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Janice Porter: Hello everyone
and welcome to this episode of

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relationships rule. With me
today is Christy Yoder. She is a

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proud Filipina, based in Ohio,
and is the founder and CEO of

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smart vas, and the host of her
own podcast, the master

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delegator, where she teaches
entrepreneurs and leaders to

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grow their business by
delegating. And first of all, I

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want to say welcome to the show,
Christy.

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Kristy Yoder: Thank you so much,
Jen, is I'm excited to be here.

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Janice Porter: Thank you. What I
love is that Christine and I met

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on LinkedIn, my favorite place
to meet people. And then we've

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had a couple of conversations
and decided that what she has to

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offer could be useful to my
audience, and I believe it is

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because i i vacillate between,
you know, jumping into using VAs

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big time or not, and, you know,
get afraid of certain things. So

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I want to get into that a little
bit. But first of all, I want to

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ask you, all right, I've read
your LinkedIn profile. I've

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looked at your website, you're a
pretty educated person. And and

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you have been in corporate, I
think, and then how did you get

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into doing what you're doing
now? I just love to know.

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Kristy Yoder: Yeah, well, thank
you so much. For that question.

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I love sharing, you know, how I
got to where I am now. So I grew

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up in Philippines, in 2019, I
moved to the States, so I'm

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pretty fresh and new here in the
states by but in 2017, I met the

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love of my life, and he wanted
me to move to the states. And

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during that time, I was employed
full time at a corporate, you

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know, company. And I thought, I
told myself that if I would want

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to start my own family, I don't
want to be that person who would

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not be able to take care of her
family, you know, not being able

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to cook breakfast or cook
dinner, you know, with your

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husband or with your kids. And
so I told myself that in order

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for me to do that, I need to
have more freedom and

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flexibility in my life. And so
at that time, I decided that I'm

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going to quit my job and start
freelancing. And during that

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time, in 2017, I didn't even
know that I was a virtual

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assistant, I thought that I was
just offering services to, to

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businesses online, I felt I was
just a freelancer, but I didn't

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consider myself a virtual
assistant. And so I started

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becoming a virtual assistant.
And then when I moved to the

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States in 2019, I love meeting
new people just like you, I love

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building relationships, you
know, with people, regardless if

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they can help me or not, you
know, I just love getting to

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know people. And so just because
of my personality, I was able to

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build my network. And because I
have a huge amount of

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connections, you know, on
LinkedIn, and even on Instagram,

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I got so stressed and
overwhelmed. Because my current

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clients back then, they wanted
me to take on new projects for

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them. And my new connections,
they wanted me to start working

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for them. And during that time,
I was like, Okay, I just moved

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to the States. You know, I just
moved to the States, and I

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didn't really want to reject
anybody, you know, I don't want

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to be rude to them by saying no,
and I'm worried. I was like

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dealing with Americans, you
know, like people from Northern

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America. And I was like, Okay,
I'm a Filipino. I just moved to

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the States. I couldn't say no.
And so I told myself to get to

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have right was it's a good
problem to have. And so I said

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yes, to many of them, I got so
stressed and overwhelmed. And

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then I realized that I shouldn't
be doing things alone. And so I

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started contacting a few of my
friends in the Philippines, who,

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who were at the time also
freelancing. And so I asked for

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their help, they started working
for me part time. And then when

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they started working for me, I
was like, Oh, this is such a

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good idea. You know, I was kind
of like cloning myself and

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asking people to work on my
clients projects. And, and now

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my job is to just build a
relationship with them, right? I

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don't have to like work on their
projects, what I just need to do

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is nurture my relationship with
them, and have my my friends who

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were freelancing, continue
working on their projects. And

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so that's when I started to grow
my virtual assistant agency. So

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I was a virtual assistant, I was
just solo and now I have a team

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of over 70 plus virtual
assistants and I'm no longer the

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virtual assistant. I'm now
acting as CEO of my business.

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And that is thanks to the
relationship that I have built

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with my connections when I moved
to the States.

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Janice Porter: It's fantastic.
It really is you've done a

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really, really good job. So if I
can just dig in a little bit,

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alluding to what I was talking
about what I alluded to at the

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beginning with you know when
someone has never worked with a

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virtual assistant before and And
they know that they need to. And

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quite often it would be a
solopreneur or a, you know,

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Coach consultant, people who are
sort of building their

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reputation and their business,
by themselves really to start

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with, and then it gets
overwhelming, right? So then it

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becomes, okay, I need to
delegate to somebody, but I

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don't know what to delegate to
them. I don't know if I can

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trust somebody else to do it the
way I want it done. And all of

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those questions that I know,
come up for people like me, so

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how do you? How do you ease the
way for your clients? How do you

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guide them to, to making the
process easier for them and

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finding the right fit with your
particular VAs that you would

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assign different things? So back
to that?

