What do you have to offer? by Jackie Eastwick from Allison Lane

What do you have to offer?

By Jackie Eastwick, IVAA CVA

You just know you want to be a virtual assistant...you know it. You've researched the profession by reading articles. You've poured over hundreds of VA sites. You can feel in your bones that this is something you can do...but is it?

What exactly do you bring to the table as far as skills? You know you can type. You own most of the equipment (computer, peripherals, etc.). Do you think that's enough? Of course not.

The importance of an assessment

What is it you are really, really good at?

When it comes to what services you will offer as a virtual assistant, the first thing I look at is what you do all day long in your day job. Do you work with databases, data entry, word processing, page layout? It doesn't matter if you use proprietary software or one of the prevalent packages on the market. What is it you do all day long? Are you really great on the phone? Are you a wonderful customer support specialist? Do you write correspondence on your own or someone else's behalf?

Believe it or not, we do things everyday that may not seem like a marketable skill. Do you have to negotiate with dissatisfied customers? Do you have to track down hard-to-find items by researching or calling suppliers? Do you have to perform three different tasks at the same time (multi-tasking)? All the above questions should be tracked on an assessment form.

An assessment will take a good look at what hard skills you have. For instance, if you are a fast and accurate typist, you could parlay those skills into offering transcription, even if you've never done transcription before (of course good grammar will come into play). So if you're sitting at your desk all day doing data entry, take a typing test and see how fast you type.

Look at your achievements. Do you have a degree? If so, in what? Combine your degree with your work skills and you can come up with a niche. Let's say you have a BA – English (and you are particular about your grammar) and are skilled in MS Word. You quite possibly could create a niche with grad. students proofing and formatting dissertations and theses (an investment in the APA and MLA books will probably need to be made). I made good money doing this for the first few years I was in business.

Maybe you work in the human resources department...do you make hiring decisions? Have you seen hundreds or thousands of resumes? Is your training and education in business administration or maybe psychology? Good money is to be made constructing resumes.

Perhaps you have a marketing degree or worked for an advertising agency. This could be transferred over to working with advertising/marketing consultants (there are many sole proprietor consultants needing occasional help) or helping small businesses market their services (especially if you know your way around the Internet). You have to take a close look at your skills, your accomplishments, what you're good at, and what type of person you are.

Other parts of an assessment

What type of person are you? Do you lose sleep when you know you have to learn a new task at work? Are you afraid of having to learn new software? Or are you eager for that system or software upgrade and can't wait to get started? Are you analytical? Detailed? Organized?

Do you learn to use new software without having to take a class? Or do you look forward to taking a class or buying a manual to learn the software? Are you intuitive when it comes to software or work procedures?

Do you really, really enjoy learning something new? If so, your potential for service offerings is great. When I first started, I offered the traditional secretarial services such as transcription, typing of correspondence, student papers, resumes...but I had no clue how to construct a Web page or optimize Web sites.

As time went on, and given the type of person that I am, I started taking jobs that required my learning a particular task/skill. I was upfront with the client and let them know this was something I hadn't done before. The clients knew they weren't being charged for the actual time (my invoice credits were heavy), but I was given the opportunity to learn software such as PowerPoint and get paid while learning it.

I never thought I'd ever be able to do a Web site, but eventually I did conquer the various Web authoring software, learned to tweak the HTML code, and even became pretty skilled in search engine optimization – to the point where I now get paid to do this for others.

Had I been the type who was not intuitive with software or uneasy tackling new tasks, I'd still be offering the services I started out with – and nothing is wrong with that. But you have to know the type of person you are, what you are good at, and what you enjoy doing to determine what services you will offer.

Back to service offerings

When first starting, you have to know what it is you are going to offer your clients. You've seen it written dozens of times: Just because you have a computer and can type does not mean you can be a virtual assistant...and this is the truth. You have to have something to offer the client.

But you also should take into consideration what it is you like to do. If you are a great word processor but hate typing, then you've got a decision to make. Are you going to do it in the beginning to get some money in the bank and experience? Or are you going to delay the business by learning something new that you enjoy? Do you have another skill that you do enjoy that you can offer? This is why the assessment is so important.

An assessment should at least take the following into account:

1. Current Skills (software, hard skills such as typing, research, proofreading, Web design, graphic design, customer service, etc.)

2. What are you really good at?

3. What are you just ok at?

4. What do you really enjoy doing (as far as service offerings)? Is what you've listed under this part also listed in any of the above?

5. What do you really dislike doing? Is what you've listed under this part also listed in any of the above?

6. What is it you would really like to be good at? Is it possible for you to learn this without too much aggravation?

7. Your work history.

8. Your educational background.

9. Describe who you are? Are you aggressive, shy, a quick learner, someone who needs instruction? I like to ask my coaching clients to think about their personalities and then write five positives and five negatives. What I find amusing is some people will use the same word but one will say it's a negative and one will say it's a positive, which gives me more insight into their personalities.

The above is meant as an example of some assessment questions. Some are more detailed than others. A good VA coach will have assessments (or his/her version of an assessment).

You will miss something important by not taking a thorough assessment of yourself. Better yet, have someone other than yourself analyze your results...they will probably see a common thread or link that you may miss. An assessment is fun and is more than a tool to help you determine your services – it will also show you things about yourself that you may not have known. In this competitive field, not only are we marketing our skills, but we are marketing ourselves...your personality can actually be a great selling point.

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Jackie Eastwick, owner of Allison Lane Business Solutions, has been in business since April, 1999. She is an IVAA CVA (Certified Virtual Assistant) and former VP-Education of the IVAA. Jackie operates a full-time Virtual Assistance practice as well as a Virtual Assistant Coaching Program. An introductory Coaching Assessment Form (abbreviated version) will be available upon request to coaching@allisonlane.com

In 1998, Jackie left her job while pregnant with her daughter (Allison Lane Eastwick). Since she did not return to the workforce, Jackie could devote the countless hours necessary to starting up a successful business support service. You may view more about Allison Lane Business Solutions at: http://www.allisonlane.com, http://www.professionalvirtualassistant.com or send an e-mail to

Jackie@allisonlane.com