CONFESSIONS OF A VA

Intro: 

Every business, company, sector, and employee has stories to tell. You might hear these stories in the pantry, hallways, near the water fountain, or even in the restrooms. 

We love stories, may it be us telling them or listening to them. In this blog, we will be sharing some of the stories we have experienced or stories that have been shared with us. 

Story #1 

My story is from my client in the UK a few years ago. He was my first client as a VA, a newbie so I didn’t have a lot of experience. What I know I learned from watching tutorials, enrolling and studying online.

When I started with him I agreed with the rate he wanted even if it was low since I’m just starting and don’t have any experience. 

Moving forward 2 years, I open up to this client asking for a raise. I presented my case - not to brag but his business grew and there are 2 new businesses he started with my help - and it’s in our contract that there will be an annual review and raise after. 

Me being a positive person and always looking for the good in people assumed that this client will agree to the raise I'm asking for or even possibly give me a review on my performance. But no. Two months later there was nothing about it. 

I asked my friends and network of VA’s I’m part of and they said that I have let 2 years pass without me asking for an annual review or every 6 months review. I was aware that part is my fault, though I have thought that if there are no complaints or reviews meaning my client is happy. 

A few weeks after that, I scheduled a meeting with this client. During that meeting, I open my case again and asked for a review. He said he is very happy with my performance so far and that the business is growing. Then this is where he said that at the moment the business cannot afford to give me the raise I was asking for, instead, he will introduce me to a business partner of his that is looking for a VA. 

As I said, I’m a positive person and this made me quite happy. Thinking ‘OK! I will have another client!’, I agreed. But I asked for a performance review and possible raise again in the next 6 months, and he agreed to this. 

You might ask how much was my rate? My rate with this client was £2.50/hr for 2 and half years. I know crazy right? Remember though, this was my very first client. And I thought that since I’m new this is alright. But no! When I spoke to fellow VA’s in the groups I’ve joined, they said that I was underpaid.

Why? Because I’m an all-rounder VA. My workload during that time was for 3 people. I manage his dairy, emails (4 different emails), social media, and his long-term and short team accommodations. Aside from that I even manage his other 3 properties around the UK. I even did lead generation for his real estate business. I learned how to do bookkeeping for his businesses and how to manage & even design his website. 

I learned a lot from this client, that’s one of the reasons why I agreed and stayed with him for years. 

Now back to the story, so he didn’t give me a raise but introduced me to my second client. The second client was a husband and wife team and they had a similar business as my first client. Unfortunately, my client disclosed the rate he is paying me so I wasn’t able to negotiate the rate I wanted. I ended up agreeing to the same rate. 

Moving forward 2 years more. (4 years with my first client and 2 years with the 2nd) My clients, I’m proud to say, had successful businesses and my team grew.

I managed 4 full-time VA’s and 20 part-time/freelancers.

I received a promotion and finally got the rate I wanted and felt like I deserved.

You might say, oh she is happy now, she got a promotion and raise, but unfortunately I was not. I worked unhealthy, long hours to get that business off the ground and thriving, at the expense of my mental and physical health.

In the last 4 years, of working with this client, I never took leave other than the occasional sick day. There were times I even worked weekends and holidays. It may sound petty or even pathetic but my positivity was sucked out of me. I love my team and my VA’s and I love my work, however, the endless meetings (4 hours of meeting), racism, and subtle mental and emotional abuse just did not make it worth it. 

I have raised these issues with this client and he didn’t bother to address them. Even threatened to resign if it continues but to no avail. He even said that if you quit, who will feed your family. Yeah, too much, right? In the end, I sent via email my resignation letter informing him I’m willing to render 30 days for a smooth transition. 

Guess what he did. He sent me a termination letter the very next day. I was hurt and surprised but I took it in stride. I said my goodbyes to my team and my VA’s who were very surprised. 

Fast forward a few days, one of my teammates contacted me via messenger asking for help. I found out that this client deleted my email account and terminated my logins in the different tools and software his businesses use. I asked her if they warned him of what could happen if he did? She said that his IT warned him but he still went ahead with it. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any backups and couldn’t ‘retrieve’ any of the work, documents, contracts, templates, nothing that I created in my time with them, everything was deleted. 

So my confession as a VA! You might have deserved that for how you treated me! 

I might consider writing advice and tips to clients' blogs next, but would it really be worth it? What do you think?