Table of Contents · offer a broad base of services or a specialty service like transcription. This variety can help keep the job interesting. You won’t suffer from burnout. Likewise,

© Lisa MacDonald – Virtual Assistant Mastery http://virtualassistantmastery.ca 2

Table of Contents

The Benefits of Being a VA ......................................................................................... 3

How to Know if Being a VA is Right for You ............................................................. 5

What Services Should You Offer? ............................................................................. 7

How to Pick Your Virtual Assistant Niche ................................................................. 9

What You Need to Get Started as a VA.................................................................... 11

Partial List of Partial Virtual Assistant Services ..................................................... 14

http://virtualassistantmastery.ca/


The Benefits of Being A VA

A VA, if you’re unfamiliar with the acronym, is a Virtual Assistant. It’s an administrative

assistant that works virtually or online. Here are just a few of the many benefits to

being a VA.

1. Ability to work from home

The choice to become a VA is a great one for many. If you’re a

parent or caregiver, it enables you to stay home and earn a

paycheck. Being a Virtual Assistant means you can work from

your computer. You don’t have to go into a formal office. Your

clients are managed all online.

Additionally, you can work from anywhere. If you’re heading to the

beach for spring break, you can take your work with you. You can

work from a coffee shop. You can work from the poolside. You

can work while you’re waiting at your child’s dentist office.

2. It’s interesting

There really is no end to the type of work you can do as a Virtual Assistant. You can

offer a broad base of services or a specialty service like transcription. This variety can

help keep the job interesting. You won’t suffer from burnout. Likewise, you can

manage a number of different clients. This provides the ability to learn about a lot of

industries and topics.

3. Demand

Virtual administration is a growing industry. As more and more people go into business

online there’s an increasing need. Additionally, both individuals and companies are

realizing the benefits of outsourcing. It puts you in a prime position to create a

business and a career.

4. Low startup requirements

There is not much required to get started as a VA. You’ll need a computer, a website

and the means to market and grow your business. All of this can be managed for just a



few hundred dollars. You also don’t need any special degree or certification. While

administrative certification is available, if you have the skills you’re ready to get started.

5. You’re the boss

In addition to being able to work from home, there are also many other freedoms. For

example, you can set your own work hours. If you’re a night owl, this means you can

work at night when you’re awake and alert. You can also take time off whenever you

need to. No more asking the boss for a vacation day or worrying about sick leave.

Finally, you also get to choose who you work with. You choose the clients and the

projects you’ll take on.

If you’re looking for a full time career or just a little extra money, consider becoming a

VA. Virtual Assistants are in high demand. You can create the lifestyle you need and

want.



How to Know If Being A VA Is Right for You

If you’re considering starting your own business, then being a VA is a good choice. It’s

a service that is in demand, and the demand seems to be growing.

More and more people are realizing the value of outsourcing their administrative

needs. It’s a career choice that promises variety, daily challenges and the freedom of

being your own boss. However, it’s not the right choice for everyone.

Here are a few questions to help you determine if being a VA is right for you.

Are You Good at Managing Your Time?

As a Virtual Assistant you’re going to have to balance a lot of tasks. You’ll balance

client work. You’ll balance managing your business. You’ll also want to market and

grow your business. And of course, the day to day responsibilities like laundry don’t go

away either. There will be a lot of demands on your time, energy, and attention.

If you’re good at managing your time, great. If you can focus and be productive, you

have what it takes to be a VA. If time management isn’t your strength, there’s still

hope. Start adopting habits right now to better manage your time. Learn to schedule

and prioritize. Learn how to focus and be productive.

Are You Motivated and Enthusiastic?

Being a VA takes a lot of positive energy. You’ll want to be able to get up every

morning and be able to focus on your business. Of course, there will be low energy

days. Everyone has them. However, in order to succeed as a VA, you’ll want to be

brimming with energy and enthusiasm to start, grow and manage your business.



Are You Organized?

In addition to organizing your own business needs, tasks and information, you’ll need

to organize your clients'. That’s part of your job. Your clients need your help getting

and keeping them organized. The more organized you are, the more productive you’ll

be. Not organized? Start creating systems right now. You can still be successful.

However, you’ll have to pay careful attention to your systems and practices. Make

yourself be organized.

