Having a specialization in virtual assistant work has a great number of advantages. Not the least of which is that you don’t want to be an ordinary do-it-all virtual assistant (VA) who can simply be replaced with a cheaper one; rather, you want to be an irreplaceable virtual assistant (VA) whose customers would pay anything rather than lose. Your skill set most certainly includes at least one area in which you excel. 

To begin, let me mention that a lot of new virtual assistants, alright, just about all of them, get completely caught up in the entire concept of specializing in a specialty. They are under the impression that they must zero in on one particular aspect, and that if they do not have a specialized area of expertise, they will be unable to get employment.

These presuppositions are not correct.

Because the topic of niches is one that may easily be misunderstood, let’s take some time to clarify what a niche is, if you need one, and how you might determine what it could be for you.

What is a niche, and do I need one?

Simply said, a niche is simply something you already know how to do and are excellent at – an area of expertise, if you will. The good news is that after a certain amount of time spent working in the same field, you will almost certainly have more than one specialization.

Your virtual assistant firm will benefit in a few different ways if you have a specialization or group of topics to specialize in.

• You won’t ever have to worry about not being able to achieve what is required of you since you will always be aware of how to do the task at hand.
• Because you will be aware of the precise amount of time required to complete a task, you will be able to offer an accurate estimate.
• You are able to articulate clearly what it is that you do and how you might provide value.
• Clients will not be concerned that they have employed someone who is incompetent if they perceive that you have confidence in your competence and abilities since they will see that you have such confidence.
• You won’t ever experience impostor syndrome since you already have the skills necessary to do the assignment.
• Because of your extensive knowledge, you are in the unique position to provide the customer with insightful advise and options they may not have considered or were even aware existed.
• When it comes to marketing, you won’t have any trouble finding what you need since you’ll already know where to search.
• You will become the virtual assistant (VA) of choice for that particular field.
• Customers will see you as an invaluable asset and consider you to be a resource that is hard to replace.

There are many types of a virtual assistant.

Someone I know works as a regular PA and specializes in taking minutes for meetings despite having a highly hectic schedule. She is the only person in her region who provides this service on a freelance basis, and despite the fact that she is swamped with work, she cannot take on any further clients.

Another virtual assistant that I am familiar with specializes in e-publishing and Kindle tasks and enjoys collaborating with chaotic creatives. I was also aware of a virtual assistant that only works with independent physicians and a third that takes great pleasure in developing online training programs for coaches.

If I receive inquiries for jobs that I either don’t know how to perform or don’t love doing, I send them to a virtual assistant who is a better fit for the job, and they do the same for me.

Because the very idea of unorganized and untidy creative folks makes me break out in a cold sweat (*shudders*), I do not take them on as customers.

There is no universal solution, and the number of different kinds of virtual assistants is proportional to the number of different enterprises.

But you may make a significant improvement to both your level of satisfaction and your level of success by determining your own preferences and any personal areas of competence. This will also make it much simpler for your ideal customer to locate you and engage you as a consultant.

Clients love experts.

If it were up to me, I’d never employ a “rounder” who could turn out to be just mediocre at everything, since I’d rather have someone who actually understands what they’re doing than someone who can do everything.

Yes, I could teach them how to use my systems, but since I run a highly technologically advanced company, I need a Virtual Assistant who is familiar with the several web tools available, or who, at the very least, isn’t terrified of technology.

My requirements don’t match those of an executive assistant working at the director level and specializing in the administration of travel and schedules. Vice versa: I wouldn’t be a good fit for them either.

Although many virtual assistants (VAs) offer social media management, I wouldn’t hire them unless I knew they had an in-depth knowledge of the various platforms, an understanding of metrics, and an impeccable online presence for themselves. Even though many VAs offer social media management, I wouldn’t hire them.

It has really astonished me how many virtual assistants provide social media services despite the fact that their own channels are subpar. They don’t seem to grasp that social media marketing is content marketing, which must be monitored to assure a positive return on investment (ROI).

I want someone who is exceptionally brilliant in a certain area, and I am more than glad to pay for their knowledge. In the same way that I wouldn’t ask my hairdresser to wire my home or handle my accounting, I wouldn’t ask my hairdresser to do any of those things.

Some clients have more than one virtual assistant.

It is important to be aware that many business owners usually have a “regular” virtual assistant (VA) for the day-to-day operations of their company, but they will often hire a more expensive techie VA to perform specialized tasks like email marketing or setting up membership sites or landing pages. This is something that you should be aware of.

And I am in the position to know this since I am the VA who they employ to do these!

If their normal, day-to-day virtual assistant is not actively involved in the success of their company and goes out of their way to offer ideas and assist in making their company stronger, then they are readily replaceable by any other “generic” virtual assistant.

Imagine, however, if in addition to your normal administrative talents, you also had certain technological capabilities that are in high demand… You’ll have a far easier time finding employment, and the value you provide to your customers will never be able to be replicated.

How to work out your virtual assistant niche

Unless you’ve never had a job in your life, you already have some level of competence in at least one field; the only thing is, you probably aren’t able to identify it just yet.

A niche, which consists essentially of things that you are already familiar with and have expertise with, may be broken down into the three primary categories of tasks, people, and industry.

