I met Leah Roe at a networking event in Madison, Wisconsin called A Million Cups. She is very well connected in the Madison area and spends a significant amount of time giving back to the community. Ever since Leah told me about the company she started, I have been excited to have her on the OJ as a guest! If you are a real estate agent who is considering hiring a virtual assistant, listen to this episode first, it’s a game-changer!
Leah said she had no intention of starting a business when she asked her sister to be her virtual assistant. Leah wanted to have a greater impact in her community through her work but realized she would need someone to help her handle all of the little details that seemed to eat up her day. Her sister agreed to the position, and did such an outstanding job, Leah’s clients and connections started asking where they could hire a virtual assistant of such high caliber. The result was MAVAN or Military Affiliate Virtual Assistant Network. The goal of MAVAN is to help military spouses re-claim or recreate their professional identities and help professionals increase their impact.
The reality of being a military spouse means moving frequently, often with no control over the destination. Companies are often hesitant to hire military spouses, due to long onboarding processes and a high turnover rate. Leah’s sister, Anna is a military spouse and has experienced all of these setbacks before becoming a virtual assistant. As a MAVAN, Anna has been able to reclaim her professional identity, create another source of income for her family and be the ever-present parent that her children need. The MAVANs Leah hires all have Master’s degrees and several years of business experience. This level of training ensures that each assistant is able to help professionals expand their business impact.
Leah says MAVAN creates relationships with impact-driven professionals that are “Transformational, not just transactional.” She looks for clients who want to connect with their assistants and help empower their careers. For the MAVANs, working as a virtual assistant offers the chance to get excited about the work they are doing, provides career advancement opportunities and a community of like-minded individuals. Leah creates these relationships by finding professionals and asking them what tasks are preventing them from making their biggest impact. Once she has a list of the tasks, she reaches out to the MAVAN network to see who is interested in that kind of work. From there, she facilitates a conversation between the professional and the MAVAN.
As a real estate agent, your day may be filled with small tasks that are preventing you from making the biggest impact possible. Scheduling showings, following up with clients, setting appointments and managing your social media are all valuable, until those tasks prevent you from forming new relationships and acquiring new clients. If you want to take your business to the next level, you should strongly consider hiring a MAVAN! Listen to Leah Roe talk more about how she is helping impact-driven professionals on this outstanding Onion Juice episode!
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