Let me guess. You’re itching to get started as a virtual assistant — but you’re super worried that your lack of experience will hold you back.
Well, the good news is that on today’s episode of FreeMamaTV, you’ll learn exactly how to become a virtual assistant WITH NO EXPERIENCE! You’re going to get the basic tools to get started, even if you have no experience at all.
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The truth is that everyone in the whole world has to start somewhere. All those people you see out there now working as virtual assistants? Not too long ago, they were right where you are now, wondering where to start. Everyone who is a virtual assistant has wondered how to become a virtual assistant with no experience, at some point or another – you’re not alone!
You’ve got a secret weapon, though, and all you have to do is click here to watch FreeMamaTV to get the goods.
Mama, are you ready to get started in freelancing today?
You know how, when you love something, you get all passionate about it, and you talk about it all the time, and you just kind of assume that everyone around you understands exactly what you’re talking about?
Well, that’s kind of how I am about chocolate.
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Hahaha, kidding! I mean, no, I am that way about chocolate #obsessed, but in this particular case, I’m talking about how I feel about freelancing.
The thing is, though, I totally get that you might not yet be as obsessed with freelancing as I am. Maybe you’re still unsure about whether it’s the right path for you. And maybe you’re even in that place where you’re like,
Uh, Lauren? I’m not sure I know exactly what freelancing is, but I kinda feel like I missed the window for asking.
Mama. You can always, always ask me anything.
So let’s talk about freelancing. What it is, how you do it, and how you figure out if it’s right for you. And, more importantly, how you can get started in freelancing today!
Freelancing is a way for you to work from home. It’s sort of like having a job — you’ll be doing work, not eating chocolate — but you’re not an employee. You’re self-employed, which means that you’re the boss. You have clients, but you get to decide if you’re going to handle a specific project or not.
You also get to decide when, where, and how you work, which means that you control your own schedule. As long as you deliver the work you’ve committed to, no one really cares when you do it. So if, for example, your kid is down for the count with the flu, you can spend the morning being mom, and when he crashes for a long nap in the afternoon, you can dig in and do the work.
Or — on the flip side — you could spend the morning getting client work done and then treat yourself to an afternoon mani-pedi without needing to ask permission for time off.
Freelancing also is not the same as network marketing. Just like you could have a job as a writer, or a designer, or a software engineer, an administrative assistant, or a teacher, you can be a freelance whatever-you-want. A freelance writer, a freelance designer, a freelance developer, a freelance virtual assistant, and so on. It’s up to you to decide what service you want to offer clients.
In other words? You don’t have to sell any lipstick, scented candles, or shakes to your friends and family.
When you freelance, you get to make a lot of the decisions on your own. And along with that independence comes responsibility — like you’re the person who buys your computer and pays for your Internet access.
You’re also the person who gets to decide if you’re going to call yourself a freelancer, a business owner, a consultant, an entrepreneur — all of these are valid terms, and you can pick the one that feels best to you.
If your head is spinning, don’t sweat it.
I’ve actually put together an amazing Free Mama Guide to Freelancing just for you, and you can grab it right here.
Inside the guide, you’ll discover exactly how to work from home, control your own schedule, and earn money — without sales or network marketing. There’s even a giant list of over seventy skills you can use to get started as a freelancer — the services business owners need most, so they’re literally just waiting for the chance to work with you.
If you want to do more for your family and be present in your children’s lives, then you need the Free Mama Guide. If time management is a struggle, you’ll love the resources you get in the Guide — they’ll help you prioritize the right things so that you can start earning money without losing your sanity.
What I want you to know, mama, is that if you want to be a freelancer, you can be a freelancer. And you can get started in freelancing today.
Every question you have has been asked by someone else before you. If you check out The Free Mama Movement Facebook Group, you’ll find loads of answers. You can also binge watch a couple dozen episodes of FreeMamaTV, or get yourself a copy of the sweet new Free Mama Guide.
If you believe that you shouldn’t have to choose between family and finances, you’re right. You can be a Free Mama, and I’m honored to have the chance to help you get there!