• The following are examples of the tasks that you are capable of completing: newsletters, minutes, landing pages, events and project management, transcription, database creation, website support, social media, search engine optimization, bid proposals, funding requests, creating systems, and specialist report writing.
• The following categories of clients: coaches; high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs); consultants; trainers; directors; agencies; writers; presenters; marketers; event organizers; artists; musicians, and change managers, among others.
• You have experience in a variety of fields, including the arts, education, healthcare, engineering, human resources, manufacturing, events, and finance, amongst others.
• A mixture of each of these factors.

Keep in mind that a specialty is simply something that you already know how to do and are extremely good at. For instance, you could have experience working at the director level, be excellent at providing event assistance, and have worked in the financial industry for a considerable amount of time.

You are knowledgeable in at least three different fields.

You could sell yourself just as someone who provides event assistance to executives in the banking industry, but it would make more sense to spread the risk and boost your chances of being recruited if you marketed yourself in a variety of other ways, such as the following:

• A director-level virtual assistant AND Support for events is offered to independent event planners.
• Cooperating with companies that are either a part of the financial industry or that operate alongside it.

Because you have experience in more than one field, your marketing strategy will need to be modified based on the kind of customer you want to attract.

It will depend on what they do, where you find them, and how you interact with them, but you might be able to find some prospects in Facebook groups. Some of them would respond better to being contacted through my direct marketing method, and others might be discovered at industry-specific expos or tradeshows.

You could also find it helpful to develop multiple categories or pages for distinct specialist services on your website. This will allow you to send potential customers to the page that has the information that is most pertinent to their situation. After that, any testimonials pertaining to that particular service would be posted on the page that corresponds to it.

Start with what you know.

Beginning with something you are already familiar with can help you to increase your self-assurance, bring in cash, acquire vital experience handling customers and operating a company, and get you started collecting testimonials.

If you go about it in this manner, you will be able to establish a functional company even while you make relationships, determine what kinds of jobs your ideal market requires, and evaluate whether or not the target market is even feasible.

Accidentally moving into a different market segment is another possibility. Sometimes a customer will teach you how to do a very fun job, and after some period of time, you will get acquainted with the procedure. Then, one day, you will realize that you are competent in the activity, and you will feel comfortable providing it as a service to other customers.

Because of this, it is essential that you have an open mind to change and routinely evaluate your abilities in order to be able to adapt as your career moves forward.

When I initially began, I lacked the technical abilities necessary to achieve what I do today, so there was no way I could have done it. But I’ve always been interested in social media, and as I’ve become better at it and gained more self-assurance, I’ve adjusted my offerings, my content, my marketing, and my ideal customer to reflect this sideways shift.

You can always move sideways.

You shouldn’t be concerned if you have absolutely no interest in becoming an expert in the things that you already know how to perform since you don’t have to carry everything from your paid work into your freelancing career.

You may always do what I did and go laterally into a new specialized market; but, I do recommend that you go for the low-hanging fruit by beginning with who and what you already know. This is because you always have the option to do so.

For instance, if you have spent years working in the finance industry but your ideal clients are in the wellness sector, it makes perfect sense to work with people you already know in the finance industry while you conduct research and make contacts in the wellness sector. In this scenario, working with people you already know in the finance industry makes perfect sense.

You will be able to continue working, building experience, and making money throughout the time that you are investigating the viability of the niche. There is no use in pursuing the wellness sector unless you have a clear understanding of what they need and whether or not they have any money.

Some niches are more lucrative than others.

In spite of the fact that the services you provide need to be something that you are excellent at and like doing, you still need to ensure that you generate sufficient revenue from them.

When the pandemic struck, tech-savvy virtual assistants were in very high demand and were kept on their toes as small firms scrambled to make the transition to online employment as fast as possible.

These tech-savvy virtual assistants were able to provide options such as conducting online consultations and selling things that could be downloaded, and then they could promptly put those answers into action.

Because the pandemic was a one-of-a-kind occurrence that had never occurred in the past, it wasn’t until the lockdown occurred that many virtual assistants realized how important it was to have knowledge of virtual collaboration and online marketing platforms. This may seem like something that should have been obvious from the beginning, but it wasn’t until the lockdown occurred.

I’ve also seen virtual assistants inquire in a Facebook group about the possibility of specializing in accounting. However, the hourly fee of a bookkeeper is actually lower than the typical hourly rate of a virtual assistant.

You should still diversify.

Your specialization(s) in one or more niches shouldn’t be the only services you provide, but they should always be made available in addition to your standard Virtual Assistant support services.

If you were a virtual assistant who was really skilled at developing websites, you would make a far greater income working as a freelance web developer.

Although specializing in a certain market segment is a great strategy, it is essential for your company’s long-term success to have customers across a wide range of industry sectors.

Virtual assistants who, for example, had all of their customers working in a sector that was hit by the epidemic found themselves urgently rushing to find new clients in an instant.

If you put all of your eggs in one basket and that basket breaks, you will end up with eggs all over your face. Clients are not for life, and you should not put all of your eggs in one basket.

Conclusion

You shouldn’t be concerned if you can’t immediately recognize your specialization as a Virtual Assistant, and you shouldn’t get fixated on it, or else you’ll never get started. Beginning with who and what you already know, continue to evaluate and adjust your strategy as you go along.

If you are having trouble identifying a specific group of niches right immediately, you should speak to everyone you know and have ever known (it’s called marketing! ), find out what problems individuals are having, and then build your business around those problems.