Is this you mama? You know you want to start a business, but you aren’t sure if you should go service or product based?
With so many different types of businesses out there, it can be tough to know which one to choose. Weather you are looking for a side hustle or main gig, starting a Virtually Assisting business is a great choice!
In today’s episode I’m comparing online service-based businesses with product-based businesses, and show you why online service-based businesses have the advantage.
⏰ Timestamps:
[00:00:56] “Starting a business: Service vs. Product-based”
[00:01:49] “Why Service-Based Business is the Way to Go”
[00:03:14] “Costs to Consider When Starting a Business”
[00:04:21] “Maximize Savings by Investing Annually in Software”
[00:05:15] “Charge A Premium: Why Service-Based Business Wins”
[00:06:00] “Scaling Your Online VA Business With Ease”
[00:07:30] “Scalability and Repeat Business: Benefits of VA Business”
[00:08:40] “Client Referrals: The Key to Business Growth”
[00:09:25] “Virtual assisting business: low risk, high upsell potential”
[00:10:52] “Why a Service-Based Business is Perfect for Moms”
Let’s connect on Instagram! I’m @melyssamunday and @mamasmakingmore.
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Hey, mamas! Are you looking to earn money working from home while still having the flexibility to be available for your kids? Do you want a main gig or side hustle? Starting an online business might just be just the solution for you! But with so many different types of businesses out there, it can be tough to know which one to choose. So let’s compare online service-based businesses (like virtual assisting) with product-based businesses, and see why online service-based businesses have the advantage for you.
Lower Startup Costs
When it comes to starting an online business, one of the biggest hurdles you may face is the startup costs. With product-based businesses, you need to invest in inventory, manufacturing, and shipping costs, which can add up quickly. On the other hand, service-based virtual assistant businesses typically require less capital to start. All you need is your skills and a computer, and you’re good to go!
Scalability
Another advantage of service-based businesses is scalability. As you grow your client base, you can serve more clients without necessarily increasing your costs, as long as you can manage your workload efficiently. With product-based businesses, scalability can be a challenge, as you may need to increase your inventory, manufacturing, and shipping costs to meet demand.
Want to learn more about starting your VA Business? Grab my Quickstart Guide to Build Your VA Business now!
Repeat Business
Service-based businesses also come out on top again. They have a higher likelihood of repeat business compared to product-based businesses. When you provide top-notch service, your clients are likely to come back to you for more work and recommend your services to others (the biggest compliment!). This leads to a consistent source of revenue and a stable client base. With product-based businesses, repeat business is not as common, as customers may not need to purchase the same product repeatedly.
Lower Risk
You can count on a lower risk for service-based businesses compared to product-based businesses, since there is no inventory or manufacturing cost associated with them. If your service is not successful, you can always pivot and adjust your service offerings without experiencing a significant loss. With product-based businesses, if you produce a large amount of inventory that doesn’t sell, you may be left with excess inventory that you can’t sell, and that won’t be fun.
Get on the waitlist for the VA Business Builder Program (and get a special VIP rate) when it launches.
Flexibility
Finally, one of the biggest advantages of service-based businesses for moms is flexibility. With a virtual assisting business you can work from anywhere, at any time. You can schedule your work around your kids’ schedules, allowing you to be there for important moments like school drop-offs and pick-ups. Product-based businesses, on the other hand, may require more fixed hours, such as set times for manufacturing and shipping.
Considering all these things, if you’re a mom looking to earn money while still having the flexibility to be available for your kids, starting a virtual assisting business is a great option. With lower startup costs, scalability, repeat business, lower risk, and flexibility, online service-based businesses have a clear advantage over product-based businesses. So why not leverage your skills and start your own service-based business today? You’ve got this, mama!
Are we Insta friends?! I LOVE connecting there, voice DMs are super fun! I’m @melyssamunday and @mamasmakingmore.
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Melyssa: Hello. Welcome. How the heck are you doing moms? Welcome to the Mamas Making More Podcast. Quick check-in time. It is May when I’m recording this and every year I get tricked into thinking the end of the school year. Especially for your mama’s out there with school-aged kids. I get tricked into thinking that it’s going to be like, oh, super simple time. Actually is the exact opposite. It is crazy town right now. Even though all the sports are done, we’ve got projects that we have to finish. We have to make sure grades are up. We have to make sure all these things are done. We have to get ready for our summer plans. It’s just a million things to like tie up in a bow before the end of the school year. And I just, it gets me every single year that it’s just so much harder than I’m expecting. And you would think after it, my oldest is 16. Now you would think that after all this time I would be used to it, but man, it sneaks up on me every time. So shout out to all you mamas of school-aged kids. Hope you are surviving. We will all get through this [00:01:00] difficult May and get into the summertime and hopefully have a nice break with our kids during the summer.
