This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclaimer for more info.
Do you believe in growing together by providing your services to various businesses while enjoying your personal life? Then becoming a Virtual Assistant will be your liberator.
Virtual Assistant is an independent contractor who helps clients by completing certain tasks. He has the liberty of serving anyone from any country or timezone.
He must be specialized in providing various Virtual Assistant services:
- Administrative services to clients from a remote location.
- Schedule appointments.
- Managing email accounts.
- Website management.
- Content research.
- Social media management.
- Content creation, editing, and proofreading.
- Managing product launches.
- Project management.
- Video editing.
The Virtual Assistant industry has been around for quite a while globally, as every business prefers to outsource on contract to reduce cost.
According to Intuit, in the USA, by 2020 40% of the population will be outsourced by different small to medium Industries and this will continue to boom in the coming years.
There are many reasons to become a Virtual Assistant:
- Freedom to work according to your schedule.
- Flexible timings.
- You can handle your personal and professional life perfectly.
How to Become a Virtual Assistant
There are “no hard and fast rules” of starting a freelance business for clients. You can start it anytime you want.
There are certain steps you can keep in mind while planning the virtual assistant services:
1. Take a virtual assistant training course
When it comes to starting with the virtual assistant services, individuals are stuck by the thought of expertise in the specific skill.
There are some Philippines based virtual assistants, who have designed courses to help every aspiring virtual assistant to start a business with confidence and proper tools.
2. Choose your business structure
The first step to becoming a virtual assistant is to frame a business structure according to your skills. The business structure criteria should include:
- Who will be your potential clients?
- The services you will offer.
It will help you find the potential clients for your initial Virtual Assistant service. You should also consider the time and money you require to make the right choice.
3. Choose a niche you want to serve in
You should choose your niche by creating a list of services you want to offer. There is no condition to stick with the specific service offered at an initial stage.
You can update your Virtual Assistant skills with new software and add it to your services. The best part of becoming a Virtual Assistant is the freedom to change, add, or eliminate any service with the changing trends and technologies.
4. Price your services
This is a crucial part as most of the aspirants are confused about what they should charge from their clients. The charges must be fair and competitive, but ensure to make a profit.
There are some factors you need to consider while setting up the charges for your services to make it worth your time:
- You are providing outsource services and not an employee that needs to pay self-employment taxes.
- You are offered hourly or project-based work.
- You are not entitled to any benefits from the client.
- Overheads that need to be covered.
Do some research about what other Virtual Assistants are charging in order to fix the rates of your services.
In the Philippines, Virtual Assistants work on hourly rates which are fixed on the basis of required skill. A general virtual assistant is titled to get $6 per hour however, a system administrator for $14 per hour.
5. Launch your virtual assistant services
Every business needs a name to be present on different online platforms, which helps in creating good chances to get the projects.
It is essential for a business to create a Virtual Assistant website and social media presence to make reach potential clients.
The basic steps to follow while creating the presence of virtual assistant services:
- Choose a domain and business name for setting up your website.
- Business names should match the URL, to reach potential clients.
- Create a simple and effective logo for your business.
- Determine and interface your value proposition.
- Dedicate towards the process of gradual and improvement proceedings.
While using social media platforms, join different groups of communities to reach the potential clients
6. Provide few free services and collect testimonials
I have seen some VA’s waiting for months to onboard their first client. Here, the fundamental mistake is the lack of strategy. Directly reaching out to clients or creating an account on a freelance website is a big ‘NO’, unless you have clients’ testimonials.
The correct approach is:
- Offer free services in the beginning.
- Ask for testimonials from your client.
- Add testimonials on either your personal or freelance website.
- Make a reach where your client exists.
Providing free service for a few clients will build a trust and strong relationship for future aspects.
7. Start pitching and networking with target clients
The next important step to launch a Virtual Assistant business is to find your first client. There are different virtual assistant websites from where you can find the clients to offer your services.
The most important aspect is to give a face to your potential client to make it an easier way to create a network.
The process you need to follow to find virtual assistant clients:
- Figure out your target market.
- What attributes you are looking for in your ideal client.
- Build a relationship with your potential client.
- Pitch new potential clients on a daily basis.
- Offer a trial period.
- Set a regular schedule to make sure the needs of your clients are being met.
You also need to know your strength showing how you are different from others which helps you to understand how you can help your client. It will give you an answer to the most decisive question “why they should pick you over others.”
Things You Need to Become a Virtual Assistant
Basic Softwares and setup
You can earn from a remote place with the help of basic things you need according to your services choose to offer your clients:
- A computer with high-speed internet.
- Google suite, Gmail, Calendar, Chrome, Drive, Personal phone line, and Hangout to keep a record and timely assistance.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office and Outlook.
Virtual Assistant Skills
A Virtual Assistant is likely to deal with different people from various backgrounds which requires the right approach. Different skills should be considered in order to grab your clients are:
- Organizational skills: time management and setting priorities are some of the important virtual assistant skills.
- Communication skills
- Interpersonal skills.
- All knowledge and understanding of the Internet.
How to find Virtual Assistant jobs
Once you have decided about the services you are offering, fixed the rate chart for the services, and have created the online presence. The most important question is where to find your first client from?
The hardest part of any business is to get the leads to convert potential clients to your permanent clients. There are some top virtual assistant websites and other ways to find clients.
- Sign-up on Freelance websites.
- Facebook groups and other Social media platforms.
- Connect with Local Businesses through Google My Business (GMB), Yellow directories, etc.
- Network with influencers.
- Network with other Virtual Assistant companies.
- Sign-up for AssistU Registry (a paid service).
Best Virtual Assistant Websites
These websites provide you a ton of Virtual Assistant jobs as per your skills a few are listed below:
FlexJobs
It provides remote jobs that screen every listing according to law. They have more than 30000 jobs listed. To enroll you need to pay a minimum subscription fee to get higher-quality opportunities.
Visit FlexJobs
Upwork
There are tons of jobs posted daily from a low budget to the highest. This platform hosts a ton of overseas clients and you can use filters to find the right client for you.
Create an account on Upwork
Toptal
This platform is dedicated to linking business with the Virtual Assistant for the specific task. The jobs that Toptal offers here include software engineers, designers, consultants, and virtual personal assistants.
Check out Toptal
Best Virtual Assistant Companies
WordBows
It is one of the top Virtual Assistant service companies in the USA, dedicated to hiring top 1% virtual professionals after screening through a 3-step hiring process.
They don’t charge any contract or setup fee. They have both US-based and Philippines/India based Virtual Assistants. Visit WordBows
Magic
They provide Virtual Assistance in Marketing, customer support, and administrative tasks. Magic has third party plugins with communication tools like Slack and Telegram. Visit Magic
Finally, be your own boss by choosing the right skill and create your own empire by helping other businesses to grow. Virtual Assistant can be taken into consideration as a side gig to earn those extra dollars by working in your flexible hours.
Let me know in comments, how are you planning to begin your virtual assistant gig?
