Hey friends, Hannah here 👋 This week, I learned some uncomfortable lessons I feel called to share. In short, I learned that when something threatens my dogs, my inner mostly-vegan animal lover disappears VERY quickly. 👀 Earlier this week, I was walking my dogs when a large street dog, newly in the neighborhood, lunged at us repeatedly, trying to take a bite out of my little guy, Nando. Nando's cute face I screamed so loud my throat still hurts, tried to scare it away, and somewhere in the few...
1 day ago • 6 min read
Hey there, Hannah here 👋 You'd never guess it, but I was a keen runner years ago, especially back when I was living in picturesque Sardinia. It felt easy to run there, with endless trails right outside my door and even more endless stunning views to keep me in awe. Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean, and one of the things that makes this Italian island so special is the fact that part of it is considered one of the world’s best-known Blue Zones. 💙 Blue Zones are...
6 days ago • 6 min read
Hey friends, Hannah here 👋 Can I tell you about one of the biggest f&!k-ups of my career? Many years ago, I messed something up for a client. And when I say messed up, I don’t mean I sent an email with the wrong link or missed a deadline. I messed up royally. Badly enough that the right thing to do was refund the client, and it was a lot of money - the most I had ever handled in my entire professional career at once. There was just one slight problem: I didn’t have the money. 😬 I was still...
8 days ago • 8 min read
Hey there, Hannah here :) I’ll let you in on a secret: one of my favorite ways to build trust, showcase expertise, and land clients is through webinars. In fact, you may have even attended one of mine in the past - heyyy! The thing is, most freelancers and VAs never even think of webinars as a client-getting strategy. They see them as something only coaches or product-based businesses do. But the truth is that a simple, well-structured webinar can be one of the most powerful ways to show...
12 days ago • 3 min read
Hey friends, Hannah here 👋 I’ve been working for myself for well over a decade now, and I understand so many things now that would have saved younger me a ridiculous amount of overthinking. Not tactics, necessarily. More like truths I wish someone had yelled at me before I started. 📣 So, here I am, yelling these 10 things at you! You're welcome. 1. It gets lonely. You can love the freedom of working for yourself and still miss having people around who understand the weird highs and lows of...
15 days ago • 4 min read
Hey friends, Hannah here :) A little while ago, I had two Virtual Excellence Academy members come and meet me here in Guanajuato, Mexico. We took my dogs for a hike in the mountains, chatted about business and life, and at one point one of them took the opportunity to ask me something face to face. “What are your real goals? Like, long term. Let’s say ten years from now?” “I want to retire,” I said, without really having to think about it. She looked surprised. “But you’d still be young. What...
22 days ago • 7 min read
Hey there, Hannah here :) I’m currently based between Guanajuato, Mexico, and New York City. As everyone knows, NYC isn't exactly gentle on the bank account, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I have a roommate. I regularly catch her as she is heading to work at some ungodly hour, and I’m talking 5 or 6 a.m. I'll say something cheerful like, “Have a nice day!” and she'll respond with something like, “Ugh. Kill me now.” Meanwhile, because I work for myself, my day could involve moseying...
26 days ago • 5 min read
Reader, With the VEA enrollment closing soon, I know you may be thinking, 'Well, how will this program specifically affect me, my life, and my career?' The Virtual Excellence Academy is for you if you are: Dreaming of escaping the 9–5 grind, but unsure where to start An outlier who never felt like they fit into the “traditional” career mold Sitting on a mountain of diverse skills, but still doubting if they’re enough to go freelance If you can relate to any one (or all) of the items on this...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi friends, Hannah here 👋 Every now and then, someone will look at my content and think: “Hannah, you are being so dramatic. It’s just a 9-to-5. It’s just a job. Calm down.” They think talking about the corporate world in terms of “captivity,” “hostage situations,” and “being robbed of your soul” is a bit much. But when you’ve been where I’ve been, and you’ve seen what I’ve seen, you develop a hyper-vigilant level of pattern recognition. And once you see the patterns, you can’t unsee them....
about 1 month ago • 3 min read