How to become a part time virtual assistant : The Complete Guide

Introduction

It is not easy to become a part time virtual assistant. It is tougher than becoming a full-time virtual assistant. Because if you are looking to become a part time virtual assistant. It means you may be a housewife, student, salary person, retired person, or mom with a small baby. You fit into any one of these categories. (Please specify which category you belong to in the comment box.)

And you are looking to earn extra money by taking care of your existing responsibilities. So it is a very challenging task for you to manage both tasks simultaneously. There are a total of seven key points that will help you to become a part time virtual assistant. Let's see them one by one.

1. Learn to maintain balance.

First of all, my friends, you need to learn how to balance. Now you will think about what balance I am talking about. I will explain this here, as I mentioned earlier, to become a part time virtual assistant. You have to manage your existing responsibilities. As well as the responsibility you will get when you become a part time virtual assistant.

You need to learn how to maintain a proper balance with both of these responsibilities. Here, you should not fail to pay attention to other responsibilities. In the process of completing one responsibility.

Because both responsibilities are so important to you. So you decide to become a part time virtual assistant instead of full-time.

For example:-

Suppose you are a mom with a small baby. And you want to earn or need to earn some extra money. For that reason, you have decided to become a part time virtual assistant. In this case, as the mom of a small baby, you must take care of your baby promptly.

In addition to your part time virtual assistant work. You cannot ignore your child's responsibilities. You cannot, however, ignore your professional responsibilities. Still, you have to finish the task within a given time frame.

So you need to learn how to maintain a proper balance between your baby and your work. You have to take care of both sides. Because when you become a part time virtual assistant. You will be given a specific time or deadline to complete the task.

If you fail to do the same, you may not get paid. If the same situation persists. The company may terminate your contract in the future. And all the effort and time you spent completing those tasks will be lost.

On the other hand, you cannot compromise the responsibility of raising your small baby. In short, you cannot compromise on your two responsibilities. That is why you have to learn how to strike a proper balance between both responsibilities. This is the first step to becoming a part-time virtual assistant.

It now depends on the individual and their personal and professional responsibilities. You have to learn to balance both responsibilities according to your situation. For example, we will continue with our mom and her small child example.

As a mom, first of all, you have to list down the activities. You have to do it on a daily basis for your child. Also, list down the activity that is separate from your child. Like cooking, washing, cleaning, etc

Also, you have to list down the activities that are non-productive. Like watching TV, surfing the internet, continuously checking your mobile, etc. Now you have a list of your activities. Now you have to see how much time you are required to complete those activities.

Also, check how much time you are wasting on non-productive activities. After doing this task, you have to prioritize your activities. After this, you have to check when you have to complete these activities. Like morning, afternoon, evening, or night.

After getting all this information and removing the non-productive activities from your list. Now check, after doing all this activity for the whole day, how much time remains with you.

It may be 2 hours, 3 hours, 5 hours, etc. Now, according to the availability of your free time. You select a virtual assistant job that is best suited for your timing. List down the daily activities or tasks that you have to complete as part of your virtual assistant job.

Keep both list side by side, and pay close attention. Now again list down the daily activity that you have to complete at any cost at that particular time only. And the activities that you can do some other time, like washing the cloth twice or three times a week.

After finishing this activity, you will come to know. That is actually how much time you have to finish your task as a virtual assistant. Now you have both your lists in front of you. Just prepare your schedule according to your activities. This will help you to maintain the balance between both of your responsibilities.

2. Proper Work Station

To become a part time virtual assistant, you need to have a proper working station at your place. Don't worry, I am not talking about setting up an expensive workstation. The definition of a working station means a table, chair, desktop, and internet connection.

Be sure that at your workstation, you are not distracted or disturbed. The place should be silent. So it will help you to concentrate on your work, and you will be able to do quality work.

A proper workstation will assist you in increasing your productivity as well as the quality of your work. This workstation should be silent because there are some tasks for which you need silence. Like content creation or graphic design in this creative work or any other work. You need to have a quiet place.

For example, suppose you're working as a customer support virtual assistant. Your job will be to handle the leads that the company will provide. And you have to convert those leads into sales. For each successful conversion, you will get paid in the form of a commission.

Imagine you are talking with a customer. During that period, someone in your family had raised the TV's volume or your children were making noise. Due to this, you are not able to communicate properly with your client.

In the final result, you are not able to convert that lead into sales. Simply due to a breakdown in communication. Obviously, you will not get paid due to the non-conversion of leads to sales.

If this situation happens continuously, customer feedback about your services will drop. Then the company will not send you more leads, and maybe they will terminate the contract with you. So because of this, having a proper workstation at your place is important. Or at your house, it's very important to become a part-time virtual assistant.

For an ideal workstation to become a part time virtual assistant. Consider the following points:

3. Challenges to become a part time virtual assistant.

No field is 100% challenge-proof. If you select any field, you have to face some challenges. To become a part time virtual assistant. You will face three major challenges. Let's see them one by one.

When you begin your journey as a part-time virtual assistant. You will also get targets, and you will also need to follow the deadline.

For example, if you're doing part-time virtual assistant work, it has transcription. Then the company that gave you the work will give you some deadlines and targets. And they also expect quality work from you.

