What is a virtual assistant? In simple terms, a virtual assistant has an online business and works remotely from home. As well as virtual assistants, they can be called VAs, freelancers, or project managers. Either way, they all work remotely. It has not been called a virtual assistant for very long. It was the 1990s when it started to come up as a job and technology advanced so that virtual assistants could work remotely; however, virtual assistants were not in demand until later. Entrepreneurs and small businesses have recently had a strong demand for virtual assistants.

Starting a virtual assistant business may be easy to set up, but it takes a strong-minded person to maintain it. If you are ready to work independently, work with people you want to work with, have control over what you earn, and do what makes you happy every day, then you are ready to get started. You also have to possess simple skills to be a successful VA, such as: being a good communicator, organizational skills, time management skills, being reliable, resourceful, and being a problem-solver, to name a few.

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Here are 7 ways to become a profitable virtual assistant:

• Know your why for starting a VA business. If you got into this business to just make money, you already started off on the wrong foot. Of course, one of the reasons for starting a business is to make money to make a living for ourselves and do the things we want to do. However, we should also be thinking about making a difference and impacting lives. Another reason could be because you are the first to start a business in your family, and you want to build a legacy for the next generation. Another is to stop working for someone else and work for yourself to have more freedom to travel the world, spend more time with your family, etc. If your why does not make you cry, then what are you doing it for?
• Identify what your superpower is. What is that thing you love to do? Something you would do without getting paid. Another reason for starting a business is doing what you love to do every day. You don?t mind getting up every day and doing it. How do you know what your superpower is? It may be something that someone comes to you all the time to do for them. Write down all the things family and friends always ask you to do for them because you do it so well. If you are working a 9 to 5, what is it that you do best and get praised for? The most important thing is that you have to love to do it. It may be something that one comes to you to do that only takes you 10 ? 15 minutes to do, when it may take someone else hours to figure out. This is how you can identify what your superpower is.
• Find out if it is a profitable niche. Research is a sure way to find out if the niche is a profitable one. Is it a service in demand? Is there competition in the market? We want to find out these two things because if it is not in demand, then it is a niche that will simply not be profitable. It sounds weird, but we want competition; if we do not have competition, again, it is not a profitable niche. For example, social media management is one of the niches that are very profitable because most business owners do not want or have the time to do their social media; therefore, it is a service that is in demand, and a profitable one because business owners will pay to have this task taken away from them. Another profitable niche is being a technical VA. If you like setting and designing websites, maintaining them, setting up sales funnels, doing webinar setup, and know how to work with new business tools, this may be your niche. Here is a list of Hot Niches in demand.
• Validate your niche. A lot of us get stuck on how to find our niche in business. After finding the right coach and taking many courses, I have found many ways to help myself find my niche. When my students are stuck, I walk through my client on how to find their profitable niche. Get yourself a notebook, and let?s get started!

1. Facebook is a great way to validate your niche. Search Facebook pages and look at other VA?s business content on the profitable niche you are validating, e.g., social media manager, tech VA, etc.
2. Facebook groups are huge when gathering information and checking out the hot topics covering the niche area interest. Join some groups in that specific niche, take notes, engage and network with some folks, and jot down the in-demand niches.
3. Pinterest is a great search engine to find out what the hot niches are. Pinterest is a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more. If you click through the Pins, you can visit the website in your niche and check out the competition. As you discover Pins, click the red Save button to save them to your boards.
4. Google Trends. The cool thing about Google Trends is that you can see exactly how often that specific niche is trending and whether it has gone up or gone down. Data from Google Trends can be sorted for real-time emphasis (the last seven days) or by a specific time range (from 2004 up to 36 hours ago). Through Google Trends, users can track trends in social attitudes, political matters, sports, entertainment, or any other areas relevant to their interests. Type in your niche and put in the last 12 months; for example, you'll be able to see exactly what the interest is like and what is trending right now, and that's actually great information. Then, at the bottom, it will give related questions or related topics. It is a good idea to skim through these to see if your topic is in there and see how much the percentage is up. If, for example, it is at 240%, that means people are searching for this type of service.
5. Podcasts are very popular. You can find a few podcasters that are talking about the niche you are interested in. Jot some of them down and take a listen to get more insight and tips.
6. Google is a great search engine, and you can find out topics people are searching for on the internet. Google is a great way to search for information.  You will see the exact questions that people are asking on Google related to the subject matter.
7. Identify who your ideal client is. It is simple. You get into business to work with people you want to work with. For you to do that, you have to create your perfect client avatar. This is how a lot of us struggle when getting started in our businesses. When you identify your perfect client avatar, it enables you to appeal to an audience that truly values what you do. I tell this to my clients all the time. The more you know your perfect client avatar, the easier it will be to create content that speaks directly to them. It the best way to attract your clients rather than chase them. To start to build your avatar, you need to know specific information about your ideal client avatar. Some examples are their name, age, marital status, career or business they?re in, what keeps them up at night, to name a few. 

• Know your potential client's pain points and desires. What are they worried about? What keeps them up at night? We have to get into the minds of our potential clients and know what this is. Their desires are the opposite of their pain points and the outcomes they want. As a virtual assistant, this is very crucial to know. If you are a system specialist, your client's pain point would be not being organized, feeling overwhelmed, and not having a system in place. Their desire would be to book more clients.
• Having a system in place. If you are a virtual assistant or just starting out as one, the one thing I have learned is that systems in place are the most important part of your business. It is so worth the investment when you find one that best suits your business needs. The most commonly used systems are Honeybook and Dubsado. If you aren?t familiar with either one of these, they are business management tools that allow you to manage your events from start to finish in one place. They have tools like customizable pipelines, contract and invoice templates, integrated client communications, and online payments, so you can work more efficiently while providing a professional client experience. It doesn?t matter what stage your business is in; having everything organized in one place can give you some sanity back, and it will set you up to grow your business. Whether you?re just getting started, you?re hiring your first employee, or getting serious about your business? finances having an efficient process, this will help you get there.

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Teekwa Scarborough 

Business Christian Coach 

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