As a Virtual Assistant, one of the most important things that you can do for your business is to grow with it.
When you first started your business, you probably had a laundry list of administrative services that you offered. This is a good thing! Starting with what you know and as I call it ‘where you are’ is the best way to jump into the world of being a VA.
But to keep your business fresh and exciting, you need to keep it moving forward and growing. One of the ways you can do this is to get really focused on your service offerings. Specializing your skills and service offerings allows you to easily raise your rates and build your business.
I have been working from home for more than 16 years, and my business has changed drastically, through careful decision making! I started by providing financial services to the hospitality industry. I moved on to providing document services to the publishing industry. I now provide Internet marketing, email management and ecommerce services for business coaches. Odd, right? But it was all quite planned.
I could never have predicted that I would be working with shopping carts and product launches when I started my business as a food & beverage consultant, but by making educated and calculated decisions along the way, it has evolved as such.
How did I do it?
First, I always learned everything I could about what I was doing at the time. Then, as time permitted, I looked ahead for new skills so I could provide better services that could grow my business and suit my clients. I am a perpetual learner, so the education part was easy for me. The key comes with knowing when it’s the right time to learn something new, that you can implement into your business.
Here’s what I mean. When I worked in finance, I studied accounting and business and took workshops in Excel and databases. I needed to know that I was always using the most current methods in my daily work. It just so happened that I needed to take over some projects from a colleague that were closely related to my financial work. They were documents and training manuals. So I started moving in the direction of words, and away from numbers. I began to focus more on the document work, and I took writing courses and learned about back-of-the-book indexing. I refreshed my education in the principles of grammar and sentence structure. I expanded my services into proofreading website copy and then realized that HTML was really not as difficult as everyone said it was. So I took a course in HTML.
Taking that HTML course has been one of the smartest moves I ever made in my career. I do not do web design, but being able to set up sales pages and do website updates is a really big business for a Virtual Assistant. From there I started doing ezines and HTML newsletters, and moved into Internet marketing – which I learned at VAClassroom. Once I learn something, I start to offer those services to my existing clients. Don’t be shy to tell your clients what you have learned! Then you can confidently offer new services to new clients – and increase your rates at the same time.
Challenge yourself in your business. Even though you may not see your path clearly in front of you, keep moving forward. Learn everything you can about what you are currently doing, and don’t forget to keep an eye out to see how you can grow and change!
For some more tips on how you might be able to see the road ahead of you, read my article ‘No Clients Yet? What Are You Trying to Sell?’