How To Be a Virtual Assistant and Where Should I Start?

DISCLOSURE: This blog post may contain affiliate links and any purchase(s) made through such links will result in a small commission to HUSTLR (at no cost for you).

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One of the most popular questions that we get asked on a daily basis probably has to be – is it really possible to earn a stable income from home without significant experience?

The answer to that question is a big, fat YES.

Easiest way you can do that – is by becoming a virtual assistant.   

Now we’re all about earning money on the side fast through shorter gig work. Even compiled a checklist for you guys! But if you’ve tuned in to this article, you’re probably keen on something a little longer term.

Working as a virtual assistant allows you to do just that. In fact, the online outsourcing industry has experienced huge growth over the past couple of years; and will most likely have almost 8 billion active customers in the year 2021.

Probably the best part to it all would be the fact that you can start from scratch, and still build a profitable career.

So stop flirting around with the idea and just go for it! This article will teach you the complete essentials of becoming a successful virtual assistant. Plus, stay tuned to the end for handy tools and resources that would allow you to build up a strong portfolio.

Let’s take a look at the basics first.

what is a virtual assistant


What is a Virtual Assistant?


Virtual assistants aka “VAs” are the self-employed individuals that carry out a wide range of administrative or technical tasks to individuals and businesses. Of course, being 100% virtual, all of this work is done online, which gives virtual assistants the ability to work totally remote and from anywhere around the world.

Basically, as long as you’ve got a decent laptop, a strong Internet connection, and a committed attitude – you’re already at least 80% there.   


Who Would Be Your Clients?


As a virtual assistant, you’ll be working with entrepreneurs, small business teams, online personalities and other professionals as your clients.

These are the people that don’t necessarily have enough time in a day to sweat out the smaller tasks, but ones who understand how important it is to keep their business going!

It’s also so much more cost-effective to hire a VA compared to a full-time assistant. On a business’ outlook, your client saves big time on things like insurance, costly equipment, and office tools and other employee benefits.

With all of these reasons, in mind – you literally don’t have to worry about not being enough clients looking for you. You’re wanted, it’s just about where you look.


Can You Make Money as a Virtual Assistant?


A huge 53% of professionals in America would prefer a remote virtual assistant over a personal assistant.

The large market for online outsourcing means that you’ll never run out of options to earn income as a virtual assistant! If you really plan on making it big, you’d need a decent-looking portfolio of reviews from previous clients, etc. This could mean starting out with anywhere from $16-$20/hour; which is the average rate of VAs in the US according to Indeed.com.

Once you’ve established a rapport for yourself, you could eventually charge upwards from $50-$100/hour. Entirely possible when you’re a professional in your niche.  


What Are the Skills Needed to Become a Virtual Assistant?


You might not need a fancy-schmancy cert but make no mistake. There are a lot of soft skills and some technical knowledge involved in becoming a virtual assistant. Excellent verbal skills, a strict sense of self-discipline, patience, and reliability throughout your working hours are some of them!

Experience with software like Microsoft Office’s suite, Google Drive, file-sharing platforms, password managers and several other communication methods are certainly necessary.

Although it’s completely possible to work remotely anywhere at all with an Internet connection, it might be a good idea to have a dedicated space that you can count on. A home office or co-working space with access to printers, copiers and maybe a landline would definitely streamline the entire process.


What Are the Most In-Demand Services for Virtual Assistants?


The remote workforce has increased by 140% since 2005. Why is that?

It’s because as the need for a digital presence grows, so will the demand for online services by businesses, individuals and organisations. Take advantage of that! 

That’s why becoming a virtual assistant gives you a wide range of services you can offer your clients. The physical factor of not being “actually present” with your client + getting tasks done isn’t an inhibitor in the slightest. It’s practically non-existent, to be honest.

If you need help coming up with a list of virtual and 100% work from home jobs to offer your clients – here’s a good place to start. 


Social Media Manager


A brand’s social media platform is one of the most important things for a digital presence.

Related:- Why Social Media Marketing is Important for Online Businesses

But over time, it can become repetitive and time-draining. As a small, growing business, especially for founders and entrepreneurs, they need to focus on the bigger picture, by spending less time sweating the smaller details (follower count, post likes, etc.).

