Freelance Tidbits #4: How To Become A Virtual Assistant

As promised in my previous post Freelance Tidbits #3: What is a Virtual Assistant, I’ll go over the steps you need to take to become a Virtual Assistant. So here goes:

1. Identify Your Skills

The first step is to think about all the skills you have or things that you’re good at doing and list them down.

Are good at preparing reports, doing research, slaying an inbox full of emails?

For me, I was always great at communicating via the written word and loved to write essays, read and write stories, letters, create and answer emails and do reports as well. I also had an eye for spotting grammar mistakes and loved to do proofreading and had strong attention to detail. So I decided to offer my services a Virtual Assistant that does administrative tasks.

2. Choose Your Niche

A niche is a product, service, or interest that appeals to a small, specialized section of the population. Your niche will depend on the skills you have and love to offer as well as the type of Clients that you prefer to work with and offer your services to. Do you prefer to work with larger more structured companies or small businesses and start-ups that are sometimes less structured and need processes and systems put in place? Especially when just getting started, specialize in a niche and offer your services to a specific type of business.

3. Determine the Structure That Best Suits You

Consider if you want to be a Virtual Assistant on a part-time or full-time basis. When I first started in 2013, I still had my 9-5 and was doing freelancing on the side to get some experience. When the time was right, I transitioned to full-time completely. After choosing, you can go ahead and get set up your profile or account on freelancing websites such as Upwork or even Fiverr.com. You check this post 5 Things to Do Before Taking the Freelance Plunge for more information. Keep in mind, that by being a Virtual Assistant, you are no longer an employee of any company but will now work as contractor or as a self-employed person. You are solely in charge of how much or little you work per week, with how many Clients and how much you’ll charge for your services.

4. Start Submitting Proposals or Connecting With Clients in Your Niche

If you choose to be a Virtual Assistant and offer your services on freelancing sites such as Upwork, you’ll need to search for projects or jobs that will be posted there to find suitable ones for your skill set. After finding them, submit your proposal so the prospective Clients can review your profile (skills, experience, past work history and desired rate) then if interested invite you for an interview. If the Client is sufficiently impressed they’ll send you a contract offer and then you can begin working on their project.

If you decide not to use freelancing website such as Upwork, then you need to market yourself and get yourself out there to land Clients. You can do this by using Facebook, Instagram or even creating your own website. On Instagram for example, you can interact and engage with the accounts of companies in your niche, so they can get to see and know you. Creating and posting content on your personal Instagram account that shows what you are capable of, your area of expertise and the benefits of hiring you is also a great tactic.

5. Do Great, Consistent Work to Get Awesome Feedback

If you plan to offer your Virtual Assistant services on Upwork, be advised that having a great profile requires that you have awesome Client feedback. At the end of a project Clients can leave between 1-5 stars as well as written feedback which is displayed on your profile.

Negative feedback has an awful effect on your overall profile and can prevent you from becoming Top Rated and deny you the perks that come along with this coveted status. One of the benefits of being Top Rated for example, is that during this COVID-19 pandemic as of May 2020 you can get your pay a whole 5 days earlier than freelancers who have Rising Talent status! Awesome!

Working as a Virtual Assistant is a great choice for anyone who would like to work from home. It’s a wonderful to know that regardless of previous experience or education, you can do it. As I mentioned in Freelance Tidbits #3: What is a Virtual Assistant? it’s quite easy to begin! All you need are your skills, your computer or smartphone and a Wi-Fi connection.

Do you use freelancing websites? If so, which ones?

Freelance Tidbits #3: What is a Virtual Assistant?

I posted the new business logo for CG Virtual Assistant Services to my Facebook story last week and received a lot of questions regarding it. Chief among them was “What is a Virtual Assistant?” and “What type of tasks do you offer/do?”

So instead of answering each question one by one, I decided to write a post that answers them all!

According to Wikipedia, “a virtual assistant provides professional administrative, technical, or creative assistance to clients remotely from a home office.”

In addition, since Virtual Assistants aren’t tied down to any location in particular, we can work from anywhere as long as there’s an internet/WIFI connection. Places like coffee shops, internet cafes, libraries, and even bookshops are great to work from if you can find a quiet enough spot to focus and let the creative juices flow.

Virtual Assistants provide a vital service for businesses. We focus on tasks that business owners may find mundane, repetitive, and extremely time-consuming. By hiring a Virtual Assistant to perform these tasks, business owners are in turn free to focus on other key areas of their company, essentially making them more productive and efficient in their role. 

Outsourcing tasks to a Virtual Assistant is a sure way for executives to claim back work hours that would otherwise be lost in the haze of confusion and overwhelm, never to return.

In my next posts, I’ll be looking at how you can become a Virtual Assistant and offer your services and talents to businesses.

I hope you found this helpful.

Happy working!