Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / A Part-Time Admin Built a 7000 Monthly Virtual Assistant Side Hustle
Transcript
- Lucas: So you've got a full-time admin job making thirty-two thousand a year. You're good at scheduling, you're good at email, you're good at keeping people organized. And you think, maybe I can do this on the side for other people. Problem is, so does everyone else. Luna: Right. General virtual assistants are a dime a dozen. The market rate on Upwork for basic VA work is like twenty bucks an hour, maybe less. Lucas: Exactly. But today's story is about a woman named Mia, twenty-seven, working as a part-time administrative assistant at a small medical practice in Columbus, Ohio. She wanted a side hustle but she didn't want to compete on price. So she found a niche that nobody in her network was serving: real estate transaction coordination. Luna: What does that actually mean day-to-day? Lucas: So realtors are closing deals. They need someone to manage the paperwork — purchase agreements, disclosure forms, inspection reports, escrow timelines. They need someone to coordinate with lenders, title companies, and home inspectors. And they need everything done fast and accurately. Mia had never worked in real estate, but she realized she had the organizational skills. She just needed to learn the forms. Luna: So she taught herself the forms. How long did that take? Lucas: She spent about three weekends. She downloaded standard purchase agreements from the Ohio Association of Realtors, watched YouTube walkthroughs, and even offered to help a friend who was a realtor for free on two deals. That gave her the confidence and a sample of work to show. Luna: I like that. Real proof of concept before she charged anyone. Lucas: Yeah. Then she went to Belay — the platform that connects executives with virtual assistants. She built a profile specifically for real estate transaction coordination. She listed her rate at sixty-five dollars an hour. Which is a big jump from the twenty-dollar general VA rate. Luna: And did she get clients at that rate? Lucas: She did. Not immediately. It took about three weeks to land her first client. But the second client came from a referral from the first. Within four months she had five recurring clients, each averaging about ten hours a week. That's about three thousand dollars a month. Luna: So she was earning more from her side hustle than her day job at that point. Lucas: Almost — her day job paid about twenty-six hundred a month. But she didn't quit. She kept the day job and scaled the side hustle. By month seven she was up to twelve clients and grossing about seven thousand a month. That's where she's at now, a year in. Luna: Twelve clients though, that's a lot to manage while still working a part-time job. How does she do it without burning out? Lucas: She's very structured. She blocks out her calendar: Monday to Friday, nine to three for her day job. Then three to seven for VA work. She uses Calendly to let clients book slots only during those hours. She also automated a lot of the repetitive follow-ups using Mailchimp — for example, sending reminders about upcoming deadlines or missing documents. She says it saves her about eight hours a week. Luna: So the key is systems. Not just working harder. Lucas: Exactly. And she also created boundaries. She tells clients upfront that she's available during specific windows and that responses to non-urgent emails come within four hours. Most realtors are fine with that because they value reliability over instant replies. Luna: What about the risk? If her employer found out, could she get fired? Lucas: It's a possibility, depending on the employment contract. Mia checked her employee handbook and her state's laws. Ohio is an at-will employment state, so technically she could be fired for any reason. But she's not using company equipment, she's not working during her day job hours, and she's not competing with her employer. So the risk is low. She also doesn't post about it on social media tagged with her employer. She keeps it separate. Luna: Smart. So for someone listening who's thinking about a VA side hustle, what's the key takeaway from Mia's story? Lucas: I think it's that niching down is everything. If she had just called herself a virtual assistant, she'd be competing with thousands of people on price. By specializing in real estate transaction coordination, she became an expert in a specific pain point. Realtors are willing to pay sixty-five dollars an hour to someone who knows the forms and won't mess up a closing. Luna: So find a niche where the client's pain is acute. Not just 'I need help with email.' Lucas: Right. And the other takeaway is to start small with free or discounted work to build your sample portfolio. You don't need a certification. You need two or three successful projects you can point to. Luna: Exactly. And then use a platform like Belay or even LinkedIn to find clients. Mia didn't cold email. She used a platform that already had demand. Lucas: Yeah. Belay vets the VAs, which gives clients trust. And once you get a couple of good reviews, the referrals come naturally. Luna: I'm curious — did she ever consider quitting her day job? At seven thousand a month, that's eighty-four thousand a year. More than double her salary. Lucas: She thought about it. But she likes the health insurance and the stability. And she says the day job gives her a social outlet and a routine. She treats the side hustle as a way to build wealth, not replace her income. For now, she's investing most of the extra money. Luna: That's a really healthy perspective. A lot of people feel pressure to go all-in. It's okay to just have a lucrative side thing. Lucas: Yeah. And speaking of things that help you think through these career decisions — if today's episode was worth a coffee to you, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps us keep the podcast ad-free and focused on real stories like Mia's. Luna: Yeah, absolutely. Even a small contribution goes a long way for an independent show like this. Lucas: So back to Mia — she's now thinking about adding another VA to handle overflow. She's got a wait-list of realtor clients. That's a good problem to have. Luna: That's a sign she's hit product-market fit. What's her next move? Lucas: She's planning to hire a part-time assistant herself, someone she can train on the forms. She'll pay them thirty dollars an hour and keep the difference. That could push her net income even higher without working more hours. Luna: So she's essentially building a micro-agency. From a side hustle to a business. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the trajectory a lot of these stories take. You start with a niche, build systems, and then leverage other people's time. Mia's still early in that process, but she's got a clear roadmap. Luna: I think the biggest lesson is that you don't need a fancy background. You just need to identify a specific, high-value problem and become the person who solves it. Lucas: And then be disciplined about your time and your boundaries. Mia's example is replicable. If you're an admin assistant or in any kind of coordination role, look at the professionals around you — lawyers, realtors, dentists — who are drowning in paperwork. That's your niche. Luna: Great episode. Thanks for listening, everyone.