How to systematize your business & get more freedom
Rachel Ngom
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Episode breakdown
Barbara Turley is an investor, entrepreneur, and Founder & CEO of The Virtual Hub – a business she started by accident that exploded in the space of 12 months to become one of the leading companies that recruits, trains, and manages support assistants for businesses who need to free up time and energy so they can go to the next level.
With a strong focus on customized training and ongoing career development, Barbara ensures that her team is trained in cutting-edge programs (like Hubspot, Ontraport, etc.) to best meet their clients’ unique needs in digital marketing, social media, personal assistant services, and administrative support.
Barbara is also a mom (to her gorgeous daughter Ruby), wife to her best friend Eti and an adventure lover with a passion for horses, skiing, tennis, and spending time in nature.
- Barbara talks about how her business helps solves the problem of outsourcing for entrepreneurs.
- Business is messy.
- Make fast decisions.
- You don’t want to get sucked into being perfect on social media.
- Communication is KEY
- Building a company involves systematizing, delegating, evolving, and refining continuously.
Systemize everything, delegate effectively, and keep evolving your processes so your business runs without consuming you.
In this episode
00:00 - Introduction & Barbara’s Background
Rachel welcomes Barbara Turley, a Sydney-based entrepreneur originally from Ireland and founder of The Virtual Hub. Her company recruits, trains, and manages support assistants in the Philippines for digital marketing and social media. Now in its fifth year, the business has grown to over 100 employees with offices on the ground in the Philippines.
00:51 - The Accidental Business
Barbara transitioned from investment banking into business coaching, where she noticed a recurring problem: entrepreneurs were trying to do everything themselves, unable to scale, and not ready to hire full-time staff. She began connecting clients with support assistants from the Philippines, and demand for this service quickly overtook her coaching work. The business emerged naturally from this growing need.
03:03 - Early Outsourcing Challenges & the Case for Starting Small
Many entrepreneurs believe they cannot afford outsourcing, but Barbara stresses that cashflow and sales must always come first. Her advice is to start small — hire a support assistant for a few hours a week to free up time for high-value work. Rachel supports this by sharing her own experience of how early part-time support assistant support allowed her to focus on her “zone of genius.” Barbara notes that outsourcing is a learned skill, and initial hires may not always work out, but perseverance is key.
05:54 - Letting Go vs. Needing Control
A common roadblock for founders is the reluctance to delegate due to control issues. Barbara’s key message is that you can have control or you can have growth, but you cannot have both. She encourages entrepreneurs to prioritise selling and delivery over creating a perfect brand from the start, pointing out that many successful business owners “sell first, refine later.”
07:58 - First Hires & Role Evolution
Barbara recommends starting with a generalist support assistant capable of managing emails, bookings, basic design, blog posting, and social media. As they develop, they can move into specialised roles, and additional hires can be brought in to support growth. She recalls spotting the high demand for support assistant services and quickly pivoting from her original online business, noting that swift decision-making and the ability to pivot are essential entrepreneurial traits.
11:40 - Key Systems & Delegation Tools
The backbone of Barbara’s delegation process is Asana, which she used in its free form for years. It centralises tasks, keeps communications organised per task, and prevents messy email chains. She also developed training for clients on Asana, LastPass, and core delegation skills. A crucial step is to distinguish recurring tasks from project-based ones and to delegate the recurring tasks first.
14:06 - What to Delegate First
Barbara advises that social media repurposing and posting are often time-draining tasks for founders and should be delegated early. She advocates adopting an “80% is good enough” mindset — allowing someone else to handle the work and making minor tweaks rather than doing it all yourself.
15:44 - The Biggest Hiring Mistake & Pre-Work Needed
The most common mistake she sees is hiring support assistants without first putting systems, processes, and structure in place. She identifies three essentials before hiring: having the right tools such as Asana, preparing documented recurring task lists and processes, and establishing a clear communication rhythm.
17:57 - Onboarding Best Practices
Effective onboarding begins with sharing the company vision and the bigger picture to encourage ownership. It’s important to agree on communication styles to avoid misunderstandings. Walking through the role, tasks, and processes, providing training, and allowing a period of adjustment all help set the relationship up for success.
20:06 - Cultural Considerations When Working with the Philippines
Barbara explains that the Philippines has a “yes” culture, where team members may be hesitant to admit when they are confused or unable to complete a task. Building trust, encouraging open feedback, and creating a safe environment for mistakes or questions are key to overcoming this cultural hurdle.
22:42 - The Systematize, Delegate, Refine Cycle
Processes should be treated as living documents that evolve as the business changes. Continuous feedback and refinement ensure that systems remain effective and help build a scalable, valuable business asset.
24:56 - Achieving Freedom as a Founder
Barbara describes the path to freedom as a founder as one that demands an unrelenting focus on process, delegation, and reporting. In this role, the founder becomes the conductor of the orchestra, guiding vision, metrics, and next steps rather than being directly involved in every operational detail.
26:43 - Balancing Motherhood & Entrepreneurship
Working three days a week while her daughter is in daycare, Barbara openly acknowledges the emotional challenges of balancing entrepreneurial ambition with parenting responsibilities.
28:18 - Books That Influenced Barbara
Barbara cites The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as a transformative influence on her mindset. She also draws from Built to Sell and the Rockefeller Habits, which offer frameworks for creating scalable, sellable companies.
29:22 - Redefining Impact
She reflects that her greatest impact came when she stepped away from client-facing work to focus on building her team and refining systems. The lesson she draws is that sometimes you must say no in order to make the right yes possible.
31:05 - The Next Vision
Barbara’s goals include scaling to over 500 staff, creating a Google-inspired support assistant office space in the Philippines, and potentially writing a book in the future.
32:43 - Where to Connect
Listeners can connect with Barbara through a special link at thevirtualhub.com/shesmakinganimpact or by finding her on LinkedIn.
