The job of a virtual assistant is exciting and will be a popular career option in the future. But, sometimes confusion arises about where to start and how to apply. A lack of knowledge about virtual assistants creates confusion and misconceptions.
So, if you are interested to pursue a career as a virtual assistant or want to explore more about it, this article will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to become one.
Do you know?
In 2009, Tim Ferris who is an American entrepreneur, author, and lifestyle guru introduced the upcoming job of virtual assistants. Entrepreneurs and online businesses are now hiring them to run their day-to-day tasks.
It is interesting to know that instead of hiring a thousand employees, 49% of companies are preferring virtual assistants to accomplish their business goals.
Are you aware of the top 2 destinations where virtual assistant services are popular?
Well, the top two destinations are India and the Philippines.
The Philippines is a famous destination for virtual assistant services because of the low living cost, reasonable rates, and highly skilled people with a mastership in English. In the Philippines, common services are content management and digital marketing.
Whereas, India consists of a positively skilled and enormous English-speaking population for which the multiple services of virtual assistants are favored here. In India, the famous services are IT services and customer support.
Now. let’s explore the meaning and roles of virtual assistants in detail.
Who is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant provides administrative or technical services, and executive services such as scheduling appointments, organizing data or emails, managing social media accounts, etc. to other businesses from a remote location. For instance, a VA can assist any firm in the UK from India with flexible timings.
According to FlexJobs, virtual assistants are in high demand by businesses and entrepreneurs in remote jobs. Cheap conference calling systems, document-sharing tools, high-speed internet, and advanced technologies have made it possible.
As a virtual assistant, you will be asked to do administrative and office-type tasks like social media management, email management, content creation, scheduling appointments, etc.
Online businesses and entrepreneurs prefer virtual assistants as it provides less expense and more flexibility.
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The Rise in a Virtual Assistant Job
Remote work became popular during and after the pandemic situation. Many companies like Quora, Twitter, Facebook/Meta, and Tata Steel have shifted to hybrid or permanent work from home.
The rise in virtual assistant jobs is a result of increasing demand for remote work.
As per the information of Market Watch, last year the industry of virtual assistants developed USD 2054.5. From 2022 to 2028, virtual assistants will be at a compound annual growth rate of 22.3%.
For instance, Darren Rowse, an entrepreneur and internet-famous blogger stated that he has no time to manage the comment section of his blogs as it is a laborious task. Therefore, he hired a virtual assistant, so that he can focus more on his blogs and create fresh content.
Advanced technologies made it easy for personal assistants to work remotely and maintain a healthy lifestyle just like Lucy Onuh, a Virtual Assistant who works remotely and gets clients from all over the world.
Role and Responsibilities of a Virtual Assistant
The roles and responsibilities of a virtual assistant depend on the set of skills and according to the requirements of a client. Virtual assistants can work in various departments according to their skills and interests.
Let us have a look at the various roles of a VA:
1. Administrative Assistants
They are responsible for managing various clerical tasks to ensure effective communication between clients and the management team.
Their role is to assist other employees in terms of sending and receiving business or official letters, filling out paperwork, and greeting clients whenever needed.
2. Executive Assistants
Executive Assistants mainly work on the team’s objectives. To work as an executive assistant you should possess a strong sense of teamwork and the ability to work in a team as well as independently.
Their responsibility is to schedule meetings, manage executive requests, respond to calls, and provide assistance in document drafting.
3. Personal Assistant
The role of a personal assistant is to assist a person with their daily business tasks. They are also known as personal secretaries (PS) or personal aid (PA).
They highlight or pass messages to their manager’s attention, arrange appointments and meetings, and manage office properties and calendars.
Skills Essential to Become a Virtual Assistant
Having relevant skills increases the chance of getting more opportunities in any field. Likewise, as a virtual assistant, it is essential to identify your current skills and learn new talents.
Let us have a quick look at the skills which are essential to becoming a virtual assistant:
- Social media management – Handling social media and creating content for them.
