#1.: From Rebel to Revolution - My story

Episode Transcript:

What's up, welcome to the right-hand revolution, the podcast for virtual assistance, OBMs, and women building BOLD support-based businesses that give them freedom, purpose, and control. I'm Rebecca Morassutti, entrepreneur, educator, and your host. Over the past decade, I've built my own support business from the ground up, working with clients all over the world.

Now I'm helping women, just like you, replace their corporate salaries, land high-value clients, and create businesses they're proud of. All without endless content creation, $25 an hour clients, or spending months on websites or portfolios. Now listen, I wasn't supposed to be a virtual assistant.

I had a corporate job, I had a solid salary, and a five-year plan, but I wanted more. More freedom, more control, and something I could call my own. When I started my business, I followed the so-called rules of the VA industry, and it nearly drove me out of business.

I was undercharging, overwhelmed, and questioning if I should just give up and go back to my old job. That's when I realized something had to change. So, I created a better way.

A proven strategy called the Freedom VA Framework. It's helped hundreds of women step into their rules as trusted business partners, work with clients who value them, and build support-based businesses that finally give them the freedom to create a life of their own design. And now I'm here to help you, too.

Each week on the Right Hand Revolution, I'll bring you bold strategies, proven tools, and real talk to help you build a business and life that's 100% yours. Your freedom starts now. Don't forget to subscribe to the Right Hand Revolution, and let's build your business together.

Welcome to the very first episode ever of the Right Hand Revolution podcast. My name is Rebecca Morassutti. I am your host, and this really is a space for all online supporting women.

So, if you're a virtual assistant, if you're an online business manager, if you are an integrator, if you are helping with the day-to-day operations of your client's business, this is the space for you. Now, I created this podcast because I am on a mission. As the name suggests, yes, ladies, this is a revolution.

If you are an online support person, I know you. You are thoughtful, you are intentional, you care, and you are so incredibly talented. And I really believe that you as that Right Hand woman, as the backbone of your client's business, you deserve more.

For way too long in this space, in the online business space, we have been taken for granted. If you are anything like me for a very large part of my business, I was very focused on my clients, my clients, my clients, and I never really worked on my business or thought about where I wanted my business to go. So, this podcast is going to give you all of that and more, okay? I want you to be able to create a business that allows you to create a life you love, to create a life of your own design.

One that lets you lean into your natural gifts while giving you the freedom to live life on your own terms. Now, no matter where you are in your journey, whether you are just starting out, just thinking about starting an online business as somebody who provides virtual support. Or if you're a VA right now, you're an OBM right now, maybe you want to transition more into the VA role.

Maybe as an OBM, you want to bring on more team members. No matter where you are in your business right now, I have been where you are. Okay, I have been where you are.

I have spent the last 10 years learning the hard lessons in this space. I've done things in this industry. It allowed me to bring in over six figures a year just by myself with a small handful of clients that actually allowed me to create a life that I loved.

And I can't wait to share how I did that with you and all the other lessons as well. Now, it wasn't always this way. I used to feel very overwhelmed and burnt out, and you may be feeling that right now too.

You may be stuck in a business or maybe you've recreated another nine to five job for yourself in your business. That happens a lot too. And it might feel like it's taking more from you than it's currently giving.

And I want you to know that first of all, you are not alone. And I might one of my main goals with this podcast is to help you actually get past that. Okay, I want you to feel like your business is actually giving you energy.

Okay, rather than just taking things from you. It's giving you freedom instead of keeping you chained to your desk working for your clients 24 seven. Okay.

Now, maybe you felt this before. Maybe you felt like you're constantly pouring yourself into your clients businesses. And at the end of the day, you're left wondering what about my business or maybe you don't even think about your business.

Maybe you're like, I don't even have time to think about that, Rebecca, right? Maybe you've been constantly in hustle mode trying to grow your business. Maybe you're trying to get more clients. Maybe you're trying to bring on or hire a team of people around you.

But it feels like no matter how hard you work, the freedom, the kind of freedom that you really want still feels a bit out of reach. Like I said, maybe you're a VA looking to transition into OVM work. Maybe you're wondering what's next for you.

And you feel like a little bit stuck in your journey right now and you're thinking about other ways that you could continue to grow and expand in this industry. And I have all of that for you and more. So if any of that hit home, I see you, I know that you have so much potential and you know this too.

