91. 5 Signs You've Outgrown Your Virtual Assistant or OBM Business Model

Have you ever felt completely lost about what to do next in your business, even though you know you can't keep doing what you've been doing? You're not alone.

 In this episode, I share the story of Elena (not her real name), a virtual assistant who looked incredibly successful on paper - great clients, solid income, consistent referrals - but was completely drained by working entire weekends for client events with no additional compensation. Her breaking point led to an important realization: she had outgrown her business model.

Most VAs and OBMs don't get stuck because their business is failing. They get stuck in business models and offers that technically work but slowly drain the life out of them. If you've been feeling guilty for not wanting "good work" anymore, this episode will help you understand that wanting something more aligned isn't selfish, it's growth.

Key Points Covered:

✨ Why feeling guilty about not wanting good work is actually a sign of evolution

✨ The 5 specific signs you've outgrown your current business model

✨ How poor boundaries justify themselves in service-based businesses

✨ Why procrastination might be your nervous system protecting you from misaligned work

✨ The difference between being ungrateful and being ready to grow

✨ A simple 5-category assessment to evaluate where you stand

✨ How to start making strategic shifts without losing your income

If you're ready to stop feeling guilty about outgrowing your current work and start building something that actually fits who you've become, this episode will give you permission to honor your growth and take the next step forward.

Remember: outgrowing your business model isn't something to feel guilty about, it's something to celebrate and respond to.

Thank you for being a part of the Soulpreneur Scaling Stories community!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Realizing the Need for Change
• 3:36 Facing the Breaking Point
• 4:05 Signs You've Outgrown Your Business Model

Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Andrea here, your host and passionate business coach and scaling strategist for soulful service providers and coaches. Welcome to another episode of Solepreneur Scaling Stories. Have you ever wanted to look behind the curtain of your fellow entrepreneur's business to see what actually went into scaling it?

[00:00:22] Well, you are in for a treat 'cause that's exactly what we are doing here. In each episode, we will be uncovering the truth of the lessons and the stories behind what it truly takes for sold entrepreneurs to scale their businesses intentionally. I'm hoping that their stories will help you to unlock the true potential of your business so you can create your own soulful, abundant, and aligned laptop lifestyle through intentional scaling.

[00:00:46] So whether you're just starting out on your scaling journey or you're a seasoned entrepreneur seeking inspiration, this episode has something incredible in store for you. Are you ready to rise, grow, and create a business that fully supports your dream life? Well, let's dive in. [00:01:00] Before we begin, make sure to hit that subscribe buttons.

[00:01:03] You never miss an empowering episode filled with real stories and soulful insights.

[00:01:10] Okay. A little warning for today, especially if you are watching this. I am recording this with a little puppy there. She's on my lap, so hopefully she doesn't do anything crazy and we can get through this recording,

[00:01:24] so let's jump in.

[00:01:27] I know I can't do hourly anymore, but I also can't do this on-call assistant thing. I just don't know where I'm supposed to go from here. If you've ever felt completely lost about what to do next in your business, even though you know you actually can't keep doing what you've been doing, stick around because this episode is.

[00:01:44] For you.

[00:01:46] So that was, we'll call her Elena, who said that to me, who was a virtual assistant client of mine. So everything looked really good on paper, right? She had really great clients, she had solid income, she had consistent referrals,

[00:01:57] but she just worked an entire weekend for a [00:02:00] client event where her time was considered a part of her total support package.

[00:02:05] And. That was it. She didn't get covered anything extra. Now, she wasn't really angry about this, but she was really tired. She was exhausted, and she was like, I don't wanna do this anymore. And so from my end, from working with clients, from my own experience, what I've learned is that most VAs and OBMs, they don't necessarily get stuck because their business is failing.

[00:02:27] They get stuck in business models. In offers that technically work, but actually in the background really start to drain the life out of them.

[00:02:37] So today I'm going to walk you through five specific signs that you've outgrown your current business model, and more importantly, how to rebuild without starting over or losing your income.

[00:02:49] So Elena had been in business for a few years, and then again, like I said before, from the outside it looked like she had made it. But when we sat down to talk about how things were really going.

[00:02:59] [00:03:00] She'd clearly been holding on for months onto kind of like this feeling, you know, like we kind of see this tension underneath her.

[00:03:05] And the thing that she said to me that really stuck with me was that she said, I know that people would be lucky to have these clients, and I feel guilty for not wanting this work anymore. She said, I feel guilty for not wanting to do this work anymore. And that is such an important realization to have.

[00:03:25] And it wasn't because her clients were bad, it wasn't because she wasn't earning money, but she herself had evolved and she was having a hard time giving herself permission to actually change and grow.

[00:03:36] And then the breaking point happened when she knew that there was another event coming up for this client and she was like, I'm not an intern anymore.

[00:03:45] I'm not gonna work for free anymore.