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Kristy Yoder: Yeah, that is such
a good question. And, you know,

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I think a lot of solopreneurs
can relate to this, because we

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fear the unknown, and not trying
to hire a virtual assistant.

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That is what what's making us
fear, fearful, you know, we're

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like, we're, we're scared of
hiring a virtual assistant,

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because we have not hired one.
And it's kind of like starting

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your own business, right? Like,
it's kind of scary to start your

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own business, because you don't
know the ins and outs of it yet.

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But once you start, you know,
taking the first step, then

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you're going to realize that,
Oh, it wasn't really that hard

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that I, it wasn't as hard as I
was thinking. And so for

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solopreneurs, who are wanting to
hire virtual assistants that

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they're trying to afraid,
because they don't know, if

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they're gonna find the right VA
for them, they don't know, if

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the VA would be able to give
them the results that they want,

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or do the word as exact exactly
as how they would do them. My My

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advice is to start start small.
So test the waters First, don't

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go all out, because that's what
I did as well, at first, you

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know, I'm a very skeptical
person, you know, I am, I may be

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intrigued, I may be very
extroverted, I may be good in,

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you know, talking to people, but
I'm very skeptical. You know, I

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trust people, you know,
whenever, you know, I get to

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know them already. But once that
trust is ruined, it's hard for

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me to like, give that back to
that person. So what I did was I

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started small. So you need to
ask yourself, what is that one

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task that you can hand off to a
virtual assistant, that is not

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going to affect you and your
business? Like, in a very, in a

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way where you're gonna lose your
business, or you're gonna lose

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your motivation to continue
working on your business. So

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start small, that can be your
administrative tasks, let's say,

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looking up, you know, for people
online that you can get

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connected with, you know, in
second, you need to make sure

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that you have a standard
operating procedure in place.

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Now, I don't really like talking
about standard operating

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procedure, you know, I don't, I
don't like it, I don't like

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calling it SOPs, or standard
operating procedure, because it

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sounds very corporate it, you
know, but I don't have a name

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for it yet. So let's leave it
that way. So you need to make

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sure that you have SOPs in place
so that you know that you set

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the right standards, and that
those standards that you have in

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your business, how you do things
in your business, and that is

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how exactly, your VA is going to
do things for your business as

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well. So you need to set
expectations. And oftentimes,

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you know, I've worked with a lot
of business owners, and

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oftentimes they didn't realize
at first that they need SOPs, or

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they need to instruct their VA
s, they thought that when they

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hire a virtual assistant, their
virtual assistant is going to

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just figure it all out. And
that's not actually true. You

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know, if you want to set your
business for success, you need

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to set your virtual assistant up
for success as well. And that is

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by making sure that you have
SOPs in place in and making sure

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that you communicate with them
as well check in with them,

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especially for the first three
months of your working

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relationship together. It's
important that you check in with

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them at least once a week and
you're not just going to check

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in with them because you want to
check their work. You're

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checking in with them to build a
relationship as well. You know,

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you need to give your VA an
opportunity to get to know you

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and your business and you need
to allow yourself to get to know

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the VA as well, because that's
what makes everything work

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smoothly having a relationship
with your team member and not

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just any kind of relationship
like a A deep personal

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relationship with your team
member.

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Janice Porter: Right? You raised
some good points. But it also

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raised another question for me,
which is my experience with the

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little bit of work I've had done
by other people, especially the

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and in fact, Philippine
Filipinos as well. Because what

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I've learned is, I have to know
that our timeframe is completely

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different. So we have to know
when the best time for talking

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to that person is and then, you
know, adjust and set that up.

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But more importantly, my
experience with any kind of VA

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has been, I think, maybe my
expectations of a VA, perhaps

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were too much in the sense that
if I want a task done that I

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don't know how to do properly,
because I'm not technical, or I

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don't know how that program
works. I just know, I need to

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use it to get from point A to
point B, I want you to look

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after that. Is there is there a
fine line between the VA who

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understands that and can take
over and say, Well, this is

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here's what you need. Tell me if
this looks right, or not? Or

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someone who's just waiting for
instructions? Because that would

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work in that case?

