Gabriella Watkin

09/06/2025

06/01/2024

🤐When your client assigns all tasks and projects (along with their due dates) via email.

Nothing activates my desperate need for meditation, breath work, and any sort of calming agent quite like a busy (disorganized) inbox.😅

As an introvert, an inbox 10382 is as bad as putting me in on stage in a crowded room filled with strangers.

🤯Not only does it trigger my email anxiety, but it taunts my type-A personality by forcing me to sit down and sift through every last piece of mail (including junk and coupons) just so I can restore peace by reaching inbox 0.

This is why assigning tasks via email, no matter how important, is a big no-no!

👉If your client is guilty of this, introduce them to a project management tool.

My favorites are (more user-friendly) and (incredibly robust with a lot of fancy features).

🙌It’s a great way to get your client organized, rounding up their team so that every single person is on the same page.

Plus, if you’ve been looking for a window of opportunity to pitch your strategy, management, and systems Digital Business Manager skills, this is it!

🤷🏻‍♀️If your client says “but what if no one checks Asana/ClickUp? How will they know what is due and when?”

You can assure them that both ClickUp and Asana has reminder tools that pings all assignees of a task or project’s upcoming due date (yes, by email).

So not only will they get their email notifications sent, but you (and the rest of the team) won’t have to go foraging through your inbox for hours just to find project details (cue the Backyardigan’s hit single “Into the Thick of It”)

👇Do your clients use a project management tool? If so, which one?

06/01/2024

It took me 6 months before I became a fully fledged freelancer.🙌

In 2016, I found myself miserable at my prestigious corporate internship.

I knew I wanted to escape the 8AM daily grind, and in the best case scenario, I wanted to freelance my way to freedom.

💻I wanted the ability to work from anywhere in the world, have ample time to pet all the cats, and work in my PJs and bird’s nest hair whenever I felt like it.

If that isn’t the spitting image of “work life balance,” I don’t know what is.🤷🏻‍♀️

So I took on a side gig as a $10/hr virtual assistant all while juggling my internship.

The late nights, boundary-less (at that time) freelancing schedule was worth it. Because 6 months later, I was a full-time freelancer.

📈From there, my freelancing career took off steadily.

When I started hitting consistent $2-$3k months as a virtual assistant, I knew I was ready for the next level.

🤩I wanted to grow my income so I could unlock a new type of freedom - the kind that allows me to book premium economy seats, travel anywhere in the world despite the cost of flights, and freed up my time all while simultaneously feeding my savings account.

After reading many books, listening to hours of podcasts, falling into Google rabbit holes (some deeper than others), and testing out what the online biz space calls The Strategy and Management work, I graduated from being a virtual assistant to becoming a Digital Business Manager.🎓

If you’ve been patiently walking down the online freelancer path and you’re thinking “what’s next?”

👉There might be a promotion into the role of Digital Business Manager with your name on it waiting for you.

✨And I have a FREE on-demand class that’s patiently waiting to guide you down this new, exciting, Digital Business Manager path whenever you’re ready to take that next step. ()

06/01/2024

Lessons learned from 30+ freelance clients in 3 years.⁣
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3 years and 3 months ago on this exact day - I decided to make the leap into the unconventional.⁣
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And since then - I’ve had the pleasure of working with over 30 clients as a freelancer - big teams, small teams, women, men, startups, 10+ year old businesses, products, services, agencies - anything and everything. ⁣
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And today, I’m thinking back to all the clients that got me to where I am and what I learned.⁣
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My 1st client taught me that it was possible - someone was willing to pay me (a stranger) real money for doing work from my house in my pajamas (what?!)⁣
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My 5th taught me that work ethic and commitment are absolutely everything and are your #1 differentiator.⁣

My 10th taught me that kindness should always be my #1 priority in a client.⁣

My 22nd taught me that you not only need a plan B, you also need a plan C and plan D, and that you can never have too much buffer time.⁣

My 23rd taught me that a client who doesn’t understand boundaries and insists on writing you paragraphs at 8pm on Saturday is not a client you need.⁣
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My 25th taught me that just because you get thrown in the deep end and feel 100% not ready, you’ll still totally be fine after the learning curve.⁣

My 26th taught me that just because you’re being paid $50/hr doesn’t mean it’s a dream job.⁣

My 29th taught me what it is to truly care, facilitate, love a community and to focus on giving.⁣

My 31st taught me that even if it seems like a ‘dream job’ on paper, if your heart is not in it and your gut says no then the answer should most definitely be no.⁣
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My 33rd taught me what it’s like to be ruthlessly detailed oriented and what it means to go above and beyond in serving your audience.⁣
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My 34th taught me that a sense of humor always, always has a place in the workplace.⁣
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My 36th taught me how the biggest and hardest skill an entrepreneur can have is to learn to let go and trust others to love their businesses as much as they do; plus, reminded me how much I love running businesses & managing teams, projects and ops.⁣
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I’m incredibly grateful.⁣ 💛
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So big shoutout to my clients, past and present. You’re all the MVPs.

