Aspiring Virtual Assistants, Read this

Gramified said:

Now I am not a VA myself, but I have 5 VAs working for me full time. I think I know enough now how to be a successful VA.

I'll be laying out very basic stuff, I'm not a guru. But I've seen people applying for VA jobs here on BHW and I'm not sure how some of you are scoring jobs with a very uninterested tone of talking and no pro activeness.

PS. I'm not hiring VAs here, nor do I give details about my VAs because they work full time for me, so please don't message me for this.


1. Language
As rude as it may sound, if your English is not good, you're already rejected. If your initial communication with a potential employer is in broken English then there's a good chance you're not going to get selected. Knowing English is not that of a big deal if you're happy in your own country doing local jobs. But when you want to work with people from other countries, you'll need to have good communication skills.

2. Ethics
Before hiring my current set of VAs, I've gone through at least 10 VAs who had no work ethic, they just wanted to run down their time for quick money. Please understand this, someone who's hiring you is not sitting on unlimited amount of money. If you waste their time, you'll get kicked out. It could've been a long term employment for you. Do not take your employer for granted.

3. Be pro-active
If you score a job that requires XYZ skills then don't just stop learning new skills. As a VA your job may not be permanent. You may need more skills to score more jobs or even move up the ladder in your current one. Be pro active and keep learning new skills. As an example, my VAs run Instagram accounts for me and content was my responsibility but after a few months they message me and say they can do the content part as they've been learning graphic designing for a few months. I gave them a 1 week trial and they did a fantastic job. I increased their pay and got rid of another responsibility for myself. A win-win. You'll be appreciated for your pro-activeness, don't just aim to run down 8 hours a day just to secure your basic pay.

4. Have basic tools ready
You'll need to have basic tools that you may need for your job. Like a laptop or a phone. Of course if the job requires a special set of tools, the employer will provide that to you. But I've seen people applying for jobs with no computer. They say they'll buy one when they secure a job. Please understand a VA job is not a regular job, don't expect your employer to buy you a computer, that beats the whole purpose of being a VA.

5. Be open to criticism and also give your own ideas and feedback
Be open to criticism and don't be a snowflake. I've had a VA resign from the job because he couldn't take criticism. Of course if your employer is making life hard for you for no reason then move on but do learn to take critical feedback and improve on what you're lacking. Also, don't act like an uninterested employee, give your own ideas from time to time. That will show that you take ownership and can be trusted with more important tasks.

6. Aim for jobs that adds value to you as a person
If your financial position is not too bad and you're not desperate, don't take up 'sweatshop' jobs or jobs that don't add value to you as a person. Being on a job is all about learning new things, doing things like making accounts somewhere day in day out, or spam commenting or downloading and re-uploading videos etc. is not going to help you out long term. If you're just starting out and have no money, I understand that you may have to take up these kind of jobs but don't make it a habit or you'll never grow.

Good luck everyone and hope you crush your goals in 2022.

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MisterF said:

This is one of the best threads on here I have read for a long time because it is spot on with what is mentioned and also I can relate to most of this too.

I have just hired this month 5 new staff, 3 on the SEO side and 2 new writers.

People were applying for the < native English > writers positions and their English was poor. As good as Grammarly etc is, it doesn't understand the nuances of an English native speaker.

I had people applying for the SEO jobs and instead of answering me the questions I had asked, they were offering to ' rank your website on page 1 with bookmarks and PR9 links "
Nothing bugs me more than lazy, copy and paste applications, especially when they leave the last persons name/company visible too.

Be open to criticism and don't be a snowflake.
Snowflakes I struggle with at the best of times....
I had someone I let go last year because she wasn't doing the job she was meant to be doing and was sending everything to me to double check.
I explained she needed to up her game as all she was doing was doubling my workload.
Next thing she was saying my feedback was depressing her too much, so I fired her.

Have basic tools ready
I had a writer apply and they didn't have Quetext, despite the job insisting on this. When we did the trial paid task, she then came back to say she didn't have Grammarly.
This is like applying for a job as a self employed mechanic and not owning any tools.

Ethics

Fucking huge one is this. We had someone hired through here, who decided to try to contact our clients direct and undercut our prices and actually laughed about doing this. We actually lost 2 clients and this came to light after he took their money and never delivered. Karma I guess.

Sadly a lot of people applying for a VA job, look at this as short term and don't look at the bigger picture. when we had our FBA business, we had a VA who had been with us 4 years, had been promoted 3 times and was a manager, earning a damn good salary. She was efficient, honest, loyal and a really nice person all round.

