On this episode of the Jason Cavness Experience I talk to Mary Elaine Baker - Entrepreneur | Visionary | Veteran Spouse | Co-Founder of VAUSA
We talk about the following and other subjects
What does values driven mean
Being a Military Dependent and a Military Spouse
Military Spouse unemployment and underemployment
Her company VAUSA
Mary Elaine’s Bio
Mary Elaine Baker is the co-founder and Chief Vision Officer of VAUSA®, a values-driven, veteran-owned small business that provides virtual administrative and marketing solutions for business owners, leaders of nonprofits, and entrepreneurs who are task-saturated. She and her husband, Brett, started VAUSA® in 2018 as a way to give the military spouses flexible job opportunities while freeing their clients to focus on their passions.
Recognizing the tremendous benefits of a healthy workplace culture for all types of organizations, Mary Elaine has led VAUSA to implement measures promoting company values and well-being for its assistants, all of whom work remotely. The positive results of this intentional and focused effort have resonated with both team members and clients alike.
Mary Elaine grew up in a military family and loving multicultural home right outside of Savannah, Georgia. She became a military spouse when she married Brett, a member of the 1st Ranger Battalion until his retirement in 2018. Working as an elementary teacher while caring for two small children, Mary Elaine struggled with unique stresses faced by military spouses, including frequent deployments and balancing the many competing priorities within the family. Today she uses those same experiences to help other military families overcome their challenges and thrive.
Jason Cavness
Can you talk about the name of your company VAUSA?
Mary Elaine Baker
We were called Patriot advantage before when we started the business and then we went through a rebranding and now we are VAUSA. VA for Virtual Assistants, and, USA America, military has a lot to do with our history.
Jason Cavness
What does it mean by a value driven company?
Mary Elaine Baker
Everything falls back on those values and that's how our culture was developed. We hire based on those values, we fire and not just our employees or virtual assistants but also clients as well. We look when clients come to our doorstep. We make sure that their values align with ours before we even take that next step.
Jason Cavness
Can you talk about a Small Business owner having the courage to fire their clients.
Mary Elaine Baker
When we started the business, I was like, anyone who wants my services, we're here and that really hurt us. Some of the clients might have integrity issues, maybe they were doing something shady, and we didn't want to have any association with them. At the end of the day, my people come first. When I started realizing that a client can kill the culture of my team because of their behavior and their actions, I did not want to subject my people to that. You'll lose good people because of crappy clients and that ends up hurting you more financially than anything else.
Jason Cavness
How do you vet a Virtual Assistant that you hire into your company?
Mary Elaine Baker
We have a program that we use that has a series of assessments that they go through. Program is called VA Basics and it tests their organizational skills, communication skills, calendar management skills, email management skills, project, and task management skills. They first go through a series of videos, and then they have a little assessment after going through that and it gets reviewed, and then interview with our team, then VA basics, and then that assessment is reviewed, and then they get an offer.
Jason Cavness
How do you handle client expectations?
Mary Elaine Baker
What we tell our team is always ask, and set boundaries early on, because if you don't set boundaries until six months or a year down the road, you have six months, or a year worth of bad habits that need to be broken. So going in and setting up that boundary in the beginning is crucial and then kindly reminding the client of those boundaries throughout the beginning of that relationship will help the two of you get into a good groove together.
Jason Cavness
Can you talk about the advantages or disadvantages of having a company with your spouse?
Mary Elaine Baker
Both my husband and I are very passionate people with strong beliefs. A lot of times we're aligned. But when we're not aligned, it can get very intense in our conversations, because we're so passionate. One of the struggles is communication, especially when we don't agree with each other, or we have different ideas about how to go about anything. We went and took a communication workshop. It was one of the best investments ever in our business and in our marriage.
Jason Cavness
Mary Elaine, you have a list of 100 things to do. How do you select what to work on?
Mary Elaine Baker
Usually, the fun things and the easy things, the ones that make me feel good that I can make a little checkmark on my list are the things that I finish. My assistant helps hold me accountable and make sure that I work on the high priority items first. prioritizing the day prior helps a lot with starting the day off the right foot and knowing you've already made that commitment to yourself.
Jason Cavness
Can you talk about how the company got started? What are you focused on right now and what is your vision for the company going forward?
Mary Elaine Baker
We officially launched in January 2018. In 2017, I was a virtual assistant myself. So that's where the idea came from where I realized there is top talent pool, and I knew I can find clients.
Our big 10-year vision is that we are a virtual assistant company that is known everywhere around the world. We want to open it up beyond the United States and hire military spouses stationed in other countries. I would love to also have a nonprofit started.
Mary Elaine’s Social Media
Mary Elaine’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-elaine-baker/
Mary Elaine’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maryelainebaker/
VAUSA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hirevausa/
VAUSA Website: https://hirevausa.com/
VAUSA FB: https://www.facebook.com/hirevausa
Mary Elaine’s Advice
Speaking to business owners, culture is the most important thing to focus on. It really is and I have a formula. That is compassion plus connection plus communication multiplied by consistency equals a culture of trust. If you're doing all of those things then everything else will come so much easier. That's my biggest tip for anyone considering entrepreneurship or current business owners. Focus on culture.
For military spouses out there. Please apply. That's not wisdom, but we need wonderful people and if any of your listeners know of anyone in the military community, I would love for them to be connected with us and we just love supporting Veterans through transition. That's our heart as well and then we just love finding job opportunities for Military Spouses.
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