Meet Chantrice Ollie-Jackson of F.L.O.W. Admin Services, LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chantrice Ollie-Jackson.

Hi Chantrice, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a Cleveland, OH native – born and raised. My family is primarily here in Ohio, and I begun my own family here. After attending college I returned home because I knew The Land to be a unique space for artists and students. I’ve enjoyed the arts all my life, and God blessed me to be an artist. I’ve been a creative for as far back as I can remember…many of my family members are creatives and entrepreneurs. By my early-twenties, I found myself designing flyers, PowerPoint presentations, menus; creating and editing slideshows; providing technology advice and technical services, and setting up virtual meetings free of charge. In 2012, within a 30-day window, three friends from three different parts of my life asked if they could pay me to work on special projects related to admin and design work. At the time, I was single but I understood that would enjoy helping others and the business owner flexible lifestyle. So, I responded, “Sure”…with no idea how much to charge or where to start other than with the work. Luckily, one of my friends presented me with a contract to sign, which quickly gave me guidance on what the first step should be for me: consider myself as a business owner, offering services…not just doing favors (not that I was unhappy doing favors).

While researching pricing online for the services I would be providing, I wondered many things: How will this “business” work? What will be the business name? And most importantly, “Can I really do this?” God responded to me in my thoughts, clear as day: “The business will work how you decide it will work. Why not you?” What would I be doing? Simple: all the work I’d been doing while involved in student clubs, corporate jobs, and as favors…things I just knew how to do and came easily to me (along with things that will encourage skill growth). As for the business name, it too was a God send: F.L.O.W. Admin Services – with FLOW as an acronym, For Less Overwhelmed Workload – because the focus is to provide services that help people have a lighter workload that allows them to be less stress and experience a better overall flow. From there, I began to share that I started a new business with family and friends, and they began to refer me to others. In the meantime, I attended classes to further enhance my graphic design and admin skills. This led me to begin serving families and businesses in their time of celebration and loss by designing customized programs books, yearbooks in addition to graduation, tribute, and memorial slideshows. A few years after starting F.L.O.W. Admin Services, I got married to my amazing husband Marc and now the business mattered in a new way and became a family-operated business. We carried on from there via recurring client business and client referrals.

Then in 2020 COVID-19 hit, and that season of uncertainty and social distancing sent the world in a swift shift to what I call the Virtual Wave. In this season, my business was in greater demand, and I was referred more than I’d ever been with families, organizations, and businesses seeking to maintain organization and a personal connection virtually. This expanded the event assistance aspect of F.L.O.W. Admin Services and began stretching my mind and skills. While I was still providing admin and design services, I now was hosting family game nights, client & team appreciations, memorial/tribute ceremonies, baby showers, webinars, retreats, conferences and the like on virtual platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Join.me. From that point on, I’ve continued in this vein with F.L.O.W. Admin Services, servicing families and businesses in Admin, Content Creation, and Event Planning. The flexibility of being a entrepreneur in the virtual world was wonderful when I became a mom to my first son in 2021 and then again to my second son in 2023. I love the opportunity to help others while growing a family and being involved in ministry. It is truly a blessing, a challenge at times, but a blessing, nonetheless.

As I think back more, starting in grade school I was both intrigued by and skilled in drawing and writing. I went on to join Power of the Pen Writing Program in middle school and began taking interest in admin related work in my local church in a mentorship program. From there I ventured to audition for Cleveland School of the Arts for high school. There I was a Creative Writing major student, and I continued working in jobs related to admin during the summers. While in college I began designing flyers and banners for student clubs, while – you guessed it – continuing to work in admin related jobs during the summers. After graduating from Skidmore College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English – Special Concentration Creative Writing, I began looking for work, a career, like everyone else my age. I was blessed to be approached to learn and begin building a financial services business. There I further developed my skills in creative writing, content design, and marketing as I promoted and hosted financial seminars and events regularly. While building my finance business, I did not let go of my lovable admin related jobs…such much as that I began to do side projects for family, friends, and business partners. I guess it was just meant for me to do this, so BOOM! F.L.O.W. Admin Services, LLC was born.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it has NOT been a smooth road. While the skills, work and ideas came easy to me, navigating the business world did not. Initially, I had trouble with figuring out pricing for services. I had no idea how I should charge: by the project, by the hour, flexible price or fixed price. I soon came to realize that with my business different services would require different pricing structures since I was performing varied tasks. Then there was the maintaining a solid schedule with juggling another business and a job part…I was building F.L.O.W. Admin Services on spare time.

