Mariah Seacrest-Comer and Outsourcing her VA for Wellness

Those that are in the active category are on average going to earn 9% more.

Hey, It's Shellane from Onlinejobs.ph and today we're excited to have Mariah Seacrest Comer. Did I get the pronunciation right on that?

Perfect. Nailed it. Oh, fantastic.

With us to teach us a little bit about her business. Mariah is the wellness program manager of Next Generation Wellness Resort, Savannah Wellness Resort and SP and is the creator of Wealthy Boss, W E L L T H Y Boss, an online self care resource portal for entrepreneurs. She's certified in personal fitness, yoga barre, Pilates. Is it Balitone Balatone. And is a master trainer for Bar above. She's also an author, has a fantastic free ebook available on Kindle called Boss Body.

Is that correct? Yes, got it.

And tons of awesome free exercise routines online. Right. I did your 10 minute morning yoga for beginners. You did this morning. And it was lovely. It was lovely.

I need to do some yoga myself after this. I think.

Oh, I think that right now we are still in the middle of the secure in place kind of stuff that is going on with the pandemic and nothing feels better than a little stretch and remembering to breathe access. Yes.

It's fantastic.

So I thoroughly enjoyed that. I read somewhere that your business is described as self care for overworked visionaries.

Yes.

Tell us what you do and tell us how our watchers, our viewers can benefit from that.

Absolutely. So my background, my specific background on kind of the wellness piece is in fitness. Although it's always been a real passion of mine on kind of how we integrate what we already know, makes us healthier and actually infuse that into our day. Like how do we make that an everyday part of our lives? So while the fitness piece is what my technical skills are in and those are what my kind of primary anchor offerings are going to be. I teach barre, yoga, Pilates and Balitone online and of course in person. I'm also really passionate about just getting the way that we absorb the information and make it real in our lives. So that encompasses much more than just knowing how to do a plank. It's everything from mindset, the way that we talk to ourselves when we're trying to develop consistency in a new healthy habit routine, all the way from getting super practical about getting a to do list together and making sure we're prioritizing those healthy habits, getting into bed on time. Because really at the end of the day what's drawn me into loving wellness is how it helps me show up in the world when I'm getting good nutrition when I'm taking care of my body through not necessarily tons and tons of exercise, but really specific kind of potent workouts that don't need to take up a lot of time. I'm just so much more productive. I'm in a better mood. I can serve those around me better. And that to me is what makes the wellness pursuit really worthwhile. So that's why I like kind of working with those who are go getters who know that they're going to really operate at the top of their A game or when they are taking care of their bodies.

So you run a multifaceted program. Can you tell us about all the different branches and then outside of Wealthy Boss, what you also do and the specifics there?

Yes, absolutely. So you know, Wealthy Boss has really evolved over time. So what it looked like a few years ago has kind of since morphed and changed, which is great. And I keep kind of adding some things into the mix, which is the cool part about writing an online business is you can pivot really easily. I love being able to kind of work within the online space with that. So I do have programs for the end user. I have wellness programs that involve just fitness. So my most recent seven day reset program which is online barre yoga, Pilates with daily mindfulness, little activities, little bursts of mindfulness exercises as well. I have my boss body system which is a little bit more comprehensive health coaching, overall healthy habit makeover program. I have a program on meal planning Mastery which is just to help you get a little bit more organized in the kitchen with your meal planning. But outside of the end user, I have all recently taken on a layer of helping coach and mentor other fitness instructors who are looking to either take their programs online or leverage the power of the Internet to be able to market what they're doing in person. I'm also a master trainer for Bar above and Balatone, which are some online fitness or I'm sorry, fitness formats that I absolutely love to teach in person and a lot of us are now teaching them online since we're currently in the middle of a pandemic. A lot of those things just kind of interweave together which is super fun. And then I do also have a day job that I love. So there have been times that I have been full time in my business. I am currently working a day job that I absolutely love. I am the program manager for Savannah Wellness Resort and Spa, which is a brand new wellness resort concept that brings the A to Z mind, body, spirit, connection, experience for Those at a price point that is accessible to those who need it most.

Awesome. Love it, man. I wish I were in your area so that I could take advantage of that.

You know there are plans that.

