Inside Marketing with MarketSurge

Welcome back to Inside Marketing With MarketSurge, your front-row seat to the boldest ideas and smartest strategies in the marketing game — hosted by Reed Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge.
Today, Reed is joined by Kirsten Graham, Business Growth Strategist and Co-Founder of Six Figure Business Coaching. With nearly two decades of experience helping entrepreneurs scale through smart outsourcing, Kirsten specializes in helping business owners unlock more freedom and profit by leveraging Marketing VAs, systemizing their business, and delegating the tasks that keep them stuck.
In this episode, Kirsten breaks down exactly how small businesses can scale faster, double their income, and reclaim their time by hiring the right virtual assistant — and leading them the right way.

🔥 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why entrepreneurs struggle with delegation — and how to fix it
 • What a Marketing VA is and why it’s one of the highest-ROI hires
• How to set expectations, create SOPs, and build a successful VA workflow
• Why outsourcing early (not late) is the real scaling advantage
• Which tasks business owners should outsource first
• The simple content strategy that fuels growth without burnout
• The difference between managing tasks and leading people
• How to avoid common outsourcing mistakes that waste time and money
• How Kirsten and her team train VAs before placing them with clients

🛠️ Resources Mentioned

Six Figure Business Coaching:
👉 https://sixfigurebusinesscoaching.com

The Marketing VA Advantage:
👉 https://themarketingvaadvantage.com

🧠 Connect With Kirsten Graham

Visit SixFigureBusinessCoaching.com to explore programs, training, and to book a call to determine which type of VA can help you scale the fastest.

🚀 Grow With MarketSurge — Smarter, Faster, Louder

Want to stay ahead of what’s actually working in marketing right now?
👉 Website: https://marketsurge.io

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👉 Podcast: https://marketsurge.transistor.fm/

👉 Book a Demo / Value or Free Coffee Call:
https://link.marketsurge.io/widget/bookings/15minutevalueorfreecoffee

Because your next breakthrough shouldn’t be a guess.

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Hit Subscribe, drop a rating, and share this episode with a business owner who’s drowning in tasks and needs a VA yesterday.

Creators and Guests

Host
Reed Hansen
Reed Hansen is a seasoned digital marketing executive with a proven track record of driving business growth through innovative strategies. As the Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge, he focuses on leveraging AI-powered marketing tools to help businesses scale efficiently. Reed's expertise spans from leading startups to Fortune 500 companies, making him a recognized authority in the digital marketing space. His unique ability to combine data-driven insights with creative solutions has been instrumental in achieving remarkable sales growth for his clients. ​

What is Inside Marketing with MarketSurge?

Welcome to Inside Marketing with MarketSurge — your front-row seat to the boldest business insights, marketing breakthroughs, and entrepreneurial real talk.

Hosted by Reed Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge and a digital marketing veteran who's helped scale everything from scrappy startups to Fortune 500 giants, this podcast dives deep into what’s really moving the needle in today’s marketing world. Find us at Marketsurge.io

Each week, we’ll break down the latest marketing and business news (minus the fluff), explore tech trends you actually need to know, and feature unfiltered conversations with the most interesting minds in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Whether you're a founder, a marketer, or just a curious hustler looking to level up, this is where growth happens—loudly, smartly, and with just the right amount of sass.

Subscribe, tune in, and let’s scale something legendary. 🚀

Speaker: Welcome to Inside
Marketing With Market Surge.

Your front row seat to the
boldest ideas and smartest

strategies in the marketing game.

Your host is Reed Hansen, chief
Growth Officer at Market Surge.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hello,
and welcome back to Inside

Marketing with Market Surge.

I'm joined by Kirsten Graham, a
business growth strategist, co-founder

of Six Figure Business Coaching, and a
leader in helping entrepreneurs scale

their businesses by working smarter.

has worked many years spent helping
business owners grow their bottom

line through smart outsourcing.

Especially when it comes to hiring
and leveraging marketing VAs, she

believes that too many entrepreneurs
get stuck doing everything themselves,

when in reality, freedom and growth
come from building systems and a team

that can take work off your plate.

She's here today to share
insights on how to double your

income by using a marketing va.

