01/10/2020
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LEARN HOW TO TURN YOUR PASSION FOR ORGANIZATION INTO A HOME-BASED BUSINESS, WORKING AS A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Sometimes we reach a point in our life when we want to find a balance between having a job, earning money and enjoy our life.
If you are looking to work for yourself and build your own freedom, learning how to become a virtual assistant (also known as VA) might be perfect for you!
The thing is:
It’s not 1960 anymore! You don’t need to go out and get a 9 to 5 job in an office, with a horrible 2-hour commute every day. Becoming a virtual assistant can finally give you that flexibility to create a new lifestyle. As a virtual assistant, you get to choose who you work for and what tasks you take on, you’ll be able to manage your own schedule and work from anywhere.
This could be the comfort of your own home or a beach in Thailand!
You just have to believe in yourself, know your strengths, learn the basics and you will be able to set up your VA business in no time!
Of course, like all jobs, it’s hard work, especially at the beginning.
You’ll have a lot to learn, you’ll need to be determined and don’t give up at the first hurdle, but the freedom that will come with being in charge of your own life is going to be incredible.
What exactly is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant (VA) is a person that can give support to other businesses from a remote location. Thanks to high-speed internet, document sharing and cheap conference calling systems, virtual assistants are in high demand by entrepreneurs and online businesses that need help but don’t want to bring on full-time staff in a specific location.
Having someone to help their business remotely give them more flexibility, less fixed costs, and the ability to scale up and down, depending on the business needs.
To put it simply, as a virtual assistant you will be asked to do office and administrative-type tasks from a remote location.
What does a virtual office assistant do every day?
A virtual assistant is really just anyone that can help with tasks from a remote location. Which means you will offer services to clients on a day to day basis, as a contractor or as a self-employed. This could include, but it’s not limited to email management, content creation, bookkeeping, graphic design, social media and more!
Every VA offers different services. Just think about what you are good at and make sure you personalize your offer based on your skills.
The best thing you can do, especially when you are starting out, is to specialize in a niche and offer your service to a type of business.
By becoming an expert in your niche, you will also be able to get paid more per job in the long run.
A few examples of services you can specialize in are:
1. Social Media
A lot of business owners know that they need a social media presence, but most of them don’t have time to dedicate to create content, share and engage with their audience.
If you love the idea of managing pages, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram accounts, this niche could be for you.
Social media moves really fast, and every week there are new platforms to master and to learn.
Social media virtual assistants are in high demand and if you have any of these skills, this area might be perfect for you:
You understand how to create headlines worth sharing and are familiar with copywriting and marketing
You have an eye for design and can pin, tweet and select beautiful images for Instagram
You love being up to date with everything that’s trending
You can engage with a brand’s audience and know how to keep the conversation going with people
2. Blogging
If you always wanted to start your own blog, becoming a blogger’s VA is a great way to fast-track your blogging success, while earning some extra money on the side.
You’ll be able to learn how more successful bloggers run their blogs while helping them with more administrative tasks.
Some of the tasks you will do as a blogger’s VA are:
Write, edit, and proofread blog posts
Moderate blog comments
Create graphics for blog posts or social media like Pinterest
Improve SEO
Remove broken links, add affiliate links
Manage readers’ emails
Schedule social media
3. E-commerce
Running an e-commerce store can be tough, especially for small and mid-size businesses.
Business owners have an endless list of tasks to manage every day.
This is where a virtual assistant comes in to help.
Some of the things you could help with are:
Manage customer service
Track orders, including order entry, shipment and invoicing.
Deal with returns/exchanges
Manage inventory
Help with marketing
Website maintenance
4. General Admin
Ok, general admin isn’t really a highly specialized niche BUT if you have previous experience in an office job, this is the perfect place to start as a virtual assistant. It’s probably not the most lucrative but administrative support is crucial to most businesses, and it’s a straightforward way to market yourself to small business owners that need help.
There are many tasks that you can do as a general admin VA, including:
Managing calendars and schedule
Managing emails
Booking appointments
Making travel arrangements
File management
Data entry
Setting up spreadsheet
Pretty much every task that a general office assistant on-site would do, except for bringing the coffee!
5. Content Production
If you love creating, curating, and editing videos or beautiful images, you could start a VA business as a content production creator.
Creating content is very time consuming, and most businesses do not have time to dedicate to this and will look to outsource these tasks.
You can offer your services to help with:
Writing blog posts
Research content ideas
Create graphics
Source photos
Take product pictures
Edit pictures
Create videos
6. Finance
If you have any previous experience in finance and bookkeeping, this could be quite a lucrative virtual assistant niche for you to look into.
You could offer services like:
Bookkeeping
Invoice creation
Payments processing
Payroll
These are just some examples, there are many more services that you can offer!
