| Are you considering becoming a virtual assistant? A | | | | search for virtual assistants and read up on the skills |
| virtual assistant provides support services to | | | | and services that are offered. Pay attention to how |
| businesses or individuals from his or her own home or | | | | often you say, "Hey, I could do that!" Be sure to add |
| office. A virtual assistant may provide secretarial | | | | any of those "I could do that" services to your list of |
| services, handle accounting and bookkeeping tasks, | | | | skills. |
| manage correspondence, update web sites as | | | | 3. Get more training. |
| needed, plan events, create and manage databases | | | | You should never stop learning, but if you're just |
| and spreadsheets -- in fact, there is little that is strictly | | | | starting out and have never run your own business or |
| outside the job description of a virtual assistant. | | | | worked as a personal or office admin assistant |
| Five Steps to Becoming a Virtual Assistant | | | | before, training could be valuable. There are a number |
| 1. Assess your skills. | | | | of organizations that offer virtual assistant training and |
| There are some skills that any virtual assistant must | | | | certification. You'll learn about business ethics, the |
| have in order to manage their workload and handle the | | | | equipment and skills that you need, and how to |
| most basic virtual assistant tasks. You must be: | | | | advertise your services, as well as how to manage |
| - well-organized | | | | your business and communicate with your clients. |
| - detail oriented | | | | 4. Turn your list of skills into a list of services. |
| - willing to work hard | | | | Every skill that you listed can generate any number of |
| - committed to helping others | | | | services. Put together a list of services that you can |
| There are also basic competencies that you should | | | | offer as a virtual assistant and work to polish it into a |
| have. These include: | | | | flyer or web site. |
| - excellent word processing skills | | | | This is also the time to create a business plan for your |
| - familiarity with several different email programs | | | | business. A business plan will help you determine your |
| - excellent writing and communication skills | | | | goals, study your market, flesh out your business |
| - basic bookkeeping skills (unless you want to employ | | | | offerings and lay out a step by step plan for success. |
| your own virtual assistant for bookkeeping and billing) | | | | Remember, one of the most potent things you can do |
| Do you have specialized skills? If you understand | | | | to make your dreams into reality is write them down. |
| medical terminology or are conversant with legal terms, | | | | 5. Market your skills. |
| you can add those to your skill set. Web design and | | | | The key to turning your skills into a viable business is |
| graphics design know-how are also in great demand | | | | marketing yourself. It's not enough to put up a web site, |
| among those who use virtual assistants. Accounting | | | | though a web site is an important part of your |
| and bookkeeping skills open a whole segment of the | | | | professional image. You'll need to scramble for |
| market for virtual assistants. Even unusual and typically | | | | business at first. Create a polished, professional profile |
| un-marketable skills like writing poetry or fiction can | | | | that you can post at freelancing job sites like and |
| open doors for virtual assistants. | | | | guru.com, then start sifting through the proposals. Once |
| 2. Research the market. | | | | you start bidding on jobs and delivering stellar results, |
| Now that you've evaluated your skills, take some time | | | | you'll find that your business grows by leaps and |
| to do some market research. Do a basic internet | | | | bounds. |