started in their VA journey. And maybe they're not able to get clients on their own, or they've just started out. I love bringing those people onto the team and being able to give them the ability to stay home with their families and do this business and own their own time. So I mean, really, I'm on limited on what I'm willing to do. Because if I can bring more people onto the team and give more people that freedom and that flexibility within their life and their business, I would love to be able to do that. So we'll see where it goes. I don't I don't have any particular goals. But I'm not against continuing to grow.

 

Kelly Reynolds

It's funny how you say like, you were like, we didn't have a plan to be 15 people. I was always like, I could have like two people. That'd be good. And then it was like now we're at seven. And I'm like, Alright, I like everyone I like I do love this aspect that you're just talking about helping other women build their businesses, or were you corporate before? 

 

Erica Fullerton

Yes, I used to work in insurance. Yep, yep. Okay,

 

Kelly Reynolds 

so you come from corporate? I'm guessing you had kids and you didn't want to leave them? Yep, classic story, right? And once you see how good that is, especially now that you've like let go of the control your business, everything's running without you. You want to help other people do that? Yes. And that's been a big thing with me like my team is a big deal to me. Like I protect them I take care of them like I want to help their businesses if they have a problem in their business. They can always get on a call with me. They get coaching whatever they want, because I want to make sure that they are happy. Yes. Which is such a different way than most I feel like the most of our bosses in corporate where they were like show up give me all you got go home. Here. I'm much more about okay, how can I help you be happier?

 

Erica Fullerton

Yeah, I would agree with that. I mean, I have most everybody on my team we've developed a friendship at this point. I want to see them succeed in their business. Honestly, the goal is like you won't work for me forever. Eventually you will go and do your own thing and have a really successful Isn't this on your own and you won't need me anymore? Like, I want them to fly the nest, I guess like, yes, go go do your own thing and make your own business and I will be cheering you on, I'm never going to be upset that you've left us and gone to do your own thing, because that's the goal. Like, I want you to be able to do that at some point. 

 

Kelly Reynolds 

We've had people that have moved on, right, they came to me as a VA, they want to go be a dol now they're like, trained, and they're gonna go off and do something else in the business. And sometimes I'm very sad about it. But knowing that that can happen, how do you prepare for that.

 

Erica Fullerton

So we always make sure that we have people in the back end that are ready to take on more clients, because we specialize specifically in MLMs. And network marketing. For the most part, we have basically teams of people that handle certain companies. So within like the MLM world, we've got Ziaja, and Octavia and color Street and all these different businesses. So we will have a group of people that know that business really, really well. And the majority of their clients are in that that particular business. So if we have somebody leave that has two or three Ziaja clients, let's say we have other people that are working primarily with them that can take those people over. So it's a really easy transition, where we just say, Hey, we're gonna go ahead and put you with this other person that works primarily with your business, they already know everything that you're doing. And the people on our team are always really great, we have always had the situation where when they leave, they give us enough notice that they can then train the other person to take over their people. So it's usually not a whole lot of training, like I said, just because they do know the business already. But it's a matter of like, Hey, this is what my client in particular really likes to do in this scenario, this is how they do things. But we've always had a really great transition with them being able to train for someone else to take over for them. So it works really well for us actually, when people leave.

 

Kelly Reynolds

And that's a good point, because you have similar clients, like the different color street or whatever. So like they understand how that works already. It's not like just coming in, and like, here's another person with a completely different business. So that Oh, that's great. So like having that specialty niching down, to serve a certain kind of client really is helpful in your agency, to be able to Yeah, to be resilient to be able to have people leave and all that. What kind of focus you have on culture in the way of keeping people happy. And like you said that they're going to give you notice, that doesn't always happen.

