You are right! Spreading yourself too thin is exactly what we don’t want to do as a VA or in any role. It’s counterproductive!
Searching for the most profitable/in-demand niche isn’t an exact science. If it was… we’d all be doing it!
Let’s look at the profitability of services first…
You could jump in and review the latest edition of the Australian VA & OBM Rates Report to see what others are charging.
Please know that this report doesn’t cap your earning potential in any particular service, or reflect the hours needed to become educated/experienced/qualified enough to charge the highest rates…
So what you really need to be asking is:
What type of work will you love doing?
If developments in your chosen niche get you excited, you won’t start to dread changes that require you to be on top of the latest legislation, trends and/or best practices…
You’ll be more inclined to find efficiencies and further opportunities to increase profits if you grow into a niche you love.
Now onto the demand for different services…
There is a huge demand across all of the areas you mentioned… AND there is a huge untapped market of Australian businesses who have no idea that outsourcing to a virtual assistant or online business manager is an option.
They are burning the midnight oil because they don’t realise that there is an alternative to the overheads and commitments that come with having employees.
We speak to businesses that get excited about outsourcing the jobs that they have grown to hate… and we get them even more excited when we tell them we have VAs and OBMs in our network who LOVE doing the work they despise.
And that is who they want to work with!
Create the demand for YOUR services and make converting leads into clients 10x easier by choosing an area you can show a genuine passion for – through your website content, socials and sales calls.
Where do profitability and demand meet?
It’s important to remember profit is based on a number of factors including time, cost, volume and quality/quantity of output – not just hourly rates or retainers.
That is why you need to choose something that you will love doing for clients.
You also need to choose a service that suits your goals and lifestyle requirements.
After years of kicking goals as VAs and OBMs, Thought Penny has provided lots of different services to clients across multiple industries. It took us years to work out which services we loved offering and many iterations of our hourly rates versus packaged services, as well as increasing prices and saying goodbye to clients who no longer fitted the niche we have grown into.
Thought Penny now focuses on workflow and automation services, which ticks all the boxes (for us).
We’ve spent countless hours learning how to be the most efficient, productive and results-driven automation team in Australia. As a result, we love what we do each day, and the profitability takes care of itself.
The demand for what we do is not necessarily huge (because a lot of our target audience doesn’t know what workflow and automations services are), but the market for it is massive.
Once you’ve found the service that you love providing, you’ll find it easier to articulate how your services, AND the way YOU provide them, eliminate your clients’ pain points… which will then create demand for your services.
The biggest mistake you can make right now…
By focusing on what you’re really good at – whether it’s social media, bookkeeping or something else – you will become fast and efficient with a portfolio of work and testimonials to substantiate your own worth and build a solid reputation. This is the key to long-term and profitable VA success!
The worst thing any VA can do is chase the money in a role that doesn’t fit their skillset or fulfil their career objectives (fuel their passion) and wind up with a damaged business reputation. It’s a tough road back from there.
But if you could recommend just one?
Okay… okay!
So there is currently an untapped market for virtual assistants at all levels who know how to use Keap Pro and Keap Max Classic.
If the idea of managing CRM and marketing databases, building business automations and/or designing client journeys sounds like your jam, it’s worth exploring our review of Keap Pro as well as all the training opportunities we’re curating for our members.
We can personally vouch for the earning potential once you have the right experience under your belt, as well as unmet demand for VAs and OBMs with rates that reflect that they have their L plates on!