The mistakes that entrepreneurs make
when they try to scale and what it

really takes to build a business
that supports the life you want,

not the other way you are around.

Thank you for joining us, Kirsten.

Kirsten Graham: Thank you
so much for having me.

I could talk for hours about
outsourcing, although I won't.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Perfect.

Well, yeah, I'll have to cut you off at
20 to 25 minutes 'cause that's, that's

about all my audience will sit for.

So Kirsten, before we dive into
outsourcing and marketing VAs, can you

tell us a little bit about your journey
and what led you into coaching and helping

entrepreneurs overall with their business?

Kirsten Graham: Sure.

So my background is actually real estate.

I started selling real estate.

I eventually moved to the mortgage side.

I went on to own a mortgage
company and a title company.

I was very active in networking, and I did
a lot of loans for self-employed people.

So I would see their business tax
returns and their personal tax returns,

and inevitably they would say, can I
take you to lunch and pick your brain?

So I mentored other business owners for
a little over a decade before I actually

turned that into a coaching business.

So I'm kind of accidentally
here, is the way I would say it.

And so that's really how I
ended up in business coaching.

And then the way I ended up in outsourcing
was my now business partner, Jeannie

Wilson, was scaling her agency at the time
and I was mentoring and coaching her and.

She got really busy very
quickly and I said, I've read

about outsourcing overseas.

Would you want to try that?

And she said, sure, if you'll help me.

And that was 17 years ago.

So we went on this really interesting.

Kinda a wild ride in outsourcing
because it was before Zoom, it

was before WhatsApp, you know, so

It was a lot different back then and we've
outsourced to six different countries

and literally have hired hundreds of
virtual assistants as a business coach.

I went on to then help other
clients outsource and just kind

of fell in love with the whole.

The whole concept that, you know,
smaller business owners can get

the support that they need, very
affordably, but also these fabulous

people halfway around the world end up
working for awesome business owners.

And so it really is this incredible
win-win for everyone involved.

And so I just have a desire to
help business owners free up

their time by delegating tasks,
marketing, bookkeeping, software.

You know, those things that
need to be done, but they

don't need to be done by us.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: so I
know a lot of business owners you

know, I've worked with many and my
my wife is another business owner.

They often struggle to
let go of certain tasks.

They struggle with the delegation.

You know, feeling like it's
seeding some control or maybe not.

They, they can't expect as
high quality or as reliable.

When, when they delegate.

What would you say to a
business owner in that mindset?

Kirsten Graham: Well, first of all, did
you start a business to have a job or did

you start a business to grow a business?

Because a business is
something outside of us.

So that's one thing.

The other thing is, you know, it's
like a skill, like so many others,

we weren't necessarily taught how to
create standard operating procedures

or how to write job descriptions or how
to onboard a virtual assistant, right?

So it's a whole different skillset
and it, it's like anything else.

You can learn that skillset.

And I believe, and I know it to be
true, that if you hire the right

person for the right job, they
can often do it better than you.

And that causes a different
problem for a lot of people.

Because I think their self-worth
is tied up in doing everything.

So, and we see that a lot with
people who spend hours in Canva

creating social media posts.

Sometimes that's because they don't wanna
go out and have the hard conversations,

you know, following up with that
person that you talk to the other day.

You know, getting out there,
networking and meeting people to

have those sales conversations.

So there's a lot of reasons
why I think small business

owners hesitate to outsource.

But inevitably, it really does
empower you to do what you do best

and to grow your business, you
know, to support an incredible

lifestyle for yourself and not work.

24 7.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: So, you
know, I think that's really helpful.

Kirsten Graham: Yes.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I'm not
one that struggles with delegation.

I kind of prefer to delegate.

And I've had a few attempts at
outsourcing with mixed success.

You know, I may fall in the opposite
camp where I might be a little overly

trusting of, VAs for somebody in
my mindset, how would you say that

I could more effectively, do this,
and make sure I prevent some of

the pitfalls of, less supervision.

Kirsten Graham: Very much.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: you
know, the tasks they take longer.

You know, or they don't check
in as frequently as they should.

how do I prevent those sorts of issues?

Kirsten Graham: I love
the saying, hire slowly.

