Getting back to basics – Becoming a VA

I’ve seen many posts recently via Twitter and forums where people are asking about how to become a Virtual Assistant.

As I haven’t written on that for awhile I thought I’d give an update here.

Providing you have good computer skills and experience in using the web for sharing files, downloading and receiving information and so on, then chances are you are eligible to become a Virtual Assistant.

A Virtual Assistant is someone who provides assistance to others on a virtual basis, be it the Internet (probably the most used medium for this industry), phone, fax, courier and mail.

Originally a Virtual Assistant (or VA) came from the corporate arena having had a secretarial, administrative or similar background but today the service offerings of a VA can be far wider than what the traditional secretary or administrative support person provided.

Services can include:  word-processing, formatting of documents, PowerPoint presentations, data entry, database management, internet research, website maintenance, book-keeping, transcriptions and the list goes on.

But don’t confuse the above list with thinking that all VAs must have all these skillsets.  They usually provide services in what they know and do best otherwise they will struggle to meet all the needs and expectations of clients.  It’s not unusual for a client to have more than one VA, with each providing the services only in their skillset.  When you think about it the same happens in the corporate world – the company employs people to handle the various aspects of the business that they are best suited to, so it makes sense for a client to enage more than one VA to handle several aspects of their business too.

And let’s face it – even business owners are not good at every aspect of their business. That’s why they should do what they do best and outsource the rest!