You're in Arizona, right?

Yes.

For anyone who is interested. Which city?

We're just north of Scottsdale, so the Phoenix sky harbor would be the closest airport for those flying in.

Awesome. Okay. One of your YouTube videos that I really enjoyed was entitled why Exercise Is yous Secret for Entrepreneurial Success. And anyone who wants to check that out, her YouTube video or her YouTube channel is wealthy Boss.

Right again. W T H Y.

And in that video you talk about the benefits professionally of physical fitness. Not just a lot of us are familiar with the mental and emotional and physical benefits. But can you tell us about the professional benefits of wellness?

Yes. This is one of my favorite topics because there actually is quite a bit of research, not just from the fitness industry or the wellness space, but actually from the leadership and kind of productivity and business space that indicates that those who engage in regular, healthy habits are more creative, more productive. And we can really look at studies that apply to each of the kind of modalities of well being. For example, exercise. One of my favorite statistics that I think is motivating for people is that people who are active on a regular basis compared to those with kind of everything else being equal to those who are not their peers that may have the exact same skill set. Those that are in the active category are on average going to earn 9% more. Now I think with the entrepreneurial space, this number must be much higher because those that are of course entrepreneurs, we have a lot more control over our financial future. So the decisions that we make as entrepreneurs are going to obviously impact our bottom line, maybe more so than for those who are working for us that paycheck for someone else. So I love that statistic meditation. I am a certified meditation instructor through Chopra, Deepak Chopra, and they have just some phenomenal research. They have actually a whole foundation dedicated to research behind meditation and of course the physical effects, but also the effects on outcomes like creativity, on even feelings of well being. So feelings of being connected to. To those outside themselves being less emotionally reactive, which of course is important when we're managing teams and running businesses. So the creative aspects of the self care habits that we have, like exercise, even journaling, journaling has shown to be a huge indicator of creativity, which of course in the professional world, especially when you're an entrepreneur, is going to translate so much more into being able to develop new Business strategies, new sales offerings, whether the content of what you offer is by core creative or just the sheer problem solving that comes along with running a business, which is super important.

So you have so many irons in the fire. It's incredible all of the things that you're managing. And you do that with the help from Filipino Vas, right?

Absolutely.

And we are going to get into that in just a minute. I would love to hear your backstory though. How did you get started with all of this and how.

Sure, I kind of fell into it in the back end. You know, fitness has not been my. My whole life in terms of my professional endeavors. I was nominally healthy, I think kind of in my kind of late teens, early 20s. I actually traveled as a musician for a little while and that's when I started getting into just daily walks or jogs because I was in a van a lot, I was traveling a lot and then, you know, ended up finishing my degree. I'd taken a little time off to travel as a musician between then, so I was a philosophy major. So I was either. Everything that I did, I was either on my rear end or like stuck in my head or both. So I just kind of started turning to small self care things like daily walks or hiking or going for jogs and kind of getting a little bit more diligent about what kind of nutrition I put into my body just because it helped me just feel better, helped me feel better mentally kind of clear my head for those things that were important to me. So as I got into the professional space, I actually started my career in business development and a lot of nonprofit fundraising and then eventually some program development. And I just found with those long hours, I was working for the American Cancer Society and lots of long hours. And when I took care of myself, I felt better. I could do more, I could work those longer hours and be in a better mood with all those people that I was working with. It behooved me to just want to do more and more. Picked up a couple of certifications on this side. I got my yoga instructor certification and my personal trainer certification about 12 years ago. Kind of started doing it on the side and I just ended up loving it more and more. And I think kind of an aha moment for me when I was working with the American Cancer Society, although I was working on the business side of it, I wasn't working on the health side of it. I was exposed to a lot of those statistics. So I knew that a third of cancer deaths could be prevented just through diet and exercise alone. And yet I saw this discrepancy between the type of lifestyle we're living these days, where we're always tuned into technology, we're always working long hours, and this just disconnect between how we know living will make us feel better and function better, both short term and long term, and what we're actually doing about it. So from there it just kind of grew. I was doing kind of personal training on the side. Side note, I guess what kind of pushed me into the online space is my husband is in the healthcare industry, so we move a lot to work with different hospitals that he was helping run. And we moved to rural Alaska for a short period and there wasn't a whole lot for me to do there. There wasn't another full time job where I could work there. There were no full time foundations to keep me busy. And so the universe conspired. At that time I had kind of started learning about blogging and being in the online space and online marketing and just fell in love with it. It was like that was my jam. So to combine wellness and kind of being able to connect with people all over the world through the Internet was just, was and still has been my jam for a long time. Right.