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Kristy Yoder: Yeah, that is?
That is a good question. You

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know, and that is a very valid
concern. And I've experienced

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that as well. And I realized
that there are two different

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types of virtual assistants. The
other one might be actually

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quite different. They probably
shouldn't be considered virtual

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assistants, you know, because
they're more specialists, you

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know, but virtual assistants
mainly are implementers, the

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implement the strategy that you
already have. So these are the

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doors. So if you already have a
strategy, they will immediately

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implement those strategy for
you. Now, in your case, you said

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that you didn't know about, you
know, some of the technicalities

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of the tasks that you delegated
to a virtual assistant, then

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what you need is a VA
specialist. You know, not all

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virtual assistants are skilled
to think the way how business

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owners think. But there are VA
bas out there who specializes in

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a specific skill, let's say
social media strategy. So if if,

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let's say, for example, you
don't know anything about social

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media, and you want your VA, to
run it for you, then you need a

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specialist, so that you can make
things happen so that your

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specialist can make things
things happen, even without you

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knowing all about social media.
So those are two different

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virtual assistants that you're
going to be looking for, you

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need to know whether you need a
specialist or do you need a doer

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or an implementer?

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Janice Porter: Okay, okay. Makes
sense. That makes sense. So, so

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you do the the, the intake, the
onboarding, and you match your

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new client to your, your, the
right Assistant, the right,

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yeah,

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Kristy Yoder: exactly, yeah. And
we always tell our clients, we

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set expectations at the onset,
that we're not a marketing

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agency, you know, based on the
experience we've had with so

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many clients that we've helped,
we know different strategies,

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you know, we can only recommend
strategies that we have already

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implemented. But we cannot
create a strategy from scratch

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for our clients, because we're
not a marketing strategy. So we

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help them a little bit with, you
know, weed strategies that we

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think are that we think that's
going to work for them. And we

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also are very proactive when it
comes to telling them that no,

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this isn't gonna work. We've
tried this for other clients,

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and we don't think this is going
to work for you.

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Janice Porter: Oh, that's good
to know. That's really good. So

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let's just broaden the scope
here a little bit, because I'm

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fascinated that you know, you
are and I noticed this when I

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first talked to you, the very
first time we met on Zoom is

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you're very, you're very smart.
And I think I think you know,

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you are and I love that you have
you have taken something and

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created this business for
yourself and you you've been

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very successful at it. And I
love that. And what would you

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what would you attribute your
success? Mostly to?

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Kristy Yoder: Wow, that is such
a good question. And I feel like

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I'm gonna tear up. You know,
what if there is one main

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investment that I have invested
in my business, that would be

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two things. First, courage and
resiliency. No amount of money

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can help you grow a business if
you don't have courage and

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resilience. MC, if you are a
business owner, you need to have

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those two. If not, then people
are just going to stomp on you,

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you're not going to be able to
make it, you're not going to

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have a successful business. And
I'm glad that I was brought up

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in a way where I'm not fearful
of things, you know, I mean, I

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have, I fear a lot of things,
but I don't feel too much to the

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point of not trying them. You
know, if that makes sense. So,

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I'm glad Yeah. And I'm glad that
my parents were very courageous

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as well. And they're very, very
resilient. You know, I grew up

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in a third world country, we
make do of things that we have.

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Are your parents still there?
Uh, my dad is actually visiting

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the States right now. So he's
here at home? My mom is in the

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Philippines.

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Janice Porter: Okay. Okay. And
my experience with the many

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Filipinos that I know are,
they're all hard workers and

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everybody, yeah, and quite often
have such a strong sense of

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family as well. So all of that
builds character. And I love

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that. So that makes sense that,
you know, you know that you need

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to work hard, and you know, that
you need to be strong inside.

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And even though you're fearful,
feel the fear and do it anyway.

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Right.

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Kristy Yoder: Yeah, exactly. And
if I may just share for, you

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know, a little bit when I moved
to the States, you know, when I

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was the one doing our sales
presentation, I was so scared

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doing it, because I was looking
at myself as somebody that have

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built nothing, yet at that time.
So I was thinking to myself,

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like, who am I to talk to these
people who are successful

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already, you know, I was, I was
pitching our sales to pitching

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sales to CEOs and founders, you
know, and I had envisioned CEOs

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and founders, as somebody who
wear suit and tie. So it was

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changed a lot. That's true. And
with that kind of image in my

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mind, you know, that created
fear in me. And somebody

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actually asked me, So how did
you get over your fear? I told

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that person I actually don't
know, I just, I just did it

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anyway, you know, the more you
keep on the, the more you keep

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on doing it, the more your fear
is gonna go away, and you won't,

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you won't even notice that
you're so confident already

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about the things that you fear
the most.

