When you are thinking about becoming a virtual assistant, one of the things that you are going to want to be thinking about is whether or not you will choose a virtual assistant specialty and, if so, what your VA specialty is going to be.

The key, however, is recognizing that there are a wide variety of virtual assistant specialties that - depending on your skills and talents - will be options for you and for your business:

1. Virtual assistant specialties can be related to the types of clients that you want to work with. Some VAs specialize in helping lawyers, others in working with novelists and other authors, still others focus on helping real estate agents.
2. Virtual assistant specialties can be focused on the services that you are going to provide. If, in addition to general administrative tasks you know that you excel at writing blogs or press releases, you can offer these as specialty services to your clients.
3. Virtual assistant specialties can be centered around the way that you offer a service. In some cases, the turnaround time that you have for projects, the ways in which you provide the work - for example, if your project includes creating a Powerpoint presentation for your client, you make an effort to provide it on CD or DVD to simplify giving the presentation.

When you are looking into your options because you’re thinking about virtual assistant specialties, in other words, be sure that you take the time to explore and understand them all.

When you become a virtual assistant, one of the things that you’re going to want to be sure that you’re thinking about is whether or not you are going to market yourself with a virtual assistant specialty.

With virtual assistant specialties, those who are looking for the chance to set themselves apart will be able to do so. For example, some virtual assistants specialize in providing publicity services:

(source)Publicity Virtual Assistants are virtual assistants who specialize in publicity and marketing. Publicity Virtual Assistants utilize all their expert talents and superb writing abilities for book marketing and promotions, thereby helping authors achieve the success they deserve by providing extensive marketing solutions, innovative publicity campaigns, proofing and editing capabilities, extensive research, administrative support, and so much more.

Publicity might not be the virtual assistant specialty that will help you to build your business, however the above is a great example of what someone who did choose that specialty can do with it.

When you’re able to choose a virtual assistant specialty, you will find that you have a more narrow market to reach for your prospects; you’ll find that you’re able to provide the services that your clients are looking for - and that’s going to help you to grow your business.

Of course, the same is true when you’re looking at choosing any other virtual assistant specialty; you’ll find that by doing so, you’ll be on the path to success.

When you’re getting started in the virtual assistance business, especially when you start looking at other virtual assistants’ web sites, you are going to see that there are a number of virtual assistant specialties out there. That will probably get you wondering which direction to go in with your own business.

Virtual assistant specialties are chose for a number of reasons. On one level, choosing a virtual assistant specialty is about setting yourself apart from other VAs out there; on another, it is about knowing what you do well. On still another level, virtual assistant specialties are about knowing which services you will feel comfortable offering from a distance.

Let’s say that one of the things that you really loved about your last admin job was booking travel for execs at the company you worked for. You may choose to offer a specialty focused on arranging business travel. If all of your admin experience was always provided in a legal setting, you might find that you want to look into specializing in providing services as a legal virtual assistant.

Simply put, one of the things that you are going to want to be sure that you are looking into when you choose your direction as a virtual assistant and when you choose a virtual assistant specialty is your past experience. You can be sure that you draw on it to get your business to where you want it to be.

When you start thinking about virtual assistant specialties, you’ll quickly discover that the primary choices that you make about what to offer is motivated by something simple: you’ll find that the way in which you choose which virtual assistant resources to focus on offering is going to rely heavily on the services that your clients are looking for.

Therefore, when you’re looking at virtual assistant specialties and you’re trying to make the choices that are going to be right for you, you’re going to want to focus on what you have to offer your clients.

If you know that there are particular services that your current and prospective clients want, you may want to choose to specialize in providing those services. For example, many virtual assistants provide basic administrative services along with a few more specialized services. Some offer press release writing services, others basic accounting services and others still make the choice to offer online marketing services - among a wide variety of others.

When you’re thinking about what your VA specialties are going to be, take the time to look at what your clients are going to be looking for; it will do a lot to help you figure it out.

When you’re going to be going into business as a virtual assistant, you’ll find that there are a number of virtual assistant services that you can offer. The challenge comes when you start looking at the wide variety of sources that it is possible to offer and then making the choice to see which best suit your personality, your skill set and t5he needs of your customers.

