Becoming a Virtual Assistant Using Online Courses

Since the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic, our social interactions were temporarily suspended. Work from home became the norm, and virtual assistants were on demand. 

We are seeing more and more opportunities to become a virtual assistant. It is important to take an online course to help manage the business and sharpen skills as a VA. 

Do you have plenty of experience in roles that involve planning, organizing, and helping others? If yes, you have what it takes to be a VA.

Should you attend online courses? How can online courses help you become a successful virtual assistant?

How Online Courses Helps You Become a Successful Virtual Assistant

When you choose to become a virtual assistant, you are building your online business. To ensure a successful and sustainable business, it is vital that you learn the foundation you need to grow your digital assistant business. 

Clients want to hire virtual assistants who have different valuable skills to help them run their businesses successfully. Clients usually don’t have enough time to tell you how they want their basic tasks done. For this reason, a digital assistant who has undergone training knows exactly what to do in different situations.

Online courses teach you must-have skills to help you navigate this kind of work. Virtual assistant courses from Udemy, train you and give you templates and scripts that you can use with your clients.

The main goals of virtual assistants training are:

• To train you on the most common tasks

• To train you on how to work smarter

• To give you knowledge on the common back of office things such as storing a client’s data securely, sending invoices to clients, and responding to client emails.

There are different online platforms that offer virtual assistant courses. The most common ones are Udemy and Coursera.

Why Virtual Assistants are on Demand

Virtual assistants are in demand for a reason: 

• They save companies money

• They assist when needed

• They help businesses run more efficiently

• They are independent contractors

After undertaking the training, you must ensure you put what you learn into action. How can you do that successfully?

How Online Courses Help You Set Your Virtual Assistant Business

During my virtual assistant training, it was made clear that I had to advertise my services to potential clients to succeed as a VA. 
Here is how you can advertise:

Let Your Friends Know You are a VA

Friends play an essential role in helping you succeed as a VA. I noticed that letting friends know that I had trained as a VA helped me get more clients.

For example, you could get hired to moderate a Facebook group, accept or reject requests, and copy the email address of the members who had offered to give their email addresses for an educative email sequence.

Another avenue is searching on Upwork, for those who needed a virtual assistant to check working links and anchor texts on websites and update them on a spreadsheet. This enabled the chance to earn extra income as a Virtual assistant.

Advertise on Social Media/ Create a Website 

Create a website or social media page that details your services and gives contact information so potential clients can contact you.

 LinkedIn, Facebook are great examples of social media pages that I use, and you too will find them helpful in advertising your VA services.

Sign Up on Job Boards

Sign onto job sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Indeed to begin applying for virtual assistant jobs. Write a detailed description of what you will offer to win more clients. 

Clients that are satisfied with your work will always come back looking for your services. This will translate to more income.

Network

You can also attend networking events, join virtual assistant Facebook groups to network with other freelancers and meet with potential clients. Send emails to friends and family members with businesses who may need your help. You may never know who is desperately needing your service. Networking will help you find more clients for your business. If you become inactive, soon everyone will forget if there is a Virtual assistant in the group.

I know Several virtual assistants who have added the initial “VA” at the end of their Facebook names. This is a brilliant strategy you can use too.

What Services Do Virtual Assistants Offer?

Virtual assistants perform many tasks in many different industries. Some VA’s specialize in one particular area while others work with multiple clients at once, offering various services. Here are some of the most common tasks provided by VA’s:

• Bookkeeping

• Customer support

• Email/ social media management

• Graphic design

• Internet research

• Marketing

• Presentation design

• Project management

• Administrative support

• Travel planning

• Transcription services

• Appointment setting

• Data entry

• Web development

How Online Courses Help You Apply for Virtual Assistant Jobs

Online courses help one know how to send winning proposals when cold pitching to your potential clients via email marketing. This proves helpful as you will be sending unsolicited emails to people who may not be looking for your services.

Online VA courses help you build confidence in yourself in that you will be given assignments to work on and hand over to the trainer to see how well you approach certain tasks. 

With several tasks touching on different fields, you will be confident enough to undertake different tasks. Therefore, online courses help you expand your knowledge base from simply doing data entry to managing a client’s project virtually. 

It is easy to become “Jack of all trades” as a virtual assistant, but online training will help you know where you are more skilled and thus choose a niche. This will help you retain more clients. Focusing on a specific niche market, for example, lead generation or email marketing, social media management, web designing, etc., will make you an expert in that field. You can then increase your rates.

Why Should You Be a Virtual Assistant?

Flexibility

Virtual assistants have flexible options because they can often set their hours and working conditions. Some virtual assistants can work part-time or full-time, while others may only work as much as they need to support themselves financially.

Pay per hour

You will be paid by the hour, which works well on both sides. A company only pays you for the services offered as an independent contractor and not as an employee. On the other hand, you can set the price of your services per hour, knowing very well that you are billed per hour. 

Work Remotely

I get to work remotely as a freelance writer and V.A since I am not tied by location. You can become a digital nomad as a virtual assistant since you only need your tools and a reliable internet connection to perform the tasks required of you.

Final Thoughts

Virtual assistant online courses are key to helping you unlock your potential. You will know how to deal with different clients and how to handle tasks presented before you. If you fancy being a digital nomad, then, by all means, join an online virtual assistant training!