Are You Social?

Okay, so you don’t have to be a social butterfly to succeed as a VA. However, you will

want to be easy to communicate with. Clients and prospects will communicate with you

via email and the telephone. Make sure you’re comfortable talking with strangers. Also,

the more social you are, the more clients you’re likely to meet online and off. It’s easier

to build your business when you’re delighted to talk about it with others.

If you don’t have all of these skills or personality traits, it’s okay. Most of them can be

learned. You can even learn to be motivated and enthusiastic. If you want to start a VA

business, that desire is the first step. The rest will fall into place.



What Services Should You Offer?

As a Virtual Assistant there really are a myriad of services you can provide. You can

offer a variety to your clients or you can specialize. Making the decision can be a bit

challenging. Here are a few considerations to help you decide.

What Are Your Strengths?

While it might be nice to provide a variety of services it

might be a better idea to focus on your strengths. For

example, if you’re a fast transcriptionist but not very

technologically inclined, then focus on transcription.

Leave the website management to someone else. That

way, you can be sure you’re providing the best service

possible to your clients. They’ll be 100% satisfied, and

you’ll spend your time working on projects that match

your skills.

What Do You Like to Do?

If you don’t enjoy a task, you’re not going to be motivated to accomplish it. This of

course isn’t good business. Clients don’t appreciate it when you procrastinate. And it’s

just not fun for you. Make a list of the tasks you enjoy doing. Make a list of the tasks

that are okay. Then make a list of the tasks you dislike. Don’t take projects that entail

tasks you dislike. Find another contractor to recommend. Consider partnering with that

other contractor so you both benefit.

What’s In Demand?

Some tasks are in high demand. For example, right now, managing social networking

pages and profiles is an in demand opportunity. If you have skills and interests in this

area, this may be a service to market and provide.



Also, take a look at the opportunities being requested. Visit social networking sites and

search feeds for information. Visit freelance job sites and research the most commonly

requested tasks. These are the skills and services people are looking for.

What Niche Will You Service?

Often, a Virtual Assistant will service a particular niche. For example, if you’re

passionate about organization, then you might seek clients in this industry. Each

industry may have its own specialty needs. An organization coach, for example, might

need someone to schedule their appointments or moderate their forum.

When building your VA business take a look at both your strengths and weaknesses.

Explore the opportunities. Also, remember that your business can change as you do.

You can focus on one specialty task right now. Then, as your business grows, you can

add more services to your portfolio. It’s your business; create it to fit your needs and

the market demands for maximum success.



How to Pick Your Virtual Assistant Niche

If you desire to become a Virtual Assistant, you might

initially believe that you can do everything. Being everything

to everyone and anyone is not the best way to run your

Virtual Assistant business. Getting started as a Virtual

Assistant means being your own boss and being a

business owner. If you want to be successful, you have to let go of the desire to be

everything to everyone.

When new VA’s have administrative assistant or secretarial background, it’s not

uncommon to try to recreate this administrative quality from home. But, you’ll actually

earn more money if you pick a niche.

The fact is, in the VA world, picking a smaller area to concentrate on, and specific

tasks that you will perform, will make your Virtual Assistant business stronger. When

you know what your niche is, you can then study who your target market is. Once you

know these two things, you can focus all your marketing efforts toward finding your

ideal clients. Having ideal clients who value your contribution is imperative to your

happiness; financial and otherwise. So, how do you pick your niche as a Virtual

Assistant?

Analyze your skill set

What do you know how to do? If you’ve worked at a lot of as an administrative

assistant, you have certain skills, such as answering phones, dealing with customers,

checking email, organizing mail, typing letters and other general tasks. Write down

everything you can do at an expert level because you will not have assistance from

anyone when you’re at home, so you need to know how to do tasks very well.

Choose your market

You’ve picked your skills, now you need to pick your market. Performing these tasks

might be enjoyable for one group of people and not so much for another group of

people. Your market might be Authors, Bloggers, Coaches or Realtors. It’s your

choice. You can be very specific about who your market is down to their sex, income,

and title. Knowing who you want to work with will help tremendously with the next step.



