The Secrets to Delegating Like a Pro ft. Louise Sandoval

I was promoting to entrepreneurs to delegate and all that, but it was so hard for me to delegate my own systems. I was trying to scale and scale it. Imagine that. It's like a balloon that I know that's gonna pop soon. And then it did. Every day I would wake up, I was looking at numbers, I was looking at quotas, KPIs and all that. I was doing like all the corporate work.

Today's guest inspires me every single day. Her name is Louise Sandoval. She's based in the Philippines and she built up a fantastic fake VA agency out of nothing.

I was like waking up so early, sleeping late. I was forgetting to like work out or start my morning slow and appreciate having time with my loved ones and all that. I was just busy building the business.

She has been in business for the last 14 years and in this episode she shares the ups and downs and the whole entrepreneurial roller coaster ride.

That was like around 2020 to 2022. It was like long two years for me. I'm getting huge in team members and

clients in a place where even Internet isn't stable and people have to face a number of weather adversities year after year. She's unstoppable. And besides sharing her story, she also brings her best ideas for you to first get help and how to even get started delegating and having someone help out with your business. When you are ready to scale, let's get started. Hey Luis, welcome.

Hey Esther. Thank you so much for having me on here.

I've been thinking of inviting you to the show for a long time now, but then I had a hiccup in the recording so it was stalled. And now that I'm recording new episodes, I was like, I hope she says yes because I really wanted to, to hear your story for myself as well because I don't know your whole story but I know snippets of it and yeah, I had the pleasure of working with you and the team for I think a year and a half. You actually helped me, helped me through a transition period before building my own team and without you it wouldn't have been possible at all. That's 100% sure. So, so, so I'm so glad to have you and I, and I can't wait to delve into this. So yeah, let's get started with the question I ask everyone I, I have on the show and that's what is it that you do and why do you do what you do?

Ah, there's a question that I. It's been a while since I was asked that question. And by the way, it's my pleasure to be on this, you know, podcast show. What is it that I do? So, right. I identify, or I call myself a digital systems architect and then also kajabi expert. I also own a virtual assistant agency here in the Philippines that's been running for 10 years. And I'm doing what I do. It's because the first thing that comes into my mind whenever I'm asked this question, it's because I want to get on a mission where I can provide jobs for my fellow Filipinos here in the Philippines. And second is to create more impact in the world as someone who is miles away with her clients. It's trickling down here in the Philippines, and there is a lot. You know, I know that there's still more, a greater why and what why I do what I do. But right now, I'm sticking to that mission.

How did this whole story start? Was it like you. You started as a VA and then it grew, or did it have a different start? You are now big in the kajabi world, but was it always kajabi? Tell me about this. Those starting moments.

Gosh, that was like 14 years ago. I can remember I graduated actually as a, you know, a laboratory scientist, and my goal was to become a doctor. But then, you know, times are hard. It's expensive to go to medical school, and I was looking for a job. You know, that's an easier entry point for me as someone who didn't have any experience. As someone was a fresh graduate. And I encountered the opportunity to become a virtual assistant. My first client, who was a pastor in New York, introduced me to kajabi. I didn't know a thing. I didn't know a thing about the online space. I didn't even know, like, you know, Kajabi. Like, he was the one who introduced me to the platform. I was writing blogs for him and doing some little things as a virtual assistant. And from then on, I fell in love with the platform. I, you know, I learned the ins and outs, and I saw it grow from the basic features up to what it is today. And then as I started as a virtual assistant, I've learned a lot of skills. And that was like 14 years ago. It's been quite a while. And then after that, I am here now as a kajabi expert and, you know, have. And have my own team.

How did the whole team idea come up? How did this whole thing started? Because now it's. It's pretty Huge. When, yeah, when I first reached out, I, I thought I would be working with you and then maybe a few other people, but it turned out to me in the first few weeks of working together that there, there were various levels and you assigned an account manager to us and they still had a manager before we got to you, so. So you've built up something, Something pretty massive.

Yeah, you know, it's, it's a, it's a lovely story. Whenever I'm asked, like, how did it became like this? Because when I was working with my client, you know, who was a physical therapist in Florida, he had also his own students in his mastermind. And these students would be like, who is your virtual assistant? Who's helping you? All of this. And then, and then he would recommend me to them. But I cannot work for multiple clients. Like, it' so hard to, you know, work alone, you know, divide yourself into multiple clients. And I couldn't, I don't want to, like, stress myself out. So what I did was that I trained my sister, I trained my friend. I, I also like reached out to a few people who wants to work online and offer it to them. And then it clicked on me, like, what if, like I create my own team or like have my own team and I could just train them and how I do things and then they get, you know, they know the processes, the systems. And then it went on to birthing this whole company that now has its own system. So we have our own managers, we have HR billing and all that. Because my vision was then again, you know, to help other Filipinos who can find a job, especially those who have disabilities too. So. Because my, my then co founder was, you know, the client who was a physical therapist. He was also passionate about helping other people, especially those who can't find jobs. So because with disability there visible and non visible, so like those with psoriasis, those with tuberculosis, so there are the people who can find traditional jobs here. And that was the inspiration. And I could even remember my first hire, Michelle, who is still also working with us. She was on wheelchair and I was crying when I heard her story and how she wanted the job and also how she wanted to work with us. And so that's, you know, that started. That was the start. And then, you know, in, during the pandemic, a lot of people went online and needing, you know, services like ours. So we went from 20 team members to 100, I think 110. If I could just remember. It was a lot, it was a lot of, you know, scaling and hiring, training, and we were very busy, but then on. And that's like, that was the point where we. We could just imagine, like, how. What would be. We could give more opportunities to people.

