By Natalie Abbott, VA and Founder of Not Vanilla Digitals
I’m Natalie, a tech virtual assistant and I became booked out within a month of starting my business. On socials you will find that my colleagues consist of two massive dogs, Luna and Esmae, as well as one tiny (and very stupid) cat called George.
I am the owner of Not Vanilla Digitals and I offer technical solutions to businesses such as funnel builds, membership management and even website development and design. I also help other freelancers gain more clients and upskill to offer a wider range of services under Not Vanilla Digitals PLUS.
As a virtual assistant, adding tech VA services to your portfolio can make you stand out and elevate your offerings. These specialised tasks require additional learning and can take more time, allowing you to earn more, especially if you charge hourly rates. Unlike general VA tasks, tech VA tasks are niche and not everyone can do them. By mastering these skills, you can make a significant impact on your clients' lives, adding value and making yourself indispensable.
Let’s check out a few typical VA tasks and take them up a notch by adding a few Tech VA layers…
Admin
Admin and organisational tasks offer more than just backend and file organisation. Here are three ways to elevate your services:
Master process creation: Develop effective onboarding and offboarding processes that enhance customer service. Offer this valuable skill to your clients.
Embrace automation: Overcome any initial apprehensions and explore automation tools like Dubsado. By becoming proficient in a specific software, you can help businesses reap the numerous benefits of automation.
Expand beyond hourly retainers: Learning to build processes and automate tasks opens up project-based opportunities. Instead of charging by the hour, consider pricing projects as a whole, creating an additional revenue stream.
Emails
Helping people filter through their emails is a very popular virtual assistant task, however you can enhance your email management services with these tech-focused strategies:
Learn scheduling and automation: Learn to schedule and automate emails across various platforms. This skill is transferable, and once you grasp it on a few platforms, it becomes easier to adapt to others. Utilise online resources like YouTube tutorials to learn and automate email sequences or schedule newsletters for your clients.
Offer email design services: If you have a flair for design, consider providing email design services. While you may not be a writer, you can still contribute by creating visually appealing email templates.
Take an email marketing optimisation course: Invest in a course to enhance your knowledge of email marketing optimisation. Learn how to improve open rates, conversions, and avoid spam folders. Acquiring expertise in technical analytics allows you to offer valuable advice and guidance to your clients.
Social Media Management
Elevate your social media VA services with these tips:
Level up your design skills: While Canva is a great starting point, learning tools like Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate allows you to create custom graphics and stand out from the competition. Charge higher rates as you offer more advanced design services.
Stay updated: Stay informed about platform updates, particularly on Instagram, and understand how they impact your clients' businesses. Don't limit yourself to Instagram; explore other impactful platforms like Pinterest. Embrace new ideas and think creatively.
Master caption writing: Effective copywriting is a valuable skill for businesses. Learn how to write captivating captions that drive conversions. Adding this skill to your portfolio elevates your services.
Websites
While website design or maintenance may not be found in a typical VAs portfolio, adding them to yours can be highly beneficial for your clients. Some of these tasks may seem daunting at first, but they have the potential to provide significant advantages.
Learn to back up a website. This is actually super simple and not as scary as it sounds!
Learn how to perform updates on websites. Again, not as complicated as it may first appear and very useful!
Adding these extra tasks to your VA business can drive transformation and growth.
Clients often require more than just maintenance and organisation, so expanding your portfolio enables you to provide greater assistance. These new skills can help you attract new clients and upsell to existing ones. The key is to make yourself indispensable by delivering genuine value to their businesses.
If you’d like to ask me about any of the above please feel free to reach out to me on any of my social media platforms (listed below), or if you’re ready to elevate your VA portfolio join NVD Exclusive to access our archive of upskill trainings and templates:
This blog was prepared or accomplished by Natalie Abbott in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Kayleigh Johnstone or COZ PR.