Sasha Rowe | Trusting Your Vision

The way we think about work/home balance is evolving rapidly in the era of coronavirus. But entrepreneur Sasha Rowe foresaw the switch to online work way back in 2015 (and before the pandemic) when she founded virtual assistant business Rivvly.

After Sasha had her son, she decided not to go back to her job in corporate finance. But after three days at home, she realized she needed an intellectual challenge — and that there must be other people like her, who couldn’t work in an office but still had skills to offer.

Rivvly connects virtual assistants — “We call them remote associates,” Sasha says — with executives and entrepreneurs who need someone to organize their admin but don’t want the hassle and expense of hiring a full-time employee.

Today, Rivvly has around 30 remote associates, including athletes, stay-at-home parents and digital nomads, and 60 to 70 clients in various industries. 

For Sasha, Rivvly isn’t just a company: It’s a chance to shake up cultural beliefs about where and when we do work. 

Associates get to work on their own terms, with no commute time or costs, and flexible hours. “We are a company that's dedicated to empowering women and family and the future of work,” Sasha says. 

The easy lift is a dream for many businesses: “We're doing the hiring, the vetting, we're handling the payroll, we're tracking the time,” Sasha explains.

Sasha admits that building Rivvly has come with a steep learning curve, partly thanks to her tendency to dream big. But that hasn’t held back her visions for the future.

“[Humans are] going to be on Mars one day, and the people on Mars are going to need people here to handle their stuff on Earth. We're going to be that company.”

👱‍♀️ Name: Sasha Rowe

⚙️ What she does: Founder of Rivvly, a company that connects entrepreneurs and executives with virtual assistants who take care of admin work remotely.

💻 Organization: Rivvly

💎 Words of wisdom: “The only time something truly becomes a failure is when we don't learn anything, and we don't take the lesson out of it to become a better version of ourselves, or put out the lesson so that somebody else can learn.”

🔍 Where to find Sasha: Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

🔍 Where to find Rivvly: Facebook |  Twitter | Instagram

💡 Homework: Sasha felt torn between being a stay-at-home mom and her desire to continue working after her son was born — in fact, it inspired her idea for her virtual assistant business.

💡 Finding funds: Sasha struggled to get funding as part of a new industry and as a female founder.

💡 Know your why: There are two things you need to be a successful entrepreneur — passion for your project, and knowing why you’re doing it, Sasha says. 

💡 Work your way: Rivvly’s mission is to empower remote work through assistants and the businesses they work with. Sometimes these relationships work so well that the businesses want to hire the assistant full time. That doesn’t bother Sasha — she sees losing her contractors as a victory.

💡 Taking feedback: Sasha’s big ideas sometimes present challenges for her team, but she’s learning to better take criticism.

💡 Throw out the books: Sasha explains how she’s stayed true to her original vision by listening to her intuition and learning from mistakes.

💡 High points: Sasha has a few proud moments as a founder, including learning to be transparent and vulnerable with her team.

Sasha Rowe:

“Being a female founder came into play. We talked to a few different investors and I got many different answers to our pitches, including ‘oh, your business is cute,’ and ‘have you thought about bringing in a male presence?’”

“I've learned over the past several years to let go of things that we don't have control over, and to use intuition and creative solutions to make something better out of the cards that were dealt.”

“I enjoy things that challenge me to change my perspective. I like poking holes and trying to see where the gaps are. My biggest problem with criticism is skepticism and unwillingness to be open to bigger and better ideas.”

“When you have bad news to deliver to your team, or uncomfortable news, it is really hard to be transparent — until you are. And then it's like this huge burden is lifted off you.”