Fire quickly.

Most entrepreneurs do not invest
enough time in the beginning to hire.

The second thing that caught
me is you said they don't check

in as often as they should.

You should reverse that and say, I don't
set expectations and requirements for them

to check in as often as I want them to.

You're the boss.

They're not checking in.

It's because you're not requiring it.

Right?

So it really is about leadership.

We lead people.

We manage task, and that's where I
think having really clear, documented

standard operating procedures using
project management software and

having incredibly clear expectations.

We meet with every single
person on our team every week.

They know what day that that meeting is.

They know what time that meeting is.

If there's a typhoon, there was a
big typhoon there Monday, and so

we have a couple of VAs that are in
the northern part of the country,

so we got messages early on saying,
we're getting hit by a typhoon.

We may or may not be there, which
is what we expect from them.

And then the people that were further
south, they were on our calls.

I live in Florida, so we
call our typhoons hurricanes.

So I understand the concept that
sometimes you just, You don't know.

Is that storm actually gonna hit?

Are you gonna be outta power?

Are you gonna be outta internet?

But I train our team to do what I do.

And for example, if we were getting hit
by a hurricane this week and I had this

interview with you, I would've reached out
to you and said, Hey Reid, you know we've

got a hurricane heading right for us.

And it may or may not do any damage.

So I can reschedule this interview with
you or we can keep it on, but if I don't

show up, please know it's because I don't
have power or I don't have internet.

Now I'm giving you the power to say,
Hey, Kirsten, I'm fine with that.

Let's, let's just see how it goes.

If, if I don't see you, we'll reschedule,
or it gives you the power to say,

no, Kirsten, let's go and reschedule.

I'll get someone else into that slot.

So it's about communication.

So you need to have very
clear expectations for

communication with your team.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.

that's helpful now.

I know there's several categories or
specializations among the VA population.

You know, there's some generalists
and there are like marketing VAs.

what would

Kirsten Graham: Mm-hmm.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: how would you
categorize these different types of VAs?

Kirsten Graham: So first of all, you'll
have a lot of people who want to hire.

A marketing virtual assistant, and what
they want that person to do is to come

in, basically read their mind and be able
to create content that is in their tone

of voice, using their sense of humor,
which is never gonna happen, right?

So instead of having, a virtual
assistant, trying to figure out how

to write your voice, which I find is
often hard, even if you're hiring.

A copywriter in the US to somehow
get into your voice and write

exactly the way you want it done.

We work with a strategy with our
clients around either starting a YouTube

channel, talking HeadStyle, or a podcast.

Our clients then create great
content every week, and then

their virtual assistant takes
care of their video editing.

Audio editing, uploading to all of the
platforms, YouTube, creating social

media posts and scheduling those and
setting up that email to go out by having

a structure where the client creates
great content with a strategy and a

plan, and the virtual assistant does the
same steps week after week after week.

So that makes it easy because again,
there's clear expectations, there's

checklist, everything is documented,
everything is done the same way.

Once you have something like that
working really well for you, then

you can start to work with your
assistant and say, Hey, I've got

this great idea for a lead magnet.

I've got all the content for it.

Would you please lay it out and
design it using my brand colors?

And then they come back with that
and you coach them on what you

like and dislike and make changes.

So once someone understands your voice and
what you like and dislike when it comes

to video editing or the graphic design
that they're creating for you, then they

can go on and do other projects for you.

But at the beginning we really focus on
having our marketing virtual assistants

have clear expectations around that one
original piece of content each week.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: makes sense.

Now that being one of the early.

Tasks that you'd assigned to a
marketing va, when they're first

starting with you do, are there other
tasks that you'd recommend a business

owner should start to outsource?

Kirsten Graham: So we,
everything that we've created

has really come from just need.

So one of the biggest mistakes in
my opinion is that business owners

don't take care of their bookkeeping.

They intend to, but it always
gets pushed to the back burner.

That stack of receipts is haunting them.

Tax time comes around and they're stressed
out and they're, you know, putting it off.

They're filing that extension
and they're freaking out again,

in October to get it done.

So.

We really help our clients understand
the importance of bookkeeping.

And it's not just for tax time.