Okay, you know this too. I know that you want more than just to sit at your desk and work all day. I know that you want that freedom.

Okay, I know you want that freedom and I want you to through this. I want to through this podcast. Allow you the space to think about a business and a life that could feel expansive, that will feel expansive.

Okay, aligned and uniquely yours, uniquely yours. So that's why I'm here. That's why this podcast exists.

I'm here to help you take all of those qualities that make you incredible. Your thoughtfulness, your intuition, your ability to anticipate what people need before they even say it. The ability to figure things out and use them to build something that is fulfilling something you're proud of.

And potentially if you're looking to grow something bigger than where you're at right now as online support people. We can feel and people sometimes think that we are the assistant, right? Like we are the second in command that we're not on the same level. But the thing we need to understand and the thing that I'm going to continue to say over and over again throughout the duration of this entire podcast is that we are the backbone of the online business world.

Okay, we are the backbone of the online business world and without us. Nothing runs. Nothing grows.

Nothing works. And it's time that we owned that power and that's what we're going to start doing today. And of course, if you know me, we're going to have some fun along the way.

Okay, today in our very first episode, I want to start by sharing my story. Because I know some of you are probably the okay, Rebecca, this all sounds great, but I have my own unique situation. You don't know my life.

You don't know how hard it's been. I've been struggling to build my business or I've taken my business a certain way and I don't know if I can get back from it. And you know what, you're right.

I don't know your exact situation. But what I do know is that I have been through my own version of the struggle. Okay, I've been through my own version of the struggle.

I have faced the doubts. I faced the fears. I faced the moments where I thought, you know, maybe this is as good as it gets in my business.

Maybe I need to figure out a different business. Maybe I need to like sell digital products or something like I have thought about all of that. Okay, I have thought maybe this is as good as it gets and let me tell you it's not, it's not.

So today I'm going to take you way back. Okay, I want to show you exactly how I went from being stuck in a corporate job that was literally withering my soul away. To starting the VA business that nearly burned me out.

I actually almost quit it. To finally figuring out how to create a business and life that makes me feel like I'm living on my own terms, a life that I love every single moment of. And my goal with this episode isn't just to inspire you.

It's actually to show you what is possible for you to because that's something that personally when I was building my business, I didn't have somebody that was actually showing me the way showing me what was possible. So I'm hoping that inspires that in you today. Okay.

Because trust me, if I can do this, if I can go from an overwhelmed corporate employee, an overworked assistant to leading this revolution. You can too. So if you're ready to step into the next chapter of your life and of your business, if you're ready to start prioritizing yourself.

If you're ready to scale your business and design a life that feels intentional, fun and completely yours, then you're definitely going to want to stick around. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for being a part of the revolution.

Thank you for joining the revolution. Let's dive in. So let's rewind a little bit because if I'm going to leave this revolution, you deserve to know how I got here.

Okay. Now, something you need to know about me. If you are watching the video of this podcast, you'll probably see me.

You can head over to Instagram as well at Rebecca Morissetti. You can check out what I look like. You can probably tell this about me immediately, but I've always been a little rebellious.

Okay, I've always been a little rebellious. Maybe you can relate. Growing up, I was that kid.

I wasn't necessarily a bad kid. I wasn't like lighting schools on fire, which yes, people in my very small town did do. Okay.

I wasn't at that level, but I was the person who, you know, pushed back on people when, you know, things didn't feel right. And, you know, I didn't always follow the rules. Okay, I did not always follow the rules.

I grew up in a very, very, very small community in Southern Ontario, Canada. And, you know, there wasn't a lot to do. So you can just put the two and two together there.

Okay. So when I was 16, I made a decision that shocked a lot of people. I actually moved out of my parents house.

And this wasn't because I felt like I was ready. And it wasn't actually even because I didn't want to be with my parents. A lot of people are like, Oh, my God, what happened? How could you ever? That wasn't the situation.

Okay, far from it. I left because I craved independence. I craved independence.

At this time, I had actually already had a job for about three years. And at this point, I was working at McDonald's. I was actually on my way to being promoted to manager position at McDonald's.