 

Erica Fullerton

No, no, it doesn't. Like I said, I've I've pretty much built friendships with everybody on our team, I go out of my way, especially because I'm not in the day to day of doing client stuff. I have time to have conversations with these people and ask how things are going know about their lives, pay attention to what they're posting on Facebook or Instagram, because I have time to sit and scroll during the day. So I really have a lot of time to build those relationships. The other thing like I have a very giving personality, like my love language is to gift things to you constantly. Like I want to give other people stuff constantly. So like we celebrate birthdays, we celebrate things that are happening in their lives. Like I'm always trying to celebrate our people, encourage them cheer them on, a lot of them do actually, we have quite a few that do their own, like MLM businesses. So I'm even like cheering them on in those and like supporting them when they hit New ranks within their business or whatever that looks like for them. So just like really keeping that alive and making sure that like, we always have an open door policy, you can come to me with anything. I'm very protective of my team. So if there's ever an issue between like a client and our team, I have my teams back 1,000%. And they know that and I've proved that time and time again. So I think that alone just makes them feel like they're working at a really great place. And they want to respect us and respect boundaries of like, leaving and giving notice and things like that, because we've treated them so well throughout their time with us.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

That is so important, right? I mean, just knowing like, having that kind of culture where everyone is looking out for each other. I was recently asked to consult on something and they were very cover your ass, they would throw you under the bus in a second because it's not going to be their fault. And I was like, Oh God, I have had that in so long, right? I haven't had this as a corporate. Like, we don't work that way. We're like, alright, well what happened? I'm not screaming at you. Like, let's figure it out, like, you know, and it's so different. And it's so funny that, like, when you get smacked in the face of that again, you're like, Oh, this is awful. I'm gonna work here.

 

Erica Fullerton

I like to joke with people sometimes that I still have PTSD from working in corporate, but I'm like, it's true. And like, I never want to treat anybody that way. Like, I didn't intend on having a business where I had people working for me ever. But now that I do, and like I'm gonna make sure it's a good place. And I'm gonna make sure that you don't dread coming here. You don't dread having a conversation with me. Gosh, I used to hate when my boss was like, Hey, can I talk to you for a minute? Because I'm like, Oh my gosh, what's happening? Panic ensues? Yes. Somebody's gonna have that feeling with me. So I go out of my way to make sure that it is the opposite of that.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

Agreed. Totally agreed. And I think that's so important to get all those things like notice and making sure things are done, right. Yeah, yes. And knowing that they're going to show up. Yes, right. Like a lot of an agency relies on everyone showing up. So that culture like people like oh, I don't care about gifts. Like no, but the culture drives the all the things you actually care about, if you don't care about the funds, like the niceness and the friendship, like it drives them showing up and making time for you and all of that, especially when your contractors have other clients. Yes. I've been asked like, how do you make sure that people pay attention to your business? And I'm like, I'm their best client?

 

Erica Fullerton

Of course they weren't. Exactly, yes. Okay, so

 

Kelly Reynolds

the nitty gritty, you said before they have their own clients, basically. And they they deal with it? How do you, like keep track of everything? Do you use project management tools is at someone besides your business manager kind of assigning things out? Or is the VA on their own to kind of deal with everything?

 

Erica Fullerton 

Yeah, so we primarily use clickup. And we have pretty much everything housed in there. So that's the other great thing too, because as much as I would love to say, like, everybody that works with us is always 100%. Fantastic. And they always give notice, like, we've had scenarios where we have to let people go sometimes. So I want to make sure that while I don't want to be in control of their day to day, I do want to be in control of things to the point that like, if I have to let someone go, I have access to everything that they've been working on. And I can easily put someone else in there. So we primarily use click up, we will, my business manager will set up a click up space for a new client and a VA, and then all of their tasks, anything that they're working on any links that we need Google Drive's things like that, they all go into that click up space. And then if it ever comes to somebody leaving or us needing to get rid of somebody or something like that, we have everything right there that we have access to. And it works really well too. Because I mean, you do sometimes run into a scenario where a client says, hey, my VA is done. Mia, I don't think they're doing anything for me like what's going on? And I can go look and see like, okay, yeah, you assign these tasks last week, and they've clocked zero time on them, what is happening. So it works really well for us to have that sort of system where we can see things. But we don't have to be in the mix of day to day stuff.

