What is a Virtual Assistant?

In short, a virtual assistant aka ‘VA’ is an amazing support person who completes all sorts of tasks behind-the-scenes to help run and grow their client’s business.

At its core, a virtual assistant is just that, an assistant that supports a business virtually, or in other words remotely.

One of the perks of the job is that as a virtual assistant you work from the comfort of your own home (or favourite coffee shop) instead of an office with other employees.

The truth is this… there are hundreds of thousands of people all over the world who are running online businesses. And they don’t have physical offices but still need support to help them run their business. This is where you come in!

A VA can be a business owner’s right hand who keeps them organised and takes tasks off their plate so that the business owner can focus on what is most important.

Because a virtual assistant is an independent contractor, they get to decide their own hours, rates, services they will offer, who they will work with, and how many clients they are working with at any given time.

They have the flexibility and freedom of being their own boss. And this is why it’s becoming one of the fastest growing industries.

It’s important to understand the difference between employees and contractors. An employee works in someone’s business and is part of that business. A contractor is running their own business. Click here to look at some key factors about the differences in Australia.

Virtual assistants often support entrepreneurs and online businesses, but they can also take on brick and mortar businesses as clients. Brick and mortar businesses have a physical location, store or shop.

These days every business, whether online or a physical store, needs to have an online presence so that customers and clients can find them online and buy from them. And this means they need to have a website and social media accounts at least.

This can all be managed by a virtual assistant or a team of VAs.

Pretty amazing isn’t it?

What experience do you need before becoming a Virtual Assistant?

Knowing your way around a laptop or desktop is essential, while having admin experience is a huge advantage as a VA.

I’ll let you in on a little secret… the truth is that you don’t need any experience to become a virtual assistant!

However, I do recommend that you set up the foundations of your virtual assistant business properly before you start working with clients. That way, you’re organised and have your own processes and systems set up.

Check out my VA Course here to help you get started.

In this course, I am your biz bestie, showing you the ropes and sharing the lessons I learned when I first started as a VA.

I show you the “how to” of exactly what it is you need to do to get started and working with clients, confidently!

What does a VA do?

Every virtual assistant is different and will have a different set of services that they offer.

There are generalist virtual assistants who offer a wide range of services while others niche in a service or industry.

The best part is, you get to choose which services you offer based on what you’d like to do and what your strengths are!

The below list sets out 10 different types of services a virtual assistant can offer. And within these services are a variety of different tasks:

1. Administration
2. Social Media Management
3. Email Marketing
4. Event Management
5. Website Development + Maintenance
6. Bookkeeping
7. Graphic Design
8. Video
9. Blog Management
10. Podcasts

Note: The above list is not a complete list by any means and some virtual assistants may only specialise in one area.

To learn more about what exact services a virtual assistant can offer, check out my blog post on 101 Tasks to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant.

Why do businesses need a VA?

Businesses need VAs for many reasons. The main reason is that most business owners often have too much on their plate and need help so they can focus on their zone of genius.

Business owners find themselves trying to do #allthethings in their business to keep it running.

They are wearing all of the hats: email marketing, bookkeeping, admin, social media, advertising, website maintenance, blog writing, finding and managing clients, PR, setting up and maintaining tech tools, processes and so much more.

As you can imagine, for a business owner to be managing all aspects of their business by themselves is time consuming and overwhelming.

This can often lead to burn-out, fatigue and unfortunately quitting their business all together.

And so it makes sense to bring a VA into their business who can do the tasks that the business owner doesn’t need to spend their time on.

Outsourcing means they can concentrate on growing and scaling their business instead of being stuck in the running of the backend of their business.

Ask anyone, business owner or not, and I guarantee they can think of a task or two they wish they could outsource.

Just think… a task that might take a business owner 2 hours to complete, could take a skilled VA half of that time.

Talk about working smarter, not harder!

Businesses who need VAs aren’t ready to hire a full time employee just yet. They might just need help with their social media or getting their systems and processes organised. They could be looking for someone to manage their calendar and travel. That’s where a virtual assistant steps in.

VAs have unique experience, skillset and services that they can offer business owners who just do not have enough hours in the day to get it all done.

How much can I make as a VA?

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is “How much can I make as a VA?”.

As a virtual assistant, you get to decide your rate. There are many factors that play a part in choosing your rate, such as experience, location, skillset and services offered.

You can charge hourly, by project, or by package.

To learn more about exactly how to decide upon your rate and package your services, check out my Prices + Packages Masterclass where I teach you:
What services you can offer & the types of tasks you can do for clients
The FOUR types of pricing and packages you can set up
How much you should charge and how to calculate your hourly rate
The current pricing standards for VA rates to use as a guide
How to talk about your pricing with a new potential client
How to increase your prices
+ my template for creating your own pricing and packages
+ 25-page masterclass workbook

Watch my 60-minute masterclass on prices and packages here.

How many clients can I work for?

You may be wondering, how many clients can I work for at a time? That is all dependent on the amount of hours you plan to work as a Virtual Assistant and how much you want to make each month.

One of the best parts of becoming a virtual assistant is the flexibility you have to decide your own hours and how much you will work. Once you decide on how many hours you’d like to work, you can figure out how many clients you’ll be able to work for at once.

Depending on the services you offer and the amount of help your client will need, you may have one client who needs 10 hours of help a week, another that only needs 5 hours or someone who requires more.

You can be working solely with one client hands on in their business day in and day out or you could work with several different clients at once doing ad hoc tasks.

Where and how can I find clients?

Where to find clients is something I go into detail in my VA Online Course but I’ll let you in on a little secret… clients are everywhere!

Local networking events, social media, or professional networking sites like LinkedIn are all filled with clients who need your services.

Think about where your ideal client is hanging out.

Note: An Ideal client is someone who you want to work with.

Is she or he attending local networking events promoting their small business or are they on LinkedIn with the other corporate executives?

Are they are Instagram talking about their skin care products, or their latest baby clothing range?

Once you figure out where your ideal client is, position yourself there as an expert who provides value.

If you’re interested in how to find clients and pitch yourself and your services, take a look at my VA Online Course where I share my methods with you and help you build your VA business from the ground up.

How do I work with clients?

Working with clients is a very individual process and each relationship will be different. Each VA has their own process for onboarding and communicating with clients.

It’s essential to get organised and to plan in advance.

I recommend using a task and project management tool like Asana or Trello.

As you work with more clients, you will find the right process for you. But it’s important to set these things up properly from the start.

Check out my blog post on How to Outsource to a VA for more information on how to get started working with clients.

What tools do I need to get started as a VA?

Every VA starting out needs her set of tools and supplies to hit the ground running.

Of course you’ll need the basics: a computer, smartphone, and office accessories. But what about your email service or project management system and storage system? Will you use a desktop or laptop?

For more on the essentials to starting your VA business, you can read my blog post 9 Essentials to Setup a Successful VA Business.