Are you interested to know how to become a Virtual Assistant?
If you were like me who grew up with very limited exposure to the internet world, you’re probably not aware of the many opportunities that you can do online.
“You are too valuable to work a 9 to 5 job for 45 years.”
I am not talking about selling stuff that most likely you will not see yourself buying but opportunities that will give you the following:
Financial freedom
Opportunity to travel
Flexibility and more time with your family
These are topics that you would usually read on my blog and hopefully will inspire you to explore your hidden capabilities and move you to the edge of your comfort zone.
If you have been browsing my blog for a long time now, you are probably aware that I am an online entrepreneur providing my services as a freelancer. I do both project management and social media management.
Freelancing is a spectrum of job opportunities. But in my line of work, we usually call it virtual assistance.
So, how did I able to achieve this extraordinary life? Please read my story here >>>>
In this blog post, my goal is to empower you and teach you how to become a virtual assistant and hopefully, will give you the encouragement to explore this business and live an extraordinary life.
Here you will learn:
What exactly is Online work?
What jobs are available as a Virtual Assistant?
Where can I find jobs as a Virtual Assistant?
How much is the salary rate of a Virtual Assistant?
What Exactly Is An Online Work?
Companies now are going global. Not just by reaching their clients but also on reaching talents all over the world. They are not limited to getting people within their location but are willing to source candidates from other countries.
This is possible because of technological advances such as a faster internet, document sharing and a lot of applications/software that is already available.
One consideration why they do this is to lessen their expenses on salary and office space.
That is why sometimes you will stumble upon forums where people from Western countries are so upset because they can’t seem to compete with freelancers in what they call from “third world countries”.
However, the lower pay is not the entire reason. At the end of the day, it really depends on your skills and attitude and how you can contribute to your client's business.
Some businesses who promote great company culture offers competitive salary too as if you are physically working in western countries. Simply put, they don't abuse the word "remote" to give lesser pay.
What Jobs Are Available As A Virtual Assistant?
Any tasks that will just involve a decent computer and internet, you will surely find a job post in online portals such as Upwork, Onlinejobs.ph, etc.
And when I say any... it literally means any.
I noticed whenever a newbie would ask questions like this on forums, usually, members of that forum would just ignore this question. I think it is because the list is really way too many. :)
You can check out this link: https://www.upwork.com/i/job-categories/
That is a list from Upwork. Typically, it’s almost the same as other platforms.
You can do: admin support, data entry, personal/virtual assistant, project management, transcription, web research, lead generation, email & marketing automation, public relations, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, telemarketing, all aspects of writing, translation and customer service.
So, in the end, the question will be brought back to you. What kind of job interest you?
Do you want to take a job similar to your regular office work so you can leverage that? Or you wanted a different role?
Where Can I Find Jobs As A VA?
I know this is one of the big questions especially to newbies so I will have a dedicated post for this as I will also give some feedback on each platform.
Also, I don’t want to give you some urgency to apply without going through each step.
But just to give you a heads-up, the platforms are:
https://www.upwork.com/
https://www.onlinejobs.ph/
https://remoteworkhub.com/
https://weworkremotely.com/
https://talent.hubstaff.com/
https://www.outsourcely.com/
https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites
https://www.fiverr.com/
https://www.freelancer.com/
https://www.peopleperhour.com/
There are so many platforms to choose from, but eventually you really just need to know which one works for you the most. Mine is Upwork.
How Much Is The Salary Rate Of A VA?
I am often asked how much is the salary rate of VAs or how much will they reflect on their online profile. I usually give back the question to them because it really depends on different factors:
Line of work
Your location (meaning if you reside in the western part of the world, it is somehow expected that you will expect more compared to like Asian countries.)
But if you are based in the Philippines, please read further...
Please have in mind that the figures that you will see below are based on the current on-going rate for Virtual Assistants in the Philippines. For sure, it will vary depending on your location.
I suggest you compare these variables:
The "acceptable" rate for VAs who do very simple administrative work and on an entry-level position is $4/hr.
Some offer $3/hr. If you are okay with that then go. But don't be married on the idea that you are just worth by that. So, I am including this, purely just for your info.
Some offer $7/hr even on simple admin work.
Living Wage. If you are a newbie, you can compute how much is your “acceptable” for you by adding all your expenses in a month (i.e. food, shelter, internet, other utilities, other important expenses such as education of your child, a little recreation, etc). So, if it’s like you really need P15k a month, anything below that then don’t accept or else you will eventually be in trouble. Simply put, you need to know how much you need to survive. Not unless you only wanted to gain experience which is another story.
Net Pay from Day Job. If you came from a regular day job, you can compute the NET pay you receive each month. For instance, if your net pay (less statutory deductions) is about P10k, then I think if you are a newbie, you can use that figure as your starting point. Simply put, your goal here is to receive the same tangible amount, it’s just that by now, you are already home base.
Hourly Rate from Day Job (?). On a much higher standard, and some people do not realize this much… compute how much is your hourly rate on your regular day job. Difficult, huh? Because come to think of it, it’s not just 8 hours that you’re working. There’s (unpaid) overtime, travel time, traffic time and more. But I think usually, it’s like 12 hours that you are away from your home.
12 hours x 25 calendar days = 300 hours/month
For instance, your GROSS pay for one month is P30,000.
So, let’s compute….
P30,000 divided by 300 hours = P100/hour or USD$2/hour
What?!? The lowest hourly rate for freelancing work is $3/hour but on your day job it's just $2/hour? See why you need to change your career?
Well, of course, you can argue that in your regular day job you have your retirement pay… but hey, do you really want to give too much value on that?
Important Note
From $4/hour, you can eventually scale it up to $20 to $25/hour. Or maybe even more...
Hourly pay for other online work greatly varies. There's a different rate for web developers, design jobs and other lines of work that are “specialized”.
Hourly rate is not a constant thing. So, I would advise you to check periodically the rates of freelancers on your specific niche. You can also gain some information in Facebook groups for VAs.
To Conclude
Online work is considered the future of businesses. Here, we believe that a 9 to 5 job is no longer the only route to success.
Has this blog post answered your top questions about virtual assistant work? Your feedback is very important to me, so please let me know by commenting below.
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