Do you want to become a VA?

October 24, 2021

Have you aspired to become a VA or virtual assistant so you can work from home and spend more time with your family? But getting hired is almost impossible. Some are lucky enough to get hired in a short manner of time but others waited for months or years to land an online job.

So am gonna give you some tips on how to get started. But first, let me enumerate the advantages of working at home:

• No need to wake up 5 or 4 hours before the shift because the workstation is just nearby. You don't have to allot 1 to 2 hours for the preparation and 2-3 hours for travel.

• No need to take a bath or brush teeth unless your PC has a nose. You can work on your PJs, as long as there are no meetings. You can see your loved ones especially kids most of the time. You can bond with them as soon as you're done working or even while working if the work permits.

• You get to earn in foreign currencies and Paypal, Payoneer, or any other payment services will be your best friend. You're lucky if the exchange rate is high. You can save money for the food and transportation plus you get to eat home-cooked meals. Unless no one cooks and you always go for takeaways.

• Since you're not traveling, you can set the money aside either for emergencies, savings, investment, etc.

  These are just some of the advantages but how about the disadvantages?

• If you're an extrovert then it might not be for you. It's not fun to socialize virtually most of the time or you'll easily burn out if you only work alone.

• You'll have the first level of stress when you work from home especially with the kids fighting, arguing with a member of the family, or receiving bad news firsthand.

• You'll deal with distractions either from your kids, parents, partner, your barking dogs, clucking chickens, passing vehicles, loud videoke, fighting or laughing neighbors, etc

• You got to change your tax status and submit several documents to the BIR. You even have to undergo a seminar and print your own receipts for taxation purposes. I hate this part.

But should you wish to continue on becoming a VA:

• Know your talents and skills. You can make a list of your skills, the tools, and the systems you are familiar with.

• Choose a niche. Do you want to take calls like in the BPO or do you like to become a real estate appointment setter? Or do you only want a pure nonvoice job? Data entry or project management? Analysis or social media?

• Research about the platforms that hire VAs like Upwork, Onlinejobs.ph, Go VA, Cyberbacker, Filipina Homebased Moms, etc. Do you want to be hired directly or use a hiring company?

• Research about the salary of your chosen job. There are a lot of scammers who would want a free service or offer rates as low as $1/hour. Be made aware.

• Join VA groups in Social media like FB but be warned about scammers, again. Research about the company that wants to hire you. If the offer is either too good to be true or too low, stay away from the company.

• Update your resume and cover letter. There are a million ways to make either your resume or cover letter catchy: it speaks a lot about you so make it count. Gone were the days where you can only make a resume through MS Word, make a video. Be resourceful and be creative in selling yourself!

• Do not be discouraged if you're not hired the first or 100th time, the right client will come at the right time. Learn from your mistakes and be always prepared for the interviews and exams.

• This is one of the most important tips: invest in good equipment like a sophisticated laptop or PC, a backup Internet like a pocket Wifi and a generator, if possible. You might need to have a dual monitor as well for multi-tasking. Make sure your computer can handle multiple opened apps at the same time. Your equipment specs depend on the nature of your job. Make good research and ask for recommendations from seasoned VAs or computer experts.

I hope this article helped you my friends in pursuing your dream of becoming a VA. Do you have any questions that I might be able to help you with? Let me know by commenting below!

Thanks for your time and I hope you won't get tired of reading my articles.

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