Episode breakdown
Barbara Turley has a mission is to eradicate “small business overwhelm” by simplifying the offshore outsourcing process and facilitating cost-effective business scalability. She and her team make this happen every day at The Virtual Hub.
The Virtual Hub is a support assistant recruitment and management agency disrupting a stale industry. Rather than doing business “the usual way,” they actually create their own support assistant successes (and yours) through deep training programs, ongoing career development and coaching.
Barbara proudly wears the label of Founder and CEO at The Virtual Hub as well as the titles wife and mom … and host The Virtual Success Show podcast.
- Barbara talks about how she started the support assistant business out from her coaching business
- The difference with Barbara working at the bank and as an entrepreneur
- What a support assistant is for Barbara
- Fears of hiring support assistants and how it was addressed
- The benefits of hiring a support assistant
- The onboarding process and getting the right support assistant for clients
- The Virtual Hub and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliant for European Clients
- Barbara’s tips on what to do before hiring a Support Assistant, when and how to hire a Support Assistant
- Personal Development Questions for Barbara
- Barbara shares about her favorite application and tips of using different applications
- An experience that teaches Barbara with business
- How being a mother and entrepreneur at the same time looks like
- Barbara’s definition of Success
You gotta be persistent but with your head up looking forward not down on the ground.
In this episode
00:00 - Introduction and Entrepreneurial Backstory
Barbara Turley recounts her unexpected shift from investment banking and asset management into founding The Virtual Hub.Initially offering business coaching, she discovered overwhelming demand for Support Assistants and pivoted to build a company that recruits, trains, and manages Support Assistants for digital marketing and social media support.
04:52 - Corporate vs. Entrepreneurial Life
Barbara compares the high-pressure but structured world of finance with the unpredictable challenges of entrepreneurship, noting greater freedom now but also more intense personal responsibility.
6:50 - Benefits and Misconceptions of Support Assistants
She explains the broad definition of “Support Assistant,” the cost advantages of offshore hiring (especially in the Philippines), and the skill required to make virtual arrangements successful.
08:09 - Trust and Reliability Concerns
Barbara addresses common fears about remote work quality, sharing how The Virtual Hub’s rigorous hiring and management processes eliminate many typical outsourcing pitfalls.
09:49 - Client Onboarding Process
She outlines the steps clients take before being matched with a Support Assistant, including training in project management tools, process documentation, and communication practices to ensure smooth integration.
11:43 - GDPR Compliance Challenges
Barbara details how EU data protection laws affect Support Assistants globally, explaining how her company achieved GDPR compliance to reassure European clients.
14:49 - Advice for First-Time Support Assistant Users
She cautions against rushing to hire without preparation, urging business owners to identify recurring tasks, document processes, and plan training before onboarding a Support Assistant.
17:10 - Personal Development and Tools
Barbara shares her limited but valued personal development time, her favorite book (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), and her reliance on Asana as a project management and communication tool.
22:02 - Biggest Business Mistake and Lesson Learned
She reflects on ending her first venture too soon, realizing she may have quit just before reaching a tipping point, and stresses the importance of persistence.
23:54 - Work–Life Harmony
Barbara describes building her business alongside raising a young child, crediting strict time management, delegation, and saying “no” often as key strategies.
25:46 - Entrepreneurial Advice
She advises balancing persistence with market awareness to avoid pursuing the wrong goals out of stubbornness.
26:49 - Definition of Success
For Barbara, success means having enough passive income to cover her lifestyle so she can work for passion rather than necessity.
29:31 - Morning Routine
Her mornings center on coffee and focused work rather than traditional wellness rituals, which she replaces with activities that make her feel alive.
31:51 - Persistence Discussion
Barbara and Geoff Nicholson explore persistence as a skill, warning against blind perseverance in the wrong direction and emphasizing self-awareness and adaptability.
37:12 - Final Thoughts and Contact Information
Barbara encourages trusting your path and offers resources via The Virtual Hub website, LinkedIn, and her podcast The Virtual Success Show.
