In 2022, we hit a significant milestone: we surpassed 200 full-time, dedicated virtual assistants working for our clients.  

We were thrilled to see that both our clients and assistants gave us a Net Promoter Score (satisfaction rating from 1-100) over 90. 

We started this business in 2018 because we believed that every business owner should have an assistant. Four years later, we’re pleased to be able to talk about what we’ve learned and how we’re still finding success.  

1. Put your people first 

When we first began in 2018, co-founder Rob Levin interviewed noted entrepreneur Danny Meyer. Danny said that he puts his employees first, not his customers. (Contrast this with “the customer is always right.”) He found that if he took care of his employees, then his employees took care of his customers. We adopted that strategy at WBN on day one and never looked back.  

Most companies in our industry cater to their client’s needs first, which leads to burnout and uncomfortable work hours for their employees (such as working overnight because of time zone issues). At WBN, we know a happy employee makes a happy client — and we couldn’t ask for more.

2. Investing in recruiting and coaching pays off

Our recruiting team built a rigorous screening process that enables us to present top performers to our clients. In addition, we’ve recently added a Success Coaching Team which has helped our clients and virtual assistants get off to a great start with a proactive onboarding process.  

WBN client Joe Romano, president of Romano and Associates, said, “I thought it would take three to six months. It took three days for my assistant to hit the ground running.”  

3. Quality matches matter 

We provide businesses with assistants who are expertly matched to their needs and culture. In turn, our assistants find it easy to get involved in the business, become a part of the team, and make our clients’ success happen.  

When we are hand-selecting approved virtual assistants for a particular client, they have to “opt-in” to that client too. This is an important part of the hiring and matching process for us and ensures the match has a successful start.  

WBN client and CEO of The Clarity Team Joe Hudicka described his assistant as an “absolute perfect fit for our culture and our needs. [She is] ambitious; wanting to learn and grow through doing.”  

4. Our talent is versatile

Our talent goes far beyond the role of a typical assistant.  

When we started providing talent to our clients, we frequently heard that the word “assistant” didn’t quite cover the work that they were taking on. Our clients have found that WBN talent can be used to fill various roles across their business, from marketing to research, project management, billing, and even sales.  

Our talent can also adapt to nearly any industry. Our top two clients (who have hired the most talent from us) are in logistics and transportation, and e-commerce. These clients have WBN talent working in customer support, property management, dispatch support, accounting, and sales development roles. 

We admit that we should have picked up on this one right away—our own staff is nearly all comprised of our “virtual assistants”! 

5. Go all in

When we first began, we rebuffed calls to provide part-time assistants and decided to only hire full-time assistants. This allows our assistants to focus fully on one client and be available to them throughout the entire workday.  

6. Remote relationships can be successful

Remote work is unique, and we’ve learned that it’s not for everyone. We have fine-tuned our hiring process to screen out virtual assistants that work best in an office environment. And, in our initial client consult, we screen out potential clients that really aren’t ready to work with remote talent.  

Not only have we learned how to ensure that our talent and clients are prepared to work together remotely, but we’ve also learned how to create a great remote culture.  

We provide our talent with learning opportunities and encourage them to grow personally and professionally. We offer wellness activities such as midday yoga, employee appreciation events, and virtual show-and-tells to ensure they feel connected, cared for, and happy.

7. The Latin American and Caribbean workforce is terrific for our clients 

Many of our virtual assistants are from Latin America or the Caribbean, and their cultural similarities, excellent work ethic, strong English language skills, and time zone alignment work well for our clients and assistants alike.  

8. Referrals are golden

More than 90% of our new clients this year came from referrals. This reflects the outstanding service and experience that clients are having with their own virtual assistants.  

WBN client Kristin Hasson, Realtor at Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers, said, “The process of working with WBN has been so smooth and easy! I am so happy with our assistant; she is amazing. I very highly recommend it!” 

Finally 

Above all else, we have learned that we love what we do. We provide our assistants with meaningful work and great wages, and we enjoy helping our clients succeed by providing them with great talent that gives them time to focus on the things that are most important to them.  

If you could use the help of a WBN virtual assistant, schedule a free consultation with us!