First of all, let me tell you what a virtual assistant does. A virtual assistant is generally a self employed person who works from a remote office and provides professional assistance to the client.
You don’t need to be with the client, you just need to provide assistance to the client from your home/office. But, this is easier said than done. You need to master a few “key skills” in order to become a virtual assistant.
So, here we discuss how you can become a virtual assistant and might as well take it up as your full-time profession…
WHAT SERVICES DOES A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT OFFER
A virtual assistant may offers a ton load of services like administrative tasks, website development/management, social media assistant, customer support for a business, business schedule management, editing content, data entry and many more. I bet you didn’t even read this much. XD
So, there are a lot of opportunities in becoming a virtual assistant.
SKILLS REQUIRED TO BECOME A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Now, you need a few skills to become a professional VA.
1) Communication Skills
The four aspects that you need to keep in mind while developing communication skills are:
- Thinking what to speak and when to speak. It also includes interpreting what the other person is trying to say.
- Listening to what the other person is saying carefully.
- Speaking/expressing your views in a simple way and without hurting the other person’s feelings. Learn to clearly express your opinions.
- Non verbal communication – This includes your body language, eye contact, gestures. Practice them as they are crucial and even a single error in these may make your clients lose faith in you.
Obviously you need to communicate effectively and talk nicely to your client. Your work will involve a lot of emails and calls, so you need to communicate effectively. You should be able to express yourself in an easy and productive way so that people understand you clearly. Slight miscommunication will cause misunderstanding thus producing costly mistakes.
2) Technical Knowledge
As you work remotely through a PC/laptop, you need to have understanding of software. If a new software launches, you should be able to cope up with it without much effort. It is not necessary that you learn coding(if you are not developing websites) but a basic knowledge of technology is a must. Managing and switching between apps is a skill to learn.
3) Your Personality
This is not a skill, rather it is something that you develop over the years. You should be disciplined, honest and polite. Your rudeness and arrogance will get you far away from your clients. Also learn to manage your emotions so you don’t have an outburst of emotions in a certain situation. Even if you are not with your client physically, you have to ensure they don’t get offended by you. Knowing the proper way to talk to somebody over the phone is an essential customer service skill.
Netiquette is also important when chatting or when writing emails.
GETTING STARTED WITH VA JOB
Deciding Your Niche/ Services To Offer
Your niche is something that you are comfortable dealing with. Choose something that interests you and you can do it for a long time without boredom. This will make you perfect for that job and you will greatly impress your client. Research on your niche well.
Deciding what services you will offer is very important as this determines the clients you will be getting. I recommend that you learn a great deal about your clients’ business so you may help them fruitfully. Although it is not necessary that you meet the client in person but weekly meetings often help. Just discuss the important aspects that you and your client need to get done. This can be done over phone but a meeting is always more productive.
*Before actually starting, create a portfolio(projects) on your own to get experienced*
Get Online Presence
Now that you have decided you niche, create an online presence to reach out to more people. Create a blog/website and showcase your portfolio. This will make your client believe in you and make them understand that why your are suitable for that job. Your clients will eventually grow and you will start getting big clients, don’t give up during the first few months.
Also create social media accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn as these serve as the major platforms for virtual assistant jobs. I’m not gonna say Instagram this time as you won’t find much clients on Instagram.
Now you just need to wait for some clients. Your clients will grow exponentially in one to two months provided that you work consistently and you work hard. Don’t give up during the first few days.
Your Fee Structure
This is the most common question asked by people – “How much do freelancers make?”.
The answer depends on the skill set you choose and the experience you have. You can charge everything at once when the project is completed or charge hourly. If you are just starting out, you should charge hourly and be reasonable with the price as you are a newbie.
Charging about $50 per hour seems like a fair deal as a newbie. When you get experienced you can increase the charges according to your needs.
After you have decided all this – sign up on Upwork or Freelancer to get the desired jobs. It will take some time to build trust and reputation but it is worth it.
After you have decided all this – sign up on Upwork or Freelancer to get the desired jobs. It will take some time to build trust and reputation but it is worth it.
Online Business Addict 