Generalist Versus Specialist VA - Which Is Best For You?
When someone comes to me and wants to work as a health virtual assistant, one of my first questions is – what do you want to offer? Gone are the days where VAs only do admin and email management! You can offer a variety of services as a health VA, which can be both a blessing and a curse.
Typically, VAs will fall into one of two groups – generalist or specialist. Both have value to offer, and both come with downfalls. So if you’re unsure which direction to choose, this is for you.
Psst, just a reminder! There is a difference between your area of service (generalist vs specialist) and your niche (ie who you do and don’t work with). I’ll be covering the latter in a future article soon, so stay tuned for that.
Generalist
What is a generalist?
As the name suggests, a generalist is someone who offers a variety of services over multiple areas. It’s kind of like GPs – they know a little bit about a lot of things.
If you’re a generalist, your title will likely just be ‘VA’ or ‘*insert niche* VA’. That way, people understand that you offer VA services, but you’ll need to detail what you offer.
The pros
It’s always best to start with the perks! So let’s talk about why you might like to work as a generalist VA.
Generalist is a simple place to start – everyone needs to start somewhere. And if you’re not sure what you want to offer, how valuable your skills are, or if you don’t have any particular background to guide your service area? Then this is a good place to get your feet wet. It will also help you to figure out what you do and don’t want to offer long-term.
It’s easy to attract clients quickly – because you have so many things to offer, it’s easy enough to find clients to work with to begin with. Any time you see someone looking for a VA, you can put your hand up.
You’re less likely to get held back by imposter syndrome – there are plenty of VAs who get tripped up by imposter syndrome and hold themselves back. But if you start out offering general services, the risk of this is lower. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it’s easier to feel confident in a large group of services at a general level compared to claiming yourself as an expert.
The cons
You’re likely to charge less – because your services are general, you’re probably going to charge a lower rate than a specialist. This can also trip you up and lead to under-charging or charging multiple rates because you don’t feel like your simpler services should be the same cost as more involved services.
You won’t stand out as much – there are many VAs out there, and many of them offer a variety of services. So unless you are very clear with other parts of your business such as your marketing, branding and/or niche, there’s a risk you could blend in rather than stand out.
There’s a higher risk of burnout – when you’re juggling all of the services and potentially undercharging, it becomes a recipe for burnout. That’s why you need to ensure you set your business up to protect you and catch you before it becomes an issue.
Client quality can vary if you’re not careful – this comes hand in hand with charging less, but also with clients who want it all in one VA. This group of clients are more likely to push boundaries, expect too much, underestimate your value, and cause conflict. So you need to ensure you screen your clients and only work with those who are a good match for your business, personality and values.
Specialist
What is a specialist?
A specialist VA focuses in on one particular area of service and excels in it. This may be a general area such as marketing VA, or it could be exclusively a single offer e.g. blog writing VA or podcast VA.
Even if you specialise in something such as podcasting, that doesn’t mean that you only offer a single package! For example, one of my mentees who is a podcast VA offers editing, shownote writing, publishing and can even add on additionals such as pulling audio clips for social media posts. So you can still have different levels of offers even when you specialise.
Another interesting thing about being a specialist is that you could have a different title from ‘VA’. For example, I used the title of health writer for many years (and it’s still in my social media handles!) This doesn’t mean that I wasn’t a form of VA, but the title let people know exactly what I could do for them.
The pros
It’s easier to become known for your service area – there are hundreds of VAs out there, even within the health space alone. But there are only a handful of specialists in each area. So you can easily build up your name and reputation by focusing on a specific group of services.
You can always add extra services down the line – it’s far easier to start narrow and expand as you need to. This is exactly what I did within my own business! I initially offered blog writing, and then added social media and newsletters to my packages. But if I had gone the opposite way, I would have been changing and limiting what I was initially known for.
Your rates will likely be higher from the start – when you specialise, your rates are naturally higher because you have a greater in-depth knowledge of that area. So you are likely to have higher prices from the beginning, and can move towards $100+/hr rates as your experience grows.
The cons
It can take time to get traction – this is not the option if you’re looking for a quick cash injection. While yes, you can make money fairly quickly, it takes time to build up your business when you specialise. So don’t go in expecting to make $5-10K months from the very start!
You will have a smaller pool of potential clients to work from – this is a big piece of why it takes time to build the momentum up. When you offer one specific area of service, naturally there are fewer people overall that need that one area. It doesn’t mean you won’t be able to fill up your books, but you need to be more visible to make sure you get in front of that smaller pool.
Burnout is still a risk if you’re not set up to prevent it – while the risk is lower than generalist, you can still burn yourself out. I speak from ample experience! Specialist services require more brainpower, more training, and it can even feel boring and repetitive. That’s why setting up your business to protect you from burnout is non-negotiable.
So which is right for me?
As you can probably guess, there is no one set answer to this question. Only you can decide the weight of each pro and con based on your skillset, your business goals and what is most important to you!
There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to being a VA. This is just one of them – but the best part is you get to change your mind if you realise your choice wasn’t a good fit.
Wondering if you have what it takes to start working as a health virtual assistant?
If you love the idea of:
Building a thriving biz as a health virtual assistant
Making money from the comfort of your home, your bed, your favourite cafe or even a tropical island resort (wherever you like, really!)
Pricing yourself in that sweet spot of client-friendly but not hitting burnout
Standing out from the crowd so you can work with the people you admire the most
Having the freedom to live your life and not be glued to your work 24/7...
then 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗧𝗼 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗩𝗔 is what you want to get your hot lil hands on!
In this FREE guide, I share exactly what you need to land your first paying clients as a health VA.
