I have closed my VA membership, let me explain why…
I started The VA Mentor Programme in 2018 and have helped many women start and grow their own businesses during that time. This is something I am very proud of.
The membership evolved from the main programme and was opened to all VAs in 2019. The community I created within the membership is something pretty special, if I do say so myself! All of the members support each other, pass work between each other, and collaborate on projects together.
I genuinely LOVE the membership group. We meet every Monday morning via Zoom and set our top 3 things to achieve for the week. Catch up twice a month (again on Zoom) just for a chat because working for yourself can be lonely. We have monthly training sessions that are usually external experts showing us how to do a variety of things. The members have access to me via messenger to help them with any issues they may be working through.
It isn’t just a membership where they pay their monthly subscription and get access to some premade workbooks or pre-recorded training videos, like many other VA memberships. It provides real VALUE to the members.
So, if I love it so much, why have I closed it down, you may ask!
I have been quite unwell for a number of years. Not many people know this as I try to keep parts of my life private. In 2021 I was forced to make the drastic decision of halving my VA clients. This wasn’t an easy decision, but it was one that was completely needed. Luckily for me, all of the clients I had to have that conversation with were very supportive.
I was then able to attend the MANY consultant and hospital visits needed to find out what was wrong. I kept my membership going while still working with women through The VA Mentor Programme.
During this time, I also created a new business, ‘Advantage Virtual Agency’, which I had wanted to do for some time.
My goal for the agency is to be able to enable women to work from home around their children and families, while also helping other businesses to grow by providing admin support.
2023 has seen the agency thrive, and 2024 is going to be an amazing year too. I have a team of VAs who are all amazing at what they do and a client list that makes me smile every time I look at it! We have created processes to ensure it runs smoothly, and in turn, these processes have helped our clients to plan and prioritise themselves too!
In 2023, we were finally getting somewhere with my health questions, and I was diagnosed with M.E/CFS alongside a bit of an immune imbalance, which means it thinks it needs to be fighting an illness or virus that I do not have, causing my body to attack healthy cells – making them unhealthy! Oh, the joys!
Over the last few months, the symptoms have been progressing quite fast, and although I am still able to do the school runs and some social stuff, I mostly spend my days working/managing/bossing from the sofa or in bed, in-between naps!
Unfortunately, there is no ‘cure’ for M.E so with the help of the Northwest M.E clinic I have been researching and finding out how I can get better using alternative therapies such as meditation and learning how to ‘pace’ myself – which, if you know me, you will know I am not a fan of not being active!
So, that is the long-winded story of why I have closed my membership!!
I start treatment for the immune imbalance next week. This will mean I won’t be as available for my members as I would like. I won’t be able to attend the weekly Monday morning calls or the Thursday catch-ups. Sure, I could turn it into a membership where they just have resources, but I care too much about them succeeding in their own businesses to do that.
For the next 12 weeks, I will be focusing on ME and getting myself better. I will still be running Advantage Virtual Agency and onboarding amazing new clients. Hopefully, they will be taking on amazing new associates, too! If you think we may be able to help you, drop me an email, as I would love to chat!
I will still have space to work with women who want to start their own VA business through The VA Mentor Programme. If this is you, drop me an email.
And I will be re-opening the membership later this year – after I have fixed my body!
If you got this far, thank you for reading and for being in my world. I appreciate you!
I have created an Instagram to document my journey and the changes I am making to help beat the M.E. If you fancy joining me on that journey, please join me on @kyliesmileyj
