7 Good Reasons to Become a Virtual Assistant + Resources to Get Started

You’ve probably seen me post MANY times about work at home virtual assistant jobs. I love sharing information about it as a work at home option because there are so many routes to take with it that are profitable, and there are many ways to make it fit your personality and skillsets.

Virtual assistants either work for companies that hire multiple virtual assistants or work for themselves — or both! The way you choose to go about this as a career path is up to you. It’s extremely flexible!

If I weren’t blogging full-time, I would absolutely begin selling my services as a virtual assistant so that I could continue to earn a living from home on my own terms.

Have you been thinking about becoming a virtual assistant, but you are still on the fence? If so, here are seven good reasons to consider it. That said, I do realize it’s not for everyone!

7 Reasons to Become a Virtual Assistant

1 – It’s Flexible

Most people who want to work at home have “flexibility” at the top of their list of reasons. The idea of not having to stick to a specific, set schedule is very appealing when you have kids at home with you or other responsibilities that take up time throughout each day.

Virtual assistants who work for themselves can decide when they do and don’t work. And virtual assistants who work for companies who hire usually get to enjoy a certain amount of scheduling flexibility as well, although there are some exceptions depending on who you work for.

2 – You Can Get Paid For Your Specific Skills, Whatever They May Be

Virtual assistants do basically anything, and there is no specific thing that you MUST be skilled in to earn money as a virtual assistant.

Take what you already know how to do and offer that as part of your services!

If there are things you don’t know how to do, no worries. You can get paid for doing what you already know, although learning something new to add to your list of services is always a good idea.

Just to give you an idea, here are several things virtual assistants offer as services:

• Answering emails
• Taking calls
• Writing blog posts and articles
• Updating social media accounts
• Managing/moderating social media accounts
• Graphic design/Photo editing
• Email outreach
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services
• Managing client calendars and scheduling
• Personal shopping

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can also take any of the things I’ve listed above and narrow it down to an even MORE specific service offering.

For example, narrow down your social media management to only the platforms you know and are comfortable with, or only offer a specific type of writing service (social media posts, blog posts, copywriting).

3 – You Can Make Good Money

Virtual assistant work can be very lucrative, especially if you are working for yourself and finding your own clients. It is not unusual for virtual assistants who run their own businesses to earn $30 hourly or even more!

If you are working for a company that hires multiple virtual assistants, it’s hit or miss and will depend entirely on what the company pays.

As far as working for a company goes, I’ve seen pay rates barely above minimum wage while other companies pay $20 an hour or more.

For what it’s worth, the companies offering the best pay do require more past experience and sometimes a degree as well.

4 – You Get to Be Your Own Boss

If you are working for yourself, you are your own boss. This means …

• You decide when you work
• You decide what you’re going to charge
• You decide what specific type of work to do

5 – Never a Dull Moment

As a virtual assistant, you are most likely NOT going to be doing the same thing every day. So, if you are someone who despises monotonous work — repeating the same task over and over — you probably won’t have to do that!

Because you will most likely offer a variety of different services, you’ll probably find yourself bouncing around doing different kinds of tasks all day long.

That said, if you are someone who does prefer monotonous work (and that’s OK if you do!), you may not really enjoy virtual assistant work unless you are planning to offer only one or a few services to your clients.

6 – You Can Work Part-Time Or Full-Time

Unless you are working for a company that hires virtual assistants, you’ll have the flexibility to decide if you want to work part-time, full-time, or change it around depending on what you have going on week to week.

No one is ever going to tell you how much or how little you work. It’s just up to you.

7 – People Are Going to Always Need Virtual Assistants

Virtual assistants are in demand. Business owners — especially those with start-ups that are growing faster than they can manage — need HELP.

Business owners need virtual assistants for all kinds of reasons, but the main reasons are …

• They don’t have time to take on certain small, but still important, tasks.
• They don’t have time nor the desire to learn certain skills in order to manage a certain part of their businesses effectively.
• They are ignoring things like social media marketing, blogging, and customer outreach/retention because they don’t have time to do it.
• There are certain tasks that go along with running a business that they know how to do, but don’t like to do!

It all comes down to time and skill. Business owners are busy. There are so many moving parts to running a business successfully, and business owners often cannot — by themselves — realistically give each part the attention it needs.

Once they realize this, they are usually pretty happy to outsource that work to someone who knows how to do it for them.