It's so that you can really
understand your profit margins.

You know, which of your offers
are bringing in great money?

Do you need to increase your prices?

Where are you overspending?

Are there things that you could stop
spending money on and maybe invest it

in a different way in your business?

So bookkeeping is another area we find
a lot of business owners struggle in.

So we do have bookkeeping,
virtual assistants for that.

The other thing is I'm not super
tech savvy, my business partner is,

but we attract a lot of people that
are more like me, not tech savvy.

So having someone who can, set up
your lead magnets, who can build

out all of your funnels and all of
your automations and test those.

You wanna have a quiz funnel.

You've got the idea, you've got
the content, but then having

a software virtual assistant
who can take care of all that.

So those are the things we really
focus on because those are the

challenges that we see our clients
have, the most difficult time with.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: right.

That makes sense.

So, I noted that you have a resource,
double your income with a marketing va.

Can you tell us a little bit
about what's in there and maybe

Kirsten Graham: Sure.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
people can get it?

I've got a few more questions, but I
think this is a pretty interesting area.

Kirsten Graham: yeah, you can grab
it at outsourcing for bosses.com.

And actually we're in the middle
of updating that lead magnet.

I'm excited about that.

But yeah, our goal is to help
people understand the importance of

ongoing and consistent marketing.

I don't know if you know this
re you've got a great podcast.

I've watched a lot of episodes of it.

It's awesome, but do you realize that in
24 months, only seven and a half percent

of people will still be podcasting?

Very few people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, and we all know when it comes to
marketing, it really is about having

a strategy and then tweaking it and
improving it and growing it over time.

So with our clients, you know, the goal
is to help them create the strategy and

figure out the best platforms for them to
be on, and then how to leverage everything

that they're doing within their marketing.

And by having a marketing virtual
assistant who takes care of the video

editing and audio editing, and uploads it.

That means all I have to do
is show up for my interviews.

I show up, I interview and I often
book coffee chats with our guests

because there's often ways that
we can collaborate with them.

So I feel like podcasting and podcast
guesting is about relationships.

I wouldn't have time to do
that if I was doing, spending

all of my time on the backend.

So that's what we really help our clients
understand that you're making money.

I always joke that sales
is a contact sport.

He, we need to help you come in
contact with more people consistently

and have those great conversations.

And you can't always do that when you're
doing all the busy work on the backend.

And again, a lot of times when we are
doing the busy work on the backend, it's

not because you can't afford five bucks an
hour, it's because it's safer than doing

what you need to do to grow your business.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: So
tell us a little bit about

like, engaging with, with you.

You obviously have a great process and
have done this for a long time, even pre

Kirsten Graham: Sure.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: you mentioned.

So first question is, what
should a business be considering?

Like is there a certain milestone they
should cross before they hire a va?

Or is there something that signals
like, ah, you know, I've got so

much on my plate time for the va,

Kirsten Graham: We actually have a lot
of people who are starting businesses

who know going into it, they wanna
build a business bigger than themselves.

A lot of times if they're retired,
and again, they may be more like me

and they don't have tech skills, they
go into their business understanding

that I'm going to delegate the
things I don't wanna learn how to do.

So I don't think it's a
certain time in your business.

I can tell you the worst time though,
the worst time is when you're maxed out.

You have zero time and
then you decide to hire.

So you spend very little effort
in the interviewing process.

You don't have the structure in place
and it always fails epically usually.

Anytime that you can delegate a
task early on, sooner than you think

you need to, I think is the better.

So for example, if you don't love
bookkeeping, it's not your jam.

You don't absolutely get
excited to sit down and do your

QuickBooks or your Zoho books.

Why not outsource that?

It's on average, it's probably
gonna cost you 20 to 30 bucks a

month to have a VA do that for you.

If you could get that done, start learning
to read your profit and loss statement by

meeting with your VA each month, wouldn't
that be better to empower you to make

decisions than you spending the three
to four hours doing that bookkeeping?

When it comes to outsourcing
like marketing, are you strongly

considering starting a YouTube channel?

Do you wanna start a podcast?

Do you wanna have a strategy like that?

That is very time consuming.

