Originally Posted by t.brooke

Yes, it does. I've worked in different areas - apartments, commercial rental property, gas and l.p. office, bank, mortgage office, abstract office. I have been fortunate to gain much experience, but it is quite diverse. I guess you could say that I have the most experience in real estate settings. I did love my job at the apartments, but I really haven't hated any of them except the gas and l.p. office. I could gear towards real estate offices, but I have no experience doing a lot of the things that other REVAs are offering such as virtual tours. I do know a lot of real estate agents, but after reading what the other REVAs offer, I'm a little gun-shy. The experience I have is much more general than that and so choosing the area tends to be a little evasive for me.

Thats how I felt about specializing in the legal field. There are VAs out there who do a lot more than I know how to do and it can be both intimidating and discouraging. But don't let that stop you from doing what YOU want to do. There's always going to be someone with more experience or a different set of skills. You also have to keep in mind that a VA needs to be well-suited to the client as far as work methods, personalities, etc.

Pick some of the skills you see other REVAs listing and find out how you can add that skill to your services. Is there a class you can take, webinars you can sign up for...?

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April @ Advantage
Advantage Virtual Assistant

Sorry, forgot to add my own contribution to the niche thread.

I'm also going to be specializing in the legal field but I'm not limiting myself to attorneys. I will be doing general administrative tasks and for lawyers I'll also include the following:

Drafting, proofreading, editing pleadings
Prepare and organize documents in Discovery process
Manage case file and calendar
Legal research
ECF (electronic filing)
Maintain correspondence with clients

I'm also hoping to help attorneys and law firms with marketing. I want to be able to design and maintain their websites and develop newsletters for them to stay in touch with clients, even make sure they send their clients a holiday card. Lawyers are the butt of so many jokes, I'd like to help them promote a more personable image.

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April @ Advantage
Advantage Virtual Assistant

My niche is authors, literary agents, speech writers, speakers, bloggers, internet marketers, eBook authors, and other small businesses needing written assistance.

My dream is to work with romance authors. Gotta love the smutty romance books!

I offer:
Proofreading
Editing
Ghostwriting
Policy and Procedure Creation
Copy Typing
Read and Condense
Web Content
Internet Research

Eventually, I would also love to get my paralegal certificate, and open a whole new branch to my business. But that will be down the line.

It seems my niche is starting to be life coaches, business coaches, and therapists. Probably because one referred the other who referred another and so forth.

I'm also going to start promoting as a niche 'networking follow up'. I recently attended a meetup group where effective business networking was discussed and several attendees said they had difficulty following up with new contacts. So I've offered to put together a program and do the follow up to some extent. We'll see how it goes.

Sue Canfield
Awesome Assistant

HIgh quality administrative, creative and technical business support services are provided to small business owners, entrepreneurs, and corporate executives through secure, web-based technologies from our own office. We are experienced and flexible professionals fully aware of the challenges of running a business to ensure you achieve your desired goals. We assist you in positively and clearly defining your required outcomes at cost effective packages.

Focus on what you do best, increase productivity and profitability and ultimately gain more time to do what you enjoy doing.

Being "virtual" enables us to work with companies and entrepreneurs geographically co-located in the UK and overseas.

- Web Design & Maintenance
- Virtual Assistance
- Events, Seminars, Workshops, Exhibits Management & Organisation
- Document Management
- IT Training

These are the main headings for the services my company offers. I use a workflow process of business and technology assessments to transform my clients' business and mindset to the 21st century.

Best regards,
Grace Long
VA Extraordinaire
Delegate to the Ultimate Technology Specialist and Focus on Growing your Business

Originally Posted by t.brooke

This is a great list. I'm trying to get started and am currently in the research (and hope my brain doesn't explode) phase. I understand the importance of niches, however I'm not sure which niche I want to be in. I know Kylie said that she is a long way from where she started 2 years ago so it is okay to change along the way, but how do I know where to start? I would like to offer general administrative support (i.e. word processing, excel spreadsheets, data entry, databases, invoicing, etc.), but I don't have a specific industry in mind. I'm just not sure how to choose an area in which to offer my services.

