5 Skills You Already Have That Would Make You a Great Virtual Assistant

Jan 21

If you've been thinking about becoming a virtual assistant, but you keep telling yourself that you're not qualified or you don't have the right experience or you're not techie enough, or you don't know social media. Those are the things that come up when people have these hesitations. I'm hoping that this blog will change that. And by the end of this you're going to realize that you're way more ready than you think to get started. Because here's what I know most high-achieving women are already doing the exact type of work that business owners pay virtual assistants for. They just don't recognize it as a marketable skill or a service that you can offer. So today I'm breaking down the five skills that you likely already have, how they translate into real virtual assistant services, and how they can help you start earning money from home without needing another degree or a huge following on social media.

Really, you just need to know number one, what you're good at. Number two, how it helps business owners, and number three, how to package it into a paid service. So let's jump into it.

Skill number one is organization. If you've ever managed a calendar, you've handled appointments, you've kept a household running, you've made sure deadlines were met, you've coordinated schedules, you've kept a little human alive or multiple of them, then you're organized. And business owners pay for this. This translates into specific VA services like inbox organization or calendar management, scheduling content, managing projects, keeping track of deadlines, all of that kind of stuff is something that if you're someone who's organized, you can absolutely do those things. I know that you know how to hold things together. And that is literally what clients hire virtual assistants to do. They need support in managing the behind the scenes of their business in this way because it's hard as a business owner to not only grow your business, but manage everything and keep it running at the same time. That's where a business owner comes to this fork in a road. Do I keep doing everything myself and maybe not grow as much or grow as fast, or do I hire and I start delegating things so that I can focus on the things that I need to focus on to grow the business? That's where you come in and can help manage things behind the scenes. Organization is a skill that not everyone has. But if you are someone who has that skill, you are going to be highly valuable when it comes to being a virtual assistant.

Number two is communication. If you've ever answered customer service emails, or if you're a teacher, you've handled parent communication, you've talked to administrators, maybe you're in healthcare, you've communicated with patients or clients, or in corporate, you have had communication with teams, right? Or even if you've just ever been the person that everyone says, you're just really good with people, that's communication. Business owners need people who can respond professionally, who can keep conversations moving, who can follow up, who can help clients feel taken care of and can make things run smoother. This looks like email management, customer service, responding to inquiries, handling DMs if someone is looking for inbox support, onboarding clients, sending proposals or follow-ups. All of these things are stuff that business owners have to do, but they don't want to spend their day in their inbox. They don't want to have to be managing all of those things because they also need to be out doing the things that only they can do, which is working with clients, getting more leads or fulfilling services that people have paid for. Business owners just don't want to be doing all of that kind of stuff. And they don't need to be doing all that stuff when they can hire someone like you. And what's really cool is that they're going to show you how they want you to communicate. A lot of times they'll have email templates or they'll tell you how they want you to communicate in inboxes. It's not like you have to know how to do those things right away, but it's just something that you could take off of their plate and respond to them how they want their team to respond to these types of things.

Number three skill is problem solving. I know that you know how to problem solve. I know that there's been a time that you've figured out how to make something work with limited time. I know that there's been a time where you've troubleshot an issue. You've learned something quickly because you had to, or you had to just figure out what you needed to do without anybody telling you how to do it. That's problem solving, right? And it's one of the most valuable skills as a VA that you could really have because most business owners really need someone who can kind of figure out things. This could look like helping a business owner troubleshoot an issue that they came across or organizing digital tools, figuring out some tech support issues by researching the problem and coming up with a solution and just handling random tasks that pop up. And this isn't to say that your clients won't show you what they need to do, because, like I just said, they're going to show you how they want you to respond if you're doing customer response or customer service, but they're also going to have SOPs, which are standard operating procedures. And that's necessary when you hire a VA to show your VA how you want things executed. And it's basically like giving them a recipe for doing the task that you want them to do. And so your client is going to give you those things, but there's things that are going to come up that maybe your client doesn't even know the answer to. Or something that changes in a system and maybe they just want some help to figure out what that looks like. When you can have this ownership over your tasks, then you become a very highly sought out VA because you're able to take these headaches off of business owners' plates. And it's just one more thing they don't have to worry about.

Skill number four is attention to detail. I think this is one of the most underrated skills in the VA world. Maybe it's because everyone's just going too fast all of the time or whatever it might be. But if you're someone who notices errors that others missed, or you catch little details, or you triple check things, you're the type who reads instructions carefully, this skill makes you incredibly valuable because the online world runs on details. And VA services that support this are stuff like formatting documents or scheduling content with all the correct links, organizing spreadsheets, posting blogs or email newsletters correctly, just making sure that everything is clean and polished. A detail-oriented VA is truly a business owner's dream. And while it is something that's very valuable, I will say this is probably the skill set that I am not the strongest in. I'm definitely detail-oriented especially with my clients' work because I'm making sure that their work is done really well. But I have ADHD and it's really hard for me to notice typos or do proofreading or things like that. And so that's not a huge skill set that I have. That's not something that I offer. I don't offer editing or proofreading or that kind of thing. And so I don't want you to hear this and think like, oh, well, maybe I have ADHD and you are not sure if you have as much attention to detail as you need to be a VA. I would say that it's different when you're doing it for clients. It's different when you're doing it for work because for myself, I'm not as good at paying attention to detail. But for clients, I'm good at catching things. I'm good at catching errors, I'm good at making sure things are working appropriately and paying attention to those details, posting blogs and email newsletters correctly, all that kind of stuff. We're not going to skimp on making things look great and professional and making sure that it's great quality, but I'm not going to be doing editing and proofreading, I'll tell you that, because that is not one of my strengths. If you are someone who loves editing and proofreading and that kind of thing, then by all means, that's something that you can offer as a service. You don't have to offer all of these services, you don't have to do all of these things, but you can when you have these different skill sets.

Skill number five is one that you definitely already have. And I know it. It's multitasking and prioritization. Because if you're a mom, I know that you can handle 37 things happening at once and still remember what matters most, right? That skill translates into managing multiple clients, juggling deadlines, keeping tasks organized, prioritizing what's urgent, staying on top of moving parts. Honestly, a lot of times business owners just need someone that can hold them accountable to staying on top of what they need to be working on and communicating what you are working on as the virtual assistant. Being a VA is a lot of learn as you go. And when I started, I didn't have a lot of experience in business or online platforms, but I learned a ton as I started working with clients, which is why I know if you have these five core skills: organization, communication, problem solving, attention to detail, multitasking or prioritization, then you already have what it takes to be a VA. You don't need to try and become an expert before you ever even get started. You just need to redirect what you already do well naturally into paid services.

Now, if you're sitting here thinking, okay, I do have the skills, but what do I actually do with them? Or how do I turn this into income? How do I find clients? What should I offer? What should I charge? Do I need a contract? All those kinds of questions. That is exactly why I created Beginner to Booked VA. It is a step-by-step roadmap that shows you how to figure out your services, package your skills, position yourself confidently, and run discovery calls. We give you a contract template and we teach you exactly how to actually start booking clients, even if you're starting from scratch, even if you only have nap time or after bedtime, and especially if you don't want to spend your life on social media because it's not necessary in order to be successful VA. Doors are officially open right now. And if you're ready to stop Googling how do I make money from home and actually start doing it, you can join us inside Beginner to Booked VA. I hope you enjoyed this blog.

As always, I’m rooting for you. 🤍