It’s why so many businesses out there are starting to outsource their social media management teams! Services here would include ways to manage Instagram profiles, Facebook pages, etc. so that brands would have more time to focus on other tasks at hand.

Considering becoming a social media virtual assistant? Here’s what you might need to do:

• Schedule industry-relevant posts, tweets, and other updates on all platforms.

• Be in touch with what’s trending in your client’s niche –and take advantage!

• Drive engagement and buzz with social media ad campaigns monitor views and impressions.

• Provide quality consumer experience by replying direct messages, addressing complaints, etc.


You’ll never run out of things to do with as a social media virtual assistant. There are also endless options for growth! Once you manage successful campaigns and accounts, it becomes all the easier to build up a strong portfolio based on past work and have more clients running your way.


Bookkeeping Virtual Assistant


With or without experience in accounting, being a bookkeeping virtual assistant is a service that’s ALWAYS going to remain in demand.

Now when we say “without experience” – this means you don’t necessarily need to be a certified accountant to provide these services. You would, however, need a decent grasp of tracking invoices, payments and making sure all of these are recorded in a solid form somewhere.

That might sound daunting at first, but keep in mind that there are TONS of online software and programs out there that make this process way easier than it seems to be.

In the meantime, you can actually pick up on industry-grade tips and lessons from professionals through Udemy. All of their online courses on bookkeeping and online accounting is insanely valuable; especially if you’re just starting out with a virtual assistant job!

Note that some companies might still insist that you have valid, past working experiences handling the books.

No worries. There are many smaller startups and solopreneurs that would be ecstatic to have someone on board that can make sense of the basics. Start out this way, gain enough experience with online accounting software –and then you can start looking at bigger fish.

Here are a few things you might need to handle as a bookkeeping virtual assistant:

• Paying and keeping track of bills on time

• Generating invoices, following up on payments yet to be made

• Handling service fees by contractors/other independent freelancers

• Preparing a comprehensive, to the point balance sheet to track financials at the end of every month or annually


Blogging Virtual Assistant


Driving web visitors to your blog is simple enough once you’ve mastered key marketing tactics.

But it becomes increasingly difficult to churn out more content AND grow a website if you are doing it by yourself.

Although definitely possible, it’s likely that a website’s performance will suffer greatly if its main aim is to only stay afloat with routinely posting articles and hoping for the best.

So that’s why businesses with a strong blog presence essentially do need one or two virtual blog assistants to regularly post, update and strategise their content marketing techniques from time to time.

As a blogging virtual assistant, you’ll contribute in a lot of ways. Here are some of them:

• Regularly post new content, refresh older ones

• Monitor web traffic coming and going from a site

• Implement and update SEO strategies to drive search engine rankings

• Handling affiliate marketing, fixing broken links and keeping track with online ads  


Becoming a blogging virtual assistant is an excellent work from home option. It’s also a great path to choose if you’re just starting out with the basics of a virtual assistant job. This is because blogging really allows you to get your hands dirty to become a jack of all trades; via marketing techniques, online ads, content curation and sooooo much more.


eCommerce Virtual Assistant


eCommerce itself was a $2.8 trillion-dollar industry in the US as of 2018 alone.

But running a store is no joke. It takes long hours, hard work and many hands-on-deck if you have any hopes of bringing in the profit. eCommerce store owners understand this intimately, which is why most of them require someone to keep track of these tasks on a day-to-day basis.

So what would you do as an eCommerce virtual assistant?

• Tracking orders and shipment processing

• Managing inventory, updating product categories, writing descriptions

• Various administrative and customer service feedback tasks

• Online market research (keeping up with trends, spying on competitors, focusing on demographics, etc.)

• Handle various sales promotions and online marketing campaigns


Market research and competitor analysis are essential if you have any hopes of surviving in the virtual job assistant industry.

We breakdown the 3 best tools to do this. Right here.

Read:- How To Spy On Your Competitors

What a list, huh? Fret not! If you’re a person with a keen eye for detail, able to multitask, and is basically an expert with time management altogether – you’re already halfway there.


