Loading ...There are folks out there who just don’t get it.
Have you heard them?
They talk about Virtual Assistants, true Virtual Assistants, as if doing administrative work was dull-witted, unskilled and not worthy of respect. They tell the marketplace to pay poorly for that work because it doesn’t require any great skill or competence.
And these are your colleagues?! Gee, with “friends” and colleagues like that, who needs enemies, huh?
People who think Virtual Assistants need to “specialize” just don’t get it either. Virtual Assistance is already a specialty–it is the specialty of providing ongoing administrative support.
Those folks who don’t get it don’t understand the business or marketing implications of trying to be all things to all people, or the confusion–and subsequent reduced perceived value–that is created by turning what is a very specific concept and definition into a generic term that lumps anything and everything together.
Those who specialize in web design are web designers, folks.
Those who specialize in bookkeeping are bookkeepers.
Virtual Assistants already specialize in something: ongoing administrative support.
What is so difficult to understand about that? If you do something other than ongoing administrative support, you aren’t a Virtual Assistant. This isn’t a club or something for crying out loud. This is business. And the laws of business and marketing dictate that in order for the marketplace to find you, you want to put yourself in the correct category of business. That means calling yourself what you are, not something you aren’t.
What a lot of folks are also confused by is the idea that they have to specialize in something in order to make more money. This is rooted in the fact that most Virtual Assistants aren’t earning well. But that’s not a problem that has anything to do with the work we do. It’s a problem of Virtual Assistants not understanding what business they are in, trying to work with people who are not a fit, and not deciding on a target market to focus on.
They aren’t making money, not because they need to specialize in one specific task, but because they are trying to find clients in the wrong places and not charging properly. And when you have colleagues further devaluing what you do, it’s no wonder Virtual Assistants can barely muster the professional esteem to get out of bed!
Where Virtual Assistants can make more money is not by specializing in one particular task (which would also make them NOT Virtual Assistants). It’s by focusing on a target market (also referred to as a niche). Those who become experts at serving a very specific, focused group get to know that group well, speak their language, understand their businesses and work at a higher level, and thus, charge more.
The term Virtual Assistant is not limiting in any way and allows for all kinds of opportunity for you to specialize–specialize in a niche, that is.
Within the clarifying framework of the definition, there is all kinds of opportunity to specialize by choosing a niche market to focus on. The more expertise you develop serving a very specific target group, each with its own particular set of administrative needs, the more you can charge.
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3 Comments
Thank you for your article. I have been frustrated in my attempt to research Virtual Assistants and find out how to focus my business. Obviously there are several schools of thought. I don’t want to become a Marketing Expert although that is a helpful skill to use in marketing my business and prospective clients. I would love information on how to successfully market my skills as an executive assitant. Everything seems to get muddled. I enjoyed your take on the matter.
Thank you for putting this in to words…
It was hard enough for me to define myself as an executive assistant when I was working in offices. For some reason, my CEO or C level would leave and his/her subordinates would take that as the signal to have me move furniture, take out trash and do any other task that you could not have the female EAs do.
Now as a VA, I have people that do not understand what I do even after I explain it, send them to my website and let them speak with my clients.
Recently, I fired a client because he refused understand that I was not an administrative whipping post for his irrational calls and requests nor was I a resource for one of his managers to ask me read through hotel reviews.
Virtual Assistants are a highly skilled resources that specialize in the field of office administration. We are not the office b*tches…nor are we stupid.
We actually manage people’s lives…we are their resource to bring balance on their journey to success.
Hi, Olinda… Hi, Jim
I’m so glad you found my post helpful. It really is easy to understand once you can get people to separate their personal emotions and start thinking logically and rationally.
I think in a lot of respects the problem is that this is a female dominated industry. And whenever you get females together, instead of business, they think it’s a club or a clique they are being excluded from (”Don’t tell me I’m not a Virtual Assistant; I can call myself whatever I want.”)Which is just ridiculous. This is business. And whenever you can give a concept definition and greater clarity, the industry and the business owners in it will have an easier time of marketing.
Jim, one thing many of the people I have mentored have found helpful in helping their markets understand what they do is by not leading with the term “Virtual Assistant.” From the market’s perspective, that’s industry jargon. And in this industry, the confusion between what a VA is and isn’t further muddies things up.
Instead, talk to your market from the perspective of their administrative pains and what problems they want solved (e.g., “I’m a solo and don’t want staff, but I still need a great assistant to support me.” or “I’m a solo overwhelmed with all that I have to do in my business.”). You relate all this to the right-hand administrative support that you are in business to provide and things are much easier for them to understand. It’s not til later in those conversations that you give them the name for what you do.
So in a nutshell, don’t lead with the name. Give them the understanding first, then the name later to act as a mental coat hook.