Stop Offering Admin Virtual Assistant Services + Become An Asset Instead Of An Expense!

If you’re an admin Virtual Assistant but don’t want to be anymore, or you want to start offering other kinds of services even if you’re just starting out in the VA industry, this post is for you! Being a Virtual Assistant does not mean that you only do admin type of work – the VA industry is very diverse.

Why I Didn’t Want To Be An Admin Virtual Assistant

If you’ve heard my backstory, I did not want to be an admin Virtual Assistant when I started my VA business for three significant reasons. 

• I hadn’t been an admin in probably 25 years, and I didn’t want to go back to that type of work. Nothing wrong with it, but doing administrative work isn’t for everyone. It’s not for me.
• I didn’t want to be tied to my desk during business hours, answering phone calls, or doing calendar management. I wanted what I call freedom-based or backend skills.
• The biggest one, I think for me, was it didn’t pay enough. Admin Virtual Assistants do great work, but it’s not an in-demand skill set anymore. The industry is moving away from being admin based on being more strategic and focused around Digital Marketing. I’ll talk more about what I mean by this in a bit.

The VA Industry Is NOT Admin Only

Please realize that if you’re new to the VA industry, it’s not admin only. It’s very diverse. I equate it to the coaching industry. Some people think the coaching industry is either just life coaches, health coaches, or business coaches. In contrast, it has many different types of coaches. It’s diverse, just like the VA industry.

Even though the word is Assistant, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re an admin Virtual Assistant. You will find people who think that’s the case, so it’s an educational opportunity for you to say: “No. The VA industry is not just admin-based. It’s a diverse industry, full of different skillsets.”

Freedom, Flexibility + Higher Income

I want to reassure you that you don’t have to be an admin Virtual Assistant. No matter if you’re currently an admin and are looking to change, or if you’re looking for a way to get out of your soul-sucking job. You can go right into those freedom-based skills as I did. They’ll give you the freedom and the income to work when and where you want. 

They are skills and tasks that are deadline-driven, not time-driven. That was very important to me because then I felt like I just had another job. One of the reasons I wanted to get out of my job was because I wanted freedom and flexibility.

I felt, if I went back to working regular business hours and being stuck at my computer, it wasn’t going to be much different. I needed to do the things that were helping me achieve those dreams of freedom and flexibility.

How To Become An Asset To Your Clients Instead Of An Expense

Another reason you might consider offering strategic skills, techie skills, or Digital Marketing services is that you become an asset to your clients instead of an expense. Clients can do their own admin work, but they don’t know how to set up or manage the technology that makes their business possible.

So if you’re offering these backend skills, aka freedom-based skills, you’re becoming an asset to them. You’re more of a consultant than an assistant. If you can help your clients make money, you’ll never run out of clients. You’re almost recession-proof. So that’s another benefit to learning and offering strategic, techie skills and Digital Marketing services.

#1 – What Are Strategic + Techie Skills?

Let me take a minute and explain what I mean by strategic and Digital Marketing skills, so we’re on the same page. 

• Strategic skills are all about the strategy, planning, and implementation of a particular system or structure.
• Techie skills are the tools that you use to implement and automate a strategy.
• To offer Digital Marketing Services you usually combine strategic with techie skills.

#2 – How Do I Combine Strategic + Techie Skills?

For example, email marketing is a Digital Marketing service which is a strategic type of skill where you work with clients to identify their goals. After that, you put together an implementation plan. MailChimp is one of many email marketing tools that business owners use to implement their email marketing strategy.

Setting up the actual tool – e.g. MailChimp – is a techie skill. When you put the techie and strategic skills together, you become a consultant and an asset to your clients! And this is what I focus on teaching in my training.

If you’re somebody who loves systems and processes, that’s another strategic skill set. Because you can go in and help clients set up the techie tool, systems, workflows, and processes that automate their business. 

#3 – Project Management Is Another Strategic Skill

No matter which industry you’re in, Project Management will work to your advantage. It helps you manage yourself better, your business, your clients, your deadlines, your task, and how to juggle all those moving parts.

Offering strategic skills is where you’re helping clients develop a strategy and a plan, and then implementing it for them. Whether you’re executing it yourself or you have a team that does it for you. These are going to be higher-paying, specialized skills. They are in-demand because they help clients lean on the technology for automation. 

If you want to learn more about Project Management I invite you to read The Ultimate VA Success Guide: The Ins + Outs Of Virtual Assistant Project Management where I go into much more detail on this topic.

You’re going to realize that all four skills, systems and processes, project management, strategic, and techie skills, will fold together. They all overlap, making you a much bigger asset to your clients since you understand how they all work together. (Plus, you can charge premium rates!)

#4 – Digital Marketing Services You Can Offer

Digital Marketing is a huge in-demand skill set – almost more than anything else. It combines both Strategic and Techie skills into one! Here are a few examples of Digital Marketing services, just to name a few:

• Building sales funnels
• Implementing an email marketing system
• Creating and managing content 
• Building websites
• Paid ads such as Facebook or Google

There are so many opportunities and different skill sets that you can offer other than admin Virtual Assistant services. If you’re looking for freedom-based skills, then strategic, techie skills, and Digital Marketing Services are the way to go. Plus, they marry together to make you even more in-demand!

Also, don’t miss my free ebook all about the Top 10 Skills Clients Want – it will go into more detail about the skills and services you can offer to give you that freedom-based life!

Don’t forget to leave a comment if you found this information useful. I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading – Susan