I’ve said it before and I will say it again. No matter what your professional background or career experience might be, there’s a place for you in the digital media space. And so today I wanted to share the story of one of my Virtual Assistant Crash Course students who has found huge success working from home in her new online digital media marketing biz. And here’s how she moved from being a classroom teacher and published author, to working online as a digital media VA with a list of clients that is growing every week!
Meet Marilee Haynes:
Although Marilee has a degree in marketing, her career path shifted into education and she became an elementary classroom teacher. She found joy in sharing her love of reading and writing with students, and even used her own writing talents to publish three books for her middle grade readers.
However, as a busy mom to three kids, she realized that she needed more flexibility and time at home.
She wanted to pivot into a career path that would use her strengths and experiences to bring in a steady income for her family, but also give her a chance to enjoy her time as a mom and wife. To chaperone school field trips and help with homework, and know that her kids could come home right after school instead of going to a paid afterschool childcare program.
Enter the world of digital media marketing!
Marilee knew that she could use her writing talents to work online as a freelance copywriter. That’s definitely a field with some huge potential right now – just look at Chanti Zak. But she also wanted to diversify and find more options to grow her own new online business, 5H Copywriting and Digital Marketing.
So she signed up for my Digital Media Marketing Crash Course for VAs, and soon found her business taking off with brand new opportunities. And here’s how she did it:
Emily: You have such variety in your background experience! How did you move into digital media marketing?
Marilee: I started with freelance writing online. But I found it difficult to find new clients. So I found your training and loved it, and jumped in!
“I love the variety and I love learning new things!”
-Marliee
Emily: What were your goals when you first signed up for the course ? And began shifting from your career as a teacher to working online in digital media marketing?
Marilee: I wanted to build my digital media business and earn enough income to transition from my teaching job into working entirely from home. My hope was that I could comfortably leave the classroom after the 2020-21 school year.
Emily: And what progress have you made since signing up for the course a few months ago?
Marilee: I’m so excited to say that I’ve already reached that goal, a year ahead of my timeline! I am no longer planning to teach at all after this school year and will focus entirely on growing and developing my digital media marketing services.
Emily: That’s amazing in such a short time! What does your online VA work look like right now?
Marilee: I am working with seven clients right now, up to 30 hours a week, while wrapping up my final weeks of teaching for the school year.
“Don’t be afraid to jump in and LEARN!”
-Marilee
Emily: That’s fantastic! So tell me about your favorite tasks you do for your clients.
Marilee: I love writing content and helping with blogs. I’ve also discovered that I love partnering with my clients to develop and plan out their marketing strategies.
Emily: Those both seem like a natural fit with your background in writing and education! What has been your biggest surprise since you’ve started working hands-on with more clients?
Marilee: That I’ve been working together with clients to help them strategize, and not just complete specific tasks that they give. And graphic design!
Emily: That’s exactly what I hear from so many clients! They want a unicorn VA who will be a true business sidekick and partner that can offer big picture ideas. It’s not just someone to check tasks off a list. So did you find that the Digital Media VA Crash course gave you what you needed to get started?
Marilee: Yes! It offered such a great foundation of skills! It offered practical information about how to put new knowledge and skills to work, right away.
Emily: Great! What did you like most about the course?
Marilee: I have taken several similar courses now – some good and some not-so-good. Yours was the only one that combined specific knowledge and skills to do the job with the practical advice about how to use those skills to actually help clients. And the job leads you share with your students – wow!
“When I had my first phone interview with a potential client, she was so impressed by my knowledge of Pinterest marketing strategies and SEO!“
-Marilee
Emily: So as a former teacher working online, would you recommend the Digital Media VA Crash Course to others?
Marilee: Absolutely! The knowledge, support, and networking opportunities that you offer to your students are utterly fabulous!
Emily: Thank you! I love hearing all of the success stories from students like you who are killing it with your online VA businesses!
Marilee: Thank you, too! I could not love your teaching style more. I am thrilled beyond words, and as grateful as I could be!
The Takeaway: Take it from a teacher working online like Marilee – you can use your background and skills to be the perfect fit for a new career in digital media marketing.
Marilee isn’t the first success story from a teacher with an education background that I’ve shared. A little while ago, Nicole shared her story on my blog. She told us about how she has successfully worked a side gig as a VA for years while continuing to teach full time.
I also recently got to chat live with former teacher Megan Ramus, who took my VA Crash Course just a few months ago and is already working 20 hours a week as a Facebook community manager with a successful, six-figure online business team. And Carmen is another successful VA who worked in education but needed a change for something new!
But this isn’t just for teachers. Here on my blog I’ve shared a huge range of success stories from my students. They have included a former nurse and a healthcare worker, and a mom who studied electrical engineering.
I even recently learned that Chanti Zak started her career as a professional chef. Now she is a trending freelancer in the online space!
Since I started my crash course, I’ve worked with successful VA students who have done everything from business and finance to creative DIY businesses. Many of them had been out of the workplace for years, or had recently retired from a longterm career in a traditional field.
But the one thing that they’ve all had in common was that they were go-getters. They were passionate about building their own success stories. And ready to take advantage of all of the opportunities that they could find.
I knew that I could help them bridge that gap from their old careers to a new opportunity to work online.
And that’s why I created my Digital Media VA Crash Course, and later my Quickstart Workshop to Facebook Community Management. Because I had talked with so many online business owners who were desperate for their own unicorn sidekick. They needed someone to help them take their biz to the next level. But weren’t able to find the help they needed.
And meanwhile I knew so many amazing, talented women that had the potential to help them. They just needed to know where to start.
So if you’re ready to start, take a look at my Top Ten Tasks that you could do as a Virtual Assistant. These are the jobs that online business owners ask for help with all the time. Then make sure you’re in my free Facebook group for VAs so that you can learn more ways to get your foot in the door of the digital media space.
Once you’ve started working from home, you won’t look back…
-Emily, Digital Media Consultant (and Virtual Assistant …)
“I will make an army of unicorn VAs to help these online business owners!”
Ready for more? You need my VA Crash Course:
If you’re interested in learning more about what I do as a social media manager, digital marker and virtual assistant helping small business owners remotely, please fill out this form here, and I’ll tell you more.