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Janice Porter: That's really
good. So on your bio, it says

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here that you leave more than 70
team members, and have served

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more than 200 businesses in the
US together with your team since

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2020. You grew your business
from zero to now close to seven

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figure revenues and desires to
help business owners achieve

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their business goals. That's
pretty, pretty. Something to be

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very proud of. And along the
way, would who would you say has

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influenced you the most? Did you
have anyone in your business

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world that you latched on to as
a you know, as a mentor? Or was

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it what was it? Who was it?

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Kristy Yoder: So I had tried
different mentors, and at the

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moment, I have two mentors. And
the reason why I have two

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mentors is because I believe
that one person can really they

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don't have, they don't know
everything, you know, and my my

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two mentors, their personality
are very different. My other

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mentor, he's very focused on
emotions. And my other mentor is

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very, very focused on logic. So
I like that I have the two of

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them because they're able to
balance things out. And so But

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although they have impacted my
life, my business, I can say

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that they're the ones who have a
huge impact in my business. And

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this person that impacted my
life. A lot is somebody that I

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have not met yet. His name is
John Maxwell. I'm sure you know

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him. Yeah. I binge watch his
leadership podcast on YouTube,

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his sermons. Yes. And there was
actually I think, a couple of

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months where I was just like,
every day, watching his videos

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on leadership and his his, his
topics are not about how to

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start a business. But he's his
main goal is to teach a person

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how to become a good leader
because he believes that

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everything falls and rises on
leadership.

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Janice Porter: Yeah, his 21 Laws
of Leadership. Yeah, I remember.

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Yeah. And I actually spoke with
someone yesterday who she she's

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a John Maxwell. Coach, certified
coach and also took His disc

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training. Are you familiar with
disc? Yeah. A personality? Yeah.

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And she said that, yeah, that he
had his own sort of way of doing

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that. So yeah. And he's been
around for a long time, and I

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can understand where that would
be an interesting and, and

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educational and, and practical
kind of mentor to have. So

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that's awesome. Yeah. And so as
someone who teaches people to

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delegate, do you delegate

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Kristy Yoder: a lot? There was
actually a point where I was

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like, What am I gonna do now?
Like, you know, I delegate, but

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I always reassess myself, I am
such a visionary, I'm a dreamer.

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When I take a shower, I have a
lot of ideas. In my mind, when I

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take a walk, or even just for
five minutes, I probably have 10

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to 20 ideas already. And I, I
need to delegate because if not,

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I won't be able to implement
those ideas that I have in my

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mind. And I am a goal oriented,
a goal and result oriented

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person as well. If I have an
idea, I'm not afraid to like,

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share that with my team members
and have them have them do it.

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So I'm not I'm not really afraid
of failing. Unless it's going to

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take my business down. So I take
calculated risk. And so I

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delegate, but there are also
times that I don't realize that

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I'm doing too many things
already. And so I always

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reassess reevaluate myself.
Every time I don't stop working

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at 5pm. That's when I asked
myself, What am I not

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delegating? And, okay. And I
always ask myself that, because

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when I get stressed and
overwhelmed already, that's

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that's a sign that I'm not
delegating some of the tasks

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that I'm not supposed to be
doing.

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Janice Porter: Oh, that's a good
question to ask oneself, right?

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Because you like it, you're very
Are you very strict with

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yourself about your timeframes?
Like work life balance type of

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thing?

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Kristy Yoder: Yeah, sir. Sure
of, but I know it's going to

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change once we build our own
family. But I always go back to

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my why, like, why am I doing
this? Why did I start my

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business and ensure that at the
beginning of this episode, that

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the reason why I started my
business, is because I want to

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be able to spend time with my
loved ones? And if I'm not able

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to do that, then what's the
point of having a business?

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Right? So that's why I always
ask myself, why am I not

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delegating?

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Janice Porter: Okay, good point,
you got me thinking you got me

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fake. So I think one of my
biggest downfalls is not being

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consistent with things and I get
sidetracked really easily,

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because I love to learn, and I
want to hear what someone else

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has to say. And I find myself
going down rabbit holes all the

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time. And so I need to be more
consistent. And I think,

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probably having, I don't know,
there's, there's a fine line

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between having having the
support of someone to help me,

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or having the responsibility of
having that person because

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that's what makes it difficult
for me, sometimes. It's the

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response, oh, my gosh, I gotta
get this ready for my right

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person. And I, and sometimes I
want them to, to push me a

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little bit. Does that make
sense? I think that

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Kristy Yoder: makes sense. You
know, what, I'm actually kind of

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like you to like, I get easily
distracted. But because I have

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somebody that I trust, and she's
actually my co she is my first

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full time hire. And, and she has
handled so many roles in the

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business already. And she is one
of the main person that I

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really, really trust. And she's
my right hand person. And I feel

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like if you have that person, if
you have your right hand, not

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literally your right hand. Of
course you have your right hand.

