The ADHD-Friendly Virtual Assistant

We recently had the pleasure of chatting with Mandy Purdie, New Zealand’s only ADHD-friendly virtual assistant and founder of Transcend Admin. Mandy has carved a unique niche in the VA industry by specialising in supporting clients with ADHD and her journey offers all virtual assistants valuable insights into:

a) The impact of niching down to become a specialist virtual assistant (rather than a generalist); and
b) How virtual assistants can create a supportive environment for neurodivergent clients, ensuring their business operations run smoothly and effectively.

Mandy's transition from her 9-5 to full-time VA: 

Mandy’s transition into the VA world began about three years ago while she was juggling a full-time job and motherhood.
Encouraged by a friend in the VA space who recognised her potential, Mandy decided to take the plunge into virtual assistance. She started by resigning from her full-time 9-5 and taking a part-time job closer to home which allowed her to begin doing billable work in her spare time. Within just a few months, Mandy had accumulated enough clients to transition again - this time into a full-time VA role.

The juggle struggle

This transition worked for Mandy, but we're not going to sugar-coat it!

Balancing a full-time or part-time job with growing a VA business has its challenges. Like many other aspiring VAs in the same position, Mandy often found herself working late into the night to manage client work while maintaining her daytime job and juggling family commitments.

But the long hours and juggle struggle paid off! Thanks to Mandy's unwavering belief that it was a short term pain for long term gain, it wasn't long before she was able to focus entirely on her VA business.

We cannot emphasis enough the importance of financial planning during this transition period to ensure a smooth and sustainable shift. This can make or break your VA goals during this transition period.

The power of your network's network

One of the keys to Mandy’s success has been her ability to attract clients through word-of-mouth referrals.

From the very beginning, her clients have come primarily from recommendations. This network effect is particularly strong in New Zealand and Australia, where close-knit business communities often rely on personal referrals.

There's no doubt Mandy’s commitment to going above and beyond for her clients has built a strong reputation that continues to drive new business her way, however the number of word of mouth referrals increased tenfold once Mandy decided to move from a generalist VA to a specialist.

The importance of niching down

One of the most significant turning points in Mandy’s business was her decision to niche down and focus on clients with ADHD, however this ended up being a two-stage process.

Mandy first niched down by targeting clients in the health and well-being sector, but she quickly realised the impact she could make by narrowing down her niche even further.

Mandy’s personal connection to ADHD, through family and friends, fuelled her passion to support this community of business owners needing support. By understanding her ideal client inside out and back to front, by narrowing down her online messaging and by truly addressing the unique challenges faced by clients with ADHD, Mandy has been able to provide tailored support that truly makes a difference AND has become THE virtual assistant in NZ specialising in this target market.

Expanding the team

As Transcend continued to grow, Mandy recognised the need to expand her team to keep up with demand.

Mandy has carefully selected team members who share her values and have a personal understanding of ADHD. This ensures consistency in the level of empathy and support provided to clients.

Despite the challenges of managing a growing team, Mandy’s strategic approach has allowed her to scale her business while maintaining high service standards.

Finding clients the easy way!

Mandy’s journey highlights the importance of finding a niche and going all in. Her commitment to supporting clients with ADHD has not only differentiated her in what some can see as a over-saturated market, but also allowed her to make a meaningful impact. For aspiring VAs, Mandy’s story is a testament to the power of specialisation, empathy, and building strong, word-of-mouth-driven networks.

Niching, and becoming the go-to-expert VA in a particular field (whether that be via the services you provide and/or the types of clients you support) is the quickest and easiest way to attract your ideal client, become fully-booked, have a waitlist of clients wanting to work for you ... and pretty much guarantees you a steady stream of leads knocking on your door due to word of mouth referrals!

It really is a no-brainer!

Where passion meets purpose

In the fast-paced world of virtual assistance, Transcend Admin stands out as a beacon of what’s possible when you combine passion with purpose.

Mandy's dedication to creating an ADHD-friendly VA business has not only brought her success but also provided invaluable support to a community that often feels misunderstood. As Transcend Admin continues to grow, her story serves as an inspiration for VAs looking to make their mark and truly change lives.

The secret to niching successfully!

So what's Mandy secret? How did she successfully niche, grow her team and become the virtual assistant on everyone's mind as soon as the term 'ADHD's is mentioned? How does Mandy bring in consistent $10k+ months?

The Scale It Mastermind is the answer!

Mandy was determined to fast track her success and rely on experts to help steer her in the right direction so as to not waste any valuable time or money on strategies, tools and other things that wouldn't work

Very early on Mandy joined the Scale It Mastermind and credits what she's learnt from The VA Foundry for her success.

But as lovely as that is to hear, having being part of Mandy's journey for over 3 years now, we know for a fact that we can lead a VA to water, but we can't make them drink. We provided Mandy all of the tools, strategies, advice and guidance, but it's Mandy alone who took the action in order to made it happen!

Congrats Mandy. You should be super proud!

Sam + Jo xo

Listen to episode #205 of The Sam + Jo VA Show to hear Many share her journey from generalist freelancer to specialist agency owner here.

Find out more about ADHD-friendly virtual assistance, connect with Mandy here:
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram