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4 Proven Steps to Become a VA

August 27, 2020 By Contributor Leave a Comment

With our previous article, we shared all about what a Virtual Assistant does, and why online jobs are the way to go.

Now that you understand what a Virtual Assistant is, and have decided to become one, what is the next step?

Let us go through the checklist of the things you need before embarking on being a Virtual Assistant.

1. Make Sure You Are Work-From-Home Ready

Just like when you prepare for regular office work, you have to make sure you have the right attire, are not late, and are familiar with the tools needed for the job. With work from home, it’s the same. You need to make sure that you are all set before starting your online career.

Here are the things you need to prepare to be work-from-home ready.

A computer/laptop.

We recommend getting a computer rather than a laptop if you are a first-timer. With desktops, you can update your system unit if a higher specification is needed or if you need to add peripherals to your computer set-up. They are also cheaper than laptops. If there is any downside, that is, it won’t be portable. However, you can easily upgrade to a laptop once you have stable employment.

A stable internet connection.

If you are to spend money on your new work-from-home set-up, we highly advise that you invest more in your internet connection (if at all possible). A fast and stable internet connection is a must if you plan to work from home. It helps with your productivity and saves you from the nightmare of a buffering internet when you need to attend online meetings or interviews.

Another tip is to get a reliable backup connection like a pocket-wifi – this is a lifesaver when your primary internet connection suddenly becomes unstable.

Noise-canceling headphones

There is hardly a zero-noise environment unless you are in a soundproof room. And most times, you need a quiet space to have a peaceful and focused conversation with your client or even when you are just working on your tasks. Investing in affordable but decent noise-canceling headphones will help you greatly when working.

2. Make Sure You Are Interview Ready

In one of our articles, we shared Five Ways To Impress Your Recruiter Even Before The Interview. Here is a summary of that article:

Have an organized resume that showcases your skills, talents, and employment history.
Have a prominent online presence and ensure that your social media accounts or online profiles have professional content (if public).
Research your prospective employer’s business. It is always a plus if you put a lot of effort into knowing the company you are applying for because this shows your future employer that you are interested in working with them.
Go through some possible questions and practice answering them.
Make sure your computer, headset, and video cam are working, and the internet is stable before the interview. If your internet is unstable, tell your interviewer or client and advise on how long it would take you to get back online or to reschedule it all together. Sometimes technical difficulties are unavoidable even if you made sure that everything is ready. With the right response to your interviewer or client, you might get a second interview or meeting.

3. Make Sure You Are Training Ready

It makes a good impression and shows commitment to being a Virtual Assistant if you have undergone Virtual Assistant training/courses.

There is a lot of free and paid training for Virtual Assistants that you can go through. However, if you can’t afford to buy training yet, you can probably use your existing skillset and leverage it.

In our article, “How To Make Money From What You Know,” we explained how your previous office-based experience could help you land a work-from-home job without an online course.

4. Make Sure You Are Payment Ready

With PhilTeamFinder, once we have placed our candidate with an employer, their trial period is already paid. It is in your best interest to set up a PayPal account, the most popular online payment platform used by overseas employers, to get paid without hassles.

Starting from scratch may be difficult, but remember that anything worth having will require some work. Do what’s needed, work smart, and stay focused on your end goal.

Now that you have more information about the steps to being a Virtual Assistant, are you ready to become one? Our team can help you get started here.

What does a Virtual Assistant actually do?

August 13, 2020 By Contributor Leave a Comment

Ever dreamt of working anywhere you want? Like your living room while in front of the TV in your PJs? Or, using your laptop at your dining room table while having breakfast with your kids? Or maybe you just don’t like working in an office?

Is this even possible?

You may have seen posts on social media and on various job posting sites about a job called “Virtual Assistant.” This may be new to you, but, Virtual Assistants or VAs have been a real thing for quite a while. It became highlighted with job hunters when the pandemic started because people are opting for a safer option.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

In case you are wondering, a virtual assistant is a self-employed worker who provides support or administrative services to businesses and entrepreneurs remotely (as in, not in the same physical location).

Virtual assistants are in HOT demand. This applies to small businesses and for big companies. Virtual Assistants can do many different tasks without the need to be in an office.

A Typical Virtual Assistant Job Description

Some tasks that a Virtual Assistant does might be:

Support Services, like customer support, email support, and chat support. They can handle simple customer inquiries through email or chat.
Bookkeeping, orders, and refunds.
Administrative Services like managing appointments, bookings, calendars, and contacts.
Content Creation Services are content creation, ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, transcription, content research.
Other services specific to your skill sets include website design, WordPress website maintenance, graphic design and layout, editing videos, digital marketing tasks, social media management, and lead generation.

As we shared in our previous article, How To Make Money From What You Know, these skills might be something you already know or have vast experience working in an office.

