Holly Copsey lives with her partner and two children in Essex. She set up her Virtual Assistant business (now an award-winning agency), Virtually Priceless, in 2018 during a separation and while seven months pregnant with her second child. Holly now runs a team of over 30 Virtual Assistants from her stable yard offices, and goes horseriding between meetings!
This interview is part of my ‘Ten Questions With’ video series, where I talk to working Virtual Assistants to find out more about their business.
You’ll find the full (and hugely inspirational) video recording below, along with some written key highlights.
As the interview contained so much inspiration and valuable advice, for the sake of brevity, some of Holly’s answers have been edited down and a few filler words removed.
Q1 – Who are you? Tell me about yourself and your business
I’m Holly, I live just outside Chelmsford, in Essex, with my partner and two children, who are 10 and 7 years old. I run my business, Virtually Priceless, from my office at the stables because horses are another huge part of my life.
My business has been running for six and a half years now. I set it up in 2018, and we specialise in supporting service-based business leaders who are rapidly scaling their businesses.
We hit over a team of 30 last year, but it started as just me. I always wanted to grow the business and have a team, but I never quite knew at the pace it would go.
Q2 – What did you do before becoming a Virtual Assistant?
I have always wanted to run my own business ever since I was a child; I just never knew doing what. So I ended up just going through college and falling into a career as a PA. I then went to the city and was a Senior EA in banking.
I then fell pregnant with my second child and my boss actually announced his retirement. We worked out that I could take maternity leave and redundancy at the same time. I set up my business while I was on maternity leave, and I managed to launch my business just before my daughter started school.
The slightly added sort of a hiccup was that I also split up with my husband when I was seven months pregnant. So, while I had that period of maternity leave and took redundancy, I was actually also navigating divorce and solo parenting.
But I decided that I wasn’t going to change my plan. I was still going to stick with it, still going to launch my business. And I did that when my son was 9 months old. It was quite a year.
Q3 – What was your biggest fear around setting up your Virtual Assistant business?
When I saw other people were doing it. I just thought, “Well, if they can do it, so can I. It is possible, and if it’s possible, then I can do it.”
I’m a big believer that mindset is 90% responsible for everything.
If you can crack that and get over your own fears and get out of your own way, then actually, you can do pretty much anything.
I consumed all of your content. I found your website incredible, actually, when I started, and I just read everything. You’ve got to have that growth mindset.
Q4 – How has your life changed since you became a Virtual Assistant?
Everything about my life has changed. From my personal circumstances of being alone with the kids, to finding a new partner, to moving house, to starting horse riding again…
All of those things on the personal side have had a huge impact, and the business has completely changed shape. It was me on my own when I started out, and last year, we had 30-something team members.
Q5 – What is the best thing about being a Virtual Assistant?
The most rewarding part for me has been just seeing how far I can push myself. Yes, it’s about working flexibly around my family, but it’s it’s not my sole reason for being – my kids aren’t my only “why”. it’s about me and what I can achieve.
Your life really is what you make it, right?
You can replace that London salary. Yes, you’ve got to work bloody hard for it, but at least you’re responsible for your own success. You’re working hard but creating something for yourself, and I’m really proud of the business. I’m proud of the team we’ve grown.
And I just love learning. I love the experience of doing it every day. It’s a massive emotional roller coaster, and I work harder than I’ve ever worked before. But yeah, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’m unemployable now.
Q6 – What is the most challenging part of working for yourself?
It’s an emotional roller coaster, for sure. You have to be prepared to kind of strap in and ride it.
There’s no guarantee you’ll always have as much work as you want, and you might have challenging clients and challenging situations to deal with.
I think the biggest part for me to learn has been managing a team, as I’ve always been an EA who worked for someone. I’ve never managed a team, and that has been a huge learning curve for me,
Q7 – How do you get your clients?
My very first client was an ex-colleague at Barclays. I’ve had quite a few Barclays clients over the years who’ve gone on to do other things.
It’s more about staying in contact with people in my network. Checking in every few months and just touching base and putting the right content out on social media so those people are seeing it all the time.
This week, I had an email from someone I worked with at Barclays, and I haven’t heard from them in seven years. They told me how they read everything I put out, but they’ve never once liked or commented on my posts. I had no idea.
So you never know who’s watching, right?
And that’s the thing; if you think with social media, you’re not getting much traction You just don’t know who’s watching, and that’s always so important to remember and just to keep it up anyway.
Q8 – What do you wish you had known before starting out?
Definitely learning to spot red flags with clients. You’ve got to learn to trust your gut, for sure. I’ve had a few situations where you think, “Oh, I’m not sure about this”, but you go ahead anyway because in the early days, you think “I need the work, and I’ll just take anything”.
And then afterwards, you regret it because you realise how hard it is to unravel and unpick.
Sometimes, walking away is the best thing to do. If it’s not a good fit, don’t try to force it. Don’t put a square peg in a round hole.
It’s very easy, particularly when you come from a PA/EA background, to be a total people-pleaser and want to bend over backwards and do anything you can to keep someone happy.
A lot of people say, “The client expects this, the client expects that”. Well, that’s only because you’ve let them. Actually, you do have the opportunity to say no,
Q9 – How do you maintain a work-life balance?
I prefer to call it work-life integration because, for me, they are very much about meshing the two things together.
My horses are a big part of my life now. I’ve got my office at the stables because I wanted to reduce the time I was travelling back and forth and getting pulled in different directions. It means I can go and ride in the middle of the day, or I can fit in things like a vet appointment or a farrier coming.
If I’m having a really crappy day, I can literally walk 30 seconds across the stable, go and give them a carrot and have a cuddle with the ponies and come back again. I like the fact I can blend the two things.
The kids could be here at the stables doing things with the ponies, and I do have to jump on a call, but it means I’ve got a lot more ability to make the two things work.
Q10 – What advice would you give to anyone considering becoming a Virtual Assistant?
I would say go for it, but don’t assume it will be easy. You cannot underestimate how much you’ll need to learn, how hard you’ll need to work, and, at times, how hard it will be.
You’ve got to be pretty resilient, and if you’re not, you’ve got to learn to build that resilience.
You need a thick skin. It can be really tough, but it’s also entirely possible to build something amazing that you feel incredibly proud of and potentially something that you’d never have the opportunity to do in your previous career.
I did your course, obviously, and that was hugely helpful in giving me the structure of thinking through the steps I need to work through, as one of the toughest things when you start out is just pure overwhelm.
Additional resources
Wow – right?
Holly’s journey from solo VA (while navigating a divorce and solo-parenting two young children to boot) to leading a team of over 30 demonstrates the power of determination and resilience.
It’s been a privilege first knowing Holly as a trainee and now having her as one of my peers in the membership group. Tbh, I kinda have a bit of a business boss crush on her!
- Holly completed my DIY VA course. She was a star pupil and threw herself wholeheartedly into the training. As you can see from her interview, Holly believes in making your own luck.
- Holly is also in my VA Growth Hub membership group. Holly and another agency owner, VA, were actually interviewed by the group on how, if and when to grow a team. The replay video was saved, and new members can view it when they join.
- Read and watch more VA interviews by selecting the interview category in the sidebar.
- I have a post on FAQs about becoming a Virtual Assistant if you are interested in setting up your own VA business and want more information.
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Holly took my DIY VA courseIf you were inspired by Holly’s story, consider following in her footsteps by enrolling in my DIY VA course. With lifetime access and an incredible trainee-only support group, I guide you through the entire process and do everything to help you succeed. |
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