Recently a Virtual Assistant asked me about adding new skills to her business. She felt that she wanted to raise her rates, and that adding new services was the way to do that.
When we talk about expanding our service offerings, it’s important to start by stepping back and looking at the big picture.
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Why am I considering adding a new skill or service?
2. Why am I considering adding THIS new skill or service?
3. Where can I learn about this new skill or service?
4. Is the training free or paid? Can I afford the time if it’s free, and can I afford the time and money if it’s paid?
5. Is this new skill something I can incorporate into my business easily?
6. Do I know people who could use this new service? Are they in my circle or network?
By answering these few questions, you can see that it’s important to add services and skills for the right reasons, and at the right time in your business.
Everyone wants to earn more money in their business (everyone!).
The key is that you know why, how and when you should do this.
Adding new skills that are going to increase your rates takes more than just learning about something and then implementing them.
The biggest consideration is probably whether you know people who need the service you are going to provide. If they are not currently in your network, you will need to develop a plan to get them into your network. There are many easy ways to do this – anything from strategic partners, referral partners, colleagues and current clients. But it’s important to consider it and get a plan in place to make it happen.
The second biggest consideration will be the time and money it takes to set up the new skill or service. Timing of a program or a course to learn something new is essential. When you learn something new, you want to develop a plan to implement that new knowledge immediately. You want to be able to develop your reputation right away – I often suggest having a few ‘test’ clients you can use your new skill set on in for free (or cheap!) in return for some testimonials. When you are introducing a new service, you want to have testimonials in place for the new people you will attract – to show that you know what you are doing!
The other consideration is why you want to do this. I know so many VAs who really go from one thing to another (or try to learn everything, even if they aren’t going to specialize in it). I try to discourage them from being too broad in their service offerings. It’s fun to learn things, but it’s important to become ‘known’ for your area of expertise – THAT is where the big money is.
By knowing your WHY (you are passionate about it, you love it and find it fun to do all day, you love the people who need the service, you want to learn, implement and then teach it to others – whatever your WHY is!) it’s an essential part of your decision making process – it’s the thing that will really drive you to succeed.
Adding new skills and services is a terrific way to keep your business fresh, and keep new clients excited to come and work with you. By checking with your own reasons for wanting to learn something new, and knowing how and where you will be able to implement those skills, you can learn to become the expert your clients rave about (psst – experts make a lot more money too!)
Speaking of learning new skills, if you want to see how adding video screencasting to your skills can help you boost your business – learn how Michelle Schoen did it with her business. Check out our free webinar coming up on Thursday, June 6th – http://learncamtasia.com/traceydaviero