How To Become a Virtual Assistant With No Experience And Earn $5,000+ Month!

Do you want to work from home, use your existing skills & experience, and make more money than a regular full-time office job?

Then welcome to the amazing and exciting world of becoming a freelance virtual assistant!

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy.

We all have different reasons why we want to change our working circumstances, and it has become increasingly obvious that working from home is on top of a lot of people’s priority list.

Some people want to replace their job with a home-based business, while others just want to earn some extra money from home.

So no matter what your reasons and personal lifestyle choices are, let’s delve into becoming a virtual assistant with no experience to help you fulfill your money and lifestyle dreams.

So What Exactly is a Virtual Assistant?

Well, I’ve actually been a virtual assistant myself, so I can tell you first-hand of what it entails and how you can become one.

A virtual assistant, also commonly known as a VA, is a person who provides support to small businesses and entrepreneurs, both offline and online.

A virtual assistant works remotely from home and has a home office where you would ‘commute’ to each day. So this is very much a remote working environment, but you will be communicating with your clients each day, so you won’t be totally isolated.

Freelance Virtual Assistant

By being a virtual assistant, you will be offering a freelance service, so in essence, you will be self-employed and running your own virtual assistant business.

Therefore, you will have to:

So yes, there is a learning curve not only in starting a virtual assistant business, but to also become a self-employed business owner. But don’t worry, this can all be taken in your own stride

So now you know what a virtual assistant is, and that you will become a freelance VA, running your own home-based business, let’s look at some virtual assistant services.

Virtual Assistant Services

As I briefly mentioned above, there are literally hundreds of virtual assistant services which you could potentially offer.

Services to offer as a virtual assistant will depend on your current skills, and/or what skills you want to learn.

But to quickly give you an idea of VA services, here’s a short list by niche. There will be many other services to offer within those niches.

Niches within niches!

16 Virtual Assistant Services by Niche:

Remember that these are niches, and there are many tasks and services within those 16 niches.

So in essence, you could go deep into a niche and only provide one particular service such as a Pinterest service to bloggers; which is within the Social Media niche.

Related Reading: 169 Services To Offer as a Virtual Assistant

HOW TO BECOME A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT WITH NO EXPERIENCE

How to Become a Virtual Assistant

Now we’ll go over the first few essential steps to get started, then we’ll take a look at how to become a virtual assistant for free i.e. no upfront costs, or at least very minimal. And lastly, I’ll show you a few ways to carry out paid advertising to get clients if you wish to spend some money.

Is Self-Employment for You?

The first thing you want to determine is if self-employment is the right choice for you.

As I’ve already mentioned above, becoming a virtual assistant is offering a freelance service, and effectively running your own home-based business.

Therefore, it’s imperative that you know what self employment entails and that you are willing to take on those extra self employment tasks.

See the section ‘Freelance Virtual Assistant’ above to see the self-employment tasks again.

Also, when running your own virtual assistant business, you’ll need the following:

Assessing Your Skills and Interests

Once you know that self-employment is the right choice for you, you now want to find a service to offer.

Identifying transferable skills

It’s best to focus and offer a skill which you already have. Therefore, I suggest you do a self-assessment on yourself to find your:

Be totally honest with yourself, because you might have a particular skill but actually dislike doing it – so you’ll not want to offer that skill as a service!

Then when you’ve completed your self-assessment, head back over to the 67 Virtual Assistant Services post and see what skill(s) you can offer as a virtual assistant.

Virtual Assistant Pricing Structure

Once you know what services you’re going to offer, you need to price them accordingly.

Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates

When you’re just starting out, it’s best to keep things as simple as possible. Therefore, set yourself an hourly rate.

Do some research and find out what other virtual assistants are charging for the same services which you’re offering.

Once you have a few prices which your competitors are charging, then set your own hourly rate.

I always advise not to undercut your competitors as this has a psychological impact on potential clients that says you aren’t very professional. Either charge the same hourly rate or slightly higher.

Generally, hourly rates can vary from $25-$50 per hour depending on what service you offer.

Virtual Assistant Package Prices

Virtual assistant packages are when you take on long-term clients (the majority of your clients will likely be long-term) and they pay you a set amount for a set amount of work to be done on a monthly basis.

These packages are usually referred to as ‘retainer packages’ because they are an agreed block of hours reserved for your work every month. You’re guaranteeing xxx amount of hours each month for $xx.xx amount.

How To Become a Virtual Assistant for Free

So now you know what skill(s) you want to offer and what your prices are, let’s take a look at some free ways to get your new business off the ground and get your first few clients.

Building a Strong Online Presence

You’ll want to build up an online presence so you can get noticed by your target market and get referrals from other virtual assistants.

Create a Professional Email Address

You first need a professional email address to reach out to potential clients, and to communicate with your new clients.

You can use the free Gmail email service and have your business email such as vapinterestservices@gmail.com.

However, and I know some people might disagree with me on this one, but I really think that you should register for a professional business email.

You don’t have to create a website at this stage, but when you are ready to create a website, then you’ll already have the domain!

What looks better and more professional to you?

Everyone knows of Gmail and that it is a free email service. So potential clients will likely wonder how much of a business owner you are if you’re using a free email address.

I always register my domains through Namecheap, and I’ve been using Namecheap since around 2005.

► Register a Business Email With Namecheap

Create a Portfolio

Although you may not start off with having a website, you should eventually (sooner rather than later) get one built for your VA service business.

A portfolio is a very essential page on your website which you will use for marketing purposes.

Here, your portfolio will showcase:

But of course, the question you’re likely asking yourself now as a virtual assistant with no experience is “How do I create a portfolio when I’m brand new and haven’t even had one client yet?”

