Emma Bennett Stopped Calling It Cost And Started Calling It Investment

Two years ago, Emma Bennett was still calling herself a VA. She'd started Em & Co Consulting almost by accident, something to do when her kids started school, charging by the hour for admin work while quietly doing the job of an operations manager underneath it.

"I was very much stuck trading my hours and my capacity, rather than the experience I have over my years of working, to be able to actually fully support my clients," she told me on the podcast.

She'd followed my work for two years before she joined The Regional Experts. Three discovery calls. A lot of hesitation that had nothing to do with the coaching and everything to do with her own self-worth.

"At the time, I say the word investment now, but at the time, to me, that word was cost," Emma said. What shifted it wasn't a sales pitch. It was realising she was never going to move her business forward without someone to help and guide her.

Nailing The Offer First

The first thing we changed wasn't marketing or mindset. It was pricing. Emma was charging less than she'd eventually need to pay a team, which meant she couldn't bring anyone in even if she wanted to.

Within the first three months, we'd built her a proper offer framework. One package, three options, no more scrambling to invent a quote on the spot. "It takes away that decision fatigue," Emma said. "It gives you the space to actually show them the value you're going to bring, rather than sitting there worrying about how am I going to price this."

The Niche Was Never About Industry

The next six months were harder. We spent real time working out exactly who Emma wanted to work with, and it took a lot of dragging ideas out of her, session after session.

Her niche was never really about industry. Service providers, yes, but that's almost beside the point. It was about the person behind the business. When she finally wrote it down properly, she realised she'd been underselling her ideal client the whole time, which meant her marketing was reaching people who could never afford her.

Six Figures, A Team, And A Different Kind Of Growth

Within six months of nailing the offer, Emma brought on three clients at once and hired her first VA. She's since added a second VA and specialist contractors who work under her brand. Within her first year working together, she more than paid for her investment, and she hit six figures for the first time.

"I hate that whole 'I did six figures' thing," she said, "but I was proud to say that I did it in the first year I worked with you, from a business that was literally just covering itself before."

What's come since matters more than the number. Emma's stepped back from chasing retainer clients and now runs one-off project work alongside a new program helping women untangle the back end of their own businesses, so they can prepare to outsource or hire well before they actually do it.

What She Wants Her Kids To See

Emma left a solid corporate career in state-level management to build this business. Now she wants her children to see something specific: that their income and their options aren't dictated by where they live, or the hours they're willing to work.

"I'm proud of the business that I have," she said. "Before, I'd sort of hidden behind it being just a little hobby that I did at home."

Her Advice If You're On The Fence

Emma's message for anyone telling themselves they should already know how to do this: "Don't wait the year that I did to do it, because that was a year wasted. I do think where I could be now if I'd done it a year sooner."

She's also built two genuinely useful free resources if you're trying to work out whether it's time to bring someone into your business: an 18-page guide to outsourcing, and a quiz based on her FLOW framework (Focus and clarity, Lay the foundations, Optimise and operate, Work with ease) that tells you which stage you're at. Take the quiz 

The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. If that's you, Apply Now