How to become a virtual assistant with no experience and make a full-time income
Learn how to become a virtual assistant with no experience, make $50000, quit your job and work from the comfort of your home.
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Do you dream of getting out of your 9 to 5 job? Are you a mom that desires to have the flexibility of making your own hours and have a work from home job?
You are not the only one. More and more people are looking into making their living online, from the comfort of their home.
If you want to build a home based job to have the freedom to choose your work hours and spending your days doing something that you actually enjoy, staring a virtual assistant business might be perfect for you!
A virtual assistant job will give you the flexibility to choose who you work for, what work you do when you do it and from where.
You could do it from the comfort of your home, a cold breezy mountaintop or a warm sandy beach.
The beauty of it is that you can choose to work full-time or part-time in case you are already committed to a full-time job or have other responsibilities.
Like any other job, it’s hard work, especially when you start. There will be a lot of new things to learn, difficult customers to deal with, but the freedom that comes with taking charge of your own life is amazing.
How to become a virtual assistant with no experience and make a full-time income
What is a virtual assistant and what do they do?
A virtual assistant is a person that provides support services for online or physical businesses from a remote location. They can offer all the services a regular administrative assistant would be responsible for. Except for delivering the coffee.
Is there a demand for Virtual Assistants?
The demand for virtual assistants is huge and is not going to slow down in the near future. In the past years, entrepreneurs and online businesses have taken off tremendously.
All these people and businesses are now looking for virtual assistants to help them.
The brick and mortar businesses are looking more and more into telecommuting, using freelance services and hiring virtual assistants to make their company more effective.
It just makes sense to outsource tasks to a virtual assistant, it frees valuable time for the client and is more cost effective to hire a virtual assistant than an in-office employee.
What does a virtual assistant actually do?
Virtual assistants can actually offer a ton of different services to their clients. You have the opportunity to find what best fits your skills and knowledge.
A Virtual assistant can offer services that include administrative tasks like scheduling meetings, email management, bookkeeping, or more specific skills like graphic design, marketing, social media management, blogging, and WordPress.
Depending on your skills and interest you can choose what kind of services to offer.
When you start out the best you can do is to focus on your best skills and just offer a couple of services. Specialize in those services and become an expert in your niche.
You can expend your services at any time so it’s best to start small until you learn how a virtual assistant business works.
There are endless services you can offer to other entrepreneurs and businesses:
General admin
General admin services are the most basic admin skills you could offer and it’s probably the best place to start if you don’t have other more specialized skills.
While general admin might not get you the highest pay, but the probability to find a client is huge.
According to a survey of 500 managers, 36% of them spend 3-4 hours a day doing administrative tasks, and 23% of the managers spend 5 or more hours a day doing this kind of tasks.
This is a great market to tap on because it’s easy to convince a company that they are better off paying you to do the tasks remotely.
Paying a VA for the admin tasks will free up valuable time for the managers to do more important tasks.
Website design
Almost all the businesses big and small have an online presence and that includes social media and owning their own website.
While everyone wants to be present online, not all business owners are tech-savvy or have the time to take care of their websites.
If you have knowledge of how to build a beautiful responsive and user-friendly website than this niche is the perfect fit for you.
Social media management
Social media is one of the biggest time wasters for everyone, entrepreneurs included.
If you love Social media, you have the skills to create a great copy and create stunning posts with graphic designs, can engage and build strong relationships with brand’s audience than you are in luck.
Social media Virtual Assistants are in high demand and if you like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram than you should consider to include social media to your initial virtual assistant services list.
Graphic design
If you have a good eye for visual design and you can come up with a graphic design without a lot of effort then this is the perfect market for you.
There few people in the online world that didn’t realize yet that beautiful, appealing graphic designs are extremely important.
Like with all other things in life not everyone has the talent to pull of a great graphic.
Blogging
The blogging world is booming right now, and usually, there are not enough hours in a day for all the tasks that need to be completed in a day. Ask me, I learned a thing or two about that.
If the blogger has a full-time job and 2 little ones running around the house it gets even more difficult to find the time and energy to complete all the mundane.
Do you like to write, edit and proofread? Do you know how to improve SEO, reply to emails, schedule posts on social media, or have some marketing skills? Then you’ll be well suited for a blogging virtual assistant.
There are not too many days that pass by without seeing a request for a virtual assistant in the blogging Facebook groups I’m part off.
These are just a few examples, but there are a lot more services a virtual assistant could have on the list of services offered.
If you are interested in becoming a virtual assistant and you have no idea what services you can offer DOWNLOAD this FREE list of 150 services you can offer as a Virtual Assistant.
