A Virtual assistant is a contractor who is hired to complete tasks on behalf of another organization or small business. The virtual assistants usually in most cases work remotely, rather than being in any organization office. This allows the virtual assistant to work from anywhere and with multiple clients at the same time.
A virtual assistant role is highly flexible, depending on your skills, what niche you want to provide when you want to work, and from where you want to work, in most cases usually at home. This flexibility is one of the many reasons that being a virtual assistant is a competitive field.
The most beautiful part about the virtual assistant business is that you need no experience. You might just want a proven track record of experience, project management, and good communication skills to stand out in this field.
Steps to starting virtual assistant businesses
If you would like to start your own virtual Assistant Business, follow the below steps to start a virtual assistant business of your own.
1. Choose a niche
When determining your services, it’s important to recognize what skills you already have. One of the first steps you need to complete when starting a virtual assistant business is to decide what type of niche you will offer. While it’s possible to do any number of things as a virtual assistant at the same time, at first when starting, you should choose a niche based on your specific skills. Virtual-assistant tasks range from;
- Designing marketing materials
- Creating the social-media strategy
- Sending invoices
- Returning receipts to clients’ customers.
- Emailing
- Scheduling
- Customer support
- Website maintenance.
Regardless of what services you decide to offer at first, there are always tools designed to help you provide quality work for your clients. Some virtual assistants prefer paying for high-end online prepaid tools and platforms was a worthwhile investment, while others used free packages to complete their jobs. Most virtual assistants will also first advertise themselves to an industry in which they have prior experience as full-time staff in the past.
2. Business plan
Another important step is to write a business plan. Taking the time to draft this will help you uncover the following;
- What the demand is for this type of business
- who your competitors are around you
- what services you’ll offer to clients
- what you’ll charge to different clients in different categories
- Amount of capital you’ll need to get started
- when you and other investors should expect a profit.
Think of it like this: Your business plan is a contract with yourself. It’s a place where you can write down your vision, your mission, and even your goals for your business. Your business plan should be used as a tool to check in with yourself on your progress and to hold yourself accountable as time goes by.
Your business plan will serve as a sort of scorecard and roadmap for your business and will help you keep yourself in check. You are to revisit and update your business plan as your vision, your mission, and even your goals change.
3. Register business
When you fail to acquire necessary registrations it can result in hefty legal matters, or sometimes cause your business to be shut down by the authorities. Establishing a legal business entity such as LTD or LLC protects you from being held personally liable if your virtual assistant business is sued later in the future. Of course, the next step in starting your virtual assistant business is to choose the best Business name for your business and choose your business structure. The most common business structure types are sole proprietorship, LLC, and corporation. Each type of business structure has its benefits and drawbacks and you’ll need to choose your options very carefully.
You can form a company yourself and pay only the minimal state registration costs or hire a registration company that deals in services for a small additional fee, most times it is usually cheap. When choosing a business name, you want to choose a name that’s personal to you and that describes your business, and that is also available to use as well as easy to pronounce and remember.
4. Invest
Most of the expenses to get started are usually low, and may only include a laptop with calling capabilities as well as a stable WiFi connection. A laptop has a huge advantage because you want your work to be well organized and you may need to work from different places. If you’re planning to do any type of graphic design, you may want to invest in better equipment to meet client expectations. Once you have a good conceptual idea of what your business is going to look like and have created a plan for how you’ll build it, it’s time to get into the actual operations of your business.
5. Project management Tools
Project management: Project management tools such as Google Sheets can help you keep track of your various clients and the tasks you need to complete for each of them so you can stay on top of your schedule, as well as those of your clients. One of the ways that many virtual assistants charge clients is by the hour.
If you’re working with multiple clients and on multiple projects, a time tracking tool can help you keep track of it all so you know what to charge each client. Invoicing and accounting: Another tool that can help operate your virtual assistant business efficiently is invoicing and accounting software. This can make tracking your income and expenses easier, as well as billing your clients and tracking when you’ve been paid.
6. Marketing materials
Unless you already have clients lined up when you launch your business, you will need to invest in some marketing materials to spread the word about your new business. These marketing tools don’t need to cost a lot, but they can make a serious difference in your business’s success. Here are a few to consider:
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Business website: One of the best ways to show that your virtual assistant business is legitimate is to create a professional-looking website. There are many free and inexpensive tools for building a website. Make sure to include your skills, experience, and contact information.
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Social media: Another way to present your business as credible is to create a social media presence. The one that makes the most sense for a virtual assistant business is LinkedIn. Create a profile for your business and start sharing industry news, participating in discussions, and more to get your business’s name in front of potential new clients.
7. Choose price
As is true with any freelance or contract business, you won’t have a reliable paycheck every other week like you would with a salaried job. There are many different ways in which to price your time and services as a virtual assistant, but you should decide on pricing before you start taking on clients, so you both know what to expect before entering into a contract.
Even when you have a full client list, your contract may be for only a few weeks or months, and then you’ll need to find something new. To stay on top of this, note in your calendar when contracts are ending and when you should do outreach to onboard new clients. The good news is, this should be relatively easy since organization is in your blood.
8. Create a contract
Before you start work with a client, you’ll need a contract. This contract is an agreement between you and the client. It clearly defines the scope of work you’re being hired for, including what tasks you’ll perform and for how long; the payment terms, including your pricing structure; your status as a contractor; and more. Virtual assistant businesses should consider requiring clients to sign a services agreement before starting a new project.
This agreement should clarify client expectations and minimize the risk of legal disputes by setting out payment terms and conditions, service level expectations, and so on. You will want to give your client time to review this contract before you sign on to work with them. Make sure both parties have agreed to it and signed before you begin work, so you can ensure you’ll be paid appropriately. You can find many examples of virtual assistant contracts online to get you started.
9. Find your clients
You may also want to consider visiting local businesses looking for a part-time assistant. Developing relationships with local business owners can make it easier to convince a decision-maker to use your services. Once you have a rapport with them, let them know they’re better off hiring a virtual assistant at a higher rate who is flexible enough to work with their needs.
Owners will need to create a website for their services from the very beginning, but this may not be enough to promote yourself. Instead, VAs may want to start with community websites to attract new clients. There are plenty of choices for virtual assistants, such as Taskrabbit, Upwork, and Fancy Hands. These sites tend to be competitive and they also will take a certain percentage of the fees you charge. However, they’re also a good way to build up your reputation within a very big community.
While this isn’t specifically a con to starting a virtual assistant business, it is a difficulty you will face. Finding the first few clients could be difficult unless you already have clients lined up from previous jobs. Social media can be a great place to find brands you align with and potential customers, people said. Determine your ideal industry and tasks, then share your thoughts on how to improve or solve existing problems for clients. The most effective way to land a client is to show them that your work will make their life easier as a business owner.