And if you do, would it make more sense
to start that with a team supporting

you with a VA on your team so that
you could focus on getting the best

guest, becoming the best host, you
know, having great conversations and

finding collaborations with your guest.

So it's just thinking about how do you
spend most of your time doing what's

gonna bring in money in your business?

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I like it.

that makes a lot of sense now.

So when they engage you do,
you do the vetting of the va?

Do you is it mainly a structure and
the business owner does the recruiting

and vetting and interviewing?

How does that work typically?

Kirsten Graham: So we like to say
we're not an outsourcing agency.

We coach our clients and we hire and
train virtual assistants for them.

So for example, with our marketing VAs,
we interview them, vet them, we hire them,

they go through a paid internship with us.

They have to graduate a paid
internship with us before they

can go to work with a client.

With the client, we're helping them with
their strategy, but we're also providing

all of the SOPs that that marketing VA has
already been trained on for production.

So then we're coaching our
client on how do you lead people

and manage task through SOPs.

And project management software.

So our goal is really about helping
the business owner because again,

it's not a skill we all have.

I mean, I didn't have it
something that you learn, right?

So helping them have this great
process for having long-term success.

Our clients keep their VAs
for years and years and years.

So that's, that's the goal.

You get someone good on
your team to keep them.

So once we train that virtual
assistant, the client hires them,

that VA works directly for the client.

So we're not involved.

I mean, our clients are always welcome to
come to the calls and ask questions and

we'll coach them, but we feel like it's
very important for the business owner to

have a real relationship with their team.

And so paying them directly and
managing them directly is how

that happens with bookkeeping.

Virtual assistants, I'm obviously not
training them on bookkeeping because.

they all have degrees in
accounting or finance.

They're QuickBook certified,
sometimes Zoho certified as well.

And they have a minimum of three
years in bookkeeping, experience.

But then they also go through a training
process with us for what we expect from

them to help our clients because we
know who our clients are, our clients,

who are generally the people who.

Don't necessarily love bookkeeping,
and it just, the thought of

it kind of stresses them out.

So we have a process where that bookkeeper
can really just jump in and help the

client get everything up to speed and
really do all the work on the backend

while empowering our clients to understand
where their money's going and to make

smart decisions based on that information.

So again, we spend a lot
of time interviewing those.

Bookkeeping, VAs software.

VAs is the same thing.

My business partner is brilliant
with technology, so we have a white

labeled version of high level.

We call it from leads to sales.

So anyone who comes into that software,
our white labeled version, the first

thing that happens is one of our VAs
actually sets up the software for

them, and that's really their first
experience working with a software va.

And we pay for that.

That's something we give to our clients
for coming on board with us initially.

Then they have access to hire
our software virtual assistant.

As needed because most people don't
need a software VA all the time.

So some of our clients, the VA sets
them up and they're off and running

and they really never use our software.

Other clients want to learn how to
use the software, so they might hire

the VA to meet with them every week
to help them learn the software, kind

of hands-on and help them do things.

And then we have other clients that
are more like me, they just hire for

everything so that they don't have to do
anything on the back end of the software.

So it really just depends on
what support that client wants.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Alright.

that is a great overview.

Well, Kristen, I really appreciate
that you've shared so much and

I think this is a lot of very.

Practical guidance on
how to get started now.

I think people listening to this are
going to wanna work with you now.

Can you give us your links

Kirsten Graham: Thank you.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
where they can find you?

Kirsten Graham: Sure, just go to
six figure business coaching.com

and that's SIX figure
business coaching.com.

At the top of the website, you'll
see links to each of those programs,

so depending on what you feel
like is most important for you to

delegate you can look into that.

There's also links to book a call
with me if you have questions, and

I'm happy to help you figure out, you
know, what would be the right thing

for you to start off delegating.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Well, thank
you so much for joining us, Kirsten.

This was really helpful and I,

Kirsten Graham: Thank you.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: you know, I
hope we can send some people your way.

Kirsten Graham: Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: Want to stay ahead of what's
actually working in marketing right now.

Head over to Market surge.io

and see how we're helping businesses
grow smarter, faster, and louder.

That's market surge.io

because your next breakthrough
shouldn't be a guess.