Choose your market’s needs

Match up your skills to the needs of your market. If you work with realtors, what do

they need done that you can do from home, that fits a specific niche? Study all you can

about the particular market so that you can ensure to offer the tasks and assistance

they truly need from you. Remember, you can’t and shouldn’t try to serve every last

need, but a specific set of needs.

Choose your services

Write down all services that go along with your skills. Then, group these into

complementary task groups; throw out anything that doesn’t relate to one of the groups

you’ve created. For example: Article Posting, Blog Posting, Keyword Research,

Content Calendar Management and Newsletter Posting. These are all complementary

skills that go together that you can easily offer in a package of services.



What You Need To Get Started As A VA

One of the great things about a VA business is that it’s easy to start. You really don’t

need much to launch a successful business. That being said, there are some steps

you’ll want to take before you hang up your 'open for business' sign.

Office Equipment

You’re a Virtual Assistant, which means you’ll need equipment to help you work

virtually. This means a:

Computer

Backup storage or system – you can backup files online (an external drive isn’t

necessary)

Copier/scanner/fax

Internet connection

Desk and chair

File cabinet/file system

Transcription software and equipment, if you’re offering transcription

Telephone and related equipment like a headset so you can talk hands free

You likely already have much of that equipment. If not, you don’t have to spend a

fortune. Take a look at flea markets and resale stores for some of the furniture. If you



don’t have a computer, most experts recommend buying the best you can afford. Your

business will be based on your computer, so a good one helps.

Business Equipment

You’re going to want a few basics to help you market and manage your business.

These include, but are not limited to:

Business Plan – this is most important! It should include your budget, goals,

marketing strategy, operations, policies and procedures and so on. Create a

plan so you succeed!

Website and/or blog

Social networking profile

Email account for business

Telephone number for business

Invoicing system

Bookkeeping software

Content management system or delivery system. How will you deliver client

work to them?

Services agreement/Work for hire agreement

Personal insurance: health, dental, life etc. When you’re self-employed

insurance is your responsibility.

Bank account for business

Organization tools: calendar, notebooks, whatever helps you get and stay

organized



Business services software. What software do you need to provide your

services? For example, if you offer transcription you’ll need transcription

software.

Again, you may have much of this already. And most of these basics don’t cost much.

You can spend a lot on software, so be careful. Only buy what you really need.

Personal Equipment

Okay, so your home office is set and you have a solid business plan. What else do you

need to get started?

Enthusiasm

Motivation

Positive Mindset

Administrative skills

Marketing knowledge (Read a few good books on marketing your business,

you’ll be set).

Not bad, right? If you already have a computer, you can likely start your VA business

for just a few hundred dollars. Many have started with nothing at all and made a huge

success of their VA skills. Create a checklist. Create a plan. Create the success you

desire.



Partial List of Possible Virtual Assistant Services

Social media

Transcription

Research

Editing

Search engine optimization

Internet marketing

Backlinks

Keyword research

Website design

WordPress design and/or

maintenance

E-book design

E-book publishing

Membership sites

Affiliate programs

Email marketing and list

management

E-commerce

Customer service

Answering phone calls

Making phone calls

Data Entry

Advertising

Bookkeeping

Copywriting

Article/blog post writing

Article posting

E-zines and newsletters

Power Points

Press releases

Forum posting

Sorting emails

Replying to emails

Event planning

Virtual event planning

Product launch

Scheduling

Travel plans

Personal tasks

Remember, this is just a partial list. You don't need to offer all of these services to be a

Virtual Assistant! Start with the tasks that you like and are good at, and then as you

learn more, you can expand your services. You can also just specialize in one specific

area, if you wish.

There are no set rules! You create your business, you choose who you work with and

you choose the type of work that you do. It's not always easy, but the freedom and

rewards are always worth it!



I hope this e-book has given you more insight into the Virtual Assistance profession

and answered some questions you may have had.

If you decide that being a Virtual Assistant is right for you, but you don't have the time

and the money to dive into expensive and intensive training programs, check out the

various training packages and support programs available on the Virtual Assistant

Mastery website including Getting Started as a Virtual Assistant.

To your VA success!

Lisa MacDonald

Virtual Assistant Mastery

http://virtualassistantmastery.ca






Documents

Table of Contents · offer a broad base of services or a specialty service like transcription. This variety can help keep the job interesting. You won’t suffer from burnout. Likewise,