Becoming a virtual assistant is a terrific career path to gain more independence and go into business for yourself.
It’s open to virtually anyone with basic internet skills, and in today’s diverse world, it’s easy to find clients who match your work and lifestyle.
Learn how to be a virtual assistant and all that this job entails.
In addition, read expert tips from successful virtual assistants (AKA VAs) to get you started on the correct path.
How To Be a Virtual Assistant In 2023: A Primer
Ready to take the plunge into this exciting career?
Let’s get started.
What Services Do Virtual Assistants Provide?
What do virtual assistants do?
The truth is that VAs do all sorts of work to assist their clients in reaching their goals.
- Admin: Depending on the client, administrative work could entail organizing messages, scheduling appointments, and managing and scheduling staff.
- Project Management: If you want to handle project management as a VA, it helps to have direct experience or knowledge of your clients’ fields of work. You’ll also need impeccable organizational skills.
- Communication: In this case, you don’t just organize or skim messages; you actually respond to them. That type of work involves a higher level of skill and commitment, which usually brings better pay.
- Travel Booking: Virtual assistants may also need to make travel arrangements, get the best deals, and even figure out how to use points and rewards.
- Social Media Management: Managing social media can encompass several responsibilities, including final post edits, managing comments, private communications and messaging, and even preparing and posting statements.
How Much Do Virtual Assistants Make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles income information for various professions in the United States, but they don’t separate virtual assistants from secretaries and administrative assistants.
In 2021, that category of workers earned a median salary of about $39,600 per year or $19.08 per hour.
However, virtual assistants typically tend to make more than their in-person counterparts.
That’s because they can set their prices and match their niche services to the people willing to pay for them anywhere in the world.
Indeed, many virtual assistants earn a great wage.
How Much Is the Minimum Salary for a Virtual Assistant?
A significant number of virtual assistants work as freelancers, meaning they can set their prices.
Most virtual assistants set an hourly rate that starts between $15 and $25.
Top assistants charge $60 or more per hour.
How Much Is the Average Salary for a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual assistants in the United States make an average of around $70,000 per year.
Nevertheless, the more experience you have, the better.
But more than just experience brings in the big bucks; you also have to know how to do the job and market yourself.
How To Become a Virtual Assistant
Becoming a virtual assistant is easier than you might assume.
Still, at the same time, you must carefully plan your first steps, as it will set the tone for the rest of your career.
The first thing to do is delve deeper into the day-to-day fundamentals of being a virtual assistant.
After all, virtual assistants offer many varied services.
Evaluate your best skills, and get creative about how to market them to potential clients.
The basic steps to becoming a virtual assistant are:
- Gain relevant experience: this might entail working as a traditional administrative assistant to beef up your resume.
- Develop excellent technology and communication skills
- Find clients and market yourself: the best places to start are often freelancer sites like Upwork. There may also be industry options, such as websites for virtual assistants.
- Apply to jobs
- Get practice and make improvements.
Of course, there’s a lot more about these steps to become a virtual assistant.
Explore options and plan your course of action carefully before taking on clients.
How to Be a Virtual Assistant: Tips for Being Great
Your life as a virtual assistant will become much easier once you have some steady clients.
What’s more, they may be willing to act as a reference for you to help you gain more clients.
To do that, you need to be great at your job.
Luckily, all that takes is hard work and focus.
Follow these tips to guarantee success in your new field.
1. Set Up Your Workspace for Success
Working from home or working remotely doesn’t (always) mean laying in your pajamas in bed with a laptop.
You must create a dedicated workspace in your home, even if you don’t sit there all the time.
Think of it as your work “headquarters.”
Consider where you like to spend time in your home and where you could minimize interruptions.
Virtual assistants often have to hop on a call with clients for quick instructions or direction.
You may also end up making calls on behalf of your clients.
Choose a place with natural light since it’s better for your mental health.
Then, make sure you have everything you need, including reliable technology, WiFi, and a comfortable place to sit.
Finally, make the space your own.
Fill it with pictures of people and places you love, hang inspiring art, and get something green.
Snake plants are ideal because they don’t require a lot of sun and purify the air around them.
2. Use Tools To Help You Stay Organized
The sheer number of products, smartphone apps, techniques, and tactics promising to help you be better organized is overwhelming.
How do you find the right ones?
The trick is to become very self-aware, utilize your strengths, and target your weaknesses.
If you’re constantly letting deadlines sneak up on you, you must work on time management and setting time-specific goals.
On the other hand, you’ll want to ensure you have solid note-taking and communication skills if you’re missing critical tidbits of information from clients.
More than likely, you’ll be working with multiple clients.
Finding a way to schedule tasks, meetings, deadlines, and more in one place can be a lifesaver.
3. Focus on Your Job’s Priorities
You have your own career goals, but so do your clients.
Being successful in your role means helping them succeed in theirs.
That is where good communication skills become crucial.
You should have very clear conversations with clients about their expectations for you, but what’s your role in their bigger picture?
Make their priorities yours, and stick to their requests and specifications.
Following instructions and briefs to the letter from the outset shows your clients that they can depend on you to get any job done well.
4. Get To Know Your Clients
Getting to know your clients’ voices and objectives can help you strategize and deliver better services, even if you’re just weeding through messages or organizing spreadsheets.
You want to prove yourself indispensable, and you can’t do that without knowing where they’re going.
Begin by reading their organization’s mission statement, values, and other marketing materials.
Skim recent press releases and browse their social media to get a sense of their tone and how they communicate with their customers.
In the process, you’ll be better placed to establish a daily routine.
For example, if you know one of your clients’ requests rewrites for the day around 2 PM, you can be available at that time.
5. Ask for Feedback
All the self-awareness in the world doesn’t make up for constructive feedback from actual clients.
Soliciting it can be tricky, though.
For any clients with whom you have a long-term working relationship, you should request biannual progress reports, even if informal.
If you work through a freelancing platform, they’ll often give your clients a chance to leave feedback.
Let them know that you welcome it and hope they’ll be honest.
You can set up an email-based, anonymous client feedback submission form if you work independently.
Some people are willing to be candid when they know their name isn’t attached.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you still have questions? Find the answers here.
Can anyone be a virtual assistant?
Most people can be virtual assistants.
It takes some skills, including excellent organization, communication, and accountability.
But virtual assistants do not need to meet any requirements or hold a license.
Are virtual assistants in demand?
Yes! As businesses grow more comfortable outsourcing, the services VAs offer to clients have become more varied.
That has broadened the field immensely.
Wrapping Up
Virtual assistants are growing in prominence thanks to their versatility.
Now that you know how to be a virtual assistant and what that lifestyle is like, you can decide if it’s right for you.
The key to being a successful virtual assistant is having the right tools, environment, and skills.
With that in mind, follow the tips above to thrive in this exciting and liberating career path.
Do you have any questions about virtual assistance or have you experienced what it’s like to be one?
Let us know in the common section below!
