Another very effective question when discussing personal development is asking how to become a virtual assistant with no experience? Having searched within one’s self following an observed vacuum that requires to be filled, it is important that among the arrays of professional careers to be chosen is should be virtual assistant.
A virtual assistant is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative assistance to clients remotely from a home office. The word virtual unarguably means all of your activities which can be completed online, and then allowing you to work from anywhere with a good internet connection.
Being a virtual assistant quickly provide support for business leaders, and many other prominent stars in the world of online labor market. This can mean keeping someone’s calendar and daily schedule, responding to emails, collecting information on sales targets before meetings, and even things like ordering water and snacks for their physical office.
Some virtual assistants end up doing highly technical work. This can mean running multiple programs to find leads and business opportunities, scheduling social media posts and email campaigns, tracking marketing metrics, or performing bookkeeping. Below are other roles and responsibilities which anyone ingrained to become a virtual assistant must also be ready for:
- E-commerce order management: Generally, a specialized form of customer support, many e-commerce companies use virtual assistants to help them understand current orders, find tracking numbers for customers, and even restock products.
- General admin work: Administrative tasks such as managing a calendar, sorting emails, answering phone calls, making appointments, and other tasks that on-site assistants do.
- Project management: Some VAs run projects for business owners. This means you will hold meetings, ask for updates from team members, and create reports on the progress of a project. You may also have some responsibility for projects staying on-time or on-budget.
- Bookkeeping: Financial support is vital to every business. Smaller companies and those using VAs often need to help with processing payments, checking expenses verifying payroll, and creating regular budget statements. If you’re good with numbers and business, this can be a suitable place to start.
- Customer research: Growing businesses often need to understand who their customers are. In this case, VAs will be given tasks related to tracking and analyzing the data provided by a company’s research tools.
- Customer support: Answering frequent questions, looking up customer details, taking messages, and generally helping are tasks that most freelance virtual assistants handle regularly.
- Data entry: Data entry generally is clerical work where you organize and type information. Sometimes it can be general recording or typing of information and in other cases you might have more detailed tasks where you need to analyze the information you’re reading.
- Email marketing: You may need to send emails to customers or manage email sequences in email marketing programs. Sometimes, a virtual assistant will write the email or respond to it, especially if customer responses include things like setting up a meeting.
- Social media management: Posting on social, answering questions, and ensuring that a brand looks good online are all part of social media management.
- Billing and invoicing: Companies often need help invoicing their clients. In these roles, a VA will create the invoices using the company’s software platform, verify each invoice, send them out, and help to process payments and record them when a payment is completed.
- Website management: Virtual assistants are often tasked with making basic updates to websites, posting content, proofreading, and more. You might need WordPress or other skills to shine here.
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- Transcription: A final task that is common for VAs is to listen to meetings or recordings and transcribe what’s been said. Some jobs may also ask you to take notes and create reports on what was discussed.
- Content research: Here you’ll learn about the company, its products, and its customers. Then, your job is to generate ideas and research assigned topics to provide relevant information.
- Blogging and writing: Sometimes, you’ll also write the content you research. This is commonly in the form of blog posts, but VAs can also be tapped to write web pages and other content.
- Social media marketing: VAs can specialize in the marketing that happens on social media, too. Here you may create campaigns and set spending, define ad targets, or take ad campaign reports and pull the pertinent details together for your boss.
Monthly Emoluments for Virtual Assistants
In terms of pay, according to Glassdoor, the annual salary for virtual assistants in the US is $35,922. However, worldwide, many virtual assistants work as freelancers on an hourly wage. One recent survey involving 400 virtual assistants on the popular freelancer site Upwork shows a huge discrepancy in hourly pay commanded by virtual assistants in different countries.
What are then the steps to take about how to become a virtual assistant with no experience at all? Pay attention:
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Pay Attention
By now, you know you can offer hundreds of services as a Virtual Assistant. You can do everything from writing, emailing, calendar management, bookkeeping, marketing, social media, and more. Focus on the skills you have, and enjoy doing. There is no reason to spread yourself too thin, especially at the beginning, when you have a lot to learn!
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Plan Up Your Business
When starting out, you need to decide how you will run your business. You can set it up as a sole proprietor. This is a fast and easy way and doesn’t require any special setup. The only issue is that if anything happens to your business, you will put your personal asset at risk.
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Get a Website
If you want to work remotely, you will have to sell yourself as an online communication expert. The best way to do this is to create a website showing your skills and services. Your website will showcase what you can do for your potential clients and will play an essential role in establishing your business.
Social media is also an important part of your business, but you don’t have to be everywhere: learn where your potential clients hang out and master one or two social media platforms. Are they on Facebook? On Instagram? Become an expert and follow them to show them you understand their brand.
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Form a Circle
Working from home can, from time to time, become a lonely job. You will always need a support group, someone who understands you and can help you by giving you advice or simply sharing a rant from time to time. Look for Facebook groups and blogs that are in your niche. Find a group of people who share your goals and work alongside them to build a successful business,
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Be Customer Friendly
Making your clients happy is the biggest asset to your business. Once you find your first client, do everything you can to deliver top service. A happy client might recommend you to other business owners they know, and you just need a handful of clients to make a full-time income as a virtual assistant!
Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. Ask your clients if there is anything you can improve on, and take anything they say on board. Use every positive note as a testimonial, and ask your best clients if you can use them as referrals.
