Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today I want to talk about how to transfer what you already know into the services in your VA business.
Today’s Quote: “You already have everything you need inside of you. The challenge is learning how to use it.” – Marie Forleo
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Today we are talking about something I think is both fun and maybe even eye-opening.
We are going to look at how you can take the skills you already have from any past job or career and transfer them into the VA services you offer.
So many new and growing VAs assume they have to reinvent themselves or learn an entirely new set of skills before they can start their business or get clients. That is not true at all.
Most of the time the work you have already done in your life, whether it was in corporate, health care, hospitality, retail, education, or anything else, already set you up with abilities that clients need.
Your confidence grows when you realize you are not starting from scratch. You are simply repackaging what you already know, and then learning how to deliver it to clients in a business setting.
Today we will talk about how to do that, how to think more creatively about your strengths, and how to look outside the box so you can see what you are actually best at.
So today is about YOU. And how amazing you are!!
Why Transferable Skills Matter
If you have followed me for any amount of time, you know I believe in simple structures and building confidence through action.
The fastest path to confidence as a VA is offering something you already know how to do. Something that feels familiar. Something that has proven you are good at it, because you have done it before in real life.
When you pick services based on your past experience instead of guessing or hoping, you skip a huge amount of fear. You do not have to ask yourself “Can I do this?” because you already have.
Clients do not care where the skill came from. They care that you can do it well, that you communicate clearly, and that they can trust you.
So recognizing your transferable skills does two things:
First, it boosts your confidence in your own abilities, fast!
Second, it shortens the distance between you and your first, or next, client.
You Are More Skilled Than You Realize
The biggest reason VAs struggle with choosing services is not that they lack ability. It is that they underestimate what they already bring to the table.
You might think:
“I only worked retail.”
“I was just a nurse.”
“I only did admin for one person.”
“I was a stay at home parent.”
But those roles are full of abilities that are incredibly valuable in the online business world. In fact, some of the best VAs I know came from backgrounds that had nothing to do with office work, yet they had the exact personality traits and work ethic clients dream about.
Things like patience, time management, communication, responsibility, attention to detail, organizing information, and managing competing priorities do not belong to one industry. Those are universal business skills.
So the first mindset shift is this: You are more skilled than you think.
Your experience matters more than you realize.
And your next step is to actually identify those skills so you can feel confident offering them as services.
Real Examples of Transferable Skills From Different Industries
Let’s look at a few industries and highlight the skills that transfer beautifully into VA work. This is where the lightbulb moments usually happen.
Healthcare workers (nurses, medical assistants, dental admin staff, and PSWs)
People from this field often underestimate how strong their skills really are. You bring calmness under pressure, high accuracy, compassion, data tracking, appointment coordination, and patient communication. All of those skills transfer directly into things like client communication, inbox management, scheduling, CRM updates, customer support, and follow up systems.
If you handled patient charts, insurance forms, care plans, or appointment systems, you already know how to manage information and keep details organized. Those are gold level skills for administrators and OBMs.
Retail and customer service
If you managed customers, complaints, inventory, transactions, displays, or daily store operations, you already know how to communicate professionally, solve problems quickly, and support people. Retail teaches patience, multitasking, teamwork, and sales. All of those convert nicely into customer service, client care, community management, inbox support, order processing, social media engagement, or appointment booking.
Retail workers often do not realize they are actually experts at handling hard conversations and keeping people happy. That is one of the top skills clients look for.
Education and childcare
You understand planning, structure, communication, and dealing with different personalities. Teachers, EAs, tutors, and childcare professionals (even parents) excel at clear instructions, patience, organization, and creating learning materials. This translates into creating client onboarding documents, organizing content, building worksheets, updating systems, writing instructions, managing memberships, and more.
If you have ever created a lesson plan, you can map out workflows. If you have ever communicated daily with parents, you can manage client communication systems.
If you have ever homeschooled or entertained your kids with educational or organizational things, there are skills in there. Your job is to find them.
