“That’s fantastic. You must be thrilled.”
“I’ll be thrilled when I typeThe Endon the page. Until then, I’m nothing more than quietly confident.”
Courtney smiled at his wry expression. “Any news about how your assistant, Ruth’s, recovery is going?”
“She’s on the mend. We spoke a couple of days ago, and although things are looking up, she needs more time to recover. Are you okay holding the fort for maybe another week?”
“I’m happy to do that. I’m still a couple of weeks away from my due date, so I doubt I’ll leave you in the lurch before Ruth can step in again.”
Travis gave her a look she couldn’t decipher. “Have you been enjoying the marketing assistant work you’ve done so far?”
“Actually, I have. I’ve enjoyed the challenge and enjoyed learning something new.” His odd look made her wonder why he was asking. “I hope I’ve taken care of the work the way you hoped I would and haven’t let anything fall by the wayside?”
“You’ve done a great job. The fans loved the book read-along posts over the past few weeks, and they’ve appreciated the interaction on their comments. It feels like there’s fresh energy on my social media profiles, thanks to you, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed, either.”
Courtney frowned. “What do you mean?”
Travis swallowed the last of his sandwich. “I got a phone call yesterday evening from someone I knew from a few years ago when I first signed with my publishing company. Jacquie Edmund was a junior marketing staffer, but left to start her own business providing marketing services to self-published authors and small independent publishers. Actually, I didn’t know that’s what she’d gone on to do until I heard from her yesterday. The reason she got in touch was to ask who was providing my marketing assistant work these days, because she’d noticed how well the recent posts were doing and how engaged my readers were on social media. She was especially impressed with the read-along posts you’ve been doing.”
“Wow,” Courtney said. “That’s nice to hear.”
“She wanted to know more about you and whether I thought you might be interested in working for her.”
Courtney just about managed to swallow the mouthful of sandwich she was eating without choking and spluttering. “What?Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious. I’d never joke about something like that.” Travis looked amused. “Jacquie explained that she’s always on the lookout for new people to join her company who can add value for her clients. She assumed you’d been working in the virtual assistant business for a while, judging by what she saw of your work on my social media profiles.”
“Did you tell her I’ve only been doing this for a couple of weeks and that I’m basically winging it?”
“No, of course I didn’t. I told her you’d stepped in to cover the work because my regular assistant had an emergency, and that I’ve been very happy with what you’ve done. I figured if you decided to speak to her about a job, it would be up to you to tell her about your employment history and experience. I wasn’t about to divulge any personal information you wouldn’t be happy about.”
Courtney stared off across the park, still reeling in surprise because of what she’d just heard.
“For what it’s worth, I think you should talk to Jacquie and find out more,” Travis said. “You hit the ground running with the work you’ve done for me, and there’s no reason you can’t scale it up by working for someone else who specialises in this area. Jacquie told me that most of the assistants she hires work remotely, because it’s easier for everyone that way, and most of them keep their own hours too, rather than a rigid nine-to-five, which might not suit the responsive marketing needs of the clients, anyway. A flexible set-up like that might be perfect for you once the baby arrives.”
Courtney shook her head in wonder. “I’m speechless. You really think it might be worth a shot?”
“I do. What’s the worst that could happen? You decide it’s not for you, or Jacquie decides you’re not the best fit after all, and you move on. But I have a feeling this might be right up your street, Courtney. And Jacquie’s a decent and straight-forward person who, from what I can tell, is running a pretty great business. Actually, if I didn’t already have Ruth working for me, I would probably hire Jacquie’s company to deal with my assistant work, now that I know about her business and have heard more about how she operates.”
Courtney stuffed her sandwich wrapper into the lunch bag, unable to keep the huge smile off her face. “I’ll get in touch with her and find out more.”
“She’ll be thrilled to hear from you.” Travis pulled out his phone and scrolled on the screen. “Here’s her phone number. She said that if you were interested in chatting, you should feel free to call anytime.”
Courtney added the number to her phone, along with the website details for Jacquie’s company, so she could do some research before calling.
“I’m excited to talk to her, but she might not be so enthusiastic when she finds out I’ve only been doing this sort of work for a few weeks,” Courtney said.
“She’s looking for people who are organised, self-motivated, able to use their common sense, and who are personable enough to deal with the many tasks associated with virtual assistant work in the publishing industry,” Travis said. “It’s not about how long you’ve been doing it. It’s about having the basic skill sets in place. I think you have those. In fact, Iknowyou have those. There will be lots to learn, but that’s true of any job.”
Courtney’s mind was already racing with thoughts about what this opportunity might mean if it all worked out. “I’ve reallyenjoyed doing this work for you, Travis. I’d love the chance to do more of it.”
“And that’s what you should tell Jacquie when you speak to her.”
“If there’s remote working, too, that would be perfect. I could work while looking after the baby. Do you think Jacquie would be interested in me only doing some part time hours once the baby comes?”
“You should ask her. She has kids of her own, so my guess is that she’ll understand your priorities. The way she talked on the phone, I got the impression that many of the virtual assistants in her business are part time because it suits them.”
Courtney felt excitement mount as another grin spread across her face. “If this works out, I’ll… scream with joy!”
