Grow Your VA & OBM Business: Soulpreneur Scaling Stories
You started your VA or OBM business for freedom, but somewhere along the way, it became chaotic. Whether you're scaling into overwhelm or feeling burned out and bored, there's a better way to grow.
This podcast helps virtual assistants, online business managers, & done for you service pros identify their unstructured expertise and build it into a signature method, so they can stop trading hours for dollars and start running a business that pays them for outcomes.
With a mix of solo episodes and guest interviews, you'll get practical strategies and psychology-backed insights to move from unstructured expertise to a clear method, intentional positioning, and sustainable growth.
We'll cover questions like:
- Why do I keep attracting clients for work I've outgrown?
- How do I know if I'm ready to specialize?
- Should I force myself into industry labels or create my own positioning?
- Why do I keep downplaying what I'm actually good at?
- How do I stop working 50+ hour weeks at the same income level?
- How do I raise my rates without losing all my clients?
- Is my offer wrong, or is it my audience?
- Should I quit my business or just evolve it?
- Why are people excited about my work but not buying?
- How do I know if this is fear or real misalignment?
- How do I make decisions from clarity instead of desperation?
What makes this podcast different:
I'm Andrea, a certified OBM who started as a VA in 2019 and built my own service business from the ground up. With 7 years of clinical psychology training (master's degree before leaving the PhD program), I bring therapy-level insight into business coaching. I don't teach generic "grow your audience" advice that doesn't work for DFY service providers. Instead, I focus on psychology-backed strategies tailored specifically to how VA and OBM businesses actually work - addressing both the external positioning work and the internal nervous system shifts needed to make sustainable change.
This isn't about hustle culture. It's about building a business that supports your actual life, with relationship-based marketing strategies designed for VAs & OBMs.
Ready to turn your unstructured expertise into a signature method? Press play.
Grow Your VA & OBM Business: Soulpreneur Scaling Stories
123. Pivoting Your Online Business as a VA or OBM Without Starting from Scratch
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
If you are pivoting your online business and it feels like you are shouting into the void, this episode is for you. That gap between where you were and where you are going is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a specific stage of growth, and there is a way to move through it without the overwhelm.
In this episode, I get into the two mistakes I see VAs and OBMs make when pivoting that stall everything, and what to do instead so your audience is ready when your offer is.
Key Points Covered:
✨ Why posting to your old audience during a pivot keeps you stuck
✨ The mistake of building your offer before building your audience
✨ How to grow a new aligned audience while building your new offer
✨ The mindset shift that makes pivoting feel freeing instead of terrifying
✨ Why owning your new identity is what makes everything move faster
For VAs & OBMs turning expertise into a signature method and a business that pays for outcomes, not hours.
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Podcast produced and edited with love by @FerAssists
[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Hello and welcome to Soulepreneur Scaling Stories. I'm Andrea a certified OBM turned business coach, helping VAs OPMs and done-for-you. Service Pros turn their unstructured expertise into a signature method and a business that pays them for outcomes, not hours. So if you want a business that gives you freedom instead of taking it, you are in the right place.
[00:00:23] Andrea Elibero: right. Welcome back to Soulepreneur Scaling Stories. This episode today is for those of you who feel like you are kind of shifting or evolving or changing your offer, and you are just shouting into the void. And it was inspired by a thread that I saw today that said, that they are in the scary part of a pivot in their business where their audience is not aligned with their
[00:00:49] Andrea Elibero: offers and direction that they are moving to. And they said that it is terrifying shouting into what feels like the void, doing the work that they know is the right direction and the perfect support [00:01:00] for their ideal clients. And they were looking for support in this. And I was like, okay, yes. Like I need to make an episode about this because I know that so many of you are in this same place.
[00:01:11] Andrea Elibero: so your old audience, right? Like you are here, you're building your business, and of course you build up this audience around you and that's amazing. But they were built around maybe the old problem or the current problem that you are solving and now you're thinking about, or you're in the process of building this new thing, and
[00:01:34] Andrea Elibero: They're not part of that audience. You don't have an audience for it, so what do you do? And you're also thinking like, oh my God, I've spent all of this time building up my current audience. Like I have these people that support me and I love them, and now I'm changing everything and I feel like I'm starting from scratch.
[00:01:51] Andrea Elibero: And that's when you can feel like, oh, I am just shouting into the void. And how is this pivot even going to work? And it just feels like a whole lot of additional weight and [00:02:00] work On you, right? And so then in addition to making you maybe doubt your whole business, it can also mess with your nervous system because now you don't feel safe anymore.