 

Kelly Reynolds

Amen, I preach this constantly, that's part of the giving up of control, like being able to see it. Like there's a difference when abdicating everything away. And being like, I'm just not going to look at it. And like giving up control of the day to day but still being able to see it like we used to mark and I can go in there and see what's going on what's its find out what's late, like, I don't but I don't need to talk to everyone to 500 times, I don't need to be in the middle of it. You are speaking my language here. So do you guys have like team meetings? Are you in there a lot? Like, is there like a weekly meeting? Or is there a lot of those kind of things.

 

Erica Fullerton

So we used to do weekly meetings when we were smaller. But honestly, getting 15 subcontractors together at the same time becomes really difficult. And I'm very big on their boundaries. Like I don't want anybody to feel like they have to be somewhere at a specific time. We have people that work for us like we have a military wife who is in Guam right now. So like she's 15 hours, getting her on a meeting is like, super difficult, we primarily use Slack. And we will do weekly check ins. So every Monday, they just drop in our weekly check in channel to let us know like what they're working on that week, what their priorities are, if they need any specific support from us. And then I will beginning of the month and mid month, I will drop a loom video in there with just like some updates on whatever I need them to know about the business clients different things like that for the month. And then they all just like drop an emoji once they've watched it. And I know that they are good to go on that. And that's pretty much how we do most of our communication because like I said, it's really hard to have everybody in one place at one time.

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah, same here we are big fans of slack. I hate meetings, I love good chat, want to get me a glass of wine and hang out totally fine. But like sitting in a half an hour meeting that no one needed, drives me up the wall. And I have a bunch of clients that used to do that. Like we're just gonna have a weekly meeting for an hour. Why? Like no one needs this. So we have really we never have meetings at this point, because of the same thing we check in on Slack constantly. I'm always available. And like you said, we have different time zones. Yeah, that's a nightmare. And I mean, it really does infringe on the contractor in this oven to make people show up. Because it's a big difference contractor to employee like you can't just make them do all the things. That's not a contractor. I love this idea of weekly check ins. I also love the idea of here's a video, just let me know you saw it, like throw an emoji. I don't need to have I don't need to email you to see if you did it. I don't need to follow up on it. Like they don't need to say anything to me. Like all of that. I feel like a lot of people build into their businesses. They build in all these like, Well, they didn't email me to tell me they watched the video. And he was like, Why? Why are we wasting all this time? Yeah, I think that's a big reason that you can get out of the business because you can put something out and then have that feedback without everyone spending a whole meeting together. And that is one of the things I think that gives you so much time during the day. Yes, because you can be in the business without having a know what's going on. Yep, without 100 million emails.

 

Erica Fullerton

Yeah, and I can be anywhere and check slack so if they need something from me like I I can do that from the zoo, I can do that from my backyard, I don't have to be at my computer to have a meeting with them.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

Today's podcast is being sponsored by the Get your agency together group coaching program. This is a program I built for online service providers who either want to start an agency or to grow the agency they have so that it's organized, sustainable and profitable. Over five months, you'll be working with me and the rest of your cohort to break down and rebuild different parts of your business, so that they align with the life you really want to build. The modules include systems you'll need offers you'll make the team you'll need to build and the journey your clients will take. Most importantly, you'll have to look at all of these things through the lens of the goals and the values you bring to the table. For more details, go to Reynolds opm.com and join the waitlist, you'll be the first to know when the program opens. See you there. Okay, so what makes your agency different? Well,

 

Erica Fullerton 

I mean, I think in general, like who we serve makes us different. First of all, I don't I've I have yet to run into another agency that primarily serves MLMs, and network marketers. That's huge for us. And we often will get clients coming in saying, Hey, I've worked with another VA before, but they didn't understand this world that I work in at all. So it was not a good fit. So that's great on the client end of things because we can really cater to them and specialize in things, and oftentimes will come to them with like ideas or thoughts on the way that they're doing business that they appreciate. Because they didn't get that from their last VA because their last VA was clueless about the world that they're in. On the flip side of that, from the contractor side, I really just think it's our culture, like we are an enjoyable place to be we have fun, we are very interested in our people, we truly care about them and what they're doing in their lives. And I think that's a lot different than most agencies I've run into too, because a lot of them are like, you know, this is a business, we're running this thing like a like it is a business. And I'm like, while we are a business like I don't want it to feel like that. I don't want you to feel like you're going into corporate America to work for us. I want you to feel like you're in a place that you enjoy being like, you're you. You like coming here, you like working with us. You like having conversations with us, you like your clients, and you're not enjoying what you're doing like you're in the wrong place. Absolutely. And I don't want our people to feel that way. So I think that sets us apart too. Because we truly do want everybody to be happy and enjoy what they're doing here.

