Business Growth Tips for Your VA & OBM Business: Soulpreneur Scaling Stories

After 7 years building my business online, I have made some questionable decisions, and today I am airing them all out. If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider, these are the offer and positioning mistakes I want to help you skip. I share three of my biggest ones, what each cost me, and what I would do differently if I were starting over. The common thread? I kept making decisions based on what I thought I was supposed to do instead of what would actually build a business that grows with me. So are you taking on...

Why are you stuck at the same income every month, even though you are doing everything right? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider trying to hit a bigger revenue goal, this episode will help you figure out what is actually capping your income. Because the move you assume you need, more clients, higher rates, more marketing, is often not the thing that will actually get you there. I walk through four real scenarios you will probably see yourself in, why you can work so hard and still solve the wrong problem, and how to find...

My goal as your coach is to get fired. Not tomorrow, I like paying my rent, but I want to work myself out of a job. If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider who runs to your coach, your community, or Google every time you have a business decision to make, this episode is about the one skill that actually builds a successful business: trusting yourself. Because the best decision for someone else, or for your coach, is not always the best decision for you. I share the pattern I kept seeing in my early podcast...

Think email marketing is not for you because you are too busy doing client work? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider, this conversation might change your mind. I sat down with email and funnel strategist Jocelyn Montemarano to talk about why email is actually the lowest-lift way for service providers to get booked out, no viral reels or daily talking-head videos required. We get into why done-for-you buyers hire completely differently than coaching clients, and the kind of content that actually gets a busy CEO to decide to hire you.

Jocelyn shares the...

How much of your business are you putting on hold because you do not feel confident or ready yet? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider sitting on an offer you keep tweaking, this episode is for you. Because here is the truth: confidence does not come before you act, it comes after. Knowing you can do the work is not the same as feeling ready to sell it, and waiting to feel ready can keep you stuck for months. I share some genuinely embarrassing stories of doing things before I was ready as a shy...

Have you ever gotten excited about a new offer, then quietly made it smaller, simpler, and more familiar, and told yourself you were just refining it? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider, this episode is about the sneaky psychology of offer creation, and how to tell the difference between actually refining your offer and shrinking it because it feels safer for you to sell. Because sometimes the changes we call strategic are really just fear in disguise, keeping us in the old version of our business. So how do you know what is driving your...

Are you undercharging? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider who feels weird about your rates, this episode walks through three clear signs it is time to raise them. Raising your rates is not always as simple as just charging more, and I pulled these signs from three real client conversations about pricing. The tricky part is telling the difference between a real pricing problem and just being uncomfortable with a bigger number. So if you have been wondering whether you are leaving money on the table, listen in for the three signs and exactly what...

The most expensive mistake in your business is investing in the right thing at the wrong time. If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider about to spend money on sales coaching, a marketing program, or ads, this episode could save you from investing in the wrong problem. Marketing is an amplifier, not a fix, so if your offer is fuzzy, more marketing just puts more of the wrong eyeballs on it. So how do you know if you are ready to invest in marketing? What foundations do you actually need first? And why does a clear...

There are three shifts happening in the done-for-you industry right now, and most VAs, OBMs, and service providers have not caught onto them yet. If you have already built a solid business but the way you have been running it no longer fits how you want to grow, these shifts are for you. They point to a future where you can grow your income without stacking on more clients and hours. What does a more flexible business model actually look like? Why is an offer ecosystem replacing one-off and tiered services? And why is being fully booked becoming a...

Thinking about building an agency to get out of implementation? Before you hire anyone, this episode might change your mind. So many VAs, OBMs, and done-for-you service providers make big moves like building a team, launching a course, or changing their niche based on a hidden assumption they never actually questioned. You want more strategy and less implementation, so you assume you need an agency, because that is what everyone else did. But what if the goal is right and the path is wrong for you? I share the questions I asked two clients who both wanted an agency...

