To Niche Or Not To Niche As A Health VA
One of the first questions that should be on your mind when considering virtual assistant work: who do I want to work with? Prospective health VAs can feel overwhelmed when it comes to choosing a niche, but there’s no need to be!
There are a variety of options when choosing a niche. And the best part? It’s your business, so you get to choose the options that feel good for you.
If you’re unsure how to get started, this is here to help you.
What does it mean to niche?
In case you’re unfamiliar with the term? A niche is a way of describing who you work with. It can be through several lenses, depending on the work you’re offering. In health practitioners, we will often see them niche based on sex, symptom, body system(s) and/or conditions.
But for VAs, niching can look a little different! That’s why I’ve put together this handy guide to help you figure out who you might like to work with.
Ways that you can niche as a health VA
Niche what type of business you work with
One option for niching is choosing one (or a couple) of business types that you work with when it comes to the health profession. For example, you could focus your services on:
Solo practitioners
Practitioners running a single-modality clinic
Practitioners running a multi-modality clinic
Supplement companies
Health food brands
Other healthcare product retail brands
Businesses that support the health industry (including fellow VAs, mentors, education providers…)
Now you may not know to begin with which to pick – and that’s fine!
It took me a while to figure out who I enjoy working with the most. I had to work with all of these options to see what worked best with my values, my services, and my passion. And even to this day, I cover a few of these niches.
Niche what stage of business you work with
This is another simple niche to consider, but the choice makes a big difference in how you market, offer and price yourself!
For example, you may choose to work with:
Students who are setting up their business before graduation
New practitioners who are finding their feet and building their biz from scratch
Scaling practitioners who are looking to leverage their time and go next-level
Established practitioners who have a mini-empire of a business with multiple forms of income and a complex structure
Similar stages within other forms of business e.g. newer supplement companies vs established companies
Niche what area of interest you work with
Another popular way to niche is choosing an area of interest you have. You know that one area of health that you geeked out over during your studies? Imagine getting paid to continue geeking out in that area (I know it’s a dream come true for me!)
This could be:
A specific condition or group of conditions
One or two body systems that you’re particularly passionate about
A modality
A symptom or clinical focus
This gives you plenty to work with depending on what lights you up!
For example, if female repro is your favourite topic, you could end up working with a few naturopaths, a pelvic floor specialist, and a women’s health supplement company. Or you could work with your modality e.g. nutrition and work with a variety of practitioners within that area.
Should you just be a generalist? My thoughts
There are upsides to being a generalist, or not niching at all. But in my books, there are too many downsides to not refining your ideal client at all!
Yes, you have a bigger pool of potential clients to work with. But a bigger pool does not always equal more income or better clients! In fact, I find it tends to be the other way around.
That is why I will typically recommend niching down in some way, shape or form. You may like to do so as soon as you start your VA business, or you can do it once you have some experience under your belt.
With that being said, I would like to remind you – working as a health VA itself is a niche. The key is ‘health’, which implies that you either don’t work with other professions OR you don’t focus on them.
And on that note, you get 100% control over who you do and don’t work with. If you have multiple areas of knowledge, there’s no reason you can’t offer services outside of the health realm. Or if you want to get some extra cash & experience, you can dip your toes into other areas!
If I remember correctly, some of my earliest VA clients included:
Articles for a Mediterranean restaurant in Sydney
Blogging for a wedding-car hire service
A business description for a dog treat business
If choosing a niche is holding you back from starting? Then start with no niche and create it as you go! The worst thing you can do is fixate on an aspect of your business that stops you from taking action and putting yourself out there.
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.