So how did outsourcing become part of this huge journey?

Yes, you know, I think I originally heard about outsourcing, I think actually through a podcast. So I'm a student of Chalene Johnson, who is a big, big supporter of outsourcing. And I believe, I believe I actually heard an interview with the founder, John Jonas. Yes. And that inspired me, I want to say like four, maybe even five years ago is when I heard my hired my first virtual assistant. So it was really under the suggestion I really respected Shalene Johnson. She was a huge name in the fitness industry who had turned into a business coach. And I loved all that she was putting out. So I thought if she says it, I'm going to do it. That's going to help me leverage and be able to do more and grow faster. And that was kind of, that was kind of it for me. It just makes sense if someone, if you can do more in your business because someone else is helping you. It's an easy, easy decision in my book.

So what are your VAs doing for you right now? Can you kind of line that up for us?

Yes. So I have kind of one VA right now that is a general VA and she is amazing. So I typically at any given point we'll have one kind of go to va. I had one for About a year and a half since then I now have had Leiden for a little bit over a year and she really does anything that can be done in my business that I don't personally have to do, she does. So she really helps me keep all the trains running from editing my workout videos, doing to managing my email list. So there's kind of weekly check ins to make sure that everyone who is on the appropriate list and getting the right content since I do have a few different tracks of content when people opt in. She helps me even with my live certifications that I do when I go teach instructors how to become bar instructors or balitone instructors. She helps me send out the email templates that are gonna be standard for each group and the follow up emails. She's even done research for me. If I'm gonna go travel to out of state state to do a certification, she'll do some market research, send out some emails to different clubs and facilities who might have instructors who might want to attend the certification. So she really does it all.

Wow, super versatile. Okay, so now I would love to know, how did you find her? How did you recruit her and find this? I mean she sounds ideal. How did you go about that?

Well, the good news, like I feel like the blessing and the curse of using online jobs is there are so many wonderful. Like there's just such a big pool of candidates. Like I compare it when I did hiring for like a local pilates studio that I ran and I would just think, gosh, there are no good candidates. Like, you know, when I was hiring in person, I was like, gosh, how do I find better candidates? Well, that's not the problem. You have too many good candidates to choose from with this platform. So it can be a little overwhelming. What I did when I hired her worked, ended up working really, really well. And so if someone feels overwhelmed, maybe it's the first time that they are looking to hire a virtual assistant. Maybe give this a try. I wrote a very specific course job description of the kind of skills I was looking for. I also put together after that for my kind of next round of candidates. So I kind of looked through. I'll do a blend of actually going and looking at other people's profiles as opposed to just doing a job posting, kind of see if, and it depends too, if I'm looking for a general VA versus a very specific skill set. Specific skill set. I might go scour and say, okay, I need a graphic designer, I'm going to go kind of proactively look. But for a General va. I did the job posting and kind of narrowed down the candidates that I was extra impressed with. Then I did a little video to help them feel a little bit more connected with me, get a feel for what it would be like to work with me. So I filmed an introductory video of myself and in that video I shared a little bit about my business and then asked them if they were interested at that point after learning a little bit more, to actually put together their own application video. So it's just kind of a general. I think there were like three things I asked them to do, but it basically just introduce yourself, why do you want this job? You know, what are kind of some of your skills and why are you excited about working kind of in this industry? And because for me to too, I like to work with people who are passionate about what I do. I wanted to see that there was some type of personal investment in wellness, people that would be excited about learning kind of some of the content I was teaching as well. So that ended up being really nice because I got some really fabulous videos back. And of course that's going to help select those who are super committed and serious and might feel like, oh yeah, that's a good fit versus oh, maybe that's not a fit for me. So from there I was able to kind of narrow it down and it was hard. I think actually I ended up, I couldn't decide. So I ended up kind of working with two on different projects, kind of gave them both some different specialties. And in the end, Lyden was just such a star that I ended up using her kind of full time and for more and more. So she works for me about anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week right now. And many times that's actually more than I work in my business myself since I do work full time also.

Wow, I love that idea of having them create a video for you. At online jobs, we talk a lot about how we don't necessarily encourage face to face interviews because with the culture in the Philippines, there's a tendency toward. Well, I just know John would find that when he was hiring someone, about 50% of his candidates would just drop off. The end when he'd say, let's schedule a Skype interview. And he started to recognize the pattern and realize it was because of the intimidation and worrying that maybe their English, their speaking English wasn't. They weren't as confident as they'd like to be. And so having them create a video gives them the opportunity to do that in their own comfort. Zone and kind of on their own time and with that beautiful ability to edit anything. That may not work out.

Yeah, 100%. In fact, you know that now that you bring that up, I believe every single application video I got was a slideshow. So it actually did not include, you know, direct. So they had like pictures of their faces and kind of written text. So absolutely gave them kind of the freedom to share who they were and what they would bring to the position without feeling uncomfortable. Because obviously we want to, we want to make our staff feel comfortable and find ways that work best for both of us.

Awesome. Let's take a second to talk about your virtual assistant. Your main virtual assistant, you said her name is Lyden Leiden. How, how is your communication with Leiden? Let's talk about as far as English proficiency goes and how you communicate with her technically, what kind of systems?

Yes, her English is flawless. I've never like literally flawless. Like, it's just like talking to my neighbor. So typically what happens is if I'm training her on a new skill, I will do a screen flow video, upload that to a Dropbox and then just shoot that over to her. And then if she has questions, she'll email. We our primary means of communication on a kind of day to day basis is through WhatsApp. So she'll show. We'll text back and forth, usually several times a week. If she has a quick question, she knows that's usually an easier way to get get me since I'm not necessarily on my business email all day every day that she knows she can usually catch me. So typically, obviously with the time difference, I just kind of know to check in when I'm first getting going. And sometimes she'll text me at night and be like, have you gone to bed yet? Can you send me this verification code? So we text a lot. And then again, if I'm training a new skill, it's usually a screenflow video. We share platforms through like an encrypted password manager system. So she is a really seamless way for her to be able to log into all the platforms that we need. You know, dropboxes a godsend, because she has instant access to basically anything in my business that I need her to.

Awesome. And do you have any other specific advice for anyone who's on the fence, not ready to make the jump into outsourcing or is still kind of trying to figure out how to do it?

Yes. You know, I think that, I think because I am a big advocate obviously of outsourcing, in fact, I Just did a little presentation with some of my girlfriends last week on, hey, like, you can do this. And so I have a friend who's super phenomenal business owner but doing a lot of things herself right now. And she was like, well, I'm kind of worried that I might not have enough work for her. And I was like, oh, girl, once you start getting into the mindset of oh, someone else could do this, like, you realize how much of your business you don't need to be doing yourself that you can free up so that you can really focus on strategy and business growth as opposed to just day to day operations and administration. So for those that might be afraid of like, oh gosh, like I don't know how to hand it over, like, just start. I mean, you could start with a, by posting a job that's a few hours a week. Maybe it's just one tiny element of your business. Maybe it's, you know, managing your email list. Maybe it's video editing, maybe it's just taking the social media templates that you already have that's, you know, say you use the same quote graphic with the same kind of font and colors every Monday. Could you have an assistant be the one to swaps out the quote on there? Like maybe just a running list of quotes and they change out what the quotes say based on your running list. Sometimes it's just those really small little things that add up to being able to free up your time, which is really great. So even if you just start small with a couple of tasks a week, in no time you're going to be like, oh, and they could do this and this and this and this. And now I have a life again. Or I can focus on bigger ticket items in my business.

Oh, good. So much goodness. Thank you so much, Mariah, for being here with us today. Yeah, we just, we really appreciate your time. That was Mariah seacrest comer from wealthyboss.com. if you're interested in learning more about what she does, you can visit her website or check out her YouTube channel, which is also called WellesleyBoss. W E L L T H Y B O S S And if you're interested in learning more about how to hire and train virtual assistants from the Philippines, check us out at onlinejobs. Ph.