So here’s the answer to that…

Offering Free or Low-Cost Services Initially

When you’re just starting out as a virtual assistant, you won’t have any testimonials or client work to showcase. Therefore, it’s a good idea to do some work for very low cost, or even do pro bono (free) work to get some experience and client testimonials / case studies behind you so you can put these in your portfolio.

To get low cost or pro bono work, go to one or two of the above-mentioned Facebook groups and make announcements that you are just getting started as a virtual assistant and that you’re offering your services at a substantial discount and/or the first three clients will get full pro bono VA tasks so you can put them in your portfolio.

Once you have your portfolio nicely full with a few testimonials etc., then start charging your full rates.

Dominate One Social Media Platform

Next, you’ll want to choose one social media platform where you want to post to on a daily basis.

If you’re not creating a website from the start of your new VA business, then you’ll need a good, strong platform presence on a popular social media platform.

You’ll want to choose a social media platform where your target market hangout the most.

… and so on.

You might be tempted to get started on a couple of platforms at the same time, but my advice would be to focus on one first, work on it daily until you get a really good following and engagement on this one platform, and only then move onto a second social media platform.

How to Get Clients as a Virtual Assistant

This is the ultimate question when first becoming a virtual assistant with no experience.

When you create a system to get your first 3-5 clients, then you know you have a system that works for you, which you can use time and time again, to always have a full calendar full of high-paying clients.

How To Get Your First Client as a Virtual Assistant for Free

So let’s start off by looking at the best free ways to get clients as a virtual assistant.

But before we delve into the free ways, you must understand that these free marketing techniques do take up a bulk of your time.

So make sure you schedule marketing activities into your daily diary.

Facebook Groups

Let’s start off with Facebook groups because they are an absolute goldmine for getting clients – if you do your Facebook marketing the right way.

Most virtual assistants, coaches or indeed any type of service-provider use Facebook groups to get clients.

Virtual Assistant Groups

So in our case, I would recommend joining one or two Virtual Assistant Facebook groups.

By joining these, you will be able to get free advice, tips and guidance, and there will be plenty of virtual assistants who will pass on work to other virtual assistant – so make sure you’re in the running to get new client work!

Blogging Groups

I would also join a couple of good blogging Facebook groups, if your target market are bloggers.

I see people asking for help in their blogging business quite often, so you should be able to pick up some work in these groups too.

Bloggers tend to need VA help with:

This is a post from a virtual assistant who is replying to a blogger (in a blogging group) who is looking for help with email marketing…

So if you feel that you could become an integral part to helping people grow their blogging business, then consider joining one or two blogging Facebook groups.

Entrepreneur Groups

Then of course, there are other ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘women in business’ Facebook groups. These groups are inundated with small business owners covering a multitude of different types of businesses.

So if you want to work for a specific industry, say health coaches for example, or to offer very specific VA services, such as Podcast management or eCommerce store management, then you’ll find plenty of leads in these groups.

HOW TO BECOME A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT WITH NO EXPERIENCE

Identifying and Navigating Freelance Platforms

Another way to get clients as a virtual assistant is to register on freelancing platforms.

These platforms are a win/win for both freelancers and for people looking to hire freelancers because everything is advertised and negotiated on one platform.

Upwork

Upwork (formerly Elance) is one of the oldest global freelancing platforms which connects businesses with freelancers, allowing employers to find talent for various projects across different a variety of industries.

It offers a wide range of skills and services, enabling businesses to hire professional freelancers on a temporary or project basis.

Fiverr

Fiverr was founded in 2010 and is a marketplace where freelancers, known as “sellers,” offer a variety of digital services or “gigs” at fixed prices.

Users can find services ranging from graphic design and writing to programming and marketing.

Fiverr emphasizes quick and affordable services, making it popular for small, one-time tasks.

Here’s a table to show you the difference between Upwork and Fiver:

Leveraging Free Online Tools

You should also leverage the use of as many free online tools as you need.

These tools are meant to help you with your work productivity and to help you streamline your work systems. In fact, some of these tools actually automate some of your tasks (e.g. social media posting) so its definitely worth trying out some of these tools in your virtual assistant business.

I won’t go into these free tools here, as I have written a whole blog post on the top 20 freeline tools anyone can use to run a small business.

Just note that there will always be a paid version of these free tools, but for some of them, it is surprising how much functionality the creators give you for free!

Takeaway Thoughts & Additional Tips

I hope that you have found this guide helpful on how to become a virtual assistant with no experience – and for free.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I used to be a virtual assistant myself (email customer support) and so I do have some experience and knowledge in this area of online business.

I know from experience and also witnessing in Facebook groups, that most people get really excited when setting up and starting their virtual assistant business, but soon get hit with a bang of reality when they have to go out and actually find their first few clients.

I know finding clients can be challenging, but the good news is that you now how some excellent free ways to get clients, so this shouldn’t be such a big challenge for you.

Here are some additional tips to help you decide if a virtual assistant business is the right choice for you:

When considering the challenges of finding clients and competing with overseas virtual assistants, it’s important for you to develop strong marketing skills, build a solid online presence, and showcase your unique value which you bring to clients.

Additionally, staying updated on industry trends and continuously improving skills can help in standing out in a competitive market.

So the demand for virtual assistants is as strong as ever!

Good luck!

Claire

Hi, I’m Claire Bullerwell

I’ve ran dozens of home-based businesses, both offline and online, since my early twenties. I started this blog to share all my wealth of knowledge and experience to help women just like you; to find your dream home business and to live your best life.

Follow me and let’s get acquainted…