More professionals, especially young professionals, want to work remotely. The option to work remotely can help significantly with the illusive work-life balance. A rise in the freelance economy has made it possible for this work preference to be successful. Of course, there are lots of different types of freelance businesses you can choose to start. But one way I’ve found great success with freelancing is by offering virtual assistant services.
As a virtual assistant, or VA, you basically serve an administrative or professional assistant role, but you do it long distance. You can pick and choose what services you offer as a VA, as well as how often you want to do it. Whether it’s a side hustle or your primary business, there is room to grow this type of business as demand for services is high.
Here are some services you could consider offering in your virtual assistant business.
Database Management
This can be anything from updating a current database, or making new ones. These services might require as little as inputting business cards into a database. Or it can be as large as managing a database with hundreds or thousands of client and customer entries.
Don’t settle with management of the database. You can also offer other services to go along with it. These might be a follow-up service, lead generation, and stewardship of the database. This can save your client time by you doing it for them, and you might be able to offer new ideas that they wouldn’t have thought of to help them grow their business too.
Social Media Management
Your virtual assistant business can help with social media management. Online engagement with audiences is becoming more mobile and app based. If you are socially savvy, you can offer a full social media management package.
This can be anything from creating, designing, and scheduling posts, or focusing on driving conversation on social media. You can comment on others’ posts and reply to comments on your clients’ pages to help them find new leads.
Demand for social media management is huge, especially among the older clientele who may be less familiar with using social media for business.
Research and Scheduling
If you love to research new places and people, or take charge of booking travel and accommodations, you could choose to offer these services to busy business owners. You can save your clients time and money while giving them peace of mind that everything is taken care of. Granted you may have to work evenings or on weekends should their plans have unexpected hiccups, but it is a way to build your network and build business.
Email Management
Another service with high demand is email management. Many business owners become overrun with daily emails from new customers or clients, media requests, and even spam. Your job is to make their inbox manageable by weeding through all of the messages so they only have to view the ones that require their personal attention.
There are many unique services you can offer as VA that clients may find invaluable. If the services you offer don’t seem to be picking up, try adding something new that is within your skill set.
Remember, you don’t want to overstep your skill set. But, it is okay to learn new skills and talents along the way to grow your business. Just don’t get caught up offering services you don’t enjoy or aren’t skilled at just to make a few extra bucks.