 

Kelly Reynolds

What a radical concept that you want your people to be happy, right?

 

Erica Fullerton 

Yes.

 

Kelly Reynolds

Right. With this all sounds fantastic. someone's listening to this podcast right now. And they're like, Erica, it totally is the life. What parts of this agency do you just love?

 

Erica Fullerton

I would go back to saying like, I love being able to give the women on my team the ability to do this, like that means so much to me. We have some moms that are like newly divorced, and they've been stay at home moms for years. And as soon as they get divorced, they're like, oh, my gosh, am I gonna have to go back to work? Like, what am I going to do? So it feels really good to be able to give them an income so that they don't have to change their lifestyle, they can still stay home with their kids. Like I said, we have a military wife and one like she wants something for herself so that she's not just following her husband around the world and not having an identity, making new friends everywhere she goes, because she's not there for very long. Like, it feels really good to give her something that is hers that she can earn money on, she can enjoy doing. So I would say that's my favorite part of this, which is funny because again, I never really planned on having a team. But now my team is like my favorite aspect of this. And I'm like I love being able to give this to you guys.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

I love that because I mean, my parents got divorced when I was like four. My mom, you know, it was really hard. 80s raising a kid by yourself and always struggling that way, like being able to give that stability to someone. It's fantastic. Yep. Yeah. I love the fact that aspect of it as well. What is the hard thing about agency or like, Alright, there's some downsides here too, because we are painting a very rosy picture right now.

 

Erica Fullerton 

Yes. Picture.

 

Kelly Reynolds

It's not all just fun and games.

 

Erica Fullerton 

No, it's not honestly, like, as much as I love that I've given up control. That part is really hard to it's hard to trust that somebody else is taking care of your clients. Like when I first built this business and got to the point that I needed to hire other people. It was because I was giving really great customer service to my clients, like they really loved working with me. They referred me to other people, they knew I was going to do a great job. I'm a fast person, like I talk fast, I move fast. I just like my turnaround time is fast. So I knew that like when I took something for a client, they wouldn't have to wait until the due date to get it back like it would be done now. So giving up that control and like trusting other people to provide the same level of service that I would provide is really hard, especially when you're finding these people that you don't know outside of them interviewing for this job applying for this job that you're posting, like you're trusting that what you've just experienced from them on Zoom is who they truly are and that what they're saying about their work ethic is going to line up to how they actually work. And oftentimes I shouldn't say oftentimes it's not always but there are times when that's not The case like they paint this really great picture to you on this zoom interview. And then you get them working for you. And you're like, What are you doing because you are ruining this relationship with this client. So I think that's the hardest part for me like, sometimes I'm like, Man, I just like to be able to clone myself quote a few of our really great VAs and run with it. But that's not always the case. And it's really hard being able to trust that other people are going to do what you expect them to do.

 

Kelly Reynolds

I'm always amazed at what people put in their application or what you see online, and then you meet them. And you're like, I don't these can't be the same people like Yeah, it's amazing. So how, how do you? How do you onboard? How do you pick vas? And then, like, what is the do you train them very slowly? Like, how do you get to that trust level that you're like, Alright, here's your client.

