Have you ever considered what it would be like to make more money without leaving your house? It’s time to learn how to become a virtual assistant with a Minimal Experience.
Some of the great things about being a virtual assistant are that you can work in your pyjamas, you don’t have to pay for gas or parking, you don’t have to eat the same boring store-bought sandwich for lunch, and, perhaps most importantly, you can be there to walk your dog.
There are many ways to make money from home, but working as a virtual assistant or VA is the best way to make money while also being realistic. You don’t need a lot of experience, just a few simple skills that you can pick up quickly.
First, talk about what a virtual assistant does and what skills you need to become one.
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How does a virtual assistant work?
Simply put, a virtual assistant is a self-employed person who helps clients with administrative tasks while working remotely and having access to the necessary planning documents, such as shared calendars.
A virtual assistant, in other words, simplifies someone’s life. Consider it this way: a small business owner needs assistance running her company’s day-to-day operations, from maintaining the Facebook page to organizing the finances. They enlist virtual assistants to assist them when they have too much to do and not enough time.
What exactly does a virtual assistant perform all day?
Being a virtual assistant doesn’t mean you must be an executive assistant and organize the company’s monthly expenses in Excel or make appointments.
One of the best things about virtual assistant is how different it is from day to day. Depending on who you work for, write a newsletter and schedule Facebook posts one day and then plan a start-up conference in the Bahamas the next. Yes, for sure.
Because it’s online, you can help someone keep their business on track from anywhere in the world. Yes, you might even be in the Bahamas.
How do you get qualified to be a virtual assistant?
What kind of skills do you need to work as a VA?
You offer a wide range of skills and services as a virtual assistant. However, a few skills would make your job easier (and more enjoyable).
I am referring to things like:
- Communication Skills
- Organizational Skills
- Good knowledge and understanding of everything to do with the internet
- A Set of Specialized Skills
Communication: As a virtual assistant, you’ll likely talk to different people online, so finding the best way to speak to each person is essential.
Organization: Organizing your time and setting priorities is a skill that will help you in any job, but it’s essential if you want to be a successful virtual assistant. In short, you’ll likely get a long list of tasks each week, so it’s necessary to be organized.
Internet-savvy: Because you’ll be working online, knowing a lot about the internet is essential. Don’t get me wrong, no one expects you to be an IT expert, but you will need technical skills to write a blog post, manage social media, or make a PDF.
Specialized Skills: If you have one or two technical skills, you can make yourself more appealing to a potential client and charge more for your VA service. For example, you could study the Pinterest platform and learn everything there is to know about it. Then, you could become a Pinterest Virtual Assistant and charge more for your specialization.
Don’t worry if you haven’t worked much or need to learn how to do these things right now. You can quickly discover them with free online courses or videos (hint: YouTube). On the job, you can learn many skills to add to your portfolio and CV.
How much can a Virtual Assistant Earn?
EARNING POTENTIAL $16 - $28/hour
“How much does a virtual assistant make per hour?” the truth is that the pay range varies greatly depending on your experience and your customer.
Payscale says the average wage for a virtual assistant is $16.44 per hour, with the 90th percentile making around $28 per hour. This means that a virtual assistant makes between $32,068 and $57,120 per year before bonuses.
But remember that this data doesn’t differentiate between full-time and part-time work, so many part-time virtual assistants make $25,000 or more working on the side. Also, these are just averages, and the sky is really the limit.
As a freelance virtual assistant, you are your boss, one of the best parts. This means you decide how much to charge your clients for your VA service.
Still, if you wake up one day and decide you want to be a graphic designer or freelance writer without experience, you won’t be able to charge hundreds of dollars immediately. Finding the right client for a virtual assistant business takes time, connections, and referrals.
If you have little experience in the field, your first hourly pay will likely be low (and could be less than $10).
But if you have some experience and a good website showing off your skills and knowledge, you could make much more money without ever leaving your home.
Sounds pretty good.
5 Simple Steps to Become a Virtual Assistant with No Prior Experience
Now that you know more about working as a virtual assistant, you might wonder what you’d need to do to get started. First, I want to tell you not to worry about not having relevant job experience.
As I’ve said before, you don’t need years of experience to get started, but you need to know what you want your VA business to look like.
1. Decide what service you’re going to offer.
The first step in becoming a virtual assistant is figuring out what services you’ll offer. You should list your skills and compare them to what a virtual assistant can do (listed above).
- You might have your website or blog or be good at editing photos for social media.
- If you know how to use advanced Excel formulas, you can make someone’s finances easier with the click of a button.
Think about what you’re good at and want to do. Compare your skills to what people need help with and decide what services your VA business will offer.
Your services won’t have to end there, though, because as you grow as a successful virtual assistant, you’ll keep learning new skills and programs you’re comfortable with.
Ultimately, the best way to get ahead is to know how to add value to your client’s lives and your unique selling points (USP).
2. Figure out how much you’ll charge.
As was already said, how much you charge for your services will depend on your skills, experience, and the kind of services you decide to offer.
If you have much experience with an organization or have worked as an assistant, don’t hesitate to ask for more money per hour.