And I was, I was almost living very independently, even though I was living with my parents. My parents lived outside of our main community. And I really wanted to be in town so I could hang out with my friends.

My job was there. There was just, there was a lot in town. And I just decided one day, you know what, like I'm making my own money.

I can pay rent. I could figure this out. I'm going to leave.

So my friend, Callie and I actually left and moved out of our parents' houses. And we moved into a basement apartment together in the town where I was from. And we lived in that basement apartment.

Callie, I believe had a car at the time. I believe she had a car at the time. And we would go to school.

We were obviously still in high school. We would go to school. We would go to work.

We both worked at McDonald's. And her and I just sort of like live together. I also in this moment wanted to prove myself.

I really wanted to prove to my, actually I wanted to prove to myself and the world that I could do something like this, that I was different than everybody else. Again, growing up at a small town, everybody is the same. Everybody wants to be the same.

And I just never felt, I just never felt like I fit in per se. I could fit in because I'm kind of that person that can just go with the flow. But from like a independence perspective, from a personality perspective, I need to do something on my own.

Now, I don't want to make this seem like, Oh my God, that sounds like the best decision Rebecca's ever made. She's not making a big deal of it. This decision was messy.

Okay, I was still in high school. I was working at McDonald's. Like I said, just to pay the rent.

We were paying about $800 at the time in rent, which was a lot for somebody who's in high school. I was working almost every single night after school and every day, like each day of the weekend. And, you know, sometimes I would actually even leave school early to pick up an extra shift.

So it was hard. I had to balance that, figuring out, you know, how to pay rent when I'm going to get groceries. Like, what am I even going to cook for myself? Like, there were so many layers here.

And there were nights where I thought, you know, what did I do? You know, like, you know, I've had some nights like that in my business as well, where I'm just like, Oh, like, did I, did I make the right decision here? Am I making my life harder than it needs to be? But I did it. And I figured it out. And that experience taught me something that stuck with me ever since.

That is that when you're willing to bet on yourself, even when it's totally outside of what everyone else would do at the time, right? Like, maybe when you heard me say I moved out of my house when I was 16, you probably had like a reaction, right? Like, what? Like, who does that? Right? This is what I'm saying. You are so much more capable than what you think. And for me, I really, that experience when I was so young was probably a pivotal moment and really shaped who I am to this day.

I really truly feel like I can figure anything out, right? And I'm sure you've had some moments like this too, maybe not as dramatic as like leaving your house at 16. But I know that you've had those moments too, where you've had to figure things out without a safety net, without a guarantee that it would all work out without a road map. And yet, here you are listening to this podcast, right? And that's the thing about women like us.

We always find the way, don't we? We always find the way. Now, that rebellious streak and that willingness to say to myself and to my family and to everyone around me, I want more. And I don't feel aligned here.

I want to do something that's going to allow me my independence and I want to figure it out. Like I said, that's shaped every single decision I've made since. And if you're listening to this, I'm sure you've had some sort of experience.

And I have like this and I have a feeling it's probably shaped you too. So let's fast forward a few years. This is when my rebellious streak started coming down a little bit and I did what everyone told me I should do, right? I went to university.

I got the degree and I actually had multiple internships. I went to school for photography. And I had an internship at Fashion magazine, which was one of Canada's, you know, I think maybe Canada's even largest fashion magazine at the time.

I didn't internship there and I absolutely hated it. And this was also a really interesting moment for me because I had just gone to school to be a fashion photographer. That's what I wanted to do.

And in that moment, I had gotten now to my last year there. We go to school for four years here. I know it's different.

University is called different things, different places. So after my four year degree in the fourth year, I got this internship. And within about 30 minutes of being in the studio, I actually started second guessing my entire life.

I didn't want to do it. I was like, Oh my God, this is what I'm getting myself into. This is not what I thought.

I thought I was going to have more creativity. I realized that the photographer literally just had a shot list and would go through. There were so many things I realized in that moment.

And because of that, I started looking at other things I could do. So what I ended up doing was I actually ended up landing an internship at one of Canada's largest social enterprises. And on paper, everything looked great.

Okay, on paper, everything looked great. I was like, Okay, this is amazing. I'm going to do this internship.

This internship was more for photo database management. So it wasn't as artistic, but I knew it was something I could do. I was fairly organized.