While that growth is amazing, but also sounds a bit scary.

Exactly.

Were you able to always manage it well for yourself as a person?

Yeah, manager.

But as, like, life, you know, I'm big on. In this podcast. I'm big on life first and building businesses where. Where the business is built around our lives and it's not the business that eats everything up and everything revolves around. It was possible for you at that moment?

Well, at that moment, I was so, you know, I was so ecstatic. Like, I was like, oh, my God, this is a vision come true. Like, you know, when I was building my company in 2016, I was like, oh, my God, what if we could be in a building? Like, what if our office could be, you know, filled with 100, you know, virtual assistants? But then, you know, it was. It was getting to a point where. And I was already, you know, every day I would wake up, I was looking at numbers, I was looking at quotas. Like, I was looking at KPIs and all that. I was doing, like, all the corporate work that I was spending hours and hours trying to run the business, manage the. Manage the team, plus also trying to, of course, you know, do the marketing, the sales. So it was a lot for me. And it was ironic because I was promoting to entrepreneurs to delegate and all that, but it was so hard for me to delegate my own systems. So, you know, and then it was a lot of overhead expenses with the offices with, you know, equipments and tools to provide our team. So I was so, you know, encapsulated by the vision itself, like, just thinking about a hundred people. But I wasn't thinking about my life even. Like, I was forgetting to, like, work out or start my morning slow and appreciate having time with my loved ones and. And all that. I was just busy building the business, and I wasn't in. I was in that phase at that time right now when it went to a point that I. It was. I was trying to scale and scale it that. Imagine that it's like a balloon that it's, oh, I know that it's gonna pop soon. And then it did. So it was really hard for me. And to be honest, I wasn't actually building it around my life. I was building my life around it. I was like, waking up so early, sleeping late, and I would get into a mood wherein I was like, is this still, for me. Like, is this still my vision? Like, I. Is this still in line with my.

Why. When was this. Let's say you. You started and then how. How long did you spend in this. In this. In this whole space of. Of just holding space for this amazing vision, but also forgetting about yourself for a while in the process?

Yeah, that was like around 2020 to 2022. There was. That was like a, you know, it was like long two years for me. I was. I was. I. I felt like. I felt the, you know, the. The need to, like, you know, like, restructure things. And then also at the same time, we were. Yes, we were get, you know, we. Getting huge in number of team members and clients, but we were actually losing clients. You know, every. Every month, like, somebody would come in, lose them after 30 days. Because it was like, it was a lot to manage already that we scaled up so fast. And at the same time, I'm losing. I was losing myself. I was. I didn't have time for me to, like, you know, work out or even take a break. Sundays I was working or even Christmas break, I was working for clients. And at to a point that, you know, I had to, you know, try, you know, jump in, you know, on clients, projects and all that just to make sure that, you know, these are all done. So from 2020 to 2022, it. But in 2022, I decided for myself, like, I. I can no longer, like, do this. Like, yes, I had that vision, but I was already forgetting about me. Like, where is me in that vision? Like, I. I had that vision for other people, but I. Where is me? Like, you know, like, I forgot about myself. And then if I cannot. If I cannot take care of myself, I cannot take care of clients. I cannot have. I don't have the energy anymore to. To work with people because, like, I'm. I was so drained. Yes, it was in 2022 that I decided that I cannot take this any longer. Like, I have to make a change and especially that things have changed since then. Like, after, like, you know, the world opened up again. You know, some of our clients went back to their corporate jobs. Some of them, you know, decided that the online space is not for them. So it was a lot of change in 2022, going to 2023.

What would you say made you realize that this needs to stop? Like, was there was this something, like, to me, it was. First of all, people around me, my. My husband at some point said that it doesn't make sense for us to live in the Same space if we don't even know.

Yeah.

About each other. So stuff like that. Also, like, I had some health warnings as well at some point. And so.

So that's.

First part of my question is that, like, what made you change? And the second part is, okay, besides clients maybe going away after. After reopening, after Covid, what did you change internally inside yourself and inside the company?

Number one, for myself, it was. I came to a point that I was actually crying out of nowhere. It was like. It was like that. Like, it was very depressing. I told my husband that, you know, I. Sometimes I get paralyzed. Like, I can't move. Like, I know I have so many things that I need to do, but I was not moving. Like, I was just crying and panicking inside. And I was like, I can't imagine myself being like this, you know, for the rest of the years. And. And also, just when my husband was, you know, missing me, like, we weren't having time for each other. I. The number one reason that where I was here, where, you know, right where I was was because of my husband, due for his support, and I was, you know, missing out on him. And I don't want. Want him to feel that he's not a priority anymore. At the same time, I was having a lot of health issues, so I was, you know, I was sick all the time. I didn't feel like myself. Like, I. I feel, you know, I. I don't feel confident. I wasn't even confident in meeting people. I was isolating myself. So it was like, those signs were like, telling me, like, oh, this is not new anymore. Like, I wasn't enjoying my life. Yes, I had, you know, I had the title CEO, founder. I had a team. But behind that, behind that, there's this, you know, isolation. There was depression. And also part of that was also it was really hard to manage a large team. It was like, almost like, you know, half the job of running the business. Like, it, you know, you have to deal with different personalities. You have to, you know, you have to manage team expectations, onboarding. And also, like, if a team member, you know, will not get stuff done, it's your accountability. So all the stress were pouring down on me, and then we also. It came to a point that these team members were actually not doing their job well. So it was affecting my reputation. And I'm very, you know, particular about the work that I do because I want to make sure that, you know, I do good with my clients. You know, we take care of our clients. And if our Mighty members are not taking care of me because it reflects on me. So that was the point, the breaking point of my life. I was like, I need to get something done. Like, I cannot have. I cannot imagine myself doing, you know, being like this for a long time. I might die. So, like, I was like, no, I need to love my life again and enjoy what I do. Because, of course, like, I realized, especially when I had my cancer scare, you know, life is so short. Like, I need to do what, you know, gives me joy and, you know, and brings that creativity in me.