Here it is, mama: Freelance 101! If you’re curious about this whole freelancing thing, you’re not alone. Is it just another type of network marketing or MLM? Are you going to have to sell things to people?
Good news, Mama! Freelancing is TOTALLY different from network marketing and MLMs. For starters, you won’t have to sell anything. Ditch that MLM and forget network marketing!
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On today’s episode of FreeMamaTV, you’re getting a crash course in freelancing. Think of it as Freelance 101 — everything you need to know to start working from home and earning real money today.
One of the most significant decisions of my life was made for me by other people, and I’ve always been grateful for it.
In high school, my dance team coach asked us if we wanted to go to nationals, and all I could think was that I didn’t know if I’d be successful, so I didn’t want to go.
Go back and read that again, and think about it for a second. I didn’t know if I could be successful at something I had never done before, so I didn’t want to try.
Now, in my defense, I was a 15-year-old high school student. I hadn’t learned about growth mindset and all those goodies yet. I just knew that if I tried and failed, I’d be embarrassed, and I didn’t want that to happen.
Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of the team felt differently, and when we voted (anonymously), I was overruled.
Thank goodness for the rest of the team, who forced me to go to nationals and showed me that I could face all kinds of fears.
Years later, in the delivery room with Henry, things moved very quickly. Having given birth before, I knew exactly what I was in store for, and that I couldn’t do it.
“I NEED AN EPIDURAL,” I screeched to my nurse.
“There isn’t time,” she said, and I could only stare at her. Because OBVIOUSLY I couldn’t give birth without the epidural. That would be CRAZY.
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My argument did not sway her. I did not get an epidural. I did get oxygen (apparently, I’m a little high strung. Who knew?), and I birthed a baby.
You don’t have to know that you’re going to be successful at a thing. Sometimes, it’s okay to know that someone else has done the thing, or that someone else believes YOU can do the thing.
I’ve been there, in rooms and at tables where all I could think was, “Do I belong here? Am I good enough to be here?”
True story — I was looking at pictures from the first mastermind event I attended. In every single picture, my arms are crossed. I’m shrinking into myself. I’m closed off, afraid, and insecure.
Because the simple truth is, mama, you DO deserve a seat at this table. You belong here. You are smart enough. You are talented enough. And if you need to turn over the decision to someone else (Me!) for now, that’s okay.
I will happily make the decision for you. Because it will change your life, and even if it’s someone else who gives you the push, it’s you who will step up and claim your space in the end.
Everything you need to know about the legal side of your business.
Starting a business and working from home is awesome — but it does mean that you have to figure out a few legal issues. LLC? Sole proprietor? Do you need trademarks? What about contracts? YIKES. So what’s a mama to do when it comes to sole proprietorship vs single member LLC?
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Mama, I’ve got you covered with a special guest on FreeMamaTV — my amazing attorney, Kailey Jacomet. She’ll give you all the details on business entities, contracts, trademarks and more — in plain English. By the end of this episode, you will know exactly whether or not you need a sole proprietorship vs single member LLC for your business!
Head on over to YouTube so you can learn your legal rights and responsibilities, run your business with confidence, and protect your brand.
Back when I started freelancing, I was cautious. I wasn’t sure how to be a successful freelancer.
“If this doesn’t work out,” I told myself, “then I’ll just drop it.” I held on to my day job, even when I was crying on my commute.
In 2015, I had a moment of bravery — triggered by my miscarriage — that pushed me to take a leap of faith. I quit my job so that I could focus on my freelancing full time.
But once the adrenaline was gone, so was my resolve. I kept my options open. “If this doesn’t work out,” I reassured myself, “I can get another job.” I looked for ways out. I was firmly committed to my Plan B.
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My mentor, Myron Golden, says there’s an important difference between choosing and deciding.
When you choose — and I’m paraphrasing, here — there are two options, and you choose between them. When you decide, you cut off all your other opportunities, commit to one thing, and go all in.
I chose to quit the “stable” 9-5 and embrace freelancing in a heated moment, but the fear was still there, filling my head, letting me tell myself stories.
And then, something happened. I was at home, doing what I wanted to do. I had a taste of the freedom that freelancing gave me, and I wanted more. The moment that I decided I was all in on this freelancing thing, the moment I tossed the Plan B out the window — that was the moment that everything really changed.
