Well i did this a little backwards. I have a client i have been working with and am now getting ready to start the business side. I still need to develop a name for the business. I know it will be a sole proprietor and will have a web site outlining my services along with my rates.

Please feel free to pm me or ask any questions. I will try to answer if i can

Well done! It starts in different sequence for different people.
Interesting to know how other people do it anyway!
Thanks
Louise

My last position in SoCal was for a large law firm with offices throughout the world. Our small center in OC was designated as the Information Processing Center. Everything was done through the net, email, scanning, faxing and phone. It worked wonderfully and this is the niche to which I am currently focused. My website is up, but needs work. It's not searchable yet and I haven't started on marketing cuz my body isn't quite up to par from car wreck/surgery, but I see a huge business in this area and I've been working with legal clients for 25 years, so I'm very specialized in working with all types of practices, from solo practitioners on up.

Thanks for asking this question. I think it helps us all focus, no matter where we are in the journey.

Sue

I must say, I have found this all very interesting. I fell backwards into the VA world. I started just helping friends organize their thoughts (goals..whatever) and then the requests came pouring in. I have worked with Life Coaches, Business Coaches, Small Business owners, and Band Directors. I really enjoy the work but have expanded and contracted my niche as I tried new things. So far this is my list
Desktop Publishing
• Brochures
• Business cards
• Flyers
• Mailers
• Graphic Editing
• Media Kits
• Newsletters

Information Processing
• Data Entry
• Database Management
• Editing/proofreading
• Internet Research

Web Service
• Blog set-up
• Contact management
• Domain/hosting set up
• Ecommerce set up
• Forum/message board set up
• Mailing list admins
• SEO
• Website creation
• Website maintenance

Marketing
• Search Engine Registration
• Adware
• Postings on Forums and message boards

I'm just getting my VA business set up and haven't decided on a specific niche yet. I do genealogy research for clients and wonder if that could be considered a niche. In my day job, I'm responsible for writing grants, policies and procedures, reports, and spreadsheets. Also audit utility and telecom bills, prepare presentations, maintain web site, and support software applications. I guess any or all of these could be developed into a niche. What do you all think? I don't want to spread myself too thin but I want to offer a wide enough variety of services to attract clients.

I've just started looking over this forum and there is a weath of great information here.

Jenny

This is almost exactly what I want to offer when I get this going - I have worked construction most of my working life and find that I love working for the smaller construction companies, and what better way than as someone who helps them keep it together (the men who can run a huge construction project usually can't keep an office running at all! )

I will be offering a full service VA business for all small, medium, and home based businesses as well as other individual professionals and my niche market will lie with assisting direct sales representatives run and manage both their client end of their business and their team leg of the business.

Wow - what great information! Now I have more food for thought. I'm still trying to flush out my niche - most days I like a Jack of Many Trades (and a master of none!)

My niche is helping local businesses market online successfully and building local directories for different areas. (for instance - Fort Washington MD Live)

I help local businesses who are online but they are not marketing or the marketing is not producing great results.

I also help local businesses who do not have websites, create and promote the websites (for instance - krystleclear - Top Ranked Websites)

I offer free listings for all businesses.

I hold the #1 position in Goggle for ft washington md virtual assistant and ft washington md seo consulting.

I also teach others how to be #1.

The key is finding your niche.

I plan to target small women owned business in my city to start and expand from there.

I'm still a newbie and still finding my niche market!

As well as the general administration work my friend suggested I looked into Localization. It is a new term on my but basically is "transcribing" US English into UK English. It wasn't until I looked into this seriously I realised how different our two languages are!

The last time I looked at sentence construction was when I was at school which is many (many) years ago! I find it quite fascinating and think (as long as I can find a market out there for it) it is something I am going to get a lot of interest out of.

Avocet

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Secretarial Service with a Smile!

I do general virtual assistance too and quite enjoy it, but with a long background in legal assistance the main niche I'm focusing on is lawyers. They can be a hard bunch to crack in my opinion but I have definitely started to make headway! I have one officially that I work for, one that I'm having a teleconference with on Monday to discuss working with her and a couple more prospects in the new year that have mentioned vaguely that they are thinking about starting to utilize a va and I already have a rapport with them so I'm hoping that they will end up working with me!

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Laurie
Halo Blog and My Blog About Being a WAHM

I'm just getting started in my VA business but my niche is HIPAA Compliance for medical offices.

* Policy writing
* Training
* Forms creation
* Notification of new or changed regulations
* Etc.

Once I've gotten this niche established, I plan to add privacy and security compliance for other types of businesses. Privacy of customer's information is quite critical and a lot of smaller offices don't have the time nor staff to stay in compliance.

I've worked as the HIPAA Compliance Officer at a hospital since the regs were first introduced so its a shoe-in for me to tackle this niche.

Jenny

Originally Posted by jenny

I'm just getting started in my VA business but my niche is HIPAA Compliance for medical offices. * Policy writing * Training * Forms creation * Notification of new or changed regulations * Etc. Once I've gotten this niche established, I plan to add privacy and security compliance for other types of businesses. Privacy of customer's information is quite critical and a lot of smaller offices don't have the time nor staff to stay in compliance. I've worked as the HIPAA Compliance Officer at a hospital since the regs were first introduced so its a shoe-in for me to tackle this niche. Jenny

Hi Jenny,
I think you have a very unique and necessary niche. As an HR professional, I know HIPAA can be very complicated. Some employers don't realize what is required by law, so someone with your expertise would be very beneficial for a business to keep in compliance.

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VirtuallyDee

My experience is mostly in mortgage sales. I have considered providing sales support to successful sales people. However, I have diiscovered that the stuff the salesperson would want me to do is all the stuff I too do not particularly enjoy. So that is no good.

I know I do not want to babysit any of my clients. I have no problem setting them up, getting them organized, etc, however, I do not work well being micro managed. My first client called me 3-4 times a day to "check in." He would email another 1-2 times and then he discovered text messaging! Good Grief. I thought I wouldn't mind, but, eventually I was rolling my eyes everytime I saw his name!

I also know that I am clueless when it comes to internet development. My website was created by a professional and I still have a hard time just creating templates! Thank goodness there are many of you!

So what can I do? I have been stressing over this for months. I know I love to read anything and everything, and there is nothing I can't cook, thanks to food network! Not related I know. I also know that I am a very good a persuading people. I have been told I can sell ash to the Devil. I am a master at contact management and follow-up. I love to research, write papers, prepare and give presentations. I have experience typing, so I can do transcribing work...

How do I turn my loves into a niche? Any suggestions!

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Tammie Crainich
The Essence of Time, Virtual Assistance