Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a lot of women reach out to me that they dream of launching their own work from home business as a virtual assistant but they don’t even know where to start.
Before I landed my first clients, there were three small steps I took to prepare myself. These steps are not nearly as time consuming as you might think. Before I started, I thought it would take forever to get going. I thought I would have to work endless hours, and that running a business of my own had to be time consuming and difficult.
Once I decided that these were just things I had been told about building a business, I flipped the switch. I determined that building my business would be fun, easy, and fast. It’s AMAZING what that mindset shift can do for your biz, and this is definitely something I plan on talking about in a future blog post. When you take small, actionable steps each day, you’ll have a booming biz in no time.
So to help you get started building your dream VA biz so you can work from your couch too, I compiled these three steps for you to follow…
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Some people want to skip this step so they can “get to the good stuff.” I’ve found that if you skip this crucial piece, you won’t have the drive to push through during the building phase of your business. As much as building your biz can be fun, easy, and fast, it won’t happen overnight. Knowing your why and reminding yourself daily of why you chose to start this biz is essential to helping you press on when it seems like things are stagnant.
To establish your why, simply imagine your dream life. Dream as big as you can. Here are some questions to help you:
– Where do you want to be with your business 6 months from now?
– Who will benefit from your business as it grows (family, clients, etc.)?
– What is your big hairy scary goal that your biz could help you reach?
To help you even more, I’ll share my why. I started my virtual assistant business so I can stay home with my daughter and any future littles. Six months from now, I want to hire at least one person to help me, so that I’m helping others financially, not just myself. I want to bring my husband home from work. This biz will help us build our dream home, with a wrap-around porch and all of the animals <3
I suggest writing your why and putting it up somewhere where you will see it every day. Mine is hanging up on my bathroom wall. I see it every time I go in there, and I keep that vision in my mind as I work, ESPECIALLY when I don’t really feel like it. Your why will give you that push you need to keep going every day.
By now, you’ve probably already checked out my blog post – 101 Work from Home Jobs for Moms. If you haven’t, do that now (: Then use this list to help you figure out your package prices:
• Make a list of the services from the freebie that interest you.
• Estimate how long you think it would take you to complete that service, whether it’s a one-time project or a service that you offer throughout the month.
• Add 1-2 hours as a buffer because tasks always take a little longer than we estimate.
• Determine what you want your hourly rate to be. I recommend AT LEAST $25 an hour.
• Multiply that rate by your estimated time to complete the task. BAM. Packages made.
Note: This does not have to be set in stone! As you begin working with clients, analyze how long a task really does take you, and bump up the price if you miscalculated.
Once you have your services and prices determined, it’s a good idea to package everything up into a simple, classy PDF portfolio to share with potential clients. This is a service that I provide for the women I coach, but if you’re going the DIY route, I recommend using Canva. Canva is a free program that has different templates you can use for designing social media graphics, PDFs, Pinterest pins, and more. The great thing about Canva is that you can customize it to fit your brand colors!
Your PDF portfolio should include:
1. A brief introduction about you
2. The skills you have (very organized, great communicator, programs you’re familiar with, etc.)
3. Your services, prices, and what that includes.
For example: If I’m offering social media management, that might include:
• One video call per month to discuss client needs
• Unlimited email communication with client
• Posting on one social media platform 3 days/week
• Gathering images and/or creating graphics to post
• Writing out the captions for each post
• Hashtag research
• 10 minutes engagement with audience 3 days/week
• Responding to comments
4. A call to action at the end. Something like “Ready to take the next step? Send me an email at _________ and we can schedule a Discovery Call to discuss your needs further.”
Once you have this created, you’re ready to start pitching to potential clients! YAY!
Now you’re ready to start looking for your first clients! Here are three great places to start:
1. Facebook groups: This is the route I have taken and that I recommend. I go over which groups are best for this in my signature program, Teacher Turned Freelancer Academy
2. LinkedIn: This is a great place to find larger companies who are looking to fill remote positions. However in my experience, it’s a bit harder to find jobs here as a new virtual assistant, but can be a great space to network a few months into your journey.
3. Local Businesses: There are still SO MANY BUSINESSES out there that don’t even know what a virtual assistant is but could totally use one. Many VAs have success cold-pitching (emailing/calling business to offer them your services).
I’ve said this before but I want to say it again: DO NOT choose clients that you do not align well with. I’m speaking from experience here, y’all. I have taken on clients just because I wanted the income, and it ended up being so much extra work just trying to make them happy. Not only that, but I couldn’t continue to grow my business with other clients because I was spending so much time and energy on the difficult client. If you find yourself with a client you don’t align well with, you can finish out the task and then exit gracefully. Simply thank them for the experience, but let them know that in order to continue to grow your business it is time for you to move on.
There you have it, y’all! Those are the top three steps you need to take to start your virtual assistant business, so that you too can work from home on your own schedule with your babies playing around you. It can be easy, fast, and fun, and I promise you it will happen faster than you think!
Have any questions for me? Want to see an example of my PDF portfolio when I first started? Feel free to send me an email at arianna@ariannavernier.com! I love chatting with y’all and helping you hit the ground running. Are you ready? Let’s go.
Virtual assistants have different specialties. Some are more creative, some have amazing technical skills, some are great at marketing, and some offer more general services such as email management and data entry. To help you determine which services you can do, I’ve compiled this list of 101 services you can offer as a virtual assistant.
One of the number one questions I get is “What is a Virtual Assistant and how do I become one?”
