How to Make Money Online as a Virtual Assistant
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David
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December 20th, 2012
Do you have any sort of secretarial experience? Are you a good organizer, and do you like to help people get things done? Want to know how to make money online as a virtual assistant?
You might want to consider working as a virtual assistant. These people are able to work-from-home, set their own hours, and make money online, all without heading to an office.
There are a variety of ways to make money online as a virtual assistant, but these all depend on your level of work experience and availability. Here are a few options.
How to Make Money Online as a Virtual Assistant
Do I have to have experience?
Not specifically, no. Although it would help if you had a built-in pool of clients and a strong background in the field, you don't need to be a pro right away.
Transfer traditional office skills into work as a virtual assistant and avoid the pen-tapping moments of life.
But, you do need to have a clue about little things. If you want to be a writer, but you're clueless about how to make Microsoft Word work for you, you need to brush up on technical skills beforehand. The same goes for virtual assistants. Here's a list of programs and skills you might want to master before entering the marketplace.
For beginners:
To gain experience in this field, I recommend bidding for jobs through online sites like oDesk and Elance. This can be a difficult process in some ways, but it will help you gain experience, meet new clients, make leads on others, and see if this is really for you.
For the experienced:
You can either take one of two routes here. Of course, you can utilize bidding sites like oDesk and Elance, too. With your experience, you will be able to charge more per hour and leverage your knowledge to earn jobs over other people. But, you're still in the shark pool if you do that.
Instead, you can contact previous clients or companies for people they might know who are in need of aid. Send out letters to clients expressing your understanding and knowledge of their situation, and how you can help. Many of these letters will be ignored or flat out rejected, but this is one solid way to make new contacts.
Otherwise, focus on tapping into the network you already have. More often than not, just one client will connect you with others in a way that can keep you off of the bidding sites completely!
Why do companies hire virtual assistants?
As a virtual assistant, you may work with a wide variety of clients from an even wider subset of fields. In some ways, it might be more normal and common for you to work as the right-hand resource for a small business owner or other fancy personality.
Or, you could work with companies, both national and international. Virtual assistants are becoming more and more popular through the business world because they are cheaper than hiring a full-time employee, there are no benefits involved, yet many virtual assistants are experienced, careful, and thoughtful workers who can do the same work for less.
It's a very popular way to cut costs without necessarily cutting quality, although there are issues when you outsource an in-house project for someone else.