The SmallBizChat Podcast: Growing Your Business with a Virtual Assistant with Carole Copeland Thomas

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Carole Copeland Thomas is an esteemed speaker, trainer, executive coach, and global thought leader specializing in issues impacting the ever-changing global marketplace, as well as topics such as multiculturalism and empowerment. A business owner for over thirty years, Carole has shared her expertise with companies like Verizon, SHRM, and the Federal Highway Administration, and she has spoken in several countries, including the United States, England, Canada, India, El Salvador, Australia, South Africa, and Kenya. Among her many accomplishments, Carole is a non-profit co-founder and humanitarian, founder of the Multicultural Symposium Series, and host of a weekly issues-oriented radio show called Focus on Empowerment.

Carole joins me today to discuss her experience of working with a virtual assistant and managing virtual team members from around the globe as well as some of the highs and lows she has faced along the way. Carole highlights some of the positive attributes of the best remote workers she has collaborated with, along with some of the roadblocks that prevented other relationships with virtual workers from coming to fruition. Additionally, Carole shares a devastating story involving one of her first virtual assistants and how she is responding and giving back.

“In many ways, your clock is a 24-hour clock. You just become adapted to it.” – Carole Copeland Thomas

Listen to the podcast below:

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

The evolution of Carole’s business and professional journey, how her company operates today, and the primary revenue-generating aspects of her platform
How technology has transformed the business landscape over the past thirty years
Different types of workers that can potentially play a role in the growth of your business
What topics/subject matter Carole addresses through her work
The challenges that come along with managing a remote team
The structure of Carole’s team, and the dynamic between Carole and her virtual team members
The platform Carole has used to find remote workers, and challenges faced along the way
How Carole manages time zones when working with global team members
The importance of professionalism when it comes to virtual team members
Why it is essential to develop a system while working with your current virtual team, and the relationship between delegating work and implementing systems
How Carole is giving back in the face of a tragedy involving one of her virtual team members