From Health Coach to Virtual Assistant to Online Business Manager: My Journey

Starting a new business can be daunting, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. In my case, my journey from a struggling health coach to a thriving online business manager was filled with challenges and opportunities for growth. Here's my story.

You can either watch the video here or keep reading below:

Starting out as a Health Coach

First of all, I want to let you know that it is okay to pivot! I've pivoted twice now in my business and it has turned out just fine, and people are typically very supportive in the online space too!

My journey all started when I found myself at rock bottom in my life. I was chronically ill, struggling with postpartum depression and anxiety, overweight, and just overall very unhealthy and dealing with all kinds of things. I knew that something had to change.

So, I went on this amazing health journey, which led me to become certified in holistic nutrition. But I had no idea what that was going to open up for me. I just knew I wanted to help people, and then all of a sudden I found this huge online coaching space.

Two and a half years ago, I became certified in holistic nutrition and I knew I wanted to start helping people with their health through nutrition and a holistic lifestyle.

I had no clue how to run a business, so I took my first business course and fell in love with online business itself. I had no idea that was going to happen! I thought I was in it just to help people with nutrition. This is something you don't really think about when you go to school for nutrition - that you have to also learn how to run a business.

After taking this course, I totally fell in love with online business itself, but I kept plugging in the nutrition space. I kept seeing these business coaches and all these people working on businesses and helping people run their businesses, and I knew I was interested in that space. I just saw that in my future somehow - to be working with people and helping them with their businesses!

But, in the meantime, I kept working on my nutrition business, taking numerous business courses, working with business coaches, I had all my foundations set up, I had everything done right in the back end of my business, but something just wasn't working. I wasn't getting many clients and I was just struggling to gain traction in that space.

However, I learned a whole lot about running a business along the way. I learned about systems, tech, managing my time, and just everything about online business.

Pivoting to a Virtual Assistant

Pretty much exactly a year ago, I decided to start offering virtual assistant services! I had tons of experience assisting professionals in the office space, plus running my own nutrition business, so I felt like I had so much to offer. I was really confident. This was lacking in my nutrition coaching — while I knew the information really well, I wasn’t confident in the coaching part. Whereas, with virtual assistance, I had the confidence!

I had no clue if this was the right decision. I was nervous and excited. But I didn't really know how to start this new venture because it was totally different than being an online coach! I had to learn how to work with clients, how to charge for my services properly, how to track my time, and more! There were so many different aspects that I had no clue about. But, I went for it!

I opened up my new Instagram account. I didn't use the one that I had been building in the nutrition space because that just didn't feel right to me. I decided to just start completely fresh and open a brand new VA account, starting from zero. I didn't even tell anyone at first! But, one of my first followers became my first client, who I worked with until I became an OBM! I didn't even have my website set up yet when she signed with me, so I had to scramble a bit!

Juggling Two Businesses

Then, I was in full swing in both businesses — part-time VA and part-time nutrition coach. I still had one nutrition client at the time and two virtual assistant clients. I was juggling the two businesses and still posting on social media for both, still marketing both, and really trying to decide which way to go. I didn’t know if I wanted to continue to do both or go full-speed into one or the other. It was a really difficult choice.

Finally, after about five or six months of juggling the two businesses, I decided to go full force into virtual assistance. It was a really difficult decision, and I doubted my choice a lot at the beginning. Of course, I wanted to keep helping people with nutrition and it was a huge passion of mine, so to just give that all up was really difficult.

Deciding to Stop Nutrition Coaching

I decided to completely close down my nutrition Instagram account because I kept wondering in the back of my mind if I would go back to it. I would still post in stories. And it just wasn’t good for my headspace and kept drawing me back.

I had to make the choice to completely close it and shut down my website in order to fully step into the VA business. While I still had doubts and I struggled knowing that I would no longer be helping people with their health, it felt like the right choice. Nutrition is still a big part of me and my journey, but I'm very happy with where my business is today.

Transitioning to Online Business Management

A few months later, a new challenge presented itself. While I loved being a virtual assistant and was really good at it, I felt like something was missing. I felt like there was more for me, and I craved more responsibility.

I discovered online business management. I knew I had a lot to bring to a role like that because I'm really good at setting up systems and organizing behind the scenes, plus I had experience now with managing two online businesses.

So, I decided to dive head-first into this online business management course. While I had a lot of knowledge, I felt like I needed to take this course to boost my confidence and learn how to apply the things I knew to my clients’ businesses. It's one thing to do it in your own business, but it's a whole other ballgame doing it in other people's businesses.

While taking the course, I started talking to my one virtual assistant client about how I was taking the course and my plans to start offering these services in the future. It worked out really well because, as it turned out, she was looking for this exact service to add to her business! So, I started transitioning to an OBM role with her!

I quickly realized that this is where I was meant to be — running the back-end of businesses! My client was super happy with the work I was doing, and I knew that this was the right place to be. It makes sense, because this is where I thrived in my health coaching business. I had all the things done right in the back-end, so now that's what I'm helping my clients with!

So, now I have fully transitioned with that VA client into the OBM role, and I'm fully booked as an OBM.

I'm really happy with my business now, because it all worked out. I'm helping my clients build their businesses so they can help more people with their nutrition coaching services!

I can’t wait to see where else this journey takes me!