I used to be a general VA who always got lowballed on rate, I niched down into real estate and everything changed
I spent two years looking for VA work as a generalist. I applied for everything, social media, admin, customer service, you name it. I kept getting low offers because so many other people were applying for the same roles. I was frustrated because I couldn't figure out what made me different from every other VA out there.
I talked to an experienced VA in a Facebook group and she told me to niche down. I didn't fully understand it at first. But I thought about my background and realized I had experience in documentation and had actually worked in a real estate office before. So I started researching what a real estate VA does. I studied transaction coordination, MLS basics, and real estate CRM tools. I built a portfolio specifically around real estate. Then I applied through VA Masters specifically looking for real estate clients. Within 3 weeks I got matched. The rate? $950 per month. Compare that to the $400 to $500 offers I kept getting as a generalist. The lesson? When you try to be everything to every client, you don't stand out to anyone.
When you're specific, you become the expert. Clients can see your value much more clearly when they know exactly what you bring to the table. Find your niche, study it deeply, and you will feel the difference in your rate.