Typical Services Offerred By Virtual Assistants

I receive a lot of inquiries such as the following:

“Sydni, I am really interested in pursuing a Virtual Assistant business, but I don’t know what services I can offer!”

Imagine this: For the last 4 years, you’ve worked for a Managing Director named Bob Smith. Bob is the Global Head of Commercial Real Estate and he is responsible for the firm’s commercial real estate transactions around the world. He travels 250 days out of the year, keeps a crazy work schedule and is completely addicted to his Blackberry. Despite the fact Bob rarely spends more than a half-day in his office because he’s traveling throughout Asia, Europe and South America, you route his messages, organize his schedule, coordinate his travel arrangements, manage his expenses and filing, update his contacts, write his memos, buy gifts for his family, friends and clients and more. Do you actually need to see Bob to get your work done? Not at all. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you find it easier to work when he isn’t there! (Bosses tend to get in the way when they’re in the office, don’t they!).

Now, if you were running your own Virtual Assistance business, you’d be doing the exact same tasks for your clients. You’d be:

• Researching, coordinating and managing travel
• Retrieving messages and returning calls on your clients’ behalf
• Managing their schedule
• Updating and organizing their contact database
• Maintaining a virtual filing system
• Creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations and reports
• Researching and purchasing gifts, etc
• And all the other tasks you do as an Executive Assistant.

As you gain more experience and exposure to different industries you may find yourself doing some of the following:

• Helping a new author to manage the process of getting their book published
• Responding to customer service questions for a product sale
• Setting up new clients for a business/life coach
• Proofreading and compiling the content for an electronic newsletter
• Sending out detailed reports and updates on behalf of a financial adviser
• Creating blog posts for a professional consultant
• Researching facts for a personal trainer
• Coordinating an open house for a real estate agent
• The list goes on and on.

The services you offer to your clients will only be limited by your interests and imagination. So, start out offering services that you are comfortable (and extremely familiar) with and enjoy. As you gain more experience, regularly ask your clients what other tasks and projects you can help with. The more you expose yourself to, the more you learn and as you gain expert status on certain topics, you’ll be in a position to raise your rates and set yourself apart from the pack!