How To Become a Virtual Assistant

Do you dream of working from anywhere?

Perhaps you want to be able to do work and get paid while at the beach, or not have to take PTO when you decide to get away for a few days. Maybe you’re out of work and want to work from home but with powerful entrepreneurs to make a difference.

If any of these are true for you, then you might want to look into becoming a virtual assistant, or VA, and start earning money online for your virtual assistant skills right away. It can be a lucrative way to start making money from home. It’s basically your own business, and you get paid good money for typing out and working on whatever your employer will need their personal assistant to do.

Working from home and making extra income from being a VA will combine skills such as being a freelance writer or blogger, transcription work, bookkeeping positions, and more assistant job skills. To find work in the industry, you’ll have to find ways to make money remotely in your home office with help from this guide. 

Freelance virtual assistant success depends on many factors, and virtual assistants make some good money for their work.

In this article, we’ll dig into how to become a virtual assistant, how to leverage and market your skills, where to find your first clients, and how to earn money. We’ll also talk about the best ways to scale your business and the pros and cons of a VA. Now is the time to create your home-based business to make money.

What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?

A virtual assistant gets paid to help another person with tasks that they do not want to do or do not have the availability for. Sometimes a virtual assistant works on a part-time basis and has many clients or can get paid to work for one client fully. It is one of the best ways to make money online, and getting one of these virtual assistant jobs will give you a good understanding of a work-from-home job’s requirements in the future.

Most people think of virtual assistants as people who just do tasks like data entry to take some heavy lifting off an executive’s plate. This then helps executives and entrepreneurs to focus on more critical tasks. However, VA’s can do so much more than that.

While these tasks often make up the bulk of what an executive outsources, a Virtual Assistant can help entrepreneurs and executives to streamline and integrate their businesses and take on more specialized projects if they have the expertise.

Some VA’s will also help with personal administrative tasks, such as reminding their boss about events on their personal calendar, booking travel, or sending out gifts.

First Steps To Becoming a VA

While many corporations will hire executive assistants for their high-up employees, many executives and entrepreneurs are responsible for hiring their own assistants or deciding if they want one. Here's how to start your legit virtual assistance business.

Take Virtual Assistant Training

Depending on how high-ticket of clients you want to take, as well as your current level of experience, you may want to consider taking a Virtual Assistant Training Course.

There are plenty of courses on the market, so we recommend finding one that helps you market yourself and book clients. This will guarantee an outcome of creating an income for yourself.

Decide What Services You’ll Provide.

You might already have a good idea of what services you’ll offer as a VA. The more services you offer, the more valuable you will be to your clients.

It is important to note that some services are highly sought-after, and others are easy for anyone to learn. The services you provide will determine how much you can charge.

Refine Your Skills

Before you start marketing yourself, you might have to take on a few projects that help you build a portfolio. For example, if you plan to offer proofreading, blogging, graphic design, tutoring, or freelance writing as part of your VA skill set, you should want to have a few samples available to showcase your skills. For example, a mom won't want just anyone to tutor their child!

Working as a virtual assistant is not a get-rich-quick plan, but freelancing can help you work from home and earn extra cash in your spare time or compile until you make it a full-time income. Customer service experience will give you a better chance of succeeding as a VA. When people hire virtual assistants, they want to make sure you can work remotely and have an online presence, are good with email management, email marketing, and communication skills. This will all lead to assistant success.

Choose Your Business & Pricing Structure

To protect yourself, you may want to set up an LLC for your virtual assistant online business. You should also decide how you want to price and market your business to ensure it is profitable.

For example, some VAs connect with potential clients via a search engine or LinkedIn, whereas other potential clients market themselves via a personal network. Some virtual assistants choose to work with people in a specific industry, whereas other freelancers take any gig.

It would help if you also decided on your price structure before you start marketing yourself. For example, if you plan to offer social media management as one of your skills, you should take the time to understand what other people are charging and if you want to charge per project, per month, or by the hour.

However, keep in mind that there are many ways to make money. Some tasks may require a lower hourly rate than others.

