Keyman Financial Services

Tell us about your role in the business and how you started.

I’m the owner of Keyman Financial Services. We’re an insurance risk specialist business. I work with my two wonderful children, Mia and Ben, and my three wonderful VAs, Diana, Jade, and Sarrah. I started the business 15 years ago, and I’ve been in the industry for 25 years. We specialise in insurance, and we’re very passionate about the insurance market.

What was the trigger or catalyst that made you decide to hire your first VA?

It was a combination of—I guess, in any business, people can make or break you. And I’ve had staff in the past who felt like they were out to break me more than help me. It’s very common in Australia where there’s a lot of entitlement, especially in the younger generation, which is unfortunate. So, we got to the point in the business where I tried to build the business using Australian staff. To be honest, it just became way too difficult in terms of managing people. We’re a small business, so we need people to show up and work. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s difficult in Australia.

What were your fears or apprehensions when you were starting VA Platinum?

My biggest fears, I suppose, were around cybersecurity and the loss of control. When you’re a small business owner, you’re very hands-on. Businesses evolve over time, but usually, the business owner is at the centre. They need to feel like they’re in control of every single thing that goes on in the business, and the easiest way to do that is to have someone sitting right next to you. So, it’s a leap of faith. But I realised there comes a time in business when I needed to step back. A lot of the admin tasks we were doing—or that I was doing—were ridiculous. It didn’t make sense. My job was to go out and see clients, and to be quite honest, the management of the staff was difficult. So, why not outsource it? It made total sense. But it was a bit scary at the start, not having control over the person sitting right next to you—a leap of faith.

What’s an area of the business that you feel needs improvement where your VAs are involved in driving or helping?

Well, it’s interesting because, as we speak, we’re sitting here in Cebu in the VAP head office, which is our first trip here. The reason we came, myself and my two kids, was to be with our staff. We’ve grown to trust our staff over the last five years, to the point where we realise the jobs we’re giving them—they can handle them so easily. They’ve got so much more capability. As a result, we’ve realised that we should now be able to hand over some of the harder, more difficult tasks. We want to get to the point where they understand the entire process, not just part of it. They can do that part very well, but we want them to do everything very well. That’s why we’re here—for deeper training.

What would you give as a tip to a new client who’s just starting their journey with their VAs?

I guess the first thing would be to trust them. They’re probably much more capable than you believe. I know it’s tempting to start them off doing simpler roles to take a little bit of pressure off, but it’s better for them if you push them as well to make their job more interesting. Their capability is incredible when you trust them. I know it takes time to get them on board and to learn to trust, but I’d say the most important thing is to treat the VAs like they’re part of your business. In our case, they truly are. We believe they’re almost like full-time staff members for us, and in our business, they’re almost like family. It’s quite incredible, the bond we’ve formed, and that’s just through constant communication and trust.

Any feedback - good or not for the VA Platinum team in terms of your visit?

If you’re a new client at VA Platinum, I’d say that I’d previously used another firm to outsource, and to be quite honest, that was a pretty traumatic experience in itself. We were new to virtual assistants, and the trust wasn’t there. It was very difficult to communicate with them, and they kept changing the staff member. There was no continuity. I guess the idea is the same as if you employed someone in Australia: take them along and trust that they’ll stay for a long period of time. Once you have that trust, that’s when you can open the doors to further training and give them more interesting work, really making them part of your team. It comes down to trust. It’s a two-way street. You’ve got to be respectful and care for them, as much as you want them to care for your business. If you care for them, it will be reflected in their work.