How This Mom Boss is Earning a Full-Time Income Helping Others with Tech Solutions

Jaime Slutzky is a WordPress website developer and the owner of Virtual Summit TECH where she and her team produce multi-part online events.

Jaime is married and the mother of two girls, she has been working from home [and coffee shops, gymnastics, and dance studios ~ basically anywhere with WiFi] full-time since 2011.

Read on to see how this mom boss started out on her entrepreneurial journey and how it evolved into helping others solve their tech challenges.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey.

I began my entrepreneurial journey in 2009 with the purchase of a Stroller Strides franchise. Shortly after that I found WordPress and launched a second entrepreneurial venture as a freelancer. While the franchise proved difficult on many fronts, the freelance business soared, and I left my corporate job in 2011.

As a lifelong techie, I continually bring tech-based solutions to my clients and provide them with my tech wizardry so that they can spend more time in their zone of genius.

Do you have any special training?

My college degree is in Computer Science, but otherwise, everything from coding languages and web design to user experience is all self-taught.

How did you finally settle on your niche? 

I knew that I wasn’t just another website developer, I wanted to have a deeper connection with my clients. I wanted to help them move their businesses. I dabbled with tele-summits in 2015 and officially broke into the production space mid-2016.

I love the summit model because of the sheer amount of value it provides all parties involved. When summits are done right, they can truly change lives. And the coolest thing is that summits are really working well outside of the saturated online marketing space!

Give us an example of how you landed one of your first clients.

Let me tell you about Diana. She is the client who opened the door to many of my recent summit opportunities. I met her on Facebook. In a group run for the Thinkific course delivery platform. She was asking if there was someone who could help her integrate one aspect of Thinkific with her summit registration.

I was on a sorta holiday with my kids (at my parents), and I took a couple of hours out of the day to meet her and tackle her problem. And those couple of hours were really what transformed me from “just another WordPress developer” into a “virtual summit producer!”

How did you fund your business?

Completely bootstrapped. The only money that I’ve put into the business is a small amount from our savings account.

What sorts of services do you offer? And how have you diversified your income? 

My signature offering is a 12-week virtual summit tech concierge service.

In the summit realm, I also offer summit coaching and my brand new tech deck service where I help Summit Hosts identify the right tech tools to run their summit.

Outside of summits, I build WordPress sites, provide system integration services and do tech audits. I’m also working on a couple of courses, and maybe I’ll put together my own virtual summit soon.

What advice do you have for other women who want to start their own business?

Identify your zone of genius and figure out a way to provide services that let you work in that zone more often.

If you love being around people, then don’t start a business that keeps you away from people.

If you are really passionate about something but cannot see how to make it work in business, reach out to others in that field and ask lots of questions… see if you can intern or apprentice under them.

And be willing to fail. I know that my fitness business failure was the best motivator for me to find success as an entrepreneur!

As a busy entrepreneur, mom, and wife how do you manage all of your personal and business activities?

I have invested in some tools that make things easier. I recently invested in Acuity for scheduling, so I never have to go back and forth with prospects or clients to find a time that works for us to connect. And, I have been using Basecamp to pull all my client and project work out of my email and keep it well contained.

Thanks, Jaime for sharing your story!

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Originally published August 9, 2010. Content updated on June 5, 2017.