Alexandra Amor writes about Specialties

I really like Alexandra’s ezines and newsletters. Today she writes about specialties and how it will affect your bottom line.

Enjoy!

Vickie

“What’s Your Specialty?”
by Alexandra Amor, Virtual Success
“An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less, until eventually he knows everything about nothing.”
Anonymous

Is that true? If you become powerfully adept at one skill or service will it adversely affect your VA business? I don’t think so. Here’s why.

I believe the one way to attract clients who are ideally suited to our businesses is to specialize in a service that provides great benefit to our clients.

For example, I used to belong to a relationship coaching group, which facilitated the attraction of a healthy and happy personal relationship. The coach who guides the group is a specialist in relationship coaching. Consequently she is an amazing resource for information specifically relating to this area of life. She recommends books (and sometimes even a particular section or chapter of a book), exercises taken from a variety of sources, quotes, theories or models of relationships, personal stories about relationships, web sites, local relationship and/or dating groups, online resources etc.

What I’ve come to recognize by working with her is that this ability to be such an incredible resource in this area comes from her focus on and specialization in relationship coaching. She talks to other coaches with this specialty, she reads the books related to this area and she attracts into her life tools that help her to be a great and resourceful relationship coach.

As VAs we are often asked to be a ‘jack of all trades’. I suggest that in addition to being great at the many services we offer, we can make a difference to our usefulness and value to our clients by specializing in one area. It could be anything; writing (my personal favorite example), desk top publishing, design layout, web site copywriting, technology, marketing, e-zines, internet marketing etc. Some VAs are currently becoming successful by being experts in setting up shopping carts for their clients. (Any skill that helps your clients with technology and that makes them money, like a shopping cart, is a skill that you will be able to capitalize on again and again.)

It bears mentioning that if you become skilled in one specific area of service, and you then become a trusted and known resource because of that skill, that you will be able to raise your rates accordingly. The more rare a service, the more in demand it becomes and the more people are willing to pay for it. That’s great news for “specialty” VAs!

Consider how you could add one specialty to your practice and become a valued resource to your current clients and develop a reputation as a VA with a great talent for something very special.
© 2007 Alexandra I. Amor

Virtual Assistant marketing coach Alexandra Amor is the author of books and articles that help VAs build strong, successful practises FAST. To receive her FREE 20 Essential VA Success Habits, visit www.virtual-success.com.