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So in early May, I get this email with the subject line “Helping Your Audience During These Challenging Times” and I open it up, and it’s an email following up with me on one sent to me in early April about today’s guest coming on the show and talking about working from home and pivoting during the pandemic and the opportunity for creating a fresh start.

And I was SO GLAD she followed up with me because I don’t remember seeing that first email, and as you guys know from Episode 148, I’m an email inbox ninja and it’s rare that something gets by me.

Sidenote: Always follow up. I tell my students this inside my Website Marketing Lab all the time. It’s not a no until you get an actual no.

And even though I’m booked out with guests through the end of 2020, I decided to bring Gina Horkey of Horkey Handbook back on the show for this bonus episode because I loved our conversation back in Episode 237 all about how to start a virtual assistant business and the topic is still timely, even in July of 2020!

So if you’re looking for a fresh start, maybe you got furloughed or laid off, maybe you’re like some of my family members who are high-risk and don’t feel safe going back into an office environment, maybe you just really loved working from home and want to figure out how you can make that happen long-term, maybe you’re like some of my friends who have decided that with everything that’s been going on in the world they want more control over their time and income and future and want to totally shift in how they live their life going forward, maybe you know someone who fits into any of those categories - Gina’s gonna share with you how you can get a fresh start.

Today we’re talking about:

• Why now is the perfect time for a fresh start.
• The importance of diversifying your income streams.
• The easiest way to figure out what your business is going to be.
• Why you should not be working for free.
• What a virtual assistant is and what is needed to start your own business.

My favorite quotes from Gina:

• “This is an opportunity for a fresh start.”
• “How do I help people to enjoy their lives now and not just plan for the future and save everything for the future because our future is not promised or guaranteed.”
• “If you never take any action, you're not actually doing anything to bring the results that you wanted.”
• “You need to validate that your business is going to work by getting somebody to purchase from you.”
• “Maybe what's in store for you in these little actions and being open to doors and next steps is way more beautiful than you could have ever imagined on your own. “

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Horkeyhandbook.com
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
• Inside Out: A Memoir by Demi Moore
• Freebie: 150+ Services You Can Offer as a VA
• Find a VA

Bio:

Gina Horkey is the founder of Horkey Handbook. She’s is a married, millennial mama to two precocious kiddos from Minnesota. Additionally, she’s the founder of Horkey HandBook, a website geared towards helping others find or become a kickass virtual assistant.

Gina’s background includes making a living as a professional writer, an online business marketing consultant and a decade of experience in the financial services industry

Connect with Gina:

• FB: https://www.facebook.com/HorkeyHandBook
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/horkeyhandbook
• Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ghorke
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-horkey/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/horkeyhandbook/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC49yIdhQohqDYtjSXfoh_Uw