Now, here's where things get interesting. During that internship, I accidentally stumbled into marketing. And when I say accidentally, I really truly mean it.

I had no marketing education, no marketing background whatsoever. And one day, I saw that there was a job opening for a marketing manager. My internship was coming to an end and I needed a job.

My internship was coming to an end and I decided that I was going to apply for this marketing manager position because what would I have to lose? Right? I already was my internship was already ending. I didn't have anything else to do. I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to go for it.

And what I actually did was I reached out to the head of the marketing department. Okay, now remember, I was an intern at the time. All right.

So I reached out to the head of the marketing department and I asked if we could have a quick meeting, like a 15 minute meeting so she could meet me. I never even met her before. Okay.

And I went to this meeting and essentially what I did. Okay, I took the job description. And I went through all of the things I had ever done in my entire life.

And I literally matched up every single thing that was on the job description to the things that I had done in doing that. I brought this job description to her and I said, Hey, I don't have a marketing degree. I don't have marketing experience directly.

But here's what I do have. And surprisingly, that actually worked. It sounds insane, even as I'm saying this right now and sorry, I'm still getting used to this like podcasting equipment.

So I'm sorry if the audio isn't like perfect. Yeah, but trust me, it will be my perfectionism tendencies will come in soon. Okay.

Like I said, I had no marketing experience. And I really, I truly like looked her in the eye and I was like, I want to be the next marketing manager here. Like, I know that I can do it.

And looking back it just sounds insane. But to my surprise, she actually said, yes, this really was the biggest ask that I had ever actually received right like I asked for this crazy thing. And I actually received it.

And just like that suddenly I was thrown into incredibly high pressure role where I had to prove myself every single day. And something that made me work even harder and be even more dedicated in this position was that I actually had a co manager who had about five years of marketing experience at this point. So I was coming in with zero experience at manager level.

And she was, she had worked her way up essentially throughout various companies to this place. And I really wanted to prove to her that they made a good decision. Okay, like I really, really, really, really did.

And I loved it. I loved it for a while. Okay, I loved it for a while.

And I became the ultimate right hand woman to my co manager at the time, which I didn't even really think about until I was writing the script for this podcast, right? But I really did. I became the ultimate right hand woman for her. I worked harder than I ever had in my entire life for years.

Okay, years of consistent hard work. I climbed the corporate ladder and I looked like, or I started building what looked like a dream career. But here's the thing that no one tells you about climbing the ladder and I'm sure you felt this too, is that when you get to the top, you may realize that that ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

I started waking up every day with this heavy feeling in my chest thinking, is this really it? Like, is this it? This is what I worked so hard for. I kept being told like the harder I work. Oh, the more like vacation I'm going to have the more time I'm going to have that was not the case.

Okay. And I hated, I hated the constant repetitive motions of the nine to five grind. Okay, I hated it.

I hated it. I hated the commute. I hated the fact that I was pouring so much of myself into someone else's business and vision.

While my life, it felt like my life was just on the back footer. Like my life didn't even matter. Like every single thing I was doing, I was doing for this business.

I'm sure like, have you ever felt that way? I'm sure you felt this way in some way, shape or form, right? You know, like you're giving so much to someone else that at the end of the day, you've just been sucked of everything. There's nothing left for you. And that feeling for me, it was a wake up call.

I knew I couldn't keep living like that, but I had no idea at the time what the alternative was. So I knew I needed to get out. And then one day, everything changed.

This is like, this is the moment where sort of my shift into entrepreneurship started happening, although I didn't recognize it at the time. So one day I was scrolling on Instagram, avoiding work, right? I'm like sitting there. I'm like, I had a desk.

I strategically selected a desk in my office. That was like facing the wall, right? So nobody could walk behind me. It was an open concept office.

So this was like a rare desk. Okay, so I'm at my desk. I'm like scrolling on Instagram, avoiding work.

When I stumbled across something that I had honestly never really seen before, even considered it stopped the scroll. Okay, it stopped the scroll. I saw this couple.

Okay. Amen and back. Maybe I'll tag them in this.

That would be fun. I saw I'm an in back. And they were building a van.

Okay, they were building a camper van. Now, let me be clear here. All right, I am not no Dorsey person.

And the idea of living in a van completely nuts. Okay, completely nuts. If at the time people thought I was insane, like Rebecca, you, you hate going outside.

