Making money as a virtual assistant…💰. How good is it for us in 2022?
Anyone running a business has the motive of earning profits. Everyone likes to see the profits at the end of the financial year.
In this process, no one wants to spend time on the mundane daily tasks which are unproductive such as:
- Scheduling meetings with clients 🤝,
- Email management ✉,
- Social media management etc
These tasks usually involve working on a daily basis which requires posting quality content regularly.
Other tasks that includes customer management also involves tasks related to:
- Keeping customers well informed of the change in the prices.
- Addressing the customer complaints.
- Working on building a strong relationship with customers etc.
These tasks are done on a regular basis which consumes a lot of time and can be considered mundane activities…💤
Now consider the following 2 business scenarios:
Scenario 1: Susan has just received an update from the clients about changes in their schedule for the next week. This would require her to find a new revised date for the meeting with the clients by checking their respective calendars.
AND
Scenario 2: Susan has to prepare an important presentation for the project manager that requires a discussion upon a new range of products which will be launched in the next quarter for the project.
Which of the 2 scenarios is important for the business?
…🤔
Well, the presentation (Scenario:2) seems more important than scheduling a meeting (Scenario:1) at present, right?
Indeed..👍
This is exactly where VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS fit in.
In this Guide
Who is a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual Assistants as the name suggests, are the ones who assist in performing or taking care of various operations of a business working from a remote location.
They work virtually and are not considered an employee, but are hired as contractors to perform a range of given tasks.
Virtual assistants can work independently or as a part of any businesses where clients require assistance in several tasks.
In short Virtual Assistants are similar to employees who would work like a professional for companies dealing with several mundane tasks on a regular basis.
Virtual Assistants would be your go-to person whenever you would need to delegate any tasks from your calendar.
But Virtual Assistants can be classified into the following categories on the basis of work performed.
Types of Virtual Assistants
1. Handling social media accounts
Social media is one platform which needs consistent work on a regular basis to get your audience onto the platform.
This involves creativity and consistency in producing content for your business.
One needs to post on a regular basis. It involves a lot of aspects such as:
- Finding good and trending hashtags (#️⃣)
- Writing proper descriptions (📝)
- Finding the right keywords for the post etc
2. Taking care of admin related work
Administrative work involves a lot of work such as managing emails, maintaining spreadsheets, assigning dates for scheduling meetings etc.
These are regular mundane tasks which involve a lot of time that is consumed on a regular basis.
The tasks seem unimportant but are equally important for any business.
3. Managing content creation process
Content creation is a time consuming process and one that requires a good amount of skills and experience to perform a task.
Virtual assistants carry out several tasks such as:
- Researching.
- Reviewing.
- Writing out content or making videos about it.
- Revising.
- Publishing.
- Repeating…
The above tasks would require you to proofread the content before hitting the Publish button(👆).
This needs someone who can do it on a day to day basis and thus Virtual Assistants are a perfect fit for the above roles.
4. Handling commercial transactions of a business
Running an e-commerce business involves dealing with a lot of stuff on a regular basis.
These typically include the following:
- Handling calls from the customers (📞)
- Taking care of orders being dispatched (📦).
- Creation of invoices and managing the invoices received at the store (📝).
Being monotonous in nature these tasks require you to be consistent and regular for updating on a frequent basis over a period of time.
VA’s can come in handy when it comes to managing the e-commerce aspect of a business.
Well, from what we discussed earlier, Virtual Assistants can juggle between several types of tasks, let’s see how you can work as a Virtual Assistant?
How to become a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is one person who handles different tasks all at once such as
- Social media management,
- Email management,
- Handling customer oriented operations etc.
Everyone has their own journey of how they got their first client as a virtual assistant.
Here are some of the key pointers that are necessary to become a Virtual Assistant.
1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses
Before starting out your journey as a Virtual Assistant, it’s essential to know about your own strengths and weaknesses.
You may be good at communicating to others but at the same time numbers and calculations are something which gives you nightmares.
Guess what🤔,
you can start out as a Virtual Assistant by providing customer centric services (✔) for a business rather than focusing upon accounting or bookkeeping services (❌).
Thus it is essential to identify your strengths and weaknesses to find out where you are good at.
2. Work upon your skills and keep improving on it
Good communication skills along with the ability to organise stuff as per requirements is an essential trait when it comes to being a Virtual Assistant.
As you gradually grow in this path, your willingness to learn more new skills will pave the path for a successful career in the long run.
There are several skills which are necessary such as:
- Being a reliable resource for the company
- Ability to meet deadlines of work set by the company
- Having a solution driven approach towards work.
Your skill set level is something which determines how well you perform over the course of time and your growth as a virtual assistant.
3. Identify your market (niche)
As a Virtual Assistant, you can cater to various sectors such as e-commerce businesses, real estate sectors, education sectors, content creators etc.
You can define your interest and select the niche accordingly to target the right client.