Why Become a Virtual Assistant?

So the next question is, why become a Virtual Assistant? It was covered in our article: Why Working from Home is Here to Stay, and to give you a summary, it is just more flexible and rewarding to work from home.

Work anywhere. This is a luxury most people dream of. Working anywhere you want might be working from a different zip code every week. Some would look at this as spending the whole day working at the comfort of their bed. Being a Virtual Assistant allows you to have the freedom to do things to make a living but still feel like you’re living.

A study showed that people with a comfortable working environment had increased work productivity. ² Experimental research conducted over the last 30 years has found anywhere between a 2.7% to an 8.6% increase in productivity.

Without the toxic commute and the pressure of office-settings, you can focus on working and performing.

Rewarding. Rewarding is getting satisfaction or gratification. If you ever feel dissatisfied or unhappy with your work because of pressure and not being appreciated enough for your work, being a Virtual Assistant might be for you. VA’s have the freedom to work and get satisfaction because they are not motivated by the pressures of an office-based environment. They are driven by comfort and convenience.

³ Another research by Flexjobs in 2019 found that 65% of professionals think they would be more productive working remotely than in a traditional office, with 49% saying they go to their home or home office when they really need to buckle down and get work done.

If you want a type of career that can rid yourself of safety concerns, the pressures of office-based work and the convenience of working from the comfort of your home, going for a VA job is possibly the best fit for you.

PhilTeamFinder can help you be the next Virtual Assistant HERE.

² The Comfy Team. “The Comfort Productivity Connection”

³ Emily Courtney. “The Benefits of Working From Home: Why The Pandemic Isn’t the Only Reason to Work Remotely”

How To Make Money From What You Know

July 14, 2020 By Contributor Leave a Comment

Perhaps you have asked yourself these questions:

How can I get extra income? What are other people doing that I’m not? Should I take more jobs?

Taking more jobs seems like an obvious option. However, you can only take on so much before you reach your limit.

How then can you earn more without sacrificing all your time or juggling so many things all at once? Are there other avenues you can look at? Are you missing something?

Instead of looking externally, consider looking at what you already have. Like your skillset, for example. What is your most valuable skill? Can you make an income out of it?

The answer is, you probably can. But the question then becomes, how?

“The world does not pay for what a person knows. But it pays for what a person does with what he knows.” – Lawrence Lee

In a Forbes article, studies show that in over 28 million small businesses, an estimated 22 million comprises a single operating member or solopreneurs.

And many of these businesses got started with nothing more than passion and skills to scale into something truly profitable.

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN PROFIT FROM YOUR PASSION:

People have talents that are so natural. They don’t realize it’s a skill. Here are questions you can ask yourself to help you identify your talents and abilities.

What are my strengths?
What do I read most about?
What kinds of activities am I interested in?
What do people ask me to teach them?
What do I love talking about the most?
What have I been paid for in the past?

Online skills that can be profitable

Programming and Coding. Having technical knowledge of coding and programming is highly valuable in this digital age. In 2020, businesses are expanding using websites and apps, and so there is a higher demand for programmers and app developers.

Writing. Writing is a highly valued and portable skill. Businesses are continually looking to hire someone for creating website articles, research documents, summaries, and presentations.

Graphic Design. Graphic design can help you make a profitable full-time career. You can design graphics for presentations, infographics, and graphics for websites.

Social Media Managing. If you can easily manage several of your social media accounts, you can turn this into a career by managing someone else’s social media account or a business’s social media account. Many small to medium-sized businesses are not social media savvy.

Do you have any of the skills mentioned above? If you do, then great for you as these skills are very in-demand online and offline.

However, if you don’t yet have these skills, yet you’re interested to learn, do the next step discussed below.

Upgrade your skills for scalability once you have identified your talents and skills. Josh Spector, in his article, Want To Make Money From Your Expertise? Start Here. wrote, “The more clear you are about your expertise, its value, and who it benefits, the easier it becomes to monetize it.”

Knowing the value of your skills can help you understand who will benefit from it. This will help you focus on the relevant groups or communities you can join to scale-out.

Here is a simple guide on how you can scale-out:

Upgrading your skills. There are free online programs and courses online that can enhance your knowledge.
Creating an online portfolio where you can showcase your knowledge and expertise can help you create a network with companies and businesses that can, later on, turn into employers/clients.
Follow or join communities on social media sites about the talent or skills you have.

Social Media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are excellent avenues for promoting your work. By keeping a consistent dose of daily posts can help you develop your work to possible clients.

There is a vast opportunity for you to make a considerable profit from what you are passionate about. Scale-out and discover the potential of doing what you love and have a profitable full-time career.

PhilTeamFinder has been helping talented individuals find good-paying, stable home-based employment with foreign employers. We can help you turn your passion into profit here.