"Am I Actually Qualified?" - The 3 Things You Need In Order to Start Your Business as a Virtual Assistant
One of the most common hesitations or limiting beliefs that I see in my DM’s from those of you who want to start your business as a virtual assistant.
Typically the message starts out by you telling me how excited you are about the potential opportunity as a VA and how you would love to make some extra money alongside your full-time job or while being at home with your babies – or how you want to leave your full-time job in order to be at home with your babies. Sometimes the next part of the message you share how you have all this experience as a teacher, or a nurse, or administration, or tech (and SO many other careers) and then the message turns and sounds something like this… ⬇️
“But I’m worried I don’t have the skills to be a VA”
Or
“Am I actually qualified to start this business?
And I get it – a lot of us have spent our whole life gathering education and knowledge and skills for one particular career and it’s hard to see how any of that can actually give us a leg up when it comes to our business as a virtual assistant and today, that’s exactly what I want to show you.
That you, yes YOU, listening to this podcast while you’re on a walk, or driving in the car with your kiddos, or putting away laundry or even in the shower or during a workout – YOU likely already have what it takes to build a business as a VA even if you have never freelanced or built a business before in your life.
So let’s dive in!
01. Time Management
The 1st thing or the 1st skill that you need is time management or the ability to juggle more than one thing at a time. And I would put money on the fact every single person listening to this podcast has that skill because you are likely doing something right now WHILE listening to this podcast, am I right?
But on a greater scale – a lot of the work that a virtual assistant does is managing tasks and getting them done for your clients. So, your client Sally needs x, y, and z done this week and then your client Susan needs a, b, and c done this week and you are able to look at that list of tasks and prioritize what order those things need to get done in.
So let’s think about what your day currently looks like:
If you are a teacher – you are managing a classroom of likely 15-30+ students every day. (36 if you were me back in the day) Honestly, I could stop right there with you because that along takes insane time-management skills. But that’s not all that you do - you keep your daily schedule on pace every day, you are planning lessons and then sometimes changing them last minute, you are juggling parent communication and meetings with admin or your team members, maybe you are writing units and curriculum for your school, you have lunch and recess duties, class parties and field trips to plan, and some of you are also taking graduate school classes or certification courses for PD credits — ALL WHILE also being a friend, a parter, a mom, and so much more. Girl – you have this part down, okay?
If you are in healthcare – now obviously this depends on what position in healthcare you are in but let's say you are a nurse at a hospital. I was never a nurse so I won’t even pretend to know alllll the things that you angels on earth do behind the scenes but let me take a stab at it. You are likely managing several client cases, their medications and other instructions to help them heal however is needed. Oh and making sure those medication and instructions are delivered and followed through with at a specific time! You are checking in on not only the patients but maybe the family members, the doctors, the other nurses on staff and collaborating as a team to help your patient. You are writing patient notes, and reports, and probably also taking continuing education classes or certification programs. I am sure I am not even scratching the surface here, but you get it. You have the ability and skill to juggle a lot of things at once and maybe you don’t even see it because it comes SO naturally to you, ya know?
Okay last example:
If you are a SAHM – you have one of the hardest jobs in the world, and I am sure there are some days that you don’t feel that way and others where you are like where the heck is my trophy for today? From the minute you wake up in the morning you are juggling all the things. You are getting yourself dressed, you are getting the kids ready and fed, you are running errands and taking kids to activities and somehow doing it around feedings and naptimes and everything in between. And then during naps or even babywearing or while the older kids are playing, you are getting stuff done around the house and maybe squeezing in a workout. See? Time management.
Obviously, there are several other position out there that have transferable skills you can pull into being a virtual assistant (and I would argue EVERY profession has these) but hopefully you get the idea.
Now this is going to be a very specific person I am speaking to in this next part but I had someone message me once that they felt like them having ADHD was going to hinder their ability to be a great virtual assistant. And I totally understand the concern because…. I have ADHD.