[00:01:07] Melyssa: So that was my quick little check-in with you guys. And I will jump into today’s episode. What I want to talk about today, it’s actually interesting that I haven’t touched on it yet. But what I want to talk about is, especially you moms out there who have not yet started your business and you’re considering like what your income stream is going to be. What do you want to bring in, you know, you want to bring income in the door.
[00:01:30] Melyssa: You aren’t totally sure if you want it to be a service-based business. You’re considering maybe doing a product based business and wondering what the differences are. And maybe you’re wondering what’s Melyssa’s opinion on this? Well, I am going to share with you. I’m going to tell you all about what I think the pros and the cons are and spoiler alert, I think that starting a service-based business is absolutely the way to go.
[00:01:56] Melyssa: No shade to moms who do have product based businesses who [00:02:00] are going to start product based businesses. But this is my opinion on the benefits of going with a service-based business and how I think that it can help you reach that higher income stream faster than if you had a product based business.
[00:02:14] Melyssa: So let me tell you . The first reason is a service-based your virtual assisting online business is going to have a much lower startup costs than a product based business.
[00:02:27] Melyssa: Yes, you should have a computer, a laptop. It does not have to be solely for business. This can be a family laptop. You should have an internet connection. So there is that cost. Depending on what service you are offering, you may need to invest in a couple pieces of software.
[00:02:46] Melyssa: Now I’ve talked about this before. If you can go with a free version, go with a free version first, always test it out, always go with the lowest cost option because you can always upgrade and you don’t always need a higher option. [00:03:00] Now I really liked the program Canva. Canva has a free version. And it’s great. You can absolutely start on that.
[00:03:08] Melyssa: I also think that Canva is a hundred percent a great program and really worth the investment. I believe it’s like around $120 annually. And so when you do have that kind of investment in your VA business, this is something that you can kind of spread out towards a few different clients and kind of recoup that cost a little bit faster.
[00:03:29] Melyssa: Now in a product based business, you are going to have this physical inventory that you’re going to have a cost for. You’re going to have the materials, you’re going to have the cost for you to produce whatever it is that you’re producing for that product. And a big one right now is shipping. Shipping costs seem to be skyrocketing, and that’s definitely a cost that you need to incur in your business, whether you’re incurring it or you’re passing it on to your customers. That’s something that you need to consider.
[00:03:58] Melyssa: If you were starting your [00:04:00] virtual assisting business, whether it’s your full-time gig, whether it’s a side hustle, you’re leveraging your expertise to provide those services to clients. You don’t have to worry about purchasing that inventory beyond a couple software programs and the software programs. Again, if you can do a lifetime deal, that’s absolutely like a jackpot.
[00:04:21] Melyssa: Generally, you can invest annually for some savings in a lot of the softwares as opposed to paying monthly. So that’s something to consider as well. But in general, depending on what service you’re providing, it’s not likely that you’re going to need a vast amount of software programs, one or two, maybe a couple of free ones, but there’s not going to be super heavy investment upfront. But generally just to provide this service, it’s more your experience and your expertise.
[00:04:48] Melyssa: With your VA business, you are likely to be pulling in a profit faster and a higher profit than you would in a product based business. Because again, with that product based business, you have the product, the [00:05:00] materials, your time, and that shipping that you have to recoup before you start making that profit.
[00:05:05] Melyssa: Whereas as soon as you start providing that service as a VA, You are already making a profit based on having set your rates, whether it’s an hourly rate or a package rate. You get to charge a premium for the service that you are providing and providing a service generally will bring you a higher income per hour than selling an item. I’m especially talking about what these physical products I’m talking about moms who are going into business selling tumblers and the adorable earrings and the t-shirts.
[00:05:41] Melyssa: I think those items are great. I’ve purchased many from moms. I definitely love supporting other mom businesses. I think those are great, but I’m just talking generally. If you are going into it, trying to turn a large profit, you are going to turn that large profit much quicker with a service-based [00:06:00] business.
[00:06:00] Melyssa: Okay next, let’s talk about scalability. The other advantage of having your online VA business is that you are generally going to be able to scale higher and faster than a product based business, because the primary costs for your VA business, they are going to be related to the time and your experience rather than the production inventory and shipping costs that I keep hitting on. So this means that the service-based business, it can really be more easily scaled up as demand for your services increases.
[00:06:32] Melyssa: A service-based VA business allows you to grow your business without incurring that additional significant cost. You’re going to be able to start with just a very few software programs, and you’re not going to have to put in a lot more of an investment,, to start being able to grow that.
[00:06:50] Melyssa: In addition with your virtual assisting business, the more you niche down, the more you have a focus, the more you become an expert at a certain service that you are [00:07:00] providing ,the greater amount that you can charge. So just because you start your VA business at a certain rate, at a certain package price. That doesn’t mean that you can’t then have pretty big jumps from there as you become more experienced, as you start getting the work done quicker, as you start to become more in demand.
