Are you clicking on this article so you can learn how to make money online? From the comfort of your own home? If so, you’re in the right place. The Learn How To Work Online (remote) team has put in hours to get this article in front of your eyes. We’re happy you’re here so we can show you how YOU can make money by working online as a virtual assistant. Everyone on the LHTWO team has once been where you are RIGHT NOW. Confused, excited, and wary of where to start. Don’t worry, we know exactly how you feel. In this article, we’ve broken down step by step how you can get started as a virtual assistant and make money online!
You may have heard the term “virtual assistant” from time to time. You may be here because you’ve heard about the job flexibility and the great-work life balance of a virtual assistant. But do you know what they are and what they do? Are you cut out for working in the virtual assistant business industry and becoming one? In this article, we’ll cover all of your questions and concerns on how you can become a virtual assistant!
What Is A Virtual Assistant And What Do They Do?
First and foremost, what is a virtual assistant? For those who don’t already know, a virtual assistant is an individual who provides administrative and technical services to business owners and/or entrepreneurs remotely. Think of a modern-day assistant, but with the ability to work from home. Usually, virtual assistants are independent contractors or freelancers and have flexible schedules, but there are oftentimes exceptions where a virtual assistant will be hired as a full-time employee to help a business owner. The benefits of hiring a virtual assistant (from a business owner’s perspective) and being a virtual assistant (from an individual’s perspective) are endless. Employers save time and money by outsourcing work to virtual administrative assistants, and virtual assistants tend to benefit from the work-life balance and wide range of work available to them.
What Do Virtual Assistants Do?
As a virtual assistant, your main job is to provide value by reducing the stress that is on your employer’s plate. Freeing up their time by handling administrative tasks, like email management or calendar management, will give your employer the opportunity to focus on other aspects of the business, which will help both the business and you grow. In a virtual assistant job, you can expect to carry out tasks that are diverse to each prospective client. What you do will heavily depend on the needs of your employer and your experience level.
Depending on a client’s needs, a virtual assistant may assist with the following common duties:
- Email Management & Communication Management (Phone or otherwise)
- Calendar Management & Travel Arrangements Management
- Content Creation & Social Media Management (Managing online presence)
- Customer Service Care
- Time Management Assistance
- Data-Entry For Bookkeeping or Accounting
- Project Management & Research (Marketing & otherwise)
- Transcription and Proofreading
- Utilize Organizational Skills
- Logistic and Operations Management (Management of order supply)
Separate from the common duties listed above, the role you accept as a virtual personal assistant will determine your exact admin tasks and assistant tasks. To get some more information on the job description of a virtual assistant, we suggest looking at a job posting by an ideal client or role. Doing so will give you a better idea of what tasks for clients you’ll be expected to perform and handle in the near future.
Sometimes, virtual assistants even function as executive assistants or project managers based on the role they’re hired for and what is expected of them. Businesses need you to help them give their business structure. Meaning, these assistants go beyond the scope of what a general virtual assistant does and their skill levels allow them to become project managers or executive assistants. Those who are well-versed in the virtual assistant business dive deep into an industry that will benefit from their presence. They learn the necessary skills and common duties needed to work in a specific industry so they’re able to benefit from virtual assisting in an industry they want to be a part of. For example, companies and businesses hiring in the tech industry may seek assistants that are experienced in specific software or online business practices. Companies and businesses hiring in the marketing industry may seek assistants that communicate well with others, have a creative eye, and understand basic marketing principles. In general, businesses need you to help give their business structure.
All in all, if you’re interested in becoming a virtual assistant, don’t be worried about how the industry is booming because you can easily land a job in this world as long as you diversify yourself from the common virtual assistant.
What Skills Do You Need To Be A Virtual Assistant?
As mentioned in the previous section, the skill set you need to be a virtual assistant heavily depends on what company hires you and what duties they need you to fulfill. However, there is a set of essential skills and services you can provide that will increase the likelihood of you getting hired. The more of these “soft skills” you have, the easier and more enjoyable your job will be.
