Virtual Assistant

Summary

Scheduling appointments
Making social media post to target audience
(Hashtags)
Video editing
Can make thumbnails
Creating PDF’s
Email marketing
Follow-ups
Trending hashtags
Web design and editing
Customer service
Good note taking skills
Weekly margin report
SEO
Social media management
Social media marketing

Tiktok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
____________________________________
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Communication
Time management
Bookkeeping
Email management
Organization
Writing and typing
Basic IT knowledge
Self-motivation and concentration
Detail-orientation
Reliability
Social media management
Creativity
1. Communication
One of the top virtual assistant skills is communication, both asynchronous and synchronous. Sometimes, you may be working in real-time with your client during a video conference or a phone call, while other times you’re giving updates via email, Slack, or text.

Virtual assistants need to communicate clearly with clients and on behalf of their clients. Companies and individuals engage virtual assistants because they need help completing tasks and want to make their lives easier. As a virtual assistant, your job is to complete these assignments virtually.

Depending on the client, you could book travel plans one day and respond to social media inquiries the next. Virtual assistants often represent their clients when sending out emails, interacting with followers on social media, or making cold calls, and strong professional communication skills are a must.

2. Time management
Successful virtual assistants are experts at managing time—both their own and their clients’. When working as an independent professional, you create your own schedule and decide when to take on projects or say yes to new clients. As a virtual assistant, you need to complete your client’s tasks on time, making sure you stay caught up and finish all assignments.

Part of effective time management is knowing your workflow and how much you can realistically complete in a day. As you say yes to new projects, create a personal schedule and to-do list that is manageable. Minimize distractions and block off your time into tasks, so you’re working efficiently. The right time management tips can help you become an expert!

Some clients may require personal scheduling and planning, and creating their calendars and arranging meetings will be up to you. Each client and company is different, and learning what works best may take some trial and error. You could also be working in a different time zone than your client and need to double-check times and be flexible for meetings.

Here are some time management courses to improve your game impress clients:

Udemy

Complete Time Management Course Raise Personal Productivity
Time and Task Management: Time Management Techniques
Time Management Mastery: Do More, Stress Less
Practical Time Management—Personal Productivity Tools
LinkedIn Learning:

Time Management Fundamentals
Time Management: Working From Home
Time Management Tips: Scheduling
Building a Better To-Do List?
3. Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is a worthwhile skill for virtual assistants. You could offer this as a service or make it your niche and specialize in bookkeeping; many companies look for virtual assistants to manage the day-to-day of their finances. Keep in mind that bookkeeping is different from accounting. It’s less inclusive, with specific tasks that might include:

Invoicing
Data entry
Billing
Employee reimbursement
Reconciliation (comparing financial records to ensure accuracy)
Payroll
Inventory control and analysis
Reporting
Interested in learning more about bookkeeping to see if it’s a virtual assistant skill you want to develop and offer to clients? Check out these bookkeeping courses:

Coursera:

Intuit Bookkeeping Professional
Bookkeeping Basics
Creating a Budget With Microsoft Excel
Udemy:

Bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online (Bookkeeping & Accounting)
Accounting & Bookkeeping Masterclass—Beginner to Advanced
Bookkeeping Basics Explained (Bookkeeping & Accounting)
Effective Bookkeeping and Payroll
Skillshare:

Bookkeeping for Small Businesses Using Google Sheets
Introduction to QuickBooks: Bookkeeping Basics
How To Start a Bookkeeping Business!
4. Email management
A popular administrative task for virtual assistants is email management. Companies and individuals need help managing their inboxes, organizing email, and responding in a timely fashion. As a virtual assistant, this could be a viable focus for you.

You could find yourself managing a company email account that receives customer questions, complaints, requests, or orders. A client may ask that you handle their business email because they don’t have time to read every incoming message. They need their email organized by someone they trust.

When a client hires a virtual assistant, like you, for email management, they need to feel confident in your skill set and trust that you will respond to emails with proper etiquette. When managing a client’s inbox, your daily tasks could be reading all email and responding if appropriate, sending follow-ups, and letting the client know which email requires their attention.

You could also be responsible for email marketing and setting up and monitoring campaigns. Using an email service provider like MailChimp or Constant Contact, clients could ask that you send out regularly scheduled newsletters or mass marketing emails to clients or potential clients. Part of email marketing is reporting analytics such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribes.

5. Organization
Virtual assistants need to have strong organizational skills. One aspect of being a virtual assistant is keeping your administration tasks organized so you’re on top of every deadline and don’t miss any assignments. Project management, a valuable and in-demand skill for virtual assistants, requires a great deal of organization.

