So, you are organised and diligent and something about the world of virtual personal assistants has drawn you in. With flexible hours, opportunities to work from home and work for a variety of interesting clients, we can understand why.
Our VAs at Outsourcery are highly dedicated and go the extra mile for their clients, see what they have to say about. To test out whether you are ready to get started with your virtual personal assistant career we have compiled our top 7 essential skills and qualities all virtual personal assistants should have.
Meet one of our VA’s, have a read and see if you have what it takes. If not, make a note of our tips on how to learn, improve and put yourself in good stead for moving forward!
Communication Skills
As a virtual personal assistant, communication is imperative to succeeding in the industry. Working remotely means that you can’t quickly pop over to your client to ask a question, so all communication must be clear, concise and constructive. Most of your work will be online and involve email correspondence, so the ability to express yourself clearly and appropriately will ensure that you are not wasting your or your client’s time. Poor communication can easily lead to confusion and mistakes which can domino into delayed projects and missed deadlines.
Having good communication skills, both written and verbal is imperative to succeeding as a virtual personal assistant. If you think you might need some practice, take a refresher course to brush up on your skills.
Adaptability and willingness to learn new technologies
As a virtual personal assistant, you will need to adapt to a variety of clients whose requirements may span from asking you to organize their family holiday or make a powerpoint presentation. But, at times you may be asked to complete a task that throws you out of your comfort zone.
This is where problem-solving and a willingness to learn come into play. Finding out how to do something is half the job, and your clients will expect you to be resourceful. Ask a friend for their expert advice, google search or look up a free guide to get clued up and complete the task to the best of your ability.
Being adaptable and flexible allows you to be open to learning new skills along the way. While we all have our strongest skills, learning new skills and staying on top of evolving technologies is a great way to ensure success as a virtual personal assistant. Learn about what you might be doing as a personal virtual assistant.
Ability to plan and strategise
Managing time is a fantastic skill, but also one that we can all learn and improve upon. Planning, strategising and prioritising facilitates fluid time management. Looking further down the line when planning your capacity means you can anticipate issues or opportunities for your client. Learn about our tips on how to work with a remote personal assistant.
Manage expectations
As a personal virtual assistant, in the early stages, you will need to guide new clients through the process. Maybe they’ve never used a VA before and are new to the industry. Patience is a virtue in this department. Communicating an outline is key to managing expectations. As we have touched on already, good communication is essential to the success of a mutually beneficial working relationship.
Self-motivation
As with the nature of being a virtual personal assistant, like any freelancer, you will mainly be working on your own. While this allows for great flexibility, properly managing your time effectively is crucial to not falling behind and missing deadlines. But some people can find this quite lonely.
If the thought of working alone is daunting, try out using shared workspaces or pop on over to your favourite coffee shop. Or even connect with other freelancers and set up workstations – get creative!
Organisation
What underpins all of these virtual personal assistant skills? Organisation. Keeping on top of an array of tasks for multiple clients can be challenging. We recommend finding a few personal strategies to staying on top of tasks, such as keeping a written diary or using a timer to clock your working hours to see where procrastination has got the better of you.
Find out more about what your day might consist of, and how our VA’s stay organised.
Our favourite tip for new virtual personal assistants
Have you heard of batching? While multitasking is usually highly esteemed as an impressive skill, there actually might be a more efficient approach to work.
Constantly flitting between various tasks or projects can easily lead to unfinished work or overlooked details. With a limited number of hours in the day as a virtual personal assistant, productivity is paramount.
Focusing on one task is a skill we could all do with mastering. Committing to one job until it is completed is challenging at first. But learning to complete one task in one sitting is revolutionary for efficiency.
Saving time by not switching between tasks means you can complete the same volume of work in a shorter amount of time. If you’ve not tried batching before, it can be an easy strategy to implement on the way to revolutionizing productivity.
So, there you have it. Our key skills that all VA’s should strive towards obtaining. If you are excited at the prospect of taking the virtual plunge, take a look at how to become a virtual assistant today.