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SonOfBhw said:

There isn't a way to do fast unless you are really talented at what you do. For example, I can write blogs quickly as I have more than 5 yrs of experience writing blogs. So the only way to do things fast is to be an expert on what you do.

This usually happens when you work with cheap people, try to find high-quality clients. If you are providing high-quality work and they don't value your time, don't be scared to quit. They will come back if they want you.

Also, please do not take it wrong, but your English is very hard to understand, and this might affect you from finding high-quality clients who value your time.

You can take the help of Grammarly (if possible premium that you can buy in cheap from outside sellers) and the tools like Quillbot free version to make you sound more professional.

This was the change in the text when I used Grammarly and Quillbot in your text. I just did what they suggested and didn't use my knowledge to edit it. Not perfect, but way better than the original text.
View attachment 205964

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patadeperro said:

There are a few comments I would like to make regarding the VA's BUT not only for the person looking to be a VA but for the ones looking to hire one:

a) When hiring a VA (Virtual Assistant) is very important you know how long the process will take, some people have no idea about this and set unrealistic expectations.

b) Prepare processes, videos, FAQ, images etc for the VA, you need to document your processes BEFORE hiring a VA, EVEN if the VA says he/she knows how to do it, why? because you may look for specific results, details, times and need to be explained to the VA, if you are the VA and the manager/owner is giving you videos, articles, training material watch it/read it ALL, write down the questions you have, ask them questions, compare with your experience, do you see the same menus? are you using the same device? is the language the same? pay attention to all those details because most people are hiring a VA for processes that can't be automated.... yet, so you better make sure to be as human as possible in the sense of paying attention to those details machines have a hard time realizing.

c) Hiring a VA means TRAINING!!! spend time training your VA even if they say they know how to do the task, share the documentation with them if you do not have clear documentation, the process then do NOT expect to have a standardized procedure, delivery times, explain to them what delivery documents you expect, what time you expect them to work, what check out points you have, what templates to use etc.... most people simply forget this step!! ideally, you are hiring somebody that knows what he/she is doing, but most of the time is NOT the case... but in any case, you should train them in your internal procedures and what you expect them to deliver, if you are the VA pay attention to the training, take notes, see the process the client has, what are things he expects you to deliver, why is he/she expecting those deliverables? ask questions and try to understand as much as possible why you are there, which brings me to the next point.

d) Technological setup, if you need specific proxies, specific agents, accounts, username, and passwords explain CLEARLY with a video or document to the VA how to make the proper set up, and expect they may have limitations you may have NEVER thought about like restrictions to enter certain sites, slow connections, electricity failures, etc... let them know how to make basic troubleshooting so they can keep going, where to find extra username/passwords, how to clean cookies, etc.... most people hiring a VA have NO IDEA how the technology and access to it in other parts of the world can be different, this will definitely affect your delivery times, take that into account, if you are a VA pay attention to all this, because this may be your opportunity to specialize on a given field, see what type of set up is used, ask why is like that, understand the implications and risk of it, if you do this when you go to get a differetn client (or more clients) this will DEFINITELY give you an advantage over 99.9999% VA's you would be arriving understanding the risks, being able to have your own set up, how to access it, how to deal with it, etc...

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blackbeans said:

I agree with you that language is very important for VAs.

At the very least, learn how to read and understand English.

Not all employers want to talk to their VAs, but all employers — I would imagine — expect their virtual assistants to quickly understand and follow whatever instructions they may receive in the English language.

I agree with you about ethics.

The key here is the ability to deliver on time and do the necessary work.

Sadly, a solid work ethic is hard to find nowadays because let's face it, a lot of people are spoiled by the Internet.

There's just so many different distractions on the Web.

Social media can easily be a trap that wastes all your time and willpower.

That's why it's really important for anybody looking to become a successful virtual assistant to develop a productivity routine.

Productivity is not something that you hope to accidentally step into.

It doesn't work that way.

If you want to be productive and reliable, you have to turn it into a habit.

This means doing work when you don't feel like it.

This means going through the necessary steps of producing what's expected of you even if you're having a bad day.

If you're able to go through this without having a supervisor and working on your own, then the sky is the limit for you.

How come?

A lot of work-at-home freelancers have a tough time focusing.

That's why they don't make as much money as they hoped.

Remember, you're pay depends on your productivity.

