[0:00]What is a virtual assistant? What do they do? Don't worry, I know you're thinking those questions and in this video, I'm going to show you exactly what a virtual assistant is and how you can start making money as one.
[0:19]If you haven't met me yet, I'm Abby Ashley, and I've trained virtual assistants all over the world to start their very own business from scratch. And so, I thought I'd answer the question today, what is a virtual assistant? Now, you do want to make sure that you stay to the very end of this video because I am going to be sharing with you my virtual assistant checklist and starter kit. It's a step-by-step checklist that shows you exactly how to get started in your virtual assistant business. So stay till the end and I'll give you the link to that checklist. So let's break it down now. What is a virtual assistant? There are three elements of virtual assistants that I wanted to share with you today. So let's break apart what exactly a virtual assistant is. A virtual assistant is anyone that works remotely for another independent business owner and provides tasks for them online. In fact, I like to think of virtual assistants as an umbrella term. What does that mean? Under the umbrella of virtual assistants could be so many different services, and there could be even specialists inside of that umbrella. Maybe someone is a Pinterest manager or a Facebook ads manager. Or maybe they just focus on copywriting. There's even virtual assistants that choose a specific niche, like the wedding industry or the construction industry. So whether you have a range of services or just one specific service as a virtual assistant, really if you're working remotely and providing a service to another business owner, in my opinion, that can fall under that virtual assistant umbrella. Okay, so what are some of the most common tasks that a virtual assistant can do? If you're just starting out as a virtual assistant and you feel like, I don't have anything to offer. Trust me, you do. Some of my very first tasks as a virtual assistant were simple things. Things like data entry, calendar management, email management, answering customer service emails. I would do appointment setting, phone calls. So you can learn more and more advanced skills, but you can also just start with what you already know. And if you already have a competitive skill like website design, if you know Facebook ads, if you can do graphics, that even gives you a bigger heads up in this whole game. Now, I want to pause and say this one thing. When you start your own virtual assistant business, you are starting a business. Woo. Yeah, exciting, right? You are a business owner, and you are also an independent contractor. That means that you get to choose your own hours. You get to choose when and where you work. When somebody hires you, you set your rate. You say, these are the services I offer, and these are the rates. I also recommend that you have the contract. Now, obviously being a small business owner comes with a lot of responsibility, but don't worry. We lay out exactly how you get started in the VA checklist and starter kit. So you don't have to worry about, did I cross all my T's and dot all my I's, right? We show you exactly how to do that, how to set up the business side of things. Okay, so this whole becoming a virtual assistant or VA may be sounding really appealing to you, and you may be thinking now, yes, how do I get started? There are four things that you need to do if you are ready to get started as a virtual assistant. First, choose your services. What are you going to offer to small business owners? What do you already know how to do? Number two, you need to set your price. You can choose hourly rates, or you can do packages, but either way, it's good to know what your hourly rate is. Even if it's going to be in a package later, you need to know how much time something's going to take you and how much you should charge for that package, right? So you still need to determine what is your hourly rate worth. If you're just getting started, I recommend if you're US-based, starting out at about $20 to $25 an hour. Step number three is you need to set up the back end of your business. Now there's a lot of steps when it comes to legalities, getting your EIN number, things like that, and it's all described in our virtual assistant checklist and starter kit. And step number four, you start offering your services. I recommend starting out with your friends and family members who are already small business owners or who maybe know a small business owner. Reach out to them, tell them about your services and see if you can start working for them even just a couple hours a week to get your feet wet. Remember, if you're ready to get started, the very next step for you is to download that VA checklist and starter kit. It has everything you need to get started. All right, everybody, I hope that this video was helpful to you. If you enjoyed it, will you do me a favor and give me a little comment below? Let me know if you learned something and also give this video a thumbs up, a little like. I would love that, appreciate it. Thank you guys so much.