You mentioned cancer scare. Are you okay to tell us a little more about that? Because that sounds like the rest of the things are like, okay, yeah, I'm feeling depressed.

Yes.

But the scene. Yeah, serious.

Yeah, absolutely. It was in. I think it was 2023. No, 2020. Early, late 2023, 24. I was getting sick all the time. I was having, like, immune system problems. And then when I got into the hospital, you know, my doctor had, like, a really thorough checkup, and I was doing scans and all that, and they found out I have a tumor in my adrenal glands a size of a lemon. So it was that big already. So it's a very rare condition. And I was incidental when they found out about that. When they were doing the ultrasound for my liver, they found out that there was a tumor in my adrenal gland. So I was like, oh, my gosh, am I going to die? And then I really thought that after that incidental finding, I would be on chemotherapy and all that. I had to do a lot of tests for eight months. Like, I was back and forth in the hospital. I was doing medications just to make sure that my hormones are okay, also making sure that it's not that malignant. So there were tests that, you know, I have to do. I have to travel by a plane and so much more. It was a lot of work. November 20th, 24th came, and we found out that it was not cancerous, thank God. And, I mean, it was benign, but I'm still, like, on monitor right now making sure that I'm not. I'm not in a lot of stress because it may, you know, trigger that factor. And also, with my family history, I already have family members who are currently diagnosed with cancer. So we. I was very careful, and me and my husband has been trying to. We've been trying for eight years to have a child. So right now, that has been my priority because, no, we're not getting any younger. So it's. It's something that in our lives that we prioritize right now.

How have you been able to keep it all running? Like, when these things happened is. Is when I started with you as a new client. And I know that there were a few months where we heard from the team that you were taking time off because you were going through treatments, but still, everything was working, everything was running.

Yeah.

Didn't you consider, like, leaving it all or, I don't know, selling it or stepping away from it all? It sounds like. Oh, my God. How was she still able to hold this together?

Oh, yeah. That was actually a conversation I had with my husband at a coffee shop when I had my first scans. I was crying to my husband, and I feel myself welling up right now. I was crying to my husband. I was like, I gave my heart and my soul to this business. You know, I. And right now I'm, you know, we're going through this and, you know, we were talking about expenses already. We were. I was already reviewing, like, what are the assets of the business? You know, if I'm going to be selling it, you know, how am I going to be selling it? I don't want to leave my clients hanging. I don't want to leave my team hanging. And then what my husband said is that we'll, you know, we'll go through the process together. We'll see, like, what we can cater to. Yes. It did, you know, occur into my mind that I think I'm. I need to, like, sell the business and then, you know, just, you know, take the time off. But of course, you know, I. I love what I do, Esther. Like, I really love talking to clients. I love launches. I love seeing my clients, you know, get sales. All the work that we do, we see online. So those are the things that I love. And I told my husband, like, just give me one more year with this business. And if is the. This really my faith that, you know, this is cancer, then I'm willing to, like, give it up, you know, when. Once I start my chemotherapy. That was the conversation that we had, and I was ready for it. I was. I was trying to get ready. I was preparing templates, preparing systems. I was. I was actually mapping out the whole business system so that whoever buys it or whoever takes over can easily, easily, like, implement it. I told myself, just give me more time. I think that, you know, it's. It's. It's. It's, you know, it's. It's premature to decide, and I don't want to, like, drop everyone hanging. Like, I Love my team. I love my clients. And we've had. We have. We have clients since 2016. They've been with us for years, so I don't want them to leave them. And I know that, you know, we do good work, and if it is really my destiny. And I was like, I told my husband, like, if I'm. If I'm not gonna be here anymore, like, can you. Can you tell my clients that, you know, I love them, et cetera. I'm giving them this. I'm gonna be scheduling emails for them to send out. So it was. It was real. You know, there were tears were shed and all that. But I'm just so glad that, you know, I. I'm given another chance in this life, you know, and that's what. When 2024 came and I found out that, you know, I'm okay, like, it's just, you know, gonna be monitored, and we're not getting there, you know, we're not getting to the big C, I was just so happy. And I told myself, like, this is the sign that I need to prioritize myself. Like, I need to build a business around my life and not. I mean, like, not my life around my business. It should be the other way around. And that's what I've been trying to build since 2024, since then.

What were the most specific changes that you implemented since then?

Number one is with our team, we had to scale down. My vision was a leaner team, stronger and leaner team because we found out that I was looking at our data because we were, like, we were seeing a lot of expenses in terms of payroll. There were team members who were paid for a full month, but we see that their production was just 20 hours a month, and then we paid them for a whole 160 hours. So that was a big overhead for us. There were team members who were redundant in roles. So say, for example, oh, why are we having two of these people when we don't really have a lot of this type of task? Or this person is not, you know, the job that they're doing is actually not that significant to the company anymore, and we can run it by AI. So when AI came in and also, you know, reviewing all of our data for our team, we had to let go of people. And then second is those who left. You know, there were people who left already because they ventured into a new career and all that. So, you know, we were okay with that. We didn't. We support them. We were proud of them. And then we just, you Know, let it happen. So I think that they also felt that we were trying to, like, scale down, especially with the involvement of AI. So we built, we built AI agents and then we also upskilled our team members who are currently still with us. So we leveled them up because we saw a lot of potential and at the same time created a more automated, you know, workflow. So say, for example, with our billing or HR or support. So we automated all of them instead of having those roles.