Establishing a daily routine and creating to-do lists can help you stay organized while working. Clients may also ask that you help keep them organized by creating processes and using tools that help streamline their everyday life.

Before starting a virtual assistant job, know how you will stay organized.

What will be your main form of communication?

Slack
Email
Skype
Upwork Messages
How will you schedule meetings and appointments?

Google Calendar
Microsoft Outlook
Calendly
Do you have a way to collaborate on social media?

Hootsuite
Buffer
Loomly
Canva
How will your client assign tasks?

Upwork Milestones
Asana
Trello
?

6. Writing and typing
Writing and typing skills can help you be more efficient in any setting, including when working remotely. Virtual assistants need to be able to type quickly and professionally for their clients, whether you’re doing data entry or email marketing. If you’re a talented writer, you could offer copywriting and content writing skills as part of your virtual assistant services.

You may find yourself transcribing meetings, writing email, and even creating content like blogs, presentations, or website copy. Fast and accurate typing also helps with data entry and note taking. Being able to quickly create quality content expands your skill set as a virtual assistant and makes you more marketable and competitive.

Clients may ask you to ghostwrite blog posts for them or send out emails on their behalf, and you need to sound professional and match their tone and voice.

Need more confidence in your writing skills? You can improve your writing with practice and by taking courses. The more you write, the better you’ll get.

Udemy:

Writing With Flair: How To Become an Exceptional Writer
Better Business Writing Skills
Modern Copywriting: Writing Copy That Sells in 2022
Skillshare:

Creating Content That People Love To Read (and Google Loves To Rank)
Copywriting for Beginners: How To Write Web Copy That Sells Without Being Cheesy
LinkedIn Learning

Marketing: Copywriting for Social Media
Tips for Writing Business Emails
Learning To Write for the Web
Your new title could be Independent Virtual Assistant
I’m ready
12 Virtual Assistant Skills To Have on Your Resume
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7. Basic IT knowledge
Being tech-savvy and having basic IT knowledge are helpful skills for virtual assistants. As a virtual assistant, you’ll be working on the computer and may have to use different software and collaboration tools like Microsoft Office Suite.

You may need to create reports in Excel or presentations in Powerpoint. Clients could ask you to create social media content and respond to comments and messages for them. A company may need data put into Salesforce or another CRM. Being able to learn new software quickly can put you at an advantage and make your work easier.

The better your computer skills and comfort with different tools, the more you can offer clients. You could help maintain the business’s website, add new content, or run reports on how certain ads perform.

Improve your computer and IT skills with these courses:

Udemy:

Microsoft Excel—Excel from Beginner to Advanced
Powerpoint 2016 2019 365—Master PowerPoint presentation
Complete Google Workspace (G Suite), Beginner – Advanced
Master Microsoft Outlook—Outlook from Beginner to Advanced
Mastering Microsoft Teams Plus Bonus Content (2022)
WordPress for Beginners—Master WordPress Quickly
Skillshare:

How To Use Elementor: Build an Awesome WordPress Website, With No Code
Build Your Site & Shop: Beginner’s Guide to Shopify & Website Design
How To Efficiently Build WordPress Websites With Divi
Getting Started With Email Marketing | Learn with Mailchimp
Salesforce and HubSpot also both offer free online training and certifications on their software.

8. Self-motivation and concentration
People transition into freelancing to work on their terms. Freelancers get to pick and choose their clients and the types of projects they work on. But working remotely and setting your own schedule requires self-motivation and concentration, especially as a virtual assistant.

Business owners depend on virtual assistants to complete tasks, often without much oversight. They engage virtual assistants because they have never-ending to-do lists and need someone to step in and help. The more involved they have to be in micromanaging their people, the more time it takes out of their day. For even a small company, that quickly becomes unsustainable even for the best managers. As a virtual assistant, you build trust with your clients to complete your assignments on time.

Successful virtual assistants know how to self-motivate and work in a concentrated flow on one task at a time. When you love what you do, it’s easier to be motivated and not procrastinate.

Tips for improving self-motivation and concentration:

Create a work schedule and stick to it
Find a morning routine that works for you
Designate distraction-free (no non-work notifications) times to work
Give yourself breaks
Write to-do lists and check off items one by one
Work at a coffee shop for a change in scenery
Go for a walk when you’re feeling burnt out or overwhelmed
9. Detail orientation
Virtual assistants care about the little details. When handling administrative tasks and project management for clients, detail orientation is a critical skill. As a virtual assistant, clients rely on you to send error-free emails and to catch any mistakes in presentations and other content before publishing.

Companies depend on virtual assistants to take on tasks requiring detail orientation, whether scheduling or payroll. Being able to complete a long to-do list without any mistakes is vital. Virtual assistants must stay ahead of deadlines and work on time-sensitive tasks that call for precision.

