Today we’d like to introduce you to Twanna Gill.
Twanna, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In January of 2009, about a week or so before President Obama’s 1st inauguration, I was laid off from the company I’d been working for since graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration in 2000. I’d been working for this company for eight years as a project coordinator in the area of facilities management. I helped to create and manage physical relocation projects for major corporations.
This life change caught me (and my other co-worker who was laid off with me) by surprise. After I had my own personal pity party for about a month, I started applying for jobs but I would only get so far in the hiring process, with most of the responses being that I was overqualified for the jobs I was applying for (I’d received my Masters in Project Managment in 2008).
During this time, I was also doing some light administrative work and business consulting for my son’s mentoring program at the time. To me, it was just something to do until one day the owner told me that he knows many small business owners needed someone like me on their team, at least for a few hours a week. He urged me to make a business around providing administrative support to entrepreneurs.
At the time, virtual assistants weren’t well known, but I was up to the challenge. I figured it would be something to do while I was looking for a job during the great recession. I had no idea when I started that a.most a decade later, I would still be at it.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Smooth road? Absolutely not. The biggest challenge I faced starting out what explaining what a virtual assistant is, why you need on and how having one makes you money. For instance, most people know how to use word and excel so they can create their own documents and spreadsheet. They how to schedule appointments and send newsletters.
So its hard to get individuals to pay you to do tasks they can do themselves. Especially early in their entrepreneurial journey will funds are not plentiful. And the same holds true for Project & Progam Management which are my specialties now. I spend a lot of time educating people on what I do and why they need me.
I’ve also found that getting people to let go and trust you to do the work is hard for many entrepreneurs. I liken it to the first time you take your child to daycare or the first day of school. You don’t trust everyone with your children and its the same with business. So building trust, so people are comfortable working with me take a little bit of time.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Empress Business Solutions – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Empress Business Solutions at its core is a company that works with entrepreneurs to provide productivity solutions for their businesses. I started this company just offering the very basics of administrative support to people – creating documents, scheduling appointments, creating newsletters, etc.
As the company has evolved, I focus more on blending my two loves with it project management and consulting. I love hearing about people’s next big ideas and helping them create a plan to make it happen. I love this so much until one of my former clients and branding coach gave me the title “Your Next Big Move Catalyst.”
My happy place is after having a strategic planning call where clients get to do a complete brain dump of what they want to do next – that can range anywhere from starting a business, launching a new service, producing a conference or going on a speaking tour – I take the information they share and create a list of action items for them and their team to keep them on task, on time and on budget.
What set’s me apart from others – I don’t run into too many project managers that work specifically with entrepreneurs. And I think that is what makes me unique. I’m not an IT project manager or a marketing project manager – I’m the entrepreneur’s project manager.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the future, I would love to train other virtual assistants and project managers who are equipped to work exclusively with entrepreneurs either by being a placement agency or through licensure.
I’m also working on creating an online resource center for DIY entrepreneurs who are not quite ready to hire their first virtual assistant or project manager but would like to have access to guides, checklists and “how to” videos.
Contact Info:
- Website: twannagill.com
- Phone: 4048572698
- Email: thevirtualempress@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/twannagill
- Facebook: facebook.com/twannagill
- Twitter: twitter.com/twannagill
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