Find Your Niche

Jack of all trades; master at none.

That’s the saying I’ve heard my parents say all my life.  Now that I’ve started my own business, all I hear is “find your niche.”  I understand how people can say that in some instances.  For example, if you’re a fantastic website designer and website design fulfills you and you have plenty of business, why expand into other fields you may not be as well versed in.

So I tried to look at my niche.

I made a list of all the tasks I’ve done at my past jobs.  Backing up a bit, I’ve worked full time in two general practice law offices for the past 20+ years before starting my business.  Talk about Jack of all Trades.  But that was never really enough for me, or maybe I just needed something completely different to do (besides raising two beautiful daughters by myself – another story for another time). 

So I taught piano for years.  Then I was a vet-tech for 3 years.  And I did pet-sitting in people’s homes for 8 years.  And for a little while took care of a nursing home’s animal residents.  This in addition to my full-time jobs, of course and, as you can see, these jobs overlapped.

Both of my daughters danced – and I mean lived at the dance studio.  I was very fortunate to have retired parents that live close and could share in the taxi service needed to the dance studio daily.  Incidentally, one of my daughters now teaches part-time at the same dance studio, teaches for a compay that goes into pre-school classes and teaches little kids, as well as being the dance team instructor for a middle school.  And she’s a full-time college student.  (Takes after mom, I guess).  So add taxi service and dance mom.  (sort of like a soccer mom)

Hmmmmm

Okay, I thought.  Let’s just stick to tasks at my full-time jobs, then.

• Transcribing dictation
• Proofreading/Editing legal documents
• Opening and distributing mail, sometimes just answering incoming correspondence
• Drafting pleadings
• Drafting discovery
• Answering discovery
• Writing copy
• Research
• Telephone calls to and from clients all day long – lots of hand-holding
• Scheduling depositions, client meetings, political meetings
• Organizing fundraising events – political and non-profit
• Managing emails all day for myself and my boss
• Booking travel itineraries – business and personal
• Organizing social events, holiday parties for clients, special events
• Scheduling sporting event itineraries and accompanying travel arrangements and entertainment

I’m sure I must be missing something in that list, but you get the picture.

So what did I do best?

Why, everything!   There are just some people whose niche is multi-tasking – because they are wired to multi-task and they’re good at it.  Should I just stick to transcribing dictation?  (be serious)  Or shall I just stick to scheduling or email management?  I think not.  Not because it’s beneath me!!  Because it’s NOT ME.  I need to multi-task and that’s where my experience and expertise lies.

But shall I take on more?

I have wonderful clients and I truly am grateful and love them all.  They are a joy to work with and we have a wonderful partnership.  But then I got to thinking . . . I couldn’t give them everything they may need.  My expertise falls flat as far as bookkeeping.  I don’t know html code well enough to design a website. 

So I had a choice . . .

Limit my business to what I know and am an expert, or get help.  I got help.  I welcome to my multi-VA firm a website designer and three levels of bookkeeping.  And a team of Virtual Assistants with their own special niches.  And I’m not stopping there.  I’m not stopping until a client can come to me and have every business need fulfilled – by our Jack of All Trades team.

Jack of All Trades, Master of All.

And did I mention networking and social media?  I could go on and on.  Another time, then.

Oh, and I revamped my website.  New look, new content.  Took awhile to finish it.   Because I didn’t know how?  OF COURSE NOT!  Because my clients always come first.  Take a look.

Nickey Hollenbach

Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC

484-919-0637

www.ptconciergeservice.com

www.twitter.com/nickeyh

You Need a Virtual Assistant

Even if you don’t realize it yet, you really do need a Virtual Assistant.  In this blog I’m going to go over some of the scenarios with which you could utilize a Virtual Assistant – today I’ll concentrate on small business owners and entrepreneurs.  Now if you don’t have any stress and you’re able to handle everything in your life and it all gets done – I want to meet you!  I feel like I need a VA sometimes.  Because, of course, I’m doing everyone’s else’s stuff and my stuff gets the appropriate back burner.  (Like the kitchen cabinets . . . )

as always, feel free to scroll down to “The Business Side”