[00:03:48] And that was true, right? Like she wasn't an intern and then she shouldn't be working for free. But her business model wasn't honoring where she was at anymore. I. She wasn't honoring kind of the next [00:04:00] phase of what she was doing. So she was actually, in essence, outgrowing her business model.

[00:04:05] So today I wanna talk about the five signs that you have outgrown your business model.

[00:04:11] The first one is feeling guilty for not wanting good, quote unquote, good work. So, you know, you've put in the reps, you've built up your skill. You have credibility. Credibility, you are in demand, but the work that you're getting. It's not lighting you up anymore. It's not for you anymore, and you feel guilty.

[00:04:27] You feel really terrible about that. This client had told me was that, you know, I feel like, again, there's so many people out of work who'd be so grateful for these opportunities. What's wrong with me? Like, why don't I want them? Why am I not appreciative of them? And really what's actually happening is for her and for you, if you're feeling this way, you've developed expertise, right?

[00:04:47] But you're still accepting a more beginner level of work. Out of guilt, out of scarcity, out of safety. You know, your brain knows that you're capable of doing more, but your business [00:05:00] model hasn't caught up yet. So the thing to really look out for for this sign is if you catch yourself apologizing or feeling guilty for wanting something more aligned or feeling privileged, quote unquote, for having standards.

[00:05:14] Sign number two that you've outgrown your business model is that you're justifying poor boundaries. We've all done this, right? Someone else's emergency becomes your unpaid overtime again and again and again. With Elena, with this client, it was this event,

[00:05:32] you know, like, I should work for this because they're asking me to do it and it's not right of me to set in my own boundaries.

[00:05:39] It's an event. This is what's expected, right? No wrong. So what's happening is that your pricing model is not accounting for your actual value. So now you end up making excuses for somebody else's poor planning. You've trained yourself and your clients to believe that your time is less valuable. Then their convenience, [00:06:00] and that's not a good place to be.

[00:06:02] So watch out for here, is that if you hear yourself saying things like, oh, they want me to do this, and Oh yes, it's included. Oh, it's just one weekend. So I guess, or kind of justifying why somebody else's last minute request is your emergency.

[00:06:18] Sign number three is that you procrastinate work that you used to enjoy this.

[00:06:23] I really had. I was so guilty of this. And you're procrastinating not 'cause you're lazy, but because your body knows what your brain is scared to admit that is not aligned anymore, that you're not feeling excited anymore about it. Okay, so she started making this client what she called silly scheduling mistakes, when she used to be more this whole perfectionist, she never made these mistakes before.

[00:06:47] She would avoid opening certain client projects and kind of do things last minute and feel guilty about it. You know, you've been there, right? You know you've done this. And so what's happening here is that your nervous system is protecting [00:07:00] you from. Work that no longer serves who you're becoming. So it's really protecting you from this evolution because that part is unknown and anything unknown is really scary for your nervous system.

[00:07:10] So it's, the procrastination is not the actual problem. It's a symptom of a bigger problem. And that problem is growth, that you're on this growth edge. So here, watch out for when you are going to open your laptop to work on something that should be simple and you put it off again and again and again.

[00:07:29] And then sign number four is that you feel resentful about your schedule. You started a business, you became your own boss to have more freedom, but launches, requests and quick favors, all of these things are running your calendar and your nervous system as well.

[00:07:47] So this client El, realized that she hadn't taken a real vacation in literal years.

[00:07:53] Uh, she had gone away for a couple of days here and there, but there was always something, you know, our clients always needed her. [00:08:00] She didn't wanna let them down, so she would, even if she traveled somewhere, she would still work while she was traveling. What's happening here is that your business model is requiring your constant presence for it to work.

[00:08:12] You don't have any leverage built in. You don't have things that will run without you. You've accidentally created a job that follows you everywhere. And so here, watch out for. When you realize that your clients have more control over your time than you do, that's that sign. And the last one, number five, is you know what you don't want, but not what you do want.

[00:08:36] And what I mean by this is that you've outgrown the old way, the current way that you run your business, but you don't have a blueprint for what comes next, so you freeze. And in Elena's case, she said, okay, I don't, I can't do hourly anymore. I can't do this TaskRabbit thing, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do instead.

[00:08:55] What's happening here is that you've evolved, you've grown, you've outgrown your current business model, but [00:09:00] you don't have a clear vision for what the next level looks like. Without a roadmap, you stay stuck. You stay stuck in this gap between where you are and where you want to be and watch out for this.

[00:09:12] So you're stuck between, I can't do this anymore, but I don't know what to do instead. I don't know where to go from here. And the thing that really matters here throughout all of this, and more than anything, is that outgrowing your business model is not something to feel guilty about. It's something to notice, and it's something to respond to.

[00:09:31] You would not feel guilty for outgrowing your jeans. You would just get a new pair, one that fits you. Maybe you would feel guilty, but for other reasons. But that's a different podcast. So why are we still squeezing ourselves into offers, into pricing, and into roles that no longer reflect our skills or our values?

