How to Become a Virtual Assistant with No Experience
Inside: Learn how to become a virtual assistant with no experience using the Free Mama program, plus everything you need to know about working from home as a VA.
One of the fastest growing professions is the Virtual Assistant. Because so many businesses are now online, many business owners and bloggers are hiring much of their support work out to Virtual Assistants to help with a huge variety of support tasks.
Becoming a Virtual Assistant is a great option for women who want to earn money working from home.
You’ve probably seen lots of ads that promote working from home schemes. Building your own VA business is not an overnight get-rich scheme but it doesn’t have to take forever either.
Even better, it is a proven way for women to work from home while and earn real money.
Note: This post contains shop-able ad links to products we use and love; read our full disclosure policy here.
“I Want to Work from Home – But I Don’t Know How”
“I’m desperately looking for a way to make income from home. I really want to go part time at my current job and do something else at home so I can be home with my girls more.”
“I’m a new mom … and I need to find an online job that’s worth the money and time!”
“I’m trying to bring some money in at home and have no clue how to do it!”
Can you relate? I can!
Five years ago, I left a job in a toxic work environment. I needed to make money…and fast! But I also wanted to stay home with my girls – I felt like I missed so much when I was at work.
Blogging turned out to be a life-changer for me, but it is not the only way to make money working from home.
One of the fastest growing freelance/work-at-home jobs is the Virtual Assistant.
Most bloggers I know (myself included), depend on virtual assistants for so many parts of running their blogging businesses.
I love helping other moms with parenting and homemaking, while I get to stay home with my own children. Because of that I’m very excited to share this legitimate way that other moms can work from home as well!
This post is going to cover the following:
- What is a Virtual Assistant?
- What does a Virtual Assistant Do?
- How Much Can You Earn as a VA?
- How Can You Become a VA?
- How Long Does It Take to Earn Money as a VA?
- Becoming a VA versus Becoming a Blogger
- Common fears about working at home
How to Become a Virtual Assistant with No Experience
Let’s face it, most people when they start their VA business have no experience being a virtual assistant. Up until several years ago, being a VA wasn’t even a thing. Yet, this relatively new career is becoming a fast-growing way for women to freelance from their home.
Even if you have no experience with working from home online, you most likely have tons of EXPERIENCE in many things. I’m going to cover many ways that VA’s can provide value and earn money online by providing administrative services to businesses and bloggers.
I hope that this post will get you thinking about all the experience and knowledge you already have—but haven’t figured out yet how to put it to work for you. Because believe me, there are so many people out there that need your help!
1. What is a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual Assistants provide marketing, social media, and administrative support to individuals or businesses from remote locations (a.k.a. your home).
This allows a freelance VA to find clients virtually anywhere in the world! Conversely this allows clients to find VA’s that have the perfect mix of skills for their business needs. This is a win-win situation.
As a professional virtual assistant, you can build your own business from home, working hours that work for you and your family doing things you enjoy and are good at.
2. What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
The short answer is — EVERYTHING!
The long answer is hundreds of administrative or marketing tasks.
Most VA’s start by focusing on things they are already good at and continue to learn as they go.
VA’s can manage social media, create documents, provide organization, customer service, bookkeeping, content writing, email marketing, graphic design, and provide strategy help. Within each of those categories you can get even more specific.
Here is a more detailed list of some of the things a virtual assistant can do to earn money while working at home. Keep in mind, this is just a fraction of the things you can do working at home!
- Basic Bookkeeping
- Database building
- Email management
- Creating forms and reports
- Calendar management
- Reminder services
- Editing/proofreading
- Social media creation and management
- Content creating
- Newsletters
- Basic graphic design
- Website design
- WordPress support
- Landing page set-ups
3. Do I Have What It Takes to be a Virtual Assistant?
You don’t have to know it all to become an effective virtual assistant. However, there are some general qualities that indicate you have what it takes.
To be a great virtual assistant, you should:
- Be organized
- Have great time management skills
- Be reliable
- Have excellent communication skills
- Be resourceful
- Be a problem-solver
Notice that none of these things requires training! If you can honestly say these apply to you, you probably have the ability to work from home as a virtual assistant.
4. Becoming a Virtual Assistant versus Becoming a Blogger
Many women decide to become bloggers so that they can work from home.
As a blogger, I understand and support that decision — I love my job! However, over my years of blogging, I have seen so many women start blogging and give up before they make any money. I’ve also seen many women blog for years before they make any money.
Starting a blog IS easy. Turning a blog into a business is much harder. Even a great blog can take a year or more to start producing any income much less an income that is significant.
I have three blogs and it is taking longer each time to become profitable because of all the competition. However, all these blogs mean a huge demand for VA’s!