Here are some skills (soft and not) that will increase the likelihood of you landing a job as a remote worker:
- Strong organizational skills
- Effective communication skills
- Conflict resolution skills
- Strong writing skills
- Critical thinking skills
- The ability to collaborate effectively
- The ability to stay self-motivated & effectively manage deadlines
- Having some sort of online presence & a general understanding of the digital world & the internet
- A general understanding of the company you’re applying to be a part of, and what they do
Of course, everyone has their own strong suits and it’s unlikely for anyone to have all of the skills listed above, but even having 2 of those skills will heavily increase your chance of being hired. For example, a tech industry company hiring a virtual assistant won’t expect you to have writing skills in line with a professional freelance writer, but being able to explain and articulate yourself well will elevate your chances of being the assistant hired for the job. You’ll be communicating with different people, businesses, and potential clients online, so being able to articulate yourself and explain details well is important.
Or, let’s say a marketing agency is hiring a virtual assistant. If you have strong critical thinking skills and the ability to collaborate effectively, the marketing agency will be more likely to hire you over any other virtual assistant because most of the work performed in a marketing agency is group work and requires critical thinking. Sure, you may just be an assistant at the time of hiring, but if you’re consistently proving yourself as being competent enough to be a project manager through utilizing your critical thinking and collaboration skills, you’re way more likely to be promoted.
And, this goes without saying, but having a general understanding of the digital world and the internet will definitely help you in your virtual assisting journey. After all, your role is “virtual” and your work will be performed remotely through the internet, so really having some technical skills in the digital world is one of the unspoken requirements of becoming a remote assistant. Meaning, you should be able to navigate a website, write a blog post, navigate social media accounts and platforms, create a PDF, or even convert a file from one file type to another. Fortunately, all of these basic technical skills are super easy to learn and can be accomplished with a quick Google. For example, there’s this awesome article by GCF Global, which is a Free Learning organization, that teaches you all the basic computer skills you need to operate in the digital world.
Extra “Skill” Tips
Other than the tips we’ve given in the section above, there are some other tips you can utilize in your journey to becoming a virtual assistant. These tips may even help increase your earning potential as a virtual assistant.
Firstly, being able to organize your time and enact ultimate time management will benefit you in any job you pick up as an assistant. Putting your time management skills to the test will ultimately help you take on more clients to produce more cash flow. One of the unspoken expectations for a successful virtual assistant (VA) is being organized so you’re able to finish tasks swiftly and efficiently. The more you accomplish in a shorter amount of time, the more time you’ll have to dedicate to the other list of services you provide, which will, in turn, help you make more money.
Secondly, you can add a specialized skill or two onto your plate in order to make you more desirable to a potential client. For example, you may be interested in the digital world so you may decide to get an email marketing certification or go through a video editing course to give you a boost in your potential. Then, you apply for a job at a marketing agency or a photography studio, and you may come to notice that the certification you received for email marketing or video editing will be the deciding factor in you getting hired. Almost everyone on the virtual assisting journey knows how to perform the common tasks of a virtual assistant because they are likely performing it for themselves every day. Having an extra specialized skill will help you stand out from other assistants in the industry. And because of your extra knowledge and elevated skill set, you’ll be able to charge a higher fee for being more valuable.
Last but not least, don’t ever be discouraged if you don’t know how to perform a task, work with a specific software, or even have little to no work experience. Almost everything you need to know about this job can be learned by searching on Google, taking an online course, or watching some free YouTube videos. For example, this YouTube channel provides practical instructions to learn a multitude of different jobs ranging from becoming a virtual assistant to learning data entry. You may even be able to get mentored by someone else for a period of time. And, many of the skills you need for the job can be acquired by actually working at the job. Continuously learning new things and adding them to your portfolio as you work as an assistant will continue to raise your value and earning potential. And, keeping up with these extra skill tips will take you from being a general VA to being an executive assistant.
How Much Can You Make Being A Virtual Assistant?
