Learn How to Become a Virtual Assistant

It’s likely you have heard a lot about virtual assistants. Do you know it’s a great business idea/side hustle to start, even as a beginner?

If you can handle emails and meeting scheduling, and you consider your self uber organised and good at general admin tasks, becoming a virtual assistant full-time or part-time may be what you need to earn up to £50,000 per annum and even more.

What do Virtual assistant do?

Your role as a virtual assistant is to make a client’s life easy. Many companies and entrepreneurs will pay you to do administrative tasks.

You typically work from the comfort of your own home and some of the common tasks you can perform include: 

• Email management 
• Scheduling 
• Social media management 
• Customer service
• Data entry 
• Content creation
• Creating presentations
• Handling of travel arrangements etc.

Pretty much any service that makes a client’s life easier so they can focus on the business. Here is a list of 20 other services Virtual assistants can offer.

How much will you earn as a virtual assistant?

The income potential for a virtual assistant can vary depending on many factors including who you work for and your experience. According to PayScale, the average hourly rate for virtual assistants is around $16 – $50 per hour, depending on experience.

Every assistant is different and everyone can use a different pricing structure that works for them. So don’t be afraid to charge the higher end of the scale, if you are going to be providing specialist support e.g. marketing services.

Should you work for an individual, small business or large corporation?

This is entirely up to you and the reason why you want to start working as a virtual assistant.

If you’re doing this as a side hustle, working for a large corporation might be too demanding on your time. You will have to be available during typical 9-5 work hours, and this might not work well with an existing job.

P.s if you get a virtual assistant job in a different time zone, you may be able to combine it with your day job.

Small businesses and individuals offer greater flexibility. You can work on some key tasks – e.g responding to emails, booking meetings- during the day. Other non rigid tasks e.g social media management, content creation – can be done at night. but you must remember that small businesses and individuals may not have the budget to pay you as high as a corporation would.

What skills do you need to start working as a virtual assistant?

In general when it comes to skills, virtual assistants need to:

• Have excellent communication skills, as they will be working with clients remotely. 
• Be organised  and detail-oriented, as you’ll be responsible for managing multiple tasks and deadlines.
• Be Proficient in basic software: Ms suite, design software e.g Adobe, Canva, Vistacreate.
• Be up to date with current trends – AI, auto-scheduling.
• You also need to have creative wit and unique insight.

There are tons of masterclasses and certifications that can help you develop the professional skills you need. 

You can take a masterclass to understand exactly what the job is about or to learn a new skill – The skill has to be something you know will help you offer more value to your future clients.

To niche or not to niche?

You can choose to be a general VA where you handle all possible tasks that come with the role.

However, I have seen a few VAs who decide to focus on certain services. A marketing VA can choose to focus on email list building and lead generation. An admin only VA may perform  only  support tasks such as handling meeting space bookings, scheduling meetings, ordering lunches etc

There is nothing wrong with niching down or becoming a general VA.

It all depends on what you are comfortable with, the skills you have or what you are willing to learn.

HOW TO GET STARTED

Having worked in recruitment for a number of years, I have realised that every experience is transferable in one way or another and there is no such thing as no experience for most service based jobs.

If you spend many hours scrolling through social media, if you have your own page where you post, or if you’ve ever replied to emails in your life, then you have something going for you and you have to package this nicely to suit the role.

STEP 3: Create a simple website or a professional looking flyer.

This is what will be used to market your business.

You can easily create a flyer using free Canva templates.

You can create a simple website using Canva (free), Wix, Hostinger or WordPress as they are inexpensive. The first thing you want to do to create your website is:

• Get a business name and logo – but don’t get too attached to it because, as you would get to see, you may want to change your name along the line. Many businesses go through this transition.

• Get a domain name – this is the name people type to find you on the internet. For example my domain name is earnmoreblueprint. Avoid the temptation to go without a domain name because you won’t be taken seriously. 
  Domain names are pretty inexpensive. Some website hosts like bluehost, hostinger or WordPress give you a free domain name for a year (value $10 – $12), so take advantage of this.
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• Find a website host – this is the platform where your website and its data will be stored. I recommend bluehost or hostinger, both are pretty affordable at less than $3 per month and there’s a reason why they are loved by many bloggers. Get started here with bluehost or hostinger.

You don’t need to be an IT guru to set up a website. Just pick a free theme with a lot of white space so it’s visually appealing. Here is a guide for website setup you may find useful. 

If you’ll rather not set up a website yourself, you can hire someone on fiverr or upwork to do it for you.

STEP 4: Sign up to Freelance marketplaces

Creating a profile on freelance websites such as Fiverr or Upwork will help you gain visibility. These are seamless platforms where freelancers meet and get jobs from business owners. They are good platforms to gain some experience and get feedback on your services.

That said, Fiverr and Upwork can often have a lot of competition, and it might be difficult to stand out from other established free lancers. This is where having your own website and marketing your services on social media platforms come in. 

STEP 5: Use Job boards

You can apply directly to VA jobs on job boards such as Flexjobs, remotework or LinkedIn.

STEP 6: Promote your business

One important step to succeed as a VA is to Network and market yourself.

Most people think of this as the hardest part. 

I do agree. However, I believe that how difficult you perceive marketing to be is really just down to personality type. Some people love it and others hate it.

To be a successful, you need to be comfortable with reaching out to unfamiliar people. Join facebooks groups or online business groups where businesses owners may be asking for help.

Don’t be afraid to share your profile or website across all social media platforms as well as in response to vacancy call outs. 

If you have the budget, you can rely on paid Ads to market your services, but I would not recommend this.

A few VAs I have spoken to consider signing up to VA agencies as a good way to find clients and get visibility. These agencies bring the job to you but you’ll have to part with some of your money as commission to the agency.

I’ll leave you to decide which is best for you.

Step 7: Continue to improve yourself and stand out from the crowd.

To attract more clients you can offer discounted services to new clients.

You also need to learn to use automation tools that help you become more efficient, for example:

• ChatGPT – for Content research
• Grammarly – to improve the grammar in your written content
• TweetHunter – for scheduling social media posts so you don’t have to manually do it everyday
• Tailwind – also very useful for scheduling posts (Pinterest or Instagram)
• Canva – will help you design beautiful graphics
• Keysearch.co – to find the right keywords to support your client’s SEO strategy
• You can also buy premade social media templates from Etsy to make your life easier.

Conclusion

There is a high demand for virtual assistants and many people will pay you to handle the many admin tasks associated with running their business. Take advantage of this opportunity and establish yourself as an expert VA. 

To make upwards of $60,000 annually, you can be a virtual assistant for multiple high ticket clients. If one client is willing to pay you up to $1000 monthly ( or $250 weekly)  for your services. With 5 highly ticket clients, you’re well on your way to $60,000.

You can explore other job ideas here.

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