For the past year and a half, Takisha Bromell has been helping salespeople and business owners do what they do best: be themselves. Her company, Girlfriday Business Solutions, is a virtual assistant firm that takes on the administrative tasks such as scheduling, processing, filing and other paperwork which may otherwise keep the entrepreneur from creating new business. Having a Masters in Project Management, Bromell can take a look at the workflow of an existing business and see where the process can be improved. She then creates a new system specific for that company or individual, designed for greater efficiency.
Bromell always had a knack for organization. In 2017, she started helping real estate agents with their sales and listing contracts, having a background in real estate herself. But Laura White Dahl, a friend from the real estate brokerage Music City Experts, suggested she could do much more. Dahl told her “Every successful person needs an assistant.” Not being exposed to the concept of an assistant for hire, she sought counsel from business professionals as well as family members who understood what made her tick. Now, she considers her work a labor of love.
Despite the encouragement of others, she still thought the biggest challenge lay in herself and the initial seed money, or rather the lack of it.
“I had to financially take the first step without having a whole bunch of money up front. I thought I had to have all this money, but I wonder if I would have wasted it,” Bromell said. She mentions that not having a large business investment in the beginning forced her to be smart about what she was doing. Instead of focusing on what to buy, she instead focused on procedures that would bring her success. For the first few months, she wrestled with herself and the idea of starting her own business. Bromell says she would ask herself “are you crazy, girl? Have you lost your ever-loving mind?”
Eventually, she realized the business was part of her core. She learned to rely on herself and, through her faith in God, believed that she was on the right path.
The Girlfriday CEO plays to her own strengths, stating she loves to be considered an outsourced Chief Operating Officer (COO) for other companies.
“That’s creating processes and procedures for businesses. It’s making you more efficient, also looking at resources you need to have in place as you grow and expand your business.”
She has several clients who operate from a shared workspace or otherwise away from the corporate office. These regional managers or high-level sales reps don’t have an onsite staff anyway, so it makes sense to use virtual assistants.
Bromell says the best things she can provide other businesses is balance and purpose.
“How I help the business owner is to create balance in their lives so they can go home and rest assured things are going to get done. By helping them, I create that support system, that foundation so that they can go out and be great. They can do what it is God has called them to do.”
I asked Bromell about her company name and logo. The expression “girl Friday” comes from a 1940 Cary Grant movie of that name. In the classic comedy, a businessman needs administrative help and gets it in the form of his part-time secretary. The term, a derivation from the “man Friday” character in Robinson Crusoe, has since been used to describe a temp or part-time aid. She thought it was a perfect title for what her company does.
As for her frog mascot, it is a reference to a Mark Twain quote: “If your job is to eat a frog, it’s best you do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
This alludes to the wisdom of not putting off tackling those things you detest, so you can do the more creative or even fun things the rest of the day. It’s a concept author and speaker Brian Tracy wrote about in his book Eat That Frog. Eating frogs or doing the dreaded tasks many entrepreneurs, salespeople or creative types can barely stomach is what Girlfriday does.
The advice Bromell gives to new businesses is: One, have a good accountant. Two, create a business plan, even though it may change several times. And third, have a good support system of family and friends.
“I had multiple mentors, I didn’t have just one. I can still go to these people today and because they are wise, and have been in business for years, they come to me with information that is critical for my business. You have to have people around you who know more than you,” she says.
The thing that gives Bromell the most momentum is her faith.
“Business is not easy . . . the momentum comes from believing that this is bigger than me,” she shares. “I’m doing this to give people balance and to help them in their purpose.”
Find out what Girlfriday can do for you at girlfridaybusinesssolutions.com.