Hospitality (restaurants, hotels, or bartending)
This is one of the most underrated backgrounds for VAs. The hospitality industry teaches speed, attention to detail, customer experience, multitasking, event logistics, and teamwork. People from this field are incredible at keeping things moving and handling anything unexpected.
You can take those skills into event planning support, travel planning, podcast guest coordination, inbox management, scheduling, and especially client care.
Corporate roles (admin assistants, HR, reception, or office managers)
These skills are some of the most directly transferable. If you have ever managed calendars, written emails, taken notes, updated documents, tracked information, or supported a team, you are already doing VA tasks. The only difference is that now you will do them for several clients instead of one boss.
These VAs usually transition the fastest because the work feels familiar right away, but they aren’t the only ones who can figure it out quickly.
Creative industries (marketing, design, writing, or communications)
These skills are in extremely high demand. If you have ever written newsletters, managed social posts, handled Canva designs, or created content, you can turn that into content creation services, social media packages, podcast support, editing, or marketing assistance.
A lot of VAs start here because they enjoy creativity and find it natural to translate into online business tasks. See?
These examples obviously do not cover everything. They are simply meant to help you see how everyday roles connect to VA services in a very real way. The key is recognizing that your experience created a set of strengths that clients need, even if they do not match the traditional “admin” job description.
So what are yours?
How to Identify Your Own Transferable Skills
Here is a simple process you can use to figure out what you are actually best at.
You do not need to overthink this. You simply need to look at your experiences through a different lens.
(If you have done my Skills Inventory exercise before, you will find this process very familiar.)
Step 1 – List everything you were responsible for in your previous roles
Do not filter anything out. Write down the tasks, the duties, the expectations, the things you had to juggle, the things you were responsible for every day.
This is not about finding “official” skills. This is about discovering the things you did without even thinking because you became good at them.
Step 2 – Circle the things that came naturally to you
These are your strengths. These are the things that made you stand out. These are the things you may have taken for granted. When something comes naturally, you assume everyone can do it. But they cannot.
This is where your confidence begins. Can you see it? I can see it!
Step 3 – Translate each circled item into a business function
Ask yourself: What does this look like in the online world?
For example, if you used to organize patient charts, that becomes organizing digital files or CRM data. If you used to handle unhappy customers, that becomes online customer support. If you used to plan lesson activities, that becomes mapping out content calendars or creating onboarding materials.
The translation process is where the magic happens.
Step 4 – Choose the things you actually enjoy
This part matters more than anything. It is not enough to simply be good at something. You want to enjoy it enough that you would do it for clients repeatedly.
Your best services sit at the intersection of your skill and your enjoyment. What you can do yes, but what you love doing!
Looking Outside The Box – What Are You Best At?
A lot of VAs assume they need the same services as everyone else. But the whole point of looking at your transferable skills is that you do not need to follow what the crowd offers.
You might be best at something the VA next to you cannot do.
You might be excellent at tasks you never even considered “real skills”.
You might have a strength that comes from a completely unrelated job. A really old job maybe. Not just your last job.
Thinking outside the box means widening your lens.
Instead of asking, “What do other VAs offer,” ask:
“What do I do better than most people”
“What do others compliment me on”
“What feels easier to me than to other people”
“What did my past coworkers always rely on me for”
Those questions uncover your actual gifts.
And when you combine your gifts with clear VA packages, your confidence skyrockets because you are not trying to pretend you an do something. You are not trying to fit into someone else’s skill set. You are standing firmly in your own. And it makes PERFECT sense.
Do You Need Help?
If you want to grow as a VA and step into higher level clients, better rates, and more confidence, this is where it starts. Stop assuming you need to learn more or learn something different to get started. You already have plenty to begin. You already have strengths that clients will pay for.
Your job is simply to uncover them, trust them, and build your business around them.
There is no one path to becoming a Ridiculously Good VA. But every path becomes easier when you realize you already have the foundation.
You are not lacking skills. You are simply learning how to use them differently. And that is the real shift.
If I can help you , don’t be shy to reach out. It’s the only reason I’m here at all, to help you become a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
You can connect with me at YourVAMentor.com/links.
Thanks for listening today. I will see you next time!