From furloughed to $5K months in 12 weeks

If you don't like where you are, you get to change it

Author

Makeda Boehm
November 11, 2025

Hey Busy Builder,

Here’s a reminder:

"You are 100% in control. And if you do not like where you are in your life, you get to change it."

That's what Sasha Eburne said in this week's episode—and honestly, it's a message a lot of us need to hear right now.

Sasha spent over 25 years in the hospitality industry. When COVID hit, her hotel was the first in Australia to house international quarantine guests. Then she was stood down. No job. No income. A young daughter to care for.

She could have waited for the industry to bounce back. Instead, she ran into an industry colleague who casually mentioned: "I'm a virtual assistant now and I make more money in three days than I did in my five-day corporate career."

Sasha's response? "Sign me up."

Well... not immediately. Like most of us, she watched for six months first. Then she was in a job where she was treated poorly, doing the same task all day every day. She finally said: "No, I'm going to do it."

Best decision of her life.

Within weeks, she had her first client—12 hours of work. Within months, she'd built a full VA business. Four months after that, she started teaching other women how to do it too.

Today, she runs a coaching business helping women build sustainable, scalable businesses—many hitting $5K months in 12 weeks.

🎧 IN THIS WEEK'S EPISODE, YOU'LL HEAR:

  • How Sasha went from corporate burnout to booking her first VA clients (and what she actually did)

  • The reality of parental leave in Australia vs. the U.S. (spoiler: it's complicated everywhere)

  • What a virtual assistant actually is—and why it's more than just email management

  • The skills you already have that people will pay for (yes, including running your household)

  • When Sasha recommends going all-in ($5K/month is her benchmark—but there's nuance)

  • How AI completely changed her business (and saved her hours every single day)

  • Why confidence comes from practice and repetition, not from being "special"

Listen to the full episode here

⚡ 3 THINGS SASHA SAID THAT RESONATED:

1. "Life is about living it—exploring the world and creating amazing experiences with our family. That's what life is about."

Sasha said this after years of being told "no" to time off requests and missing moments with her daughter because someone else controlled her schedule.

But here's the thing: you don't have to quit to start designing differently.

Many parents are building flexibility in corporate roles (remote work, calendar control, strategic use of benefits). Others are testing business ideas in parallel while keeping their salary and healthcare.

The goal isn't to escape your job. It's to create options so you're choosing to stay—not trapped into staying.

Your action step: Look at your calendar. Where do you actually have control already? Where could you create 5-10 hours/week to test an idea—without sacrificing your current income or family time?

2. "There's no difference between me and them. I'm just another female. I'm just another human."

Sasha wasn't confident five years ago when she started. Her first podcast made her nervous. Now? She does them without batting an eyelid.

Why? Practice and repetition. Just like driving a car—scary at first, automatic now.

Your action step: Identify one thing you're avoiding because you "don't feel ready." Do it this week anyway. Small version. Scared version. Imperfect version. Just do it once.

3. "A virtual assistant is just a remote worker that runs their own business providing services to other businesses."

It's not just email management. Sasha did sales, events, Shopify builds, social media—she hired specialists and offered whatever people were asking for in Facebook groups.

Even if you've been a stay-at-home parent, you're doing "life admin"—paying bills, booking travel, organizing a household. That's a service. People making millions doing exactly that.

Your action step: List 5 skills from your current job OR from managing your household. Google "[that skill] + virtual assistant" or "[that skill] + freelance rates." See what's possible.

🤖 HOW AI FITS INTO THIS:

Sasha said it: "AI has completely changed the ball game."

She writes everything first (to keep her voice), but then uses ChatGPT—trained on her brand, tone, and training modules—to:

  • Write landing pages in a day (used to take much longer)

  • Create entire email sequences

  • Build automation flows

She and her team "just move so much faster" now.

Your AI action step this week: Take ONE thing you've been putting off (a LinkedIn post, an email to a potential client, a service description) and use ChatGPT to draft it. Edit it to sound like you. Then ship it.

Prompt to try: "I want to offer [your skill] as a service to [your ideal client]. Write a simple 3-sentence description of what I do and who I help. Keep it conversational and clear."

💭 THE TRUTH WE FORGET:

You don't have to choose between stability and sovereignty.

Sasha's path was entrepreneurship. Yours might be corporate flexibility + side income. Or full-time employment with strategic calendar control and AI-powered leverage.

The message isn't "quit your job." It's "you have more control than you think."

You start where you are. You build evidence of what's possible. You adjust based on what works.

Action reveals truth. Evidence builds confidence. Results create transformation.

That's The Connector Method™. That's what Sasha did. And that's what's available to you too—whatever path you choose.

🎁 RESOURCES FROM THIS WEEK:

You don't need permission. You just need to decide.

Let's build,

Makeda Boehm
Chief Action Officer | Creator of The Connector Method™
Seed & Society

P.S. — Sasha's daughter was born in 2019 (same as mine). She's now running a global business while traveling in Thailand with her kid. It's possible. You just have to start.

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