Starting a new Virtual Assistant career can be daunting, especially if you’re looking to retrain. As a Virtual Assistant trainer, I’ve seen many trainees worry about whether they’d make a good Virtual Assistant, regardless of whether they’re already in an existing PA or EA role, or are new to the VA industry.

So, if you’re currently wondering whether you’d make a good Virtual Assistant, here’s my take on what it takes to be a good Virtual Assistant.

You need the right skills

It goes without saying, if you’re already in an existing office/admin/PA kind of role, you already have experience around some of the skills needed to become a good Virtual Assistant. Typical administrative, support assistant roles all involve working a computer and telephone, managing your workload and time, as well as other ‘hard’ skills, such as diary management, typing etc.

However, if you don’t have experience in these areas, all is most definitely not lost. Firstly, there are other skills you may have that could transfer into a Virtual Assistant role, enabling you to offer more specialised skills – such as blogging, graphic design and event planning etc. Secondly, the hard skills are all things that can be learnt, if you wish to expand your existing skills base.

You need the right qualities

What’s more important, are those things that aren’t easily taught to others. The soft skills, such as a desire to help others, ability to communication well, as well as knowing how to trust others to do what they say they’re going to do.

Positivity and a can-do attitude are also incredibly important skills for a Virtual Assistant to have, along with trustworthiness, integrity and being able to treat others with respect. It’s qualities like these that combine to make a Virtual Assistant an exceptional, customer-focused and in-demand assistant.

Passionate about having your own Virtual Assistant business

More and more Virtual Assistant’s are looking to start up their own from-home business. If this is the case for you, you need to be passionate about running your own Virtual Assistant business.

Working for yourself is hard. It involves being able to drive yourself forward and get started, to keep going when it gets tough and to do what’s needed to grow your business. Marketing skills, acquiring new clients and networking are all skills that can be taught – however the desire to want to succeed, is something you need to be able to bring to the table from the outset.

Self Belief

If you want to be a good Virtual Assistant, you need to believe in yourself and your abilities. This doesn’t mean you have to be the most confident person in the room or the most outgoing, but you do need to trust yourself and believe in your ability to provide a good service to your clients.

It’s about having a positive attitude and having the ability to step past all the drama and challenges that may come your way. You need to be open to growing and learning, as well as being able to take constructive feedback and use it to improve yourself and your business – but to also know when to let it go.

What makes a good Virtual Assistant…

The skills and abilities that combine together to make a good Virtual Assistant can vary enormously. The skills you have, along with the skills you can learn, will help you decide whether you go down a traditional Virtual Assistant route, look to provide a specialised service, or decide to work with a particular niche of client.

The bottom line is this; we all have something to bring to the table. Not all Virtual Assistants have the same skills or backgrounds. However, most of them will have the desire to focus on providing a great service, whilst looking to be the best Virtual Assistant they can be – and it’s that desire that will help make them (and you!) a great Virtual Assistant.

If you’re ready to learn more about what it takes to start your own Virtual Assistant business, why not register for our ‘Start Your Own VA Business’ webinar? Not only will you get an insight into the VA industry, you’ll also learn about the practicalities needed, to get started, within this free 90 minute webinar. Or if you are ready to invest in our VA Mastery Course then you can buy direct from the website and start training immediately.