Think you have an offer suite? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider selling 10, 20, or 30 hour retainer packages, you might actually have one offer in different sizes, and that is why you keep hitting the same income ceiling. In this episode I get into the offer ecosystem, four different offers that work together so you stop selling your time and start selling transformation. What is the difference between a menu of services and a real ecosystem? Why is a non-hourly retainer the shift most service providers are missing? And how do you keep clients in your...

Wondering why people are not buying your offer? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider whose offer feels like a hard sell, the fix is probably not more marketing or more deliverables. It is that your offer makes people do too much work to figure out if it is for them. So why do buyers say yes to some offers instantly and hesitate on others? What is the one shift that turns a task list into an easy yes? And how do you know if your offer sounds exactly like everyone else's? I share the patterns...

How do you know when your signature offer needs to evolve? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider whose offer feels a little stuck, this behind-the-scenes episode is for you. I am pulling back the curtain on why I am completely rebuilding Expansion, my coaching program, and what it taught me about building offers that grow with you. Why do the same client questions keep pointing to a gap in your framework? How do you decide whether to evolve your offer without overcomplicating it? And why does a maintenance offer make such a difference for recurring...

Booked out but still not hitting your income goals? If you are a VA, OBM, or Done-For-You service provider who keeps hearing that more clients is the answer, this episode challenges that completely. 

The truth is that more clients will not fix your income, and being booked out is not the finish line everyone makes it out to be. So why does a full calendar leave you capped, stressed, and unable to take time off? Why does raising your rates only get you so far? And what do you do instead when you are already at capacity?  

Can you run a successful business with ADHD? If you are a neurodivergent VA, OBM, or Done-For-You service provider who feels stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure what to niche into, this episode is for you. Today I talk with Maisie Rose, a business coach who started as a VA and spent about a year sensing she had outgrown it without knowing what to grow into. She shares how Foundations to Flow helped her name the work she was meant to do, coaching other neurodivergent business owners, and how she pushed past the imposter syndrome that made her doubt she was...

Thinking about building a VA agency or scaling because you have more clients than you can handle? Before you do, hear this. I replaced my 9 to 5 income in five months, had too many clients, and did the one thing Google told me to do, which was build an agency. It turned out to be the biggest mistake of my business, and the reason is that it worked. Why can success actually take you further from the business you want? How do you tell the difference between momentum and real direction? And what is the one question I skipped that...

Do you feel like your business has too many offers and not enough focus? If you are a VA, OBM, or Done-For-You service provider who keeps adding services to attract more clients, this episode might change how you think about growth. Last week I paused a group program I had already built, and instead of spiraling, it felt easy. Why does adding more offers actually push clients away? When is letting something go a strategic win instead of a failure? And how do you take the emotion out of a hard business decision? I am sharing the exact question...

Does your business not feel like you anymore? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider quietly building toward someone else's version of success, this episode is your permission slip to stop. Today I am getting vulnerable and sharing something I hid for a decade, and how it changed the way I think about building a business that actually fits your life. Why does the obvious next step so often lead to burnout? What happens when you build around who you used to be instead of who you are now? And how do you tell the difference...

Does your income feel unpredictable even when your work stays the same? If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider stuck in the good month, slow month cycle, the problem is usually not your rates, your visibility, or your number of leads. So why does one month feel amazing and the next leave you anxious about what is coming? Why do retainer clients still keep you checking Stripe first thing in the morning? And why is the real fix so different from getting more clients? This episode gets into why income feels so unpredictable for so many...

If you are a service provider who hates the idea of marketing every day, this episode is going to change how you think about blogging entirely. I am joined by Jana Osofsky, content strategist and creator of the High Leverage Content program, who started as a VA and built her entire business around a small set of strategic blog posts she calls a capsule blog.

In this episode, we get into Jana's journey from VA to content strategist, what a capsule blog actually is, and how she got her marketing down to one day a month.

If you are a VA, OBM, or done-for-you service provider who is making progress but something keeps feeling slightly off, this episode is going to name exactly what that is. It is not burnout. It is not a strategy problem. It might be that the goal you are building toward was never actually yours to begin with.

