105. Why Virtual Assistants and OBMs Attract the Wrong Clients (And How to Fix Your Positioning)

Are you updating your Instagram bio for the millionth time, trying to figure out if you're an OBM, VA, or project manager? Every time you say one of those titles, it feels like wearing someone else's clothes that don't quite fit. You pick "OBM" because it sounds legit, but then clients expect you to do everything, and half of it you don't even want to do.

Industry labels like OBM and VA are just buckets. They're helpful for LinkedIn searches, but they don't communicate your actual value or attract the clients who need what you're brilliant at. In this episode, I'm breaking down why trying to fit yourself into these generic labels is killing your business, how it's attracting the wrong clients, and exactly how to create your own positioning that makes you the obvious choice for your ideal clients.

Key Points Covered:

✨ Why industry labels are descriptive, not prescriptive, and how using generic terms attracts generic expectations

✨ The real reason you're burnt out: you're attracting clients who want everything when you only love doing specific things

✨ How to create your own positioning that makes your ideal clients say "this is exactly what I need" (plus a real client transformation story)

💫 Ready to stop forcing yourself into boxes that don't fit? Grab my free Peaceful Profits Vault at dancingleafsolutions.com/resources

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🎧 Podcast produced and edited with love by @FerAssists 🩵

Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Andrea here, your host and passionate business coach and scaling strategist for soulful service providers and coaches. Welcome to another episode of Solepreneur Scaling Stories. Have you ever wanted to look behind the curtain of your fellow entrepreneur's business to see what actually went into scaling it?

[00:00:22] Well, you are in for a treat 'cause that's exactly what we are doing here. In each episode, we will be uncovering the truth of the lessons and the stories behind what it truly takes for sold entrepreneurs to scale their businesses intentionally. I'm hoping that their stories will help you to unlock the true potential of your business so you can create your own soulful, abundant, and aligned laptop lifestyle through intentional scaling.

[00:00:46] So whether you're just starting out on your scaling journey or you're a seasoned entrepreneur seeking inspiration, this episode has something incredible in store for you. Are you ready to rise, grow, and create a business that fully supports your dream life? Well, let's dive in. [00:01:00] Before we begin, make sure to hit that subscribe buttons.

[00:01:03] You never miss an empowering episode filled with real stories and soulful insights.

[00:01:13] I see you, I see you updating your Instagram bio for the millionth time and thinking like, what am I? Am I an OBMA project manager, a va? Like what the hell do I even call myself And. You pick one, right? You're like, I'll go with OBM or my favorite O BM slash VA because that sounds the most legit. Like I do all the things, but every time you say it, it feels a little off.

[00:01:41] Like you're wearing somebody else's clothes that don't fit your personality, and they're not quite the right size. So if you've ever felt trapped by these industry labels that don't actually fit what you do. Or what you want to do, or who you are. This episode is for you. Welcome again [00:02:00] to Solepreneur Scaling Stories.

[00:02:02] I am Andrea and I help Done for you online service riders like the A and oms stop forcing themselves into boxes that they were never designed to fit in or for them in the first place. So today we are talking about why trying to be an OBM or VA or PM. When you're actually something else is killing your business and your soul and how we can fix this pretty easily.

[00:02:29] So this is what I see, right? You're scrolling through Instagram, you're scrolling through LinkedIn, you're seeing other people who call themselves oms VAs, va oms, talking about how they do like all these things and how successful they are, and you're like, okay, cool. Like that must be what I'm supposed to be doing.

[00:02:48] And. So then you update your bio. Oh, I help entrepreneurs scale their businesses. You create offers. With things like team management and systems set up, because that's what ODMs [00:03:00] do. So that's what you're doing. And then you get on a discovery call a potential client. It's like, okay, like what do you do as an OBM?

[00:03:08] And then you're kind of like, well, like everything, you know, I manage your projects, your team, your systems, and you can see that they're like, eh, like their eyes are kind of glazing over, like you're not really connecting with 'em, right? Or worse. Like they do become a client and then now they want you to do all these things, right?

