https://mybrc.com.au/Case_Study/Sole_Trader/Pages/Rosie_Shilo_Virtually_Yours.aspx
When Rosie Shilo realised that she always became the ‘go to’ girl at work when it came to helping people with their computers, programs and documents, she decided to use her talents to support other businesses.
At just 25, she established her virtual assistance company Virtually Yours and after two years she quit her part-time ‘day job’ to concentrate on her business full-time.
It’s five years to the month since Rosie launched Virtually Yours, providing administrative and management support to a variety of businesses, from her own offices. She now employs a large team of subcontractors and offers a range of services from phone answering to design to bookkeeping and website management and setup.
The virtual world
Although being online gives us the ability to communicate more easily, quickly and flexibly with one another, it also puts a lot of pressure on us to be so accessible all the time. Rosie saw an opportunity to make both of these trends work in her favour by starting an online business that helps people deal with many of the pressures that being online entails!
“As an online business, you can work at any time of the day (I’m completing this interview at 10.28pm on a Wednesday evening) and you can transfer work to clients at the click of a button,” Rosie said.
Standing out from the crowd is a growing challenge as more and more businesses go online.
“Getting people to find and notice you can be difficult. There is so much information online, and this can be hard for people to navigate,” Rosie said.
“I promote my business mainly online and word of mouth,” she said.
Flying solo
Because Virtually Yours primarily operates remotely, Rosie works from a home office. Working as a sole trader in the virtual world offers Rosie terrific flexibility, but also has its challenges.
“I love the flexibility and the satisfaction of running my own businesses, although the flexibility can be a double edged sword sometimes,” Rosie said.
“Without someone there watching over you, you can lose focus and simply get lonely. Working from home, you never get away from work – it’s always right there. But you work from home! The commute is great!” she said.
When you work alone, it’s important to maintain a strong support network.
“I’m fortunate in that my father is also a sole trader who works from home so he was great with information and was inspirational. I am also a Rotarian, and my fellow Rotarians are an incredible source of information and advice.”
60 seconds with Rosie Shilo
Your greatest achievements so far?
Growing the virtual assistant network team to 30 Australian Virtual Assistants, working for myself and my complete faith that this would work!
If you could have your time over, what’s the one thing you’d do differently?
I’d probably ask more questions.
Where do you see yourselves in 5, 10 years and beyond?
In 5 years I would like to be running the business effectively and working on projects that I love while being able to delegate the other jobs to my growing team more often.
In 10 years I’d like to be focusing more on my team and helping their businesses grow rather than working directly with clients in this particular role. I’d like to branch into business mentoring as I am inspired by the successes of my peers.
→ Find out more about Virtually Yours at www.virtuallyyours.com.au
→ Rosie is also one of our contributors! Read her first article What is a VA and how can one help my business?