But if you’re starting as an assistant and want to build up your skills and portfolio, you might need to start at the lower end of the scale to get more clients and experience.
When setting your price, there are a few essential things to keep in mind:
- You’ll have to pay self-employment tax, so your charge covers that.
- You’ll also have to pay for website hosting, software subscriptions, and office costs. When deciding how much to charge, remember all these things.
- There are no benefits, paid vacation, sick days, health insurance, or retirement contributions. If something goes wrong, you’ll have to pay for it yourself.
When setting your prices, it’s essential to remember all that. No matter how new you are, avoid debt by charging your clients too little.
You can get around this by considering how much you’d make if you did the same job in an office and adding 25% to cover the costs. When you think about how much more is involved, it’s unsurprising that freelancers often make more than employees.
If you’re new to freelancing, finding fair prices and talking to your clients about them can take a lot of work. But it would help if you remembered that this is a win-win situation: your clients don’t have to spend time and money setting up and training a new employee. So don’t be shy about asking for a fair price.
3. Take Advice from Experts
Once you’ve decided what you want to do and figured out how much you’d have to charge for your services to make it worth it, it’s time to look to the pros for ideas.
Some people do this full-time and make thousands of dollars monthly. Kayla Sloan is an excellent example of a virtual assistant who does a good job. Try getting in touch with other virtual assistants, reading their blogs, and listening to podcasts about how to run a VA business.
4. Make yourself known online
As a virtual assistant, you’ll do things online for your clients. They need to know that you’re good at what you do. That means you need to have a strong presence online. To get your client’s attention and make yourself known.
If you want potential clients to know about your services, you’ll need social media accounts, a website, or maybe even a blog.
That will depend on the services you decide to offer, of course. But you must have a web presence to build a profitable virtual assistant business.
5. Look for your first virtual assistant job.
It’s fun and scary at the same time to look for that first job. It can feel like looking out over a barren desert.
You should expect to hear “No, thank you” a few times. Or to be sometimes ignored. That’s something every freelancer goes through. The most important thing is to keep trying and not let it bother you.
Now, I’ll tell you where to find your first possible client.
Top Methods to Find Virtual Assistant Jobs: A Comprehensive Guide
There are a lot of ways to find a job as a virtual assistant, but here are a few tried and true ones:
1. FlexJobs
Flexjobs is a reputable website about flexible jobs and is updated often. It should be the first place you go to look for a job as a virtual assistant. As of this writing, more than 200 jobs are on the list, and more are added every day.
2. Fiverr
Fiverr could also be a great place to look for your first virtual assistant job. Remember that you may need to start with a meager price to get your first few clients, but that’s part of the game.
When you have a few clients, some experience, and some good reviews, it will be easier to find work.
3. Belay Solutions
Belay Solutions is a website that helps you find a virtual assistant (VA) job by giving you a lot of job listings and help. If you’re ready to take this seriously, sign up and pay for the dedicated support to help you find a VA job. It’s important to know that most Belay jobs require a degree and a few years of experience.
4. Equivity
Equivity is a legitimate company that always hires virtual assistants to help clients. They require a bachelor’s degree, but the jobs they offer are some of the best paid in the field.
5. Fancy Hands
With Fancy Hands, you can hire a group of virtual assistants on a task-by-task basis. So, if you’re an online business owner who needs something done, you don’t need a dedicated virtual assistant; you can post the task on Fancy Hands. The team at Fancy Hands is always looking for virtual assistants. Each job pays between $3 and $7.
6. Zirtua
Zirtual is a company that helps people find work from home as virtual assistants, data entry workers, and in other ways. They are always looking for virtual assistants to hire, so this could be an excellent place to look.
7. Check out sites for social media
Facebook and LinkedIn are good places to look for freelance jobs. There are a lot of niche groups you can join. You’ll need more options if you search for anything to do with VA work.
Once you join these groups, make sure you spend some time and energy networking. This is a vital part of being successful as a freelancer that is often overlooked.
You could also talk about your services on social media and ask the people in your Facebook group to share. You’d be surprised by how often this is how people get their first job.
8. Talk to businesses in your area
Virtual assistants have a lot of customers in small businesses. So, why not contact a few local companies to see if they need help keeping up with their work? You never know; maybe they just have yet to think about outsourcing.
10 Virtual Assistant Services That Are in Highest Demand Right Now
As a virtual assistant, the work you do will depend on your skills, niche, interests, previous job, and even where you live. However, some services are more in demand than others. If you offer more than one type of service, your clients won’t have to hire multiple freelancers. This makes their lives easier and makes you a more attractive choice.
Here is a list of the top things that people pay virtual assistants to do:
- Customer Service
- Finance Management
- Administrative Support
- Social Media Management
- Content Production
- Website/Blog Management
- Online Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Email Management
- Outreach (Increasing Business Exposure)
1. Customer Service
Customer service is where most people want to work as virtual assistants. Keeping customers happy is essential if you want your small business to do well, but it takes a lot of time.
And business owners only have multiple times, so they hire fantastic people like you and pay you to make their lives easier.
