Working as a virtual assistant is one of the best ways to make money doing things that anyone with the cash to spend would rather pay someone else to do. In this internet age when everyone, their mother, and her accountant all have a minimum of three businesses and blogs to keep up with, WE ALL NEED A LITTLE HELP. And in many cases, we don’t have the ability to hire an in-person employee, so instead, tasks are outsourced to a virtual assistant through email, phone calls, and Skype chats. The best part? The virtual assistant framework can be used to sell nearly anything you can do over the internet and you can do it entirely from home.
FYI: This post contains affiliate links.
One common misconception about working as a virtual assistant is that it’s limited to tasks like data entry, transcribing, or scheduling business lunches. Those services will always be valuable and in demand, but you can also get creative based on what you’re good at and what you want to be doing for a living.
Like talking on the phone? Someone would love for you to handle their customer service. Great with Pinterest and Canva? Bloggers and Etsy shop owners would love for you to help with their graphics and visibility. Excellent with content calendar management? Somewhere, an overwhelmed editor is desperate to lighten their load.
Working as a VA is a great way to gain industry experience before diving in and starting your own business. Say you want to start an interior design company but you’re not quite ready to go all in. Become a virtual assistant for an interior designer to gain experience from the inside. Or, find a way to sell your design services through your own virtual business. Surely someone will pay you to take a Skype tour through their apartment and recommend some furniture based on their style and budget. They just have to know that these services are available. If there’s a way to sell what you like to do online, there’s a way to turn it into a virtual assistant job.
Another perspective: Say you’re looking for a side hustle separate from your full-time job at a hair salon. Your cosmetology degree and experience helps you stand out in the eyes of salon owners looking for an assistant. What kind of services could you offer that they wouldn’t be able to resist?
My hairstylist works out of her home. She outsources work to a young woman in beauty school 400 miles away for $15 an hour, who spends a couple of hours a week taking scheduling requests and keeping the books up to date. She was understandably skeptical about hiring an assistant over the internet but finding someone with direct industry experience was a big advantage to her. Not to mention, the virtual system is a more affordable option as it requires lower overhead for both sides.
Learn to Become a Virtual Assistant
No matter what you’re doing, working as an assistant means it’s your job to make someone else’s life easier. You have to be organized, good with details, and have the ability to multitask, especially if you want to manage multiple clients. Even though you’ll be working from home, you still have to be reliable and available when you’re needed. The internet does not mask flakiness.
If you think you have what it takes and want to take it to the next level, I recommend “The Bootstrap VA” by Lisa Morosky. This book takes a deep dive into the basics of working as a VA with someone who’s been there and done it all. Chapters include setting up an online and offline business, creating a business plan, getting and keeping clients, growing and slowing your business, alternative income streams, and much more. I read the first edition when it came out and appreciated her perspective and knowledge.
If you’re more of a visual learner, Skillshare has courses on becoming a VA, hiring a VA, and even building your own VA software if you’re over this whole human interaction thing.
How to Market Your VA Services (even if you have no experience)
As with any online business, the first step to take if you want to turn this into more than a casual thing (like a thing where people find you and take you seriously and give you money) is to start your own website.
Your website doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s possible to get a professional website up and running without investing a bunch of money on a theme or design. Not sure where to start? Be sure to check out this post on 8 different website options for your small business. The point is to have your own internet stomping grounds outside of social media where you can outline exactly who you are and what you want to offer to people. That way when you’re talking to your friend’s boyfriend’s cousin at the bar and she mentions the business she just launched, you have somewhere to direct her when you find out she needs someone to help with her bookkeeping/blog calendar/Facebook ads.
If you like to write, one way to demonstrate authority (even if you have no experience) is to write a couple blog posts tailored to your desired client. So if you’re the VA with a background in cosmetology from the example above, you might write some posts like this:
(Related post: How to Start a WordPress Blog in 15 Minutes)
“5 Ways Virtual Assistants Can Make Life Easier for Salon Owners” – Will your services free up more of their time? Streamline a process? Reach more customers? Find their pain points and share how you can solve them.
“10 Tasks Salon Owners Can Outsource to Virtual Assistants.” – What kinds of things can your target customer outsource that they would have never thought to outsource? Get creative. Most people don’t think that outsourcing a certain task is even an option until someone puts the idea in their head. That someone needs to be you because the next step after that is “hey you, I’ll pay you to do that for me.”
“5 Tools I Use in My Salon VA Business.” – Share what helps you run your business efficiently. This is also a great technique for making money with affiliate marketing by linking to products you use and recommend without giving away your services.
Find Virtual Assistant Jobs
Once you have a website, it becomes easier for people to find you as long as you’re putting yourself out there. Make sure you’re active on social media and have a LinkedIn profile that says you’re available for hire. Hang out where your ideal clients hang out. Join Facebook networking groups for VAs, groups for the industry or niche you want to work in, and find relevant Twitter chats to chime in on to ask questions and give helpful insight. When you position yourself as someone who’s willing to help and share without spamming people’s pages with “hire me!” links back to your website, you’ll start to build a following and people will trust you with their time and money.
The more you market yourself and get active in communities where your clients hang out, the easier it will be to find work (or ideally, have the work find you). You can also search job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn. If you prefer to work as a freelancer, create a profile on Upwork and browse their job boards.
TL;DR: Figure out what you love doing. Sell it online. Congrats, you’ve created your dream job!
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