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If you have office or administrative secretarial experience then you could probably quite easily transition to work from home as a virtual assistant.
There are a couple of different options you have to work from home as a virtual assistant.
You can go the route of self-employed or you can choose to work for a company that will hire you as a contractor to work for them so you don’t have to go find your own clients.
Your earning potential is going to much greater and the rates you can charge are going to be much higher if you go the self-employed route and start your own independent virtual assistant business (and it’s not really all that hard!). However, maybe you are just getting started and want to dip your toes in first and try it out to see if it’s for you and you want to try the route of working for a company to see how it goes first. Either way it’s entirely personal preference.
If you choose to go the route of working for a company, there are a few that have been around for several years and are very reputable and quite easy to apply with.
Fancy Hands. Probably one of the newer ones but growing quickly and US-based. Very easy to apply online. I’ve provided the link to their career page by clicking their name then just complete the aptitude test (I started it to test it and it’s super easy) and online application and you’re on your way!
Red Butler. They have been around for a long time and are a respected name in the virtual assistant world. Click their name to go to the careers page and begin your application.
Time Etc. What I like about this one is that you can apply to be a general virtual assistant, a marketing and social media assistant, a writing assistant or a customer service and telesales assistant depending on your experience, expertise and desire. Kinda cool huh? Click their name to go to their careers page.
Worldwide 101. This is another one that has been around for several years and has a solid reputation in the virtual assistant world. Click their name to start the application process.
If you want to try the route of starting your own virtual assistant freelance business, it’s going to take a bit of work to get things set up to start working but will be well worth it in the end because you will be able to charge much higher rates. And it’s quite a bit easier to get clients than you might think.
To get started, click here to hop on over to my What No One Told You About Working From Home post so you can get started with your online resume. You absolutely, hands down, no-two-questions-about-it, are going to need an online resume if you want to be a freelance virtual assistant. How else are your clients going to know what you have to offer? And where are you going to direct people who want to hire you and contact you?
To be very professional you can get your email set up to match your domain once you get your domain registered which you will learn all about if you read my What No One Told You About Working From Home post.
Then, you can start advertising yourself on freelance sites like Guru, Freelancer, Upwork, People per Hour, etc. I will be perfectly honest and tell you that there is a ton of competition on these sites and it’s not as easy as it seems to get work. However, you should absolutely still get your profile set up and get yourself out there.
Another avenue I would recommend to get started is get yourself some business cards made up and as cheesy as this might sound, go to just a few small, local businesses and hand out a few of your cards. It’s amazing how many people need help with office type work. When I’m out and about, I quite often get asked about helping with social media or graphic design – it’s quite amazing how many people don’t know how to do the things we take for granted.
A quick little story about this too… My husband has his own business and someone came into his office a couple of months ago to drop off her business card advertising her virtual assistant business. A word of caution. Her cards were so unprofessional and horrible! She must have bought the print-your-own-at-home cards from the office supply store and not had the greatest graphic design skills. So please, in the name of professionalism, and to help yourself land clients, take the time to get quality and professional-looking business cards. You can get super cheap and super nice looking ones without any graphic design experience at Vistaprint. Click here to go to their website. They have design templates to walk you through and it’s very easy. It will be well worth the $10-$20 you spend.
Once you land a few clients and get going, it truly is amazing how things just kind of start to fall into place. In no time at all, you’ll be able to be a bit more selective about which clients you take on and you’ll even be able to charge more for your services.
If you’re super ambitious, you could always start your own freelance VA business and apply to some of the above companies and do both! Go get ’em! The sky’s the limit!
Always wishing you the best and remember…
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