I was diagnosed with ADHD almost a year ago now and tbh, it has made my life make so much more sense lol. And while there are many struggle that I deal with that I can now kind of put a name to or identify as a symptom of my ADHD, I don’t think ADHD has help me back at all from building a really successful business as a VA. In fact, I think that having ADHD and being in a position where I do have to focus and get tasks done has actually forced me to build systems that are not only supportive of my work, but of my everyday life as someone who has ADHD. I have really figured out what is supportive and what isn’t and it’s take a while to kinda get to this place and some days are definitely better than others but I don’t think without my business I would have really even been this intentional to figure out what works and what doesn’t because I wouldn’t have been put in a lot of positions where it really, REALLY mattered, but when people rely on you to get work done, it obviously does!
It’s funny because people always say I am organized or that I just “get” systems and while I think my brain works in a very systematic way, I can tell you it 100% has to do with the fact that having those systems in place is the only option because when I don’t, the wheels come off and I feel so dysregulated and overwhelmed.
I will also say that with my ADHD comes being multipassionate and being interested in a lot of different things and not wanting to get bored doing the same thing all the time which is actually why I think being a VA was such a good thing for me to get into because I get to work with a variety of clients, and businesses, doing a variety of different tasks and things are always kept interesting! Plus, it’s really flexible, so I can work so much on my own time and schedule instead of sitting at a job for 8 hours. So that's also a win.
So if you are someone that has ADHD and you want to become a VA but you are worried that it will hinder you, don’t count yourself out. Sure, you might need to put some extra systems and structure in place to support you but there are multiple people who have done through my program who have ADHD as well so let us be proof that you absolutely can do it!
02. Being a Good Communicator
This is huge because when you bring on a client I want you to remember that you are now a TEAM. You are a part of their business, and in order to have a thriving and sustainable relationship, you have to communicate. (kinda like marriage, ya know? haha)
No but for real, communication is so important. If you don’t understand something, or you need something from your client you have to be able to communicate that to them. Even when the reason you have to communicate is a little uncomfy. Real talk, I am an enneagmra 9 so communication probably isn’t my strongest quality, ill admit. But I have grown SO MUCH in this area because I am working with so many other people and different personality styles and such. I have found communication is really powerful, but it is also something you can get better at over time and with more practice! You just have to be willing to acknowledge that mayyyybe theres a gap and you can work on that a little more. I would honestly air on the side of OVERcommunicating especially in the beginning working with a client because it’s going to just help everyone be on the same page!
03. A Willingness to Learn
Speaking of willingness - the last trait or skill that I think you need (and probably already have) is a willingness to learn. Listen, it can be overwhelming and a little nerve-racking to learn something new. Whether it’s a completely new career like becoming a VA in general, or even onboarding a new client and learning their systems and processes, tasks, etc.
I want you to hear me loud and clear when I say this – give yourself permission to be a beginner again. Be willing to learn something new and develop a new skill – I mean if you are really being honest with yourself, when was the last time that you did that?! Let this be the time!
If you notice, I haven’t said anything in the podcast episode about specific tasks and services and that’s because this falls under the willingness to learn. One thing that maybe people don’t understand right away is that as a virtual assistant, your client is going to teach you how to do the things they want done. The point of hiring a VA is to delegate, so the things they are giving you they are probably either doing themselves or they know how to do and haven’t been making them a priority so they can show you either 1:1 or through recorded SOPS (standard operating procedures). And this is key because even if you have experience in let’s say, community management. That is going to look different from client to client. Some clients might have a community in Facebook and some in Mighty Networks. Some may want you engaging and others may need help with monitoring payments. All of these things are things the client is going to 1) tell you and 2) show you. And it’s something that you should expect as well. A bonus tip is to make sure when you are connecting with a client fo the first time on a discovery call, talk to them about how they would want to go about it. If they already have SOPs that they can hand over, if they will get on a call with you and you record a Zoom call of them showing you how to do the things, this will also vary.
Because your client is going to show you how to do so much, having the willingness to learn and also being a quick learner (I’m not saying have a photographic memory lol) and being able to pick up on things quickly is going to help not only you in your business but create raving fans in your clients! And if you are curious about what some of the more typical things that clients are hiring VA’s for, I have a free download that you can snag here that is a list of 50 different tasks or services you can offer as a VA even as a beginning, to just help you get those wheels turning!
And that is it! The 3 most important skills that I think you need in order to become a VA, and you likely already have time. Check these three things off and you are 100% qualified and now it’s time for you to just START. Start putting yourself out there, become a beginner again, and step boldly into the possibilities that are there for you through becoming a virtual assistant because they really are endless.
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