What services Should You offer as a Virtual Assistant?
So, you decided you wanted to become a virtual assistant. Whether part-time or full-time, it’s a pretty awesome line of work, and it opens you up to even more options as you continue to hone your skills. The field is ever-changing and evolving, and if you want to be part of it, I’d recommend you jump in there with the skills you have and find where you fit.
The beauty of virtual assistance is that if you look at the experience you’ve had, be it work, school, or hobbies, you can leverage everything you have done into a service you can provide for businesses.
What does a Virtual Assistant Do?
The short answer? Everything!
The long answer? I’m serious… pretty much everything.
This is why you need to narrow down the list of services you provide otherwise you’ll be overwhelmed with the amount of work you can (and probably will) do if you’re not careful. The very definition of a virtual assistant is someone who offers virtual support to a business in various areas. So if there is something a business needs help with and can be done virtually… a virtual assistant can do it.
Sit back and think about that. It’s a lot you can do, right? Exactly. The possibilities are endless, and you’ll drown in overwhelm if you don’t narrow down your choices.
Right, I Get That. So What Services Should I offer?
I was gonna say anything you want, but with what I said before that would be unhelpful. Honestly, though, it is the truth.
To make your life easier, I’d recommend you offer things that not only you are good at, but what you love doing. It helps narrow down your scope and you won’t be all over the place, which will kill your productivity.
Check this out: According to psychologist Gerald Weinberg, each extra task or ‘context’ you switch between eats up 20–80% of your overall productivity:
- Focusing on one task at a time = 100% of your productive time available
- Task switching between two tasks at a time = 40% of your productive time for each and 20% lost to context switching
- Task switching between three tasks at a time = 20% of your productive time for each and 40% lost to context switching
So if you’re offering vastly different services that force you to switch from one task to another constantly, you’ll be so unproductive and you’ll be forced to work extra hours you didn’t need to work. So let’s work through this to help you narrow your scope.
What are you good at?
Use this and this for reference. There are more lists out there, but these are the most comprehensive ones I’ve seen.
The first thing you need to think about is what you can do. Write it all down. Then when you’re done thinking about what you can do, circle everything that you’re good at. This is not the time to be humble. Be brutally honest with yourself, and gas yourself up at the same time. We’re talking business here and you need to make sure you’re bringing your best to the table of each client you’ll be dealing with.
If what you’re good at is not on both of those lists, write it down anyway! The VA space is always evolving and new needs will pop up. If you can do it virtually for a business, it is something you can offer.
What Do You Enjoy Doing?
Great, now you have your list of things that you’re good at. Now, let’s narrow it down… what do you enjoy doing?
Let me give an example. I’m an excellent blogger. I mean, I’ve been writing for fun since I was a kid and I have another personal blog I update for fun.
You know what I don’t enjoy? Updating other businesses’ blogs. No, thank you.
Their newsletters on the other hand? I enjoy it. I don’t know why I am wired like that, but I am, and because of that, I do not offer blog management, but I’ll happily manage a newsletter.
That’s what I want you to do. Dig deep and think about what you really like doing. Even if you’re like, “Eh, this is all right”, add it to your list. If you get to a task and think “Ew!” or “Hard pass”, cross it off. When you’re done, you’ll have a list of services you can offer! If you have more than 5 things, narrow it down some more.. remove the “Eh, okay”s and remain with the “Oh yeah!!”s.
Use This to Keep Track
The two lists we referenced have spaces where you can track the services you want to provide. If you want to keep track of your initial list and come back to it to change anything, you can get yourself this. It helps you track how you’re feeling about the services you initially provided after 90 days, then after 6 months to a year. That’s the amount of time we were thinking about our services and when we decided to change them.
A Few Things to Note:
1. Don’t be Afraid to Change Your Service Offerings
You might start excited about one thing and then when time passes, the excitement wanes. It’s okay to look over the services you’re offering and remove them from your list. If you’re thinking of making a business out of virtual assistance you need to have services you offer that you’re willing to go the distance with (cue Hercules):
But seriously, you’ll see that you’ll have tasks that you love more than others and I would recommend you re-evaluate the ones you love less and invest more in the ones you love more.
2. Set and Enforce Your Boundaries
Stick to the services you offer, no matter what. I’m not going to lie and say I do that all the time, but my excuse is if I’m doing a task that’s outside my scope, it’s because I know it’s helping me learn about the niche I’m preparing to specialize in.
So, unless it has that specific benefit of elevating you to a service you want to offer, or a niche you’re planning to move into, say no to scope creep and stick to the services you’re offering at the moment.
3. Don’t Stop Learning!
There are so many free and paid courses that help you hone your skills. Sometimes they’re offered by whatever software you’ll be using, sometimes it’s on YouTube, sometimes it’s fellow VAs. Take a look at what you want to learn and where you can learn it and you’ll always find something. Do not stop learning. The virtual assistant world is always changing, and you want to keep learning to stay current. I don’t know if virtual assistant CPDs exist, but they should; I believe learning should never stop.
I hope this helped you get some insight into the vast world of virtual assistance and what services you can offer as a virtual assistant. Don’t allow yourself to be bound by the term virtual assistant, it’s a broad term which means a lot of work done to support businesses. Think of it as saying “doctor”. There are specialties within that, but they fall within the profession of “doctor”.
What services are you offering, and how did you decide? Let’s help each other out!
With you in business,
Nawena Virtual Solutions.