How to Become a Virtual Assistant in the Philippines 2024 -

I have worked as a Virtual Assistant/Freelancer for over four years already. I started working part-time while doing a day job until I decided to work full-time as a VA. Since then, a lot of my friends have been asking how to get into this industry.

True that the salary and work-from-home setups are a dream come true, getting a client in this very competitive industry has been a challenge today. That is why I wrote this blog to help you understand how it works and how to become a virtual assistant!

What is a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants provide remote services to business owners across the country. Depending on the type of Virtual Assistant, a VA may offer services such as Administrative or Technical services (which I will discuss further below). In this setup, employers can save time and money by outsourcing virtual assistants online instead of hiring full-time employees face-to-face or doing the work themselves.

How to Become a Virtual Assistant: 7 Easiest (I’m not sure) Ways

1. Know which type of VA you belong:

The first step in becoming a virtual assistant is to know which niche you want to pursue. When a person says he or she is a VA, you might want to ask the niche. Niche in freelancing means a specific industry, area of expertise, or a focus that sets one apart from other freelancers. It’s important to know what type of virtual assistant you want to become because the skills vary from one niche to another.

Here are the most common types of Virtual Assistants and their responsibilities:

Social Media Virtual Assistant: Scheduling posts, designing posts and making captions, managing interactions, and analyzing the performance of posts (analytics).
Administrative Virtual Assistant: Managing general administrative tasks such as handling emails (making or replying to emails), scheduling client’s calendars, perhaps basic bookkeeping, document filing, and basically all secretarial functions.
Copywriter Virtual Assistant: obviously writing! Creating engaging content for websites, facebook ads, and marketing materials like emails and landing pages/sales funnels. Knowledge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a plus!
Bookkeeping Virtual Assistant: Preparing financial reports, auditing, handling transactions, working on taxation and government-mandated reports, and doing bookkeeping services for other clients (if it’s a firm).
E-Commerce Virtual Assistant: Managing online shopping carts, tracking items and product listings and sales on e-commerce platforms (like eBay and Amazon), delivering items from the shop.
Real Estate Virtual Assistant: Assisting real estate agents with tasks like paperwork, scheduling showings, and handling client communications, or you do the selling of real estate properties on the phone.
Customer Service Virtual Assistant: Addressing customer inquiries and issues via email, chat, or phone, and also providing support to enhance customer satisfaction. Basically a call center agent.
Data Entry Virtual Assistant: Inputting data into databases like Microsoft Word or Excel, and transcribing recordings.
Graphic Design Virtual Assistant: Designing visual content for marketing materials, websites, and social media, as well as helping businesses enhance their brand image (logo, color palette).
Web Design Virtual Assistant: Designing visually appealing and user-friendly website layouts, using codes to enhance the interface.
Web Development Virtual Assistant: Building and maintaining the functionality of websites, handling coding, debugging, and technical aspects to ensure optimal performance (very technical yikes!).
Project Manager Virtual Assistant: Project planning, resource allocation, and progress tracking, as well as handling people in the team. Basically ensuring the client’s projects are completed on time and within budget.
Educational Support Virtual Assistant: This is online teaching. Doing classes online on a certain subject area.
CRM Virtual Assistant: Managing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems by maintaining customer data, tracking interactions, and generating reports to improve customer relationship management using CRM tools like Kajabi, Kartra, GoHighlevel, etc.

2. Learn the skills

Once you identify which niche you feel comfortable with or expert at, identify the skills necessary to function in that niche. For example, if you want to become a Bookkeeping virtual assistant, you should learn how to or have knowledge of Financial reporting, and bookkeeping software like QuickBooks, and Xero. If you want to become a Graphic Designer, you must have creative design skills or be proficient in designing software like Photoshop and Canva.

Do your research on the skills needed for that niche. And make sure to add and specify those skills in your resume. Note that having certifications and past projects are plus points to the clients.

What if I have no experience? Don’t worry, in today’s modern age, every skill can be learned online. Find a course online at e-learning websites such as Skillshare, Udemy, Coursera, and EdX. Plus once you finish their courses, you also get badges and certificates! (Some skills may take time to learn though so be patient).