This would mean your inclination and understanding of the market becomes essential to make your job easier.
Thus start with a niche where you feel comfortable to work for.
This would largely depend upon your prior work experience, if any and your understanding of the niche.
4. Establish yourself as a brand
It’s never easy to trust anyone who isn’t serious about what he does.
This goes the same if you are a new Virtual Assistant trying to set yourself up.
So the first thing to do is to set up your social media profile and get yourself up and running across all areas.
Spread the word out about yourself as a Virtual Assistant looking to offer services to others.
This would portray your image as someone who is a professional looking to offer services as a Virtual Assistant.
You can also create your website or blogs, but ensure it looks professional and is set up correctly.
Get active on Facebook groups, set up Insta profiles, YouTube, Twitter and even LinkedIn and reach out to others showcasing your interest in helping them.
Don’t only engage in getting work but also engage with an intention to help others as well.
5. Other essential requirements to take care of
You must ensure for the following technical requirements to be fulfilled:
- a reliable strong internet connection,
- laptop or even a smartphone.
Besides these, it’s crucial to set up the following as well:
- bank accounts for receiving payments,
- Taking care of tax compliances and
- Other legal requirements (if any) before starting out.
These are the necessary technical and non-technical requirements that should not be ignored at all.
6. Search for jobs in freelancing sites
Freelancing websites offer a wide range of freelancing opportunities such as
- Proofreading,
- Pinterest Virtual Assistant,
- Content writer and much more.
You can list out services in these freelancing websites such as:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Freelancer.com
- FreeUp
- Zirtual etc
These sites can be very useful especially when it comes to finding any freelancing work online.
Let’s cover up the most favourite part of the entire discussion and that is earnings of a Virtual Assistant.
How much do Virtual Assistants earn?
If we talk about earnings of Virtual Assistants, it can vary widely from as low as $5 per hour and as high as $20 per hour when starting out.
This depends upon many factors such as your level of experience and your current level of skill set available.
Virtual assistants typically charge on an average of $19.50 per hour of work in the US.
Any additional skill added onto this can significantly increase your earnings.
Several skills add value to your work profile such as:
- Copywriting skills,
- Design skills,
- Customer service skills,
- Store admin skills etc.
Any subsequent addition of above skills can enhance your work experience significantly and raise your preferred rate as a Virtual Assistant as well.
Here’s a quick overview of earnings as reported here for Virtual Assistants working in the US.
| Particulars | Amount (in $) |
| Hourly average salary rate | $ 19.50 |
| Daily average salary rate | $ 201 |
| Weekly average salary rate | $ 1075 |
| Monthly average salary | $ 4160 |
| Yearly average salary | $ 58751 |
Being a Virtual Assistant can be a lucrative career option & a viable one as well if one is consistent in learning new skills for the same.
If you are still unsure of the future of a Virtual Assistant’s career path, here’s what we have discussed further upon.
How is the scope of a Virtual Assistant in 2022 & beyond?
Being a virtual assistant gives you an incredible opportunity to showcase your skills & match your preferences as to how businesses operate.
Everything is turning “online” as has been observed in recent times.
People are trying to expand their businesses across the boundaries and the numbers speak for it all.
If stats are to be believed, a strong 30.8% of businesses are being conducted online.
This has come almost at an annualized growth rate of 5.2% over a period of 5 years from 2017 to 2022.
In this scenario, the market for virtual assistants has been identified at almost $4.12 billion during the period of 2021-25.
This shows making money as a virtual assistant is altogether entering into new levels.
This goes on to show the rising demand for the Virtual Assistants currently.
It is an emerging market and as more and more businesses are looking for ways to grow, they are looking for alternatives to outsource a major chunk of their work as well.
This would create the demand for the Virtual Assistants who would assist in performing the tasks virtually and be a complete package for the organisation.
Being a complete package would involve offering solutions in the following aspects, such as:
- Handling websites,
- Email marketing for the clients,
- Managing sales funnels,
- Social Media Marketing etc
These are the responsibilities which if taken care of can pay you healthy dividends in the form of income generated online on a timely basis.
So the future of a Virtual Assistant would only grow seeing the trend of businesses going online each passing day.
Having discussed all of the above, let’s understand the “WHY” to become a Virtual Assistant?
Why to become a Virtual Assistant?
As we discussed earlier, being a Virtual Assistant paves for an amazing path for a wonderful career.
It’s important to learn and know the basics of the work, before starting out.
A Virtual Assistant enjoys a lot of benefits which is important for anyone starting out. Here are a list of benefits which one can enjoy being a Virtual Assistant:
1. Being able to work part time or full time as a Virtual Assistant
Virtual Assistant can be a perfect side hustle similar to “Dropshipping”.
You get to decide upon hours you want to put into it and the clients you get to work with.
You can make money as a virtual assistant if you are disciplined & consistent enough to make earnings from it.