I was all in on freelancing, which meant that I had a new fire to fuel me. I knew I would never go back to working for someone else. I would never, ever work for someone else’s dream.
That decision changed the way I communicated and engaged with people. Potential clients could feel it — and they responded to it. Even better, I could feel it, and it made all the work so much easier. I realized this is how to be a successful freelancer — my freelancing business exploded, and it felt amazing.
The first time I hired a business coach, it was a decision. I literally spent money I didn’t have, so there was no Plan B. If I didn’t make my business work, I’d spend the rest of my life in debt.
That kind of determination is powerful.
I don’t believe in Plan B — and if you know me and my super-planner personality, you know that I don’t say that lightly.
I definitely don’t mean that you shouldn’t plan ahead. I definitely don’t mean that you should have systems and redundancies in place. But if you want to know how to be a successful freelancer, the thing is — when you make a decision, MAKE A DECISION. Go all in, and don’t allow yourself to fail.
If you face your life this way — with the belief that there is no Plan B, then Plan A HAS to work. Failure isn’t an option. You have to give it — whatever “it” is — your all and make it be successful.
Does that mean you’ll never make a mistake and that everything will always work out exactly the way you want it to?
Um, no. That would be magic, and we don’t believe in magic.
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We believe in work — focused work that moves you closer to a specific result. And when you do that, even the things that don’t turn out exactly the way you wanted them to, work out exactly they way they’re supposed to. You learn. You grow. You apply the lesson forward.
Without a doubt, the biggest question most new freelancers have is “Where do I find clients?”
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If you’ve been wondering this yourself, then you definitely need to watch today’s episode of FreeMamaTV, where we’re taking a close look at some online freelance job sites where you can find freelance work.
We’ll cover the pros and cons of using freelance job sites, and give you the tips you need to make sure you stand out in all the right ways.
Head on over to FreeMamaTV and start closing those clients.
Do you remember the first time you met your best friend, mama?
Maybe you can remember every detail of what you were wearing, where you were, what the air smelled like, and even the first words you said to each other.
If so, that’s awesome. You clearly have a fabulous memory, and I am totally jealous.
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I can’t remember the details of how I first met the amazing Kathryn Jones, who is absolutely one of my best friends.
Just because my memory is lousy, though, doesn’t make Kathryn any less amazing. I know the broad strokes —we met in a Facebook group. We commented on each other’s posts, messaged back and forth, got on a Zoom call at some point, and eventually met in person.
Now it’s hard to remember a time when Kathryn wasn’t a part of my life.
But — and now we’re getting into the things I feel strongly about — when I first connected with Kathryn, neither of us was looking for a client or a business relationship.
We weren’t actually looking for anything. We were connecting. We were making friends.
I see far too many people obsessing over landing clients. You’ve seen them too — the people who connect with you on LinkedIn, friend you on Facebook, or follow you on Instagram. A moment later, they’re in your DMs, because they LOVE to serve people JUST LIKE YOU with [insert whatever they do].
Ick. Gross. Yuck.
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This is not the way to go about creating relationships.
STOP looking for clients and START making friends. STOP thinking about what you’re going to GET from people, and START focusing on what you can GIVE. And I don’t mean, “I can give you back your time with my administrative package for boss ladies.”
For real — when I say TALK TO PEOPLE, that’s what I mean. I mean, talk to people. Ask them how they are. Listen to the answer. Focus on being friends.
Because when you start a business, you’ll need friends. Some of your old friends will bail on you. Sometimes, it’s because you filled a very specific need for them — they needed you to be available, or they needed you to be helpless, or they needed you to be unhappy with your life. These are the same “friends” who will invite you for ice cream when you tell them you’ve given up sugar. They usually don’t have your best interests at heart.
Sometimes, it’s just that you no longer have a lot in common, or the timing isn’t great, or they’re simply in a different season of life, and you’ll reconnect later.
