1. Identify your skills

Try this exercise to help reveal your hidden niche:

1. List your professional skills and experiences: Begin with what is so easy for you that you can't imagine someone paying you to do it as a single service:
   • Inbox management
   • Scheduling
   • Travel
   • Event planning
   • Board agendas
   • PowerPoint presentations
2. Next, list what you like and love to do as part of your job: These are the assignments that you enjoy being challenged by:
   • Project management
   • Large scale event planning
   • Research
   • Scaling
   • Department implementation
   • OKR and KPI dashboards
   • Creating SOPs / Templates / Handbooks
   • Strategic management
3. Last, list the skills you have been dabbling in: You have possibly taken a class but haven't tested the skills in your working environment yet:
   • AI
   • Website creation
   • Cybersecurity
   • Social media
   • Ebooks
   • Podcasts
   • Landing pages
4. Highlight unique strengths that set you apart: These will include your soft skills. You aren't selling yourself to anyone right now. Don't be humble. List what is unique to you and be proud of it!
   • Calming
   • Discreet
   • Excellent communication skills
   • An understanding of corporate culture
   • Awards & Accolades
   • Tech Savvy
   • Cool under pressure
   • Trusted partner
   • Security clearance
   • Thrives in chaos
5. Consider your passions and interests: Don't skip this step. This is you creating the business of your dreams to live the life of your dreams. Don't settle for what you get. Create what you want.
   • Reflect on areas you are passionate about
   • Determine how your passions align with your skills

In the beginning, don't worry about being scalable: A common thing I hear is, "I wanted to do XYZ, but I was told it's not scalable." Your first order of business as a business owner is to make money. You can find a way to scale later. Right now scaling is the least of your worries. Grow first, scale later. If you're not even close to client capacity, having a solid income coming in every month, and identifying your ideal client, there is nothing to scale. Once you figure out how the money's coming in, you also need to have a system to replicate. Whether you want to change your ideal client, your services, or your business model, it all starts from figuring out where the money is coming in – your ideal client and ideal services will lead you to your niche.

2. The Golden Question and other notes on niching

Ask yourself the Golden Question: The Golden Questions is:

• Have you ever done work for a client (or friend) for free because it was so easy you wouldn't know what to charge?

Your answer to this question will often lead you to your niche.

"Which services should I offer?" This is one of the most common questions VAs ask. It's hard to narrow down because chances are you have many skills that are desirable to potential clients. This is especially difficult if you come from an executive assistant background. You'd get fired for doing less, let alone doing just one thing, no matter how well you did it. Remember, EAs and VAs are not the same. They are like cousins. What worked for you as an executive assistant will work against you as a virtual assistant.

The more services you offer, the more likely you are to confuse your potential clients: Your clients have the same issues as you. They will get busy, stressed, and pulled in many different directions. When they look over your long list of services, they won't be able to process the information and are very likely to miss the one thing you could do that would benefit them the most.