Rebecca (00:00.766)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Champagne Lounge podcast. Today's guest is a long -term friend of mine. I've known her since almost the time I arrived in Australia back in 2012. Welcome to the show, Christy Smith.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (00:16.014)
Thanks, Becca. It's great to be here. It's like, I have known you for that long and I don't think we've ever done this before.
Rebecca (00:22.302)
No, I've had my podcast now for a couple of years and you're right, we have never jumped on before. But it has been a long time. And in that time, we've both seen each other's businesses grow in different ways. I mean, part of different communities and come back into the same one again, being the champagne lounge. But when you and I first met, how far into your business were you at that time? Because I was I moved to the country, I started everything from scratch. So I've been in
12 years sir? 12, 14 years? Yeah.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (00:56.014)
Yeah, so I was only probably three years into the business at that point. So I've been in business for 15 years this year. So yeah, it was very much beginning stages for sure.
Rebecca (01:03.038)
amazing.
Rebecca (01:09.438)
Yeah, and in terms of, so your business is Virtual Elves and throughout the time we've known each other has always been Virtual Elves. For me, I've done a few different iterations and changes along the way. But for those listening, what is Virtual Elves and why did you jump into that field 15 years ago?
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (01:21.454)
Hmm.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (01:28.494)
Yeah, so really fascinating. It's literally before this, I was doing a video for my operations manager in the Philippines to answer exactly the same question, which is really great. So I guess I started 15 years ago because I had small children, two little bubs that I just felt like I didn't have the freedom and flexibility to spend as much time with them as I wanted. I was working full time, you know, the old story of
being in an industry where you felt a bit wrong to constantly ask for time off every time your kid was sick or so there was a lot of guilt around that. And I just wanted to do something a little bit different. And at the time I was sitting at a desk in a temp role doing some mindless work, waiting for a courier to deliver two packages a day and then doing nothing for the rest of the day. And I just thought there's got to be a better way of working rather than just sitting at a desk.
for somebody doing nothing. So I just did a bit of research and came across this term virtual assistant. And actually it was a girl in the UK who was doing it. And I went, Ooh, that sounds interesting. And that sounds really cool. Maybe I could do something like that. So I did. And I started out very, very early in the piece as the virtual assistant myself. And then I guess,
Once I kind of probably at the stage where I met you, I probably had one virtual assistant at the time. We were supporting about 10 clients and I just tapped into resources in the Philippines and realized that, Hey, this looks pretty cool. And from there, we just started to support one client after another and just made our way through to now supporting.
120 clients with 65 VAs in the Philippines and yeah, all different sorts of things.
Rebecca (03:24.51)
That's amazing. 165 clients. That's a no mean, that's no mean feat. Now I know some of our listeners are going to be out there listening going, huh, build team building. Like team building is a really scary thing for most people. Now for you doing that, building a team in a foreign country and what were you, what were the, I guess the trials and tribulations of doing that and what made you go, you know, this is the way forward because evidently 15 years later, you know, offshoring and.
virtual VAs is a big thing, right? So it necessarily was at that time. So what was it like building a team internationally back then?
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (03:57.39)
Mmm.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (04:01.39)
Yeah.
Yeah, look, it was very new. And I think at the time, because I was, I, my first VA was on a platform called ODesk, which was a freelance platform at the time. It's now called Upwork. And back then, you know, ODesk, it was an American company. They were really trying to crack the Australian market. And so because I had a VA there, I was on their mailing list and I saw that they were doing an event in Australia. And I thought, I'm just going to go to this event and see what it's about. And there were only,
I don't know, 30 of us at this event, right? And there were only two companies that were agencies doing VA work. So I started to chat with them and just went, hey. And at that time, you know, I had a background in recruitment for hospitals and hotels. And so I kind of knew how to build big teams. I was managing big teams of 150. So for me, it was a natural progression to go, well, if I can do that here in Australia, how would I do that offshore? And I just partnered.
with one of those outsourcing companies at the time because they'd already had it set up. So I partnered with them, started working through them and getting VAs through their business until I realized that, hey, I can do this myself. I know what I need to do. I can do this myself. And I think having somebody on the ground in the Philippines, so Cherry, who was the first VA that I hired, she's still with me today, 14 years later.