Email Marketing Virtual Assistant


Billions of emails are sent on the daily. In fact, 49% of consumers are interested to receive weekly promotions from favorite brands. So with an ROI of $32 for every $1 spent, it’s no wonder marketers, entrepreneurs and businesses alike are jumping on the bandwagon of email marketing.

Setting up and maintaining an email list is essential for any company to grow  a business, but it requires a lot more thought than meets the eye. Makes sense that clients are always going to be needing the services of virtual assistants here!

As an email marketing assistant, your tasks are always going to be diverse ones. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect:

• Writing catchy headlines, the body of content

• Scheduling email newsletters

• Monitor email marketing engagement (when are the best times to send one out, which structure of email gets the most engagement, etc.)

• Developing email campaigns


Email marketing is one of the hottest ways to build up a loyal, engaged customer base. You can always expect this service to be highly sought after! Once you have email marketing listed in your great, big portfolio –you’re already one up from the competition.

Don’t see your preferred skill? Not to worry! There are literally hundreds of virtual assistant jobs to choose from in 2019 – with more always on the way as the digital and remote landscape grows.

Speaking of, this is the mother load list.

Check out 100 Virtual Assistant Services You Can Offer and Get Paid For. It’s a comprehensive guide that gets you started from ground zero as a work from home virtual assistant.


5 Essential Steps to Kick Start Your Virtual Assistant Job


So you’ve got a quick rundown of what makes a successful virtual assistant. Now what?

Becoming a virtual assistant isn’t just a mere gig –it’s a business that you have to put your heart and soul into! There’s a whole lot of planning, strategizing and networking that goes into setting it up.

Trust us. You won’t get anywhere shooting in the dark and hoping for things to turn out in your favor. But once you’ve got a rock-solid business plan; you can bet that your clients would be pouring in.

Speaking of business plans. Here’s HUSTLR’s very own downloadable PDF of a business blueprint to help you narrow everything down! We hope you enjoy it.

Moving on. Here are 4 detailed steps to help you launch your dream virtual assistant business off the ground – and start earning a comfortable income from home.


1. Managing your capacity


List down ALL the services you have the capacity to offer. Slash out the ones you DON’T.

You already have a basic idea of what’s hot in the world of virtual assistant services. This can be a rough guide to steer you in the right direction!

Do you have a strong social media presence and experience managing multiple accounts? Have you ever had the opportunity to write blog posts for a website or business? Are you skilled in the art of managing and executing online campaigns?

Hone in on the skill/service that you feel the MOST comfortable with at first (you can expand your list later) and then start to label yourself according to that only. 

For instance, if you have experience with writing content and guest posting on websites – specify JUST that in your job roles. You want to make sure you brand yourself as a “blog writing virtual assistant” instead of a “blog virtual assistant”.

It may sound similar, and you may think that people would understand the message conveyed – but it can be very confusing for a hiring client! Blog writing informs clients that you’re interested in writing, editing and proofreading alone. Whereas a blog virtual assistant promises added analytic skills, affiliate marketing techniques and website management experience that you don’t possess at the moment.

The last thing you want to do is under-deliver on what you’re offering! So think long and hard about your specific brand. 

When you’re just starting out, never ever promise clients skills that you’re not 100% confident with. Stick to the basics of what you know; there’s always room to grow once you become more comfortable with your skills.


2. Seek expert training before you start!


Starting something from scratch can be overwhelming. Especially if you’re running the show all by yourself.

But it doesn’t have to be. You have a plethora of resources awaiting you; whether it’s through mastering a skill, learning how to kick start a virtual assistant business or through downloadable + printable guides that would help along the way.

We’ve compiled a few of them right here;

• Online Course sites
Look through Udemy and Coursera that provide reasonable training. They’ve got thousands of certified universities, educators and companies creating these courses –so you know that every tip learned is about as valuable as it gets.

• Learn from the pros
If you prefer to get up close and personal, start looking for mentors in your niche. Like trying to get a stronger footing in a virtual assistant business. Check out online personas like Gina Horkey! She’s a total guru at growing a work at home virtual business –and shows you how to do it in her 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success online module.