[00:07:17] Melyssa: Whereas with the product based businesses, with the tumblers and the earrings and the t-shirts, you can sometimes start to increase your costs, but you can’t, you know, necessarily double your costs right away. The prices for those things, the demand and the price are going to remain relatively steady, as opposed to the ability, like I said, with that jump and expertise for your virtual assisting, you’re going to be able to increase your rates accordingly.
[00:07:46] Melyssa: So the scalability of your VA business, I think that really makes it an attractive option, especially for moms looking to build that business, looking to build your income, because you can have that increase in [00:08:00] demand and that increase in your rate without having a big capital investment in order to make that happen.
[00:08:06] Melyssa: Next, let’s go to repeat business. Now, another benefit of your VA business is the higher likelihood of repeat business. When you have a client that’s satisfied with the service that you’re providing with the work that you’re providing them, they are more likely to continue to work with you and also recommend you. This leads to a more consistent source of revenue and that stable client base.
[00:08:31] Melyssa: The service-based businesses. It’s really all about relationships and providing that just top-notch service and that can help you build trust and credibility. And again, that not only helps you retain your current clients that helps you get more clients because your existing clients are going to be referring you to other people, and that’s just really going to help grow your customer base.
[00:08:52] Melyssa: Now with a product based business. If you are someone who makes those adorable tumblers, I love the little glittery ones. . Again, [00:09:00] I purchased them for myself. I purchased them for gifts and I totally believe in supporting moms who have that kind of a business, but there’s really only so much of an opportunity for repeat customers because yes, someone might come back and purchase again from you. But they’re not going to continue to purchase over and over forever. There’s really a limit to how many tumblers one person needs. So you don’t have that really high level of repeatability that you have in your virtual assisting business.
[00:09:31] Melyssa: Additionally, when you are a VA that repeat business, it can also lead to upselling and cross-selling when you’re adding additional services they’re much more likely to continue to purchase from you and to purchase other things from you as a service provider, because you make their life easier.
[00:09:49] Melyssa: Okay. The final key thing that I’m going to cover is the risk factor. And the fact that starting a virtual assisting business is going to be a lower risk for a couple reasons, [00:10:00] your service business, your VA business is definitely going to have a lower risk than your product based business, because you don’t have that inventory, you don’t have the manufacturing costs. You don’t have the storage costs. You don’t have the shipping costs. And that means if you’re providing virtual assisting services and it’s not necessarily to landing well with your clients, it’s not hitting, you’re not getting those repeat customers, you’re not getting new customers coming in the door. You can pretty easily pivot your services on demand and adjust those service offerings without incurring an additional significant cost.
[00:10:34] Melyssa: If you are a product based business and you have a line of tumblers that are already produced, because you’re ready to go to a farmer’s market or a craft market, and you’re going to sell that inventory. Maybe people aren’t really vibing with the style of those. And if they’re not, and they’re not selling, then you’re kind of stuck with that inventory. You can’t very easily pivot those, as you can with a service.
[00:10:56] Melyssa: Also, if you have say you have the earrings or the t-shirts or [00:11:00] whatever that you have pre-made, and they’re not selling, you’re definitely stuck with what you do with those items, whether you’re storing them, whether you’re trying to reduce the price on them and take even less of a profit.
[00:11:11] Melyssa: These service-based businesses require less of that capital. And really then that helps kind of lessen the pressure to achieve that high volume of sales. You can start smaller in a service-based business. You can start with one two three clients in the beginning. Again, this can just be your side hustle. You can start really low, but still because of your hourly rate, because of your package rate being much higher than you could get with a product based business, you have more of that income coming in the door.
[00:11:42] Melyssa: So, as you can tell my opinion is that the service-based, the virtual assisting type of business it’s really the sweet spot for moms. You can pivot, you have the repeat customers, you have [00:12:00] that scalability. You have the lower entry cost and you have this ability just to really explode your business and you have the ability to really control the hours that you work in that business. So having a VA business is just such a great opportunity. Moms, I cannot express to you how big of an opportunity it was for me. When I started what a game changer, a life changer it was for me and my family. And I want you to have that same opportunity and that same success and the same flexibility.
[00:12:33] Melyssa: I hope you found this helpful. I hope it resonated with you. Some of these options of having your VA business and the benefits to you. Uh, to be able to get your business off the ground and have that profit coming in a lot faster.
[00:12:46] Melyssa: If you enjoy this episode, shoot me a DM. I love voice DMS on Instagram. You can also type it to me, but I just, I think there’s something so personal about chatting with you guys on Instagram. I am @mleyssamunday or [00:13:00] @mamasmakingmore hit me up there and that’s all I have for this episode. I will catch you in the next one.