Are you organised with good communication skills? Perhaps you’re a social media whiz or you’re great at dealing with customers? Then keep reading to find out out just how to become a virtual assistant from home with no experience to see if this could be your ultimate work from home job!
After all, it’s obvious that businesses need a strong online presence to thrive these days. But business owners often simply don’t have the time to manage this.
Enter a virtual assistant (otherwise known as a VA)! They’re someone who helps companies – including blogs – with tasks that the business owner may not have time to do.
These are largely administrative tasks, meaning that virtual assistants don’t have to actually be in the office. This means that it’s a great way to work remotely with clients all over the world.
Better yet, depending on the level of skill required for the particular tasks and your experience, you can be paid anything from $15 to $100+ per hour.
So if you’re interested in working from home and setting your own hours, keep reading to see just how to become a virtual assistant and whether it’s the job for you!
What’s a standard virtual assistant job description?
A virtual assistant can do anything and everything, really! This could include:
- Managing emails, calendars and travel arrangements for company staff
- Writing articles and creating graphics and videos for the company’s website
- Social media management – this includes things like managing the company’s Facebook page or Facebook groups, designing pins and managing the company’s Pinterest account, scheduling posts on social media etc.
- Looking after the design and development of the site
- Dealing with customer issues
- Doing bookkeeping or data entry
- Essentially anything else that you can do without having to be in your client’s office
As you can see, virtual assistants can be responsible for a broad range of possible tasks
Of course, you don’t have to do all of them. For example, if you think your skills are best used in social media management or that you’re really good at customer service, you can promote yourself as an expert in those specific areas.
And this list is far from exhaustive! If you’d like to see a more complete list of the services you can offer, check out this amazing FREE resource: 150+ Services You Can Offer as a Virtual Assistant (And Get Paid For!).
Gina Horkey, the creator of that list, runs her own virtual assistant business and has created some great resources for other people who may want to follow in her footsteps. This means that she’s absolutely the right person to show you just how many ways there are for you to earn money in this role.
What’s a usual virtual assistant salary?
When starting out, you’re likely to earn around $15 per hour. This quickly increases, however, as you get more experience and can show potential clients the value you can add to their businesses.
Information shows that virtual assistants in North America earn, on average, $35 to $50 per hour, although there are plenty earning $100 or even up to $175 per hour.
In addition, the vast majority are able to work part time. With an average of 20 billable hours of work at $50 an hour for 50 weeks per year, it’s easy for a virtual assistant to earn $50,000 or more annually.
This makes it a great job for people who are looking to balance other commitments, such as stay at home parents.
It’s also definitely something to consider if you’re looking for a change in career path. Surveys indicate that 79% of freelancers consider it as better than a ‘traditional’ job and full-time freelancers work an average of 36 hours per week. That’s a lot less than the average 47 hour work week.
Finally, more than half of freelancers who left a full time job now make more money than they did before.
As with most jobs, it’s best to start on the lower end of the pay scale. Then, as you build up a network and a portfolio of former clients, you’ll be able to prove your worth and start earning more.
How to become a virtual assistant from home with no experience?
1. Create a website to market yourself
It’s pretty much essential that you have your own website advertising your services if you want to be a successful virtual assistant. It shows potential clients what you can offer as well as making it easier for them to find you through Google etc.
Luckily, you can create your own site for as little as $3.95 per month through Bluehost – which includes a free domain.
To see just how easy it is to set this up, check out HOW TO START A BLOG IN LESS THAN 15 MINUTES.
(While your VA site won’t necessarily be considered a blog, the process for setting it up is identical to the one set out in that article.)
2. Take a course
With so many possible tasks for virtual assistants to do, it can be a bit daunting figuring out where to focus your time.
And that’s not even to mention all of the other aspects involved, like how to build your business, how to find and be hired by clients, various legal issues to keep in mind and just generally how to best set up your new VA business to make as much money as possible.
Fortunately, Gina Horkey (the one who made the list mentioned above of 150+ virtual assistant services!), has made a pretty amazing course to get you on your way.
Her 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success course covers all of the things mentioned above and a ton more.
You can also see stories from dozens of her former students talking about the success they’ve had as virtual assistants after taking the course.
The most interesting thing to me in those stories was the journeys of how they all made the decision to become VAs. Some of them were corporate whizzes who just got sick of the daily grind, others wanted to be at home with their kids, while others got sick and found themselves no longer able to work outside of the home for long stretches of time.
In each case, becoming a virtual assistant allowed them to start working from home and make seriously good money.
Taking a course is also a great selling point for your services and is certainly something that you should include when promoting yourself to potential clients. After all, people pay for qualifications!
3. Get active on social media
After creating your site, make sure you also secure the social media handles that match your site name so people can find you.
Posting on the various social media networks is also a great way to show off your social media skills if you’d like to include that in your services as a virtual assistant.
Most bloggers I know have hired their virtual assistants through word-of-mouth advertising in things like Facebook groups. So make sure you’re active on the relevant networks so potential clients can see just how great you are.
In particular, I’d strongly recommend that you become experienced with Pinterest, especially if you hope to market yourself to bloggers.
I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say that Pinterest is by far the network that generates the most traffic for blogs. I’m talking 90%+ of visitors finding most blogs through clicking on pins.
So having a firm grasp on how to be successful at Pinterest will be invaluable when promoting yourself to blogging clients.
It’s also a fantastic way to earn money as a VA!
One great example is Kristin who, within her first six months and in addition to her full time job, averaged $3,600 a month from her role as a Pinterest manager and blogger – just as a side hustle!
If you’re interested in doing the same, take a look at her FREE Pinterest VA Workbook. It has tips, tutorials and even homework (yep, sorry) on just how you can begin building a successful VA business, whether that be as a side hustle or your new full time job!
(P.S. Follow me on Pinterest here!)
4. Network
Networking with other virtual assistants is a great way to not only help yourself grow as a VA, but also to find potential client opportunities.
I mentioned above that most bloggers I know have hired their VAs through word of mouth on social media. On the same point, Facebook groups will be your friend here in networking with other VAs.
So get searching…and remember, don’t see other VAs as your competition. Instead, you’re all growing together – and the person in that Facebook group that you’re nice to today could be recommending a client to you tomorrow!
What are some virtual assistant websites or companies to find jobs?
There are a range of sites where you can find clients.
Some of the bigger, more generic sites, like Upwork, Fiverr and TaskRabbit, may have a lot of opportunities, but also more competition.
You could also consider some sites that are more focussed on virtual assistant jobs. Take a look at Belay Solutions, Priority VA or Fancy Hands to get an idea of what’s on offer.
Just one more thing…
If you liked finding out How To Become A Virtual Assistant (And Make $50,000+ Working From Home With No Experience), why not share it with your audience?
They love making extra money too, after all!
1 comment
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