But the greatest challenge was dealing with different types of clients while standing firm on my desired business standards. There were clients that allowed me full creative control while there were others that desired very particular, and sometime peculiar, techniques for their projects. I had to learn to be politely, professionally assertive. Basically, reminding the clients I am here to help your vision be materialized. However, there’s a reason why you hired me: I know something or some things you do not. In addition to tightrope walking the line of service with grace and assertiveness there was the discount battle. Oftentimes, because my core clients were family and friends, they wanted and fully expected deep discounts. But I knew that I needed to position myself to ultimately earn a profit for the work I rendered. This is a business after all, not a non-profit organization. I researched contracts online and eventually began using a contract from my legal aid services and began explaining my process and standards upfront. That took some courage and practice…but it was necessary.

Fortunately, I was building another business with active mentorship, and I was a business & management minor in college, so I understood how should flow. I was able to transfer many of the business building skills, systems, and techniques from building my financial services business to building F.L.O.W. Admin Services. But some things like fear of the unknown began to surface after I experienced my first hand full of successful projects. I was prompted to begin listing (on paper) the business owners in my circle and start talking with them about my concerns, fears, and challenges. They began to share wisdom, resources, tactics and their own start-up stories which greatly helped me. I still do this to date. Recently, I have been participating in the free & low-cost webinars and free business mentorship program offered by SCORE Ohio. They have helped me consider things in business that I did not know to think of, help find solutions to problems I’d identified. and learn more overall. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND seeking mentorship from successful business owners you know, tapping into the Small Business Administration website, joining business owner groups in your city and checking out the services of SCORE Ohio

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
F.L.O.W. Admin Services, LLC is a business that specializes in admin, content creation, and event planning for individuals, businesses, and organizations.

In the admin sector of the business services like digital document filing, typing, email organization and data entry, form creation, and document digitization (from hard copy to digit to get rid of paper) are offered.

I offer customized content creation services like website, flyers, slideshows, business cards, menus and program books design.

Event planning is also a service: in-person, hybrid and virtual (weddings, baby showers, reunions, conferences, retreats, birthdays, graduations, business meetings, etc.)

Unlike other admin professionals or virtual assistants, I am an artist not just an admin. This allows clients to bring a variety of projects, both creative and professional to my business. My passion to serve drives me to put unique care into actualizing my clients’ ideas and desires. And I work have flexibility in my time, work formats and serve people in different time zones so I can provide quality from start to finish for every project.

I am proud that the business is still around after COVID-19 and in position to grow in helping more people. I am also proud that FLOW Admin’s flexible – learning system appeals greatly to our clients: they not only receive high quality service, but they learn more by the end of their project.

You can find seasonal deals and our service list on our website www.flowadminservices.com.

Follow my socials –
* Facebook: FLOW Admin Services
* Instagram: @flow_adminservices

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
While I am a social person, most people don’t know that I prefer not to be seen or known. I prefer to work behind the scenes. Which can be a challenge to overcome in business sometimes, ha ha ha.

Pricing:

• Pricing varies since the services provided are customized and the business sectors can be combined (i.e. content creation & event planning for a reunion, email organization & website design for a business, etc.)
• Pricing is determined after the free initial consultation

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flowadminservices.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flow_adminservices/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FLOWadmin

Image Credits
Brittany Johnson