Here are a few ways you’ll want to price yourself:

• Hourly – In an hourly fee schedule, you will set your base rates. Then, your clients can have you work for them, and you will bill them periodically.
• Project-based – In this payment structure, your client will pay a flat fee for a one-time project. They may have repeat projects, and this payment feature can be added as a complement to a retainer or hourly payment structure. For example, if you are working for a client on a retainer basis, but they need a new website designed, you can add a project-based add-on.
• Package of hours – Some VAs protect their time and income by having their clients pre-purchase hours. For example, a client whose needs fluctuate on a month-to-month basis might like to purchase 40 hours upfront and then buy more hours from you when they need them.
• Retainer – If clients know that they will need you to do consistent work for them every month, they might put you on retainer. This means that you retain a set number of hours in your schedule to do work for them. In exchange, they pay for the hours you set aside, whether they use them or not.

Start Pitching & Sign Clients

Once you have your business structure and pricing planned, you can market yourself. The goal is to create an income for yourself and work with people you enjoy. You can begin to reach out to people in your network, post on job boards, or find clients in other ways. Make sure to read the job description en route to becoming an independent contractor virtual assistant.

You should also draft a client contract. This contract will help protect both you and your clients and set any expectations that each of you may have of each other.

How to Market Your Skills

To start pitching to clients as contractors for your assistant job, you will first need to find prospective clients to sell your skills. When starting a virtual assistant business, it is smart to create a marketing strategy for yourself. This may include how you will use social media, your network, and more.

Social Media

Many VAs use social media for marketing themselves in this assistant job. Some choose to offer general virtual assistant services, and others specialize in coding, web design, course creation, social media management, and more.

Using social media, you can join Facebook groups for VA’s and remote workers, influencers, and more.

Your Network

You may want to use your existing network to find gigs. If you know entrepreneurs or executives, let them know what you are doing and what kind of clients you want to work for. If you have a mailing list, you could send everyone in your network an email.

Alternatively, be sure to ask around in your professional circles. Many accountants, lawyers, and other professionals work with lots of small business owners that might be on the lookout for a great virtual assistant.

If you have other VAs in your network, they may have people who have approached them about their services but have been unable to take on extra clients. If you have friends in your niche, it will be easier to find jobs and refer your clients to people who have different skillsets than you.

Freelancer Websites

Virtual assistant positions are common on freelance websites like Upwork, Fiverr, or flexjobs. If you are new to being a virtual assistant, this could be a great place to start building your portfolio of work examples. These websites are typically more general, and the competition is high, so you might not find your highest-paying gigs here.

Local Businesses

You may want to reach out to small business owners in your area to see if they need the assistance you offer. While being a virtual assistant typically means you won’t be physically in the office or business, being face-to-face can help business owners see how they’re spending time on tasks that they can outsource.

How Much Do VAs Earn?

The pay of a VA varies drastically depending on the person’s location and scope of work.

For example, a VA in India may charge $5 per hour to manage email inboxes, make appointments, and handle other basic tasks.

However, someone in California who can help a startup CEO with coding and automating other tasks might earn over $65 per hour.

Should I Become a Virtual Assistant?

It is always up to you to become a virtual assistant and go down a new career path. However, being a VA can have a million different definitions. Here are some things that you might find attractive and a few things to watch out for:

Pros

Here are our favorite things about being a VA:

• VAs can set their own hours.
• VAs get to decide what tasks they’ll take on, so they never have to do something they don’t want to do
• You can work from anywhere that has Wi-Fi.
• VAs are always in high demand.
• You can learn new skills and continuously adapt to your business.

Cons

Although being a VA offers a lot of freedom, there are a few setbacks.

• It can be challenging to get started, and marketing yourself can be difficult for many people.
• It may take some trial and error to get your pricing and business models down.
• The pay may be inconsistent, depending on the industry and clients.

The Bottom Line

Deciding to start a VA business can be exciting. It is a way for you to showcase your skills and earn extra money for doing what you love. If you sign up for a course or have someone guide you through the process, it can be easier to get started. Just make sure not to fall for any online scams.

Virtual assistant job searches can be difficult, but many small businesses will be looking for successful virtual assistant employees. You may have to maintain social media accounts to help with the employer’s social media presence. For them, finding a virtual assistant will help with pretty much every aspect of the business. Virtual assistant duties are varied, but it’s one of the best side hustle positions you could get involved in to make money and get work experience. New virtual assistants may struggle with writing blog posts or creating sales pages, but it’s all part of the learning process!

However, if you have marketable skills and aren’t afraid to give some pushback, your VA career could take off quickly!