What kind of interpersonal skills would a person need to become a great virtual assistant?
Having a few soft skills would definitely make you stand out from the crowd and help you become a successful virtual assistant.
Like in any other jobs employers are looking to find a candidate with certain skills. Skills that would ensure them that they will get the expected end result.
Some of these skills are:
- Reliability– This should be no brainier but you would be surprised to find out how many people don’t do their best to meet deadlines!
- Good Communication skills– You need to make yourself understood. And don’t hesitate to ask lot’s of questions to understand your customers’ expectations.
- Time management– In this business, you will have to work with multiple clients. Each of those clients will want you to make them a priority so you need to know how to make the best use of your time. More than likely you’ll have to work on multiple tasks during the day. Prioritize your task according to the importance and the time you’re at your best.
- Resourcefulness– You will be asked to do things you never did before, and no one expects you to know everything but you will be expected to find how to do it on your own. Being able to find your way around problems you never had before is a very good quality to have.
- Patience– When you work in the customer service field patience is a great skill to have. If patience is not one of your strengths you should reconsider working as a virtual assistant. Customer service related jobs are very demanding and your patience is always tested.
Among other skills that clients will seek in a virtual assistant are:
- Honesty
- Discretion
- Personable
- Proactive
- Professional
- Organized
- Accessible
- Approachable
- Problem solver
- Self-motivated
How to start a home-based virtual assistant business?
Being your own boss may be very appealing but is not as easy as everyone thinks.
Before you start doing anything you need to be mindful of both pros and cons of starting a home-based virtual assistant business.
There are a lot of great pros to starting a VA business:
- It’s affordable and fast to set up, practically you need only a computer or laptop and a good internet connection.
- There are no specific licenses or certifications needed to get started
- You can be entirely home-based, which means that you have location freedom
- Your work hours are flexible and can work as much as you like when you like
- You get to choose what work you do based on your skills and interest
- You have the freedom to choose who you work with
- Freedom to decide how much you charge
The potential challenges and roadblock of starting a VA business include:
- Getting your first clients might be difficult
- You might have a hard time setting the right rates
- You’ll have to compete with overseas VA who charge lower rates
- Your vacation time is not paid
- It can get stressful and you’ll always have to work with deadlines
Now that you have an idea of what to expect for there are a few more things you need to do before you start anything.
Find your Why
Understanding why you want to start it’s extremely important because it’s going to keep you motivated.
Identify your skills
These skills will become the services you’ll offer to your clients. If you have skills that you don’t enjoy doing make sure you don’t put them on your list of services.
Figure out your niche and target market
Now it’s time to figure out for whom you want to work, work. Decide on what kind of people you want to help and what they do. What kind of business you’re interested in.
Decide which Virtual Assistant services you’ll be offering
Start small until you learn all the ropes of running a VA business, gain some experience and trust.
Write down your best skills, take a look at the list of services and pick a couple you would love to do.
These services don’t have to be set in stone and you can change it in time to better suit your needs.
If you discover down the road that you enjoy doing something that you don’t offer yet there’s nothing to stop you from adding it to your list of services.
Set up your business
You need to decide what business structure suits your situation best. Before taking any decision you should seek professional advice.
Depending on different factors you could start an LLC, sole-proprietor, or a partnership.
Decide your rates
There is no perfect recipe of how much you should charge for your services.
It all depends on what services you offer, you can charge more for services that require specific skills.
Another important thing to take into consideration is how much is worth your time.
Start a blog and create your online presence
If you are going to work remotely, it’s of extreme importance to have a strong online presence.
A website will allow you to set up your Service page where your clients can view your offerings.
Describe who you are, what experience you have, rates, testimonials and anything that will help your clients decide if you are a good fit for them.
If you are interested in starting your own blog, I have a tutorial to help you start a successful blog.
If you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting through my Bluehost link you’ll get a FREE domain name.
Have you heard the saying “you’re not on social media you don’t exist”?
Everyone and their mothers are on social media including your future clients.
You don’t need to spread yourself thin and be everywhere at the same time.
Find where your ideal clients hang out and make your presence known there.
If they are on Facebook open a Facebook account. If they are on LinkedIn become an expert in LinkedIn.
Network
Networking is one of the best ways you could land a virtual assistant job.
The perfect place to do this is the free Facebook groups especially if you look to offer your services to successful online entrepreneurs.
Also, Facebook groups are a good place to hang out and learn from other virtual assistants.
Don’t go around in all Facebook groups you can find offering your services! You don’t want to come across as SPAMMY.
Be helpful, offer advice and useful information. Build trust and make your name known first.