3. Determine your rate

It is important to note that your hourly rate must be determined based on various factors if you want to come up with a price that is not just fair but also competitive. The factors are your skills and experience, and market rates.

-Evaluate Your Skills and Experience

Look at the level of proficiency you have in the niche and your skills. The more proficient, the higher the rate. Also, some skills have higher pay due to the nature and amount of work to put into the tasks. For instance, tasks such as website building or graphic designing suggest higher fees than general administrative and data entry VAs.

Also, think about how many years you have worked in this field, including any relevant certifications or qualifications. If you’re just a beginner, might as well start low. In my case, I started at $4 as an administrative VA. Then I jumped to $8 when I started graphic designing and more technical tasks like sales funnel.

-Research Market Rates

Find out standard prices charged by virtual assistants in your niche area. Discover what other virtual assistants with similar abilities and backgrounds are receiving for their services.

I recommend going to Freelancing sites and seeing the rates yourself (I have listed them in step 4)

Sometimes, you can also base your rate on how big your client’s business is. If you think it’s a flourishing business, then offer a much higher rate compared to those clients who are just building from scratch.

4. Time to Find a Client

Now that you have the skills and your rate, it’s time to land a job. To get a client, you may choose to find one directly or through an agency. The difference is that an agency, they have people behind who look for potential clients and match them with your skills. They also provide VA support such as upskilling training and other agency perks. Whereas if you search for a direct client, you have to find a suitable client online and bid or compete with other freelancers to land the job.

The cons with agencies is that they pay you a fixed price based on your agreement which they take some portion from the client’s pay to you. If you have a direct client, you get the full hourly rate, plus you can ask directly for a raise. 😀

Here’s a list of some VA agencies:

Now if you want to find direct clients, find clients here:

In finding clients, you have to consider the time zones as well. Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia vary in time zones. If you’re from the Philippines, the US, UK, and Canada do the graveyard shift while Australia and New Zealand have daytime shifts. Unfortunately, the majority of job offerings for VAs are on the graveyard shift unless you can agree on a flexible shift like I do.

5. Make your customers happy and ask for feedback

Satisfying your customers is the greatest accomplishment as a Virtual Assistant. When you find your first customer, do your best to provide the best service you can possibly do. In Tagalog, go for being bida-bida. One happy customer can refer you to other business owners they know, and you only need around 2-3 clients to earn a full-time income as a virtual assistant!

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. Ask your clients if there is anything you can improve on and include everything they say. Use all the positive notes as testimonials and ask your best clients if you can use them as references.

6. Find people in your niche:

From time to time, working from home can be a very lonely job. I advise finding a support group that can help you by giving you advice or simply sharing some wins from time to time. Find Facebook groups and blogs that are in your niche. Find a group of people who share your goals and work with them. For aspiring Filipino VAs, here are some groups I joined to help me find a job and find opportunities to upskill:

7. Consider specializing or upskilling

In freelancing, the more you specialize in a specific niche, the less competition there is. Lesser competition means a fair rate plus customers keep coming back for that specific service offering. Try to come up with skills that are unique and position yourself in such a way that you become an expert in that service.

I began my career in Content Writing but later specialized in diverse areas like Sales Funnels, Website Design, Graphic Design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM) among others. I lack a degree in Information Technology except for the passion and dedication to learn and grow. Furthermore, I took part-time online courses whenever I had free time to upskill and diversify my offerings.

If this is your first attempt at becoming a virtual assistant do not be discouraged since starting afresh from scratch is never easy anyway. Let me just mention that your college grades won’t matter anymore; what really matters here are skills alongside the desire to learn new things every day. Also, working as a VA might be very accessible in today’s time but like all the other professions, Virtual Assistantship is not for everyone.

The information I have provided here will help you how to become a Virtual assistant. So get started with your new position and ease any fear of the unknown that may be holding you back! If you have any questions, don’t forget to comment down below. Still, today’s world offers a great chance into the social position of Virtual Assistant but like every profession Virtual Assistantship is not meant for all.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/happy-ethnic-woman-sitting-at-table-with-laptop-3769021/