But it wasn't about the outdoorsiness. Okay. And it wasn't really even about the van.

It was really more about the freedom that it represented, right? If you think back to, you know, that 16 year old version of me, like, I just needed to get out. I just needed to do what I wanted and be where I wanted. And this gave me that.

It was about waking up every day, knowing that I could go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and I could live exactly how I wanted, right? And how good does that sound? And I could not stop thinking about it. I went down black holes, YouTube black holes, Instagram black holes of van life. And it was like, I had this little version of Rebecca in my mind being like, this is what you're missing.

This is what you're like every time I was scrolling through. That's what I felt. And I'm sure you probably felt a whisper like that too, haven't you, right? Like a quiet little voice in the back of your head saying there has to be more than this.

And the best part is you don't even have to know what more looks like yet. You just know that you want it. Now, eventually, I couldn't ignore that little voice anymore.

And I actually bought my first van while I was still working in my corporate job. And I started building it out. Again, I had no idea at this time how I was going to work and travel.

I was still trying to figure all that out. But I bought the van anyway. All right, another thing people thought I was insane for doing.

So after I discovered van life, I spent an incredible amount of time trying to figure out how I could actually make money online in a legit way. I had been looking at different remote jobs, actually, an online business starting an online business wasn't even necessarily on my radar for real. Like, it was something that was like, Oh, one day, but it was never like a realistic thing.

What was more realistic was getting a remote job. But this was years ago. Okay, this was over over a decade ago.

So there were not a lot of online remote jobs, right? Like this was not like it is now. Like this was, it was hard to find. And I actually remember I had an interview at Shopify, which was one of the only remote businesses that I actually knew that was legit.

And I remember being in that interview and actually just feeling like, Oh, am I just getting myself into another corporate environment, which is what I was getting myself into. So after looking for a while, you know, I would have like ebbs and flows. I would spend like two weeks trying to find a job and a remote job.

And then, you know, I would give up for like a month or two months and go, I kept going through that cycle. One day I went into my boss's office to get the raise that I had been promised for months. And I was not given that raise.

And I can't tell you the anger that I felt in that moment. It was probably one of the angry. So I'm not an angry person, but it was really, I was just so frustrated.

And I was so exhausted and deep down in that moment, I really just realized that I could not keep waiting for somebody else to hand me what I wanted anymore. Right. That's really what it was.

I was like, I have worked so hard. I knew I deserved this. She knew that I deserved it too.

It wasn't even her fault. Okay, I'm not blaming this on her. I love my boss at the time.

But I just knew I couldn't do this anymore. Okay. So I walked out of her office and I went back to my desk.

Right. That was facing the wall and I opened my laptop and I activated my Odesk account, which was which is now Upwork. Okay, it used to be called Odesk.

So I activated that account and I literally sent, I think, five or six, just super generic little proposals out. And one of them responded and within 24 hours, I landed my very first virtual assistant client who, fun fact, I still work with to this day, obviously in a different capacity, but I still do work with her to this day. I love her.

Let me tell you, when I made that in that moment, I made that decision. Right. When I opened my laptop and I saw it, I decided to go all in on Upwork.

I really made a decision in that moment to put faith in myself over fear. And you may have already done this a few times. Right.

If you're a business owner, this is something you don't just do one time. Right. Like once you start running an online business, I'm sure you know, there are many times where you need to put the faith in faith in yourself over all of your fears.

But this was really the first and most important time that I truly did it. And in that moment, I really felt hopeful. I felt hopeful for the first time I wasn't just going to be working for somebody else, building somebody else's dream.

Right. I was actually going to start building something for me, even though it was just one client, that one client changed everything for me. And in my virtual assistant accelerator program, this is something that I've seen with the women in the program too.

Right. Once you get that first client, everything comes together. So if you're out there and you have not landed your first client yet, it's, it's going to happen for you.

Just keep going. And you may be confused of like, Oh, what am I going to be doing for them? How is it going to work? How am I going to get paid? Don't worry. Okay.

It's all going to come together once you get that first client. That should be your number one goal. If you do not have a client yet, if you just started your business, your number one goal should be to get a client.

Okay, get a client. I know my sidetrack there, but let's get back to it. Okay.