[00:02:08] Andrea Elibero: Now you feel like you're starting from scratch. Now you feel like there's no safety net that's holding you up. And this is a huge part of this problem. What I'm talking about is a huge part of why it took me a full year to pivot from being a va, VA agency type situation doing general work to fully stepping into my new OBM role, even after being certified.
[00:02:32] Andrea Elibero: Because I didn't think, and nobody told me or taught me to address this audience problem, right? Because at that time, obviously these people that I am helping with, like really general VA tasks, they did not match where I was going as an OBM. So I was not one of the people who could carry over any of my old audience.
[00:02:51] Andrea Elibero: Into my new role and my one-on-one coaching clients. My expansion clients have the same concern before we start working [00:03:00] together because in this program we are creating a new offer. We're evolving their business. We're not working at this like, General, hourly work anymore. They realize that, wait, I'm going to be creating this new thing, and most likely it's going to be for a different type of business owner.
[00:03:17] Andrea Elibero: Whether it be that that business owner is further along in their business, they can afford something more expensive, they can, you afford that investment, or maybe they're changing niches, or maybe they're just switching up their entire focus, whatever it is. They most likely will need to build and create a new audience, people to buy this offer because they don't have anyone in their current audience to sell it to.
[00:03:40] Andrea Elibero: So don't worry, because I'm going to tell you exactly what we do, so they don't have this worry at all. But first, let's talk about what I don't want you to do. So number one is if you are pivoting, shifting, evolving, growing your business, please do not just keep posting marketing, however you [00:04:00] connect with your audience as you normally do with the exact same audience, because you know in your head that, although
[00:04:07] Andrea Elibero: you love them, they support you. They will cheer you on, but you know that they're never going to buy this new offer from you. So staying the course, this is not the best answer. And the second thing that I invite you not to do is to build your offer first and then worry about marketing it later. And here is why.
[00:04:27] Andrea Elibero: This might sound like it makes logical sense, but. What happens is then you build this thing, you create this offer, you're like, okay, this is incredible. And then you start talking about it and you realize, oh, nobody here is right for it. and maybe you start to doubt yourself. And when that happens, then you're like, oh, this offer isn't right and you think that that's the problem.
[00:04:50] Andrea Elibero: And so maybe you, just kind of give it up and just stick with what you've been doing. Which that's the wrong answer, because. There's a reason that you wanna pivot away from that, [00:05:00] right? Or maybe you stick with it, but it takes you so long to finally start booking clients for it like it did for me and my pivot.
[00:05:08] Andrea Elibero: So we're not going to do those two things, right? We're not going to just kind of keep on marketing to the same people, even though we've switched up everything and we're not going to build, build, build, create this amazing thing, spend all this time, and then worry about who to sell it to. What we are going to do is be proactive and intentional, and we are going to bridge this gap.
[00:05:27] Andrea Elibero: So again, we are not going to build the offer then find the audience. We are going to build the offer and build the audience at the same time, but we are going to do it in a way that is simple The most strategic and the most supportive thing that you can do for your nervous system and for yourself is to intentionally connect with new ideal clients while you're building your new offer.
[00:05:53] Andrea Elibero: And again, don't worry because you don't have to start a new TikTok and become the expert in that thing. [00:06:00] You literally have to choose the path. Say, okay, this is my plan. This is how I'm going to connect with people. Do it intentionally and do it consistently, and connect with other humans who are aligned with where you are going.
[00:06:15] Andrea Elibero: Period. And the best part about this is that you don't even have to sell anything to them. How cool is that, right? So things like, and not all of these things, not some random combination, but again, we do it intentionally. We choose the best path for us and stick to it. So things like, reaching out to people in whatever performed platform that is where their business genuinely resonates with you, starting conversations.
[00:06:39] Andrea Elibero: getting into spaces where these people exist, having real conversations about what you're building. So connecting with people on social media or in networking groups or in whatever different, there's a million different ways you can do it, but it's all about connecting and choosing having goals on how to do it.
[00:06:56] Andrea Elibero: And so what this does is that now you have these goals [00:07:00] along the way, and it's not just this kind of big like, oh, I need to shift my overall audience. We have step-by-step, this is how we're doing it. So then what gets to happen is that you build a new audience in a way that is simple and low stress. So that way when your offer is ready now, you're not feeling like you're shouting into the void.
[00:07:17] Andrea Elibero: You have taken away those barriers that start to feel really restrictive when you are. Changing audiences when you are evolving your business. And so that's the logical strategical side, right? So that piece, we got that under control. And alongside that, we also, of course have the mindset piece. So this is really about shifting how you are seeing this quote unquote problem.
