How to Become a Virtual Assistant – Work from Home Jobs
Today, many corporate matters are handled online and you can tap into any of the opportunities generated to create a successful home business. One such opportunity is becoming a Virtual Assistant. With the right determination, drive and knowledge, you can get started with virtual assistance and build a successful career.
So, what does it take to build a career in virtual assistance? What skills do I need to become an earning virtual assistant? This post will provide the answers to these questions and explore much more regarding creating a virtual assistant job that you can handle at home.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant (VA) is anyone who offers assistance and various services to businesses in exchange for a pre-agreed fee. A virtual assistant works as an independent contractor and has the freedom like anyone else in self-employment.
Virtual assistance services are offered online, meaning that you can work for brands globally from the comfort of your home.
A typical business would hire a virtual assistant to offset some duties and thus get time to handle crucial matters aimed to accelerate growth.
The roles of a Virtual Assistant…
What you do as a virtual assistant depends on what you’ve mastered and have experience in. you can decide to work for a particular niche, say real estate and offer services tailored to that niche or be an all-around virtual assistant offering most business-related services.
There’s a common belief that virtual assistants exclusively handle clerical work. This is not true as virtual assistants handle anything that’s business-related, including marketing and accounting.
Services to offer as a Virtual Assistant…
As mentioned above, there’re vast services you can offer to businesses as a virtual assistant. Below are ideas of the services you can focus on as a virtual assistant:
• Market research
Market research forms the basis of any business’s growth and success, so there’ll be constant demand for VAs offering this service. Your main task here will be to gather data from other corporate websites to aid in understanding the existing and future market.
• Data presentation
After market research, you can go ahead to compile the findings into a presentation. This can make work easier for your clients if they’re planning to discuss the findings in a meeting.
• Bookkeeping
Can you handle tasks such as recording bill, receipts and invoices? Why not help small businesses always searching for these services? You don’t need high-end accounting skills, but if this is your area of specialty, you can be of much help even to bigger entities.
• Social media management
Social media is undoubtedly a very crucial tool for any business looking to expose its brand to potential investors, customers and clients. Social media management tasks you can handle as a VA include posting and responding to the brand’s followers.
• Website management
No business can survive today without a website- it’s the easiest online platform to run all the business matters. As a VA, you can publish information, monitor links, respond to comments and offer general website management services.
• Video editing
Due to the great results video marketing offers, businesses are always searching for video editing services. You can do video editing as a complimentary service or standalone service.
• Managing email
Managing mail is a simple task, but it’s not a wonder to find business owners who’ve no time to handle it. You can help these businesses filter and respond to crucial emails.
• Administrative services
This is typically any task that entrepreneurs/business owners have no time handling. It can be anything from data entry to making travel arrangements and calendar management.
• Customer service
Many businesses want to improve their customer experience but have no time to devote to them. You can dive in as a virtual assistant and help such businesses handle customer-related tasks.
How to become a Virtual Assistant…
- Determine what services you’ll offer
Understand what skills you have or what you’re good at, then choose services that match this. Don’t engage in something you’re completely new to, as you may not offer results that are good enough to gain the trust of clients when starting out.
- Create a virtual assistant themed website
Design or get help design a website that’s relevant to your VA job. The website should contain all the information your clients need to know about you and the virtual assistant job you’re creating.