This episode gets into the difference between direction and pressure, why so many capable service providers end up chasing borrowed visions, and three questions to help you figure out which one you are actually in right now.

Key...

If you are an OBM or ops strategist who has seen those $25 an hour job posts and felt that mix of frustration and quiet defeat, this episode is for you. That rate is not what the market pays. It is what one small corner of the market pays, and it is not the corner you want to be in.

This episode gets into why those posts exist, what happens when you say yes to them, and the real shift that gets you out of that market entirely and into one where clients are seeking you out.

If you are a VA or OBM who is busy, good at what you do, and still not seeing your income grow, this episode is for you. The problem is almost never effort or skill. It is the structure of your income model, and there is a straightforward fix for it.

In this episode, I walk through the two-bucket income model that my clients use to build stability and growth at the same time, without burning out or maxing out their calendar.

Key Points Covered:

✨ Why the hourly retainer model creates a ceiling no...

If you are a VA or OBM wondering what scaling your online service business actually looks like, this episode is a real example of it. Sakshi Khatri went from solo OBM to agency founder in under a year. Today she runs Blueprint and Bloom, a fully registered agency with a team of eight handling backend systems, launch management, website builds, and social media for women founders.

In this episode, we get into exactly what shifted in her VA to OBM to agency transition, how she built her client base so fast, and what she is still figuring...

Hot take: the most powerful niche you can have in 2026 has nothing to do with choosing an industry.

If you have ever tried to niche down but nothing felt quite right, or you did pick a niche and you are still blending in with everyone else who does the same thing, this episode is going to explain why and give you a better way to think about it.

In this episode, I get into why traditional industry niching is no longer enough on its own, three real client examples of what values-based positioning actually looks...

You raised your rates. Things got quiet. And now you are wondering if you made a mistake.

Before you touch your pricing, listen to this episode. What feels like a pricing problem is almost never actually a pricing problem, and reacting to the quiet by lowering your rates might be the one move that keeps you stuck the longest.

In this episode, I walk you through the four real reasons things slow down after a rate increase, and the mindset shifts that will help you actually stand behind your new number.

Key Points...

If you are pivoting your online business and it feels like you are shouting into the void, this episode is for you. That gap between where you were and where you are going is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a specific stage of growth, and there is a way to move through it without the overwhelm.

In this episode, I get into the two mistakes I see VAs and OBMs make when pivoting that stall everything, and what to do instead so your audience is ready when your offer is.

Key...

Ever feel like you're supposed to niche down, pick one platform, and follow the "right" growth path, but none of it actually feels right for you?

In this episode, I'm joined by Alyssa Schneider, operations strategist and founder of Creating Freedom Agency. Alyssa has had one of the most genuinely interesting business paths I've come across, from psychology grad to struggling healer, to VA, to OBM, to running a full agency, and she has some really refreshing takes on how to build a business that actually fits you.

We talk about what it means to...

"I know I could charge more, but I don't know how to ask for it."

I hear this constantly in business audits. From experienced VAs and OBMs who get results, whose clients renew and refer. They're the backbone of their client's businesses, but they're still not charging what they should be.

The problem isn't confidence or money mindset. The real issue? Their work has spoken for itself. They've grown through referrals without ever having to articulate the impact they make. So they've skipped developing the language.

And you cannot charge for what you...

Marketing feels nebulous. Heavy. You don't know what to post. You sound like everybody else. So you post when you need a client, then disappear. Nobody hears from you until you panic and need another client. 

Maybe you tried Instagram for a few weeks, then Facebook groups, then cold DMs, then Threads. You're showing up in random places with no purpose and it feels pointless. So you quit. Then panic. Then cycle again.

Here's why: You're doing marketing decoupage, cute, but not effective. Marketing is meant to compound over time, but if you don't have a...

I see you posting things like "I help busy CEOs save time" or "I set up systems so you can scale" and I can't. I just can't. 

You are selling yourself so short. You're doing so much more than what you're telling people, and nobody is going to book you because you told them you can save them time.