[00:07:41] Andrea Elibero: So instead of looking at like, oh, I need these numbers because I'm gonna be selling things to people and I need, you know, looking at people like, like they are numbers like. To give you money and we don't want to do that. I invite you instead to look at it like it's a chance to connect with a more aligned [00:08:00] network.
[00:08:00] Andrea Elibero: You get to expand who you're networking with, which is so cool 'cause now you're discovering other people, other things that you haven't, you know, you haven't talked to people like this before. And so then you get to expand what. Groups, what events you get to enjoy making these new connections. And even if you are an introvert, this can be really fun because again, we're taking away the pressure.
[00:08:19] Andrea Elibero: We're not selling, we are connecting. And as a side note, going back, don't assume that everyone in your audience is not going to be aligned with where you're going, right? they might not be. Some of them might be because they're also evolving and they might know people who are, so they can refer you to other people as well.
[00:08:39]
[00:08:39] Andrea Elibero: so now you have this new audience that you're building along with your old audience that kind of gets to merge and gel together, which is really cool. And as you establish your new direction while you are. Owning this new identity because it's an identity shift as well. It's kind of this cool new kind of freedom, right?
[00:08:58] Andrea Elibero: You don't need to think about it like, oh, I'm just [00:09:00] shouting into the void. Nobody cares about this. It's like, oh, I'm evolving. I'm growing as a business owner, and I'm doing it as I'm building this really cool new solid foundation that maybe I didn't do the first time. 'cause I didn't know how. It wasn't clear to me.
[00:09:15] Andrea Elibero: And so overall, the quicker that you really own what you're doing, this new place that you're evolving to. The faster you do that, the faster that others are going to get on board. And then you find that these connections also start flowing faster. So again, the two pieces are that you have the logistical steps of the connections and, okay, how am I going to build up this new audience?
[00:09:38] Andrea Elibero: And the mindset piece of owning this new identity and being excited about it and excited about these new connections that you're making. And it's like you're getting into like the beginner mindset again, but with more experiences that you know how to do it better. Um, so you're showing up in these new spaces.
[00:09:54] Andrea Elibero: You get to decide also that, oh, I get to be bold. I get to, have this [00:10:00] big vision, which is really cool. And so obviously it's a process, but when it's something that you are really excited about, when it feels really aligned and this is the right path for you, this whole thing, this inviting people in gets to be exciting.
[00:10:14] Andrea Elibero: So it's really, really cool in that way. And so overall, one is let's get really clear on your foundations, especially for this you who this new ideal client is, and two, owning this new identity as you connect to this new ideal audience while you are building your new offer. And so there's always a bit of a gap between deciding to Pivot slash evolve and having the audience to support this evolution.
[00:10:43] Andrea Elibero: And so this gap does not mean that you offer shit. It doesn't mean that you know, like you should quit that. This is not worth it. It just means that you were in this specific stage of growth and it requires a little finesse to navigate it. And the really good news is that this kind of [00:11:00] nebulous void between where you were and where you're going, it is not forever and it gets to be freeing and maybe even fun if you move through it with intention.
[00:11:10] Andrea Elibero: And my clients gain so much confidence in this transition that it is. Like honestly, the coolest thing for me to watch, and this is something that I'm really intentional about when I work with them inside of expansion, my one-on-one coaching, because in there, yes, we're building your new offers, but we're not just doing that.
[00:11:28] Andrea Elibero: We are also building this next level audience along side of it. We are building your new and owning your new identity as this like. CEO business owner. So you are not worrying about shouting into the void that so many other people are worrying about and that they're experiencing. So if you are thinking about stepping into this phase, if you know that you're meant for something bigger, if maybe you've even started two step into this and your audience doesn't quite match, this is exactly what we can map out together.
[00:11:56] Andrea Elibero: So check out in the show notes my one-on-one coaching [00:12:00] expansion. Also, I invite you that you can book a free business audit with me and we can look at this in more detail together. And so where you are now, where you're trying to go, and the things that you need to shift in order to get there. So that is all that I have for you today, and I'll see you guys on the next one.
[00:12:17] Andrea Elibero: That's a wrap on today's episode, and thank you so much for listening. If anything we talked about today made you think, okay, well, what does this actually look like in my business? That's exactly what a free business audit is for. In just 45 minutes, I'll help you identify your unstructured expertise, pinpoint what's keeping you capped, and map out what your signature method could look like.
[00:12:40] Andrea Elibero: There's a link in the show notes to grab your spot, and I will see you in the next episode.
