Being a virtual assistant can be a very rewarding and lucrative career. However, finding clients who are interested in partnering with a virtual assistant and that are a good fit for your particular business can sometimes be a challenge.
Depending on how you promote yourself, you may be sending out the wrong message as to the skills and abilities that you offer. Instead of listing many areas of expertise or services that you offer, it might be in your best interest to focus instead on just six or seven hot spots. These would be the areas where not only do you have the most experience and expertise, but they are also the kind of tasks you enjoy the most.
Perhaps you love word processing, proofreading and bulk mailishots, but you hate to crunch numbers, and mathematical or accounting spreadsheets give you nightmares!. When you set up your website to attract clients, remember to only list those qualities that you enjoy and do well and omit the ones that you don’t do so well. Saying that, you still need to advertise a well balanced list of abilities and skills in order to remain marketable.
There are many areas where virtual assistants are in high demand and the stronger your advertised skill set, the more likely you will be to get assignments. If you have specialist skills, such as shorthand and transcription, these are in high demand and should definitely appear in your hot spot list. Event management is another area where clients will partner with a virtual assistant to ensure each aspect of the task is completed in a timely and efficient manner.
The most important thing is to make sure you can deliver what you promise. If you make claims that you can’t live up to, it will most certainly undermine your credibility and you will be viewed as unprofessional. You know how quickly good news about your business can spread through referrals from satisfied clients? Well, remember that the bad news can spread just as quickly, creating a negative reputation and loss of business. No self-respecting VA wants that, right?
As more and more businesses are realizing the dramatic benefits of partnering with a virtual assistant, the industry is becoming more demanding. Identify your own hot spots and focus on keeping up to date with any new developments in your specialized areas in order to stay at the top of your game.
Play It Smart. Virtual Assistance is a great career that allows you to work from home in your own time and on your own terms but just because you can go to work in your pyjamas if you so choose, it does not mean you can be anything less than professional at all times.
Helen Byrne is a UK-based Virtual Office Assistant and Owner of Virtual Office Solutions Online (http://www.virtualoso.info). To promote the concept of Virtual Assistance to a wider audience, particularly in the UK, Helen also created http://www.PA-as-you-go.com as a simple introduction to the business.
Article Source: How To Identify Your Virtual Assistance Hot Spots