Amazing. But because I had her on the ground advising me, I guess, on what Filipino BAs were looking for in an employer, what conditions they wanted to work under, what they didn't like at the time and what was being done in the Philippines with people paying a dollar an hour sort of thing for their work.
Rebecca (05:31.482)
Yeah, I remember Sherry. Yeah.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (06:00.462)
I just didn't want to be unethical in the way that we did business. And so I was lucky that I could build slowly. And I wasn't interested in going in and building a conglomerate of 200 VAs at a time sort of thing to support big businesses. I wanted to support the little guys who, solo entrepreneurs and small businesses who...
didn't have the funds or the means or the understanding so that I could educate them and help them enter in slowly.
Rebecca (06:32.51)
Yeah, I love that. And I love that about the way you've built that because there are all those, you know, a lot of tools and resources that have definitely helped, you know, even as freebies in terms of how do you factor in and how do you train a friend member of staff or how do you get things out of your head to be able to bring in someone to help you? Because I think a lot of us just do all the things and then don't realize that there's no structure to what we're doing to give to somebody else to follow. So.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (06:33.902)
Mm.
Rebecca (06:59.742)
you know, supporting the small businesses where they haven't got that structure has been a real selling point for you. And I love that you focus in on those small, solo entrepreneurs.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (06:59.918)
Mm.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (07:08.43)
Yeah, thank you. And I think that was why we had such great success early on is because I was a part of every, you know, possible networking group that I could be a part of and every education, small business education group as well. You know, I really threw all of my efforts into education and, you know, I was giving my time for free so that I could really show people what was possible. And I think that gave me that early sort of,
trust in businesses because it was too scary as you said to consider even going to somebody offshore. Well, is my information safe? Are they going to do a dodgy on me? Are they going to take me for a ride? All of those things. So we've been able to navigate that with businesses alongside them. Yeah.
Rebecca (07:58.718)
In terms of your staff overseas now, do you have a building that specifically you and virtual elves or are your assistants within a bigger space and how have you built that community with them collectively? Do they work in the same space or are they more virtual themselves in terms of a workforce?
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (08:10.99)
and
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (08:17.262)
Yeah, so I love what we have created and I've never ever strayed from it, even though the world tells me I should, right? So prior to, and I love that COVID set everybody, you know, back to what we were already doing. So we've always been a virtual work from home workforce. So from the very beginning, and I think the reason was that,
I never wanted to have an entity in the Philippines because that meant jumping through so many legal loopholes and you know, things like that, that I just wasn't prepared for. I wasn't at that stage of the business. And so it was a lot easier for us to go, all right, well, let's build a work from home workforce and let's show people that it's possible to have that because that's what we're craving, right? A lot of...
small businesses, we were transitioning to work from home because we couldn't afford to have the overheads of office spaces and so on. So COVID really obviously brought that about face and now it's opened up the world even further to people to understand what that can look like. So yeah, and how we build the culture within that is just the same as we would build the culture in a bricks and mortar.
facility, right? Because we still have games, we still have town halls that they all congregate to on Zoom though, every month. They still have team groups that they catch up in in certain locations where most of them are based and they'll meet once a quarter and they'll have lunch or dinner that we fund for them to meet up, right?
They do outreach. We're just about to do an outreach in Manila, actually, that is a beautiful outreach up in the mountains to support a tribal group in the mountains in the Philippines and feed a hundred children that go to school there. And the team are actually from the Philippines. Some of them are flying in from other parts of the Philippines and all going to do that. So culturally, it hasn't made a difference. I don't believe in fact the fact that they don't have to travel.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (10:30.606)
to a location to go to work. And the fact that they have got constant online support whenever they need it has been amazing.
Rebecca (10:37.694)
Yeah, that's phenomenal. And there's so many layers there of community, right? So, you know, why have you picked those outreach programs and why, and what does community mean to you? Because for you to have your team doing that and to fund and facilitate that on such a big level is massive.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (10:39.502)
Mm. Yeah.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (10:54.966)
Do you know, I've never ever started this business solely for myself. Like it's never been a business where I've gone, how many millions can I make? And you know, it's always been about what's the three way win? How do my clients win out of working with us? How do our VAs win by being a part of our community? And how do how to does virtual L's as a company, how do we win? And part of that is, yeah, great.