[00:09:52] You're not ungrateful, you're not dramatic, and you're not wrong for wanting more. You're just growing. That's amazing. And your business is [00:10:00] supposed to grow with you. When this client said, I'm not an intern anymore, that was like giving herself permission to stop acting like one. And that's the moment that really helped her shift into this new mindset.

[00:10:13] For real, for real, for real. So let's do a little assessment.

[00:10:17] I invite you to do a little quick check-in on 1, 2, 3. There's five. Categories here, and I invite you to rate yourself from one through five on each of these categories

[00:10:31] in relation to your business. So with your energy, how energized do you feel about your work most days?

[00:10:38] One to five. Super quick, what about your growth? Is there room to grow in your current model, or do you feel maxed out with what you're doing? What about your freedom? Who really controls your schedule? Are you able to shift things around or do you really have to be available for your clients? One to five.

[00:10:55] What does that look like? Your leverage, how much of your income [00:11:00] depends on your direct time, on you being on all the time. And then finally, fulfillment. Does this model reflect the kind of work that you want to be doing long term? So if you've gone through, if you've rated them and you're seeing that you're getting kind of lower numbers or mid numbers, if some of these answers really feel a little uncomfortable and you're like, oh, you have likely outgrown your current business model, and that's not a problem, that's amazing.

[00:11:25] Like that's exciting. This is growth asking to happen. It's trying to happen. So what do we do? Now? The hardest part of all of this is not recognizing that you've outgrown your business model. It's actually figuring out what comes next. So a lot of VAs, OBM service providers are stuck in this gap, right?

[00:11:43] The space between, I don't wanna do this anymore. I really can't keep going like this, and I don't know what to do next. I don't know what else to do. And that gap. It is where all this fear lives. It's putting all this pressure on yourself. What if I mess this up? What if I can't make this thing work? I've worked so hard to get to this [00:12:00] point.

[00:12:01] I should just be grateful and stay here, even though your body is literally like asking you to grow and evolve.

[00:12:11] And

[00:12:11] the thing is that the longer you wait to honor yourself, the more resentment builds. The more your confidence starts to erode and you actually start believing that this chaotic way of working is just how it is, right?

[00:12:27] That's just the job. That's just the business that I'm in. It's not, and the thing is, is that this gap, this gap where this fear or this questioning lives, it's not a place to stay in. It's not a place to live in. It's a place to cross over to go through. So what if instead of feeling guilty about your standards, you felt confident setting them?

[00:12:50] What if instead of justifying poor boundaries, you had clients who respected your process from day one, and you don't have to [00:13:00] cross this gap alone. So if you are listening and recognizing yourself in sign number one, that you are feeling guilty for a. Uh, not wanting good work anymore. In quotes, you need to hear this.

[00:13:13] Wanting something more aligned is not selfish. Wanting something more aligned. Or evolved is not ungrateful. It's actual growth. And this is the kind of mindset shift that I help my clients work through inside of expansion, which is my signature four month, one-on-one coaching experience where we navigate exact moments like this.

[00:13:34] Like learning how to stop apologizing for having standards for wanting growth, and to start confidently claiming your expertise. So if you are ready to stop feeling guilty about outgrowing your current work and start building something that actually fits who you have become, head over to Instagram, DME expansion.

[00:13:53] My link is in the notes here, soulful Biz coach Andrea, and let's chat about it. So your starting [00:14:00] point. Whether you work with me or not is to today, pick one client, pick one offer, or pick one boundary that no longer fits this week. Have a conversation about it and really start to shift it. Make small moves and strategic ones and keep going.

[00:14:17] And this is how this kind of change starts.

[00:14:21] Elena, that client that we keep talking about in this episode, she started by saying no, that she wasn't going to do any more unpaid work for launches. And that one decision was really created this domino effect that led to everything else. So what is your I'm not an intern anymore moment going to be, I'm not a beginner anymore.

[00:14:39] I would love to hear that and remember that outgrowing your business model is a sign of success. It means that you are evolving, so don't shame yourself for that growth. Really respond to it. You're not too late, you're not too picky, you're not too much. You're just ready. I. So that is all that I have for you today.

[00:14:57] Thank you so much for being here, and if [00:15:00] this episode resonated with you, I would love to hear your biggest takeaway. Um, chat with me, find me on Instagram so I can celebrate with you. And don't forget that if you are ready to rebuild your business model with some support DME expansion and let's chat about my coaching

[00:15:17] and I will see you guys on the next one. 

[00:15:19] Thank you so much for joining us today. I really hope you found inspiration and insights from today's episode. You know, scaling your business intentionally and from the inside out is a transformational process, but I'm here to support you every step of the way. Head on over to dancing leaf solutions.com/resources for free tools to help you do just that.

[00:15:45] And thank you again for being a part of the Solepreneur Scaling Stories community. Your presence and dedication to growth inspiring me every day.