Potential LIP Businesses: Virtual Assistants

Continuing with the theme of Location Independent businesses this week, previous readers have asked what kind of businesses enable you to lead a LIP lifestyle.

I’ll let the cat out of the bag here (unless you’ve bought and read the book, X Marks The Spot) and let you in on a little secret….the next book I’m currently writing is going to address that exact question. Not only will it profile examples of several LIPs running different types of location independent businesses, it will give you the nuts and bolts of how to do it too.

In the meantime, I’ll be posting the odd article about specific businesses that could enable your LIP life.

The first of these is about becoming a Virtual Assistant (VA). If you’re considering starting your own VA business to enable your LIP life, given the experiences I’ve had in researching, searching for and hiring one, here are some of the pointers I’d recommend considering…

• Do your research and rather than offering your VA services to anyone and everyone, consider targeting a specific sub-segment of professionals/businesses to help focus your marketing efforts. For example, a project I’m currently considering is setting up a VA service specifically for LIPs who have unique needs when it comes to travel and business support.

• Given your services are “virtual”, your marketing is likely to be virtual too (i.e. online). It is well worth therefore, investing the time, effort and money to set up a professional looking, effective (gets you your ideal clients) website and/or blog set up. In my search for a VA, I found it frustrating that (a) many didn’t even have a website (b) those that did, almost weren’t worth the ‘virtual’ paper they were created on - links didn’t work, they didn’t give me the info I needed (prices etc.) and most of them look horrendous like websites from about 10 years ago. There’s a niche in itself - creating effective websites for Virtual Assistants.

• Once you’ve done the above, you’re going to need a good online marketing strategy to get you prospects and clients, so consider learning not just basic marketing skills, but more specifically, online marketing skills.

• The industry is unregulated and practically anyone with a computer and some basic typing skills can call themselves a Virtual Assistant. Many established and successful VAs offer mentoring services to new, less experienced VAs - it is well worth considering working with somebody who knows the business as you create your own, to shortcut your learning curve and help yourself stand out from the average Joes and Janes out there.

• In the long term, the VA businesses that survive will be the ones who do the job the most effectively and offer the greatest value to their clients - make sure you’re one of them. Take the right training, continually improve your skills and learn how to market yourself effectively. Ensure your focus is always on delivering great value for your clients and you’re already on the right track.

• For a slightly longer term business strategy, consider how you can generate an income from your VA business without actually being a VA (products/books/learning systems) - this will really enable you to enjoy the LIP life without being on 24 hour call to your most demanding clients.

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Related posts:

1. Potential LIP Business: Virtual Coaching
2. Potential LIP Business: Creative Designer
3. Potential LIP Business: Freelance Writer
4. How To Find Ideas For Businesses That You Can Run Whilst Travelling
5. Running A Business From Anywhere: How A Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business

Comments

November 7, 2007

Hi Lea

Thank you for another informative post.

My short to medium term strategy is to offer a Virtual Assistance service to community magazine publishers. Well - the services I have in mind are more consultancy and coaching based really.

I’m really interested in developing ebooks, elearning etc around the subject of community magazine publishing, and offer one to one support if required.

At the moment I have a wealth of experience and knowledge in the subject, and I’m currently providing one to one training for someone setting up their own magazine. Where I’m a little stuck however - is how best to transfer all of this knowledge on to the internet, and ensure that I generate a fair return.

Do you have any tips or pointers for learning more about generating ebooks, elearning, etc…

Posted by Freebirdpro

November 8, 2007

Wow ! I have read about using VA’s but have never thought about making it MY niche….this is going to take a little more thought…thanks

Posted by jim@yosemitereservations

November 10, 2007

@Freebirdpro - Brian Clarks “Teaching Sells” program is a fantastic option for elearning. Ebook creation…there’s a couple of resources I’ll see if I can dig out for you…

@jim@yosemitereservations - No problems! Glad to have given you some food for though!!

Posted by Lea Woodward

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