If you’ve landed on this article page, you’re probably searching for a
good business idea—an idea that’s light on the pocket but heavy on
returns, promising both a fulfilling journey and potential profit.
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How
to start Virtual assistance Business Service in Nigeria
A Virtual Assistant is a self-employed worker, expert or
entrepreneur who provides specialized services to clients from a
remote location. The primary role of a Virtual Assistant is to
work remotely with clients like companies, businesses and even
individuals, to provide specific services for them in exchange
for a profit.
With the increasing growth in opportunities for remote jobs,
millions of experts have embraced the chance to become a virtual
assistant, working with brands around the world, regardless of
their location.
Similarly, more businesses are opting to hire freelancers and
contractors because they want to reduce cost. And this has led
to an increase in demand and opportunities for virtual
assistants in different fields.
As someone aspiring to become a virtual assistant, I want you to
know that this is not only a great time to get started, the job
flexibility, entry level opportunities and ease of getting
started has inspired many other people like you to embark on
this journey.
Over the years, growing adoption of technology by businesses and
individuals has led to a surge in the demand for virtual
assistant service providers.
Unlike many years ago, today many businesses prefer to cut cost
in some areas by employing virtual assistants over permanent
staff.
With this increase in demand for VA roles, many have stepped in
to provide Virtual Assistant services either as a full time job
or part time job and they are getting paid for it.
Also, the flexibility it offers in terms of working hours,
work-life balance, choice of jobs etc. are some additional
factor that keep attracting people to take up VA roles.
What a Virtual Assistant Does: Initially, the job of a virtual
assistant was typically administrative in nature. But with
advancement in technology, the most in-demand virtual assistant
skills recently are in the areas around technology. And some of
the popular jobs available in the virtual assistant industry
are: Social Media Assistance, Email Marketing Expert, Content
Writing, Audio & Video Editing, Digital Marketing etc.
There are also some less popular tasks which include: Payroll
Management, Proof Reading, Editing Documents, Database Entry,
Email management etc.
Although these are some of the top in demand virtual assistant
services, there are still a lot more and you can always create a
niche and market your own unique services, based on your
competence and market need.
You don’t necessarily need to have a specific experience before
you can become a Virtual Assistant but you need some skills to
get started. In fact, the first thing to do before starting a
Virtual Assistance Career is to sort out your skills. Find out,
what professional, specialized or general skills do you have?
List them all out. If you don’t have any relevant skill, find
out what skill(s) you want to learn and how long it’ll take you
to gain mastery in that skill.
Doing this will get you to identify your skills and choose the
relevant ones that will be useful to your target audience
seeking the services of a virtual assistant.
Where you think you don’t have the right kind of professional
skills, start with enrolling in an institution to learn digital
skills professionally or any other skills as relevant to your
goals.
With this you can get proper certifications and get yourself all
prepped for a robust freelance virtual assistance experience.
PS: Even where you already have the requisite skills, it is
still important to brush up your skills as this will give you
more confidence in your work.
Choose a Perfect Niche
Choosing a niche is a very important aspect of your journey to
become a virtual assistant because your success to a large
extent is going to depend on the market niche you choose.
So, before you choose a niche, take note of things like,
Market Demand. Are there a decent number of people currently in
need of this service you’re planning to offer?
Your level of Expertise in that niche. Do you have adequate
competence to work in this field or will you have to attend some
training to build on or brush up your skills? And if you have to
embark on trainings, how long will it take you?
The level of Competition. Are there a high number of already
established experts in this niche? If yes, will you be able to
compete with them profitably, as a beginner?
These are some of the key things you need to consider before
deciding on any particular niche. As whatever you decide here
will influence your success as a virtual assistant.
Create a Unique Brand
If you want to become that virtual assistant that stands out
from the crowd, then you choose and create a brand that stands
out from the crowd.
Starting with your brand name, carefully select a brand name
that will pass across the kind of message you want it to send
across to your audience without mincing words.
I have seen VAs choose brand names like SEOExpert, Brandchick,
SocialMediaBabe etc., based on their niche and target audience.