As a virtual assistant, you may be asked to do the following tasks related to customer service and support:
- Dealing with customer questions
- Providing real-time customer service (e.g., Live Chat)
- Taking care of orders
- Managing shipments
- Chasing payments
- Having up-to-date records
2. Finance Management
Many people need help keeping track of their finances, whether it’s their personal, business, or both. If you know a bit about this area and are good with numbers, you could help your clients manage their money by doing things like:
- Bookkeeping
- Planning for taxes
- Processing payments
- Tracking debt repayment
- Calculating profit and loss
- Managing retirement funds
- Creating, sending, and logging invoices
3. Administrative Support
Admin tasks are pretty simple and are probably most closely linked to roles as virtual assistants. Help from an administrative assistant might include:
- Monitoring voicemail
- Making travel arrangements
- Booking appointments and calls
- Creating reports/PDF documents
- Managing a client’s schedule/calendar
- Preparing PowerPoint presentations
- Drafting emails, internal communication, etc.
- Managing files (e.g., Google Drive, DropBox, TeraBox etc.)
- Setting up spreadsheets and data entry
4. Social Media Management
There’s more to being a virtual assistant than making spreadsheets and shipping orders. Companies will hire you if you know how to manage social media accounts or are willing to learn how to do so.
Today, it’s essential for a business to be active on social media, but building a solid social media presence again takes time and specialized knowledge.
This is why business owners may hire people who know more about social media management than they do to do it for them. Also, if you focus on one niche, you can find more prominent clients willing to pay more for your knowledge of a particular platform. A Pinterest VA is an example of this.
Some tasks of social media management are:
- Putting up content on social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)
- Profiles should be kept up-to-date.
- Answering comments to keep people interested
- Making ideas for social media campaigns and putting them into action
- Using social media to reach out to new possible customers
- Keeping up with the rules for advertising on each platform
- Using social SEO to optimize your posts is something you should know about.
5. Content Production
Businesses need good content to connect with their audiences and keep them interested.
You might have the edge over other virtual assistants if you offer content creation services.
Here are some content-making services you could offer as a virtual assistant:
- Keyword research
- Writing and formatting blog posts
- Proofreading and editing
- Making a blog post-SEO-friendly
- Creating infographics
- Sourcing and editing photos
- Researching and suggesting topics
- Adding affiliate links to related articles
- Scheduling posts for publication
- Transforming business data into engaging content
6. Website/Blog Management
Virtual assistants are also used by many businesses to take care of their website and blog. So, if you know how to use WordPress, this could be a great service to add to your virtual assistant business.
You may learn everything you need to know from running your own blog. You might also monetize your blog by placing advertisements there.
Here are some of the things your client may ask you to do to manage their website or blog:
- Updating plug-ins and Themes
- Setting up redirects
- Repairing broken links
- Improve website’s On-Page SEO and Off Page SEO
- Reporting on hot topics and trends
- Moderating and replying to comments
- Removing outdated, old or unwanted posts and pages.
- Getting a good idea of how well the blog is doing (KPIs)
7. Online Marketing
Since 84.2% of the U.S. population is already online (and the number of people who use the internet is still growing! ), most businesses need to do everything possible to make their online marketing as effective as possible.
If a business wants to sell its product or service, its primary goal is to connect with its audience.
If you have worked in online marketing before, you would be a precious virtual assistant.
You could provide the following services:
- Creating sales pages
- Creating SEO-friendly landing pages
- Creating brochures and flyers
- Managing giveaways and promotions
- Managing the release of new products
- Setting up paid ad campaigns
- Measuring ad effectiveness
- Setting up webinars
8. Email Marketing
Some marketers say that email marketing is dead, but the numbers show this is not true. More than 4 billion people use email daily, and 37% of brands are also investing more money into email marketing.
Here are some email marketing services you could offer to your clients:
- Scheduling emails
- Designing email templates
- Managing the subscribers lists
- Managing new product launches
- Writing and sending the newsletter
- Keeping track of how well email marketing campaigns work
9. Email Management
No one likes to see thousands of emails in their inbox that haven’t been replied to. When it gets too much, I’m tempted to accidentally hit “archive all” and act like I never got them.
But there are better things to do. Why not hire someone to keep an eye on your inbox instead? A virtual assistant could be hired to help with this.
Some tasks that fall under email management are:
- Flagging important emails
- Drafting replies (e.g., to common questions)
- Unsubscribing from unwanted promotional activity
- Following up on important sent emails
- Managing spam (e.g., creating junk mail filters)
- Archiving emails (not “archive all,” though)
10. Outreach (Increasing Business Exposure)
Any business that wants to build a profitable brand must develop relationships and get its name out there. Many ways to make your business more visible, but they all take time. That’s why companies may hire a virtual assistant to do that work for them.
You could offer a lot of outreach VA services, such as:
- Reaching out to advertisers or sponsors
- Managing affiliate programs
- Participating in relevant forums
- Contacting influencers and discussing collaborations
- Generating Leads via cold calls and emails
- Writing up and distributing press releases