Now, how much can you make being a VA? Since you can have multiple clients with varying workload streams, you may decide to charge a lesser rate in order to acquire more clients. On the other hand, you may decide to charge a high rate so you only need to take on one or two clients’ to bring in enough cash flow to support your lifestyle. The best way to definitively know the average rates is by doing research on job boards in your immediate area or country. However, the beauty of being a freelance virtual assistant is being able to charge whatever rate you’re comfortable with. Putting that aside, we’ve done some research on the average rates of a virtual assistant working in the US, living in the US, and being employed by a US business.
How much do US virtual assistants make?
According to Indeed, Payscale and GlassDoor, virtual assistants should be making anywhere between $15.96 to $20.41 hourly. However, your hourly rate still heavily depends on where you live in the US, the type business of that employs you, and what industry that business is in. After all, we all know that different industries are bringing in different amounts of profit and funding. If you develop soft skills for an industry that values VAs and it’s an industry that can afford to pay you more, you can certainly adjust your hourly rate to something higher. The more time and effort you put into crafting your high-value skill set, the more you’ll be valued, and the more you’ll be able to charge for your services. The best part about being freelance or self-employed is being able to choose your clients and set your own rates. You don’t have to take on any project that comes your way. You can choose to decline it or ask for a higher wage to get it done.
Now, as you go through different job platforms, you’ll notice that there are VAs charging an hourly rate way below $15. From time to time, I look through job boards, see a VA’s professional profile, and see that their hourly rate is set to $5! That’s a crazy low amount for the job description of a VA and what the job entails. When you stumble across these profiles, don’t get discouraged. Good potential customers and clients will know the quality difference between a freelancer who sets their virtual assistant rates starting from $15 an hour, to a virtual assistant setting their rates starting at $5 an hour. Take into consideration that most of the virtual assistants charging that low amount may be applying to jobs for beginners. So a client who needs to hire a virtual assistant will hire one that isn’t a beginner or entry-level, but a virtual assistant who is intermediate or expert-level. Truthfully speaking, most clients who hire freelancers at a low rate can’t demand skills or skill sets. You can’t expect a freelancer who is charging a low rate to be a graphic designer, provide content production services, and manage your social media profile when they likely don’t have the skills to execute any of those asks. The phrase “you get what you pay for,” has never been more true ever since society has experienced the boom of working from home.
Where Can Virtual Assistants Find Jobs?
You’ve read through this article, you know the ins and outs of what it is to be a virtual assistant and what a virtual assistant’s job entails. Now, how do you actually find a job as a virtual assistant?
Finding A Job As A Beginner Virtual Assistant
There are many different job platforms that you can join to look for jobs as a virtual assistant. Here is a digital task we are giving you to help increase the likelihood of you finding a job as a virtual assistant: Sign up for EVERY job platform and create an engaging profile and cover letter. I know, this seems like a lot and you’ll probably need a password manager to keep track of them all, but it’ll be worth it. Whether it’s a freelancing job platform or an employee job platform where you can land a full-time job, you should sign up. This will increase the likelihood of landing a virtual position.
Without further ado, here are some platforms where you can take advantage of a virtual assistant position at a more than decent rate:
Freelancing Platforms
Full-Time Job Platforms
Outside of creating a profile for the job platforms listed above, you may meet some awesome people in your future career that will be more than happy to send other clients your way. You may perform so well for a client that they’ll want to pass along the word of your expertise and services. For that reason, you should always try and leave a good impression when you finish up a job. You may also want to spread the word about your services through content marketing or social media marketing. Learning how to do that for yourself will be beneficial in more ways than one. Once you’ve learned to do it for yourself, you’ll have learned the skill set and you’ll be able to use your newly built skill set as leverage to land a better position at a higher wage.
All in all, whether it’s freelancing or full-time, there are job opportunities at different rates everywhere for a virtual assistant. You can find clients through different job platforms, word-of-mouth marketing, or even by marketing yourself through digital marketing.
