If you’ve been looking for an amazing work from home opportunity that can bring in big bucks, look no further.
Virtual assistant jobs from home
Here’s the thing:
Work from home jobs are a dime a dozen nowadays. But there truly is gold at the end of the rainbow with this one!
Virtual assistant jobs are a booming business, and will continue to grow in demand as online businesses flourish.
We’re lucky to have two extremely successful virtual assistants on the blog today.
Their stories are full of great advice and information and will help you determine whether a virtual assistant career is right for you.
First we have Drew DuBoff.
Drew DuBoff is a virtual assistant who has transformed his experience working with 6-figure and 7-figure clients into serving as a growth strategist and outsourcing expert for struggling online entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses and shatter the 7-figure ceiling.
He is the founder of DrewDuBoff.com and his new site will be Favored Freelancer, which will instruct on how to become the freelancer companies love hiring. You can download his Scaling Blueprint here.
Drew is a college student and very successful entrepreneur. He’s extremely popular in several online communities and forums because of his very generous nature.
Hop into any Facebook group that Drew manages or visits, and you’ll see him consistently helping others. He’s truly a wealth of information.
In fact, that is the secret to his very successful virtual assistant business.
I’ll let him fill in the details.
Hi Drew! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise as a virtual assistant.
Q. When did you start offering VA services?
I started offering VA services in March of 2018. At the time, I didn’t even know what a virtual assistant was, how you could make money doing it, or that it was a side hustle that could become scalable.
Q: What led to your decision to become a VA?
The funny thing about me starting is that I never decided to pursue being a virtual assistant. When I decided to start a blog, I purchased a course over at Create and Go and I became an active member of their community.
This was in November of 2017. After a few months, they had a 25k subscriber giveaway on their YouTube channel, where they were giving away a free Pro Blogger Bundle.
I ended up winning a free course and in my thank you email to Lauren and Alex, I expressed that if they needed help managing their Facebook group (it was at about 5k members then), I was happy to volunteer. That worked for a few weeks or so.
Eventually, Lauren decided that she was spending too much on customer service and needed some help to alleviate her workload. That’s where I came in. She extended the offer to be a virtual assistant to me, first. I took it and the rest is history.
Q: How did you make yourself marketable for becoming a virtual assistant?
The only thing I was doing at the time when I was hired was being active in Facebook groups. I’m a junkie and I’m in quite a few, where I’ve built up a reputation of providing good advice.
That’s allowed me to be a virtual assistant for a few other bloggers who have noticed that and appreciate that I’m aware of their teaching methods and can regurgitate that.
I do have a background in hospitality, which I think helps me as a customer service virtual assistant.
Q: How many hours per week did you start with and how many would you say do you currently work in your VA position?
When I originally started, I was informed that the tasks would take around 1 to 1.5 hours per day. Well, I’ve gotten to be quite efficient through batching my tasks, so I have reduced the majority of that to around 20-30 minutes.
In that time frame, I approve/deny requests to Facebook groups, respond to emails, moderate comments, and more. Because I do them for multiple clients simultaneously, I reduce repetitive action and save time.
With frequent monitoring throughout the day (and probably more than I should), that figure does get to around the original quoted time. But, this counts for all my clients combined.
I’ve never officially tracked my time, so it’s difficult to give an entirely accurate answer. Tracking time is on my list of things to do after May when I have more whole hours to dedicate to being a virtual assistant.
Q: What were your beginning rates, and what is your current virtual assistant salary?
When I originally started, I was at around $800 per month, which I was thrilled about. In fact, my virtual assistant gross revenue actually exceeded my net income from my part-time job for the year.
Now, as I’ve added on some more clients, my business has grown to about $3,000 per month. I’ve yet to put together a standard rates sheet because I much prefer working on a project base or monthly retainer than a per hour base.
But, it’s something that I am working on because I know that some clients prefer that standardization when hiring.
Q: What are your primary tasks?
My primary virtual assistant tasks include Facebook community management and email management, but I also have some clients for SEO editing and general administrative tasks. Occasionally, I come across some freelance writing gigs.
Q: Do you have any advice for beginners who would like to start a virtual assistant job from home?
My advice for wannabe virtual assistants is simple: give first, then receive! Too many people “graduate” from education programs and think that clients will just come to them and that they will be a magnet for success because of the education they have received.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. You have to build up a name for yourself and establish credibility. While I started virtual assisting in March of 2018, I started being active in Facebook groups in November of 2017.