• Gain insight from eBooks
eBooks are a fantastic way of picking up skills on your own time. Unlike webinars and live classes (which are still really cool if you prefer a hands-on, interactive approach) – eBooks allow you to revisit tips, strategies and guidelines over and over again so that it sticks. They’re also easily printable; which works great to compile as a booklet and read with your morning cuppa!


If you’re keen on growing your skill portfolio as a virtual assistant; here are some must-have bestsellers!

For blogging + website management virtual assistants:

• Boosting Your Blog Traffic

• Affiliate Marketing Training Bundle

• The Affiliate Programs Masterlist

 
For social media management virtual assistants:

• The Pinterest EBook

• Lead Generation with Facebook Ads

• Social Media Data Cookbook for Marketers


3. Come up with your pricing structures


Of course, you would want to know if holding a virtual assistant job is viable in the long run in terms of income. For you to do that; you’ll have to set a pricing structure and average rate pretty early on.

So what’s the right amount to charge your clients? The answer would have to take into account a whole lot of elements. For starters, you want to note a couple of things first.

You have to cover charges and overhead fees that would (commonly) be covered by a full-time employer. This includes electricity bills from working hours incurred, online software subscriptions and other expenses from your home office.

Technically, virtual assistants don’t have access to full-time employee benefits. We’re talking paid sick days, vacation time off, insurance, etc.


We noted earlier in the article that Indeed.com recorded an average rate of anywhere from $16-$20/hour for virtual assistants in the US. This is an okay start if you’re still totally wet behind the ears. However, HUSTLR recommends quoting at least $20-$25/hour once you become a little more comfortable with your skills.

Why? You have to think about financial security. All of your funds are handled on your own as a virtual assistant –so things like retirement funds, emergency fees and the like have to be factored in as well!

After every 6-10 months; evaluate just how much you’ve grown as a work from home virtual assistant. Take into account new skills learned, some software that you’ve mastered – and conduct your own financial assessment.

Once you’re more advanced, it’s totally appropriate to give yourself a little pay raise in accordance with new expertise. Some virtual assistants make up to six figures a year. One of the best things about being your own boss!


4. Launching your own website


We believe that you’ll stand out from the rest with a strong digital presence that directly reaffirms your strength in a niche. With a website, you can do just that.

Think about it this way. Landing your next client + documenting a solid portfolio that allows for a greater rate/hour is all about just how much you (and other satisfied customers!) can vouch for your services.

So that’s why it makes sense for you to create your own personal brand through a reputable website.

It’s pretty much up to you what you choose to attach in your business website –but here are some fantastic content ideas that you might want to consider.

• Cornerstone Articles/Listicles
These would be the highlight long-form content of your site. Cornerstone pieces are articles that are complete guides (normally between 5000 words and up) that would really help boost your SEO ranking and show readers that you know your stuffs. You can even get some help through Fiverr, hiring freelance writers that would help you create content if you’re too busy that month.

• Downloadable guides
Offer value to your readers by giving them free access to PDF guides. You can easily create these via Canva!

• Online courses
Once you’re a little more established in your niche – you can start building up your loyal reader base with online courses. We recommend Teachable to help you drive major traffic and recognition to your brand.


Read: 65 Marketing Tactics To Increase Your Online Course Sale

As soon as you have a rough content strategy planned (ooh, check out CoSchedule for this!), it’s time to start creating your website.

We won’t spend too much time delving into the nitty-gritty in this particular article, but you can find everything you need here:

• Top 7 Blogging Platforms to Start a Blog in 2019

• The Only List of Blogging Tools You’ll Need in 2019

• 10 Super Powered Ways to Promote Your Website Doing Almost Nothing


All caught up? Fantastic. Let’s move on to the next step.


5. Establishing a social media presence


Ahh…the bittersweet world of social media!

To keep everything as simple as possible here; we recommend that you be exactly where your clients are.

Sticking to this one rule would avoid you falling down the rabbit hole a lot of businesses do. Which is -trying to reach as many people as possible.

You want to pour your energy into targeting engagement from the RIGHT demographics. If your post gets 100 likes from random (and sometimes shady) profiles it still wouldn’t matter as much as the post that gets 40 likes from potential clients, similar professionals in your niche.