Back when I started toying with the idea of finding work from home job opportunities I discovered Gina’s site.
In all honesty, she is the guru of virtual assistants, and if you’re planning on becoming one she is the go-to person.
Learn how Gina built her successful virtual assistant business.
I asked Gina if she could share with us her journey to building her successful business and give us a little more insights into what the virtual assistant job entails.
MEET GINA!
Gina Horkey is a married, millennial mama to two precocious kiddos from Minnesota.
Additionally, she’s the founder of Horkey HandBook a website geared towards helping others find or become a kickass virtual assistant.
Gina’s background includes making a living as a professional writer, an online business marketing consultant and a decade of experience in the financial services industry.
Could you give a little background on yourself and how you got started as a virtual assistant?
Hi, I’m Gina [waving]. I started a freelance writing business on the side of my full-time job (in personal finance), in the spring of 2014 to “test the waters” for a potential career change.
At the time, I was (and still am) the sole breadwinner of our little family of four and my husband was (and still is) a SAHD to our two kiddos. Our youngest was less than a year old at the time!
That fall I added in virtual assistant services as a way to stabilize my income, make it more predictable and use some of my other skills to help small business owners.
Landing my first VA client is what gave me the confidence to put in my notice and quit my day job.
I haven’t looked back since!
What does a virtual assistant do on a daily basis?
A virtual assistant is really just anyone that trades task for pay from afar. Or in other words, an individual that offers services virtually as a contractor or self-employed individual to clients.
Services offered can include everything from email management, content creation, bookkeeping, graphic design, social media and more! There are tons of services you can offer as a VA – check out this list of over 150 to learn more!
How much money can a virtual assistant expect to earn? How quick can they start earning?
From the little research that exists, the average North American virtual assistant earns between $25-40 per hour.
This is going to depend on your experience, skill-set, and areas of expertise. I.e. The more specialized your services and the more experience you have, the more you can charge.
I’ve seen people in our community charge as little as $15 per hour and others earn more than $100 per hour (including myself). Ultimately it comes down to being really good at what you do and finding clients that value what you’re offering them.
How quickly you start earning honestly depends on how quickly (and frequently) you start putting yourself out there for hire. Click here real live examples of VAs in our community that have built successful businesses.
In my opinion, contracting and working virtually is the way of the future.
People (clients and virtual assistants alike) crave increased flexibility. And what better way to obtain it than to build a business and/or team virtually?
Clients (typically small business owners, entrepreneurs, etc.) aren’t always looking to manage people or take on full-time help. Instead, they’d like to contract out for specific services they need help with. It makes it a win/win for both parties. 🙂
How does a VA go about getting clients?
We cover more than a half dozen prospecting methods in 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success, but a few of our favorites are:
- Using social media
- In person networking
- Tapping into your natural market
Methods for finding and attracting high-quality clients haven’t changed much over the last decade, but really understanding what they are, which you’re best suited for and how to go about them in the right way are important.
Luckily for our students, prospecting and building effective client relationships are kind of our specialty.
What is your favorite thing about being a virtual assistant?
The list is long!
What ranks at the top of mine is probably:
- Flexibility to work from anywhere on my schedule (i.e. you don’t have to keep banker’s hours in most cases when working with clients)
- Freedom (that comes with the whole flexibility thing I guess!)
- Unlimited income potential (you choose how much to charge and can raise your rates as you gain more experience, look into other ways to make money online, etc.)
What is your number one piece of advice for someone who wants to become a VA?
You’ll never know what you’re capable of if you never try.
Don’t think about what the worst case scenario could be – instead think about what’s the BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME that can come from trying something new?
Why not YOU, why not NOW?
How can someone interested in becoming a virtual assistant get started?
We’d be honored if you’d consider enrolling in 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success
This 13 module course will literally walk you through starting your new business – it’s perfect for newbies, but existing VAs have taken it and moved their business to the next level as a result too.
We cover everything from:
- What services to offer
- Who to offer them to
- How much to charge
- Where to find clients
- How to set up your website (including what should be on it!)
- How to effectively pitch clients
- Invoicing
- Contracts
- Working with clients
- And a deep dive into about a dozen services you can offer
Plus, much, much more!
What kind of results can you expect to obtain from the course?
Most students make their way through the material in a month or less.
Many end up getting hired by their first client before they finish. Results will vary based on the time someone has available, the amount of action they take and the skill-set they enter the course with.
Some students have the goal of bringing in a few hundred extra dollars each month, while others want to replace a six-figure salary.
We’ve watched numerous students accomplish both goals over the last several years – most land somewhere in between.