It took me several months and innumerable hours to build up this business. But, once people know you and have benefited from you, they are much more willing to hire you.
I never went through any formal education program, but I intend to release a virtual assistant training program, so more to come on that next year.
Drew is quite an inspiration to any aspiring virtual assistants out there. He’s proof that being the helpful person first and foremost can blossom into an amazing client base.
How to make five figures a month from home as a virtual assistant
Next we have Kayla Sloan, ultra successful virtual assistant and VA course creator.
Kayla Sloan is the go-to virtual assistant and outsourcing expert for the personal finance community.
Kayla is the founder of Six Figure Systems, the one-on-one consulting program that helps business owners scale to six-figure months with systems and outsourcing.
She is also the founder of $10K VA, her flagship program where she teaches virtual assistants how to make a consistent $10,000 per month working online!
Let’s get the scoop on Kayla’s success …
Hi Kayla! Thank you so much for being with us and sharing your story.
Q: What was your job before you became a VA?
Before I started my VA business I was working as a credit analyst making lending decisions for agricultural loans for farmers. Unfortunately, my job wasn’t a great fit for my personality.
I love problem-solving, thinking creatively, and learning new things and my job quickly got monotonous. So, I started a personal finance blog for fun to help release that creative energy and to hold me accountable as I worked to pay off debt.
At the time, I had no intention of ever becoming self-employed or starting a business.
Q. How did you discover that you can make money as a virtual assistant?
I actually became a virtual assistant before I even really knew what that was. I had started writing a few posts for a friend and fellow blogger, but I noticed she wasn’t publishing them.
So, I reached out to her to get feedback and see if she was satisfied with my work.
When she replied, she told me there was nothing wrong with my work, but she was just overwhelmed with lots of other projects in her business. After hearing that, I just asked her if there was anything else I could help with.
That’s when she asked me if I could be her VA! From there, my business grew through referrals and working with other people in my network.
Q. Did you get any type of virtual assistant training?
I didn’t, although I wish I had! Everything I learned about being a successful VA was done by hard work and researching Google all the time when I needed to learn anything new.
When I first started five years ago, I had to scour the internet to find help and sometimes I just learned from trial and error. I don’t want other people to have to do that! That’s why I created $10K VA.
Q. How many hours per week do you work?
Right now, I’ve actually scaled back on my client work, so I would say I do client work about 20-25 hours a week. However, I do work additional hours on my own business.
Q. How many regular clients do you have?
I’ve dropped down to just three clients, but when my virtual assistant business was in full swing, I had anywhere from 10-15 clients at a time, which is a lot.
I don’t recommend VAs have that many clients. Instead, I would say to focus on having fewer clients (maybe 5-6 if you want to be full time) and do more work for fewer clients so you have fewer admin things to manage.
Q. What does a typical workday/workweek include?
When I was working full time as a VA, most of my tasks included things like email management, customer service, and social media management. Then I moved on to bigger roles in project management and team management, which is what I do for the three clients I still have today.
Q. What would you say to new virtual assistants that you wish you’d known ahead of time?
Although you can bootstrap your business and figure out most things on your own, you can save time, money, and avoid costly mistakes by taking a course or working with a coach.
It’s an investment that will more than pay for itself in just a couple of months when you get your first client. In the long run, you’ll be so glad you took that “shortcut” to build your business the right way.
I know I could be so much further along in my business if I had gotten help when I first started.
I have to wholeheartedly agree with Kayla on getting appropriate training for a truly successful online business. If you’re serious about making full-time money, investing in quality courses is a must.
Are you excited about the prospect of having your very own virtual assistant job and working independently from home?
You don’t have to spend a ton of money to become a VA, and you certainly don’t have to go through a ton of trial and error just to earn a few bucks. Instead, invest in yourself, and check out the $10KVA course!
It’s packed full with useful information that will help you become a successful VA in just a few short weeks! Plus, there’s bonuses galore (and who doesn’t love some really cool bonuses and freebies?).
Decide to take charge this year and become your OWN boss. What do you have to lose?
A huge thank you to Drew and Kayla for sharing their personal experiences and advice about virtual assistant careers. Providing virtual assistant help allows others to grow their businesses and can bring great financial rewards to you, too.
Definitely a win-win!
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