Here’s a question for you. Answer it honestly OK, it’s not a trick question so relax. Here goes…
Is your VA business a stepping stone to another business? Something that is more passive in nature so you can stop trading hours for dollars?
There’s no shame in answering with a resounding YES! What if, you could acquire a new skill that would let you offer higher paying services to your clients and this skill can help you develop unique, interesting products and tools that can be your ticket out of hourly work?
You know what that is? Technical skills.
Let’s unpack this a little. When I’m talking about tech skills, I’m not talking about re-creating yourself to be a super-ninja programmer who can build the next Angry Birds, Windows or future Facebook. What I am talking about is someone who understands how web sites work. Someone who knows their well intimately around WordPress, preferably above the average knowledge and truthfully, someone who is not afraid of getting their hands dirty with some basic HTML and PHP, enough to ‘hack’ and tweak.
When you are able to perform these skills (or more if you are inclined), you stand out. The best part, these skills are in high demand because being online is no longer something businesses can afford to ignore and so many businesses have been conditioned to outsource. What makes it even better, if you understand how businesses and products are marketed online, that makes you extra valuable. When you’re extra valuable, people don’t bat an eyelash paying more because it would take them forever and a ton of money to train someone to that level.
Alright, so we know tech skills can get you hired at better rates but how does that jive with getting out a service business model? For one, when you get paid more, you don’t have to spend so many hours working. You can essentially make the same – or more – by working less hours. It’s simple math.
When you have less billable hours, you have the freedom to re-invest those hours into developing your own products. Of course, you can develop any type of product you wish but if you find you’re good at tech and enjoy it after all, you can utilize that skill to create tools and hands-free packages.
Contributed by Lynette Chandler of The VA Training Site.