The Personal Side

I have met a lot of people recently – could be all the networking events.  I really do enjoy networking and meeting new people.  And it’s interesting to find out what they do (and how I could help them, of course), but it’s really interesting to tell them what I do.  First I test the waters and say I’m a Virtual Assistant.  I’d guestimate that 75% of them have no idea what I’m talking about, they smile and nod politely, which is just fine because then I get to tell them!  The other 25% who know what a Virtual Assistant is either has one, knows someone who has one or has just read an article about VA’s.  I, of course, would love to insert here how environmental VA’s are (not counting driving to the networking events – carpool if you can!).  I will do a future blog on all the societal benefits of working from home.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have been referred to as a tree hugger since I was in high school.  Back in the – insert decade, I’m not going to –  I started to spout about global warming and what the industrial age has done to our planet, the ozone layer, etc., etc.  Most people looked at me like I had two heads, my mother would just say,”are you going to get up on your soapbox again?”  My father would just gently chuckle.  And the sad part is I still get the same reaction today from more people than I would care to admit.  It’s inconvenient to be environmental. (hey!  reference to Al Gore and I didn’t even realize it!)  Don’t get me wrong – I am not the quintessential environmentalist.  I still use plastic bags – but I try to reuse them if they haven’t had something gross in them.  I bought the cloth shopping bags from Giant and I forget them in the car sometimes.  But I will not allow chemicals on my lawn, and my brick patio would look much better more often if I would treat the weeds.  I’ve tried vinegar and lemon juice, boiling water – but the best thing is just to weed wack the patio.  I have been a staunch proponent for decades about not using chemicals outside that will eventually get in our water sources.  I do truly believe we are poisoning ourselves and our children with the use of chemicals on our plants and in the animals we eat, as well as the additions to our preserved food.  You see, my teenaged daughter had cancer a couple of years ago – a rare cancer usually found in people over 55.  She’s absolutely fine now, but what the heck?  My girlfriend’s daughter recently had  thyroid cancer . . . we’d better find a cure to cancer very soon since our children’s children will be the ones to suffer from our lack of responsibility.

But I draw the line at becoming a vegetarian – I LOVE seafood and chicken.  Never met a piece of sushi I didn’t like – except for sea urchin, of course.  (It has the consistency of snot.)  I would prefer if the chickens were free range and killed humanely and we hadn’t poisoned our fish supply with mercury and other chemicals, however.  OK, ok – I’m done – my mother’s voice just got inside my head.

BTW – anyone see the commercial where the tree walks across the pasture and hugs the environmentally friendly house; two guys are standing in the pasture – one looks at the other and says, “house hugger.”  I LOVE that commercial!!

 The Business Side:

Your business is doing great!  Calls are coming in, products are going out – services are being provided, the phones are ringing non-stop, you’re getting 500 emails a day . . .  but you’re so overwhelmed with everything that you’re not taking care of the details that are necessary to run a successful business.  Remember:  you’re in this to make money and time is money – don’t waste it!  It’s not unusual for me to hear, “I’m so busy I just can’t get all my emails answered in a timely fashion,” “I’m so busy my invoicing is falling behind,” “I’m a week or more behind on correspondence and the piles are growing on my desk.”  These are really just a few of the things I am constantly hearing from people I run into.  I ask them – have you thought about hiring someone to help?  “No – I can’t afford to hire anyone else and I don’t have the room or the time to set up extra equipment for someone else!”  Why put yourself through that?  And yes, you CAN afford to hire a Virtual Assistant!  I don’t know what YOUR time is worth, but I’ll bet it’s way more than $25 – $35 an hour!  And not having time to do your invoicing?  If that’s true – no wonder your cash flow may not be where you need it!  And there is nothing worse than piles that accumulate on your desk – after a while you’ll forget something important that will cost you.