 

Erica Fullerton 

So we have had a lot of trial and error with us, let me tell you, when I first started, I was like, in panic mode, and I was like, I will take whoever and you will come on, and you will have a client immediately because I have no clue what I'm doing. Or you've gotten much better than that. I would like to believe, honestly, when I do an interview, like most of it is my gut, which might sound terrible, but I just have gut feelings for people. And I've learned to trust my gut. Because when there is a little bit of hesitation, those people prove me right on that hesitation, nine times out of 10. So now like, if I have any hesitation, I don't hire you. Because I know like, I know that you're going to prove me right on that at some point. So that's, I mean, really my interview process like that's it, it's a gut feeling that I get from having a conversation with you, once we bring you on. Like I said, we have kind of like groups of people that work with specific companies. So we have what we call lead VAs within each of those companies. And those VAs will kind of like tag team, a client with the new VA that is coming on. And they will kind of show them how to do the tasks, walk them through, you know, this is the expectation for how much you're communicating with them and how you're like where you're communicating. This is how you would do this task. This is how this works. They'll show them like the whole back office that these people use, like different systems that they use. And then we have training videos and stuff, too, that just walk them through the basics. But really, they're kind of like having their hands held essentially by the lead VA until they have gotten comfortable with that. And then we will give them that plan on their own. So typically, whoever they're paired with, and the client that they're paired with that client eventually will become theirs, once they're competent, and taking that client over. So it's kind of like a more of like, a shadowing, I guess until they're comfortable. And then they will take that over.

 

Kelly Reynolds

I think that's really important for people to understand, because I think that a lot of people think that you're gonna hire a VA and then give them a client and then hope for the best. Right? Like, there is an onboarding there, there is like, Hey, we're gonna show you how to do this. So you don't mess this up. Yes, yeah. And then there's gonna be someone like your lead via who can like, look and help. 

 

Erica Fullerton 

And yeah, and you're always like, the other thing I love about our culture is like, I'm always available, the business manager is always available. And we make that really known. So you don't necessarily have to go to the lead VA, like if the lead VA is unavailable, or they're in a different timezone than you. And so like, maybe they're sleeping while you're working. We are available, and we are more than happy to answer those questions. So like, we try really hard to make sure that we're trained on everything that these clients are needing to in case the VA does come to us and says, like, Hey, I'm not sure how to do this, or I am really confused by this task, we can definitely help with that. Because we know what's going on to

 

Kelly Reynolds

so important, that whole building of the culture that you've been talking about, and then the setting up of training to get them to a place where they can like that all is really important. Just throwing someone to the wolves, and then not having a clear expectation what's going on. And then they mess everything up. Like yeah, they can't, they can't help but they don't even know what's out there. What's going on.

 

Erica Fullerton 

No, I mean, we did that in the beginning like that. But then I had to have a reality check with myself and say, Wait, why is this not working? Why are these people not doing as good of a job as I want them to do? And then I had to have this like, oh, it's me. Like i That's why they're not doing well.

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah, what am I favorite things? I had to train myself because I want everything to be perfect, because that's just how I am right? And I'm like, Okay, well, I'm not perfect. They're not perfect. Like, take it take a breath, Kelly. But there's one thing that I was like, Okay, if something is getting messed up, I must not have explained it clearly. And that's been my mindset way of saying, okay, take a breath. If they had explained it perfectly, they probably would be fine. So let's go back and see where we miss something. And that usually calms me down enough to be like, okay, yeah, it wasn't their fault. They didn't know that about whatever.

 

Erica Fullerton 

Yep. And that's another like, we love having the click up space too, because we have specific spaces for each one of the companies that we work with. So as somebody like realizes how to do a task, or they need a little clarification, we'll put notes on there so that new people coming in can see those notes and they can see the progression of this. So then it's easy for them to be like, Oh, that answers the question that I had. That's how I do that because it's right there and click up for them.

 

Kelly Reynolds

I love that we have like Slack channels for clients so that way Have you had to go searching for something or find out what, what was paid? Or whatever it does? Same idea, kind of that central location for information? How is it structured on pay? Is it you don't have to give me real numbers if you want to, but is it hourly? Is a percentage? Is it a cadence? Like how do you pay your people?

