Lisa - I definitly think it qualifies! I think pretty much anything you can get paid for doing that someone else doesn't want to do themselves but needs done qualifies...as long as it is legal and you find joy in doing it! (If you don't see the joy then suggest another VA as a solution to getting it done!)

This list is great! I would have never thought that wedding planners would need an assistant planner! Phyllis - investigation and research has to take a huge chunk off of your clients plates. Of course we all knew that Tess is our specialized problem solver!

Thank you for participating!

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Sundi D. Hayes
Chief Virtual Officer - My Office Zilla
www.myofficezilla.com

My niche is dealing with insurance companies.

Data Entry Services
Customer Service Support
Administrative Support
General Correspondence
Email Management
Appointment Scheduling
Reminder Services
Research Services
General Property and Automobile Insurance Services
Insurance Broker Support

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Maria Quick Link Virtual Assistant Services
www.getquicklink.com
Let Quick Link be your link to today's virtual world

My niche is bookkeeping and QuickBooks set-up, training & support. I also offer property management services as well as general admin. I won't put the full list I have on my website, this is the gist of it.

I've also been doing office organization for my local clients. It wasn't something I intended to do but I have received a lot of requests for it. I could easily work full-time with this alone and I don't even advertise this as a service.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

Originally Posted by Rebecka

My niche is bookkeeping and QuickBooks set-up, training & support.

Wow Rebecka, I bet you could spend most of your time doing QuickBooks set up and training, too. I worked for an accounting firm a few years ago and they had a woman on staff who just did QuickBooks for their clients. You might want to try to hook up with some accountants, specifically individual accountants who work alone and don't have a big staff. That kind of stuff is time consuming for them, but clients need the help, and the accountants don't usually have time to devote to it with all their cpa duties (especially at this time of year!).

Yvone

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Yvone M. Kon
M.Y. Marketing & Design
Your Virtual Marketing Assistant - At Your Service!
www.mymarketingdesign.com

Below is the list of general services that I offer. I hadn't considered a niche until becoming a part of this forum. If I had the CHOICE, I would love to get paid for researching on the internet. I just have to look more into who I could target for work like that. I'm just entering the marketing phase. My first step is research, so here I am reading thread after thread, and article after article...lol.
I don't mind doing invoicing either just because I've done it before and I'm comfortable (and fairly quick) with it.


Administrative: E-mail Management, Typing, Word Processing, Data Entry, Document Preperation, Executive and Clerical Support, General Office Operation. Travel Arrangements.
Business Services: Internet Research, Mail Services, Bulk Mailing, Conference Planning, Schedule Management, Events Management, File Maintenance, Spreadsheets, Power Point Presentation, Charts and Graphs.
Writing and Editing Services: Resume, Cover Letter, Salary History, General Letters, Manuscript, Announcements, Invitations, Newsletters and Brochures.
Customer Support Services: Order Processing, Billing/Invoicing, Customer Email Processing, Sorting, Filing, Faxing, Copying, Follow Up Calls, Tech Support, Customer/Contact Management.
Human Resources: Background Checks, Job Announcements, Training/Employee Manuals.
Financial Services: Accounts Receivable & Payable, Budget Expense Reports, Bookkeeping, Spreadsheets, Personal and Business Account Management and Bill Pay.

I love the "virtual office" idea for your clients. I was blown away, this is a great way to boost your business. My focus is administrative & project/event planning.

WOW! Do I feel incompetent! After reading everything that all of you do, I'm thinking I need to re-think this VA business. I don't know what half of these things are that you all do! But, I will persevere... I will find my niche and will run with it.

Thanks for all this great information.

Diane

This is such a fantastic thread! In the event that I have a client requesting a service that I don't provide, I'll know where to send him/her.

Diane, I would hate to think that you are re-thinking your business because of this thread. To figure out what services you'd like to provide to your clients, start with a list of all the things you can do. Delete the ones that you detest and delete the ones you just don't like. What is left is what you can start providing.

