Are you hoping to learn how to become a virtual assistant to earn money online?
We’re glad you’re here!
In this article, you’ll get the full scoop on what a virtual assistant does, what it takes to become one, and how and where you can offer your services to paying clients.
Let’s get into it!
Table of Contents
What Is An Online Virtual Assistant?
This is a trick question because no two virtual assistants do the same things.
“Virtual assistant” is an umbrella term for an independent contractor who provides services online to other businesses that need some extra hands.
Virtual assistants can do many tasks, like social media account management, answering customer service emails, data entry, calendar organization and scheduling, video/audio editing, copywriting, bookkeeping…
What Area Should You Choose?
Pretty much anything you can think of that would be helpful to business owners!
Oftentimes, virtual assistants will pick a handful of their best skills and offer only those as a way to niche their services to make marketing themselves easier.
Virtual assistants can even choose a niche industry – like law, medical clinics, the wedding industry, pet stores, you name it – and just work with their favorite kinds of companies.
Basically, being a virtual assistant gives you the potential to shape an at-home business any way you’d like to start earning money online!
Sounds pretty great, right? Hold up. Let’s make sure you’re qualified…
What Do You Need to Become a Virtual Assistant?
Before you start thinking about becoming a virtual assistant to make money online, you need to make sure you’re qualified.
Oh, wait…
There are no qualifications or education requirements necessary to become a virtual assistant!
That’s right, you can start virtual assisting today with no degree, no certification, or anything!
However, there are some basic skills and types of equipment that would give you a leg-up if you wanted to begin marketing your services to potential clients:
Ability to communicate professionally;
Use of most social media platforms;
Use of most apps in Microsoft and Google suite;
General knowledge of scheduling meetings;
Ability to take phone calls/video calls; and
Access to wifi and a computer/laptop.
Got The Skills?
These skills will allow you to offer the most basic virtual assistant services out there.
If you have more advanced skills like graphic design, website development, etc., then you’re really set to launch your new business.
Something else that you don’t technically need but would be really good to have before becoming a virtual assistant is a price list and a contract.
Start planning your pricing by choosing which services you want to offer. Then, decide on an hourly rate!
Abbey Ashley, the founder of The Virtual Savvy (a business that trains people to become good virtual assistants), suggests starting around $25 per hour when you’re new.
As far as contracts go, do a quick Google search for “virtual assistant contract” and you’ll be sure to find an example of what you’re going to need. You can draft up a contract in GoogleDocs, just make sure you’ve got one that protects you, your work, and your money!
How Much Money Do Virtual Assistants Make?
Another trick question here!
The answer to this question pretty much all depends on how hard you work to make your virtual assistant hustle into a cash-making company.
Some aspiring virtual assistants never make it happen, while others end up making thousands a month within their first year.
Some basic things to understand about virtual assisting if you want to make money are:
● Clients don’t (especially in the beginning) fall in your lap.
● You do actually have to do work.
● Your time is worth good money.
Once you understand these basic principles, you’re ready to get out there and make some real cash!
Whether you want a light client load to supplement your current income or you want to curate a business that can blossom into a full-time at-home career, virtual assisting can be a wonderful way to make money online and even speed up your path to financial independence.
How Much Money Do Virtual Assistants Make On Average?
The average hourly rate for a virtual assistant is $20 to $40 an hour.
Assistants who offer more detailed, niched services like web design, social media and search engine ad campaigning, etc., can undoubtedly charge even more per hour!
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a virtual assistant is about $50,000. The lowest-paid 25% make around 28k, and the very top earners report making about $80k.
These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt though because there are many, many people out there making straight bank from this gig.
Take Kayla Sloan, for example. In an interview with Making Sense of Cents, she reported that she makes $10,000 monthly from her virtual assisting hustle. You can read all her secrets at her blog, $10K VA.
Training Courses to Become a Virtual Assistant to Earn Money Online
As we said, you need absolutely zero training to start offering services as a virtual assistant.
However, learning from people who have been in your shoes and got their businesses off the ground is a great idea if you have the time and money to invest in some online courses. Try Fiverr Learn.
If you have time but not necessarily money to learn more about virtual assisting, get on YouTube – the world’s most vast source of first-hand information!
There are hundreds of videos on YouTube about people who have become virtual assistants to earn money online, and most of them want to tell you exactly how they did it!
Like… you can watch days of step-by-step, broken down methods of people who created successful virtual assisting businesses! Get to watching!
Besides that, there are some very reputable virtual assistants out there who helped to pioneer the industry who offer paid training courses for people like you. Here’s a list of a few that are pretty popular:
-
The VA Handbook by Joanne Munro
-
The Fully Booked VA by Gina Horkey
-
Work From Home As A Virtual Assistant by Tina Marie
-
Must-Have Tools for Virtual Assistants by Erin Booth
Common Tools Used By Virtual Assistants
As a virtual assistant, you are going to need to rely on certain tools to help you keep track of your business and get your work done.
There are plenty of tools and software out there made just for the types of tasks that virtual assistants find themselves doing – most of the ones we list below even have free versions.
Here are some main tools that most virtual assistants use daily to earn money online.
For project management/all the things:
- Trello
- Asana
- ClickUp
For invoicing your clients/tracking the time you spend on projects:
- Wave
- Freshbooks
- Toggl
For banking and taxes as a contractor/business owner:
Catch.co
Keeper Tax
Azlo
For digital graphics and stock pictures:
- Canva
- Pixabay
- Pexels
For social media post planning:
- Hootsuite
- Smarterqueue
- MeetEdgar
- Tailwind (Pinterest)
- Planoly (IG)
For scheduling meetings:
- Google Calender
- Calendly
- Acuity
For document editing/signing/storage: PDFEscape:
- Hellosign
- Eversign
For spellcheck:
- Grammarly
- Scrivener
Where To Advertise Yourself As An Online Virtual Assistant
There are plenty of real ways to earn money online as a virtual assistant, you just need to know where to go!
Sure, you could rely solely on the internet to kickstart your virtual assisting business, but you don’t have to!
Check out Meetup. It’s a software that shows you networking groups and meetings in your area. You can attend these meetings and pitch your services to lots of busy people in your area! This is a great way to get your first client or two, and people may be willing to pay better rates to work with someone local.
If there aren’t any Meetups in your area, or you’re just not the networking type, don’t fret!
The internet has made it so easy to meet people who need your services from the comfort of your own couch!
There are several different websites and platforms out there today that allow you to advertise your freelancing services to people all over.
Freelance platforms are great places to look for clients because the information is sifted and organized for you, the leads are hot, and the platform serves as a safety net for your work!
Check out this quick list of some of the more popular ones for earning money online as a virtual assistant:
- Fiverr
- UpWork
- Contra
- Craigslist
- Bark
One of the coolest things about freelancing is that it’s totally normal (and even expected) for you to be on all these sites, and more!
Take a few hours to set up some profiles, and watch the messages roll in. If you put in the time and the effort, you’ll reap the rewards.
There are loads of busy business owners out there who would love for you to give them some of their time back by providing assistant services, you just have to find them.
How To Become A Virtual Assistant To Earn Money Online Today!
So there you have it!
I hope you feel empowered to become a virtual assistant to earn money online!
Got any more questions?
Drop us an email.
Good luck and make some money!
1 thought on “Become A Virtual Assistant To Earn Money Online!”
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