And when it comes to you, like life, what were the changes in your life?

Well, the number one change I have in my life, number one, of course, I've been taking really good care of myself every day. I made sure that I move, I eat right. And the big change that I did was actually I had a house help. So from, from the 14 years that me and my husband have been together, it was the first time last year that we hired a househelp. And that really changed everything because back in the day, I would have these meetings and have to rush down, rush down because, yes, wash the dishes, cook, feed our cats, our dogs. But then right now, I have so much time to do work and for myself because we hired house help. So she lives with us. She would take care of the house, the pets, the dogs, you know, cook us, like really healthy food. And also, you know, if we, like, for the last time we went to Australia, she was, we were able to do that because she was taking care of everything here at home. And also me, like, for example, right now, like, if I have back to back meetings or interviews, I already have like food prepared or my coffee prepared. So it was a lot of like, change for myself. And also not having to do the household chores because I didn't grow up with house health. It was my first time to have house help. And I now understand that why, you know, people not just like, you know, maybe in the virtual assistant world, but in real life that you really need to delegate to.

Wow, that's a, that's an amazing upgrade to have someone take care of that stuff for you and at the same time, downgrading the team. You mentioned that at some point you were envisioning like office offices full of people. And I know you did have offices. Do you still have them? Does everybody work in the same place? Or is this like a hybrid of, of online connections and office? Do you have to go to an office?

Yeah, right now I've been focusing on working from home, but we do still have an office because here in the Philippines, when you register your business you need to have an office. So I. Because my business is registered and we just use the office for trainings, interns, and then also meetings. So in person meetings. So. So trainings are important for me because especially with Kajabi or other platforms, they have new updates and I really love training in person. Second is if we have interns, they can use our office as well. Because we're looking forward to having interns from schools here in our city. They're providing us with multimedia arts interns. And then third is some of our team members. You know, their Internet may be out or power may be out in their area. They can use our office too, from time to time. It's actually challenging to have people on site because they know that there is an opportunity to work from home. Especially here in the Philippines, it's so hard to commute. Like, the transportation here is the worst. So if you. If you're someone who lives far away from the city, it would take you one to two hours to come to our office. So I decided. That's why I decided for my team that we can go hybrid. You can come to the office, or we can just use the office for trainings, and then we. We can just all, you know, work remotely, especially those who are moms and who have children. I actually did talk to my operations that I think that it's best for them to work at home today so that they can take care of their kids too.

How do you. And this might not be totally connected to the business. It's more about. It's more for me to understand the whole lifestyle and life in the Philippines. Like.

Yeah.

What we. What we hear at times is that there are sometimes so adverse weather conditions that it's even difficult to. To maintain. Like someone's. Yeah. Like the Internet connection or sometimes they have to leave the house. How does someone manage life in. In such a. In such a place where you might. You might plan everything out perfectly.

Yeah.

And then something hit. It's water, whether it's wind, whether it's the earth movements. There's. Yeah. So vulnerable or so, I don't know, unstable. How can you still. How can you still feel safe and manage your life? Yeah.

I think that, number one, because of. Because Filipinos are very resilient. That's why we're able to manage living here in the Philippines. If, you know, the, you know, the geographical placement of the Philippines, you know, it's a tropical country. Were very prone to typhoons, to earthquakes. Actually, we just had one earlier today. Sometimes we actually get used to it. If there are typhoons, of course, those mainly affected are, you know, in remote areas. Those who are, you know, of course, in the provinces. And they have, you know, less, less, you know, resources. And if you know the issues of the Philippines, why there are floods here, or why the. Or it's not controlled, or it's so hard to find resources to prevent those, it's because of our government, political and economical. But the way that we manage it is, number one is resiliency. I have to be honest, we take part of it. We try to see the brighter side of things with working as a virtual assistant or having a remote team. The way that we manage it too is of course we have backups. Back then, we would provide Internet backups for our team members. We communicate to our clients. And since most of my team are located in one city, we know the issues like, like yesterday there was like, really, really, you know, it was pouring, you know, was a bad weather yesterday we lost power in Internet. So we know like, for, we all know that, oh, we need to communicate to our client that, oh, we lost power, we can't have our meeting, et cetera. And if, you know the, if you've been to the Philippines, you know, like how third world the setup is here, we have posts and then of course, if the weather is bad, the post will fall down or there are accidents in the road. So much more there are a lot of issues. But our team, you know, Filipinos are very resourceful. If we're able to go online, we try to be online, we can hop on to, you know, another city or coffee shop. It's resourcefulness, resilience and also just, you know, being able to show up for our clients as we manage all through this. And there's so many unexpected things. Here in the Philippines, it's very common for clients to say like, oh, you always lose your Internet. It's because you have really bad Internet. To be honest, when I came to Australia, when I went to Australia, you know, a few months ago, like, I was like, oh my gosh, this is how it feels to be in a first world country. Like, there was like, this is why I know my clients will say, like, oh, that's impossible that you would lose your Internet from time to time. It is possible here. So that's why we always have backups. We have, you know, mobile Internet and so much more. And, and the only way that we, you know, we are able to survive all those is to communicate that to the client. And we're very, very privileged that we have, you know, very understanding clients. Like, they know, you know, how it is, and, and they see it in the news, they see what's happening over here, and they're very empathetic. And I'm just glad that, you know, we're working with. In really understanding clients.

Yeah, I. I know as. As now, I have some people on the team from the Philippines. If I don't get an answer, I'm checking the news. That's the first thing I'm.

Yeah. There must be a tough question.

Are they okay as first? Besides being from the Philippines, being resilient, I feel that there. There must be something more to you, because not everyone in the Philippines would build a business like this.

