Systems, Structure, and Strategy: Things I learned as a VA that prepared me to be a mentor

I didn’t just wake up one morning with the sudden realisation that I should be a mentor, I more grew into it from my experience of providing virtual admin for my clients. Here’s how the dots connect.

Everyone has that big ‘’why’ for their business journey. We all start with a drive to create something lasting and change our lives, and that of our clients, for the better. There is nothing wrong with that; it creates the passion and drive to get you through the hard times. On a day-to-day basis, though, most of my time was spent on the practicalities of running my business and being a VA. Every day, me and my amazing and supportive team, were helping people run their businesses. There were lessons there. Not just about running my own business, but how to help other business owners run theirs the way they wanted them to be.

I started Able Admin to be a business owner. I now see that it taught me things I needed to know to be a good business mentor.

Systems are vital if they are the right systems!

As a VA, systems were my world. I didn’t just use them; I often helped to build them with our clients. We always start with a discovery call so that we can get to know a client before we even start to think about how we work with them. One of the reasons this is so important (and I believe one of the reasons we are so successful) is that systems matter. However, the right system is more than just a method. It is efficiency in a bottle.

When you are considering any system, whether that is software-driven, sales processes, diary and email management, or whatever it may be, the point is not to just install a system. In fact, getting something in place is almost a secondary concern. The focus should be on installing what makes a difference and provides the most benefit, not just getting to the end of the process.

As a mentor, systems-level thinking needs to be second nature. I first sit down with a client and work to find what’s broken, what isn’t, and what can be improved. Not because I’m particularly clever, or because I have some amazing mystical insight, but because I’ve lived inside so many systems. I know how they’re supposed to feel when they’re working.

Mentor tip: Your systems, regardless of what they are, are there to work for you. Ignore the promises, ignore the bells and whistles features and the latest thing, and focus on creating systems that bring the right benefits to you and your business.

Structure means decluttering the complex!

Working as a VA meant juggling a dozen spinning plates. There were different clients, many of whom had unique neurodiverse perspectives, there were different platforms, variable software and hardware requirements and so on. Most of the time, my clients were overwhelmed, or about to be, and my job was to create structure where there was potential for problems.

What I didn’t realise then was that I was also training myself to make sense of complexity. As a side benefit of helping my clients, I was learning to untangle messy workflows, prioritise what matters, and help people move from overwhelmed to organised. Now, when I mentor business owners, I find myself doing the same thing, although at a more strategic level. Helping someone get out of their own head and into a rhythm that works. There’s something deeply satisfying about that. Not to mention deeply familiar.

Mentor Tip: All those years of turning chaos into clarity gave me the mental discipline to mentor others through complexity. To see the solution from inside the mess is a big ask most of the time, so getting an outside view will usually pay dividends.

Strategy is about moving from doing to thinking and back again

When I first started my own business, I focused on getting tasks done. Give me a to-do list, and I’d race through it. I was a productivity machine. Then I realised something, I was ‘doing’ without thinking. I was being productive, but was that productivity useful? That change in perspective made me much more efficient, and it was because of my clients that I had the revelation. I suddenly realised clients were also asking my opinion on their business, not just giving me admin tasks. They knew that I had a perspective that they wanted. They were asking me to think about the tasks, not just do the tasks.

That shift is subtle, but it’s worth doing. I began approaching tasks recognising I had that strategic mindset, rather than just using it without realising. Rather than just seeing it as ‘doing’, I started to accept that I was also instinctively asking, ‘Does this actually serve the business?’ and ‘Is this helping them grow, or just keeping them busy?’. These, along with many other strategy questions, changed the way I look at what needs doing. As a mentor, that skill means I can help people recognise what truly has value, what is important, and what is and isn’t helping your business to grow.

It’s not about getting things done; it’s about making sure the things being done actually matter.

Mentor Top: Strategy doesn’t just come from books; it mostly comes from doing the work and questioning it. It may sound easy, but finding the time to stop in the middle of a busy day to ask ‘Why is this task valuable’ can be a tall order. A big part of a successful strategy is asking why, or better still, getting a mentor to ask for you.

It turns out that I was learning all along

Becoming a mentor didn’t happen because I decided to “step up” one day. It happened slowly, almost imperceptibly, through skills in solving problems and asking better questions.

Running a successful VA business wasn’t just a job. I was unintentionally training. I was learning in a ‘lived it’, deeply practical way. It shaped the way I think, the way I lead, and, of course, it shapes the way I now support others.

As a businessperson with a successful business, I don’t want to stop being a VA to become a mentor. Being a VA has given me unique insight, and I would be crazy to give up the lessons it still provides every day.

Instead, I am a mentor as well as running my business because of the lessons I learned about strategy. I am a mentor because I now know what questions to ask and what to look for to improve both the owner and the business. I suppose I now know how to listen to the business, understand what it is asking for, and how to work with the owners to respond to that in a way that works for them.