From $16/Hour to $50/Hour in 6 Months

Melissa Boutilier was interviewed by Esther Inman about her journey from being a nonprofit manager to earning $50 an hour as a virtual assistant in just a few months 🚀…

Melissa’s background was in nonprofit management, which she enjoyed but found emotionally draining and high-burnout. 

After relocating for a relationship that didn’t work out, she struggled to find her footing career-wise 😕

My money situation was getting worse and worse and worse, just because I wasn’t making the income I had been making. My expenses were growing and my income was way down. So I started racking up lots of debt.

One thing that didn’t help…

I started network marketing… that was a very very very bad decision for me. That actually contributed to my intense debt.

(More about network marketing here)

Eventually Melissa was working 4 jobs just to stay afloat…

I would get up at 6 in the morning. I’d work from 7am until 9pm. [To say it was] really stressful was an understatement.

Melissa’s health and relationship began to deteriorate 😔

She hit “rock bottom” when…

• She had an unexpected pregnancy at age 39
• Her partner left when she was 6 months pregnant
• She had “a near-death experience” during childbirth

Wow.

At her low point, Melissa moved back in with her mom and went on disability due to her health issues. When her daughter was 5 months old, she started googling ways to work from home.

After some skeptical research, Melissa took a chance and invested her small savings into a course called 90 Day VA (reviewed here)…

I finished [the course] in three months… I followed everything to a T.

Within two weeks of finishing, she landed her first client at $16/hour 🥳

I was putting myself out there everywhere. I was talking about [my services] on social media, with people in real life, I was doing the Facebook business page, the Instagram page, I was doing lives, I was showing my face.

I was just announcing… I put myself out there everywhere that I could think of.

Melissa’s first client was a real estate agent, via a local job board.

$16/hour wasn’t a lot but she was happy to get started and gain experience.

And Melissa’s business grew quickly from there 📈

My second job was $25 an hour and then my third was $34. And now it’s like $50 [an hour] and I’m starting to get into flat rates.

Ultimately that journey from $16 an hour to $50 an hour took six months.

Melissa is still constantly on the lookout for new clients…

I’m at the health food store and I’m getting to know the manager… she’s like I’m actually quitting to start my reflexology business… and I said oh I started as a virtual assistant… and then she hired me and I just did her photos and everything for her social media.

There’s opportunities everywhere… I think I’ve turned down six or eight clients now [due to lack of time].

Melissa credits her success to putting herself out there on social media, being open to feedback, working on her mindset, and following the 90 Day VA course closely.

My main takeaway from her story: many people would turn their noses up at a $16/hour job 🙄

But Melissa saw that first gig as a stepping stone to much bigger and better-paying opportunities down the road 💪