Here are some pointers on the best places to source your first virtual assistant clients.


Creating a business Facebook page


This might be a pretty obvious step to some –but note the emphasis on business. A Facebook business page is built for raking in more views, likes, follows; so that you’re well on your way to build a stronger social media presence.

Running Facebook ads is also a pretty effective way of breaking new ground! Facebook’s brand new ad manager is easy-to-use and is power-packed with many features to help you gain more audiences.

You can brush up on it all right here.

If you’re unsure what to post on Facebook, start with something personal. Uniquely you.

Behind the scenes photos of your home office, video snippets of you in action, or quirky little backstories about how you started a work from home hustle would be a great place to begin.


Starting your own Instagram page


If you were to consider the Top 100 brands in the world; 90% of them have an Instagram presence. So everyone knows that it matters. How do you, as a personal brand- stand out from the masses?

For starters, you can check out platforms like Hootsuite and Buffer to schedule, monitor trends and manage of all of your accounts in one place. Both of them are masters at what they do.

Growing your Instagram as a virtual assistant is pretty simple! Kick things off with a “clickable bio” that leads to your personal website or Facebook page. You’re also going to want to post your content at optimal times (you can check out a rundown here!) keep up a consistent stream of Instagram stories, and use hashtags relevant to your client and niche.


Growing your LinkedIn profile


If you’ve been following us so far, you know that we literally cannot get enough of using LinkedIn to grow the HUSTLR platform. Why?

• Over 45% of LinkedIn users are in upper management.

• 30 million US companies have LinkedIn profiles.

• 40% of LinkedIn’s current 303 million user base visit it EVERY DAY.


If your virtual assistant business is not already on LinkedIn, get on it right now! It’s an excellent way of connecting with a bunch of solopreneurs, small businesses and online personas looking for an extra pair of hands to grow their craft.

Finally, to inspire trust with your clients you may be willing to use an NDA template when starting your work. This will show that you’re pro-active and actually care about the information you work with.

Pro Tip: Editing your email signature. Although not exactly a social media tip – personalizing your email signature can help get the word out about your new venture. Those who email you back and forth might need (or know of someone) that could benefit from your services! 


8 Online Platforms to Find Virtual Assistant Jobs in 2019


In the midst of pouring your effort into a digital + social media presence; it’s wise to consider online platforms for virtual assistant jobs too.

These platforms act as a matching service for clients and virtual assistants based on each other’s preferences. Companies that operate this way reduce the time taken for you to source clients in exchange for a commission/subscription fee paid by the client. 

Conducting a quick search on Google will present you with hundreds of options for these sort of websites.

But you want to thread this veeeeryy carefully. A handful of them would take advantage of the loose pricing structure and lack of regulations; scamming you with get-rich-quick schemes. Then end up underpaying you. Or worst of all, not paying you at all.

We’ve taken the liberty to narrow down 10 qualified, vetted and successful virtual assistant job matching platforms here. Take a look!


1. FlexJobs

“Life is flexible, how about your job?”


The above refers to FlexJobs’ promise of always finding its users a job that allows them to work from home, part-time or on a contract basis. And yes –naturally, there’s a TON of clients on the platform searching for virtual assistants in their area.

In fact, the best way we can probably describe FlexJobs is that it’s the work from home solution to competitors like Indeed and Glassdoor! It has risen to major headlines in the past few years; earning review pieces from companies like NBC and CNN too.

FlexJobs is home to almost 5,000 active clients (and growing), with thousands of relevant job listings in their online directory.

But above all – their reputation is what makes them stand out. FlexJobs strictly vets their job listings and clients, making sure that you’re not exposed to spam or fake posts on their site.

It’s fair to note however that FlexJobs does charge a monthly fee of $15/month for applicants to use their platform. We understand if you might be a little hesitant shelling out cash for a job-matching site (especially with free options around), but rest assured that they have a pretty solid money-back guarantee if you don’t enjoy your subscription.

The monthly subscription is more of a push for clients and applicants alike to fully utilize their platform the best way they can in that period of time. Instead of signing up and leaving your profile inactive after a couple of days.