I have the freedom and flexibility that I want, right? So I guess the biggest thing that I've encouraged within all of our teams is, hey guys, here's your budget every year for outreach. Here's your budget every year for a social event. You guys work out what you want to do. It's entirely up to you. And so they drive it. It's up to them. I don't even have a say.
in what outreach program they're going to do because it's not a whole company outreach, it is an individual outreach for that particular group. And that's so much more valuable because it means something more to them. I think last year, one of the groups did an outreach to a facility that is really dear to them because one of their children is...
is has cystic fibrosis and so they wanted to do something for the school that runs the cystic fibrosis school and so yeah I just went yeah great I again you know if that means something and everybody's on board with that go and give back so it's great I love it.
Rebecca (12:35.134)
That's incredible. And for me, you know, that whole, the different layers of the community and the community support and community shows up in so many different facets there, you know, in terms of supporting families and supporting cultures and supporting cultures within a community in terms of where you're living, but also where you're working. There's so many, there's so many elements there, which I just, I just absolutely love. So for someone who is listening now and most of our,
audience are solo printers who are living and working by themselves. Maybe they haven't quite got into stepping into getting some help or having an assistant. What are the first initial baby steps that they should be thinking about and looking for before they bring on some help?
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (13:20.942)
Yeah, and thank you for asking that because this is the most important thing. I think there's so much noise out there about virtual assistants and about what's available and where you can get help. But that's not the first place you start. The first place you start is what is it that is your time sucker? Right. So what's taking you away from doing your brilliance, right? From being the most brilliant you can be and forgiving the most brilliant version of
how you help people, what's taking you away from that. And most of the time it is the social media marketing being consistent on social media. It is your bookkeeping or, you know, cause a lot of the time we are still doing bookkeeping. It might also be that, sorry, my camera just went off then. It might also be that it's the little baby things, right? So the first thing to do is to audit what you do.
So actually sit down for a week and just write down what kinds of tasks you're actually doing in the business that potentially you could look at and go, is that the best use of my time? Yes, I can do it quickly, but you know, a lot of people get stuck because they go, well, by the time I show someone how to do this and by the time I, you know, brief them and then correct them and then brief them again, then I might as well have just done it myself. Well,
Yeah, you're right. You might as well just have done it yourself. And that's only one five minute task for one day, but you might do that six times a week, right? So it adds up in the end. So I just think the more you can think about what are those miniature little things that you're doing that you could form into a process to give somebody to do, that's your starting point.
So don't even think about how you're gonna do it, where you're gonna find someone, what it's gonna cost, anything like that. You've just gotta do that task order.
Rebecca (15:23.582)
Yeah, I'm glad you said that because you do need all those steps in a row in order to show someone what to do. But in terms of that time audit, I know when I first heard the term, I was like, my gosh, am I tracking my time like lawyers do to the minute? Like how, well, what does this look like? A time audit can really look just like, you know, a very basic, I spent time today doing X, Y and Zed. And you can agree with me or disagree with me on this, but I tend to do them not based on the time that it took.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (15:39.758)
Night.
Rebecca (15:53.502)
but based on how much energy it drained from me. And so I'll put them in color coded almost.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (15:59.438)
Yeah, look, you could do it any way that you like. The biggest thing I would say, though, is two things. The first thing is don't do it on an app or on your on your computer. Have a piece of paper. So have an A4 piece of paper that every day you're writing down and it's as simple as the start time and every time you change a task. So you change what you do. You do what the time is and then what the task is. So it doesn't have to be.
any detail, it could simply be that you know 8 .30 you following up on sales emails, nine o 'clock you're doing a discovery call, ten o 'clock you do you know like it's as simple as that you know but it means that you can go through and yes you can then color code and say all right pink you know for you because pink's your color pink is the stuff that only I can do.
Rebecca (16:48.798)
Yeah.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (16:53.646)
Right. No, that's my zone of genius. That is my thing. I don't want to hand that over to anybody else. That's me. So everything else. How can I find the right person to do that? And then you color code it based on the category that it fits in to.
