How to Land a Freelance Virtual Assistant Job

Break into the world of Freelance Virtual Assisting. Whether you want to do appointment setting, word processing, data entry, graphic design, medical billing, legal assisting, or paralegal work, I will explain the basics needed to start your own freelance business working from home.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer
• Internet service
• Printer
• Fax
• Postage scale
• Cell phone
• Business email address
• Resume
• Work References
• Basic office supplies

1. Think about what field you would like to specialize in. You might define your interest in a particular field such as legal, medical, graphic design, web design or general administrative. This will help you to build your virtual assisting clientèle base from referrals after you get your first customer.
2. Conduct Internet research in the field you want to specialize. You will need to develop an idea of what the job entails. In addition, you will want to become familiar with the terminology relating to the field.
3. Rework your resume to reflect and highlight the skills and experience that you have in the field of choice. For example, if you want to do freelance legal work, but have no experience, make your resume focus on previous administrative and research skills.
4. Set up your home office with the basic office supplies such as file folders, labels, envelopes and paper. In addition, sign up for an Internet fax service such as MyFax and an Internet postage service such as Endicia.
5. Determine your rate. To start, you can charge slightly more than the position would pay if you were working out of the office. Remember, you will be saving on gas money by working from home, but may end up with a higher phone bill. In addition, you have to factor in general office supplies such as printer ink and paper.
6. Look for job opportunities on www.craigslist.com or http://www.virtualassistantjobs.com. Focus on small business owners; they will tend to be more sympathetic towards your desire to be self employed. Search specific categories such as medical, legal, web design, media or administrative. Look for part time positions that you think you could perform from home, even if the ad is not for a telecommuting job.
7. Call or email about all jobs that look like they can be converted to a freelance or telecommuting position. Be ready to justify how you can fulfill the job duties from your home office, and how it can save the employer money.
8. Get your foot in the door. Virtual assisting jobs are competitive. Make the employer an offer they can’t refuse. Offer to work for free for a week. Tell them if they are not satisfied with your services, they will pay nothing. This will put you ahead of the competition. If you are good at what you do, you won’t have to worry about not getting paid. Truth be told, most employers will pay you for your time, even if they are not happy with the service. They just won’t use your services anymore.
9. Do a good job. Make customer service your top priority, even if it means losing some money once in a while. Happy customers will refer you to their business associates, those of whom will tend to be in the same line of work.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t limit your job search to your local city or metro area. Search Craigslist nationwide for freelance and virtual assisting jobs.
• Send your resume and letters of recommendation by email when offering your services to a client.
• Use a professional email address for your business. Avoid an email address that is not professional in nature such as [e-mail] or [e-mail]