More on what a VA does

In my last post, I made a strong statement about what, in my view, qualifies someone to call herself a VA. Joining the conversation in a comment (which I encourage all of you to do!), Mary wrote:

”For example, transcription is certainly administrative in
nature - and also a special skill that not all VAs can do.
So does that mean transcriptionists can't be VAs?”

Here’s the thing: transcription is certainly administrative in nature. So it’s something that a VA can, of course, offer to her clients.

But at the point where someone offers transcription at such a high level as to call it a specialty, and it becomes her ONLY service, she’s a transcriptionist and not a VA.

Now, let’s say you, a VA with a thriving practice, learn to do transcription. And you find, to your amazement, that you’re a cracker jack at it. You realize that you can create a specialty around it…but you really love being a VA and doing all the rest of the work you do with your clients too.

What I always coach a VA to do in a situation like that is to create two divisions of her business—one where she provides transcription services as a transcriptionist (not as a VA who does transcription—there’s a difference, and the former will allow her to set herself up as an expert and charge higher fees!), and one where she is a VA to clients.

This can be done by creating an umbrella company with two divisions. It can also be done by creating two completely separate companies. What’s smartest depends largely on an individual’s situation, and I urge anyone considering what I’m sharing today to seek the advice of a legal and/or financial team member about the best way to go about setting this “division” thing up.

Whatever you decide, you need two of everything…for instance, TWO web presences, TWO sets of business cards, TWO sets of standards, and TWO rates—one for the transcription side of the business, and one for the VA side of it.

See…anything you do at such a high level such that you can offer it as a specialty deserves to have its own rate associated with it. So it doesn’t make any sense for you to offer it at your regular hourly rate for VA services**

Also, by creating two distinct offerings, you have created two revenue streams for yourself (always a smart thing!). You can market yourself in two ways, reach two distinct groups of people, and at the same time, straddle both (because they are, in fact, likely to be complementary).

Complementary, how? Well, using our current example, say that you have a client who asks you to transcribe something. You can say, “I’d be absolutely happy to help you with that, Jane! As you may know, I have another side to my business (or “another business” if you have, in fact, created a separate business entity), where I provide transcription services. Let me tell you how that would work for us, because I price transcription differently than the work I usually do for you.” Then you’d go on to tell Jane what your fee for transcription is. And like anything else, Jane is free to have you do it, or ask you to find her someone else. Chances are she’s going to have YOU do it—she already has a relationship with you and trusts you!

Likewise, say you’re at a networking event, and Harry approaches you and says, “Jon just told me that you do fabulous transcription, and man, do I need your help.” You would, of course, have whatever conversation you would have about that, and share about your transcription services. Let’s say that during that conversation Harry says, “Hey… I also need help with my office kinds of things… I’m forever behind in email, am not doing a good job of managing my customer relationships because I’m so behind, and I’m finding that I get more behind because I’m so often out working directly with my clients instead of managing my office stuff.”

Your ears, of course, would perk up, because you know, having been in this conversation with him for a bit, that the solution he needs is to work with a VA. You could then say, “Harry, you’re really in luck today, because in addition to my transcription service, I also am a terrific Virtual Assistant, and I help my clients with just the sort of office “stuff” you were talking with. Would you like to hear more about what I might be able to do for you?”

And Harry, already jazzed about your transcription services, is going to be predisposed to wanting your help with everything. He’s in pain, and you’re just the medicine he’s been looking for.

Complementary—got it? :)

And this model works regardless of what “specialty” you want to offer. Have mad web-design skills? Call yourself a web-designer, create a different division (or company) for it and start marketing it. Make mean graphics? Call yourself a graphic designer, create a different division (or company) for it, and get busy marketing. Know Internet marketing inside and out? Call yourself an Internet marketer and move forward.

I can hear some of you asking, “Why bother? Why not just offer it within the confines of my VA practice?” There is just one reason—it’s smarter to do what I just suggested.

Think about it. If you decided you also wanted to become a golf-pro, a business coach, or a realtor, or..well, pretty much anything else, you would never do it under the guise of your current VA business. It would be too confusing for others, and, ultimately, for you. This is really no different. If you want to do something “special” it deserves to be its own thing. And in reality, it matters in your own head. It changes the conversation you have with yourself (and therefore the conversation you have with others) about what you do and what you offer. And that’s another good reason to do it.

Lastly, it allows you to be appropriately compensated for something you do at a very high level, without the need for lengthy explanations as to why you don’t charge the same amount for your specialty as you do for the rest of the work you do for a client. Nothing creates resentment more often and more quickly than when a VA backs herself into a corner, having to do something at a high level for a client when she knows that it’s worth more than whatever the client’s paying her.

So todays Bit O’Moxie is really, again, just about having a high standard about how you run your business(es). Multiple revenue streams, multiple client groups, multiple fee structures—all appropriate to WIITYD, will always trump dumping everything you do into one “container,” if you will, and muddying things for yourself, everyone else you come in contact with, and our profession as a whole.

**The only caveat to that would be if your rate for your VA services is higher than whatever rate you’d set for the other thing you’re doing (in our example, transcription). Then you’d offer to do it at the same rate at which you offer your VA services, just billed separately to keep things clean.

Comments

[Mary]

Hi Stacy - thanks for the shout-out and another great post. I love your idea of creating separate marketing channels and companies for different skills - a terrific idea for any VA.

Have a wonderful 4th of July !! :-D

[Jaime Mann]

Thanks for this post, Stacy. For the past few months I've been attempting to start up a side copywriting business to complement my VA business since copywriting is my true love. It occurred to me that if I were to send potential copywriting clients to my VA website they'd get confused cause they're looking for a copywriter and probably don't know what a VA even is.

I have been struggling a bit with how to have a clear division when I have clients who want both services and you've made it seem so simple.

This makes absolute sense.

Thank you!

[Larissa]

Thanks Stacy! This information is "food at the right time."