How to Be a Virtual Assistant in the Philippines – 3 Steps You Never Want to Miss

A lot of businesses are now focusing on online marketing. The thing is, handling an online business is not as easy as it sounds. There are a LOT of things to do – creating social media posts, responding to e-mails, replying to inquiries, sending invoices, doing inventories, and more.

That’s why demand for Virtual Assistants (VA) is increasing. The more businesses switch to online market, the more VAs needed!

And so in this article, we are going to discuss how you can be a VA! Are you excited? Let’s!

1) Put your best foot forward – what VA skills do you have?

This of course is the most important step. You see, VA is a broad category. By definition, it simply means to “assist from a remote place”. Put simply, the client doesn’t have to gather all assistants in one place and spend for tax, electricity, rent, etc. On your end, you don’t have to spend 2 hours commuting/driving and neither will you have to work for 8 hours straight.

Flexibility is the strength of a VA, both for you and the client.

Therefore, you have to be very specific about your skillset. Are you more of a designer? A writer? A video editor? Perhaps, you’ve handled office jobs before and you’re best with e-mails and recordkeeping.

Whatever it is you are best at, make that you “brand”. Market yourself as your skillset so clients who need your skills precisely will know you’re the one they’re looking for.

2) Set-up your own or try Freelancing?

If you are a first-timer, I suggest you try freelancing a bit first. To get a feel of how everything works. Or, if you know someone who has been a VA and you decided to create a team and set up your own brand, then go for it!

You see, VA is a long-term job. Clients looking for a VA often search for those who like to work long-term to make the business run smoothly without having to re-adjust with every new VA. So if you start with freelancing, expect to be there for quite some time.

Perhaps, later on, you can juggle both!

3) Equipment-wise, be prepared!

A stable internet connection, reliable laptop/desktop, good headset for communication, and the right software will boost you up the ladder of VA success. You see, clients will often be time-pressed as businesses usually are. So the more responsive and alert you are, with all your gadgets in good condition to support you, then the more your work reputation will grow as a reliable VA.

For example, if you are best with designing social media posts, then you have to be familiar with what software is best for the job. You could use photoshop, Canva, Spark, or Gimp – you can even use them interchangeably depending on what task you’re working for. What about the photos and videos? You have to be familiar with Pixabay, Unsplash, and other sources for royalty-free stock photos.

I think you’re beginning to understand that being a VA may take some investments. But if you’ll keep at it, it will be worth it in the end!