How do I become a Virtual Assistant? There are many important aspects to becoming a Virtual Assistant. Ensuring that you attain a wide range of skills will assist you in being a success.

Administration

Ideally, a Virtual Assistant will have solid work experience as a PA or another type of administrator role. The level and type of experience can vary greatly; remember a varied experience can suit many clients of a VA. If you do not have PA or Admin experience, you can train in these fields, but you will ideally get some degree of conventional work experience prior to working alone as a VA. VA requiring good PA and administration skills is expected by the majority.

Bookkeeping and Finance

However, a good VA will also need to have a bookkeeping and computerised accounting skills. This is in order to complete their own accounts, but also because many small businesses and individuals that become clients will need at least a small amount of accounting work. If you can offer this service, you are more likely to attract these clients than a VA that is not literate in accounting.

Projects and Events

Skills to manage events and projects are desirable for many of your clients, so exposure to these skills can be desirable. You can gain this skill through training courses that will teach you methods to manage the events and projects.

Company Structure

You should aim to gain an understanding of the responsibilities of being a limited company or sole trader, depending on which suits you best. For each type of trading account, you will need to understand exactly what the benefits are and what is needed from you.

Marketing

The above points refer to you being a good VA and getting set up appropriately. However, a successful VA will have to manage their customers well. This means a good set of marketing skills and customer relations skills.
Marketing is diverse, it can range from traditional marketing of posting flyers and approaching potential clients directly through to internet marketing. You should learn how to develop a good marketing plan, who you will target, how and when. However, now the internet makes it more complex, as you need a website and good social media marketing.
Maintaining and building your client base is difficult as you are dealing with many higher-level clients. Therefore, you will need to perfect your soft skills and managerial skills when dealing with your clients and also any other players, such as suppliers, financiers and potentially any assistants.
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