[00:03:29] They're like task management, set up their clickup, handle their scheduling, do their inbox, and you're like, wait, like why did I sign up for this? I told them I could do everything, and now I'm doing literally everything and I don't think I enjoy all of this. So if this is ringing a bell. Let's get into it because you are trying to fit into a label that doesn't describe you accurately, and you don't have to do it that that way, like you do not have to do this.

[00:03:58] So what's [00:04:00] happening here? First of all, these labels, these industry labels are descriptive, not prescriptive. And here is what I mean. When you call yourself an OBM, you think you tell people what you do, but really. You don't, you're just confusing them, especially with this OBM label, because it has gotten so watered down, it doesn't mean much anymore.

[00:04:23] So OBM means different things to different people. It means different things, not only to potential clients, but to people doing this job to people who call themselves this. So some manage teams, some manage projects, some do system setups, some handle launches, some do everything. So when you say I'm an OBM, your potential client hears.

[00:04:47] I don't know, like I do all sorts of things, like I do business things, which is not exactly compelling to anybody. So these labels, right? OBM, VA project manager, they're just [00:05:00] buckets. Oh my God. This example was about an OBM, but it's even worse for VAs. Virtual assistants do so many different things. So if you are somebody who is a virtual assistant, if you're a VA and.

[00:05:14] You think because you're a va, you have to do all these different things. That's also not true. It is a bucket, right? It's helpful for SEO, right? It's helpful for LinkedIn searches, but these titles don't communicate what you do or your value. You value is in the transformation you create, not the bucket that you fit into.

[00:05:36] I'm going to say that again because it is really, really important. Your value and the thing that you should be talking about. Is the transformation that you create, not the bucket that you fit into. So here is the second thing, is that when you're focusing on calling yourself a va, OBM and stop there and say, I [00:06:00] help you scale, I save you time, you're attracting the wrong clients completely.

[00:06:03] 'cause you're using the wrong language, right? When the thing that makes you come alive is, let's say, creating amazing client experiences. And that's what you're amazing at and you love it. Calling yourself an OBM is a disservice. Like, yeah, you can do all these things and you do all of these things, but the focus is on these client experiences, right?

[00:06:27] And so that's something special that's. The OBM doesn't capture that, right? Like you're the person who thinks about every touchpoint, the onboarding that makes clients feel welcome to taking care of the communication that makes 'em feel heard. The offboarding that leaves them raving about working with your client and is actually helping your client grow their business.

[00:06:48] But you're not saying any of that. You're saying, I'm an OBM I help you scale. So you book a client who saw you as an OBM and that Oh cool. You know, or [00:07:00] they thought like, oh, cool, this is someone who is gonna set up my Asana boards, manage my team meetings, and you do that, but that's not what you really want to do.

[00:07:08] You want to design experiences that make their clients feel like VIPs. You wanna create systems that make people actually want to work with them, but instead you're doing task management, meeting notes, whatever, feeling resentful and thinking like, oh, well my business is not successful. But it's not you, right?

[00:07:28] It's not that you can't do this, it's literally just that you're communicating the wrong thing. You're attracting the wrong client because you're using the wrong words to talk about what you do. When you use really generic industry labels, you attract generic expectations, and then when you do that, you're also stuck trying to be everything to everyone, which is both exhausting and unsustainable for you.

[00:07:54] So remember that. When you are generic, [00:08:00] it is unsustainable. It's exhausting because you're doing everything. You are being reactive to everything that happens in somebody else's business. And now the third thing is that you're scared to create your own label. To really shout from the rooftops what it is that you do or what you want to be doing because you think it will turn people away.

[00:08:22] Because you think that's not what people want, and I get it right. When you're already struggling to find clients, the idea of calling yourself other than the industry standard term, feels really terrifying. You think like, well, if I don't call myself an OBM, people won't know what I do. I'll lose opportunities there, but.

[00:08:41] When you do that, all you do is blend in with everybody else. There is a sea of people who are OPMs. There is a sea of people who are virtual assistants. There's a sea of people who now claim that they're both things, but when you really lean into. Your own positioning, meaning that when [00:09:00] you lean into, oh, this is how I talk about myself, this is how I talk about my services, this is how I talk about the transformation that I create.

[00:09:07] And when you call yourself a client experience expert or a launch manager, or a hiring and onboarding specialist. Now you stand out to the people who really need that. And yes, some people won't get it and some people do need the person who does everything. And if you love doing that, then you've probably already stopped listening to this episode and that's totally fine.