When you join a Facebook group, you’re saying, “Hey, I share a specific interest with you and the rest of the people here.” You can connect over that interest. And when you are an actual friend, and you genuinely care about the other person, AMAZING things can happen. Sometimes those amazing things mean you’ve just found the secret to getting clients.
Kathryn is my FRIEND, first and foremost. We are there for each other if one of us has a bad day, a rough week, a hard time. We laugh and cry together. We celebrate wins — personal and professional. When I see a book or a t-shirt or a recipe she would love, I send her a text and vice versa. She has even taken my calls from church when I desperately needed a friend.
And the fact that our relationship is financially beneficial for both of us is like eating the most delicious chocolate cake and then discovering it was made from celery and has negative calories.
So, the secret to getting clients is this…be a person. Make friends with other people. I promise you, the clients will come.
P.S. Have you heard that my friend Kathryn Jones is running a free training JUST for the Free Mama Community? We are going to go live TODAY in The Free Mama Movement Facebook Group! Join us!
Need to talk about how to get your spouse on board with your business plans? I mean, What happened the first time you told your spouse about your business plans? Did the conversation go as planned — or did you wind up feeling disappointed and unsupported?
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It might feel that you just have an unsupportive spouse, in today’s episode of FreeMamaTV we’ll take a look at what your “unsupportive spouse” might be thinking and feeling, and what you can do to keep your relationship — and your business on track.
Plus, we’ve got a very special guest on the show today — my (very supportive!) husband, Justin Golden.
Tune in to FreeMamaTV to meet the original Free Dad, and to get the support you need and deserve from your spouse.
A coaching student of mine — we’ll call her Belinda, because that’s not her name — hit a rough spot. She came to me and explained all the reasons why she couldn’t keep moving forward, and she severed our professional relationship, and I let her do it.
Ever since, it’s bothered me, and it took me a while to figure out why.
It’s because Belinda came to me with excuses. Belinda copped out, and I didn’t fight for her.
The thing is, life is full of hard things. Some of them are mildly hard: you get the flu, your husband has to travel for work, you fight with your best friend.
Sometimes, things are really hard. Your kid is in the hospital. You get divorced. Someone close to you dies.
You can’t control ANY of that. As a Type A+ planner, I’ve tried. It doesn’t work.
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There’s only ONE thing you can control, and that’s YOU. Your reaction to what’s happening, what YOU do.
When life is hard, our brains crave safety and stability. There’s actual science behind why you want to crawl into bed, eat the ice cream, and not do the “dangerous” thing. There’s biology behind making those big, impulsive decisions when you’re in the midst of chaos and crisis.
But you have to fight it.
Because the decisions you make in that moment of fear and weakness — I’m sorry, but let’s call it what it is — can have an impact on your entire life.
It looks like this: You decide you want more from life. You want to be at home with your kids, to leave your toxic job, to make a significant change. You commit. You start learning. You even meet with a potential client, but you feel flustered and unsure. We have to LEARN how to quit quitting.
And then your kid breaks his arm or gets pneumonia and you start thinking about health insurance and you decide, right then and there, that this freelancing thing is IMPOSSIBLE, so you’ll just stay where you are.
Stuck.
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That’s a cop-out. And in those moments, you need someone who will fight for you.
I didn’t fight for Belinda — but I won’t make that mistake again.
I will not let you justify walking away from what you really want just because it’s a little bit hard and a little bit scary.
I will fight for you. I will push you to recognize your excuses for what they are. I will not allow you to turn yourself into a victim with no recourse. YOU DESERVE BETTER, MAMA. You deserve to learn how to quit quitting.
And my promise to you is that I will BE better for you.
If your kids came to you and said, “Hey, this science project is really hard, so I’m not going to do it,” how would you react? I’ll tell you how: you’d hit the roof. And that’s what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to call you out and sit you back down at the table to do the work.
Yeah, it’s hard. Yeah, it takes effort. But you can do hard things, and if you want your life to change, you have to change the decisions you make…that’s how you quit quitting.
And I’ve got your back.
P.S. If you aren’t ready to give up on your dreams, you should take a look at the Movement Maker Accelerator. If you have a virtual business you’re ready to scale and want extra accountability and a coach who refuses to let you give up on yourself, then apply here.