I didn't have this grand plan of being a VA. I didn't even know I was never supposed to be a VA. Okay.

I didn't even know it really even existed. And listen, I wish I could tell you it was smooth sailing from there, but it definitely was not. Right.

I made a lot of mistakes. I said yes to everyone and everything, every single client that came through. I worked crazy hours.

And ultimately, I completely burned myself out. And at one point, I was working 60 hours a week and still feeling like I wasn't doing enough. I needed to do more.

And I needed more money. I also wasn't making a lot of money at this time. I actually called my old boss to see if I could go back to my corporate job.

And that's when I really felt like I had made a mistake. But then something shifted. And I realized that if I was going to make this work, that I could not keep following the same broken rules that the VA industry had laid out for me.

Up to this point, I had built my business in the way that the vast majority, if not everybody, teaches in the VA space. And I realized that it did not work. It just did not work.

And not only did I realize this for myself, but I also realized this because I was talking to other VA's. I was talking to other VA's that I knew that I've been working with my clients. I was talking to other people in the online business space.

I had interviewed a lot of VA's at this point. And I knew that this was not working. And in that moment, I just knew that I had to create my own way.

I had to go back to that rebellious 16 year old, right? I had to go back to the Rebecca that's like, this isn't working for me. I'm going to do something different. So that's when I started studying business strategy.

The biggest gap that I saw in the VA space was the lack of actual business strategy, which is kind of mind blowing when you think about it. But most VA programs and most OVM programs as well, actually teach you this freelancer type of way of running a VA business unless they're teaching you how to build an agency, which again, I didn't, I didn't run an agency. I didn't want, I didn't want to manage other people.

If you do all you, it's totally happy for you. That's not what I wanted to do, right? So I started studying business strategy. I really dove into mindset work as well because that was another thing that was holding me back from getting like, let's say, higher rates.

Or pitching to larger clients. And I also started experimenting a lot with ways to build a business that actually worked for me. And in doing this, I didn't know I was doing this at the time, but in doing this, I actually created the Freedom VA framework, which is the system that helped me scale my business, my VA business to six figures while working just 28 hours a week with a small handful of clients on average between four to five.

And more importantly, than that, it gave me the freedom to actually live the life that I got into this industry to live, right? The life that I had been daydreaming about at my nine to five. I was able to actually go and live in my van. I was allowed, I was able to travel, right? I was allowed, quote unquote, I didn't have to ask anybody to not work on Monday if I didn't want to.

And that's all I wanted. And here's the thing, this is not just about me, right? This framework has helped many, many, many other women all around the world. Women just like you create businesses that give them that freedom too.

Now, what surprised me the most was that I actually loved being that right hand person for my clients. Also, I'm sorry for the squeaky chair if you guys can hear that. I'm going to have to get some oil for the next episode.

I loved being that right hand person for my clients. I loved supporting them. I loved anticipating their needs.

I loved, you know, sending them little chocolates and flowers. And also, I loved knowing that the work that I was actually doing every day was really making a difference. It was making a difference I could see and feel with my own eyes, right? I cared deeply about my first client, all my clients success.

And I finally got to see the impact that I was making on somebody, right? It felt good. It felt so good. No, it felt truly amazing.

It felt amazing. It was a feeling that I really hadn't felt ever before, because up to this point, I had literally been working for somebody else my entire life, right? Like most people do. But I was still following the rules.

I set up my VA business the way most VA's do. Okay, I followed all the traditional advice that you see out there. I started to create packages of services.

I was working hourly. I was saying, yes to every client. I was taking on everything that people threw at me.

I was bending over backwards to prove my value and my worth to my clients. And guess what? It worked until it didn't. About a year and a half into my VA business, I hit a wall.

I was working over 60 hours a week. I was constantly stressed and I was completely burnt out. I was over it.

I was over it, ladies. Okay, I was charging hourly. And no matter how much I worked, I felt like I could never get ahead.

You may be in that space right now. And I remember one night sitting at my desk with my head in my hands thinking, this is absolutely not sustainable. I cannot keep doing this.

I got out of the corporate world to not live like this anymore. And now I have just recreated another nine to five job for myself. And ultimately, deep down, I kind of had a feeling like I had failed.