[00:09:30] But the people who do get it and who do like, are like, oh, this is kind of interesting, right? Like, oh, this is really cool. The people who. When you talk about the specific thing that you do and you talk about the transformation, and you use the right words and you like, they feel seen and they feel heard.

[00:09:46] These people are your ideal clients and they're going to be so excited to work with you than somebody who's just looking for a generic person to do all the things. So the right clients don't care about labels. They care about the transformation that you're [00:10:00] creating. So if you're a client experience designer or specialist who helps course creators turn one time buyers into raving fans through intentional touch points, the clients who need that are going to be like, oh my God, yes.

[00:10:12] Like this is exactly what I need. And they don't care that you are not calling yourself an OBM, right? They care that you solve their specific problem. So let's do a little gut check. So when you talk online or introduce yourself to somebody as an OBM or VA a VA OBMA project manager, do you feel energized and excited?

[00:10:36] Or do you feel like a little bit like, yeah, like this is what I do. I don't really know how to explain it, and you feel like you're putting on this like costume of somebody who does these things. If it's the second one, this is your intuition telling you something. You don't have to keep shrinking yourself to fit a role that just doesn't fit you right?

[00:10:59] Like your [00:11:00] business gets to be yours. You get to create it in whatever way is the best for you. Your title gets to reflect who you actually are, not who LinkedIn says you should be. And the beautiful thing about this is that when you finally own this, then everything else in your business gets easier. It flows so much better.

[00:11:19] Like your messaging gets so much clearer and you get to really hone in because if you are like, oh, I do business backend stuff for everybody, you, it's so hard to market that it's so hard to talk about something because it's so varied. You know, like, how much can you actually say about that? Then I save you time and help you grow your business.

[00:11:39] And that's not compelling, like at all. Right? But when you are like, oh, I'm a client experience designer, like you can dig in, you can get to very specific pain points that your clients have. You can get to the, the desires that they have. You can show them like, these are the really cool things that I can do that will help you like.

[00:11:59] [00:12:00] Grow your business is gonna help you. Or like that your clients feel so loved on that they're going to refer you to so many people. Like the, like I have so many messaging ideas, content ideas, just from that, you know, versus when it's so wide in general then like, it's almost like blank for me because it's like, I don't know, like you think the options, it's too big.

[00:12:19] It's like the ocean, you know? And so. Like in addition to this, it's not just like your messaging and how you market and things like this, it's also when you're on calls on these discovery calls, you. Uh, get to talk about your specific process. You get to talk about your framework. You get to talk about the specific transformation that you create.

[00:12:38] 'cause you'd know this and you're excited about it. And so you attract these aligned clients so much easier. And now the ones you're getting on calls with are like, oh, like these clients are amazing and they love you right away. You love them and it's because. You are so focused and you're so specific and you've dive, you know, you've dug in, you've thought about it, and what you're putting out there [00:13:00] is attracting the right clients, these really aligned clients because they hire you for you and your thing and not for something generic that they could hire anybody for.

[00:13:09] So here is an example of a client that I'm working with who we will call her, Tara, who you know, came to me. She called herself an OBM. She's been in business for a couple years. You know, she gets clients, she's getting a little bit burnt out because she, she books clients who want help with operations, but then they dump like all these other tasks on her and.

[00:13:32] She is, she just wasn't feeling it. Right. So this happens a lot. This like kind of scope creep, this type of thing. Especially when you're not specific in what you do. So when we dug into it and we talked about, you know, what are the things we find found her unique magic, using my framework, things that you're amazing at, things that you love doing.

[00:13:49] And when she, we kind of dug into it more, this is where we came up with this client journey, right? And she's like. You know, she's like, I love designing this. Like when somebody hires a coach or a [00:14:00] course creator, like I love thinking about every single touch point. I love the way that they celebrate wins.

[00:14:05] I love making clients feel taken care of, and it was so obvious to me that that was her thing, right? Not operations in general, but this very specific client experience and. She looked at me at first like, wait, like people don't hire for that. I was like, no, people hire for these types of things all the time, and it's so much easier to get these clients because you can talk about it with so much passion and you know, all the things that I just said.