06/01/2024

Busted sneaking around Asana after hours. (What can I say? I live life on the edge!) 🤷🏻‍♀️

🙊I know boundaries are important. But do I sneak around Asana after dark every now and then? Maybe.

I’m low-key anxious that my team will call me out if they catch me lurking around Asana when I’m supposed to be locked away in an escape room.

🙌While I’m all about overdelivering and working hard, I’m also pro-boundaries and taking weekends off to refuel and come back fresh for the work week ahead.

💆‍♀️ But trust me when I say it’s easier said than done, and upholding boundaries take a lot of practice (even if they encourage me to unplug and unwind).

Do you ever find yourself doing work-related things on the weekends (even if you said you wouldn’t)?

06/01/2024

byeeeee 27 👋🎂 here is a carousel of 10 random, special memories plus stuff I was really into this year 🙂

🤍 Adopted 2 cute cats
🤍 Still realllllly into matcha
🤍 Swam in lakes & pools & the ocean
🤍 800 students in the bootcamp
🤍 Got really into autumn & Gilmore girls again
🤍 Got SUPER into World of Warcraft (logged 443 hours in the past year looollll)
🤍 Business grossed $600K+ since I started it
🤍 Met lots of cool people irl and virtually
🤍 Had my first business photoshoot
🤍 Overhauled all my marketing
🤍 Scripted & filmed 45+ YT videos
🤍 Made it to 10k email list & 5k on YT
🤍 Started jogging
🤍 Went to a record amount of cafes to cowork & read
🤍 Started therapy (highest personal ROI thing ever)
🤍 Have learned to really enjoy my own company
🤍 Had 10/10 🍜 🥐 🍰 🍩
🤍 Mentioned in Forbes again 🥹
🤍 Scored great buys at flea markets
🤍 Had an engagement shoot
🤍 Finally realized what true self-trust looks like
🤍 Signed up to a gym
🤍 Still super into puzzling
🤍 Had 394058 cat cuddles
🤍 Got my trademark!

& now onto 28 :)

06/01/2024

Ever turn down a perfect, if-only-we-met-sooner client because you just don’t have the time?👇

Great freelancers and virtual assistants are in-demand and flying off the online shelves these days.

That’s a great problem to have until you realize you don’t have enough time to work with every client you want to.😅

On the flip side, you are fighting the urge to say “hell yes” to every dream client that comes your way because who doesn’t want to make more dough?

👎The bad news - it’s impossible to work with every single client out there, no matter how dreamy they are or how many times they have you saying “are we the same person?”

👍The good news - you CAN scale and grow your income without the fuss and hassle of sacrificing your time.

How?

✨By shedding your role as an implementor, stepping out of the knees-deep in the trenches work and promoting yourself to the strategy, management, behind-the-scenes planning as a Digital Business Manager.

Offering team management, content & project planning, & systems & operations strategy work is a natural, low-risk, evolution for a virtual assistant and freelancer who is already familiar with the ins-and-outs of your client’s business.

🙊& promoting yourself to a Digital Business Manager will impress your clients (to the point where they’d say “it’s like you know my business better than I do!”).

If you want to dabble in some Digital Business Manager practice tasks, I have a $7 week long challenge where you’ll learn the tried and true Digital Business Manager skills (that my students use every day post promotion).

👉You’ll also get your hands (slightly) dirty as you work through tasks and projects for your portfolio, so you can approach your clients with your new Digital Business Manager title with confidence (and bragging rights).

Not a virtual assistant/freelancer?

If you’ve planned detailed itineraries for friends or color-coded your way through note taking in high school and college, you could thrive in the Digital Business Manager role, too.

06/01/2024

Over 3 years ago, I made a big scary leap and started freelancing online as a project & content manager.⁣ 😯⁣
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Over 2 years ago, I made a bigger and scarier leap and started a business with Max.⁣ 😨⁣
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And 3 months ago today, I made the biggest and scariest leap of all and took on my most ambitious personal project yet.⁣ 😱⁣
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I made a commitment to myself that every single day from Jan 12th onwards, I would work on my own digital product that teaches others how to work online as a digital business manager.⁣⁣
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🧠 Even if it was just a quick 10 mins developing the course syllabus on a busy day⁣⁣
🎥 Even if it was spending 6 hours on a Saturday recording course content ⁣⁣
🐕 Even if it was just a quick brainstorming session on a walk with the dogs...⁣⁣
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No matter how much or how little time, that I would simply commit to putting in the energy every day.⁣⁣
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And every day since that day (minus 3 COVID-19 induced overwhelmed & full-on panicking days), I have kept to my commitment. ⁣⁣
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And I’m so excited to share that my digital product is now in open beta. 🎉⁣
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I sent out an email earlier this week to my list and as of that first day, the DBM Bootcamp had 6 beta students. ⁣⁣
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SIX!!! ⁣👩‍💻👩‍💻👩‍💻👩‍💻👩‍💻👩‍💻⁣
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That’s more than I can count on one hand. ⁣⁣
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How I feel: 😱🤯🥰🥺⁣⁣
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Anyway - this is just to say - big and scary things are hard, especially the big and scary promises or commitments you make to yourself where nobody is holding you accountable.⁣⁣
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And yes - there were plenty of highs but of course, also plenty of lows. Lots of tears shed over imposter syndrome, over payment processing tech issues, over the endless stream of “What if?”.⁣⁣
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Fast forward to now... having 42 incredible beta students in the program & knowing that I can keep promises to myself even if it’s really, really hard sometimes? ⁣⁣
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Worth it. 😭⁣
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Thankful for all of you & hope you’re all doing well and staying safe during these times. 💗⁣⁣
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If I can help with anything or if anyone wants to chat or quietly puzzle together (BYOP, hehe) in a video chat, let me know.

