How to Become a Virtual Assistant and Work from Home

As more people enter the work-from-home arena, it is getting more accepted and desirable to outsource work to virtual assistants. However, to become a virtual assistant and work from home you need exceptional skills in communication, office software, internet-based programs and more.

Advantages of Working from Home

*You set your own working hours
*You set your own rates
*No need to ask for permission to take time off, you simply inform your clients that you will be out of the office
*You choose the clients that you want to work with
*You choose the types of projects that you will work on
*If your relationship with your client is not working out you may let that person go, but you will not be losing 100% of your income as you would in a typical job working for someone else

Necessary Skills: Microsoft Office, email programs, time management, setting boundaries around client expectations, invoicing (you will need to invoice your clients), excellent writing skills, problem solving skills, research skills, and some basic marketing skills to market your own services.

Another marketing strategy that worked very well was to send an email to the people in my circle of influence stating that I had an opening in my week. I am surrounded by people who have high integrity and intelligence, and I was looking for more clients of that caliber. I asked my group if they knew of anyone with those same qualities who were looking for administrative support. The first email that I sent out resulted in two new clients.

The more skills that you have the easier it is to get clients and to request a higher fee. Some virtual specialties may include; social media, wordpress, internet marketing, 1shoppingcart support, getting joint venture partnerships, accounting/bookkeeping, graphic design, writing, research, newsletter and blog development, dreamweaver, photo touch-ups, transcription, video editing, audio editing, ebook creation, mailings, appointment setting and much more.

I found it easy to get my first few clients by joining a networking group that met once a month. This group was comprised of several people who knew me personally, and were eager to sign with me when I told them they could work with for as little as 4 hours a week.

Another thing to consider doing is creating a package of services. For example, you may create a package that includes setting up, maintaining and growing a twitter and Facebook account and following for a set number of hours per month.

Presenting yourself to the outside world as a virtual assistant is as easy sometimes as sending an email to your friends and family letting them know that you are open for business. Don’t let the thought that you need to be perfect or have a huge list of skills stop you from taking the first step in starting your own virtual assistant business. You will continue to gain skills and knowledge as time goes on, and your clients give you new projects that require you to learn new skills.

If you don’t have years of experience in administrative work, then you may want to buy a book and train yourself to be highly skilled in one thing such as social media. When you feel you have the basics down you can send out your first email to your friends and family and let them know you are looking for your first clients. how2oo.com