Meet Andrea Vahl: Author and Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrea Vahl and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrea, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I had been laid off from my job and wanted to earn some extra income. I tried a few things like network marketing (an in home wine tasting business) and decided I wanted more control. I had been working with one network marketing company that went out of business. I had been using social media to promote my businesses and that was going well. So I decided to create an online course to help others learn how to use social media but I wanted it to be entertaining. I used one of my Improv comedy characters to create the tutorials and Grandma Mary Social Media Edutainer was born. 

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I think the big reason I have been successful is I took a risk and stood out by doing something unusual – blogging as a character and using humor. I’ve also been consistently creating content and continuing to learn and evolved. Being an entrepreneur has been one of the hardest things I’ve done. You are challenged with making all your own decisions and it’s a blessing and a curse. There are often a lot of options and paths you could take and you have to decide what is right for you at the time. If you keep you audience in mind and always come from a place of service to them, you will make better decisions. It’s also important to have a team of people around you – either a mastermind or a group that you can turn to for help with decisions. Being a solopreneur is hard and you don’t always know the right path to take. I’m proud of the business I’ve built that has allowed me to have a flexible work day so that I can be there for my kids but has also grown with me now that they are older. I also love hearing the stories about how I’ve changed other people’s lives to help them create a flexible business they love.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love hiking so much so we’d have a lot of hikes for the week including Mt Sanitas (Lion’s Lair route), Eldorado Canyon, Shadow Canyon and Red Rocks. Then we’d spend some time downtown for sure, I love the RiNo area. One of my favorite restaurants is Tag in Larimer Square. We’d also hit Comedy Works for some laughs. We’d also go to Pearl Street in Boulder for good people watching and get a drink by the fire at the St. Julien. If we had time I’d take them to Estes Park for some beautiful mountain views and good hikes in the park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My friend Phyllis Khare deserves a big shout out. She and I connected early on social media and grew our businesses together. She was actually the one who had the contact into the Dummies series books and recommended that I come on as a co-author along with Amy Porterfield. Then we created a course together, Social Media Manager School which we sold this year. My journey wouldn’t be the same without her!

Website: www.andreavahl.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/andreavahl
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreavahl/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreavahl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndreaVahlinc/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreavahl