In a chaotic world where many business owners must juggle dozens of activities, there is always a need for someone to relieve some of the burdens.
Over the past five years, the demand for virtual assistants has skyrocketed. In 2020 alone, the demand grew by a whopping 41%. It’s more interesting to note that students form quite a large portion of the virtual assistant population across the globe.
Many college students have turned to establishing tiny online businesses as virtual assistants. Some have even succeeded in employing other students to join their trade.
But how is it possible for one to become a virtual assistant as a college student?
In this article, we will take you through everything you need to know about becoming a virtual assistant, even with no prior experience.
Table of Contents
What Is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is a digital contractor or business owner who is employed by other companies and brands to handle their administrative tasks, mostly on a part-time basis.
Now, though, many virtual assistants are starting to take full-time jobs or gigs with more than one company to make sure they have a steady flow of income throughout the year.
In truth, there is no definite list of job descriptions for virtual assistants. As the name already implies, they are assistants. They can handle all tasks, from creating email accounts to writing emails, writing content, creating reports, and managing business activities—even managing social media accounts.
This means, almost everyone with some level of administrative skills can become a virtual assistant and succeed at it.
According to Best of Budgets, virtual assistants can help companies save up to 78% in operating costs. This makes them reliable partners for solopreneurs and bootstrapping startups.
If you are looking for work-from-home jobs that aren’t boring, a virtual assistant job is one of them.
Can I be a Virtual Assistant as a College Student?
The good thing about being a virtual assistant is that you don’t have to go to any company’s offices to work. You can work from anywhere in the world, including your college dorm or your parents’ garage!
So if you’re wondering if a college student can work as a virtual assistant, then the answer is definitely yes!
Indeed, many college students are establishing themselves as virtual assistants. So maybe that quiet guy who always comes to class late and leaves in a hurry could be working as a virtual assistant for multiple businesses in Europe. Bet you never thought of that!
The good thing here is that there are many virtual assistant jobs for college students because employers believe college students may not charge them too much money. Also, since you are in school, you probably have access to free wifi, free time after and in between classes as well as do not have to worry about paying major bills (rent, utilities, car payments, insurance etc.)
So you can probably make more profit than a graduate struggling to find their way in the real world as a virtual assistant.
Consider a virtual assistant as one of those jobs for broke college students. Not to mention, one of few jobs out there that comes with limitless earning potential.
Can an 18-Year-Old be a Virtual Assistant?
Many businesses allow teenagers as young as 16 to work as virtual assistants. This is particularly true for brands that deal in so many digital activities such as social media content creation, writing emails, and managing social media accounts.
Let’s face it, most teenagers in this era are very techy: techier than the business owners needing help with online administrative tasks.
So there is absolutely no problem with an 18-year-old adult wanting to become a virtual assistant. There are limitless opportunities for you to become one. Particularly if you are an expert in regular online business activities, SEO blog writing as an example.
It is important to note, however, that each business or client has a preference for who they work with. So as a teenager, you are most likely to work with entrepreneurs and small businesses than with bigger, richer, and more demanding companies and/or corporations.
But that is still a good place to start. An extra $10 to $15 per hour won’t be too bad for you.
How to Become a Virtual Assistant as a College Student With no Experience
So you are still in college, and you are wondering if you can succeed as a virtual assistant without any experience. Your fears are valid, but thankfully, that won’t be a problem.
In fact, many college students start off their virtual assistant journeys without any previous experience. What matters most is your availability and your willingness to learn off and on the job, because more and more opportunities will come your way as you learn and grow.
Qualifications you need to be a virtual assistant
Every job comes with its own qualifications, but with virtual assistants, the story is slightly different. To become a virtual assistant, you don’t need any formal qualifications.
Instead, you need to find out the area in which you wish to specialize. If you want to be a social media manager, then you need to pick up the required skills for understanding the multitude of social channels out there and, most importantly for example, how to manage them to effectively amplify your client’s brand voice in this crowded digital world. If you wish to specialize in becoming an business email writer, then you need to pick up the required skills for email writing and communication etiquette in a professional setting.
That is, your specialty is what is most important here. After deciding what kind of virtual assistant you want to be, you need to learn skills that fit with that path. This increases your chances of getting clients as well as your hourly rates.
You can learn these skills through online training or courses. Depending on your level of motivation and how you choose to learn (slow or fast pace), some of these courses can last for a few hours, days or a couple of weeks.
How to Get Your First Client as a Virtual Assistant
Promote On Social Media
As a virtual assistant, you are the face of your business. Social media platforms have billions of users, so this is the cheapest way to spread word of your work to a large number of people.
But, it gets trickier. As a beginner, you may end up spreading yourself so thin that you may not be able to get any proper results on social media.
So the trick is to find the social media platforms where your prospective clients are mostly available or actively on. Then build your business profile on these platforms and start posting relevant content.
Post relevant valuable content that will attract these people to your profile or to you naturally. If you are a bit daring, you can also reach out to your prospective clients directly via their inbox and tell them what you have to offer.
If you are any good with promotion, effectively promoting your virtual assistance service(s) on social media that is, you can turn this part-time job for college students into a successful online business career that rakes in thousands of dollars weekly.
Use Freelance Sites
One of the easiest and safest ways to get your first gig as a college student with no experience is for you to use a freelance site. Freelance sites are online marketplaces that connect talented workers with companies looking to hire them.
So on a freelancing site, you get more exposure since you are put right in front of the people who actually need your services.
Also, since most freelance sites act as escrows, it is difficult for someone to cheat you on these sites. Meaning, before you work for a company or individual on these sites, the person is expected to pay your fee upfront.
But the payment is held by the freelance site until you complete your end of the bargain. Then, when the client approves of your delivery, the payment is released to you.
So, it is almost impossible for anyone to cheat you on these sites, though there are still a few (very few) bad apples who find their way around these systems.
It is important to note that some of these freelance sites have strict rules, which you have to adhere to at all times. Failure to adhere to these rules can either demote your account level or cause your account to be deleted altogether.
Some of the most popular freelance sites to consider when trying to get your first virtual assistant gig as a college student are Fiverr, Upwork, Flexjobs and Freelancer.com.
Conclusion
Becoming a virtual assistant is one of the easier ways to make money as a college student without any proper experience. All over the world, students are quickly adding virtual assistant jobs to the long list of part-time jobs for college students.
If you are a college student struggling with your finances or just trying to make some extra income to support your ambitions and start your entrepreneurial journey, then a virtual assistant job is good for you.
As discussed in this article earlier, you can do so many things as a virtual assistant so there is no limit on what you can do or how much you can earn from doing this job.
Hopefully, this article helps on your journey of finding how to become a virtual assistant as a college student with no experience.
If you have any further questions or comments about this article, please feel free to share them in the comments box below.
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