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Left Handed. Yeah. Okay, cool.
That works. So I think it will

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make things easier for you
because even though you're a

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business owner, you have to be
accountable with somebody as

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well.

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Janice Porter: Yes, that's a
great point. I love that. That's

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so cool. Okay, so this is so
much fun. And so finally, in

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terms of the VA business, what
advice would you give to someone

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who is considering hiring a
virtual assistant, but is

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hesitant or unsure about taking
that step? You may have answered

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this already, but if you want to
put it in, in a little tight

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little package with a bow, you
can

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Kristy Yoder: Yeah, sure. I love
this question so much, because

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it it gets me thinking and it
gets other people thinking as

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well. You know what, if your
goal is to grow your business,

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then you don't have a choice but
to delegate. Sooner or later.

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You're gonna delegate. You don't
have a choice. So my advice for

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you is delegate before it's too
late, I've met a lot of

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businesses who have started
delegating, at the point where

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their business is already messy.
And you can, you can expect your

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virtual assistant to fix your
mess, you know, again, your

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virtual assistant is there to
implement your, your, your

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strategies, and so don't so
delegate before it's too late.

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But if you are a solopreneur,
and you don't have the desire to

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scale your business, then it's
okay to do everything your own,

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you know, like, there are people
out there who, who are content

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with just 5k or 10k, you know,
months, you know, but there are

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ambitious intrapreneurs out
there like me who are not

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content with those, you know,
and so, if you're a solopreneur,

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and you're content with what you
have right now, you know, go for

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it, you know, like, continue
what you're doing right now, you

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know, don't, you don't have to
force yourself to hire virtual

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assistants just because I'm
telling you to hire virtual

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assistants, you know, you don't
have to copy other people. But

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if you're an entrepreneur who's
ambitious, and you're a dreamer,

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and you really want to grow your
business, you have to delegate.

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You know, even even at home, I
delegate, I don't vacuum

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anymore, I bought a robot to
vacuum my house because we have

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a dog. And that's one way to
save time and energy as well. So

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delegation is very, very, it's
inevitable, you know, especially

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if you want to have flexibility,
freedom and peace of mind in

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your life. Regardless if it's
personal or professional.

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Janice Porter: That's a really
good point. And I do that with

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with things at home too. So I
need to think of it a little bit

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differently in my business. So.
So thank you, thank you for your

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00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,890
information, and your you and
your story. Because I love that,

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and I'm so glad I met you. And
where can people who are maybe

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00:27:05,430 --> 00:27:08,730
now intrigued and interested,
where can they get ahold of you?

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And how do they? How do they
even investigate that process

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00:27:12,630 --> 00:27:14,610
with with your company?

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00:27:15,180 --> 00:27:18,510
Kristy Yoder: Yeah, you can find
me on my website, Christy

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00:27:18,510 --> 00:27:25,110
yoder.com KRISPYYOD or.com. I
have free training there on how

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to hire a virtual assistant. And
I also have a mini course on how

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00:27:30,750 --> 00:27:34,770
you can delegate effectively to
a virtual assistant. And I'm

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00:27:34,770 --> 00:27:38,460
very social. I'm on Instagram
and LinkedIn. So feel free to

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00:27:38,460 --> 00:27:41,100
send me a DM if you have any
questions. I love getting to

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00:27:41,100 --> 00:27:44,040
know people. So don't be shy if
you want to reach out to me.

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Janice Porter: You totally do. I
know I love that. So I thank you

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thank you for being here. And I
wish you further success in your

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00:27:52,169 --> 00:27:59,369
business. And I think that your
your secret. I think your secret

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sauce is you I think it's that
personality that and confidence

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that you exude about being able
to help people and know that you

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believe that that it will help
them and their business and I

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00:28:11,729 --> 00:28:14,399
think that's what's going to
take you a long way. So I

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00:28:14,399 --> 00:28:18,179
appreciate that. I appreciate
you being here. And for my

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00:28:18,179 --> 00:28:22,319
audience please remember to
check out Christy's website

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00:28:22,319 --> 00:28:24,989
Christy I will put it all in the
in the show notes Christy

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yoder.com. But your company's
name is is smart virtual

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Kristy Yoder: assistants, our
virtual assistants, they can

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00:28:33,479 --> 00:28:35,489
find it on my website as well

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Janice Porter: got it, okay. And
I know that she will be willing

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to talk to you whatever happens
in terms of going forward with a

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VA or not. So and remember to
stay connected and be remembered