2. We Work Remotely


Exactly what it claims to be – We Work Remotely believes in empowering all of their active users to carry out 100% remote listings no matter the niche.

We Work Remotely is a fantastic platform to use if you’re looking for international job listings. It’s totally free for job seekers to use as when; although employers have to pay around $299/month to use the platform.

Pretty hefty price tag – but that’s exactly how We Work Remotely keeps all of their jobs 100% legitimate and vetted. That’s why it’s on the list.

If you sign up for their email newsletter, We Work Remotely sends curated listings straight to your inbox! You can use this to your advantage by choosing to filter out the noise and just setting your preferences for “virtual assistants”. This helps reduce the time spent endlessly browsing through their page too.

The listings on We Work Remotely range from sales and marketing, to programming, copywriting, design and many more. At the moment, their counter records almost a total of 100k remote job listings posted!


3. Time Etc


If you’re keen on becoming a virtual assistant that deals with various administrative and clerical tasks, Time Etc is the platform to be on.

Collectively, Time Etc’s virtual assistants complete an average of 20,000 tasks for their active clients. Time Etc states clearly on their site that they prefer applicants with 2/3 years of experience in commercial service –such as being a personal assistant, secretary or admin in the past.

We should disclose however that the starting pay for virtual assistants on Time Etc starts from $11/hour which is the very base fee (according to assistants who’ve worked there before).

Of course, there’s room to negotiate a raise –as you progress with the company! But since they’re mostly hiring the very verrrryyy freshest of virtual assistants, that would be the expected pay for the first couple of months at least.

The tasks that you’d be expected to do for Time Etc’s clients vary from making travel arrangements, basic bookkeeping, scheduling meetings and the like. You’ll also have to be comfortable working at least 3-5 hours a week, sign a contract for about a year and be available Mondays through Fridays.

Bit of a grind here – but starting off as a total rookie definitely requires you to make some adjustments here and there. We promise though, stick with Time Etc for a bit; and your spanking new portfolio would open a lot of doors in the future!


4. Zirtual 


Zirtual is a rising platform founded in 2010 to hire dedicated, educated and quality virtual assistants based in the United States.

Becoming a Zirtual virtual assistant is a tad different from other hiring platforms. Zirtual employs a much more traditional way of recruiting their talents –and that’s through the conventional “careers” page available on their website.

So you can expect all of Zirtual’s potential hires to go through a detailed vetting process! If you want to qualify as a virtual executive assistant, you’d need to be available from 9am-6pm EST and be proficient throughout Microsoft Office, Google, and other management tools.

The cool part about Zirtual is that it allows you to work under the supervision of an Account Manager! This person would be in charge of overseeing all day-to-day tasks that you complete for your client, monitor progress and ensure that you’re working within your means and protocols.

This may sound like it’s micro-managing, but it really is just ensuring that clients DON’T take advantage of you beyond an agreed-upon contract. Or abuse their power in any way.

If you’re interested, Zirtual assistants earn anywhere from $13-18/hour for their services. You can take a look at a more in-depth description of duties right here. Or go ahead and apply if you check all the boxes!


5. Belay


Belay was founded on the ideals that there should be more options than working the traditional full-time or part-time job. The “Third Option” is one of the main focuses here; empowering a workforce of flexible workers with a harmonious balance of work and personal life.

Browsing Belay will give you bookkeeping, web designers, admin services and various other general management virtual assistants. On the client’s side, you’d usually find small sales teams, attorneys, photographers, consultants as the majority demographics.

Glassdoor notes that the hourly rate for Belay virtual assistants is around $17-20 on average. Depending on your bandwidth –Belay would allow you to juggle two clients at a time and work for up to 20 hours/week.

Many active virtual assistants note that Belay’s hiring process can be quite intensive. This includes online assessments, tests, and some remote interviews if need be. Like Zirtual; you would also come under a Relationship Manager that would be responsible for matching you + the client; as well as taking into account both of your needs.


6. Fancy Hands

“You don’t have to be a Hollywood superstar or big shot to reap the benefits of a virtual assistant.”


According to Ted Roden, founder of Fancy Hands –this is the single reasoning that drove him to create such a platform.  

