There’s a high demand for virtual assistants. Many businesses have realised that they can free up time by outsourcing admin tasks. If you’re interested in working remotely and you have a knack for administration, becoming a virtual assistant may be the perfect side gig you’ve been looking for.
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What exactly does a virtual assistant do?
Virtual assistants are akin to personal assistants. The role involves providing a wide range of services. From basic administrative tasks to more specialized services like social media management, content creation, and graphic design.
Related post: How to become a virtual Assistant and Create a Life You Love.
How much do you make as a virtual assistant?
This is one of the most common questions and for good reason. Before venturing into anything, it’s important to know if it will meet your financial needs.
In general, the pay of a virtual assistant will vary according to experience and the nature of the tasks you do. According to PayScale, the average hourly rate for virtual assistants is around $16 – $50 per hour, depending on experience.
However, every virtual assistant is different and the roles of a virtual assistant can vary. Some virtual assistants earn up to $90,000 a year. At the extreme, there are 6 figure earning virtual assistants.
What services can a VA offer?
There are a wide range of services you can offer and varied roles you can take on. My guess is that the more technical your role, the higher you can expect to get paid. For example, a VA who provides graphic design or marketing services may earn more than a VA who sticks to admin support.
If you would like to expand your current client offerings, or if you are just starting out and looking to understand more about what you can offer, here is my list of 20 services.
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Administrative support
As a VA you can help with administrative tasks. These may include scheduling appointments, and responding to emails. Administrative tasks are time-consuming for most business owners. By having you handle these tasks, a business owner can free up their time and focus on more critical business activities.
Customer support as a virtual assistant
You can become the person who responds to customer queries in a timely manner. It won’t necessarily be like working at a customer call centre but it will be essential to foster good relationships between your client’s business and customers.
Social media management
Social media has become a critical component of marketing for businesses of all sizes. A virtual assistant can help create content, schedule posts, and monitor social media engagement. They can also help with advertising campaigns.
Email management
Emails can quickly become overwhelming for businesses, with important messages getting lost in a sea of spam and junk mail. As a virtual assistant, you can help by filtering and organising a client’s inbox and flagging important emails.
Research
Whether a client needs to research competitors, market trends, or new business opportunities, a virtual assistant can help in these areas. As a VA, you can conduct research on a variety of topics and present a summary of the findings in a clear format.
Data entry
You can offer to do data entry tasks like inputting data into spreadsheets or databases. This is great if you don’t mind repetitive tasks and can pay strong attention to detail.
Transcription
Transcribing audio or video files into written documents can be done by a virtual assistant. Depending on who you work for, your services can include transcribing of interviews, podcasts, and webinars into written documents.
Content creation
This is a common service offered by many VAs. As a virtual assistant, you can help create content for a client’s website or blog, including writing blog posts, creating graphics, and editing videos.
Bookkeeping
If you are good with numbers, you can provide assistance with finance related tasks such as raising purchase orders, processing invoices, tracking expenses, and reconciling bank statements. This will be a particularly useful service to offer to small businesses without a finance department.
Project management
VA’s can help manage projects by creating timelines, delegating tasks, and monitoring progress. This can be especially useful for businesses that don’t have a dedicated project manager.
Event planning
Planning events like conferences, workshops, and webinars is not an uncommon service to offer as a VA. You can offer to coordinate logistics, venue booking, manage registrations, and handle general event-related tasks.
Travel planning
A VA can be responsible for planning off-site business trips, including researching and booking flights and accommodation for attendees.
Personal errands
Depending on whether you work for an individual or an enterprise, you can be directly involved with personal tasks like shopping, making reservations, and scheduling personal appointments.
Online marketing
Online marketing is a critical component of any business strategy, but it can be complex and time-consuming. A virtual assistant can help with online marketing tasks like search engine optimization (SEO), lead generation, email marketing and social media advertising. Many businesses struggle with marketing, so if you are good at implementing strategies that increase traffic and generate leads, you will have a competitive edge in the job market.
Website management
A client’s website is often the first point of contact between their business and potential customers. A virtual assistant can help manage websites by updating the content daily, optimizing for SEO, and flagging issues to the web development team within the company.
Graphic design as a virtual assistant
Help with graphic design tasks like creating logos, designing business cards, and creating social media graphics is not a must-have service to offer. However, some clients would require you have a basic working knowledge of a simple design software should you need to create online content for the business.
Video editing
You can offer to help with video editing tasks like cutting and splicing video footage, adding music and sound effects, and creating titles and captions. This is one skill that can set you apart and increase your ability to demand a higher wage.
Translation
If a client is conducting business with international clients or partners, a virtual assistant who speaks another language can be a valuable asset. You can help with translation tasks like translating emails, documents, and presentations.
Writing and editing
Offer to support with writing and editing tasks like creating press releases, writing articles for your blog, and editing documents.
Customer relationship management
A virtual assistant can help manage customer relationships by updating customer information, responding to queries, and tracking feedback.
So you see there are many services you can offer as a virtual assistant. I’ld recommend you pick a few that you can offer immediately or can learn easily.
Don’t allow your perceived lack of experience deter you. There are courses you can take today to quickly learn the skills you need. Check out this highly requested Virtual assistant course on Udemy.
How can you find VA jobs?
If you’re looking for virtual assistant jobs, here are some places where you can find them:
- Online job boards e.g. Indeed, Glassdoor, Flexjobs.
- Freelance market places such as fiverr and Upwork.
- Virtual assistant agencies.
- Through networking (highly recommend).
- Creating your own virtual assistant business.
Online job boards: Online job boards like Indeed, Monster, and Glassdoor often have virtual assistant job listings. You can search for virtual assistant jobs using keywords like “virtual assistant,” “remote assistant,” or “virtual office assistant.”
Freelance platforms: Freelance platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr are excellent places to find virtual assistant jobs. These platforms allow you to create a profile, showcase your skills, and bid on projects posted by businesses and individuals.
Virtual assistant agencies: Virtual assistant agencies like Zirtual, Virtual Gal Friday, and Belay Solutions specialize in providing virtual assistant services to businesses and individuals. These agencies often have job openings for virtual assistants.
Networking: Networking is an excellent way to find virtual assistant jobs. You can reach out to your professional network and join online communities for virtual assistants. You can also proactively identify your ideal client and pitch your services to them.
Create your own virtual assistant business: You can start your own virtual assistant business. Create a website, showcase your skills and experience, and start reaching out to potential clients.
Let’s wrap things up
So there are many services you can offer as a virtual assistant which makes it a really interesting opportunity. To succeed you’ll need to have:
Strong administrative support and customer service skills.
Excellent communication and organizational skills.
There are several places where you can find virtual assistant jobs, including online job boards, freelance platforms, virtual assistant agencies, networking, and creating your own virtual assistant business.
With the right skills and mindset, virtual assistant jobs can be a rewarding and flexible career option.
Don't let your perceived lack of experience deter you. Start learning the skills you need.