Influential Woman · Customer Service Virtual Assistance

April VanBrunt

Customer Service Virtual Assistance, --

Longmont, CO 80501

Her Story

About April

I've spent about 20 years in customer service, and in the last 4 to 5 years I've moved into the virtual, remote side of it. I used to joke that I'm great at customer service because I'm really good at apologizing for things that aren't my fault. Since COVID, I've been freelancing, and I really like it because there's a lot of flexibility and I get a lot of different experiences. It's not just the same exact thing every day. I love learning new things anyway, so it keeps me on my toes. My typical day involves going in first thing and answering emails, getting that taken care of, making a lot of phone calls, calling people back to get that prioritized, and receiving calls as well. A lot of what my service positions entail is making sure that people receive their inventory. I also do sales as part of the customer service, so with some of the more inbound positions I've had, it's been explaining to people what it is that we offer at whatever particular company and getting them the package that would suit them where they would need the most. I was a single mom for a long time with my three boys, and when it's just you and your kids, you don't have somebody else to fall back on. There's nobody else that's going to come and pick up the slack, so it was always on me. I'm so used to doing things for myself that I can't get into the habit of letting somebody do it for me because there's never been anybody to do it for me.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with April

01What do you attribute your success to?

I would say it would probably just be my stubbornness. I was a single mom for a long time with my three boys, and when it's just you and your kids, you don't have somebody else to fall back on. There's nobody else that's going to come and pick up the slack, so it was always on me. Even in my relationship now, my boyfriend would be like, you know, I want to do something for you, but it's so hard because you just don't let anybody do anything for you. I'm so used to doing things for myself that I can't get into the habit of letting somebody do it for me because there's never been anybody to do it for me. I always had to do it for myself, and I get used to that.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The best career advice I've ever received was basically, if you're here to make money, not friends, so don't worry about how much everybody likes you, just focus on the job. That was one that I had a hard time with for a long time because I wanted everyone to like me when I was younger. But I wouldn't be able to follow my job because I'd be more concerned about what everybody thought of how I was doing my job. The best advice, though, is to focus on the job, not the people all the time.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would tell them to just keep a smile on your face and not take anything personal. Especially in customer service, you will have people call in angry, but it's not you that they're mad at, so you can't take it personal. They didn't receive their package, they thought it was supposed to be there two days ago, they're cussing you out. I mean, you didn't do that. You represent the company, though. So just keep a smile on your face and don't take anything personal.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I don't really know that there's so many jobs out there right now, so finding work is not a problem at all. I would say the biggest challenge would be just staying on top of your field, as far as keeping up with the AI and keeping up with the future. You don't want to fall behind and stay working with the oldest CRMs and whatnot and be left behind because you can smile and dial, but you don't know how to do anything with the computer. You're still figuring out Microsoft Office, and now we're in AI mode. You want to learn to make it a tool for you, and not a replacement.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

Honesty, safety, and loyalty would be the most important things to me, in both work and personal life.

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