Do Something You Love: Work from Home as a Virtual Assistant

Guest Post by Alicia Jay

You may have heard the term “virtual assistant” or “VA” in your online travels as you search for a real career that you start and operate from home. What does that really mean? In a nutshell, a virtual assistant works for themselves providing administrative, technical or creative assistance to clients remotely.

Why Would Someone Hire a VA?

There are a number of reasons why it would benefit someone to hire a virtual assistant versus an in-house employee. They don’t have to worry about paying for things like insurance benefits, holidays or deal with sick time. A VA only charges for the time that they work so that a business saves money versus paying the salary for an in-house employee.

Do You Have What it Takes to Become a VA?

I usually tell people to look at the skills you already have and that you’re using in your offline job. They can often be transitioned into a service offered in your VA business online. Start to make a list of all of your responsibilities at your current job or past jobs. Then note the things you really enjoy doing and the ones that you don’t care for.

Focus on the list of things that you love to do. Chances are, you could offer the services you enjoy in your VA business. There are also great online classes and resources for virtual assistants offered to brush up or enhance certain skills.

What Kinds of Services Does A VA Offer?

The types of services that a virtual assistant can offer seems to be growing every day. Here is a short list to get you thinking about your own skills:

• blog writing/ ghost writing
• proofreading, editing
• transcription
• appointment keeping/scheduling
• database entry/management
• website creation/maintenance
• call center services
• research
• bookkeeping
• newsletter creation/management
• social media management

Is Being a VA Right for You?

First, you want to make sure that working for yourself is a good fit for you personality-wise. Are you a self-starter? Are you self-motivated where you don’t need someone to look over your shoulder and give you deadlines? When you own your own business, there will be no one to tell you what to do, when to do it or how to handle a situation.

There are also a lot of benefits to consider in being your own boss. You can do things the way that you feel they should be done in order to be successful. You can choose the type of clients you want to work with. Having a flexible schedule, that you create, will allow time to be with family, friends or for travel.

Author Bio : Alicia Jay is a WAHM virtual assistant who is passionate about helping other women along their VA journey. She’s already dealt with the overwhelm and the scammers and wants to be that trusted resource for you so that you can skip all of that and build your business! Join her for the VA Business Starter Summit where you’ll learn the basics of creating your virtual assistant business from women who have been there, done that!