S01E01JourneyToOBM

In this episode of the Online Business Mom Podcast, host Janice Patrick shares her journey to becoming an online business manager (OBM). She discusses her early experiences as a dedicated business writer in her family and her proficiency in typing and coding. Janice explains how she started helping entrepreneurs with their websites and operations, eventually realizing she was working as an OBM. She formed her own business, Chenise Patrick OBM, and faced challenges in marketing and pricing. Janice also highlights her achievements, such as becoming a verified ClickUp consultant. She encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to take imperfect action and shares her plans for the future, including developing her podcast. Janice concludes by inviting listeners to connect with her on social media and subscribe to her newsletter and podcast. Welcome to the Online Business Mom Podcast, where we empower busy moms to thrive in both their personal and professional lives. I'm your host, Janice Patrick, and each episode will dive into insightful conversation, practical tips, and inspiring stories to help you navigate the world of online business with confidence and grace. Whether you're juggling parenthood, entrepreneurship, or both, this podcast is your go-to resource for mastering digital operations, achieving work-life harmony, and creating a business that aligns with your values and vision. So sit back, relax, and let's embark on this journey of growth and transformation together. Hello, listeners of the Online Business Mom Podcast. I'm your host, Janice Patrick, and once again, thank you so much for deciding to keep me in your ears. I appreciate it so much. Today I'd like to give an overview of a short and sweet episode that I have planned for today that I just decided on, me and my husband did. I plan to cover my own journey to OBM, and OBM not as an online business mom, but OBM as online business manager. So let's jump right in. In the early beginnings, during my childhood, I know that I often found myself as the dedicated business writer of my family. What that means is anytime anyone needed a business document typed up, a resume typed up, any sort of formal communication that needed to be typed, I was the designated person that they would go to. I was the source that they would seek out to get this done. I remember the early days of Google Drive, and my uncle who needed a resume typed up at that time, I remember handing it over to him and him looking through it for approval and him seeing a typo, a small typo towards the end. And he told me, he's like, I like this baby dog, but there's a typo at the end. And you know how Google Drive goes. So I go in, I log into my Google, my Gmail account, I go to Drive, I fix the typo, it was literally the click of one key. One key is correction. And I immediately call my uncle back and I tell him, okay, it's all finished, I just sent it to you. And he goes, that fast, huh? And I just remember laughing so hard about that, because he, he truly had no clue about how any of it worked. And he didn't need to have a clue because there was me, there I was. And this went on for until today, really up until today. So it has truly never stopped. On my own, I found myself completing bigger and better projects for people. And I realized that I had developed quite a lot of skills. By this time, I had also learned to type code in HTML, I knew a little CSS, those languages I knew enough to, to navigate my way around a website, and to build a web page. So things such as FTP, HTML, CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, and I just knew my way around those. And I remember, it got to the point to where even my dogs and cats had a website. And I could do it all day, it didn't feel like work to me. It was something I truly loved and enjoyed. To this day, I feel the exact same way. There's nothing I enjoy more than going into the digital space and creating content, creating material out of chaos. Some of my other projects involved helping actual entrepreneurs and business owners, not only with their websites, but with their operations online. These were solopreneurs who had businesses and websites, digital presences, online presences, but who had no time to dedicate to monitoring their digital presence, and how they presented themselves online. And they trusted me to do this for them. And it got to where I realized that I was working as a VA. And that's exactly how I got my start. I was working as a virtual assistant for a little while. And then I got into researching about how to develop my own business. I felt like I had really found my niche, my calling. Again, it didn't feel like work to me, I was enjoying it. Getting things done for these entrepreneurs, these solopreneurs, they couldn't have been more pleased themselves to finally find a force that they could trust to get these things done for them. So everyone was pleased all around. And I started to research how to develop my own business. And I realized that some of the tasks that I was completing were actually outside of the scope of a virtual assistant. No offense to any VAs out there, but I was working as an OBM and online business manager in disguise. Some of my tasks were nothing short of literal project management. And I decided to progress my career. Not too long later, Chinese Patrick OBM was formed. This was in the end of 2022, all of 2023, until now that I've been operating as Chinese Patrick OBM. And the rest is, as they say, history. I just decided to take the initial steps, which was purchase my domain, which hadn't changed from my days as a VA, chinese.com. And I made a few simple branding decisions, changed the title, legally changed my entity, which was an LLC. And I started working as Chinese Patrick OBM. And there were some hassles, some setbacks along the way that I countered. So far as marketing, getting myself out there, presenting myself with appropriate rates, getting my current clients to realize why I had to increase my prices was a big hassle. They had been used to me charging rates of a virtual assistant for OBM work and getting them to understand why I was raising my prices was definitely a difficult time. I remember some of them not taking too easily to it, not readily, but some continued to stay on board with me. The planning process for this included changing up the copywriting on my website, learning how to use a project management tool, and developing skills there to where I could offer this as a service to some of my own clients, which has taken off great. As you can see on my services page, I offer the service of setting up ClickUp, which I recommend to anyone as your project management tool. I also remember gaining the status of a verified ClickUp consultant. This was a wonderful milestone, a turning point in my journey, and I couldn't have been more proud of myself at that moment, and I still am. That helped to get my name out there further, more calls and inquiries kept coming in, and I was having the time of my life. I still am. My first few clients really helped me increase my confidence, and it played a big part in developing me into who I am today, who I present myself as, as this expert, this ClickUp expert, this verified consultant, this digital operations manager, someone who helps you develop your business digitally, someone who is an entrepreneur themselves. My advice for any aspiring entrepreneurs would be to just take imperfect action. Don't wait for when you feel ready because you will never feel absolutely ready. I say take the plunge. You know, prepare yourself as well as you can, but don't stay stuck in that one phase forever. Take imperfect action. Take the leap and begin to start your business. Start your online business. My plans for the future of Janice Patrick OPM, I'm taking some of those steps now. I am beginning to develop my podcast alone. I'd like to branch out and invite guests along, and so stay tuned for that in the future. Thank you so much for tuning into this short and sweet episode about my journey to OPM. It's been a pleasure sharing this information with you. I encourage you to stay tuned for my future episodes and to connect with me on social media and on my online business manager website and also at the Online Business Mom newsletter. Go ahead and subscribe there. I'm on Spotify. Go ahead and be looking for me on your favorite podcast platform and maybe leave a review. That will make my day. That's it for today's episode of the Online Business Mom podcast. Thank you for tuning in and joining me on this enriching conversation. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite listening platform. And don't forget to share it with fellow moms who are ready to elevate their online business game. For more resources, tips, and updates, visit our website at chenise.com slash podcast. Until next time, keep designing a life and business that brings you joy, fulfillment, and success. Take care, and I'll catch you in the next episode.