Fancy Hands works to connect clients with virtual assistants that are able to schedule appointments, record data entry, accept and make phone calls, book reservations and much more! Since it’s pretty basic stuff, Fancy Hands doesn’t exactly require a star-studded resume or college degree.

Their pricing structure is also a little different from the rest. Becoming a Fancy Hands virtual assistant would mean that you get paid per TASK and not per hour.

How does this work?

Let’s say for instance you have the capacity to do 20 different tasks a day. 

Depending on the details and time taken for each task; they come in fees of $3-7 each. So at the end of the day –you’ll walk away anywhere from $60 to $140 bucks richer. Pretty sweet deal if you ask us!

Fancy Hands is the perfect solution if you’re just getting the hang of being a virtual assistant. You can pick your own hours, you don’t really have a strict contract to follow through if it doesn’t work out –and there’s plenty of room for you to grow your list of services and skills!  

You can apply to become a Fancy Hands virtual assistant here.   


7. 99DollarSocial


Social media virtual assistants – listen up!

If you haven’t already heard about 99DollarSocial, it’s about time that you do. This one of a kind platform was founded in hopes of connecting professionals to assistants that specialize SOLELY in social media.

Remember how we talked about social media being a time suck for busy entrepreneurs? 99DollarSocial realizes this, which is why they’re in the business of outsourcing such tasks to virtual assistants that can do the job much faster anyway.

A 99DollarSocial virtual assistant lives through social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have to come as easily as breathing to you. This would include you having to regularly post on a client’s behalf, write their Tweets, engage with their followers, monitor trends and follow social media fads with painstaking detail.

If it helps, we have a dedicated online resource to help you up your social media game.

• 5 Ways Any Blogger Can Earn $10,000 With Pinterest

• 7 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be On Pinterest

• The Power of Social Media


In terms of pricing, 99DollarSocial pays you a flat fee based on how many accounts you’d be handling. Handling more accounts = a much higher rate! This is also a virtual assistant job that keeps you busy (up to 40 hours a week) so you definitely need to take this on full time.  

As of yet, 99DollarSocial doesn’t require professional social media management experience for commercial clients. They do however emphasize that you need to complete at least 6 hours of online training once you’re accepted.

Get started as a 99 Dollar Social virtual assistant right here.


8. Ossisto


Whilst some virtual assistant job matching platforms might choose to specialize in one or two areas, Ossisto aims for full coverage.

Ossisto provides services to cover the whole A-Z of virtual assistant services! You’ve got your content writers, digital marketers, IT specialists, graphic designers and tons more options to choose from according to what you’re the best at.

Ossisto also works great if you prefer doing your bulk of the work on weekends. All of their clients are from either the US, UK, Australia or India.

They regularly update their “careers” page that you can take a look at right here. At the moment of writing, Ossisto has job openings from sales specialists, customer service execs and social media virtual assistants.


5 Tools Every Virtual Assistant Needs to Have


Let’s say you’ve put your feelers out there –and successfully gained your first EVER client as a budding virtual assistant!

How do you make sure everything goes smoothly from this point onwards?

Evolving into a badass virtual assistant requires more than just experience and what looks good on paper. By employing the best possible set of industry tools and software –you can take your humble work from home hustle and transform it into a lucrative, evergreen business.

So it goes without saying that every successful virtual assistant needs to have his/her toolkit to run the show.

Whether or not you need to learn this to streamline tasks, increase productivity, encourage smoother communication or to just overall reduce the time spent on manual labor –online tools are meant to push the boundaries of your creative process altogether!

Picking up on these few online tools would also help increase your credibility by a whole lot. Especially when applying for new virtual assistant jobs.

Here are 5 essential tools to help you get the most out of every minute of being a virtual assistant!


1. Asana

Asana


Amidst an endless list of project management and to-do lists, Asana is one that stands out from the rest!

Asana has 3 main goals in mind; to keep all of your tasks organized in one place, stay on track with your workload and to meet deadlines with ease. They’re perfectly suited for individuals and small teams.

But what has to be the best part out of all their features is the customizable templates. You can choose over 50+ interfaces suited to track HR progress, product launches, graphic design tasks, IT performance and many more. We recommend the “work-request” and “project agenda” templates for virtual assistants though.  