Yeah.

Where does this come from? This whole willingness, this whole determination? Is it your family, your parents? Or. Where did you even see that this was. Or how did you see this as a possibility in your head?

I think that since I was a kid, I'm very entrepreneurial. Back when I was in grade school, I would sell candies, bracelets, because I really want to have money, because I know that money, with money, I can buy the things that I want. I also seen this with my parents because my parents were never employed. I would see them every day at home. We would have dinner together at home. We would have breakfast, send us to school. Being an entrepreneur also means that. That things are not stable all the time. You know, like, there were good days. There were also bad days. Like, you know, especially with my dad. My dad was a farmer. And that also. My parents are also one of my inspiration to be an entrepreneur because I know that, you know, we. I can do so much more. And also, like, I feel. I don't want to. I don't want to be someone who works, who will be told, you know, where to have lunch or how to, like, what time should I work. Like, I want to, like, own my time and have my freedom. That's why I became, you know, I. I love, you know, what I do. And then I. I'm very visionary. Like, I actually, aside from this business, I also have other businesses locally. You know, me and my husband run those businesses. And also my husband, like, my husband was my great influence in business because he has. He has more knowledge than me in terms of business. So he was the one who taught me everything with business, with sales, with life. And. And it sparked on me that I know that I can do so much more and I'm willing to risk. Like, I'm this really tiny thing in the universe that, you know, that. And I Know that I need to live my life and also that, you know, inspiration coming from the people that I've met, especially when I started working as a virtual assistant. I've, you know, I've met a lot of coaches, I've met a lot of business owners, and I could see like, oh, that's possible for me too. Like, I love seeing their, how, you know, their life unfolded, you know, with their business.

And what are those other businesses that you are running? I have, I don't think I've ever heard.

Yeah, Yeah. I don't really, like, I don't really post about it because, like, most of my branding are, you know, are, you know, you know, virtual assistants, kajabi and all that. But here in, locally, in the Philippines, we have a spa and wellness business. And also my, My husband runs. We run a print business. So he does like, printing and stuff and also AI, automation and software. So he does that on the side, but he's more focused on the printing. And I, some. I, My, My spine wellness business is running on its own. So I just like, manage like, you know, the marketing side of it and, you know, and, you know, sometimes the operations, but that's already, like, I've delegated that, so it's, it's just running in the background.

Wow, this is crazy. This is amazing.

Yeah, so that's, that's. Sometimes I, I feel like, oh, when people ask, why did you become an entrepreneur? I say, like, maybe because, like, I'm just insane like that. Like, I would always tell myself, like, oh, I'm tired. I'm. I'm busy. But I, I love the feeling of like, you know, like, oh, like, oh, it's working. Like, you know, when you have like an, when you create an automation and then you, you know, and then you see it working. It's that feeling, oh, my God, I've automated that.

It's that I have that as well. And, and sometimes it's. It's so addictive that there was a time in my life I had to learn how to even leave my desk because, yes, when I started figuring it out, it was, it was like, oh, my God, I could do this 24 hours. Now I'm in a different phase, but I can totally get that. Okay. It's one thing to become an entrepreneur to, to build a business, but how did you. Or where did you learn from being a, being a manager? Like, managing this many people at different levels, you are dealing with different personalities. You're dealing, I understand, with different levels of experience. Some people you have to Train others. I understand coming to the job with, with some experience. Where did, where did you learn that? That?

Yeah, I think that I could, if I could remember, it would be in school. Because in school, like, I would be tasked to be like the class president or actually like the leader of like, projects. And then until college I was like that. And I, I think it just, I just, I really had it in me that I, you know, take initiative, I know how to communicate with people. And maybe it's because of having sisters as well, because I have two sisters and then, you know, I have to manage them too as well. So I think that it came from that. And like, I learned a lot when I also became a project manager. So I worked as a project manager too for a company when I was just starting out my career. It was for two years, I didn't even know a thing. But my husband guided me in terms of leadership and managing people. Like, because he's more mature than me, he's older than me, so he, he would give me insights and all that. So that's how I'm able to, you know, learn all those things. And even up to right now, like, I would, I would tell him like, oh, this is, is what I'm, you know, going on right now with the team and all that. So he would like, logically tell me like the right things to do because sometimes I'm, I'm ruled by emotion, but he would be telling me what would be the logical thing to do.

Yeah, I, I know this feeling. Although sometimes I, I avoid talking to my husband because he's, he's too down to earth for me and sometimes I have to just go forward with my crazy ideas. So you have a, you have the, your private a in house coach. That's.

Yes, I do. That's his full time job.

Yeah. We briefly touched on what the team does, but if anyone is, is listening now and they are like, oh my God. This, what, what Esther described about Luis's team, it, it really, I'm like, I, I'm about to ask for help. I'm considering reaching out. What is it actually that your team does? If I, if I can give a little piece of information from a client's perspective. For me, what was the most amazing about your team was that anything I needed help with, I could just give it to the person who was my account manager and they would figure out who would take care of that task so I didn't have to hire people for the different tasks. Like one person would create a new canva document Another person would build a website, a third person would do some video edits for us or I don't know, deal with something we had to figure out with Kajabi support. And it was so easy because when you don't have that, you need to find people like okay, I need a web designer, I need a copywriter, I need a canva editor, I need the video editor. And, and you had that everything in, in one place. I just had a place where I would just log the tasks and everything will be taken care of. So to me as a client, that's what that was the essence of it.