Tips for being more detail-oriented:

Use programs like Grammarly to check for spelling and grammar mistakes
Focus on one task at a time
Double-check your work
Write deadlines in your calendar
Minimize distractions
Take notes during meetings
Break up bigger tasks into smaller, more manageable sub-tasks
Get the right productivity tools
10. Reliability
When working as a virtual assistant, especially freelancing, reliability is a soft skill that clients and employers are looking for. Companies want to engage someone they can trust to complete assigned work on time without errors and to be available when they need them.

No matter whether you bill hourly or by project, or are on a retainer, as a virtual assistant setting up “working hours” for your clients and being available to take on new tasks and answer questions is essential.

If you work asynchronously, a client could send you a weekly message with a list of admin tasks to complete. Those on an hourly contract may be available from 9 to 5 for meetings and talk regularly with their client throughout the day, giving updates and getting new assignments.

Reputation matters as a virtual assistant. Companies and clients want to work with someone they can count on. If you’re freelancing on Upwork, having a high Job Success Score and positive reviews from other clients shows that you’re reliable and can help you win more jobs.

Tips for being a reliable virtual assistant:

Meet your deadlines
Don’t take on more jobs than you can handle
Respond promptly to messages if within your designated working hours
Ask for reviews when a project ends
Ask questions if you’re unsure about a job’s requirements
Be reasonable about when you can have a task finished
11. Social media management
A popular task for virtual assistants is social media management. Companies or influencers need help managing their different social media accounts, from posting content to responding to inquiries. And because social media is so fast-paced, they need someone to actively monitor and engage with their social media accounts. Followers expect a quick response when they ask a question on a brand’s social media channel.

Social media marketing is a major focus for many brands, and creating content daily to engage their followers is important. It’s a way for them to connect with customers one-on-one through paid and organic content. Virtual assistants with social media management skills should be able to create on-brand content and respond to comments and messages appropriate on behalf of the brand.

When managing social media for a client as a virtual assistant, you could have a variety of responsibilities, including:

Mapping out content calendars
Planning content
Moderating comments
Interacting with followers
Keeping up with trends
Reposting follower content
Responding to direct messages from customers or brands
Run, monitor, and report on ad campaigns
Courses to learn social media management:

Udemy

The Social Media Marketing & Management Masterclass 2023
Powerful Social Media Marketing for Beginners
Social Media Marketing MASTERY | Learn Ads on 10+ Platforms
Social Media Content Creation: Canva Beginner to Advanced
Skillshare

Social Media Marketing: Top Tips for Growing Your Followers & Going Viral
Social Media Copywriting Masterclass: Professional Tips for Profiles and Posts
Context Is Key: Social Media Strategy in a Noisy Online World
Introduction to Social Media Advertising
Coursera:

Use Canva To Create Social Media Visuals for Business
Social Media Management
From Likes to Leads: Interact with Customers Online
Advertising with Meta
12. Creativity
Creativity is an essential skill for many aspects of being a virtual assistant, from problem-solving to content creation. Everyone has their own type of creativity. For some it may be writing, while others might lean more toward visual art and graphic design. Embrace your creative abilities to be a better virtual assistant by integrating them into your skillset.

As a virtual assistant, you may have a unique angle and approach to different problems or ideas, making you a valuable asset. Being positive and looking at problems through a lens of creativity can help you overcome on-the-job challenges.

A client could give you a task with minimal direction, and you’ll have to figure out the best way to accomplish it. Being creative could help save you time and impress your clients.

Depending on what your strengths are, you could offer a variety of creative services to your clients, such as:

Social media content
Graphic design
Email marketing
Ghostwriting
Presentations
Sales collateral creation
Ad campaigns
Find virtual assistant jobs on Upwork
Thinking of embarking on the journey to become a virtual assistant? See what virtual assistant jobs are available on Upwork. Whether you’re new to virtual assisting or are transitioning to freelance for the first time, clients on Upwork are looking for someone like you to help with their day-to-day administrative tasks. Build a career as an independent professional and see what new doors appear, waiting for you to open and walk through them.

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Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.

Author Spotlight
12 Virtual Assistant Skills To Have on Your Resume
The Upwork Team
Upwork is the world’s work marketplace connecting millions of businesses with independent talent around the globe. We serve everyone from one-person startups to 30% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful trust-driven platform that enables companies and freelancers to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.

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Table of Contents
1. Communication
2. Time management
3. Bookkeeping
4. Email management
5. Organization
6. Writing and typing
7. Basic IT knowledge
8. Self-motivation and concentration
9. Detail orientation
10. Reliability
11. Social media management
12. Creativity