Price: Free for basic usage and $9.99/month for a business upgrade.


2. Toggl


To put it quite simply; Toggl is an uncomplicated, to-the-point time tracking software that works effortlessly to give you your time back.  

Instead of constantly wondering “where did the time go?” –Toggl breaks it down quite neatly for you according to hours spent per project, which clients take up most of your time, etc.

This makes it easier to stay on track with agreed-upon hours with your client. If your contract mentions 5 hours a day; start the timer at the very start of your workday and let it roll in the background.

Toggl also makes it super simple to attach billable rates in your calculations –making sure that you’re being fairly compensated for your work.

Price: $9/month for starters and $18/month for premium management.


3. QuickBooks


You don’t really need to be an expert accountant to use QuickBooks.

In fact, their entire interface and software were built around a simplified approach to bookkeeping! You’re not going to find confusing Excel spreadsheet commands here, or get lost in a maze of confusing cash flows that don’t make sense.

The reason QuickBooks is on this list in the first place – it’s because you need a solid account record as a virtual assistant. Remember how we mentioned that you’d ideally want to make this a business?

Every business needs to track where it’s expenses are coming from, issue invoices to clients, manage bills coming in and record it all at the end of a month/year to assess growth.

So whether or not you’re an accounting virtual assistant or just a virtual assistant in general, you need to be on QuickBooks.

Price: $5/month for self-employed individuals and up to $35/month for full usage.


4. Slack

Slack


Slack is a communication tool that virtually eliminates the need for a constant exchange of emails.

And trust us –you’re going to be needing a SOLID form of communication with your client if you have any hopes of making your virtual assistant job a smooth one. Although you might also have your client’s personal/work number, your messages might be drowned out from others they would be receiving throughout the day as well.  

That’s where Slack comes in!

Here you can share notes, snapshots, files, Google Drive links and everything else with your client –under one simple roof.

Slack is available through desktop browsers (Mac and Windows) as well as iOS and Android platforms for easy access.

Price: Free for small teams and up to $12.50/month for the Plus upgrade.


5. Calendly


Every virtual assistant’s greatest tool – the calendar.

Except Calendly takes the simplified concept of a basic schedule and runs rampant with it.

Calendly integrates with your already in-use calendar to check your availability, send invitations for clients to confirm or decline and send confirmation/reminder notifications just in case.

Calendly works by creating your own personalized link that you share with the rest of the world. It can be used in a multitude of ways; for potential clients to schedule an interview with you by booking a slot or to keep track with the schedule of an existing client where he/she can access all of their appointments in one place.

Price: Free 14-day trial for more than one user, billed $8/month for Premium and $12/month for Pro.



Wrapping Up


Trying to absorb all of this information in one day can be overwhelming – so don’t! Sweating out the little things will get you positively nowhere in starting your work from home business, so turn that nasty little voice in your head off and take the FIRST ever step today.

You know you’re already keen to go down this path. So start by optimizing your Instagram account for more professionalism. Convert your Facebook to a business page. Sign up for at least 2 online virtual assistant job matching platforms and apply.

Or you could simply just make your first eBook purchase and start stocking up on your skills. Whatever it is –the hardest thing to do is START, so you’d want to get over that fast!

Becoming a virtual assistant gives you the ultimate work-life balance, and the promise of finally being the boss of your own time, finances and career growth. It’s an empowering decision, and we wish you the best of luck starting your brand new venture!

How To Be a Virtual Assistant and Where Should I Start?

3 thoughts on “How To Be a Virtual Assistant and Where Should I Start?”

  1. This is a complete guide for people looking for work as a Virtual Assistant and thinking where to start. Virtual Assistant nowadays is a decent job and pays above average salary. Since the demand of online services by businesses, individuals and organisations are rapidly increasing due to digital evolution then Virtual Assistant is in demand too.
    Great job.
    Nice blog!

  2. Thank you for sharing about how to be a virtual assistant with us, these will be really helpful to many.. I love reading this blog; it talks so much about planning a great idea about it. Keep sharing such informative articles in future, will be appreciated.

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