The VA industry is an incredible one – it’s made up of skilled professionals from across the globe who specialise in a whole host of different services, as highlighted by the results of our 2020 VA Survey:
If you are just starting out on your VA journey, and aren’t sure what services you want to specialise in, we’ve put together this very simplified guide to help:
Q.) Does the thought of an email inbox with 304 unread messages give you a headache? Do you love to sort through emails and file them appropriately as ‘to action now’, ‘read later’, etc.? If so, perhaps inbox management could be the perfect task for you? Trust me, there aren’t that many people who can do this effectively, even if they are incredibly organised! Helping business owners and their management teams to keep on top of their inbox really does help organisations to work more productively, saving them valuable time and money (as we’ve all been sucked into an inbox at one point in our lives – or daily – and emerged an hour or so later, having achieved very little!).
Q.) Are you excellent at arranging things? Can you arrange calls and physical meetings and remember all of the little things that are needed to make that meeting a success? It’s not just about liaising with attendees, but sorting out a Zoom link and password or booking a physical meeting space and identifying anything else that might be needed. It’s about ensuring your client isn’t double-booked and helping them to re-arrange things at a moment’s notice if circumstances change. If this sounds like something you enjoy and are good at, diary management and event planning could be the area for you.
Q.) Are you a social media expert? Can you set up pages, events and shops, help with targeted advertising, post engaging and interesting content and manage a social media community? If so, Social Media Marketing, Advertising and Community Management could be the perfect area for you to focus on.
Q.) Are you great at managing projects or overseeing a team to ensure that tasks are completed on time and to the required standard? Can you understand and assist with a whole range of business-specific tasks if required? If so, an Online Business Manager role could be perfect for you.
Q.) Can you write engagingly on a variety of topics? Can you help write persuasive sales copy or thought-provoking and interesting articles or blogs? If so, a copywriter role could be your ideal VA position.
Q.) Do you love to talk to people? Do you have a home environment where it would be possible to take or make calls between specific hours (i.e. with limited noise in the background)? If so, call answering or sales calls could be the perfect avenue for you. Just make sure that if you are required to ‘cover’ a specific time period (like 9AM to 5PM Monday to Friday), that this is works for you and that you are financially compensated appropriately for it – why not speak to a fellow VA who offers this service to find out more about the logistics of delivering this kind of assistance.
Q.) Do you love a bit of html coding or find the challenge of integrating software platforms exciting? Perhaps you are well-versed in marketing automation software and can help to streamline an organisation’s systems and processes using a whole host of digital tools? If so, a ‘techie’ VA role might suit you. Remember, you don’t have to specialise in everything! It’s far better to focus your energy and expertise into specific programmes, platforms and applications and be master of a few rather than ‘jack of all trades’!
The roles mentioned above are just a handful of the services VAs offer their clients across the globe – we haven’t even mentioned bookkeeping, transcription services, data analysis, etc.! However, you can see that it’s possible to focus your VA business on your unique and specific skillset, and that you don’t have to offer ‘traditional PA’ services as a VA unless they fall within your particular zone of genius!