I feel the same about exploding brains!

I haven't even managed to read most of the threads on the forum yet... It's just sooo much to take in.

I used to work as a real estate salesperson for two years, so maybe I should include that in my repertoire. Unfortunately, the real estate market in New Zealand is down at the moment, so there won't be much work coming from that.

I'm brand new to the forum, and haven't started up officially (probably in another month or two) but I have experience in the following and it could be a 'niche'?

> Quality Assurance Certification (eg ISO)
> Public Procurement and Tendering Procedures

Also, one I thought might work ...

> I am considering taking on bulk typing to start me off.
Because of the time difference, it might be feasible to take on urgent
projects from, eg, the US - in effect this would gain the client nearly
an extra day to complete their project

Any thoughts?

Louise

I do all aspects of bookkeeping but stay away from business taxes. I will generate the forms but require my clients to look them over and file them.

I also do almost all aspects of administrative support. The only things I won't (or can't) do is cold calling, marketing and web design.

I also have stuck with certain industries when looking for clients. I started with real estate investors and have just recently added photography clients to my business. This gives me variety while getting a chance to learn a new industry.

This is such a great thread. I've enjoyed reading all the posts. For me I have my short term and long term goal (niche). My long term goal is to become a Virtual Paralegal. I have decided to go back to school to complete my degree with this. Below is my current "niche":

VBA - Target Bankruptcy Attorney's

• Assist with Client Intake Paperwork
• Input date into legal software
• Online Research
• Calendar Mgt. and Scheduling

Judment Recovery. For this I target contractors, dentists, Contractor Suppliers and Property Managers.

• Skip Tracing
• Online Research
• Correspondence
• Email & Calendar Mgt.
• Document Prep
• Submit legal docs to appropriate court

General Admin:

• Email & Calendar Mgt.
• Client F/U
• Project Mgt.
• Word Processing
• Proofreading
• Editing
• Travel Arrangements
• Proposals
• Business Coach
• Sales Support and F/U
• Digital Transcription

HR Services:

• Recruiting
• Phone Interview and Screening
• Reference Checks
• Background Checks
• Employee Handbooks

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LoriLee
Executive Virtual Staffing
(web site to come in near future)

Hi Lori Lee

I logged on to the forum to start a thread about providing HR services as a target or niche and saw your post!

I'm not a HR officer myself so wouldn't provide the service, but was wondering why I couldn't see any threads or forums about HR or any VA's offering this as a niche?

Can I just not see any posts about it or is there a reason why?

Curious !!!!

I'm going to start a thread called 'HR as a niche?'

Louise

Louise,
I am not sure about specific threads regarding HR as a niche. To be honest I haven't tried to search for that. The reason I have it as part of my niche is I was a branch manager of a staffing firm at my last job. I currently have contacts in the Seattle area both people wanting work and employers. It just made since to offer this. I do charge a different rate for recruiting, etc. Employers pay a lot of money to staffing firms for recruiting. I save them money by not paying the higher fees but I charge based on the annual salary of the employee vs. an hourly rate. As far as employee manuals, etc. I charge my hourly rate.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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LoriLee
Executive Virtual Staffing
(web site to come in near future)

This thread is superb! It has been very helpful to my own service listing and niche development.

I was intending to see how VA's providing this service find it, but it seems that there aren't many VA's proving HR. A HR Manager colleague of mine is curious about the possibility of proving this as a VA (in Dublin Ireland)

For anyone with any comments, please post to my thread called 'HR as a niche?'

Thanks
Louise

Hi

I will provide HR and Project Management as my niche along with some admin services. I have not posted my site yet since i am still trying to develop a name for the business. Please let me know if I could answer any questions.

Thanks Cathy

Would love to hear how you are getting on with your start-up.
What have you done so far?

Louise