Virtual assistance: fear of the commodity?
The definitions of commodity, in and of themselves, are not all bad. But we are going to concentrate on the one that is relevant here. From Merriam-Webster Online:
commodity: a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (as brand name) other than price
I’ve heard VAs express a fear that virtual assistance is becoming a commodity (definition above). The fear is that we’re so widely available that the prices and value for what we do is going down. Is that your belief? What experiences lead you to believe that?
One thing’s for certain: there is a wide availability of virtual assistants. I know this and you know this. But do your potential clients know this?
And what of the services we provide - is that a commodity or are we as virtual assistants a commodity (or neither)? I separate this for one reason: just because there are a lot of us, clients aren’t always getting what they really need or want.
I believe that the virtual assistance industry follows the same 20/80 rule that nearly all of life falls under: 20% of us are doing 80% of the work. The reason is that only 20% of VAs really know the work that needs to be done.
Case in point: recently, a client of mine and I decided together to split the work I was doing into two parts: pure admin and the rest, which involves a lot of internet marketing and website maintenance. When we look over time sheets for the past 4-5 months, the bulk of the work is in internet marketing and website maintenance.
Here’s the problem: it’s really difficult to find VAs who can do that! You could say, but Tia, there are internet marketers and website developers who could do that. To that I say, yeah right! Truth be told, I am not entirely silly: I know that there are internet marketing companies and website development companies.
But (1) they also follow the 20/80 rule, (2) they usually cost an arm and a leg and have a target market not of sole proprietors and entrepreneurs but of successful small or large businesses that can afford them and (3) they are not the “small task” type: e.g., can you shoot over something like, “hey, Tom, can you add this ONE product to the shopping cart…now?” They are tied up in projects that help them support the staff that they really need (or that yacht they just bought).
But I digress…back to the conversation of commodity.
My personal opinion is that my own service is not a commodity - at least not yet. It’s a highly valuable thing which is why I get calls and requests all the time. I don’t believe that your service is a commodity, either. Right now, believe it or not, we are still lucky enough to be blessed with the impact of the universal law of supply and demand. There is still more work to be done than there are VAs (at least, if you don’t count the VAs still hiding under a rock).
Tags: commodity, entrepreneurs, internet marketers, internet marketing, prices, services, small businesses, sole proprietors, valuable VA, value, VAs, virtual assistance, Virtual Assistants
July 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Well said Tia. Great article, full of insight not only for VA’s but anyone in business online who feels their service is akin to being a commodity.
Jen Thomas
Muvar Software
July 25th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Interesting post, Tia. I agree; Virtual Assistants are not commodities to be bought and sold like stocks in the stock market. The popularity of freelance job sites (elance, guru, odesk, etc.), where all services are bought and sold like junk bonds, encourages people to view Virtual Assistants as commodities, though.
I have a question, Tia. Do you charge the same rates for Internet marketing and web site work as you charge for administrative work? If you do, doesn’t that imply that this work isn’t as valuable when it’s done by a Virtual Assistant as when it’s done by an Internet marketer or web developer? I’m not saying that you should also charge an arm and a leg for that work, but I do think that you should charge an arm and maybe half a leg. To my thinking, doing anything less encourages clients to take advantage of you. If you weren’t able to offer these services, where would your clients go; to people who offer these services at a charge of an arm and a leg? If they’re your clients, they should be willing to pay you the going rate for the same services offered by more expensive providers. Not only are you providing the same services, but you’re a known entity — your clients know you, trust you and they know that whatever you do you’ll do it well. I think that’s definitely worth an arm and half a leg, at least.
=>Donna Caissie, Virtual Assistant & Owner
ExtraOrdinary Assistance
http://www.extra-assist.com
dcaissie@extra-assist.com
http://www.dcaissie@wordpress.com
July 25th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Hi Donna!
I’m glad you asked. My rates are different and I actually don’t do administrative work anymore. I have a “dedicated internet marketing assistance” rate schedule, and then everything else has a flat or otherwise separate fee.
I was being a little facetious when I talked about “arm and a leg” pricing - since it’s all relative, I guess, but you’re absolutely right that not charging appropriately or charging competitively for work would encourage clients to take advantage, and set into motion the very thing we are all trying to avoid!
July 28th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Tia,
I agree with you about E-Lance, Guru, Odesk and many other freelance sites. It is more likely for people to lower their hourly/project rate just to get the job instead of charging what they are WORTH. Although I occasionally bid on projects on those types of sites, I refuse to lower my rate just to get the job…on the contrary, I generally have to RAISE my rate to cover the overhead of the fees those places charge. When I see that some of the projects that I would normally charge $30-$40+ an hour for are going to people overseas charging $5 an hour (sometimes less). That’s not even minimum wage in the U.S., let alone the price you would need to charge to cover your self-employment taxes and other overhead.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:35 am
I’d like to think that my business or my services will only become a commodity or part of the commodity black hole if I allow it to become so. Building on and using the skills and knowledge that I have and know are unique (or at least less common) are the ones that I can highlight to not only create a specialty for myself but to set myself apart from others.
Part of my theory is that if we all did that or even if the majority did (assuming that not enough do) then the chances decrease that virtual assistance as an industry becomes a commodity.
Great post, Tia.
Kimberly LeRiche
JK Virtual Office Resources
http://www.jkvirtualoffice.com