One of the best things that you can do when you’re choosing which virtual assistant services to offer is to network with other virtual assistants to discuss what has and has not worked well for them in the past.

When you discuss the value of different virtual assistant services with others who have been in the field for a while, you’ll be able to see which services clients are always looking for and which aren’t requested all that often. You will also be able to get a sense of which services almost every virtual assistant offers and which would allow you to establish yourself within any given niche.

In other words, if you are able to get the right advice about virtual assistant services, you will find that it is a lot easier to make and stick with a plan that will benefit your current and prospective clients - and help you to work out a mutually beneficial relationship with other virtual assistants who offer complementary services.

When you’re getting into business as a virtual assistant one thing that you’re going to want to do is to consider choosing a specialty. Virtual assistant specialties will, at least to some extent, help to make you more competitive within the marketplace.

One of the most common questions that many new VAs face when they are getting started is “well, what does a virtual assistant do?” Then, once that question is answered, the next one that comes up is often this: “well, okay, but what can you do for me? What do you know about the field that I work in?”

When you’ve established a VA specialty for your business - in some cases, real estate services, in others legal assistance, in others travel or writing - you’ll find that it’s a lot easier for your prospective clients to get a feel for what you can do for them. And the best part is that some of the explanation process can be skipped at the same time.

While it’s possible to still provide general services when you have a defined virtual assistant specialty, you’ll find that, when you specialize it can be easier to attract the clients that you most want to work with.

That’s what ensuring that your business is competitive is really all about: knowing that it will be easier for the clients who you want to work with to find you and understand, right away, what you have to offer.

Most virtual assistants specialize in providing one sort of service or another; no matter what your training has been, no matter what your skills are, you just might find that choosing a virtual assistant specialty will help you to target a more specific group of prospects.

What type of virtual assistant specialties are there? Here are some examples:

1. Someone who has a design background may choose to offer desktop publishing services in addition to general administrative services;
2. Someone with great skills using Photoshop or another image manipulating program may want to contact real estate agents to assist them with editing listing photos before they are uploaded to a website or the MLS;
3. Someone who has a great deal of experience in the publishing world may choose editing manuscripts as a specialty service;
4. Someone who wants to become a virtual assistant who knows a great deal about web design may make the choice to specialize and target that market.

It’s because, as virtual assistants, we offer such a broad range of services that we’re able to learn so well from one another - and to know where we can turn when a client is looking for a service that we don’t offer.

When you decide that you’re going to become a virtual assistant and run your own business, you’re going to want to carve your own niche.

For some people, that’s a lot easier than others.

If you’ve always worked as a real estate assistant, for example, choosing to become a real estate virtual assistant is an easy leap. If you’ve always worked as a paralegal or legal secretary, chances are good that you might decide to specialize in offering virtual assistant services to lawyers.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to choose a virtual assistant specialty and aren’t quite sure which direction is right for you, it might help to work with a mentor or coach who can help you to find your niche.

Whether you end up focusing on providing accounting or marketing services in addition to general administrative tasks or you want to put your fundraising and public relations skills to work, you’ll find that having a specialty can help you to attract the right clients - those who really need the services that you offer and who are looking for someone who knows how to get the job done right the first time.

When you start to think that becoming a virtual assistant is in your future, there are going to be a number of things that you’ll want to look at.

You’ll want to focus on getting the training that you need - information about writing a business plan, finding clients, billing for your services and even simple things like setting up your home office. More importantly, though, you’ll want to look at your own skills to determine what your virtual assistant specialties are going to be.

Different virtual assistants do have different specialties - that’s something that makes this such a great field for so many different people. Here are just a sampling of the virtual assistant specialties that may prove to be the basis for you VA business:

• Website design and maintenance
• Data entry and word processing
• Desktop publishing and newsletter creation
• Booking travel
• Providing writing, editing or researching services
• Marketing - either online or offline or both
• Database management
• Event planning
• Customer service

If you’re thinking about starting a VA business, take a close look at what you like to do; it’s key to determining which services you should offer.

Kandra Hamric - Real Estate Virtual Assistant
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