 

Erica Fullerton 

Yep, so we pay hourly. And we start at 20 an hour. So pretty decent for an agency and general admin will go up to 25, depending on their skill level, and things like that. And then it is hourly. So they track their time, right and click up on each task that they're doing. And then every two weeks the business, our business manager will pull hours, and then we pay via direct deposit rate through QuickBooks. So our team really loves that, because they're not getting anything taken out. As far as like, if they were invoicing us through like wave apps, or Pay Pal or something like that, there's a percentage taken out. So we are actually eating the fees for what we paid to invoice. And they're not getting any of that taken out. Because again, like I protect my people, and I want them to make every dollar that they're making and not have anything taken from them. And then it's direct deposited within one to two business days right into their account. So every two weeks, they're getting paid.

 

Kelly Reynolds

How does that relate to what you're charging clients? Are you charging clients by the hour to? Or is that a package? Yep, so

 

Erica Fullerton 

we typically charge clients by the hour, with the exception of our social media packages, our social media packages are not hourly, those are a set price, but generally by the hour, and typically, we're charging about $45 an hour for clients,

 

Kelly Reynolds

that's gonna say I find that hourly, if you're going to charge an hourly you pay an hourly, that way, you don't get messed up. I think some people charge hourly or pay VAs hourly, and then they have a project and then all the money in their project is gone to the entire VA, they've made no money. Yeah. Is there a way that you try to be on that? Like, especially I guess, with the social media packages? Is there? How do you figure out like, profit? Like, how do you know, I'm going to charge $500 for this package, that means this person is gonna get this much I'm gonna get this much do you have like everything in your head? Or is it kind of I know, this is a very new thing for you. So.

 

Erica Fullerton 

So with our like, specifically, with our social media, we basically built the packages with the idea of how much time it would take to do these tasks, and then price it like that. So while it's not an hourly package, we have run the numbers for the hours. And we know like, okay, we can pay someone hourly, up to X amount for this package, and we're still making the profit that we need to make. So truly on our social media packages, we're making more profit than what we would like on an hourly package, because we've priced them at the point that we are making enough money to cover them hourly. And the idea behind that is, it's a new thing for us. So if somebody comes in, and it takes them a little bit longer to do some of these things, we're covered, like we have enough extra money there. And we're not at the point that we're like, oh my gosh, how are we going to pay them because we've now exceeded the amount of this package. So we've done that like, kind of strategically. And the goal with that, too, is like at some point, once our VAs that are doing the social media are more comfortable in that, we will just pay them a set amount of money. But at this point, I want to make sure that they're taking care of too. So I don't want to pay them on the assumption of 20 hours a month for this package. But really, it's taking them 35 hours a month to do the work. I would not feel good about that. So until they get into a rhythm. And they're really like in their in their zone of genius. They're we're doing the hourly, but eventually it will switch over to packages which we've accounted for.

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah, I mean, you can think, Oh, that'll take me five hours. And then you find out that there's a problem and 12 hours later, you're like, I'm totally screwed. That's right. Yeah. So I think that's a really smart idea is to like map that out hourly. What What would it cost me if it was hourly? Add them some buffer, and then see how it goes? Yes. That's great. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people, I feel like, they think that they have to be perfect. They have to finish this package and be perfect and put it out into the world and it's done. And like it changes, because you're gonna go out there and things are gonna change, right? Like, clients are gonna change, people are gonna want different things like, it doesn't have to be perfect. Just start, right? Because we started the same way, like by ourselves, and then we needed help. And then we there wasn't a clear five year plan that was definitely executed. Like, right, like you're laughing. Like, no, I don't even know what's happening. But yeah, I mean, like, the whole idea, this kind of evolution of like, you're going to learn and you and I would you adapt and you adjust and you can't know what your clients are going to want in two years, you're gonna have to see how that goes. Right? Like, it just you have to be

 

Erica Fullerton

you have to be flexible. I think that's like one of the biggest things I've learned in business is like being flexible is key. Because on every realm of your business, things are going to change from your packages to your clients, to the people working with you like it's all going to change and you're going to have to change with it. So being flexible is huge.

 

Kelly Reynolds

So on that note, the last couple of years, you know, the world crisis, this is a long list of them. How has that affected your business? I know a lot on the online world it has been very different than in like corporate America or a restaurant world or something like that. Like how has COVID etc. affected the last time player's if your business.