As your business grows and you gain more virtual experience, you'll start to find your business niche being pulled in a particular area. For me it was website design. Up until this year, I'd been self taught and then I decided to go to the local TAFE (Technical College - Australia) this year and learn everything I could about website design. This will make me a better VA but considering that I started my business providing bookkeeping services and general typing, I am a long way from where I first started 2 years ago.

If you've made it this far, then you are definitely not incompetent!!

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Kylie Short
Tilda Virtual Services - Making virtual personal

Thank you for the words of encouragement, Kylie. I know I have alot of skills to offer, but after reading this list, it just sounded so intimidating to think that a client might ask me to provide some of these services I'm not familiar with, and I don't want him/her to think, "Oh my gosh, she doesn't know how to do that and she calls herself a VA?" You know what I mean?

But you are right. I also need to take some courses to learn some new skills. And yes, there are some services that I don't want to do, like bookkeeping. I can certainly balance a checkbook, but when it comes to the minute details of bookkeeping, it's not for me!

So again, thank you for helping me think this through clearly. I really do appreciate it!

Diane

Originally Posted by DianeB

Thank you for the words of encouragement, Kylie. I know I have alot of skills to offer, but after reading this list, it just sounded so intimidating to think that a client might ask me to provide some of these services I'm not familiar with, and I don't want him/her to think, "Oh my gosh, she doesn't know how to do that and she calls herself a VA?" You know what I mean? But you are right. I also need to take some courses to learn some new skills. And yes, there are some services that I don't want to do, like bookkeeping. I can certainly balance a checkbook, but when it comes to the minute details of bookkeeping, it's not for me! So again, thank you for helping me think this through clearly. I really do appreciate it! Diane

Hello Diane B

Never feel intimidated by a request from your clients. If you are unsure of how to accomplish a task, then your outsource that task to another VA. I have done this when I am unsure of the task, so I will start emailing and phone VA's that are knowledgable in that function. I will forward the job to them. With this in place, your clients are happy and so are you. In our industry mostly all VA assist one another. It's like forming a partnership without acutally seeing your partner. My motto is never turn away a potential client. Also taking classes and reading will help you. Hope this help you.

Phyllis L

Wow, I'm overwhelmed...
From the standpoint of someone who is just exploring whether this can be a successful proposition, I'm in awe of all of your abilities. I don't even know how to figure out what to offer!

I don't want to fail

Elizabeth

Elizabeth,

Don't focus on worrying about failing! Focus on succeeding! Think of the things you are good at, the things you like to do and the things that make you happy. What would your dream job/business be? Then explore that further. You have unique talents that will allow you to succeed. Don't be afraid and just go for it! Look through the other threads here, there is so much good information to get you started.

Yvone

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Yvone M. Kon
M.Y. Marketing & Design
Your Virtual Marketing Assistant - At Your Service!
www.mymarketingdesign.com

Elizabeth, and Diane,
You can't fail as long as you offer services that *you* enjoy and are skilled at providing. Remember, each VA has his or her own skill set and project preferences - the rest we turn down or outsource to another VA who DOES offer that service. All is not lost if a client says 'Can you...?' and your answer happens to be 'No.'

Kylie's initial advice is excellent - start brainstorming what you CAN do - add in talents and skills you aren't even sure relate to client needs and then work from there. You'll be amazed at just how extensive your menu of services really is.

One other thing to keep in mind is as a business owner and virtual service provider you'll always want to be learning new skills, new technologies, new internet services, etc. so even if you don't know how to do something now, doesn't mean you can't learn it and work it in as a new service later.

Don't worry - just head into this with the idea that there are some things you can do really well - and start there

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Stuck in startup? Stop dreaming. Start DOING!
Get the Become a Virtual Assistant eBook for just $29

I came across a VA website not too long ago and she had a very interesting niche. She calls herself "confidential assistant", if I remember correctly, and she offers assistance to Private detectives and such. Reminds me of the show "Monk" only virtual. Very cool.

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase