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Home Business Idea – Be a Social Media VA

April 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

profitable niche ideasDo you have what it takes to become a Social Media Virtual Assistant?

Being a virtual assistant who’s fluent in social media management is going to be an increasingly lucrative career in the coming years. Social media is quickly becoming one of the most talked about sources of traffic and brand building. More and more business owners are seeking virtual assistants who can manage their social media platforms well.

Do you have what it takes to really succeed as a social media virtual assistant? What are the most important skills and qualities you need to succeed at the job? Read on.

=> Comfort with a Variety of Social Networks

Each of your clients will have different needs and different social networks. In order to be successful, you need to be fluent with at least Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Furthermore, specific clients will have more specific needs. For example, some clients might get a lot of traffic from StumbleUpon and need you to manage their account and relationships with other stumblers there.

In order to succeed as a social media virtual assistant, you need to be fluent in all the major social networks and be able to learn the smaller networks quickly.

=> Ability to Write in a Variety of Voices

You may have one client who’ll require you to manage his LinkedIn profile in a professional and courteous voice. Simultaneously, you may have a client who needs you to manage his reddit and Digg accounts in a crass and satirical manner.

One of the most valuable skills you could have as a social media specialist is the ability to write in the voice that your clients want.

Remember that when you’re representing someone in a social network, you’re basically representing them and their brand. Their readers expect to hear from the brand in a certain voice. If you’re able to adapt to and take on that voice, you’ll become incredible valuable for your clients.

=> Consistency and Organization

Finally, being a social media virtual assistant requires being very organized and very consistent.

For example, one client might ask that you do certain tasks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Other clients might ask that you make certain posts on certain dates. Other clients will ask you to handle certain basic tasks every single day.

It’ll be on your shoulders to make sure you manage all these tasks properly and don’t let any balls drop.

Furthermore, you’ll need to be keeping tabs on all the different accounts and passwords of your clients, in addition to important relationships.

In short, you need to have organizational systems that work for you. You need to be able to keep track of notes, tasks, relationships, logins and more.

If you’re fluent in social networks, you’re organized and consistent and you can write in a variety of voices, then you may have the makings of a very successful social media virtual assistant.

Filed Under: VA Tagged With: ,

Home Biz Idea – Administrative Assistant

March 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

profitable niche ideasIf you have administrative know-how and a good dose of self-discipline, you might want to consider starting a home business as an administrative assistant (virtual assistant). With the internet and basic technology, you can provide a valuable service to clients around the world.

Best of all, you can be online and working in just a few short days.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is someone who provides administrative assistance. Instead of working in an office environment, a virtual assistant does the work online. As a virtual assistant you might communicate with your clients via email or via a project management system.

You can specialize in a specific task, for example, managing a forum or an affiliate team. Or you can offer a variety of administrative services. You can also specialize in an industry.

What Do You Need to Get Started as a Virtual Assistant?

* Computer with internet connection
* Software to support your administrative services
* Telephone and related equipment like a headset so you can talk hands free
* Website to market your services
* Business Plan – Your plan will your business goals, marketing strategy, audience, services, policies and procedures and so on.
* Contact information – Email account/telephone number

Most of this you probably already have and the rest of it can be acquired or created. The one thing you probably don’t have is a website. A one page website is all you need to get started. Once you have customers you can expand your website. You can add content and grow your business.

Making Money as a Virtual Assistant

Most virtual assistants charge by the hour. You might also consider charging by the project. Another option is to charge by the minute, word, or post depending on what service you’re providing. For example, if you’re offering transcription you might charge by the audio minute.

Marketing Your Administrative Business

Like many other businesses, it can be beneficial to specialize. For example you might market yourself as the 24-hour transcriptionist – turning around any transcription order in less than twenty four hours. You might specialize in managing affiliates, scheduling or managing customer service. You might also specialize in an industry. For example, you might focus on offering research for information marketers.

Your website will be your primary marketing tool. It’ll be where people can research your services, rates and view your work if you have any samples or testimonials.

Partnering with another service provider can be a great way to promote your business. For example, you might partner with a website designer who specializes in the same industry you do.

Social networking, advertising, and content marketing all help to build awareness too. Finally, some virtual assistants find great success by offering memberships. For example, you might offer five, ten and fifteen hour memberships. Members get a discount for committing to regular work. And you get regular work.

If you have an interest in offering administrative services and you want to work from home, from your kitchen table, you can do it. Create a plan. Build a website and start making money today.

Resources for further study:


Fabjob Guide: How to Become a Virtual Assistant

Filed Under: VA Tagged With: ,

VA Business – Starting Your Own Virtual Assistant Business

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A VA business can be extremely profitable. But too many people make the mistake of thinking it’s an easy path to riches.

This is not true. The vast majority of VA companies fail.

And that’s too often because the new virtual assistant makes some critical mistakes during the beginning stages.

Here are five mistakes to avoid when starting your own virtual assistant business.

Mistake #1) Not having a plan

It’s essential to have a business plan in order to make money as a Virtual Assistant. Anything sustainable doesn’t happen by accident. It has to be intentional.

The truth is, starting this business is not cheap. Knowing ahead of time what you can afford to spend can save you from disaster. A good business plan will include a budget and marketing strategy.

Mistake #2) Trying to be a jack-of-all-trades.

Attempting to do too much is a common mistake. Many owners try to handle every task in order to get more business.

Be careful because many people who do this aren’t then able to focus their marketing on a specific group of people.  As is often said, “if everyone is your customer, then no one is your customer.”

Becoming the best at one particular skill is usually more profitable than being average at twenty. This will help you stand out from the crowd. And if you can’t call yourself the master of any particular skill, consider investing in additional training.

Mistake #3) Putting up with distractions

If you are going to work from home, make sure you are in a place that is free of distractions. In other words, don’t have your office in a high-trafficked part of the home.

This is one of the biggest killers to productivity. Instead, set up a dedicated workspace where you can have uninterrupted work time. If possible set a schedule and stick to it.

Mistake #4) Not focusing on the marketing

It is difficult to make money without being a good marketer, even if you are the best VA in the world. If you can’t attract business, your skills will not do you much good. Use the online marketing tips on this blog to make your business stand out – head and shoulders above the rest.

Mistake #5) Not having a scalable business

That’s not to say you shouldn’t do any VA assignments yourself. After all, you might really enjoy them. However, recognize that there are limits to the amount of tasks you can do yourself in a 24-hour day. That’s why hiring people will enable you to accept more work, and therefore make your business scalable.

For instance, if you have a web design VA business, you might only be able to finish one site a week yourself. However, if you have twenty people working for you, your productivity will be multiplied times twenty.

The bottom line is this: having a VA business can be very profitable. When you avoid the five common mistakes listed above, you’ll likely start earning more.

Filed Under: Home Business Ideas, VA Tagged With: , , ,