How to Become a Virtual Assistant and Make Money from Home

How to Become a Virtual Assistant and Make Money from Home – How Abbey left her full-time job to work from home as a virtual assistant and helps other women find work they love with the Virtual Savvy.

Ever wonder what it would be like to make money working from home using skills you already use every day? Sound like a pipe dream, right? Except that’s exactly what Virtual Assistants do! Virtual Assistants help business owners (especially online business owners) keep their businesses running and are able to work from anywhere they want!

I got a chance to interview Abbey Ashley – founder of the 6-figure business, The Virtual Savvy – about how to become a virtual assistant and make money from home. She shares all of her tips, tricks, and how you can get started today making money using tasks that you love and already do all the time.

Before we dive into Abbey’s interview, she gave me a few goodies to share with you to help you find out more about how to become a virtual assistant (and how to make big money from home doing it):

#1 You can get the Virtual Assistant Checklist to get started fast HERE

#2 Watch the FREE video training on How to Become a Booked Out Virtual Assistant HERE

Let’s hear what Abbey of the Virtual Savvy has to say about how to become a virtual assistant and make money working from home…

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m Abbey Ashley, the founder and CEO of The Virtual Savvy, where I help aspiring Virtual Assistants launch and grow their own businesses from scratch!

In 2015 I stumbled upon virtual assistance after a friend’s suggestion, and within four short months, I was able to replace my full-time income working part-time. The remote work and flexible hours allowed me to stay home with my kiddos – I just fell in love with it.

In 2016 I launched The Virtual Savvy to teach people how they can start their own home business using the same framework. More than 3,000 students (mostly women) have gone through our paid training programs and our free community has more than 55,000 members.

The demand for remote work is growing – we literally doubled our business in April of 2020! It floors me how our program is changing the face of the workplace for women across the world!

Watch Abbey’s FREE VA training video HERE:

What is a virtual assistant?

A Virtual Assistant is any type of remote assistant who provides administrative, creative, or technical support services for online or brick-and-mortar business owners.

What I love about it is it’s a “lifestyle” business. What I mean by that is you can have your business fit around your life and not the other way around! In my opinion, it’s the best online job to have, and the fastest way to make money working from home.

What type of work virtual assistants do?

There are so many types of jobs a Virtual Assistant can do! It’s really up to you and what you enjoy.

Work can vary from general administration to building websites.

One of the biggest hurdles for Virtual Assistants is deciding what services to offer. Most VAs may begin with general services and later discover they want to specialize or niche their services. Some of the beginner services include data entry, email and calendar management, Facebook management, and creating graphics.

Can you start being a virtual assistant without experience?

Absolutely!!! Most of our students don’t have any experience as a virtual assistant, or in business at all for that matter. We have thousands of students with different backgrounds, experiences, and skills. Our goal is to teach you how to use the skills you already have to start, grow, and scale your virtual assistant business.

What skills are needed to become a virtual assistant?

If you know how to turn on a computer and send an email, you can get started as a virtual assistant! We believe in action over perfect, so you can learn the skills you need for your services along the way!

Is it possible for busy moms to make money as a virtual assistant?

One hundred percent! Most of our students are busy moms! We encourage you to have at least 10 hours a week to dedicate to growing your business, but this can be done on your own time whether that’s during nap time, after kiddos go to sleep, or on your 9-to-5 lunch break.

How much a VA can earn?

The beauty of being a VA is you can set your own rate. In the United States, a Virtual Assistant can make anywhere from $20 to $40 an hour. In The Virtual Savvy courses and trainings, we really recommend trying to start at about $30 per hour.

As you gain more clients and more experience as a VA, you can raise your rates. You might also discover that you want to add high-end services or find your “niche” which could result in earning more for your services.

What tools do you need to become a Virtual Assistant?

Students always ask what tools they need to get started as a virtual assistant. The answer is really simple though–if you have a computer and reliable internet, you’re good to go!

I don’t recommend using a smartphone or a tablet because it can get complicated when saving and accessing files, among other situations. You can start out with something like a Chromebook or affordable laptop if you’re on a tight budget.

Where do you find VA jobs?

The secret to finding your clients is marketing, for sure. There are three tips for virtual assistants searching for clients: friends & family, networking, and online groups!

Family and friends can be your biggest assets. Don’t be afraid to tell your family and friends you’re starting your own VA business and the services you provide! Some of them will either be small business owners or will have friends who are small business owners. Word-of-mouth marketing is a really great way to get regular clients and drive sales.

Networking is also key for attracting clients. Once we’re able to gather in larger crowds again you can think about attending conferences or becoming part of your local chamber of commerce. There are also apps like meetup.com where you can search for local groups in your area.

The last tip is to join online communities. At The Virtual Savvy, we encourage our students to join some of our Facebook communities where we frequently post job opportunities. So many of our students have gotten their first client just from Facebook groups alone. Aside from our own communities, there are plenty of other groups you can join as well for VAs.