But yeah, yeah, you said it perfectly well. So when I created my team I was envisioning that we would be like a one stop shop for clients that you know, our clients wouldn't have to go from fiverr upwork to find another person to do this and that and they would have to manage those people or if they have to, you know, because there's this notion about virtual assistant that my virtual assistant does everything but actually it's not true. Things that one VA can do and the other can. So that is, that was the vision of creating the team where clients can, you know, send in, you know, different projects and then they get access to our team where whether it's graphic design, video podcasts, whether it's, you know, Kajabi go high level automation, zapier and so much more. We, you know, we. I was very ambitious, you know, in creating like a one stop shop for clients because I know what coaches need, I know what clients need and with my experience as well, I've seen, you know, what works, what didn't work. And also I've trained my team as well on how to, to work with coaches and, and a lot of coaches are very new to the business that hiring a full time VA would be so much more in terms of cost and management. When you're hiring a va, you need to number one, you know, make sure that you're tracking their hours. You need to have to create your own project management system, you need to manage the va, you have to do payroll and so much more and then it wouldn't work out and then you have to do the hiring process again. So with all of that we, you can eliminate all of that to us. The only problem that you will have is to send us task and then we'll take care of it. Because we came with experience, we come with systems and we want our client to feel that oh it's, it's so easy to outsource to these people. Like, oh, I know where I can get it done. Like, oh, I need help with a document right now. I can go to, to my team. And it feels like you have a whole team, but you don't really, you're not paying for like you know, multiple people full time or part time. So you get access to our team, you know, to, to, to a really see a great team wherein you know, they know, they already know what to do. Like you're, you're, you're doing a webinar. Okay, let's set up your webinar registration page, your emails and etc, a knowledgeable team that you don't even have to train yourself unless that you have your own platforms.

Yeah, but that was even sometimes I had things that the team didn't have experience with and I don't know, I just sent through some training and you took time to learn it and that even that worked amazingly for me. Yes, you mentioned this. Like you don't because when we say oh there is a whole team, you people would be like, okay, how much is it? Is this gonna cost me? So how does it work that even someone who, who might not be able to pay full time VAs can get started? How does it start? What if someone feels like I really feel I need help but I don't have a huge business yet, I don't know how it's gonna work out. How can they get started with you?

Yeah, actually we have number one, we have a, you know, a bucket start, a Kickstarter plan at 20 hours a month. 20 hours a month is like five hours a week, one hour per day. So I'm pretty sure you have tasks that taking one hour of your day or maybe five hours of, of your week that you can delegate to the team. Like maybe it's because it's sending out an email or adding content to your community or to your membership or even editing your podcast or your videos. And if you're starting out, it's something as small as creating an opt in page or an opt in funnel that can be done within a 20 hours range. So there's there, there's so much, so much you can do within 20 hours a month. And what, what our clients love is that the 20 hours a month month, if they're unused, they roll to the next month and get added again to your next bucket. So it gives them the flexibility and, and the convenience to outsource. So if you're starting out, that's perfect for you, the Kickstarter plan. But again we Also, have we actually released a Kajabi light plan? So this plan is actually five hours a month. The only difference is that this is only dedicated for Kajabi help. A lot of our clients just need needs, you know, oh, I need a landing page. Oh, I need this automation setup. So we created that plan dedicated for those people who use Kajabi but don't have the time or they. They just need from, you know, ad hoc support sometimes. So that. That's $99 a month. And, you know, that's for $99, that's five hours a month is already a big help.

How does someone become a good client? Because I know from my experience, and sometimes it still happens. Happens to me, like when I want something for yesterday and. And as I'm on both sides, I sometimes see myself from the outside and I'm like, oh, my God, how much I would hate if a client did this to me, what I'm now doing to my team. So, so, so what are the things that someone needs to keep in mind when. When it's there? Let's say first time to start out with asking for a number.

One would be. I always tell this, a good communicator. A good client is a good communicator. And when communicating, it doesn't just mean like, oh, like hopping on a call. It actually means giving the right directions. Oh, if you tell us like, oh, I want a website, but yeah, what. What website? You know, like, give us the details. Like, give it full details. Because we're working virtually here. Second is someone who sends quality feedback. Like, if we did something wrong, let us know. Know if we did something wrong, don't just correct it on your own. We wouldn't know that we did, we did that wrong. Like, you did not correct us. If we really wanted to be corrected if we did something wrong so that we wouldn't repeat that again. And that's how we build our rhythm together. That's how we build a relationship. Right. So that's why we can adjust to your liking, the way that you work, the way that you want to be communicated. Third is, aside from quality feedback, also, like, another thing would be like, you know, someone who, like, you know, gives, you know, room for us to grow. I mean, like, yes, you know, we're humans, we make mistakes, but it's understandable in the first month, first two months or three months. And. And a lot of clients, you know, they feel like things can be really instant, like, oh, you're an expert at this. Why did this make mistake of Course, we're learning together. Like clients who actually work with you, like, you know, in a collaborative way. Because I've experienced that in the past where clients would just expect me to. To do it on my own. And then when I ask them question, they would tell me, like, aren't you the expert for this? Why are you asking me questions like, I need information? So it all boils down to, like, really a good communicator and a leader. And I think it's a bonus if a client, you know, is empathetic, appreciative, and of course, someone who teaches us if you're giving quality feedback, you're already training your va so on, you know how things work for you. And urgency is understandable. I have a lot of clients who say, oh, I need this done asap, but we just need to communicate that. I know that you. We understand that you need this asap, but to be realistic, this is what we can do, and then this can be done later. So that's what I've been training my team to, like, how to communicate. We understand clients urgency. We understand that we also make mistakes. We just really need to communicate it. And from. From my 14 years of experience, I've learned that any issue can, can be resolved if we just communicate well, because sometimes it's just, maybe it's different when it's text, it's different when it's voice, it's different when you're on zoom. And. And also that's why I'm very thankful I have Gerald, who is my coo. Like, sometimes if I can't handle so much things, like I tell my friends, can you talk to Gerald? Or Gerald wants to talk to you so that we can, you know, discuss that, what went wrong and all that. And that's why I love this industry because not only did I learn so much more in terms of platform, I also learned how to work with people. I have, I've had a very difficult client. I have, you know, the easy clients, but it's always a difficult clients that teach me a lot of things and also make me appreciate, you know, my other clients. And, and there's no difficult. You know, difficult clients exist because they also teach us to keep up higher standards. And I love that for us too. So that's why, like, I would tell my team, like, it's okay. Like, I know that this is going to be stressful, but this will teach us so many things.