- Email management – Preparing newsletters or managing emails.
- Website management – Managing the website and keeping it up-to-date.
- Calendar Management– It is the most necessary skill where you have to make time your priority with the use of a calendar.
- Customer Care Services– Here, VA manages all tasks related to the queries of the customers and establishes an emotional connection.
- Bookkeeping– The activity of preparing financial transactions and keeping a record of all the financial transactions of a business.
- Telemarketing– It is the process of marketing various goods and services with the help of a telephone for which good communication skills play a vital role here.
- PR Management– It is the activity to produce healthy relationships between an organization and the public.
- Other small services like video editing, photoshop editing, managing payouts, etc are also required as a skill to become a virtual assistant.
7 Ways to Start Career as a Virtual Assistant
As a beginner, you can feel that starting your career as a virtual assistant is quite difficult, but these 7 easy and cost-effective ways will help and give your career a new path.
1. Take Online Courses
The first step to building your career as a VA is to take online courses which mainly focused on virtual assistant-related tasks. Always look at the reviews of the courses before deciding on the one to pursue.
You can search on Google and go through some YouTube videos to gain complete information about the courses available for VA.
You can also join LinkedIn and gain some knowledge by connecting with people who are working as virtual assistants. Their ideas and experiences will help you to pick up the right courses.
2. Identify your Services
After taking the courses, you must identify the services you want to perform for your clients. Selecting the services which you are good at, will help you to give a better performance.
Note down the services you like and those which you want to avoid. It will help you to decide whether to move forward with a project or not.
Once you start building your career in this field, you have to engage yourself in different sections related to businesses. However, you can note down the skills which you are good at will to help you to give your best.
3. Identify the package you will charge
As a virtual assistant, you can make two packages. The two packages are a service-based package in which you will charge according to your services and skills and an hourly package in which you will charge on an hourly basis.
The more services you will provide, the more you will charge in a month in a service-based package. However, in an hourly package, you have to mention the hour you want to work and you will set it according to the hour and services. In this package, you have the freedom to work.
To attract more clients you can offer a discount to them after working for six months. Hence, to build a career as a virtual assistant try to make a chart of the package you want to charge.
4. Market your Services
Marketing your services is the best idea to reach out to potential clients. Market your service on every social media handle like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and if possible YouTube also.
Describe your work and services by creating a post, video, or reels and images. Therefore creating videos and reels catches the attention of the readers.
Target the right keywords while creating content so that your profile comes visible to those clients who are hiring virtual assistants. Build connections and positive relationships to attract more clients.
5. Apply for Jobs
After marketing your services start applying for jobs. You can search for jobs on LinkedIn and if you want to work as a freelancer virtual assistant you can search for work on Upwork which is a marketplace for freelancers.
Suppose you see a job in a company instead of applying for that job reach out to them by sending a mail to the HR department with your services. This would help the clients to have a quick look at your services.
Always remember to communicate adequately and be responsive. This will allow you to create a good impression in front of your client.
6. Prepare a Portfolio
After gaining experience as a virtual assistant, try to prepare a portfolio of your services and try to take the feedback of your clients regarding your work.
A portfolio showcases your skills practically and acts as a piece of proper evidence of your work. It helps you to prepare a sample work and keep a record of your achievements.
Remember to create an online portfolio which is a digital tool. It will help you to demonstrate your skills better than a resume. It is also known as a job-finding tool.
7. Treat it as a Learning Experience
Last but not least you have to do is to gather all the above information and treat it as a learning experience.
When you will start your career as a virtual assistant you will identify the tasks, companies, and industries you find interesting and some as not engaging. This will help you to remember your interest and preferences.
You will be aware of the work environment and you will receive positive reviews which will encourage and motivate you to complete your tasks.
Remember to focus on your likes and dislikes and always give yourself a chance to improve yourself in every phase of life.
5 Highly In-Demand Virtual Assistant Services
There may be some confusion about which job or responsibility to carry as a VA which pay a decent amount and the work is also engaging.