If you do not achieve your target and do not follow your deadline. In addition, if the quality of work is not reflected In your job. Then the company may deduct your payment. If this situation continues, the company may terminate the agreement with you.

At this stage, the company was right. Suppose you hire a cook and you do not like the taste of his food. He is not improving the quality of his food. Then, of course, you're going to fire him. The same situation will happen here.

It is not necessary that you get a job in the same country where you live. As you apply for a part time virtual assistant position online. There is a lot more possibility that you will get the work from some other country.

Where the timing is different from your country. In this case, you need to work according to the country that is giving you the work. You have to follow their schedule. So there is a possibility that when the employer company had a morning time.

It is late at night in your country, and you must work the night shift to complete your task. Because you have to follow your employer's country schedule.

So it is very important that before accepting any job or work. You need to check the timing of the job. If you are not comfortable with a night shift job. So it's good that at the beginning you're supposed to refuse that work and choose something else.

If you want to become a part time virtual assistant. Then you need to continuously work on improving your performance and your skill sets. Because there is too much competition in the market.

If you do not improve your performance, then it will be very difficult to get work. Also, if your skill sets are not improving over time. Then it will also create difficulty at your work.

For example, suppose you are a content writer. And you are not using AI tools for content writing. Also, you are not learning the skill of how to use AI tools while writing the content.

Due to this, your productivity will decrease, and your competitor will get ahead of you. On the other hand, your competitor is using AI writing tools. He also learned how to perfectly use the AI writing tool while writing the content.

In this case, your competitor will generate more content as compared to you. And you're still using the old way of writing the content. In this case, when you finish the one content writing job. By the time your competitor will finish three or four content writing jobs

In this scenario, you will automatically be thrown out of the market. So it is very important that you continuously improve your performance and upgrade your skill set. To be competitive in the market and to survive in the market.

4. Required skills to become a part time virtual assistant.

 
It totally depends on which field you are interested in working in as a part time virtual assistant. Because different fields required different sets of skills. It is not necessary that you have all these skills in advance.

The most important thing is that first, you have to select the field in which you want to work. As per my point of view, You are supposed to select the field according to your passion and interest. Once you select your field, you have to look for the skills required for that particular field.

Later, you can develop that skill with time.

(Note: If you want to learn more about different types of virtual assistants. And their functions then please click here.)

Also, you can learn your required skills via online courses. Now there are so many online courses available on various platforms. Like Coursera, Unacademy, etc.

The second most important thing is once you choose the field. You are supposed to focus only on one thing. This means you need to select your micro niche.

To understand the importance of focusing on one thing. I recommend that you read the book. " The One Thing" by Gary Keller. Download a free copy by clicking here.

For example, if you are interested and passionate about writing. So there are various fields like blogging, copyrighting, story writing, and advertising copywriting. In this field, you are supposed to focus on only one thing.

Another reason is that if you become an expert, you will be able to charge a high price.

I will explain to you with the example that there are two types of doctors. One is a general doctor, and the other is a specialist doctor. General doctors are those who take care of all types of general illnesses. Like a cold, fever, etc.

Specialist doctors are those who are giving treatment to only one specific kind of illness. Like there are so many Specialist doctors. Like heart specialist, Kidney specialist, child specialist etc

Now friends, what do you think about which doctor gets paid well? The general doctor or a specialist doctor? Of course, specialist doctors always charge high fees. Because he specializes in one thing.

The same rule applies here. So, if you want to work as a part-time virtual assistant, first you must select your field. And that field focuses on one specific thing.

Most of the time companies itself provide you the training. As per their work requirement.

(Note: If anyone is interested in bookkeeping virtual assistants, click here to learn in detail. How to become a bookkeeping virtual assistant: Comprehensive Guide)

5. Where to find a part time virtual assistant job.

Once you select your field and acquire the skill set according to your field. Then you are ready to become a part time virtual assistant. Now there are so many platforms available. Such as

You have to create your profile and start applying for various types of virtual assistant jobs. Select those jobs that are appropriate for your situation.

Second, you can create an impressive resume. And offer your services directly to the company's HR via phone or email.

6. Earnings After You Become a Part-Time Virtual Assistant

There are three different ways to earn money after you become a part time virtual assistant. Let's see them one by one.

@ Get Virtual Assistant Job: When you get a virtual assistant job. Then, each and every day, the company assigns you specific tasks. And you will get a fixed salary on a monthly basis.

@ Commission: There are some part time virtual assistant positions available. In that case, you will not get a fixed salary on a monthly basis. You will get paid on a performance basis.

For example, if you work in sales and become a virtual customer support executive. Then you will get a lead from the company. And your job is to convert those leads into sales. For each successful conversion, you will get a commission. If there are no sales, then there is no commission.

@ Start business or Freelancing: With this method, you can offer your services to various clients. In return, you will charge for services or a specific task you have completed. In this, you do not align with anyone specific client.

You can work with multiple clients. There are various services that you can offer to your client. Like consulting, graphic design, website design, etc. In this case, you can charge your customer based on the services you provide.

7. Pros and Cons to become a part time virtual assistant.