How I Stumbled Into VA Work
Honestly, this all kind of started by accident, but then I went with it.
I sort of fell into it because I go to church with another blogger and she approached me about potentially doing some VA work for her. I actually thought I’d NEVER want to be a VA because I don’t like having to listen to other people (hello..wanna be my own boss over here), but I went ahead and gave it a shot because I knew that I could also learn a lot from her in the process.
It turns out that I really enjoy being a VA. It doesn’t feel like I’m just being bossed around all day like I thought. Actually, I feel like I’m helping to create a vision for something in the business and then helping it come to life. The teacher in me loves helping someone with something they might find too complicated or tedious.
For example, my specialty is the tech behind blogging. So, if someone wants to get their first opt-in setup on their blog but all the tech is confusing them, then they can hire me to set it up for them. So I’m helping them get past those hurdles in their business and they’re paying me to do it. Win-win!😀
Why I Made It Into A Business
When everything started shutting down and people started losing jobs due to the pandemic, I started to see so many bloggers trying to get their blogs up and running quickly, but they were getting stuck with the tech.
They wanted to either quickly create an income because they lost a job OR they wanted to seize the chance to grow their business with all the extra time they have now. I really wanted to help in some way.
So, I decided to post about my idea in a Facebook group to see if there were people that would hire a VA like that (rather than hiring out only a Pinterest expert or only an email marketing expert). From that post, I had about 10 people reach out and then I went on to work for 4 of them!
So basically, in the past few weeks, I’ve made $500 from this new venture!
How I Launched My VA Business
I want to share with you what I did so you can venture into this if it sounds appealing to you:
- I quickly set up a site (using Elementor) that allows people to see what I offer and set up a free 15-30 minute consult call to discuss their needs and ensure we’re a good fit.
- I had to decide on pricing. Since I’m new, I did super cheap intro rates of about $25/hr. This will go up soon but offering a reduced rate allowed me to take on more clients faster so I could get testimonials and hopefully they’ll spread the word to their blogger friends about what I can do 🙂
- I posted about my services in a few Facebook groups I’m in that allow promotions like that. I also mentioned it to fellow blogger friends so they could send people my way if they heard of anyone needing tech services.
- I followed up with potential clients via email to ensure we actually connected. It’s pretty common for people to express interest but then not actually follow all the way through with booking the call or even booking the project after a call. I made sure to email each person after a few days just to follow up and let them know I was still available to help if they needed. Sometimes these went unanswered, but in a few cases, they were thankful for having the reminder sent.
Can you start your own VA business?
Here’s one thing I want to be clear about: I’m not a tech expert. I don’t know how to code things or do super advanced things with websites. But I DO know more than a beginner blogger that’s struggling to get started.
After 3 years of blogging and doing it all myself, I’ve learned a lot of the technical stuff behind my blog. Not to mention all of the courses I’ve taken on all sorts of blogging topics. So when someone wants to know how to add an opt-in box to their blog post, then I can definitely help them get set up with that and they’re so excited to have it done.
You might think that your skill doesn’t matter, but what about someone that doesn’t have that skill at all? Would they be ecstatic to have you take care of that for them? Likely.
So keep that in mind: you don’t have to be THE expert..you just have to know more than someone else.
What kind of services can you offer as a virtual assistant?
Really you can offer anything as a virtual assistant that can be done, well, virtually.
While there are ways to get certified in specific things, you don’t have to be certified in something to offer it as a service. It will depend on what your client prefers if they care about the certification aspect. Most things don’t require it though.
Here are some skills that translate into VA work: organization (think organizing files and folders on the back end of someone’s business), email marketing (are you great at writing? You can write emails for someone), tech (are you good at coding? Maybe you’re really savvy with WordPress), Pinterest (creating the pins or even manually doing the pinning), writing (write blog posts for people), graphics (create printables for people), etc.
Basically think of how you can serve another business owner and then start offering your services.
Want more guidance on how to start a VA business?
A resource I’ve used and found super helpful was VA Business Lounge . She has courses, coaching and a membership that are super reasonable and affordable. What drew me into her program was that she went from $0 to $3,000 a month in 3 months as a stay at home mom.
Not sure how long that’ll last, so if you’re even considering being a VA, I’d grab that course now. Another site that’s helpful is Horkey Handbook. She has some courses as well (that I hear are amazing!), but if you’re not ready for that price tag yet, she also has a ton of good info on her blog.
Final Thoughts
There you go. All the info I have so far on my new VA business. Hopefully some of that information was helpful for you as you consider this as a new way to make money online.
The hardest thing about it will be to get clients, but if you don’t know what services you want to offer and don’t start offering them, then you’ll definitely not have anyone take you up on it (but like I mentioned, VA Jumpstart talks about finding clients, too!)
You never know who you’ll bless with your services. They could be hoping that someone just like you comes along to help with their business so they can focus on what they love and get their own business moving forward.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on offering VA services. Considering it? Already doing it? Share what services you’re considering (or already) offering in the comments below.
25
Very valuable post, I thank you very much for sharing it, Now you have a new subscriber! I have written this ebook of the best 20 business ideas to make money online in less than a week.
https://bit.ly/20-business-ideas