The Virtual Assistant (VA) industry is growing rapidly with more and more VAs popping up every day. Yet if you stopped someone in the street and asked them what a VA was you’d probably be met with blank stares.
No, it’s not another name for Siri or Alexa (unless of course you’re a VA and that is your name). I thought I’d lay it all out for you because that’s how generous us VAs are!
What is a Virtual Assistant (VA)?
To put it simply, a VA is a skilled professional who provides various services to entrepreneurs or businesses from a remote location.
They could live in another country, another city, or even just down the road from the business they work with. However, all work is done online and it is unlikely you would ever meet them in person.
In the early days, VAs were hired for tasks such as calendar/email management, answering incoming calls, drafting correspondence and other general admin duties.
As the virtual world has grown, VAs have grown with it. There is now a multitude of tasks being offered, some of these are:
- Social Media Management (Instagram, Facebook)
- Pinterest Management
- Website Design/Maintenance
- Blog Writing
- Content Repurposing
- SEO
- Travel Planning
- Podcast Editing
- Video Editing
- Graphic Design
- Transcription
- Copywriting
- E-book Formatting
- Email Marketing
- Calendar/Email Management
You get the picture!
Anything that can be done online, I guarantee there is someone out there offering that service. (For a break down of the services I offer click here)
There are general VAs who will work across all industries and there are some VAs with a specific niche such as travel, real estate, health/fitness etc.
VAs are appealing to entrepreneurs and business owners because they find themselves needing help but either cannot bring on staff to their location or they don’t want the costs associated with bringing on staff (office space, supplies, taxes, insurance etc.). Many businesses will hire a VA when they want to take their brick and mortar business to the online world through social media.
VAs can be hired for on-going work or one-off jobs, they can charge hourly or sell packages. This is at the discretion of the individual VA.
So that’s the quick overview of what a VA does! As you can see it is not a straight forward answer, but at the end of the day, VAs are there to help you with the tasks you don’t have time for and to help you grow your business.
