Jun
03
USP Lesson: Stacy Brice, AssistU
This post is part of a series that will tell you how to create your USP by looking at other real, live ittybiz owners who have done it and kicked ass at it.
First, it should be noted that it would be unwise to accuse me of any level of objectivity in this post whatsoever. I love Stacy Brice of AssistU fame (and I do mean fame) like I love pink sparkly ponies on Christmas morning. I love her like I love Hermès scarves and English roses and the word “apothecary”. Basically, I like her a lot. Just be aware.
So, who the hell is Stacy, other than my girl crush? Stacy runs the highly acclaimed AssistU, a finishing school of sorts for virtual assistants. You wanna be a Big Girl VA? You go to AssistU. Every part of the Learning Not To Suck process is smooth and delightful under Stacy’s careful watch and tutelage.
Wanna be about as unique as it gets? Read and learn, darlings.
Every step, all in one place.
Stacy has created a learning environment that would make you swoon. She takes good applicants and moulds them into great VAs. She teaches about all of the business stuff, the marketing stuff, the invoicing stuff, and, you know, the VA-ing stuff. Spend a few grand with Stacy and you are quite literally set for life.
Compare that to the $2 an hour crap jobs you find on Elance. Bwah ha ha.
Get registered. (Wedding not required.)
Next up, in order to take care of her freshly minted VA Dreams-Come-True, she has a DIY registry service. You want a VA? You head on over to AssistU and go through a fairly comprehensive analysis process that figures out what you’re like, what you need, and what you’re looking for in an assistant. It’s free but it’s exhaustive – this is not a little multiple choice quiz that says, “Are you: a.) an asshole, b.) a commie, c.) a murderer, or d.) basically nice?” Grab yourself a drink and plan to spend some time.
Basically, this way you don’t have to Google “virtual assistant” and get the ones who know great SEO but swear at your clients.
Platinum service. Like a dating service, without the dating.
And then we have the spot where Stacy nails it beyond nailing it. This is where she really knocks it out of the park. Stacy offers a personal service where she will find your VA for you. Pay her $500 and you get yourself your own piece of administrative heaven.
If you’re new to the game, you think, “$500?! Are you off your nut?”
And that’s where you’re not thinking like a business owner, my dear.
Who needs a VA? Usually someone who’s drowning in work, yeah? And someone who has no qualms paying $30-$100 an hour for expert admin help? And someone with no time? And no human resources experience – as in, they’re getting a VA because they don’t have staff? Basically, that person is me, and when I heard about this, I just about wept with joy. Stacy is a damn genius and it is no wonder that she has been personally profiled in every major publication under the sun, as well as getting her own little piece in the Four Hour Workweek.
So what can you learn from Stacy?
Can you find an unexperted field and turn yourself into a leading expert?
Can you find ways to help not only your first tier clients, but their clients?
Can you add premium levels of service for people with time but no money?
Bonus: Can you start thinking outside the box about what your clients want, before they even know they want it?
Hey Naomi, thanks for this. It’s nice to see insights into the business’ of others and I look forward to your future posts in this area.
I don’t want to sound like a dick here, but I’m surprised that website is performing well. It isn’t instantly clear what the site is about and I’m not sure I would purchase through them unless I read a review like this one here.
Again, don’t want to sound like a dick, that was just my first impression.
Cheers,
Glen
Glen, I agree – I would have clicked away immediately if I hadn’t arrived through this post. Sounds like she probably has sufficient word of mouth referrals though, especially with a mention in 4 Hour Workweek.
Naomi,
What a great post about our Ms. Stacy! She does such an awesome job training, coaching, and helping individuals build a strong, viable virtual assistant business.
Glen and Laurel, after reading your comments I went to Assistu.com’s home page to see what you saw. It is very clear and upfront about what AssistU. It states ‘Training, Coaching and Referring the World’s Greatest Virtual Assistants.’
In addition, you don’t ‘purchase’ through AssistU. We are not a product :-). We are partners and collaborators with our clients and are real-live business owners.
AssistU is the premier training ground and is actually quite well known throughout our industry. And, as for the infamous Four-Hour Work Week, it came way after AssistU was founded and has serious flaws when talking about the costs of a virtual assistant.
Of course, I am slightly prejudiced because I am an AssistU graduate of more than 6 years and my clients know the value of AssistU.
Thanks again, Naomi, for loving our Ms. Stacy! AssistU is not for everyone and virtual assistance is certainly not the cheap solution but a great cost-effective and efficient solution.
Thank you Naomi, for the kind words about our fearless Virtual Maven and our wonderful community.
I graduated from AU in January 1999 and have had a successful VA practice for 10+ years. AU teaches about settings standards and boundaries, how to choose your ideal client, how to say *no* (yes, some people actually need help with this), attraction and so much more. The environment at AU is like nothing else, anywhere else. It’s a community of (mostly) women, who love, support and uplift one another. There is no cattiness that is typically associated with mostly women communities. We do have a few guys thrown in for good measure. LOL
And yes, a lot of the success AU has had is due to word of mouth, clients who have worked successfully with VAs, clients like: Ali Brown, the Ezine Queen, Fabienne Fredrickson and Cheryl Richardson. But on the other hand, Stacy has done a phenomenal job at promoting AU over the years. Wanna see? Check out http://www.assistu.com/news/index.shtml and see how many times Stacy has been written about or interviewed.
With regards to the 4 Hour Work Week, that book did a huge disservice to the VA profession by talking about VAs in India who work for $4-5/hour. Remember, you get what you pay for. At AU, we are all about the relationship and value. If it doesn’t fit, it won’t work.
I invite you to spend some more time on the AU website and see just what a great community we have.
Cheers,
Desiree Powell
Hello! I love the writing here and added it to my Google reader. Question: What in Sam Hill is a USP? Sorry to be so lame, but I could use a clue on that. I’m in the slow lane… thanks! See you back here. Bonnie
Hi Bonnie -
USP – Unique Selling Point
There’s really nothing I can add to what my fellow AssistU grads, Kyle and Desireé have already said. Except this.
AssistU is much more than an awesome, successful, groundbreaking business and the premier organization for training VAs. It is a life-changing experience for those of us who have completed its training program. AssistU’s program is one of the most rigorous, comprehensive and fun learning experiences I’ve ever participated in.
I can’t even imagine how many lives Stacy Brice has touched and changed for the better through AssistU. I’m just very happy to be one of them.
Bonnie, if you are as clueless as I was when I first started looking into my own business, I suggest you spend a lot of time on Wikipedia. It’s an exc ellent resource for those of us with more time than money.
If I didn’t already have a fantastic VA in mind for when I need one, I would definitely go through Stacy (based on her great Twitter-vibe as well as this review).
However I do understand what Glen and Laurel are saying – I find the website a little difficult to focus on. For some reason it makes me want to go get my reading glasses…
LOL Alex, I’m the say way lately. I’ll pass that on and see what can be done.