[00:14:31] So the ideal clients, the ones who care about these things, they absolutely do hire for those things because a great client experience is what turns these one-time buyers into lifelong clients and word of mouth marketing machines. And so this is a really valuable thing, right? So we are in the process of.

[00:14:53] Repositioning what she does of updating her messaging, her offers and everything. So that way it's all focused on what she's brilliant at and what [00:15:00] she loves and not what she thinks she's supposed to be doing. And so, you know, we're just getting into this, but I can tell you that that. Uh, things are heating up that clients are starting to reach out to her, and she's not forcing herself to be interested in task management anymore.

[00:15:15] She's owning what she actually loves, and that's what's going to attract your ideal clients, not falling under or this generic OBM or VA or whatever label, because she thinks that she has to. And you know, of course this is not just about client experience, it's about so many different things. Maybe you're the person who loves hiring and onboarding, like you love sourcing people, you love doing interviews, you know, you love matching people with their right fit.

[00:15:43] Um. Clients, things like that. Maybe you love creating onboarding systems to set up new team members for success, and so you can a hundred percent focus on that. You know, you can be a specialist in hiring and team building. Maybe you live for launches, right? You love the energy, the [00:16:00] timeline, the coordination, making sure nothing falls through the cracks, and you love launch managing.

[00:16:06] Or maybe you're just all about systems and automations. Like you're generally, you're genuinely excited about building Airtable bases and connecting Zapier workflows. And so that doesn't have to just be operations. You can be a systems and automation specialist who like find the things that fall through the cracks, you know, and make the businesses flow so much easier.

[00:16:27] So there are so many ways to specialize to talk about what you do and when you own this. Then it's so much better than just trying to be this generic person because now you are the obvious choice for the clients who need exactly what you do. So here is a couple of things. Three things I would like you to take away from what I'm saying here.

[00:16:49] One is that industry labels are buckets. They're helpful for organization, but they don't communicate your specific value. So feel free to dig in. There. [00:17:00] Two, when you use generic labels, you attract to generic expectations and generic clients, and then you're stuck doing work that you don't love. Three, creating your own positioning, your own words, how you talk about what you do.

[00:17:11] It doesn't confuse people. It clarifies and specifies what you do so you attract these right aligned clients. Your clients are not looking for a label. They're looking for the transformation. They're looking for you with a specific thing that you create for them. So stop hiding behind a title that doesn't fit and start owning who you actually are.

[00:17:29] So if you are listening to this and thinking like, well, holy crap, I've been forcing myself into this box the whole time. I see you. Do not worry. And if you want help figuring out what your unique positioning is, how you should talk about yourself, like what this thing is, you know that you love, how to communicate what you do in a way that attracts these ideal clients.

[00:17:49] This is one of the things that I do with my one-on-one clients inside of expansion, which is my four month coaching program where you get clarity on your unique magic, on the thing that you're amazing at and that you love doing. [00:18:00] We build offers, a core offer, trust building offer that aligns with who you actually are and create messaging and a marketing system that feels true and fits your schedule.

[00:18:10] There's no cookie cutter, there's no forced industry labels, there's no forcing anything. We build your business around. Strategically around who you actually are and what you are brilliant at. So if you're ready to stop trying to be an OBMA VA project manager, when you're actually something else, entirely, reach out to me.

[00:18:28] my links are all below and let's chat about it. And before you go, I want you to remember. That the right clients are not looking for a label. They're looking for you. They're looking for the transformation you create. They're looking for that specific thing that you solve. So stop hiding behind a title that doesn't fit and start owning the work that you're actually meant to do.

[00:18:53] And so thank you so much for being here, and if this resonated, please share with another [00:19:00] online service provider, and I will see you all in the next episode. 

[00:19:04] Thank you so much for joining us today. I really hope you found inspiration and insights from today's episode. You know, scaling your business intentionally and from the inside out is a transformational process, but I'm here to support you every step of the way. Head on over to dancing leaf solutions.com/resources for free tools to help you do just that.

[00:19:29] And thank you again for being a part of the Solepreneur Scaling Stories community. Your presence and dedication to growth inspiring me every day.