You’re a Virtual Assistant and you’re on a discovery call with a client and they utter those dreaded words – ‘I’m not sure what I need. I just need someone to help me do my admin, but I haven’t got a very big budget’.
In reality means ‘I need a virtual assistant to help me with EVERYTHING including content, graphics, copywriting, websites, landing page, diary and management, email marketing and managing my CRM. BUT, I’m not willing to pay very much for it, I only want 5 hours a month and I expect you to be available 24/7.
Sound familiar?
I’ve never met a Virtual Assistant who is ‘just’ the admin.
Perhaps for a little while when they are starting out and finding their feet. But it’s never long before they realise they have SO MUCH MORE to offer.
But how do you know when you are ready to start branching out and refining your offering, niching your services or raising your prices? And, how on earth do you go about it?
I started my business as a Virtual Assistant and in the beginning, I was offering every service under the sun and charging just £15 an hour. Very quickly I became fully booked… and exhausted. After two years I realised it just wasn’t sustainable and that I was totally undervaluing myself, and my skills – and so were my clients! I was capable of so much more than just doing titbits of admin but nobody was going to know that until I started telling them.
So today I’m sharing five ways that helped me see I was so much more than just the admin because I 100% bet you are too.
1. You can’t stop having creative ideas for your clients (outside of what you’ve been asked to do).
1. If you find that your mind keeps creeping outside of your given tasks and that you are often giving your clients ideas and strategic advice above and beyond the scope of your role, it’s likely that you have A LOT more to offer your clients than you are giving yourself credit for. I’m sure your clients love it! But, the problem with this scenario is that you are not getting paid for it! If you find this is happening to you it’s time to start considering how you can monetize this advice.
2. You ‘SAVE’ your favourite tasks on your to-do list as a treat.
2. YouAre there certain tasks on your to-do list that excite you more than others? Do you light up when you get to talk about and work on projects that you absolutely love? For me, it was always the strategy work and Canva projects. If there are certain jobs that almost don’t feel like work and that you look forward to working on, this could be an indication of an area you could become more specialised in. Imagine building a business that allowed you to work on projects like this 100% of the time? What difference would that make to your energy levels and the enjoyment you feel in your business? Perhaps you could start thinking about packaging up these services instead of offering them by the hour.
3. You keep getting recommended or approached for a particular service as a Virtual Assistant
Is there one service you offer that your clients always LOVE and sing your praises about? Do you find that you are naturally getting recommendations and referrals for that service? This might indicate one of your natural superpowers, one of the services that make you shine and that you could focus on developing and becoming known for. For me it was Canva and content creation – my clients loved what I did and I loved doing it so I moved away from being a Virtual Assistant and became known as the Content Stylist. I packed all my services instead of offering hourly packages and that helped me massively to increase my income and start building a name for myself. Now, I specialise in coaching, mentoring and educating in these two areas – can you see how it’s evolved?
4. You get more excited about booking certain clients & jobs than others
Do you do a happy dance when you book your dream client or land hours doing something you absolutely love? It’s an amazing feeling when you work with clients who value your skills and expertise and appreciate you isn’t it?
But, do still you find yourself adding new clients to your caseload you KNOW aren’t your ideal client because you are scared of turning away the work? If this is happening then it’s time to start looking at WHY. Money mindset and fear of not having enough money will hugely impact your energy and the way you run your business. If you keep filling your caseload with clients you know aren’t ideal and doing work you know isn’t what you love and for a rate, you KNOW is way lower than it should be – the reality is your business will never be the success you want it to be. YOU have to be confident enough to turn down work and say no to clients who are not ideal and not willing to pay your rates or you will never have the space or energy to welcome the perfect clients in.
5. You know you’ve got more to give, you are feeling undervalued and you’re fed up of chasing clients.
5. In all honesty, you’re starting to get fed up with tracking minutes of your time and managing multiple five-hour retainers. You get frustrated having to complete bitsy tasks and constantly having to check in with clients about what they need you to do. Worse still with some of your clients you are having to chase them for work to fill their hours. They aren’t embracing the support you can offer and they are still reluctant to hand things over to you – it’s exhausting.
You KNOW you have so much more to give and that a lot of the work you are completing isn’t showcasing your true potential. If this is happening it’s time to stop playing small and time to start doing something about it! Feeling resentful, undervalued and unfilled is no way to run a business and the sad realityis, if you LET people take advantage of you and undervalue you, then they will. Building your dream business starts with YOU having the belief and conviction in yourself, your offers and the value you bring to your clients. Once you have the confidence and belief in this – the clients will follow.
Did any of these resonate with you?
I know how challenging being in this position can be – I’ve been there. I got to a breaking point when I was managing multiple retainer clients and working 50 hours a week – I was frustrated, exhausted and resentful. And the turning point came when I decided to do something about it because I realised nothing would change until I did.
So I built a business leveraging my superpower skills and doing the things I loved. I did the inner work, I changed my mindset and I started believing in myself and my offers. I got super clear on my differentiation and I started sharing that through my content – and it worked! Now, I’ve more than trebled my income and halved my working hours running a business I adore and supporting amazing women around the world to do the same.
Ready to start building your dream business, doing the things you love and making the money you truly desire?
Get in touch to chat about my 1:1 coaching where together we can make the changes needed. We’ll work on your mindset, identifying your superpower skills, your ideal client, your pricing and packages and your content strategy in a way that feels authentic and aligned to YOU. I can’t wait to chat x