Skills Required

Offer services based on what you like to do

Every virtual assistant has his or her own unique skills and experience that enables them to start their business. The right skills are those that you have perfected and can perform well. As you further develop your skills, you can expand your service offering. It is not recommended that you offer services that you are not able to support.

VA skills range from the basics, such as typing, to highly specialized areas like web design, graphic arts, technical writing and more. A professional VA will be proficient in the Internet, computers, software, word processing and spreadsheet applications. In addition to the technical skills, a professional VA will have good business management skills as well as knowledge of marketing, advertising, record keeping, and public relations. Business management skills not only help you in operating your own business, but also allow you to aid your clients in running theirs.

VAs must be motivated. You can’t get discouraged when you experience minor setbacks. Start fresh each day. If the phone didn’t ring yesterday, make it ring today. Failure is not an option. You need to know that you’re going to make it and stop at nothing short.

Jan Melnik says it so well in her book, How To Start a Home-Based Secretarial Services Business, “High energy level and good health should accompany your own motivation and drive to succeed.”

Good organizational skills are also important. You will need the ability to juggle multiple priorities, work assignments and often children at the same time. What I have found that works well is to stay focused. Don’t jump ahead to the other assignments that need to be done or think about your son’s baseball game. Concentrate only on the work you are working on now. Once complete you can move on.

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