As a blogger, I’ve also seen many women begin profitable businesses as virtual assistants. I have employed multiple VA’s over the years and could not have my business without their help. As my business has grown, I have begun to search out, higher-charging virtual assistants as well and entry level VA’s.
Because I write the checks, I know there is potential for a woman to earn a good living as a Virtual Assistant!
While you can work, and I mean work, as a blogger for a long time without making any money, as a VA, anytime you work for a client—you make money!
Related: Click here to read more about how to start a mom blog.
5. How Much Money Can You Make as a Virtual Assistant?
Now to the good part—how much can you make freelancing from home as a VA?
- Virtual Assistants make on average $25-$50 an hour. Some make more because of their expertise or unique services they provide.
I actually know quite a few virtual assistants that make more money than most bloggers!
The key to commanding a higher rate is to distinguish yourself by offering more value and becoming invaluable to your clients. You can do this by learning the ins and outs of the business of becoming a high-level Virtual Assistant.
6. How to Become a Virtual Assistant Online?
If there is something you are good at, you could simply create a website and start advertising your services. Depending on your background, you might be able to just jump in and be successful. But it will usually take some time to decide what services you are going to offer, how you will offer them, how you will find clients, and how you will run your business.
There are a lot of pieces to putting an actual business together!
Another way to become a virtual assistant, is to enroll in some kind of virtual assistant training that will teach you how to run a business from home and find clients.
7. Online Virtual Assistant Training
Most high-paying careers require some kind of training. If you are interested in becoming a virtual assistant, it’s best to begin, right from the start, to consider yourself a professional.
A professional VA knows exactly what services she can successfully offer to others. She’s not just winging it, hoping people will pay her to do “something.”
By going through an established virtual assistant training program, you can learn new ways to leverage the skills you already have. You’ll learn to build a business, create systems, and most importantly find clients.
In addition, a legitimate training program will offer lots of support and information about building a success at-home business.
Another plus is that you can position yourself as professionally trained — this helps you stand out in a crowd AND command a higher rate.
8. Becoming a Virtual Assistant: Why Training Matters
If you are serious about working from home and earning a great living, then it makes the most sense to go through a thorough virtual assistant training program. By taking the time to go through a complete program, you will actually SAVE TIME before you make an income.
A thorough training will fast-track you to making money online. Many women spin their wheels for months or years before they figure out how to actually make money working from home. It’s one of those things that sounds easy but is difficult to put into practice.
If you are dreaming of leaving your 9 to 5 or of simply adding to the family income, becoming a virtual assistant is a great way to do this. To help you get started, I want to share with you one of the most effective programs available.
9. Introducing the Free Mama Movement
When it comes to any kind of course or training, I am VERY careful about who I recommend. That’s because there are a LOT of courses available online that not only aren’t worth the money, but may actually teach incorrect information.
However, when I met Lauren Gould, creator of the Free Mama movement, I knew she had something special. This is hands-down the BEST virtual assistant training program anywhere!
The Free Mama program is a 12-week training that shows women EXACTLY how to replace their income by working at home for other entrepreneurs.
Through the Free Mama program, you’ll learn step-by-step how to:
- Make money at home with only a computer and internet (no special equipment needed!)
- Leverage your own unique skills to get PAID…and fast!
- Earn a legit income working just a few hours a day.
It sounds too good to be true…but it isn’t!!
This is a legitimate training program that will teach you how to become a virtual assistant with no experience — and get you on your way to making an income in a matter of weeks! There’s even a quick-start program available too!
What makes the Free Mama program SO much more effective than other virtual assistant courses:
- It WORKS — Hundreds of women have used what they learned with the Free Mama training to achieve their dream of working from home (and making an awesome living doing it!) I’ve met more than a few of them!
- You Get Bonus Business Skills — What impressed me the most about the Free Mama training is that it not only shows you how to become a virtual assistant with no experience, but also how to set up a business (like getting an LLC). These business skills are invaluable and above and beyond what I’ve ever seen offered in ANY course!
- You’ll Make More Money — To start, Free Mamas don’t call themselves Virtual Assistants. Lauren Gould, the founder teaches her students to position themselves as Virtual Administrative Consultants. She believes that by distinguishing yourself from all VA’s out there, you can command a higher level of pay and better clients.
Meet Danielle: A Free Mama Success Story
Danielle Gagnon is a graduate of the Free Mama program who runs her own business called Elevate Virtual Marketing Solutions. I interviewed Danielle to find out first-hand what the training and follow-up is like.
Before she found the Free Mama movement, Danielle wanted to work from home but wasn’t sure how to get started. Then she saw an ad for the Free Mama training on Facebook and felt called to sign up. It was life-changing for Danielle!