The more output you produce and the higher the quality, the more you will get paid.

That's how it works.

If you want to be a successful VA, focus on the two tips above from the original post.

It's really important to be a problem-solver.

That's how you will get repeat clients.

Click to expand...

Gramified said:

Now I am not a VA myself, but I have 5 VAs working for me full time. I think I know enough now how to be a successful VA.

I'll be laying out very basic stuff, I'm not a guru. But I've seen people applying for VA jobs here on BHW and I'm not sure how some of you are scoring jobs with a very uninterested tone of talking and no pro activeness.

PS. I'm not hiring VAs here, nor do I give details about my VAs because they work full time for me, so please don't message me for this.


1. Language
As rude as it may sound, if your English is not good, you're already rejected. If your initial communication with a potential employer is in broken English then there's a good chance you're not going to get selected. Knowing English is not that of a big deal if you're happy in your own country doing local jobs. But when you want to work with people from other countries, you'll need to have good communication skills.

2. Ethics
Before hiring my current set of VAs, I've gone through at least 10 VAs who had no work ethic, they just wanted to run down their time for quick money. Please understand this, someone who's hiring you is not sitting on unlimited amount of money. If you waste their time, you'll get kicked out. It could've been a long term employment for you. Do not take your employer for granted.

3. Be pro-active
If you score a job that requires XYZ skills then don't just stop learning new skills. As a VA your job may not be permanent. You may need more skills to score more jobs or even move up the ladder in your current one. Be pro active and keep learning new skills. As an example, my VAs run Instagram accounts for me and content was my responsibility but after a few months they message me and say they can do the content part as they've been learning graphic designing for a few months. I gave them a 1 week trial and they did a fantastic job. I increased their pay and got rid of another responsibility for myself. A win-win. You'll be appreciated for your pro-activeness, don't just aim to run down 8 hours a day just to secure your basic pay.

4. Have basic tools ready
You'll need to have basic tools that you may need for your job. Like a laptop or a phone. Of course if the job requires a special set of tools, the employer will provide that to you. But I've seen people applying for jobs with no computer. They say they'll buy one when they secure a job. Please understand a VA job is not a regular job, don't expect your employer to buy you a computer, that beats the whole purpose of being a VA.

5. Be open to criticism and also give your own ideas and feedback
Be open to criticism and don't be a snowflake. I've had a VA resign from the job because he couldn't take criticism. Of course if your employer is making life hard for you for no reason then move on but do learn to take critical feedback and improve on what you're lacking. Also, don't act like an uninterested employee, give your own ideas from time to time. That will show that you take ownership and can be trusted with more important tasks.

6. Aim for jobs that adds value to you as a person
If your financial position is not too bad and you're not desperate, don't take up 'sweatshop' jobs or jobs that don't add value to you as a person. Being on a job is all about learning new things, doing things like making accounts somewhere day in day out, or spam commenting or downloading and re-uploading videos etc. is not going to help you out long term. If you're just starting out and have no money, I understand that you may have to take up these kind of jobs but don't make it a habit or you'll never grow.

Good luck everyone and hope you crush your goals in 2022.

Click to expand...

blackbeans said:

I agree with you that language is very important for VAs.

At the very least, learn how to read and understand English.

Not all employers want to talk to their VAs, but all employers — I would imagine — expect their virtual assistants to quickly understand and follow whatever instructions they may receive in the English language.

I agree with you about ethics.

The key here is the ability to deliver on time and do the necessary work.

Sadly, a solid work ethic is hard to find nowadays because let's face it, a lot of people are spoiled by the Internet.

There's just so many different distractions on the Web.

Social media can easily be a trap that wastes all your time and willpower.

That's why it's really important for anybody looking to become a successful virtual assistant to develop a productivity routine.

Productivity is not something that you hope to accidentally step into.

It doesn't work that way.

If you want to be productive and reliable, you have to turn it into a habit.

This means doing work when you don't feel like it.

This means going through the necessary steps of producing what's expected of you even if you're having a bad day.

If you're able to go through this without having a supervisor and working on your own, then the sky is the limit for you.

How come?

A lot of work-at-home freelancers have a tough time focusing.

That's why they don't make as much money as they hoped.

Remember, you're pay depends on your productivity.

The more output you produce and the higher the quality, the more you will get paid.

That's how it works.

If you want to be a successful VA, focus on the two tips above from the original post.

It's really important to be a problem-solver.

That's how you will get repeat clients.

Click to expand...