HOW TO BE A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT (VA)?

Are you fed up with the life of working 9am to 5pm job? Or your working in a call center coz you thought that is the only means your going to get big salary. This blog is about those people who are looking for other options or means of livelihood and you don’t know where to start.

Let me tell you, there is other work that you never heard before (if you’re the traditional type- office, company, etc. meaning you have to be person to person, officemate, etc) then this might be new to you.

In today’s generation, everything is computerize and that means even your job is virtual (computerized). You don’t have to travel from your home to the office/company. All you need is your computer, your internet connection and headset (if required) and be sure you have basic skills about computer such as MSWord, MsExcel, copy and paste (data entry), surfing around internet (web research). And if you have special skills like computer programming (java, html, etc), accounting (quickbook), design (photoshop, coreldraw, 3D Max, etc), your rates or you can ask the buyer/client to pay you from $8 to up per hour with your expertise.

I have been working as a Virtual Assistant for almost more than a year now. Even though VA is not a regular job where you get benefits like SSS, health care, etc. and its contractual BUT if ever you got a project or work that is full time (just like mine), the salary is great than the callcenter in here in Phils.

Working in a callcenter is not good, it has inconsistent time or shifting time where your bio-clock is ruined, its inconsistent coz that is what requires in the callcenter- 24/7 and I heard a lot of my friends who work in the callcenter, have more health problems such as kidney, nervous breakdown, etc. only few ppl really can take it.

My life on previous job when I was in China as a secretary, shipping clerk, supervisor, etc. I work 10hrs to 14 and sometimes more when the job require and there is no overtime fee and I was really stress, homesick and unhappy ( it amaze me how I was able to stay 6 to 7yrs).

Now, this is my life when I started working as a Virtual Assistant. I work home based starting from 5am to 12pm and sometimes 2pm if there is a lot of task on the project. I wake up with my pajama while attending the meeting using headset on Skype. My task is data entry, customer careline, assisting other people, etc.
When I first started as VA, my charge was $3.50 per hour and after 6months, I charged $5 per hour. I work less than 40hrs and sometimes more per week. Whats wonderful about this job is after I finish with my work, I can go out. I don’t have to worry about responsibility that was not finish. And if I want to go on a vacation, or leave just inform my team leader, supervisor that I need to leave and be sure there is somebody to cover your shift then you can take your leave or vacation.

Most working mom want to stay home and look after their kids and it really does make a big difference to working mom coz you can spend time with your kids and still able to earn a living.

What is Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant (abbreviated as VA or virtual assistant office) is a person who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office or at home. It’s a home based job and its virtual meaning you need to have internet connection (DSL, modem) or you can rent in a café internet and work in there.

There are few sites that I can recommend: www.odesk.com, www.elance.com, www.freelancer.com
and there are more website, you can surf around.

The site I am working right now  is www.odesk.com


How to get started:
1.) You need to sign up and register- as a Provider (employee). If you are a buyer (thats the employer/company who will be hiring ppl).

Fill up the form, fill the resume, post your picture, etc. after that, you can take their exam (its free), however pls.note that you need to get the odesk exam - you can retake as much as you like however the other exams, if you fail, you have to wait for 1 month before you can retake a new one. There are 200+ exams available for you to take, its free. Before you can apply any job in the odesk, u have to take odesk exam. The more exam you pass, the more application you can apply to other companies . so here are few links for your references, so you can understand more.

2.)for exam- can be found on top "find providers and job" - "exam" you can click that

http://www.odesk.com/help/help/new_to_odesk/new_providers_part1
http://www.odesk.com/help/help/using_odesk_tools
http://www.odesk.com/help/help/using_odesk_tools/odesk_video_tutorials

If you have questions, u can also go to their forum, then click coffeebreak, then u click subtitle (Philippine Payment Methods - oDesk debit mastercard, Paypal, Moneybookers- regarding payment), u can explore and surf around the forum so u can understand more.

so here is my link in my odesk profile, for your example or references.
http://www.odesk.com/users/%7E%7E3339ba7aadc3cdc4

Next topic: How to Find Job in Odesk.com