This can make your life easier and provide you the freedom when you start making money online as a part time job.
Once you set your image & establish yourself as a brand, you can consider making it a full time income as you grow & widen your reach.
2. Flexibility of working at any place of your choice
This is the advantage for all the types of online opportunities available.
You enjoy being flexible of when to work for & where to work for.
You can work around any place of your choice with no chains bound. Isn’t it amazing?🤩
3. Low cost of investment involved
This is again a similar advantage as any other make money online opportunity available out there.
You needn’t invest a huge sum to begin with, but would rather just need to begin with preliminary skills of handling admin work to begin with.
As the barrier to entry is really low you can begin your journey as a Virtual Assistant with a minimalistic setup available.
4. Suitable for any category of person involved
Any person can begin to work as a Virtual Assistant such as work from home mom, student, retired person, single mom etc.
You need not emphasize much upon certain skill sets beforehand but can begin to work with your current skill set to make money as a Virtual Assistant.
Starting out as a Virtual Assistant doesn’t demand you to be someone already in order to start making money out of it.
5. No formal training required
You needn’t have any formal degree or training to start working as a Virtual Assistant.
If you have a basic idea of how to get things organized, and willingness to tackle tasks assigned, you can begin to work as a Virtual Assistant.
This makes being a Virtual Assistant a very promising career path that can open up new avenues & opportunities.
Although obtaining degrees and certifications do give us a backup & allow us to demand a higher pay rate in comparison to others.
Okay, you feel interested to work as a Virtual Assistant, let’s see how you can find job opportunities as a Virtual Assistant.
But, let’s see how you can find job opportunities as a Virtual Assistant.
How to find job opportunities as a Virtual Assistant?
Job opportunities as a Virtual Assistant is not a difficult task. Infract making money as a virtual assistant has gotten more simpler than before.
Everyday several businesses are looking for finding the right candidates to help assist them in their work as a Virtual Assistant.
Let’s see some of the places where one can search for job opportunities:
1. Reach out to your friends
Talk to your friends & ask them if they have anyone in their circle who can help to find you a job as a Virtual Assistant.
Fair chances are there that you may find your first job as a Virtual Assistant from your circle of friends who are close to you.
Talk to people who might be setting up a new business, running a new blog or website or even a small shop but would be looking out for someone to take care of admin stuff.
This is where you can chip in to contribute as a Virtual Assistant.
2. Take full advantage of social media
Social media is something which can turn things around in your favour.
You can join any specific group or forums that are dedicated to Virtual Assistants.
Facebook is already filled with many such community groups which can help you reach out to your potential customers.
Make a good profile on LinkedIn which showcases yourself. This also increases your chances on making money online as a Virtual Assistant.
You can even reach out to people via messages directly on Instagram. Look out for profiles based upon your niche & interest which would help you to manage their content.
DM them if you could help them with any. Chances are you may get such an opportunity sooner or later.
You can create your own YouTube channel wherein you can upload content relevant to your niche.
A reference to your blog or website also adds value and credibility to your profile.
3. Freelancing websites
Finding freelancing work from the freelancing websites is always a preferred choice.
Several freelancing platforms can help you find your next freelancing work such as:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Freelancer.com etc
These freelancing websites have a lot of options available to find freelancing work where recruiters are looking for potential candidates to carry out their freelancing work.
You can always update about your services provided onto your platform to help clients find about its requirements.
If it’s required you can also work for free, provided it gives you a good exposure into the field of Virtual Assistant.
4. Hit the inbox of your clients directly
You can pitch for a job as a Virtual Assistant by reaching out to clients directly in their inbox. This opens door for more opportunities to make money online as a Virtual Assistant.
This may seem a bit awkward, but you can gather all the details about them from their website or blog or their YouTube channel directly.
Reaching out to them through email has chances of leading you up for a work as a Virtual Assistant which may turn around in your favour soon.
5. Keep your own website or blog active
Having your own website or a blog makes a huge difference and makes you look professional towards your work.
Create a well designed blog or website wherein you essentially list out your services and past work (if any) for the potential clients.
This increases your chances of making money online as a Virtual Assistant, if any opportunities come your way.
We have covered up most of what needed to be discussed.
Let’s look at a few key takeaways from what we discussed so far.
Key Takeaways
Here’s a few key takeaways from what we have discussed upon so far:
- Virtual Assistant is an emerging field which has been showing significant growth in terms of numbers and it is a great way to make money online.
- Earning of a virtual assistant varies from as low as $5 to as high as $20 when starting out.
- Virtual Assistants enjoy a lot of flexibility in terms of work from home opportunity, working from any location, deciding upon own earnings and working hours etc.
- Finding job opportunities and making money as a virtual assistant involves low cost of investment, taking advantage of social media, finding work in freelancing sites etc.
- Virtual assistants can work in varied profiles such as e-commerce businesses, real estate sectors, education sectors, social media marketing etc.