Virtual assistant is a profession that has gained popularity in recent months. Currently, the transfer of business activities online means that more and more people decide to employ such a person. What does a virtual assistant do? Is it worth using her services? How to start practicing this profession? You will find answers to all your questions in the article below. We invite you to read!

Who is a virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant is a person who offers virtual assistance as an assistant to those who need professional support. Typically, these are people or companies running an online business and entrusting virtual assistants with activities such as administration, customer service or social media management. This profession is becoming more and more popular, although it is still not widely used.

A virtual assistant works remotely and does not see her boss every day. Settlement with such an employee can take several forms - most often it is purchasing a package of hours during which the assistant performs the work ordered by us. These can be both single hours and packages of several hours per month. You can also sign a mandate contract or employment contract with virtual assistants. Most often, however, these are freelancers who operate independently.

What does a virtual assistant do?

The scope of virtual assistant services can be very diverse. Typically, administrative services are the basis, but assistants can also specialize in selected areas, such as marketing, PR, recruitment or website support.

The most common jobs of virtual assistants include:

• virtual reception service,

• working with documents,

• preparing presentations,

• information research,

• proofreading texts,

• preparing reports,

• social media management,

• creating and updating databases,

• data input,

• WordPress management,

• adding products to online stores,

• assistance in conducting webinars,

• project management.

Also check what a virtual office is .

When is it worth using the services of a virtual assistant?

Are you wondering whether using the services of a virtual assistant is a good idea? It is worth opting for such help in several cases - for example, when we do not need an additional employee, but only want to rely on someone's help for some time. It is also a good solution when you do not have the funds to create another job position and want to use assistant services.

Purchasing a virtual assistant service by real estate virtual assistant companies may be a solution to capacity problems if we regularly need help, but this is not a constant situation. Its services are used by both business people running large companies and private individuals dealing with projects.

Sole proprietorships are also increasingly using such services. This solution has many advantages. First of all, saving money. If we have simple, but e.g. monotonous tasks to perform, we can outsource them to people with less experience and pay a smaller amount. When commissioning, for example, the creation and sending of offers, we can choose a more experienced assistant and pay more. Thanks to this, we will only pay the amounts at which the work is valued.

How to become a virtual assistant?

If you are looking for a profession for yourself, you may have come to the right place. However, before you start working as a virtual assistant or assistant , think about who you want to support (large companies or freelancers?), what industry you want to work in (the choice is really huge here), what activities what you want to do (administrative work, social media support, sales support) and what you don't want to do while working - setting boundaries for yourself is especially important at the beginning, when you are just starting to do this profession.

Check More: How to start working as a virtual assistant?

Then think about whether you have the skills that are most often required for this position. These are:

• support for e-mail systems, e.g. Thunderbird, Outlook, Gmail,

• Knowledge of MS Office,

• knowledge of WordPress,

• knowledge of e-mail marketing systems,

• knowledge of tools for managing social media accounts, e.g. Planoly, Zapier, Buffer,

• ability to create Facebook ads,

• ability to use CRM sales and customer service support tools,

• ability to organize online events: courses, webinars, training,

• knowledge of foreign languages.

If any of these skills are unfamiliar to you, invest in additional courses and training . And then start looking for customers.