Danielle got her first clients at 8 weeks into the training and was making a full-time income by 8 months.
You guys…that is truly incredible!! How many other businesses can you start at home that can replace your former income in less than a year? People go to college for YEARS to make that kind of money!
There are two key things about the Free Mama program that Danielle attributed to her amazing success:
- The Free Mama training breaks down the entire process of starting your own home-based business into do-able daily steps. Danielle explained that she never felt overwhelmed and by doing one simple thing each day it was never stressful.
- In addition to the lesson modules, there is ongoing support before, during, and after to make sure that trainees and graduates of the program get the best start possible.
Danielle was able to take experience and knowledge she already had and with the training turn her skills into a business that changed her life.
- Click here to see ALL that the Free Mama program has to offer! You start with a FREE webinar (no strings attached) so you can see if this is the right move for YOU. Plus, you’ll get a free productivity planner just for watching!
What’s Stopping You?
In my years of blogging, I’ve spoken with a lot of other moms who want to make the jump to a home-based business. However, there is often something holding them back.
While the reasons vary from person to person, they ultimately boil down to one thing: fear.
Fear of change, fear of failure…these things stand in the way of us and our goals! Many times, these fears are not even based in reality!
Now I’ll respond to a few of the most common fears that get in the way of success:
Fear #1 – It’s Too Expensive
This seems to be the number one concern with women who want the training but don’t want to pay for it.
My first suggestion is to not use words like “expensive” or not. The price of any training is an investment in YOURSELF. You are worth investing in!!
My second suggestion is to think about training in terms of your return on investment. How much can you earn with training and how soon can you be earning it.
The Free Mama Movement offers a TON of free information in the Facebook group. You could try to piece it together yourself. From participating in the group for some time, I’ve noticed the ones trying to do it themselves, also are spinning their wheels for months!
The advantage to going through training is that you get all the information in sequential modules that build on each other. You learn the right information at the right time. In addition, you also get all the worksheets and printouts to go along with the lessons.
Training = No Spinning Your Wheels!
I also want you to think about the cost of NOT getting the training. When I talked to Danielle, she told me that she made back her investment in two months.
Every month you aren’t earning money is money lost that you can’t get back. Even if you start out with just a few clients, that can easily be a few hundred dollars a month!
Fear #2 – What if I’m Wasting my Time?
I’m going to give you the list of what it takes to be successful again. Remember, these are probably the most important qualities to being a successful Virtual Administrative Consultant.
- Be organized
- Have great time management skills
- Be reliable
- Have excellent communication skills
- Be resourceful
- Are a problem-solver
Be truthful with yourself. If you aren’t organized or reliable, then this probably isn’t the career for you.
People hire VA’s to make their lives easier and their businesses better. You have to be the kind of person that can understand you client’s needs, accomplish your assignments, and take your client’s business to the next level.
However, if you read the above list and thought, “that is SO me!” — then what are you waiting for?! You can learn how to become a virtual assistant with no experience in just a few weeks and start a fulfilling career now!
Fear #3 – Where Will I Find Clients?
A huge piece of the Free Mama training is how to find clients. You can’t make money without paying clients right?
Here’s the thing, even if you can find clients it takes a ton of courage to put yourself out there and sell your services to your potential clients.
The Free Mama training doesn’t just teach you how to find clients but it also gives you the support to know how to sell your unique services.
This is more than just a training program — Free Mama is a MOVEMENT. It is a community of women supporting women, and helping lift each other up for a better life!
Graduates even get a Free Mama T-shirt to wear with pride!
Fear #4 – I’m Not Sure I Can Do This…
Truly, the only way to be sure you can do something is to just DO it.
Notice I didn’t say “try” — trying is not the same as doing!
I’ve given you a ton of information to help you make a decision. If it feels like something you can and want to do, then commit to doing it.
Take “try” out of the equation. If you decide to invest in yourself, then you deserve to give this training everything you’ve got.
This training has the potential to be life-changing as it has for thousands of women. It can be for you too!
How to Get Started with the Free Mama Movement
Ready to get started?
- Click here to see ALL that the Free Mama program has to offer! You start with a FREE webinar (no strings attached) so you can see if this is the right move for YOU. Plus, you’ll get a free productivity planner just for watching!
Want to dip your toes in and see what it’s all about? Here’s the link to Facebook Group.
I really encourage you to invest in yourself for training and support. In the long-run it will totally save you time and money as well as putting you on the path to a professional career that you can enjoy for years to come!
Contributors:
- Sara Garska (MyThinkBigLife.com) – Sara is a blogger and entrepreneur with the mission to help others look and feel their best at any age.
- Danielle Gagnon is a graduate of the Free Mama program who runs her own business called Elevate Virtual Marketing Solutions
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