I had left my corporate job to create more freedom, but now I was more exhausted and more overwhelmed than I'd ever been. Even in my nine to five job, I was, I was tapped out. And it got so bad that I actually called my old boss and asked if I could come back.

And it felt like such a low point for me because I'd taken so many steps forward, right? I had taken so many steps forward, I've done things that people never do. And now I'm calling my boss again, right? Only to, I'm calling my boss just to go right back to where I had started. But I had the conversation with her and we were talking about it and she started talking about the projects I'd be working on and she was talking about how excited she was.

And with every word she said, the resistance to actually wanting to go back and do it just grew stronger and stronger and stronger. And something shifted and I had this moment after we got off the call and I stopped and I thought, you know, Rebecca, you have to figure this out. And if anyone can figure out how to make this work, how to actually create a business that allows you to actually have the freedom you want, it's you, Rebecca, it's you.

And that's when everything changed. I decided to get serious about creating a business that worked, a business that worked, not just acting like a contractor, not just acting like a freelancer, which is what most VA programs actually teach you to do. I wanted to get serious about creating a business that worked not just for my clients, but for me, right, for me.

I dove head first into studying business strategy. I stepped outside of the online business space and I actually went back to the basics of business strategy. I started learning everything I could about mindset, about boundaries, about systems, about growing your business, about working with clients, about selling, about marketing.

I got brutally honest with myself about what I wanted my life to look like and I built my business with those strategies around that vision. And that's when I unintentionally created what I now call the freedom VA framework, which guides all of the programs that I run. It's a system that actually allowed me to stop trading hours for money, right? It removed me from the time to money exchange and actually allowed me to start working with clients in a way that used the skills I already had and allowed me to give all of my value, give all of my value, not just like my business value, but my personal value as well, my intention, my thought, my care and my time, right? So I wanted to leverage my skills, my value and my time.

That's what was missing before. I started creating different ways to package services, different ways to actually charge premium rates, and I started working with clients who saw me as a partner, not just the help, not just the assistant, not just the girl I can throw things to, right? And within a few months of implementing this framework, everything changed for me. I was on track to hit my first ever hundred K year in my VA business while working just 28 hours a week with a small handful of clients.

On average, I had between four to five clients. I had about four clients all the time, and then I had a fifth client that would kind of come and go that I did project work for. Now, here's the thing about growth, right? It's never a straight line.

You've heard throughout the story, many ups and downs. And if you're currently growing your VA business, if you're currently growing your OBM business right now and you're in one of those lower points, don't worry. Okay, growth is not a straight line.

It's never a straight line. And I'm at the point now where if I do feel like I'm in one of those low points, I actually get excited because that means I'm about to step into one of the high ones. So as I started scaling my business, my role began to evolve.

I moved from being a virtual assistant taking on more managerial responsibilities and just more responsibilities in my clients businesses. Generally, I started managing other freelancers. I started building systems for my clients and also supporting them in more strategic ways.

And before I knew it, I'd promoted myself to the role of online business manager or OBM. I actually didn't really know that I was an OBM until someone was like, hey, you seem like not a VA. You seem more like an OBM and I'm like, huh, maybe I am.

And I looked it up and then bam, there you go. So I became an OBM and then eventually that OBM role evolved again into business strategy consulting where I was helping clients map out and execute their biggest goals, working with them in various ways. On their various teams of freelancers that they had.

And this was not something that I had planned, right? I want you to remember that I just want to live in a van, ladies. Okay, I just want to live into a van. None of this is anything that I had planned.

This was not on my vision board, right? Become an OBM, become a VA. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

And along the way, something incredible happened. People in my life, friends, my family, other women that I knew through probably from high school and friends of friends started coming to me and asking how they could do what I did. Now, at first, everyone thought I was crazy.

Okay, so again, if you've been in this space for a while, you'll know what I mean, right? If you're just starting out, don't worry. Okay, people are going to think that because you're doing something that nobody does. Okay, you're doing something no one does.

And they might not be able to understand it, but it's okay. You just have to keep going. That's what I did.

And that's what every other woman that has been successful has done as well. Trust me. But once they started seeing the success, right, visibly, once they started seeing that I could take a Tuesday off to go take my nieces out of school and take them on a fun adventure to check your cheese or something, once they started seeing that I could plan, you know, I was offering to plan baby showers and like creating these amazing events.