Yeah, it's like, it's like when you are really in a dark place and you are like, One day I will tell about this in a book.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

How about when someone is in the phase of, okay, I think I need help, but I don't think anyone will ever understand my thought process. Nobody will be able to do the same. If I have to explain it, I rather do it myself. But then they are in this, in this never ending cycle of burnout and burning out.

Well, you just have to learn to let go. Because I, I was that person too before. Like even my, with my sales process or a marketing process, I wasn't even letting that go because I know, like, I know I'm, I'm, I'm the one who can do this best. But you just have to learn to slowly let go. Maybe let go the. Let go of the things that are easy for you. Let's say, for example, you're someone who's doing your, your podcast. You know, the easiest thing for you would be to create your, your podcast artwork. And I think that's, if, if that's something easy for you, then start delegating that one slowly. Take it by face. Because I think that what comes into mind with people is that, oh, I now have a virtual assistant. I'm gonna delegate everything to her. And then you get paralyzed because, okay, how do I delegate all of this? Like, you don't know. Like, how do I, do I create training videos? Do I document my processes? So start it face by face. That's why I recommend clients. Like, if you want to really hire someone full time, maybe start part time or slowly take it gradually. Two hours per day, three hours per day. Until that you feel confident because, because a lot of people commit right away to 8 hours per day with a virtual assistant or 160 hours per month, but then they get overwhelmed because they don't. Like, it will take them a lot of time to train the person and then it will eat up their time. They get stressed and they would end up like, oh, I'm just gonna do this my own because I need to train someone. You need to remove that mentality. And if you really want to make it happen for you, just, just take it gradually. Like, and that's where our model of outsourcing comes in. So like we, whenever I hear people, you know, saying like that, I was like, that's where our model comes in. Like, you don't have to train our people. Like, we know, like, just send us the task. But if you really want to hire someone directly, then you have to do all those.

Yeah, that's, that's actually making it so much easier for me. I think I started on a 20 hour plan with you and our biggest guest plan was maybe like 150, 160.

160 hours. I was like, Esther is busy.

Yeah. We had, we had Farzana on the team just sending tasks.

It was a busy. You kept our team busy.

Yeah. But I think at the, even at the start I never had the feeling that I had to explain too much. It was like they just get it. Yeah, of course, inside the Kajabi world because. Yeah, that's what we're focusing on.

Absolutely.

Lately, Lately Go High Level has also gained a lot of space in, in this, in online businesses. And I, I saw you also have, you have an agency. Right. And, and you, you work for clients through High Level as well.

Yeah.

What's the ratio now in your, in the total of your work with Kajabi and Go High Level?

Yeah, actually at the, you know, last few months of 2025, it was a lot of migration from Kajabi to Go High Level. I did try to have my own like agency set up with High Level but have to be honest, I gave that up because it was a lot of work. Like I have to like manage. And also it was, it was hard for me to do like subscriptions because I'm in the Philippines and we don't have stripe and it's hard to connect with GoHighLevel right now with the racial. I think that 70% of our work is with Kajabi and 30% only still with GoHighLevel. Because I actually posted about this a few days ago that I advise my clients that if, you know, do not migrate. If it's just like, oh, like everybody's migrating. I'm going to migrate to, you know, try to think about the legal logistics. Of course you're gonna transfer all your members, your students and you already have a really great system working on with Kajabi. And what is the cost of like transferring that maybe it's just adding, adding to your expenses. So you have to weigh down the cost, the logistics. You have to build out all of your systems again. And to be honest, like, I've also personally built a lot of websites in with High Level the past six months. It's so, it's such a. I posted about personal development, you know, teaching because as someone who, you know, really knows Kajabi built so many pages with it. It's just so hard. Like it's, it's, it's, it's not, it's not what I expected, to be honest. Like, I was, I was speaking to another Kajabi expert. I was like, why, why are we doing this to ourselves? Like why? It's, it's so hard and Go High Level has a lot of potential. It's, it's, it's good if you're white labeling it. It's good if you have multiple businesses on it. But I have to be honest, like Kajabi still has my heart. It's like, it's, it's, it. I'm, I might be, I am biased with it because it's, it's what I got used to. It's, it's a premium feeling of creating the pages. But with High Level it takes a lot of patience and humility to build all those pages. And sometimes you have to like go back and forth with mobile optimization, making sure that nothing of the pages were broken. It's, and if you're someone who is used to like the simplicity of Kajabi, you get overwhelmed with a lot of features that Go High Level has. And I'm not saying that GoHighLevel is bad. It's really great, like for the price itself, for the features it has, it's really great. It's a saver if you're someone who's trying to save the cost of a platform, but you need to really learn the platform to manage it. And that's what I tell my clients, like, okay, we're transferring you to Go High Level. Make sure that you, you, you are willing to manage this platform because it's a lot and you need to know like the ins and the outs and et cetera. And there's so much opportunity for, especially if you're someone who wants to white label. Like it's a good platform to be white labeled. But if you're someone who just wants to launch right away, have a bit an online business business, the learning curve for Go High Level would be it will take you time but with Kajabi it's just very short. Like you know where things are. Everything's templated, everything's guided for you. It's easy to connect to stuff, it's easy to code some stuff on it. So yeah, and, and, and I think that, you know, right now with our load of tasks, it's still like around 70% Kajabi. We, a lot of our clients are still within Kajabi.

