How to Become A Virtual Assistant: 5 Steps ( 2023)

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Becoming a virtual assistant is a high-demand skill requiring a freelancer to assist clients with general administrative tasks and other related technical services by working remotely. In other words, most virtual assistant jobs do not need freelancers to come to the client’s office, instead, they will work from home.

After getting familiar with step-by-step how to become a virtual assistant and choosing the niche associated with your skills, you can earn a decent extra income and build your work portfolio and skills over time.

Let’s move to the main aspect of this article and learn where to find online jobs as virtual assistants.

What is a virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant is a person who provides general support like administrative services, email management, scheduling meeting, and other general tasks by working remotely.

In particular, depending on the niche you choose, there are many virtual assistant jobs that range from technical and administration. For example, data entry work from home is one of the highly paid virtual assistant jobs, and technical writing as well as editing.

For this reason, it’s essential to identify your specialty so that you can narrow your search for virtual assistant jobs online and succeed as a professional with this career.

What kind of jobs do virtual assistants do?

There are many kinds of virtual assistant jobs online that are available for you to choose from and find potential clients to help them with general tasks. With that being said, many businesses and startups hire virtual assistants to help handle some of the basic services as a temporary projects.

For this reason, the priority is to determine your current technical skills and knowledge in order to choose what freelance jobs you can offer customers. For instance, if you have good writing skills and a high level of attention to detail, you can consider applying for SEO content writing or social media management to assist clients with creating regular content.

If you believe you have the right skills, commitment, and passion for the virtual assistant career. Then it is considered an excellent career because you will have the high autonomy to work remotely, mostly works from home or co-working space.

The followings are several high-demand online jobs in the virtual assistant service field:

Related reading: 6+ Best Platforms to Find Freelance Web Developer Jobs For Beginners

General administrative services

There are many daily tasks that require you to assist companies with but are not limited to email management, scheduling appointments, virtual chat, telephone inquiries, file management, etc. You can consider working as a side hustle while keeping with your full-time job.

Based on my experience, the number one skill you must possess is the willingness to complete the task on time and good writing skills to deliver clear and concise messages.

Social media management

Everyone has their own social media account like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. As you are aware, many start-ups and businesses use social media as one of the SEO strategic tools to not only build relationships with customers but also boost their brand awareness.

With that being said, you can start investing in yourself by developing your social media managing skills by possessing creative writing skills and getting familiar with different social media platforms. Thus, you can help to boost brand awareness by creating content, managing ads, and keeping engaging with audiences.

Email marketing campaign

Email marketing service plays a key role in building a relationship with customers due to the fact that you need to deliver marketing campaigns, including updating new content, promotion, and any special events to inform customers.

For this, your daily task would be to manage email lists and keep updated with customers to ensure they get familiar with new features and any new products released.

Bookkeeping

With this type of online job, you must have technical skills mathematics, and analytical skills to handle financial records, income, and expenses, as well as get familiar with some of the bookkeeping software.

Note, depending on the software the client use, they will ask you during the interview and your job is to learn everything about their bookkeeping software, which allows you to perform the job better.

Research

If you have excellent analytical skills by gathering first and secondary data, you can consider becoming a research virtual assistant. This job requires you to identify new trends, highlight important information within the industry, and report to the companies you work for.

How to become a virtual assistant and find the first client?

After highlighting several tasks of virtual assistants (VA) you may consider choosing, there are many more types of services a VA may do, and most importantly, it also depends on the requirement of each client.

The followings are step by step process on how to become a virtual assistant for beginners:

Identify your skills and interest

As mentioned earlier, the first step is to highlight your skills and talents based on your work experience or from the university that you have learned. It’s important to determine the types of service you have the passion to work on a daily basis so that you can increase your productivity and deliver high-quality service to customers.

With that in mind, select the niche relevant to those factors, and then you can start offering services to potential clients at a fairly low price. 

For example, if you are searching for remote data entry jobs, you must possess the analytical and well-organized skills to perform the job better.

Improve your skills

The main difference between a successful virtual assistant and others is their ability to hone and learn new skills, which means they become more competent in their field by updating with the trends such as new software, technologies, etc.

For this reason, improving your skills will add an advantage in the online job market, because companies are keen to hire freelancers who have more relevant skills and recognizance than beginners.

There are many virtual assistant courses and online learning materials that help you to level up your skillsets and increase the chance of finding potential clients:

• Virtual assistant training course on Udemy
• Coursera is another good place to learn with many reputable Universities in the world.

Build the work portfolio

The next step is to focus on delivering high-quality services, which ensure to satisfy clients’ requirements. For this, you will slowly build your reputation and credibility within the industry over time. 

For example, clients will give you better reviews for providing great work and satisfying their expectations. They may refer you to their friends or colleagues or decide to hire you on a permanent basis.

After a certain period of time, you grow your freelance work portfolio by receiving many 5 stars ratings, and definitely, other potential customers may send you inquiries regarding the services, which means they see your application or profile stand out compared with beginners.

In order to build your portfolio, you may consider offering a lower price or free service to several clients, after getting a positive rating, then you can set the normal price based on the average market rate.

Network with other VAs

Network with other successful virtual assistants is an excellent opportunity to learn and interact with them, which means they may share some real-life experiences and proven tips so that you avoid some common mistakes and be able to succeed as a VA.

When you connect with other experience VAs on social forums or social media platforms and engage with them on a regular basis, you may receive an opportunity to knock on your door by getting new potential clients.

Search for virtual assistant jobs online

Becoming a virtual assistant is a good starting point to improve your communication skills and build your career over a long period of time. Indeed, you will earn good money online if you provide highly-rated services.

Here are several sites you can use to find a virtual assistant job:

• FlexJobs: is a highly-rated freelancing marketplace that allows you to find high-quality and legitimate remote work with reputable companies. 
• Toptal: is the high-end freelancing platform that connects employers with top-notch freelancers. In order to join the platform, you need to pass the screening assessment. Indeed, there are many global firms using Toptal to hire talented freelancers.
• Glassdoor: is one of the largest job sites you can take advantage of to find opportunities.
• ZipRecruiter: is the global job marketplace that connects job seekers with employers on the platform. Send notifications via email and mobile app for job seekers to apply for the matching role.
• Fiverr: is the second largest freelance website that is considered an ideal starting point for beginners to build their portfolio and learn how to interact and communicate with clients. 

After setting up a profile with any one of those job sites, don’t forget to set your rate and focus on delivering high-quality service to clients in order to receive a higher rating.

Final thoughts on becoming a virtual assistant for beginners

After getting familiar with several types of work virtual assistants do, your next step is to select the right service that you believe you are capable of offering great service based on technical skills and motivation.

It can’t be wrong if you love what you are doing because you have more motivation and a strong work ethic to increase productivity, thus, provide quality service to clients.

Further reading resources associated with freelancing and other side hustle ideas you should continue to read:

6+ Google Chrome Extensions That Will Increase Your Productivity

How To Be Successful On Fiverr As Freelance Writers: 5 Action Tips

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