My personal favorite is when someone sends me an email or tags me on Facebook that they’ve just quit their soul-sucking job. 😉
You can read a lot of success stories here! Qat, for example, makes anywhere between $5000 and $35000 a month. She started the course in January of 2017, launched her business and landed her first client in the same month.
Virtual assistant jobs from home
One of the best ways to become a virtual assistant is to open your own virtual assistant business.
This will give you the freedom to choose who you work with and how much you charge.
At the same time, it’s not going to be a walk in the park finding your first clients.
Virtual assistant finder
Due to her position in the VA world and all the contacts, she made along the way, Gina was able to create a Virtual assistant finder service thru which entrepreneurs can find the perfect virtual assistant.
Facebook Groups and Virtual Assistant Forums
There are no shortages of groups and forums that can help you get your name out there and find your first client.
As I said before network, offer your help and even do some work for free. Over deliver and ask for feedback.
Bloggers and online entrepreneurs are always on the look for virtual assistants.
If you prove to be helpful and reliable you will definitely find a client. Search for blogging related groups and become a member of the groups.
Here are a few Facebook Groups for virtual assistants I was able to find.
The Virtual Assistant Savvies Community
Virtual Assistant Tribe Job Board
Forums
ProBlogger
There are always virtual assistant jobs you can apply for on ProBlogger. They have a page dedicated to online jobs.
Indeed
Indeed is one of the largest employment-related search engines for job postings.
Just search for virtual assistant or work from home jobs. You can also subscribe to get emails when virtual assistant jobs are posted.
Use LinkedIn to tell your potential prospects what you have to offer and how you can help solve their problems.
LinkedIn has it’s own internal search engine and people that want to hire virtual assistant can type in virtual assistant in the search block.
They could also look for specific skills like editing or graphic design, so make sure you update your skills.
Think of LinkedIn as a sales page where you have the opportunity to stand out from the crowd and convince people your the one they were looking for.
Job boards for virtual assistant jobs
These job boards are similar to employment search engine websites. They offer a variety of jobs, including virtual assistant positions.
If launching your own virtual assistant business is not suitable for you at this moment there are a lot of virtual assistant websites that can help you build your experience.
Some of these websites require some experience and others offer virtual assistant jobs for beginners.
These companies match clients with virtual assistants
Companies that offer virtual assistant jobs
And these are just some of the places you can land a virtual assistant job.
Virtual Assistant Tools that Will Help You Get Your Job Done
Every virtual assistant needs a toolkit that will help propel their business. You’ll need tools to help you make the most out of your time, and help with your productivity and performance.
Grammarly
Grammarly is a grammar checker and will make sure you don’t have any mistakes in your emails, documents or freelance writing.
I use the free version of it and it does a great job at making sure I don’t have mistakes in my writing.
Trello
Trello it is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. Managing your projects and time has never been easier.
Trello will allow you to make to-do lists and on each list, you can add “post-it notes”
Google apps
Google offers editorial calendars, forms, email, online storage and more.
Streak for Gmail
If you have a lot of emails and projects that need to be tracked this tool is perfect for you.
This Customer relationship management will help you manage projects, sales, and editorial calendars.
Dropbox
This is a popular tool that can be used to share documents with your clients.
HelloSign
Another app for Gmail and will save a lot of time. This tool will allow you to sign documents without printing-signing-rescanning.
Invoice Generator
This tool lets you generate great looking invoices straight from your browser without having to sign up or create any accounts.
Skype
Skype will help you have video meetings with your clients for free.
Canva
A graphic design tool website that will allow you to create gorgeous graphics for social media, letter documents, presentations, magazine and book covers, flyers, business cards and so much more.
And has a multitude of premade templates you can choose from.
Pickmonkey
As Canva, Pickmonkey is a graphic design tool and a photo editor
Tailwind
Tailwind is a tool that will help you manage social your social media.
You can schedule posts in advance, monitor and analyze your content performance, and more all from the same place.
To ensure that you’ll be successful as a virtual assistant NEVER STOP LEARNING.
Educate yourself, learn new skills that are high in demand, stay on top of technology and always provide your clients with the best service.
There is a lot to learn about the virtual assistant work, I suggest you read as many ebooks you can, related to this subject.
There are a lot of useful and helpful resources available. I recommend you download the free Kindle App and sign up for the free trial of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited.
You’ll get 30 days to read any books for free.
This is how to become a virtual assistant with no experience and make a full-time income.
If you still have questions about becoming a virtual assistant let me know in the comments below and I’ll find out the answer for you.
How to become a virtual assistant with no experience and make a full-time income
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