Don’t let the title of this article fool you and jump to a conclusion unless you absorb everything presented in this well-researched article. Earning a lawful income was never easy but in these uncertain times, having another stream of income is a blessing. For some professions, the pandemic proved to be a blessing in disguise, and among them are Virtual Assistants.
Virtual assistants continue to grow due to the normalization of remote work in the last year. Experts in this field agree that virtual assistants will be in high demand in the future as more and more businesses are now adapting to digitalization.
In this article, you’ll learn everything that can get you started as a Virtual Assistant or known as VA.
- What is a Virtual Assistant?
- What Services VA Offers?
- How to Start As a Virtual Assistant?
- Where to Find Virtual Assistant Jobs?
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant, or VA, performs administrative tasks remotely for individuals, businesses, or teams. Virtual assistants are highly sought-after by online entrepreneurs and businesses who need assistance but don’t have the resources to hire full-time employees in one location. Remote support gives business owners more flexibility, lower fixed costs, and allows them to scale up or down depending on their business needs.
Simply put, virtual assistants are required to perform administrative and office tasks remotely.
What Services VA Offers?
Virtual assistants are anyone who can assist with tasks remotely. As a contractor, or self-employed, you can offer services to clients on a daily basis such as taking phone calls, managing email and social media accounts, doing research, scheduling appointments and paying invoices.
Other services include:
1. Social Media
While many business owners are aware that social media is essential, they don’t have the time or resources to create content, share, and engage with their customers. This niche is for those who love managing Facebook pages, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram accounts.
Social media virtual assistants are in high demand, and if you have any of these skills, this area might be perfect for you:
- You are able to write copy and market and can create headlines that are worth sharing.
- You are a visual person with an eye for design.
- You love keeping up with the latest trends.
- Engage with the brand’s audience. Know how to keep it going.
2. E-Commerce
As an eCommerce virtual assistant (VA), you can assist an online business with:
- Product research.
- Excel work.
- Product image editing, and product listing.
- Optimizing product listings.
- Pricing and inventory management.
- Fulfilling orders.
- Processing returns.
- Exchanges, and bookkeeping.
- Customer support, and managing your store.
The E-Commerce industry is booming and these businesses are in constant need of VAs who can shed some load from their shoulders and let me focus on expanding the business.
3. Administration
Although general admin isn’t a niche that is highly specialized, if your previous experience is in office work, this is the ideal place to begin as a virtual assistant. Although it isn’t the most lucrative job, administrative support is essential to many businesses. It also makes it easy to market yourself to small-business owners who need your help.
As a general admin VA, you can perform many tasks, including:
- Calendar management and scheduling
- Managing emails
- Book appointments
- Travel arrangements
- File management
- Data entry
- Set up a spreadsheet
A general office assistant would be able to do almost any task, except making coffee.
4. Content Production
Virtual Assistants are quite useful when it comes to content outsourcing. There is no secret that writing engaging content is not for everyone. Since this service can be managed from anywhere in the world, VAs are in high demand for producing content. You could create, curate, and edit content, videos, or images that you love, and start a VA as a content creator.
5. Customer Support
Having offshore customer support is not a new thing and businesses often do that for many reasons such as time zone difference, language barrier, and cost. If you possess good communication skills and can work odd hours then this is the right fit for you. A majority of companies even let you choose the shift and hours of your choice.
Here are some of the activities you can do working as a customer support VA:
- Customers’ questions via phone or other communication channels quickly and efficiently so they don’t get left hanging. Also, you can direct important calls to the company staff.
- Setting up support desk and website chat.
- Checking voicemail and responding to it.
- Monitor and respond to comments and messages from customers and prospects on social media platforms.
- Increase conversions by guiding customers through the sales process during their visit to your website through live chat.
How to Start As a Virtual Assistant?
The first step towards starting out as a VA is to choose the niche or service you wish to offer. This is very important as you are only going to stand out or be able to charge a good price if you really know your craft. Secondly, you need to be extremely patient and only focus on finding clients and delivering high-quality work. Thirdly, stay honest with yourself and your clients and always ask for feedback so you can improve.
Sometimes, it can take a week or months to land your first job as a VA but don’t give up. Remember, good VAs are always in demand. However, it is also important to assess your strategy frequently until you find the one that works!
Your greatest asset as a VA is your client satisfaction. Do everything possible to provide top-notch service once you have found your first client. Happy clients might refer you to other business owners. You only need a few clients to earn a full-time income working as a virtual assistant.
Where to Find Virtual Assistant Jobs?
Virtual assistant jobs aren’t hard to find. A lot of companies offer virtual assistant jobs, whether you’re looking for a full-time position or a freelance job.
Flexjobs
Flexjobs is an online job site that allows you to search for work from home jobs. This is the best website to use to begin a remote career. All job opportunities are carefully screened and checked for scams before they are approved.
Fiverr
Fiverr lets you create an online profile where you can sell your services as a VA. Similarly, you can apply for jobs posted there: it’s a great online portal to get experience when you are just starting, but you won’t find many high-paying gigs there.
Hirefied
Hirefied is Pakistan’s #1 platform for freelancers, businesses, job seekers, and service providers. Here you can sell your services or also apply for both online and on-site jobs posted by businesses. The platform aims to serve more than 35 industries.
Upwork
Similar to Fiverr, Upwork is one of the largest freelance sites in the world. The competition is high but so are the opportunities. A decent VA can earn up to PKR 80,000 a month while working part-time here.
LinkedIn is a great source for finding both full-time and part-time jobs. Companies are looking to find talents for all kinds of positions and if you know your way around the platform then you too can land on many fruitful opportunities.
Social Media
Finally, explore the opportunities available to you inside your own circle. Social media is a great way of connecting with potential clients. Many companies aren’t willing to pay third-party websites to locate VAs. They prefer to search for VAs themselves or ask for recommendations through Facebook groups. For example, if you are interested in working as a VA for food bloggers then join some Facebook groups to wait for someone to recommend a good VA.
Wrapping Up
Starting out as a VA is easy but succeeding as a VA requires hard work and consistency. It is a great profession that can start out as a side hustle but later can turn into a full-time business.