06/01/2024

My imposter syndrome is a bigger diva than Mariah Carey. 🙊

She loves to belt out hits like…

🎶“You’re a fraud”

🎤“You’re not good enough”

And 🎵“What do you know about anything?”

After being in the freelancing and entrepreneurship space for a few years, I’ve learned a thing or two about managing this attention seeking diva.

✨While her voice might be hard to ignore, you don’t have to sing along. Just sit back, listen, and thank her for the performance.

👉Every expert started out knowing absolutely nothing about what they’re an expert in.

🤸An olympic gymnast didn’t somersault out of the womb.

✍️A best-selling author started out with no knowledge of words and spelling.

🎄And Mariah Carey wanted many things for Christmas before she settled on “you”.

We all start somewhere and there’s always room for growth.

So let your imposter syndrome belt away, but know that you know more than you did before (and you’ll continue to know more and more each day).

👇Anyone else feel like their imposter syndrome has a voice that just can’t quit whenever you sit down to work or do something you’re passionate about?

Sound credit

06/01/2024

Every entrepreneur can do anything. They just can’t do everything. (That’s why they need YOU).🙌

The online entrepreneurship space is BOOMING, and every launch you see is an indicator for how in-demand digital business managers are.

Every entrepreneur would love to keep laser-focused on their zone of genius. This could be…

💻The content that goes into a course

🎨The design and functionality of a product

📝The material and events that make up a retreat

But launching a course, product, and retreat successfully involves so much more than just creating the material and announcing it.

It involves detailed systems and operations management for…

📈Marketing

🖥Product

👯‍♀️Team

💬Customer service

💰Sales

And so much more…

This type of high-level, strategy, and knowledge work is desperately needed in the digital business and online entrepreneurship space

(*ehem* meaning you can scale your income without sacrificing your time, working with 2-3 clients max and still getting that 🍞).

✨As a digital business manager, you play a powerful (and important) supporting role in an entrepreneur’s launch (even if you’re sitting on your couch in your PJs).

If you want to test out your digital business management skills, I have a $7 mini, week-long Digital Business Manager challenge that you can take on and see if this fabulous shoe fits.

👉This challenge comes with 5 days of video training, 3 mini projects to practice your skills (and add to your portfolio), a 20+ page challenge workbook, and a fun gift if you complete the challenge in full.

Want to take your *possible* new role as a digital business manager for a spin? DM me for the link!

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06/01/2024

Is that post-vacation inbox 14827 giving you anxiety? 😅 Save this post!

Full disclosure: In case you need a reminder that I’m type-A, I’m pretty crazy when it comes to organizing my emails and messages.

✨With that being said, I’m also a pro at getting you down to inbox 0 ASAP.

👇Here are some of my favorite inbox and messaging organization tips:

📨Consolidate: You probably have at least two (one for those discounts and coupons, and the other for work). Whether you’re managing 2 inboxes or 20, keep them all in one place. I house all my inboxes in the Mail app on my MacBook.

💻Franz: This is my favorite tool for consolidating all my messages in one place (Yup! Dreams do come true! 🥲). Franz will consolidate your emails, Slack or Facebook messages, Telegrams (and so much more) in one place. You’re welcome.

🧠Create folders for resources: If you subscribe to an email list for tips and tools, you’ll want to create a folder so you don’t lose your favorite tips! For example, I love reading great emails. If the copy catches my attention, I store it into my “Good Copy” folder so I can reference it whenever I need to.

🗂Create client specific folders and labels: You’ll want to create client specific folders for every client you’re actively working with. You can also create labels attached to each client’s email address so it will automatically sort itself out.

🗓Finally, you’ll want to block that first day back from vacation as an admin day so you can do some house keeping.

Trust me, using the tips I’ve listed above will help you sift through your inbox in record time.

What are some of your favorite inbox management tips?