You can always do something close to that. You can build your
brand name around services you provide or go all out to choose a
brand name that suits you based on your own business name or
whatever you want to use as such.
Remembering that branding is not only about your name and logo,
you also need to be sure that your marketing paraphernalia,
website, social media and other items are also on brand and
people can recognize your brand, whenever they come across items
that belong to you.
To further accentuate your brand, you also need to create and
share content that positions you as the expert that you are in
that niche.
PS: In whatever you do, be sure your target audience can
actually relate to your brand.
Create a Portfolio: It’s a good thing you want to become a
virtual assistant but if you also want to be taken seriously,
you need a solid portfolio. You need a portfolio you can
showcase to your clients while applying for jobs so they can
access your strengths.
As a beginner, it might be difficult to get jobs without
adequate experience. To get this sorted, you can use two
strategies, internship and volunteering.
These two strategies gives you the chance to evolve hands on
experience on your preferred niche. It also gives you an
opportunity to build a portfolio off your internship projects
while still learning practical skills.
Another strategy you can use here is offering discounted offers
to select clients or completely free services, in your niche
area, in return for a good testimonial and porfolio.
You can build a Full Scale Virtual Assistant Service as a
business or as a Freelancer
Of course you can always work from either of the places,
provided you have all the needed resources that will make your
work convenient at both locations but if you can afford it, it
is always better to work from a personal or shared office space,
where you get your job done without needless distractions.
After you’ve sorted out your preferred working location, the
next thing you need do is to provide all the necessary working
devices including the necessary applications, softwares and
hardware that you’ll be needing.
Choosing a Pricing Model
Now that you’ve set up your business, the next thing you want to
do is to set up a pricing model and decide how much you’ll be
charging clients for your services.
Usually, you can decide to charge you clients either
collectively for all services provided if you’re providing more
than one service to a client or to charge them on an hourly,
weekly or monthly basis. The choice is always yours.
As a beginner, if you’re offering more than one service to a
client, it is always best you charge them collectively as this
will give you the chance to give them a wholesome discount that
can also serve as an incentive, in some cases.
Where you’re charging on a per service basis, you can offer to
charge them on an hourly, weekly or monthly basis, depending on
what works for the both of you.
In some niches, pricing is a deal breaker. And to successfully
become a become a virtual assistant in such niches, you have to
be very flexible with your pricing while giving your clients
good value for their money.
Promote your Services
So, you’re all set up to become a virtual assistant. Your next
goal is to get the jobs. And to do this well enough, you need to
promote the hell out of your business. Yes! Get the word out so
people know you exist.
Get a Website: The first step to promote your VA business is to
get a website. The reason you need a website is to showcase your
services, your portfolio, reviews, clients and content.
Getting a website and putting all these things in place will go
a long way in building your credibility as well as getting you
the visibility you deserve. And we can build a website for you,
if you reach out to us here.
Get on Social Media: After setting up your website, the next
step to promote your VA business is to get on the social media.
Get your brand all set up on the important social media
platforms that have a good number of your target clients.
Create & Share Content: Create content and share on both your
website and social media handle from time to time. This content
should include your work, case studies and other valuable
content that will benefit your target audience.
Work on doing this consistently, so people can get to know you.
Starting a virtual assistant business is not just doable it’s
one of the most popular online businesses that’s providing
employment for a lot of individuals out there. And you can
actually use these steps to start your own virtual assistant
services business.
The profitability of a virtual assistant business largely
depends on your ability to deliver high-quality services,
attract clients, and manage your business efficiently. Some
successful virtual assistant can achieve a comfortable income,
while others may start with lower earnings and gradually
increase their rates as they gain experience and build a solid
reputation. Thorough planning, effective time management,
exceptional customer service, and ongoing skill development are
essential for building a profitable business and to making money
as a virtual assistant.
Get our Practical Guide on How be a Virtual Assistant in
Nigeria. This guide, we'll walk you through the journey of
turning your virtual assistant dream into a thriving business.
From honing your skills to setting up a professional business
website, we'll cover everything you need to know to successfully
start a business as a virtual assistant.
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