Ask in any VA forum about what services to offer in your Virtual Assistant business and you will get comments like…
“what does your niche need”
“play to your strengths”
“what do you want to specialise in”
“what do you love doing”
etc etc etc
Yep they are right – these are all things you need to consider but I have another pre-requisite not only for my Virtual Assistant business but for all those VAs I mentor and support.
Is it chunkable and recurring? Is it scalable?
My time is a finite resource so I am always conscious as to what I do in my business (and personal life) is a good use of my time.
That includes ONLY offering services that a commercially savvy. This means services that I can do in advance and chunk my time when completing. Doing services that have a recurring nature and services that are scalable so I can leverage my efforts and therefore income.
Sure I have the skills to do LOTS of different things for different people, but that doesn’t mean I should. Neither should you.
I’m not going to lie, it’s hard!
It’s hard to say no to someone who is ready to pay you to do something when you KNOW you can easily do it.
In the beginning I said yes to everything and everyone and I think that you should to if you’re starting out. This will give you a chance to see what you like, what you don’t like (for me I can’t stand bookkeeping & transcription) and start to gain clarity on what you want to specialise in and for what kind of client.
But come 6 months of serving clients, its about time you release those that are not your most profitable. Have a moment to think and review how much effort each of your clients take.
What ever you do though, don’t create custom packages for your clients – but that’s a whole other issue you can learn about here.
When ever a Virtual Assistant contacts me for help designing a custom package that they can offer their clients – we always have the discussion around what you can do vs what you should do. Because they are always trying to package up services that are not ideal simply because they know how to do the work. It comes easy to them.
If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.
This is where you need to learn the act of saying no and being okay with not helping everyone.
I know this is hard – especially for Virtual Assistants as it’s in our nature to help! We love it! But this is what needs to happen in order for you to build your business. Currently there is a good chance you have a stressful business that doesn’t give you as much freedom as you had originally hoped for vs what you truly want which is a commercially savvy practice that gives you financial and life freedom!
So back to the original question – what services should you offer?
Yes pick something that you love and are skilled at – but pick something that can be packaged recurring and can be scalable.
Could you offer this service to 1000 people with support of a team?
If yes – awesome. If no, then it’s time to rethink your plan. You are the designer of your business and therefore your life – it’s okay to change your mind!
Let me know if you need help refining your service offering and I hope you have an awesome day!