What Does A Virtual Assistant Do?

Many people have never heard the term "Virtual Assistant" before, let alone know what the job entails. This article summarises the person, the job and what skills are needed if you want to pursue a career as a Virtual Assistant.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

There are a number of definitions as to what a Virtual Assistant (VA) is, however the best one seems to be from Wikipedia and is as follows:

"A virtual assistant is an independently contracted business owner, not an employee. They work out of their own offices, manage the work from their clients and how it is carried out, set their own rates, as well as operating standards and policies, and pay their own self-employment taxes."

So in basic terms a Virtual Assistant is an administrator who works from home and is self-employed carrying out tasks for clients.

Who Uses Virtual Assistants and Why?

• Professional Speakers
• Business or Personal Coaches
• Authors
• Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
• Estate Agents
• Businesses who can't or don't want to hire a "full-time employee"
• Businesses who have occasional projects needing a professional support service
• People who want to have more time to concentrate on the parts of the business they enjoy
• Progressive Businesses who see the use of VA as a major cost effective part of the business

What are the benefits of using a Virtual Assistant?

• You pay only for "time on task" or by project - there is no payroll expenses, no paid vacation time, no benefits, no bonuses etc.
• Your VA will help you stay focused and on schedule - freeing up your time to concentrate on building your business
• Your VA can handle your seasonal or periodic projects and is very convenient when your current staff gets overloaded or during holidays.
• No need to purchase additional office equipment, furniture or computers.
• You are not limited to the usual 9-5 hours— most virtual assistants keep very flexible schedules.
• Your VA will work with no supervision -you can depend on having your tasks completed on time every time.
• Your VA is available to handle a wide variety of tasks from booking hotels to project planning.

What tasks can a Virtual Assistant do?

There are a vast number of duties that can be carried out by a VA; only recently trawling the Internet the following VA jobs were available from one client only:

• Data entry assistants - must have accurate typing skills
• Legal assistants - prepare legal documents, assist law firms
• Administrative assistants - general office work, document prep=
• Typists - enter data, type reports and numeric data
• Accounting assistants - bookkeeping, financial document prep
• Customer service - must have excellent telephone skills
• Order entry assistants - enter data and confirm online orders
• Web assistants - design and update websites, type content
• Executive assistants - arrange meetings, handle paperwork
• Personal assistants - make travel arrangements, scheduling
• Claims and coding - experience with insurance industry helpful
• Medical billing and transcription - transcribe notes, office duties

Virtual Assistants use their skills from previous jobs within Industry and business to assist companies needing help due to cost saving implications or overload of work.

What Skills will a Virtual Assistant Need?

Virtual assistants need to use the backup of skills and knowledge learned in business or previous employment and then specialise in those areas within the VA arena. However it is vital that VA's have a basic knowledge of at least the following topics and the remainder of the course will provide these skills and knowledge on a theoretical basis to ensure you have a sound and solid grounding in the basics, you can then specialise where you see fit then later if needed:

• Introduction to Small Business Skills
• Customer Care Skills
• Telephone Skills
• Computer Skills
• Basic Accounting Skills
• Basic Project Planning Skills
• Introduction to Marketing
• Basic eMarketing Skills
• What you need to operate as a Virtual Assistant
• Virtual Assistants will need both key skills and facilities if they are to operate within the business community.
• Access to the Internet
• Access to a telephone (preferably not just mobile)
• Critically a website is vital to promote the skills available
• The ability to communicate with senior management
• Skills in your chosen speciality
• Own office facilities in the home or in a unit

This article has been put together by the distance learning organisation Start Learning who are experts in home study. If you want to find out more about Virtual Assistant or many other distance learning courses please browse their website: http://www.start-learning.co.uk

A good way to start working towards a career as a Virtual Assistant is to sign up for a distance learning course on the subject. By studying in your free time and pace, you can gain the necessary knowledge while tailoring it to suit your schedule.

Kerrana McAvoy

Academic Director – Start Learning

http://www.start-learning.co.uk