Rebecca (17:10.142)
Yeah, so there you go, there's very different ways to do the time audit if you are starting out wanting to get team members. It doesn't have to get really technical. So there's all these different ways of doing these things. Kristy, you and I met back in 2012 within a business community. You've mentioned that you were at the beginning part of a number of different business communities to meet new people and to build your knowledge.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (17:11.182)
Mm.
Yes.
Rebecca (17:36.03)
And I'm sure, you know, together you and I are part of various different communities now along the way and those webs and those networks really do interlink and intertwine. But what drew you into the Champagne Lounge? Why do you love this community being a virtual one rather than an in -person connection?
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (17:55.15)
Look, I think, you know, doing something in person obviously is always great, you know, at certain times, but I think it's really good when we're a busy entrepreneur or we're a busy parent or a busy whatever, it's really difficult to find time for all of the things that you want to do. And I think if something is an in -person event, but then there's nothing else, you know, bridging that it's difficult. So.
with the Champagne Lounge, you know, because I've known you for such a long time, I think that was the attraction to start with, obviously. But also you offer, what you offer is little things and little events and little check -ins and opportunities for people to come where they can. So there's no pressure, there's no pressure to engage and look, you know, I'm not a huge engager because I'm really super laser focused on the activities that I'm doing and.
I think you can, like if I want to check in and have a wine on Wednesday, I will, right? And it's nurturing, it's casual, it allows people to be where they're at rather than forcing people to be a part of something when they're not ready for it or they're not at that stage in their business, I guess.
Rebecca (19:18.11)
Yeah, amazing. Thank you. It is for me about supporting you when, where you're at, you know, and having those conversations when you want to have them. Cause sometimes, you know, you're not ready. You're not quite ready to bring on that team member. You're not quite ready to follow that checklist and do all those things. So as we've both said, you know, along the way here, there is certain things we can do at certain times just to make life easy. And if we can just have a bit of a chat and a conversation to get help where we can, that's the beauty of what we're bringing with this podcast.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (19:19.534)
Hmm.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (19:24.558)
Yeah.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (19:43.022)
Yeah.
Rebecca (19:48.03)
the conversations we have and the introductions between members, which enables them to go further, which is what we're all about.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (19:56.078)
Yep, beautiful. It's beautiful. And I love the community that you're building as well. You know, it's I think community is where it's at. And we know that, right? Like it's we are such and I was talking to somebody about this the other day. We are such an insular race, really, here, you know, in Australia. You think about all the tribal communities and I'm doing a lot of research at the moment on tribal communities and and ways that people support each other. We just don't have that. And.
you know, I'm starting up a creative circle of all of my friends where every second Saturday we all come to my place, you bring whatever it is that you're working on at the time that's creatively, whether it be a painting or whatever, but we sit down and it's like that yarn circle, right, where it's, you're doing something joyful but at the same time you're able to talk about the things that matter to you and get the answers. yeah, I know, I know. So just little things like that.
Rebecca (20:50.686)
Yeah, I'd have to do that with someone that either could help me bring my jigsaw puzzle from one table to another or that had a kitchen big enough for everyone to sit in because then we're two creative outlets. Just rocking out with all my crockery and cookware to make you ladies dinner.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (20:58.894)
Yes!
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (21:06.03)
There you go.
Exactly. Perfect. Perfect. Or maybe you could develop a new creative outlet that's portable.
Rebecca (21:17.15)
I could. You'll have me thinking now, I will think about what I can do portably creatively.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (21:21.102)
I know exactly. But that's it, right? Community and what you're doing is amazing. And I think, you know, community is where it's at. It shows up in business. It shows up in life. It shows up in all ways. And with mental health being a major epidemic, really, in Australia, particularly at the moment with our younger people, I think we need to be leading the way for them to show them what's possible and to show them how.
how they need to be and how they need to form better communities for themselves.
Rebecca (21:53.79)
100%, anything we can do to support the younger generations coming up is extremely important at this time. So Christy, thank you so much for coming on the show. I think we've covered the width and breadth of multitudes of things today. And I'm going to pop all your links into the show notes below. So you'll be able to find Christy and learn more about virtual elves there. Thanks for joining me.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (22:01.07)
Mm.
Kristy Smith - Virtual Elves (22:17.006)
Thanks, lovely, I appreciate it.
