While my business partner Beth and I were learning the basics of being Virtual Assistants, those in the business advised it is best to pick a niche or target market. While we understand the reasons and benefits in picking a niche, we could not wrap our heads around it. Being new entrepreneurs, Beth and I did not want to turn business away and figured we would start with a wide net.
A wonderful friend of ours who has been an entrepreneur for several years (not in the VA business) also coached us to choose a niche. She did not do that when she started, and after a few years, found the industry she wanted to target. As a result, she had to rebrand her business, and she wanted to spare us the pain of going through the same.
We understood where our friend was coming from and appreciated her guidance. But again, we continued to struggle with the concept of ‘picking a niche.’
Many told us, if we market to everyone, we market to no one.
Beth and I kept asking ourselves, ‘Who is our ideal client? What is the niche we want to target?’
We understand choosing a niche makes it much easier to market and network to a specific group or industry. It makes sense, right?
But here is what we also understand; although our current clients are not in the same niche, we enjoy working with them. We are a new business which launched in November 2020 and are grateful for the wonderful individuals we get to support.
Someone we know is a veteran in the Virtual Assistant world and gave some great advice. Although it is important to choose a niche, she told us we do not have to turn away business.
So, where does that leave Beth and me? We decided to take what we have learned so far from the VA industry, other business owners and our own experience and apply what works for us and our business. We went into business to work with the people we choose to work with and those who fit well with us. And if that means it will take us some time to find the magical niche, so be it.
We could not ask for better clients than we currently have. Every day we look forward to assisting them in the areas they do not have time for, allowing them to focus on growing their business.
In a nutshell, our ‘ideal clients’ happen to be the people we currently work with!
Do you have an ideal client? We would love to hear about your experiences and even learn from them.
Good decision. CA14.biz has followed that model successfully and found that there is not necessarily one niche but there can be several.
Bravo Karen and Elizabeth! You are the niche with your excellence in customer service!