Episode 28: Salma Burney - How To Work Off The Grid And Love It

Gold Nuggets in this Episode:

• Juliet loves the part of the show when Steve calls her the Smarter Woman.
• “Do what you do best. Outsource the rest.”
• You’re not in competition with others in your industry.
  
  “We work together. We’re not in competition. I can only help so many people, and another person can only help so many people.”

• You don’t have to use a Virtual Assistant every day, or even every week.
  
  “That’s the nice thing about a Virtual Assistant – it’s when you need them.”

• “It’ll be better to have a Canadian Virtual Assistant, because they’ll understand the culture, they understand how corporations work here in Canada. An Indian VA, even though they may be cheaper, you’re still going to have to train them on some of the subtleties of your corporation, the culture, and other things.”
• Salma was able to go on an extended road trip, while keeping her clients and working with them virtually.
  
  “For one of my clients, he was looking to hire a warehouse person, so I did interviews with people on my phone while I was on the beach in Texas.”

• Somehow, Salma and her husband were able to buy a 50-acre property, with a 100-year old farmhouse, for $40,000.
• There are things that every entrepreneur should consider outsourcing.

1. “The first thing you should outsource is your bookkeeping.”
2. Social Media.
3. Email management. “Sometimes you have a lot of email, and if you give them access to your email, they could tidy it up for you.”

• “Entrepreneurs tend to want to put things out when they’re perfect. Just do it, and if there’s a mistake, you can always update stuff. Nothing is ever perfect. Our stuff is imperfect, and it’s always a work in progress.”
• “Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

Our guest is Salma Burney, Virtual Assistant, Computer Instructor, Social Media Coach, and founder of Virtual Girl Friday. While VAs in general have only recently become more widely recognized, Salma has been working as a VA for the past 16 years, with clients in industries including Business Development, Goods Distribution, Graphic Design, Literature, Nutrition, and Industrial Safety, to name a few.

Song by Adam Vitovsky / CC BY 3.0