Here's the truth: Your clients aren't hiring you because you save them time. They're hiring you because of what life feels like because of the time you save them. Because they can close their laptop and n...

When Colleen Florendo's sisters called her selfish for not lending her clothes, she didn't realize that word would become the foundation of her entire business philosophy. 

Today I'm talking with Colleen, an embodied messaging strategist and selfish(ish) leadership guide, about her journey from blog writing on Upwork to creating a totally unique offer that didn't take off for six months, but when it did, she couldn't keep up. 

We're diving into why she stuck with an offer nobody understood at first, how she transitioned from done-for-you to mentorship (and why that was terrifying), and wh...

I had a client ask me recently: "Do I need to get an OBM certification?"

I didn't say yes or no. Instead, I asked why she was asking. And through that conversation, she realized she already had the knowledge, what she was actually looking for was confidence.

Here's the thing: The VAs and OBMs who are growing their businesses versus the ones stuck at the same income level for years? It has absolutely nothing to do with how much they know. It has to do with what they do with the knowledge they already have.<...

I've done maybe a dozen business audits since I started offering them, and I've seen the same three things come up as the undercurrent of every single one.

So today I'm sharing the framework I use so you can audit your own business right now. Because here's what I find nine times out of ten: what you're building now is not actually going to get you to your goal. Sometimes it's a placeholder. Sometimes you're working really hard toward something you haven't actually consciously chosen.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the three questions to...

I took on my last OBM client even though I saw red flags on the discovery call. I needed the income, so I dismissed the tingles and took her on anyway. It was not great. Not great at all.

Here's what nobody tells you about discovery calls: You're not a candidate hoping to get picked. You're a business owner deciding whether this is someone you want to work with. It's a two-way decision.

In this episode, I'm sharing five questions to ask on discovery calls that will reveal whether someone is actually a good fit...

A TikTok about learning Spanish through exposure therapy and humiliation got me thinking about business. Not in the way you think.

Here's the thing: I know you're already uncomfortable. You're already pushing through, hustling, saying yes to clients, taking on projects, showing up. That's not your problem. That's actually the part that's going to burn you out.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the difference between the wrong kind of uncomfortable (working harder, posting more, taking on more clients) and the RIGHT kind of uncomfortable, the kind that comes from changing the game completely.

Kim Vargo was a high school math teacher for 10 years. She had three-and-a-half-year-old twins. Her heart just wasn't in teaching anymore, and she was desperately Googling "what can I do besides teaching" while feeling completely pigeonholed. Then she found the world of virtual assistants and took the leap—even though she had no idea if she could make consistent money. 

In this episode, Kim shares how she went from general VA work to becoming a certified Dubsado specialist for wedding professionals, why she's not afraid to just try things and pivot if they don't work, and her big...

I left my nursing career specifically for slow mornings. I'm not a morning person, I wanted to wake up naturally, sip tea on my balcony, meditate, take long dog walks, and ease into my workday feeling centered.

That lasted for about a week. Then I had 8 clients, then 10, then 12. I was waking up to Slack notifications before I'd even opened my eyes. Working through breakfast. Responding to clients on Saturdays because I wanted to keep them.

 In this episode, I'm breaking down why slow mornings don't happen by accident, how I built my business backwards (a...

Is it even possible to slow down and make more money as a done-for-you service provider? Because when you look at your business now and actually add up the numbers, you run out of hours in the day. But what if slowing down is actually how you make more money? Not in spite of it, but because of it.

I know that sounds backwards. Especially when you're drowning in client work, working all the time, and still not meeting your income goals. In this episode, I'm breaking down why the hustle harder approach is keeping you stuck...

Picture this: You just finished a client call. You showed up, you delivered, you were professional. But now you're staring at your to-do list feeling resentful. Not because the work is terrible or you hate your clients, but because somewhere along the way, you started feeling like someone else's assistant instead of a business owner.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the difference between operating as an employee in your business versus stepping into the CEO role, the three things that create this dynamic, and why you can have the perfect offer and systems but still feel...