Episode breakdown
Barbara is like many entrepreneurs. She had a desire, but quite frankly…stumbled into the opportunity. But there is a very valuable lesson Barbara shares as she describes how the opportunity presented itself.
Barbara Turley, the Founder, and CEO of The Virtual Hub. They have support assistants that can help businesses all over the world to free up time, mainly through digital marketing type tasks. They have 150 staff and are rapidly growing at the moment.
- How Barbara Turley started The Virtual Hub
- The Challenges that Barbara went through when starting her business
- Why Barbara chose the Philippines for her Business
- How Barbara Turley Knew when to Pivot
- When to hire a Support Assistant
- The Challenges that The Virtual Hub went through in the face of Covid 19
You have your own vision, you know, it’s there. And it’s deep within and it’s the the trusting and the knowing and taking that step off the off the cliff and trusting yourself that you’re going to fly
In this episode
00:02 Introduction and Current Business Status
Barbara Turley introduces herself and shares where she is today professionally. She describes her company, The Virtual Hub, which provides virtual assistant services, primarily from the Philippines, to help businesses with digital marketing tasks. The company has grown significantly and now employs 150 staff, benefiting from the rise in remote work and digital transformation.
02:00 Accidental Business Launch
Barbara explains how she unintentionally started her business. After leaving a 15-year corporate career in finance, she began consulting for small businesses. She discovered a common problem: these businesses couldn’t afford to hire staff but couldn’t grow without them. She began offering support assistant services as a solution, which quickly outpaced her consulting demand and organically turned into a full-fledged business.
04:00 Why the Philippines?
Barbara details why her business is based in the Philippines. Initially, it was coincidental—she hired a Filipino VA she found online. Over time, she realized the advantages: cultural compatibility with the West, strong English proficiency, and a highly educated workforce. She emphasizes that not all Support Assistants are the same but it’s possible to find top talent there.
06:00 From Caged Vision to Action
Barbara reflects on the mindset shift that helped her move from dreaming to doing. Despite not having an entrepreneurial background, she always followed opportunities with curiosity. Her willingness to try new paths—even without a clear end goal—played a key role in launching her business ventures.
07:30 Academic Background and Personality Traits
She shares her academic history and how she almost pursued medicine but fell in love with economics. Her natural curiosity and openness to see where a path leads became a defining trait that helped her career evolve, eventually steering her into finance and later entrepreneurship.
09:00 Passion for Macroeconomics
A light-hearted diversion into Barbara’s and Carey’s mutual love for macroeconomics. They bond over the “Macro Voices” podcast, highlighting how this shared interest has persisted through different career phases for Barbara, including her time on trading floors.
10:00 Corporate Career and Lifestyle Change
Barbara recounts her decade on equity trading floors in a male-dominated environment, which she enjoyed despite its challenges. After a personal crossroads and burnout, she took a year off to travel with her partner, which gave her space to rethink her career direction.
11:30 The Financial Crisis and Career Pivot
Returning from her sabbatical during the 2008 financial crisis, Barbara struggled to find a job and eventually took a less glamorous role at Deutsche Bank. Though a step down in prestige, it opened unexpected doors.
13:00 Saying Yes to Opportunity
A pivotal moment came when she was invited to join a management buyout. Despite having no money and little understanding of what it entailed, she said yes, took equity in exchange for work, and played a role in growing a company that now manages $20 billion. This experience solidified her confidence and provided the foundation for her future ventures.
14:49 Recognizing the Right Time to Start a Business
Barbara shares how she leveraged passive income from a previous business success to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Despite not knowing exactly what her business would be, she trusted her instincts—a trait she had suppressed in her younger years. She discusses the importance of intuition and the concept of “caged vision,” describing it as the deep, internal knowledge of one’s purpose that requires courage to pursue.
16:22 Building Risk Tolerance and Pattern Recognition
Barbara reflects on the traits that shaped her career, particularly her attraction to high-energy environments like trading floors and ER-style decision-making. She connects this to her ability to manage fast-paced business operations and identifies pattern recognition in supply and demand as a consistent thread in her career path.
17:42 Identifying the Ideal Customer
Barbara outlines the type of businesses that are best suited to work with The Virtual Hub. These are typically companies that have moved beyond the startup phase and are now scaling, with established systems and processes in place. While industry-agnostic, her clients share a digital footprint and need help executing tasks rather than developing strategy.
21:11 Focus on Digital Marketing and Operational Efficiency
The business has evolved to focus specifically on digital marketing support. Barbara explains that this decision was made to maintain quality control and efficiency in training and delivery. The goal is to anticipate client needs and train support assistants accordingly, though this remains a complex challenge.
22:55 Client Outcomes and Common Misconceptions
Clients primarily seek to free up time, often overwhelmed by operational tasks like email campaigns or content management. Barbara emphasizes that Support Assistants are meant for execution, not strategy, and discusses common misunderstandings where clients expect Support Assistants to drive engagement or develop content strategies without proper direction.
24:45 COVID-19's Impact on Business and Operations
The pandemic accelerated demand for digital and remote services, boosting business growth. However, it also presented significant operational challenges, such as transitioning to remote work in a country where many employees lacked basic equipment and infrastructure. The shift strained internal culture and finances despite external growth.
26:37 Evolving Work Models and the Hybrid Future
Barbara discusses how the pandemic forced a reevaluation of work models. She decided to eliminate uncertainty by committing to a remote-first model but soon recognized that not all employees thrive working from home. She proposes a hybrid future, blending remote work with in-person collaboration through flexible, community-style office spaces.
28:22 Closing Reflections on Caged Vision
The episode concludes with Carey thanking Barbara for sharing her ongoing journey of unlocking her caged vision. Barbara emphasizes that this process is continuous and requires ongoing reflection, adjustment, and self-trust.
