Meet Magdalena, owner of MMK Virtual Solutions. Providing virtual administrative and office support to small business owners and entrepreneurs so they can focus on what’s most important in their businesses and personal lives.
What is your name? What is your business name?
Magdalena Kaflinska
Business Name: MMK Virtual Solutions
What products/services do you offer?
I provide creative, administrative, and virtual office support to small business owners so
they can focus on what they do best! My goal is to help them with the daily overwhelm
of running a business and achieve more balance in their lives.
Here are some of the services I offer:
Administrative Services such as: document creation and management, file and email
organization, CRM database updates and management, project management
Event planning assistance: assisting with event planning and development, organizing
and keeping track of objectives and deliverables, assisting with communication with
vendors, sponsors, and other business partners, performing project-related research,
etc.
Creative services such as: design of marketing materials (flyers, brochures, posters,
ebooks, workbooks, newsletters, business cards, etc.), creating social media graphics
and posting, and repurposing content
I’m also in the process of launching services specifically geared towards real estate
agents. I understand how demanding that industry is and believe that having a right-
hand assistant that they can delegate tasks to can be crucial in scaling their business.
How would you describe your business?
When I tell people I’m a virtual assistant, I often get a confused look on their faces. So
many people don’t know who a virtual assistant is and that is also a very broad term. I
like to explain, that I support small business owners with everyday tasks. Think of me as
their right hand, they can delegate to do items to, to help alleviate the stress of running
a business. I’m their sounding board, coordinator, partner, someone that can keep them
on tract and organized and that they can lean on when needed. It’s almost like they
have an in-office assistant but without the overhead cost of having an employee.
What makes your business unique?
Being able to offer my services to anyone anywhere is very unique about my business.
It doesn’t matter the location of your business; I can still offer support remotely. I offer a
cost effective, flexible and widely accessible solution to having someone support small
business owners in the journey.
What motivates you?
Doing something that fees good and supports my values motivates me. Helping people
makes me happy and being able to support others and have a positive impact on their
lives genuinely fills my heart and soul. If fuels me and gives me energy to do it more.
What were you doing before you started business? And/or what else are you
doing now (school/work etc)
I graduated Isenberg School of Management – UMASS in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree
in business management and administration and a minor in psychology. At that time, I
decided to leave my banking position as an assistant branch manager and entered the
corporate world. I worked at a local corporation for several years in the retirement
services industry until I had my son and wanted to have more work and life balance. I
decided to move to a small local business where I worked part-time as an office
administrator. After my daughter was born, I stayed home with my kids. The idea of
starting my own business came after 1.5 year of being a stay home mom. At that time,
having the flexibility and being able to be with my kids was very important to me but I
wanted to utilize the knowledge and skills I’ve learned over the years to help others.
And that’s how MMK Virtual Solutions was born.
How do you maintain a work-life balance while running a small business and
What strategies or practices have helped you navigate the demands of
entrepreneurship?
As a mom and business owner, juggling schedules and things to do is my everyday
thing. I plan, prioritize and try to keep my distractions to the minimum.
- I’m a big-time planner. I run on my Google calendars (yes, multiple… family,
personal & work) and a physical planner that I keep on my desk (still love this
pen to paper action). I generally approach each day with a plan and dedicate
time to certain tasks. But I’m also not afraid to check and adjust as the day goes
on. - Turning off distractions. Working from home and for yourself is great BUT there is
lots of distractions around you. Your phone is constantly buzzing, you get a
notification from your IG post one second and all of the sudden, 15 min later you
are mindlessly scrolling through the IG feed. I have my phone on silent mode
most of the time and when I’m working and trying to focus, I put it out of my reach
and sight so I don’t get distracted. I also close the 500 tabs I have open on my
computer so nothing that is not important at the moment catches my attention. - Routines. Just as kids, adults function better when they have certain routines. I
try to stick to my daily routine as much as possible. I’m an early riser and I try to
get up before my kids so I can get myself ready before they need me, we do our
morning thing and once they are out the door for school, I start my work day. I do
certain tasks for my business on specific days, like bookkeeping for example. I
do my bookkeeping once a week on Saturday so I don’t have to worry about it
other days. Routines help me stay focused and be more productive. - Self care. As we all know, you can’t take care of others when you are running on
empty. As hard as it is sometimes to take time for myself, I try to do even little
things to take care of my mind, body and soul. I love to dance so I often dance in
the kitchen with my kids and this fills up my cup and theirs too. I also love yoga,
reading, and being outside as a way of caring for myself. Things just start to align
when I feel good and that is a crucial part of my success.
What’s your favorite thing about your business? Most rewarding? Most
challenging?
My favorite thing about my business is the connections I get to make with people. Ever
since I started working as a VA, I’ve met some incredible people and there is a few in
that bunch that have had made a significant impression on my life. Some of them I get
to call friends now.
Another favorite is that I get to create things for my clients. I love designing in Canva
and bringing my clients’ vision to life. I listen to them, get to know their styles and
objectives and I then I go into my creative mode. Sometimes it takes more than one try
to get things just right, but the creative process is what brins me joy in my business.
I’ve had the honors of working with women-owaned businesses on some incredible
projects that have had a tremendous impact on peoples’ lives. Being a part of the team,
seeing the projects be born and supporting my clients through the planning and
execution stages to then seeing how their IDEAS, programs or events impact others is
truly special. Helping my clients succeed in their businesses is most rewarding. My main
goal is to help them free up time by taking over tasks so they can focus on what they do
BEST in their businesses. I love helping to ease their overwhelm and create more
balance in their lives.
The most challenging thing is stepping out of my comfort zone and putting myself out
there. As a small business owner, you are responsible for promoting your business and
being your own biggest cheerleader. And to be truthful, sometimes that is hard,
especially when you are not seeing the results you were hoping for. Something that has
helped me overcome that is remembering to focus on small steps and also recognizing
small successes.
What motto/quote do you always try to live by?
There is a few:
You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Be intentional with your time.
Self-care is important.
How do you define success?
Success for me is being able to do something for another person that will help them in
some way. In my business, if I can help my clients reach their goals, achieve more work-
life balance or bring an idea to life, that is success.
What advice would you give to aspiring female entrepreneurs who are just
starting their own businesses?
Try, try and try again. Don’t be afraid to try. The only thing stopping you is your mind.
Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and put yourself out there. I know
you have great ideas so BE BRAVE to execute on them. Take the step, even if it’s a
small one. Running a business is often a trail and error. So try, fail, take lessons, and try
again.
Never stop learning. And don’t underestimate the power of networking!
What do you want to achieve in the future?
I want to be able to help and inspire as many people as possible. Through the work I do,
I want to help women reach their goals and help them remember WHY they started their
business in the first place. We often get so overwhelmed with the logistics of running a
small business, that we lose the joy of actually doing what we LOVE.
I also want to teach my kids that anything in life is possible if you put enough effort and
hard work into it. I want to teach them to never give up and to keep trying no matter
what.
Head over to her website or follow along on Facebook or Instagram!
