I am thrilled to have my dear friend Mary-Lou Ashton, Virtual Assistant, Coach, Trainer and all around awesome person contribute her wonderful words of wisdom to my blog this week.  She has written a fantastic 2-part article on Owning Your Value as a VA.  A must read for any Virtual Assistant.

Owning Your Value as a VA – Part I

For many VA’s, especially those starting out, it can be difficult to own and honour the value we bring. While we may know and understand it, owning it is a whole different story. So how can you really own the value you bring to a client?

What Value Do I Bring?

For starters there is the savings of not hiring a full or part-time employee. This includes no overhead, such as, office space, computer equipment, software, office supplies along with soft skills or computer training. In addition there is no payroll, benefit plans or other contributions required on behalf of the client. Keep in mind that whatever wage an employer is paying it costs about double to actually maintain that employee.

For the serious VA who is interested in not only providing admin services but strategic and collaborative business support, however that may look for the client, the value scale jumps tremendously.

The Partnership

The biggest value any VA can bring to their client relationships is the collaborative partnership in the success of the client’s business. This is about paying careful attention and listening to the client for challenges, dreams and ideas for growing their business. It’s about seeing and communicating possibilities from a solution standpoint. Having the courage to present ideas, solutions, or a different perspective that the client may be unable to see or hadn’t thought of.

The VA takes on the responsibility of knowing what is going on in the client’s industry and staying on top of the latest trends and technology. Only then can you offer and implement the right solution for your client.

This is what sets us apart from strictly office support services and makes our VA/client relationships so valuable. We are there to support our clients in the growth and success of their business however that may look. You only find this in the Virtual Assistant profession.

Author: Mary-Lou Ashton, http://www.vatp.ca/

 Check out PART II next week!