Ready to start your Virtual Assistant business? In this section, you’ll find step‑by‑step guides on how to set up as a Virtual Assistant.
From choosing your VA services and pricing your work to sorting out the right tools, software and legal essentials, these posts walk you through everything you need to get your business off the ground and running smoothly.
Picture the scene. I’m 17 years old, it’s around 8.45 in the morning and I’m on a bus on my way to work. It’s one of my very first jobs out of school, I work from 9 to 5.30 every day in a huge airless room at a faceless call centre in a massive building with hundreds of other people. As I look out of the window, the bus passes a tree in the park… and it suddenly hits me.
As you don’t need any formal qualifications to become a Virtual Assistant, there’s often confusion and misunderstanding in the VA Handbookers Facebook group around what being one entails. Because I sometimes see it described as an “easy side hustle”, I want to explain what it actually means to be a Virtual Assistant.
Although the types of tasks you’ll be given by clients will obviously vary depending on what your services are and what these clients do for a living, I thought it might be a good idea to give you three examples of different Virtual Assistant tasks so you can get a basic idea of what to expect.
One of the most common questions I hear from new Virtual Assistants is what services they should offer clients. Although this will depend on things such as demand, your niche, experience, skills, interests, career background, and location, in this post, I share 30 common Virtual Assistant services to give you an idea of the kinds of tasks you could consider.
Many of you are still in the research stage and finding out whether this whole VA thing is something you want to do, but if you definitely know you want to be a Virtual Assistant and are still in the process of setting up and getting ready to launch whilst in full-time work, there are many things you can do to get ready. Here are just some of them:
Most Virtual Assistants will tell you that working for yourself is wonderful and will bring you unbelievable satisfaction and freedom. But what they often won’t tell you is that it’s also often confusing, scary, frustrating and stressful. Existing VAs will hopefully read this article, laugh and nod their heads with recognition – and new ones will get an insight into what’s coming!
Setting up your own Virtual Assistant business may seem like hard work, but I’m sorry to tell you that it’s actually the easy part. Being a good VA isn’t simply about helping someone with their admin, a large number of personal qualities are required to be a successful business owner and you should be aware of what they are before you start.
Testimonials are important for Virtual Assistants because people are way more likely to hire you if they can see you come recommended – so a testimonial page or a WordPress quote rotator widget as I have on my own PA site is vital if you want to show how good you are. But how do you get testimonials when you’re just starting out and haven’t done any work yet?
Because I recommend you set up your VA business alongside your regular job, one of the questions I get asked a lot is “when should I leave my job to solely focus on being a Virtual Assistant?”. Although there are as many answers to that question as people asking it, in all honesty, it boils down to one simple thing:
Working for yourself is extremely hard work, you need a different mindset than when you were an employee and it isn’t for everyone. Because you should know what you’re letting yourself in for, let me tell you exactly what it’s like to be a freelancer so you can make an informed decision and decide if it’s something you’d like to do.
