In this episode of Flying Solo, we chat with Fiona Campbell – founder of Thought Penny and the VA Lead Network – about how she turned redundancy on maternity leave into a booming remote business. Fiona shares her journey from C-suite EA to virtual assistant queen, her top tips for setting up systems that scale, and how she gets a whopping 70% open rate on her emails. If you’re drowning in to-dos, struggling with delegation or unsure whether a VA is worth the investment, Fiona’s got you covered with smart, actionable advice to streamline your solo business – and reclaim your time.
Key topics
1. Building a Successful Remote and VA Business
· Fiona’s journey from executive assistant to launching Thought Penny and the VA Lead Network
· The impact of niching down and leveraging online presence to quickly gain clients
· Addressing common client needs: supplementing skills, freeing up time, and growing teams
2. Essential Systems and Automation for Soloists
· Importance of task management tools (e.g., Asana) for visibility and organisation
· Strategies for identifying which business tasks to automate or delegate
· Encouragement to document workflows, even for solos, to enable growth and efficiency
3. Finding and Working with the Right VA
· Process of matching business owners with suitable VAs through detailed onboarding and education
· Avoiding the pitfalls of hiring solely based on lowest cost or unrealistic role expectations
· Key advice: hire for capability and value, with clear communication and role definition
4. Maximising Email List Engagement and Deliverability
· Maintaining a high-quality, engaged list through ruthless pruning and double opt-in practices
· Creating relevant, valuable content and offering subscriber preferences to boost open rates
· Ensuring technical setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for strong email deliverability and reputation .
Timestamped overview
00:00 Streamlining Business with Fiona Campbell
06:12 Virtual Assistant roles & responsibilities
10:06 Letting go in business delegation
11:30 Evaluating task automation needs
15:36 Task management: Digital vs. Paper
20:39 Optimising Virtual Assistant roles
24:19 Beware cheapest Virtual Assistants
28:41 High subscriber lists hurt reputation
31:50 Optimise email engagement strategy
35:02 Optimising email preferences
38:12 "Set SPF records to avoid spam"
40:25 Outsource Tasks You Dislike
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