There are typing services out there – all over the world.  If you just need to dictate and have someone type it – you need a typing service.  But that is NOT what a Virtual Assistant is all about.  When you develop a relationship with your VA, it’s exactly the same as having your own personal assistant who is right next to you.  A good VA learns about you and how you would like your work done.  It’s a learning process, of course, but one that is well worth it.  Please take a second to check out a couple of articles found in Entrepreneur.com.   Still can’t figure out what a VA can do to help you?  See this article – Top 10 Reasons to Hire a Virtual Assistant.  Or this one!  Do yourself and your business a favor – make the time to hire a good VA – then you’ll be on your way to getting your business (and your life) in order! 

Miscellaneous Stuff

I met this really nice guy at a networking event.  His name is Will Quinn of Quinn’s Office Furniture & Design.  I’ve been wanting to get a little side table/work station/file cabinet piece of furniture thing for some time but couldn’t find just what I wanted.  Will, who I’m sure has much bigger fish to fry, went out of his way to find me a cabinet (after trying to understand what I was talking about) and actually brought it to a meeting we attend so I wouldn’t have to pay shipping.  Wow!!  Big thanks to Will.  I now have a great desk surface with shelving for my files and supplies at an affordable price.  You should really check out their website – great furniture!  Some day I’ll hopefully get him to design and furnish an office for me (how do you insert a dream cloud here?)

The Food Critic

Ok – went out to eat last night at a place I’ve been to before once.  Geryville Publick House owned by Greg and Terri Lepore.  Greg is also an attorney as well as a bar owner, and I used to work with him over 20 years ago!  It was great catching up with him after all these years.  Nice.  The bar is a historic building which he refurbished and it looks great!  The bar is one of those nice, heavy wood bars with stone walls – really beautiful!  We started with a cheese and fruit plate and tuna appetizer.  The cheese plate had a sliced apple and grapes, small rounds of bread and 3 different cheeses that complimented each other nicely.  The tuna was chopped in small squares – raw – and seasoned perfectly over greens.  Nicely done!  I had a burger – yes, I eat ground red meat a few times a year – and it was fantastic!  Nice, warm, casual atmosphere.  If you’re in the mood for great food in a beautiful bar served by very competent and friendly waitstaff, go to the Geryville Publick House! 

ok – that’s it – I have to go work on the cabinets again, or still, or whatever . . . some are even hung up now and they look great!  I’ll put a pic on here for you when they’re actually finished.  Have a great weekend!

 Nickey Hollenbach

Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC

484-919-0637

www.ptconciergeservice.com

Hello world!

I am so excited to start blogging.  What took me so long?  Wish I knew.  Can’t go back . . .

I’ll be sharing what I do, how I do it, why you should connect with me and all sorts of great tips and ideas.  So visit me often and see what I’m up to!

The Personal Side:

I am also very excited about the whole virtual assistant thing.  How could I have gone into an office every day – a very poorly run office – and just put up with it for all those years??!!  Oh yea – the paycheck and benefits.  Now I remember!  But here’s the thing:  one day you will wake up and realize that life is so very short on this earth, if you have the chance to change it, you must grab that opportunity!  I am one of the lucky ones – that opportunity arrived and I have definitely grabbed it.  And if you are reading this and wondering how you, too, can be your own boss – make a plan.  Decide what it is that you love to do and what you are good at doing.  I was in a place where I was wondering why I went into this line of work (which is a different story for another time).  I started wondering what it is that I truly wanted to do.  Then I realized I really love what I do – it was just the environment in which I was doing it!  It’s funny how you can get caught up in the environment you spend so much time in – look the other way when you see how wrong things are, actually trying to justify the means to an end.  And some people will never realize what they do is so wrong – or they just don’t care.  You definitely can’t change other people – but you can change yourself and feel good about yourself and what you do!  So if you are unable to make such a drastic change but really want to – make a plan!  Get set up, do your research and save money.  You will truly love yourself for it and the world will look even more like the beautiful place it is.

The Business Side:

My future blogs will detail exactly why it is so beneficial for someone to have a virtual assistant and why virtual assistants are NOT just a typing service.  The client base is vast, and even if you do have a specialty (mine is law), you can assist virtually anyone with virtually anything.

So stay tuned!!

Nickey Hollenbach

Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC

484-919-0637

www.ptconciergeservice.com