 

Erica Fullerton 

So for us actually like it helped our business a ton to be totally honest, like people were buying online all the time, and our clients are primarily selling things online. So everybody that we were working with, like their business has really skyrocketed. So they would buy more hours from us or send more teammates to us, and things like that. Really, the only downside that we've had is we had some people that would work with us, because they didn't currently have a job because of COVID. And some of them have since gone back to work. So we've lost them because of that. Because you know, I mean, as great of a place as we tried to be to work like, you are subcontracted. So we can't offer you benefits, we can't offer you health insurance. And there are things like that that are super important to some people that I just can't compete with. So that's been the one downfall is that some of them do go back to work. But as far as the business and like it really helped us grow a ton.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

I think that's a lot of online businesses, right? Like, we were already online, we already knew how to work, zoom, you know, like, we knew how to do all that kind of stuff. So when people came knocking, we were ready. In that way. Is there something that you're thinking in the next year, lots of doom and gloom on the horizon? Although it was for the last few years, and it didn't really affect us in the same way. For the next year or so? Is there? Are there things that you're preparing for? Or are you just like, it'll be fine.

 

Erica Fullerton

We are, I'm I'm not gonna say it, I'm just like, it'll be fine. But I'm not the person that like prepares for the Doom necessarily. So I'm like just reiterating to my team all the time that we need to go above and beyond for our clients, make sure you're using all their hours, make sure that you're coming to them with new fresh ideas, I'm trying really hard to make sure that I'm giving my team new fresh ideas for their clients all the time, so that they can come to them, my biggest thing is just proving our value to our clients. That way, they see the value in keeping us even if their finances changed a little bit, I want them to be like, You know what, maybe my pay has gone down a little but my VA is an integral part of my business, like I cannot get rid of them. So just making sure that we stay up on that front has been huge. And then we are trying to start some other projects that we can sell that are not necessarily like ongoing services, but like social media audits, and having like a content calendar and things like that, that people can still purchase from us for a smaller amount, but it's not necessarily ongoing monthly service. And hopefully that will supplement a little bit if we do lose some clients, but I'm hopeful that we won't because we do provide really great value to them.

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah, I think that's always been a big thing, right? If you're indispensable. You're You're the reason that they're making money, even if they're making less money, but you're the reason that you they don't they don't know where anything is without you, you know, you become very important. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Erica Fullerton

Kind of like a lot of our clients have taken the role that I take and my business basically where they're like, I don't do much anymore, because my VA does it. So like, do they want to go back to having to do everything? Oh, we can get to that point with them, where they trust us enough to hand everything off, and they're not really doing anything. We're pretty secure in what we're doing.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

Yeah, that's why I'm, I feel like there's a lot of gloom and doom out there. And I'm like, but let's all breathe. Because if you're doing a really great job, and you're solving your client's problems, maybe it's gonna be okay. Yes, right. If you are one of those businesses that is spammy and gross, and not really being helpful, then I think maybe you have a little more to worry about. But all right, Erica, this has been I love this. I love how fast you talk, because I am right with you. And I hope that everyone else had you can slow it down on your iPod, your iPod. Oh, Lord. Me More coffee today, your podcast app, because we were talking about today. And that's just fine. So it has been great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me for this series. And thank you for being so upfront about everything, like telling me about the stuff because that I think is what we all want to know. Right? Like, we always want to see the back end of things like how do you do that? What's your templates? Like, what are you what is your dashboard look like? And that's what I want to do with this. So thank you so much. Can you tell everyone where they can find you?

 

Erica Fullerton

Yes. So you can find us at www.clubovello.com or on Instagram, it is club.ovello. So we are primarily on those two places.

 

Kelly Reynolds 

Awesome. And I will put all that in the show notes so you guys can find Erica and help her through the next doom and gloom as a great client. So thank you so much. And we will see you next week. Thank you so much for joining me this week. If you have an agency or want to create one, come join my facebook community. Get your agency together, where we talk all the things growing and scaling your agency. For show notes and more info and all the things head over to Reynolds obm.com Follow me on Instagram and Facebook at Reynolds OBM. And finally, if you enjoy this podcast, I would love for you to give us a review on iTunes.