Once they were seeing that I could go to like Pilates during the week, or I could like have a new hobby and actually have time to do it, like cooking. They were like, huh, okay, maybe this VA thing that Rebecca did wasn't so crazy after all, right? Maybe I can get into this too, which like fine, I love that for you, right? Now, a lot of these women were women who were going through a bit of a tougher time, right? Some women had been laid off. Some of them were just like me.

They were in a job that drained them. Maybe their boss was like really, really, really horrible. And there's all been all kinds of like wild situations, like even kind of like borderline harassment at work.

Like it was, it was not a good situation for a lot of these ladies. And all of them were looking for a way to take the skills that they already had and create a business that would give them some sort of profit, right? They wanted, they needed money. A lot of women needed money.

It's not that they just wanted money, they needed this. So I started teaching them and I actually walked them through that Freedom VA framework that I was just telling you about step by step. And the results were like, when I say incredible, I can't even tell you how incredible they were because we don't have time for that right now, but I will on another day.

Okay, like I'm talking mind blowing, like I'm talking like I didn't even know how good it was going to get, right? Because I just expected them to follow my same path. But what I realized was that I was fast tracking them. Like it was crazy because I had already gone through all of those challenges and I knew exactly how to navigate around all of them.

So something that would have taken me like six months or seven months to do, they were doing it in a week. Okay, they started landing clients. And I still remember to this day, one of the first ladies that I helped, like the first client she landed.

Oh my, oh my God, I just like, I, I wish you were seeing this video right now because my hands are like going all over the place here. But it was just incredible. And it was life changing for her.

They started in all of the ladies I was working with started landing clients. They started growing their businesses and creating lives that finally felt free for them, right? Everyone's definition of freedom is different. And that's when it hit me that I had done something different.

I had created something that actually works. And this was something that every single woman in this industry needed to learn. And that's why I'm here.

After that experience of helping my friends and my family, the people in my small circle, I knew I needed to help more women. I realized this work, helping women build businesses that prioritize their freedom, their value in their vision, is my purpose. Because here's the truth, the truth that I know and the truth that you need to know to.

We are not just assistants. We are not just managers. We are not just helpers.

We are the backbone of online business. Without us, nothing runs. Nothing grows and nothing works.

And it's time that we own that power. My mission is to help as many women as I possibly can create the life they know they're meant for, to build businesses that actually serve them, to use their thoughtfulness, their intention, and their deep caring in a way that doesn't just help others, but allows them to step into the women they've always wanted to become. And that's what this podcast is going to be about.

We're going to talk about the strategies, the mindset shifts, the real honest lessons that will help you build a business and life that feels expansive, fun, and unapologetically yours. So, if you've been craving more, and for the last two years, I have been doing just that. I have helped hundreds of women all around the world start and build their own freedom-based VA businesses using the Freedom VA framework.

And the principles within the Freedom VA framework are what we're going to talk about a lot in this podcast. And for the last two years, I've been doing just that. I have helped hundreds of women all around the world, mostly while living in my van, by the way.

I've been featured in Entrepreneur and Business Insider on various different podcasts. And now, you're joining me on my next venture, the Right Hand Revolution. On the Right Hand Revolution, we're going to talk about strategies, real strategies that you can actually apply.

I want things to be actionable for you. We're also going to talk about mindset shifts that you can make and real honest lessons that will help you build a business and life that feels expansive, that feels fun, and that feels unapologetically yours. So, if you've been wanting more, more freedom, more ease, more you, then welcome to the Right Hand Revolution.

You belong here, and I'm so excited to be on this journey with you. Thank you so much for being here with me today. This episode was personal for me, and if it resonated with you, if you saw yourself in any part of my story that I'd love for you to tell me, share it with me.

You can post it on Instagram and tag me at Rebecca Morassutti and tell me what freedom means to you. And do not forget to hit subscribe. Ooh, it's the first time I've said that.

Don't forget to hit subscribe because we have two episodes coming out per week. Until next time, remember this. You have everything you need to create a life of your own design.

The freedom you want in your life and in your business is not just possible, it's waiting for you. The Right Hand Revolution has started, and you're exactly where you're meant to be. I can't wait to do this with you.

See you on the next one.