Did you know that remote work has increased by 44% in the last 5 years? Also, within the last year, many businesses have been forced to work remotely online and it has opened up so many job opportunities for those looking to work from home or anywhere in the world. 

Not sold on becoming a virtual assistant? Take a look at these statistics too!

• As of 2021, there are about 67 million freelancers in the US and this number is predicted to reach over 90 million by the year 2028. 
• At this rate, over 50% of the US workforce will be virtual professionals by 2028. 
• Predictions of the virtual assistant industry will grow by $4 billion between 2021 and 2025 and the virtual assistant industry market size is growing at a rate of 12% 

Now, let me break it down a little more. How does the following sound to you?

• Being able to work from home or anywhere in the world
• Having the ability to set your own work schedule
• Working in a position that you actually love
• Not having an income cap

If any of these benefits seem interesting to you then becoming a virtual assistant may be the right choice for you.

Many people hesitate to start their own virtual assistant business because they feel they don’t have the necessary qualifications to start. In this blog post, I am going to help uncover the best steps to take to become a virtual assistant with NO experience! If this sounds interesting to you, keep reading!

First, what do virtual assistants do?

A virtual assistant is an independent contractor that provides services to business owners, based on their skillset, that can range from administrative tasks to social media marketing or web design. If you have a certain skill set and want to become a virtual assistant and make money online, it’s possible even without the “experience”. 

Decide what services or industry you want to work in

The first thing you need to do when starting your virtual assistant career is to choose what services you want to offer as well as what industry you want to perform these services in. Think about what you love to do and who you’d love to help.

It’s also important to niche as a virtual assistant. The goal is to be an expert go-to for certain skills. You’ll find that many businesses would rather spend more on a virtual assistant who specializes in a certain skill set over a virtual assistant who does everything. I recommend starting off with 3-5 niche services within a specific industry.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you love Instagram for your personal account and love the beauty industry. You’re pretty good at writing descriptions that convert because you’ve done it for your personal brand. You could offer;

• Product copy services
• Keyword Research for Products
• Product social media graphics 

If you are a brand interested in social media virtual assistant services, you’re going to love the packages I offer.

Conduct Market Research to become a virtual assistant

Once you decide what service or industry you find the most rewarding for your skillset, it’s time to do some market research. You want to start collecting information that provides an insight into your dream client’s thinking, hiring requirement, and they type of business they run. You also want to take this time during your market research phase to keep an eye on what your competition is doing.

Start researching your dream clients by using tools like Instagram or TikTok. Learn about their company and identify any areas where you can help them with your specialized skillset. Check their following on social media to see if they are already following any VA’s because they may be actively looking and you can scope out any competition.

Then ofcourse, reach out! You can email them or start a genuine conversation with them through their posts or in the DM’s.

Start pricing your services

Since this blog post is for people interested in becoming a virtual assistant with no “experience”, when it comes to pricing your services the best thing to do is conduct research. On average, most beginner virtual assistants charge anywhere between $30-$35 an hour. Now, this doesn’t mean you HAVE to price your services here too just because you’re a beginner with little to no experience.

Here are some tips to pricing your virtual assistant services

• Have at least 3 plans for clients to choose from at different price points
• Look at what other VA’s are charging in your industry for similar tasks performed
• Think of what you want your net income to be, which is your take home after taxes
• Incorporate in the time it takes you to perform each task, this can also play a huge role into how much you can charge
• Look at your statistics and achievements from your personal brand. If you have proven results, you can use this to charge more and build trust.

Establish your business structure

When you are setting up your virtual assistant business, you’ll have to decide what type of business entity, like an LLC or sole proprietorship, that you want to be. Do your research and choose the best business structure for your needs. Keep in mind that you may also need to secure certain licenses or permits for a particular industry.

Don’t forget contracts and service agreements that you’ll need when partnering with a client. 

Create your portfolio (yes, even without “experience)

Just because you haven’t been hired yet as a virtual assistant or have been on payroll for a specific skill, doesn’t mean you don’t have the experience. Your experience lies within your skillset and how you used them to help your own business or others. 

For example, let’s say you have been running your own social media for a year and have had astounding results and now you want to help others achieve the same. You have the skillset you built over that year to use as part of your portfolio! Grab your beginning stats, ending stats, what you did in each quarter, strategies and tips you used and create your portfolio. That one experience running your own social media could be enough for a business owner wanting to hire you!

You can build your own website and host your portfolio on there. If you’re on a budget, you can use apps like Canva or Mailchimp to create landing pages for your virtual assistant services and portfolio.

Don’t forget to set up a social media account on your preferred platform (or where your dream clients are). This is important because clients love to get a feel of who they may be working with before they decide to reach out. They also may look at the way you run your own social media and how your website looks as a determining factor of if they decide to reach out to you. 

Start finding clients and start networking!

To be honest, as a new virtual assistant, clients aren’t going to flock to you out of nowhere. You are going to need to market yourself, services and experiences to potential clients. I know networking is “scary” but it’s a non-negotiable when finding the right clients to work with.

There are many ways you can reach out as a new virtual assistant to potential clients and here are a few of my favorites;

• Start by fostering a relationship by engaging with them daily on Instagram
• Provide value and network in niched-based facebook groups
• Reach out to them through direct message or email -ONCE you’ve interacted with them for a few days.
• Have business cards and be on the lookout for job opportunities while you’re out and about! You never know who you may run into.

Invest in additional training as a virtual assistant with no experience

Now that you’re starting to look for work as a virtual assistant, with a good portfolio, you want to make sure your skillset doesn’t stop there. It’s important to keep learning as a virtual assistant whether that’s advancing your skills within an industry or learning a new one.

When you advance your skills or learn a new skill, you can charge more or offer business owners more of a variety when working with you. To learn, or become advanced, a new skill you can take free or paid courses and training.

For example, if you enjoy creating social media graphics or presentations, you can take free courses at Canva Design School. If you want to learn how to work with website analytics to help businesses discover new growth opportunities, Google actually offers free courses and certifications on social media, content marketing, and more! You can also find free virtual assistant training videos on YouTube!

I’m also going to plug myself! I am always sharing free virtual assistant tips as well so follow me on Instagram and Tiktok! 

If you are a virtual assistant who feels stuck and are not seeing the results you’re wanting? You have clients but you’re finding it hard to keep your head above water and building a VA business that actually sustains your dream life? If this sounds like you, my Foundations to Fortune course is here to help!

Start your virtual assistant career (with no experience) today!

So now that you have the basics to start building your dream virtual assistant career, you can start with the first step today (choosing your industry, service and niche).

Need more help, tips and strategies working as a new virtual assistant? Make sure to follow and subscribe to our blog! Also, follow Lauriel on TikTok and Instagram for free tips!

Ready to hire a Virtual assistant coach to SCALE your virtual assistant business? Let’s chat!