How to Become a Virtual Assistant (VA)
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freelancers or independent contractors.
Becoming a virtual assistant is one way for stay-at-home moms and the unemployed to earn. It also becomes a career path for many gen X and Y who enjoy location-independent work and flexible time.
Web Presence
You can find numerous work marketplace for virtual assistants. oDesk, Freelancer, Elance, and PeoplePerHour are just some of the sites where you can post your resume and find virtual assistant jobs.
Aside from having your presence in those work marketplace, you can also find virtual assistant jobs through forums and online communities. Some VA create their own business website where they offer their services.
When creating your profile, make sure to highlight your specialization or capabilities. It makes it easier for clients to know what you can do.
Linkedin is a great website for prospecting clients. Though I haven't done that but because I've been receiving proposals every now and then, I see Linkedin as a potential place to meet clients. So, make sure that your Linkedin profile is updated. Even if you are not actively searching, perhaps one of these days you will receive some job offers too.
Experience/Skills
Experience is a big advantage for virtual assistant as many prospect clients want to have their projects done fast with less supervision. But this is not to say that newbies would be having a difficult time finding projects. Some clients are not particular with experience.
Attitude also matters. If you are trainable, willing to learn, industrious, persistent and can work independently; even if you are new to the business, there won't be any trouble for you to catch up with the seasoned VAs. The key here really is knowledge and skills. Even veterans need to learn and upgrade skills too.
Here are some of the basic skills of a virtual assistant:
- Communication skills
- Typing
- Writing
- Computer knowledge (basic knowledge on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
- Sales and marketing
Continuous learning
Complacency is good at times but in this kind of business, every projects that comes to your hand becomes a learning experience because one project is unique from another. New learning becomes a must.
To better understand the trade, it is advisable to network with other virtual assistants and learn from them. Online resources are also available for our consumption.
What are the jobs available for virtual assistants?
There's a lot of jobs for virtual assistants. Here are just a few of them:
- Online research
- Database entry
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Managing email
- Bookkeeping
- Scheduling
- Social media
- Blogging
- Copywriting
Do you find this blog post helpful? Feel free to share. Thanks!
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Thanks for sharing your blog about a virtual assistant with a very nice post and very informative one. It was really worth reading for. It will surely help a lot to everyone especially to me. I know a little about virtual assistant, and because of this blog, I learn something more especially in becoming a virtual assistant. Continue posting and keep inspiring and giving very informative topics. Again, thank you so much. Keep it up dude! Kudos! :)
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Thanks for sharing your blog about a Virtual Assistant. It was really worth reading for. It will surely help a lot to everyone especially to me.
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Thanks for the nice comment and for visiting my blog. It is a pleasure to share helpful information to other freelancers.
DeleteHi very informative blog and I will also suggest for LinkedIn because on LinkedIn peoples can be attached easily. On the other way freelancing companies are very hard place for new comers. In my point of view necessary skills for a Virtual Assistant can be
ReplyDelete1. Communication skill
2. Strong Management Skill
3. Office related computer knowledge
4. Administrative skill
And now these days following jobs are available for virtual assistants
1. Blogging
2. Social Media marketing
3. Bookkeeping
4. Payroll Management
5. Database entry
LinkedIn is indeed a great business networking site. Thanks for the inputs!
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As a virtual assistant you should basically be a jack-of-all-trades. You must a skills in blogging, data entry to email management. You can work at home, but you need a decent laptop or a desktop computer, it does not need to have high end specs, and of course a decent and stable internet connection.
ReplyDeleteVery informative and interesting post for Virtual Assistant. All points are very well written. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this blog, Caryl. Your blog helps our fellow VAs or who are thinking to enter the VA Industry. It is nice of you to give points on what are needed to enhance their skills and get hired. Maybe you can add some tips on enhancing those points. For example, in communication skills, what should they read or what do they need to do to enhance their pronunciation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this blog. It is nice to read blogs like this. I will be proud to share it to my co-workers as this is such an informative article written by a Filipino. Keep it up. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi, many people have misconceptions about virtual assistant and they think this work is limited to personal secretary but, your article really helps to understand what it really means and the list of works you have mentioned gives a deeper thought to those who want to work from home.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing your blog this will help a very much for a person who wants to become a virtual assistant
ReplyDeleteThis was a great read! I am now currently training to become a virtual assistant and this article will definitely help me find a job in this marketplace.
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