Is Being a Virtual Assistant Right for me?
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Starting a business is an effective way to control your time, balance your life, and make more money than is possible in the traditional workforce. Due to the availability of high-speed internet, people's desire to balance their lives better, and the demand for contract and remote workers today, starting a virtual assistant business can be the answer. For people with the right skills (or someone willing to learn new skills), starting a service-based business as a virtual assistant is a no-brainer, supposing you choose the right niche based on your skills, temperament, personality, and lifestyle that you want. In this case, you can essentially write your ticket by becoming a virtual assistant. It is a real career where you can yield long-term profits and success.
About the Industry
The growth in the virtual assistant (VA) industry since its inception in the 1990s has been astounding. Today over 1.8 billion clients are using VA services of some sort. With that type of audience and choosing the right niche, one can truly make a VA business full-time and profitable. Of course, more people will become virtual assistants with a demand for more people to become entrepreneurs. Starting a business as a service provider has a low barrier to entry. Therefore, anyone with a skill, a computer, and a good internet connection can get started in their new business overnight. What does this mean? There are many opportunities, but to capitalize on them, a niche is required to stand out. It's necessary to run a well-oiled business that easily adapts to the demand and to changing technology. Proficiency is needed to help clients modernize their processes to get more done with less.
CLICK HERE TO START YOUR VIRTUAL ASSISTANT BUSINESS
The benefits of hiring a VA are remote hiring, being budget-friendly, and hiring a contractor instead of an employee. What does this mean? It means that if you are a stay-at-home mom, college student, or just want to use this as a side hustle, you can make and shape this business how you want to. The thing I love most about it because you can earn an extra or full-time income working from home, doing what you love to do. If you choose an industry of your interest near and dear to your heart or want to be a part of a movement or cause in this VA industry, you can make that happen. When you are hired as a contractor, you do business with another business; you are not an employee. You will be set up as a real business, working with clients that put their trust and business in your hands. When you work as an employee, you work for a salary, and everything else is taken care of, e.g., benefits, deducting taxes, space for you to work, etc. You work your 9 to 5 and go home. To be totally transparent, when you start your business, it will feel like you are working a 9 to 5 plus overtime because it is a lot of work and responsibility to own your own business, but it is exciting because it is yours, and once you have everything in place and are booking clients and doing the thing you love best, it will feel even better. Being a virtual assistant will give you the flexibility and lifestyle that you desire.
What do I need to start as a virtual assistant?
Besides having a reliable computer and high-speed internet, bring the same skills you possess working as an employee. Over the years, we have worked for companies that ask for certain types of skillsets, including having knowledge of Microsoft Suite, Data Entry, or Recordkeeping and Accounting, to name a few.
There are other simple skills you should have:
Communication skills: To be in this business, it doesn?t matter whether you are an introvert or extrovert; you will need to communicate with potential clients so they can hire you. When they hire you, you will have to know how to communicate, especially if you offer administrative services. Your clients are putting their trust in the fact that you can handle several emails to read and respond to on their behalf. You will also need to communicate with your new client more often in the beginning until you have a system in place that your client is comfortable with, whereby less communication will be satisfactory. More is better than less. My supervision at the time gave all of the executive assistants this book, Simply Said, it is a good book on communication.
Time management skills: As VAs, we should be masters at this skill. Our clients rely on us to keep them together. So, this skill will play a major part in your business. You have to have the ability to handle multiple deadlines, projects, tasks, and, MOST importantly, multiple clients. You must prioritize your projects to know which tasks need to be done for your clients first. This is an EXCELLENT book to read, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Reliability: People have lost jobs or clients because they were not reliable. I see it a lot in this industry where VAs lose clients for not keeping on top of a task, meeting deadlines, or responding to emails promptly. This is where communication can lack as well. Let your clients know what is going on with the work they assign you to.
Integrity: If you work with integrity, your business success will be long-term. Operate your business by completing work on time. I strive to finish work before the due date. Communication and reliability fall under integrity as well.
Resourcefulness: I cannot say this enough. If you are in business, this means that you have to possess this skill as a VA. Clients often fire their VAs because of a lack of this. If you have to go to your client to ask them for things that you could do a simple search for to resolve a problem, that is a problem. You have to be able to find answers to problems before going to your client. Google is your friend!
Follow-ups: I cannot tell you how many people have lost jobs or clients because they did not follow up. This skill set should be practice when you finish a discovery call with a potential client. Most of the time, the booking is in the follow-up. If you are working with a client and need a piece of information or need to do a step before you can finish a project, a simple follow-up is needed to get the client to do their part. Clients will appreciate the follow-up. Remember, they are busy, and they do forget. This is why they hire you (wink).
I was introduced to the virtual assistant world about 20+ years ago. It was a time when I was a young mom, and I needed extra income because I was living from check to check. I could not do much because I did not have all the skills needed to do some of the tasks, so I helped a friend with some typing and file management. I basically helped out where I was able to, but while I did this, I took some courses to learn different software so that I was able to help where it was most needed.
I was discouraged by my lack of skills, so I left being a virtual assistant and became an Executive Administrative Assistant. I gained experience and built on my skill sets. After that, it was on like popcorn! Pop! Pop! Ok, that was corny, right? I am definitely not a comedian, so I must stay in my lane. I was able to get back in the game and came back to the virtual assistant industry with skillsets I never had before. And that?s the thing; recognizing your skillset is super important when you want to be a virtual assistant because if you don?t know what skills you have, you don?t know what you can offer your clients. To be successful as a virtual assistant, it is less important to have a big skillset and more important to know that your skills are in demand somewhere and how to market them.
Honestly, marketing is one of the biggest cons for just about every virtual assistant when they first start out. Knowing that you are capable and being able to prove it are very different things. If you manage to find someone looking for a virtual assistant, often there is something that disqualifies you from applying, such as your location or a particular tech platform you have no experience with. And working alone, trying to build a business and a reputation isn?t for everyone. It is hard work and difficult to stay motivated when it seems like you?re not getting anywhere. If you persist and learn from all of the opportunities you don?t get, you will succeed. Consider doing what I did and going away to develop more skills. Look for a subcontracting position. Offer services in exchange for testimonials. But keep doing the work. That?s what will determine whether you can build a successful virtual assistant business or not.
Skills to start with:
? Internet search engine
? Email (Gmail is the most popular, but knowing other platforms helps)
? Calendar and scheduling software (Google, Outlook, Calendly and Acuity are most commonly used)
? Microsoft Office
? Google applications (Google Docs, Sheets, Drive, etc.)
? Online cloud storage (DropBox, GoogleDrive, Box.com, etc.)
? Social Media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn)
Start-up equipment:
? Updated computer or laptop
? Smartphone or landline
? High-speed internet
? Software to work with (e.g., Microsoft Office)
Are you ready to start your virtual assistant business? Let?s get you started by registering for the course How to Become a Profitable Virtual Assistant Business.
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Teekwa Scarborough
Business Christian Coach
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