So, let us have a look at the high-demand virtual assistant services that will help in deciding your area of work:
1. Social Media Management
It is the most in-demand service and it is going to be popular in the future too. For businesses and entrepreneurs, social media is becoming a necessity rather than an option.
However, for many business owners handling social media accounts is not possible due to their busy schedules. For them posting regularly on social media accounts and bringing engagement is a time-consuming task.
Hence, the services regarding social media management are popular and it is at the top of our list.
It is a popular remote work position where you have to handle graphic creation, analytics tracking, strategy creation, scheduling content, creating captions, calendar creation, etc.
2. Customer Support
Customer support is always a trending service for virtual assistants. Every industry and business focuses on keeping its customers happy and satisfied.
Of their busy schedules, entrepreneurs and growing businesses do not get time to confront their customers. As they are engaged in decision-making tasks. Hence, they plan to hire a virtual assistant for this task.
As customer support, you have to deal with the inquiries of the customers, keep records, give replies to their issues, and manage the orders and shipment of the products.
3. Bookkeeper
Are you wondering what is a bookkeeper?
A bookkeeper is one whose role is to keep records of business transactions.
Company owners do not get time to keep a record of transactions for which the demand for bookkeepers is rising day by day. The task of a virtual assistant is to record payments and adjustments, monthly financial reporting, and general ledger entries.
However, a bookkeeper helps the business owners to keep a record of the reports which further helps them to make decisions.
4. Graphic Designer
The role of a graphic designer is to design banners for social media, create various graphics, design marketing materials and establish multiple graphics.
This service is still in demand and experienced virtual assistants can charge higher rates for this task. The most common request is to design business websites, photo editing, designing logos, social media templates, and graphic design for blogs.
5. Management of SEO
The last popular service for virtual assistants is SEO management. It is a high-level skilled position as well it is a high-paid service.
SEO which is also known as Search Engine Optimization is optimized to bring customers to the websites. It is considered an important component for businesses. It includes keywords that help the content to rank on search engine results.
The best way to know about this service is to work with the clients and gain experience. If you are experienced in SEO management, there is a high chance to earn more money as a virtual assistant.
How Much Do Virtual Assistants Make?
According to figr.com, the average salary of a virtual assistant is ₹24.4 lakhs while according to talent.com experienced candidates can earn up to ₹550,000 per year.
On freelancing sites like Upwork, virtual assistants can charge from $15 to $25 for services like email management, WordPress management, customer support, etc.
However, as per Indeed.com, in US virtual assistants make $20.88 per hour.
Therefore, earning revenues as virtual assistance is unlimited. It depends on your skills or services, experience, region, and the hours you want to work.
What is the difference between a virtual assistant and a freelancer?
Some differences between a virtual assistant and a freelancer are mentioned below:
- A virtual assistant offers multiple skills and assists managers, solopreneurs, and other clients. Whereas a freelancer sells those skills in their specialization to multiple clients.
- A virtual assistant works from a remote location whereas a freelancer is sometimes limited to a particular local area and sometimes they can work anywhere in the world with the help of advanced technologies.
- A virtual assistant can perform hundreds of tasks such as data entry, booking, research, email sorting, etc. On the other hand, a freelancer can perform mid-level to high-level tasks such as copywriting, product development, and content management.
- Virtual assistants can perform urgent tasks immediately. However, a freelancer would be busy with the other client’s work and will not be able to perform the task immediately.
A Final Word
As a beginner, you have to follow the ways that are mentioned above and reach out to potential clients to gain experience and earn money.
Demonstrate your skills and services, highlight your experiences, build a portfolio, market your services and get your first job as a virtual assistant.
We hope that this article is helpful to you and that now you are aware of how can you become a virtual assistant and be your boss.
“A successful business requires one simple thing: Passion”. – Teresa Collins.
Again another informative one! 👏✨
Glad that you find it informative.