How to be a Successful Virtual Assistant
Do you have a knack for helping people? Are you always the first person everyone comes to for advice? If so, then becoming a virtual assistant might be just the job for you!
In this post, we'll teach you everything from how to make a great resume, land your first client and ace an interview. You'll learn about how much money you can expect to make and what resources can help make your job even easier.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
The term "virtual assistant" (or "VA") refers to many different jobs. Some VAs are paid to do research for attorneys, help bloggers run their page, or manage social media accounts for small businesses. Other VAs provide administrative support at a company. Whatever you choose to do as a virtual assistant, you'll be working independently from home with your own schedule. Most people choose to work as a virtual assistant because of the flexibility it offers. You'll be able to choose which hours you want to work and you can even decide the pace where you want your business to grow. The largest and most popular virtual assistant company is Zirtual. Zirtual charges a $250 a month retainer fee for their services. Zirtual has over 1000 assistants who are managing client projects from all across the United States and even internationally.
A VA is someone who provides administrative support to another individual or business either virtually or in-person. There's no limit to what you can do as a virtual assistant, since your tasks are dictated by your client's needs and requests. Your responsibilities could include: making travel arrangements, taking care of childcare, scheduling appointments, paying bills, filling out paperwork and making travel reservations for clients. The opportunities are endless when it comes to the business side of being a VA. Now let's get to the nitty gritty.
What Do I Need to Become a Virtual Assistant?
First things first, you need a smart phone and data plan for your smartphone. You'll be communicating through email and text messages with your clients. Don't go getting yourself a brand new iPhone 6 just yet though. You'll need some old school technology in order to get started as a VA efficiently. You will be using your computer and internet connection to set up your virtual assistant business, so it needs to be relatively modern with high speed internet access. You'll also need a computer with a good quality camera and video camera as well as a reliable printer. If you plan on working remotely then you'll need to have a DSLR camera, Internet access, decent speed is ideal and very importantly, you need to have your own space for working from. You can't expect to be in the same room where your children are playing or you'll never get any work done. You will also need to purchase business cards and stationery. A website is really optional but it makes things easier if you want to take clients from all over the world so it's worth some research into how much hosting costs for domain names or web hosting and what type of site builder would be best for you. Once you have all of your business supplies and technology, you'll need to sign up for a few different services that your clients will be using. You need to set up an account on Skype, Gmail, Twitter and Linkedin for yourself. You'll also want to get accounts for any social media sites your clients are active on as well.
Why Become a Virtual Assistant?
The number one reason most people are attracted to being a virtual assistant is the flexibility it offers. It's not a typical 9-5 job that you have to commute for and there's no boss peering over your shoulder telling you what to do. You can work from anywhere you want and you can even create your hours as you wish. If you're an entrepreneur, then the ability to work from home is a dream come true. Virtual assistants are home based businesses that are a key part of the many American households. The average amount of employees for a business is five in this country and that's down from seven in 2008 according to research done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Virtual assistants make up 51% of all online workers and they earn an average annual salary of $28,000 per year in the United States, according to Zirtual .
What is the Job Market Like for Virtual Assistants?
The job market for virtual assistants is on the rise and it looks like it's going to stay that way. In 2014, the number of people who were a part of the VA study doubled. We're talking over 1 million people who are a part of that study now. Today, there are approximately 148,000 virtual assistants in jobs in America. There are 5.9 million full-time workers in America so if everyone switched to being a VA, we could have 266 new businesses start up every single month! It's similar to what happened when online worker accountants took over several industries such as accounting and transcription. You don't think you'll do well as a virtual assistant but remember, your clients can be the ones that bring in the most income.
You may also want to think about how you can use your skills and knowledge to help other people. You could provide an extra set of hands for an elderly person who needs help cleaning their house, or teach kids online how to start their own business. In fact, it's estimated that there are as many as 50% of the world's future jobs coming from a combination of technology and people!
Who Should Join Zirtual?
Zirtual has over 1500 people working as virtual assistants but they've been around since 2006 and they have grown at a very rapid pace in the past few years. Zirtual has an amazing team of people working behind the scenes to help their assistants as well as their clients. It's a very hands-on relationship that focuses on communication and quality. So if you're thinking about becoming a virtual assistant, then you should definitely contact Zirtual . At Zirtual, you can work as much (or little) as you want. You'll have the option to work fulltime or part time and the more hours you work, the more income you can make.
Zirtual has a great reputation for being one of the best places for people to become a VA because it offers superior training, career guidance and tools that are designed to help businesses grow. Zirtual also offers exceptional compensation for their VA's. Their pay packages start at $20 per hour and can go as high as $75 or $100 per hour. That's an amazing amount of income for a job that you can do from home and not have to get dressed every morning or go to a job that you hate just because it pays the bills.
How Do I Become a Virtual Assistant?
Zirtual is all about taking care of business so don't forget to check them out and see if they're the best virtual assistant school for you.
Conclusion
Whether you decide to become a virtual assistant, or start your own business as an entrepreneur, it's a rewarding and exciting career to have. The future of the world of virtual assistants looks very bright indeed.
While pursuing the dream job as a travel agent is indeed exciting and fun with many benefits, there are many things that need to be kept in mind before making the jump from your regular 9-5 job to build your career in travel industry.