Where can someone find you if they are like, wow, this is amazing. This is exactly what I need that in my life. Yeah. What's the best Way to reach out or follow you, find you.

Yeah, the best way to reach out is through our website. It's ww.smartvirtualstaff.com. i also have my website. It's www.the louisandoval.com. you can reach out to me on Instagram too. I'm very active on Instagram and Facebook and, you know, we're. I'm happy. I do discovery calls with clients who are interested in working with us. You know, we can talk more about how our team. Team can be a good fit for you and your business. And sometimes, you know, if we see that, we think that you need a more higher expertise. We. I can also recommend other experts that, you know, that are in our community because there are a lot of amazing Kajabi experts too that, you know, can, you know, that do a lot of great work that I can recommend. And Esther, is that in that group as well?

Yes. You just mentioned your Instagram. You don't just. Your team doesn't just do Kajabi stuff. They do social media. And lately they have helped your Instagram blow up, I think.

Yeah, yeah, they've been doing.

How is that whole thing managed? It looks amazing.

Yeah. They do all of my reels, they do all of my graphics. And the only thing that I manage on my socials are the messages. Because when clients reach out or we would chat on social media. So what I do is that like right now I'm actually filming behind the scene on this interview. So once that this video is done, I upload it to our Google Drive, they edit it, they find really good stuff on it. I just let their creativity in. They would tell me like, oh, this is trending. Can you do this video? And et cetera. And then I would just approve. So they, they. I have a team right now that are into the, their, you know, into the generation where social media is their game. So, like, they know how to do social media and yeah, they, they've been really good in keeping up with my Instagram and personal brand.

Fantastic. May I have it? A little request? It's a personal request. Can you do more posts about your cats?

I love it. Yeah, I can, but my cats, like, cats are very introverted. Like, if I, I try to hug them or I, they don't do much. Like, my cats only love me when I give them their food or their treats.

Whenever you post, I, I always show my husband, oh, my God, these cats are the most beautiful.

Yeah, I have four of them right now.

Oh, you have four. You can't. Some Little ones, Yes.

I kept them, the other ones, because they got some, you know, they have their kittens too. Like, I gave them away to friends. I have them re home to friends already. Because it's a lot to have like so many cats. Even four is a lot for me now. Like, that's why I work hard too. Like, I have to feed my cats. Yeah.

If not for anything else, if, if, if I listen, if somebody's listening and you don't have a business, you don't need the vhs.

Yeah.

Just follow Louise.

Just follow me and, you know, be entertained with my kids, cats and my, you know, my humor.

All right, before we finish, after all this that you have already accomplished, I think there's, there's not much more that, that there's out there, but I'm sure you have, you still have big dreams. So the question I, I ask all my, all my guests is what is it that you dream of for the next three years? And where do you see yourself in a few years time?

I think that I see myself in the next year's time is to be a mother. My dream is to be a mom because, you know, I'm, I'm turning, I'm not, I'm not getting any younger. It's been always like, you know, a hole in my heart that I want to fill in. I've been working hard for that. We've been working hard for it. It's been my dream. And I told my husband, like, I think that it's time for myself this time. And if, when I say that it's time for myself, I'm trying to fill in that, you know, know, hole in my heart to have a child. My, my, my dream is to have that slow morning, mornings as well, where I'm not overwhelmed, like right now as I'm, I'm done with like, you know, the fame, the, the titles and all that. I just really want to live my life because after that cancer scare, I was like, oh my gosh, like, I'm, I'm turning 33 and I, I know that I've accomplished so much, much. I know what it has to have and to have none. But right now I think that what it's telling me is that, you know, I just want to, like, you remember when you're a kid, you, you appreciate the, you know, waking up in the morning, you appreciate seeing, you know, like, lovely things. When I was in Australia, I was really able to, like, see so many beautiful things. And I want to have that feeling every day. Like, I want to to appreciate, like waking up, you know, eating breakfast together with family or even just having time. And also I think that it's, it's time. You know, I, I, I love, I, I, I love like, just like taking things slowly and not having to rush every time, like, oh, I have a meeting or I have like this, or I just want to, you know, have those slow mornings. I think that's my goal for the next three years. Things could change, but, but I know that I could do great things. And I, I just want to build a life that allows me to be myself and have my creativity on it.

That, and, and I think those, those slow mornings are even a possibility right now, hopefully. And so, so I, I wish that for you that it comes, it becomes reality very, very soon, and that it also brings with itself that much desired new family member. Yes. Yes, it is amazing. Yes, it is.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Louise. Thanks for your time and thanks for sharing your stories. So many, so much new information that I got from you and I've been inspired by, I've already felt inspired by you and now even more. I'm, I'm super proud of being in the same world as you and I, and I appreciate having, having had the opportunity to work with you and the team. Me too. Thank you for, for being there for us, the clients, but also for being there for the whole team. It's such a unique world that you have built up and, and I hope that many, many more people in the Philippines will get the opportunity to work with you, because I think you are truly changing lives, not only the clients, but those of your team as well. And now it's yours that comes next.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much, Esther, and for having me. I can't wait for this episode to reach more people. And I hope that they get inspired too, that, you know, we can do so much more in life. Even if you're like, you know, miles away from clients, there's so much opportunity over the Internet.