You’re here because you want to jumpstart your virtual assistant career.
However, you don’t know where to start. You’re probably asking yourself which is the best virtual assistant job training. Perhaps you’re also wondering, do virtual assistants make good money?
In this guide, we will show you the different courses you can take and what they offer.
So, read on to get the details on choosing the right trainer to make good money.
Who Is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant supports a business remotely for a fee. Although some people merely see virtual assistants as personal assistants, they are more than that.
Virtual assistants carry out different business tasks such as administrative duties, web design, and creating sales pages.
Why Virtual Assistant Job Training?
Although you can be a virtual assistant without training, taking classes positions you to deliver quality work. Plus, you stand to make more money as a professional.
The beauty of taking virtual assistant training courses is that you’ll learn from the gurus – people who have succeeded at this career.
What Skills Do You Need to Become a Virtual Assistant?
With the right skills, you can become a successful virtual assistant. Here are the top ones to consider:
Time-management – It’s important to deliver quality work without being supervised. The best way to ensure timeliness is to create a timetable and set deadlines.
Organizational skills – The more organized you are, the better quality work you’ll do. If you don’t have a home office, clear up some space in your house where you can work.
Word-processing skills – How many words a minute can you type? You must improve your typing speed and data entry skills while ensuring accuracy.
Communication skills – Be clear in your communication. Ensure you and your client agree on what mode of communication to use. Do they prefer to communicate on email or WhatsApp?
Computer skills – Because you will work remotely, you must familiarize yourself with cloud-based software such as Google Drive for file sharing. You’ll also be required to be able to navigate software such as Excel and Word.
Why Businesses Hire Virtual Assistants
Think money.
Businesses want to get value for their investment, so they hire virtual assistants who work remotely. This way they don’t have to incur office overheads for more staff.
Further, hiring a virtual assistant will save a business owner time. When a virtual assistant takes over some of the business owner’s duties, they have more free time to grow their firm.
How? An owner can attend business meetings or get more free time to strategize. Used appropriately, this time could translate to more profits for the firm.
Virtual Assistant Salary
By now, you must be wondering, do virtual assistants make good money?
Apart from working from home, the other perk of being a virtual assistant is earning good pay. However, it depends on whether you work for a company or you’re a freelancer.
On average, if you work for a company as a virtual assistant, you can make $19 hourly.
As a freelance virtual assistant, you can make more than double that amount. Why? It all depends on the number of hours you put in and how many clients you take on.
If you decide to specialize as a real estate virtual assistant, you can make over $50,000 yearly.
Services You Can Offer as a Virtual Assistant
Before you get your virtual assistant business running, you need to decide which services you’ll offer.
You can either settle on the skills you’re already good at or learn some new ones. The virtual assistant landscape is constantly changing as the world goes digital, and you must have in-demand skills.
Here is a list of services you can consider:
- General administrative duties
- Managing social media
- Web design
- Writing and managing blogs
- Creating landing pages
- Editing copy
- Bookkeeping
- Research
- Digital marketing
- Video editing
How Do I Become a Virtual Assistant with No Experience?
You can still make it as a virtual assistant without experience. The simplest way to start is to start small. If you start with the skills you already have, you don’t have to worry about experience.
Secondly, you should find your niche. A niche will help you get clients quickly as most people are looking for a virtual assistant who focuses on a specific field such as real estate.
Some of the most popular virtual assistant jobs that don’t need experience include: Helping with social media, booking appointments, receiving phone calls, and making travel arrangements.
How Do I Train to Be a Virtual Assistant?
Many people who want to become virtual assistants wonder how they can train. The most straightforward way to train is to take an online course.
The Internet has many legitimate courses you can take as a potential virtual assistant.
The upside is that you don’t have to leave the comfort of your home to train. Besides, some of the courses are fairly priced, and you can easily afford them.
You can even get free virtual assistant training if you’re on a tight budget.
Virtual Assistant Training Courses
Are you looking for the best virtual assistant training in 2021? Here are some courses to help you learn virtual assistant skills that can fast-track your career as a virtual assistant:
1. 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success (Gina Horkey Handbook)
Earning $4,000 a month wouldn’t be too bad, right? That’s the story of Gina Horkey. She started her virtual assistant business in 2014 while still having a full-time job.
In her course, she shows you how to be a successful virtual assistant in 30 days.
Although the course might be a bit pricey ($498), there are many reviews online to back its success.
The course will teach you:
- The business foundation, which will include settling for a target market and which services to offer
- Marketing your business, which will include social media usage
- Clinching clients through successful interviews
- Day-to-day operations
What’s more, you get lifetime access to her virtual assistant training manual, the Horkey Handbook, plus any updates.
The even better news is that job leads are provided once you join the exclusive community.
2. Fully Booked VA Membership with Gina Horkey
The Fully Booked VA is a course membership by Gina Horkey to help you start your business from the bottom up. As the name suggests, the idea is to ensure you’re fully booked all year round.
Apart from training with the guru herself, the other advantages of this course are:
- A step-by-step guide to starting your business – the foundation, choosing your services and getting clients
- Access to an online community for support
- A live session per week
- After the course, you’ll get an award certification.
The upside of this course is that it comes with templates you can use when pitching.
The trainer charges $199 monthly.
3. Discounted Udemy Virtual Assistant Training Courses
If you want to train as a virtual assistant but you’re a little tight on cash, Udemy could be the answer.
As an online platform, Udemy has a large collection of courses targeting all types of students.
The beauty of Udemy is some of its courses have discounts. It also has many accredited virtual assistant training courses.
For their courses, you can start with the following:
i. Work from Home as a Virtual Assistant
Under this course, you’ll train with the best in the field of virtual assistants. Tina Marie, the instructor, has consulted with many businesses on hiring a virtual assistant.
Some of the things you’ll learn include:
- Should you become a virtual assistant?
- How to prepare for a virtual assistant business
- How to set up and launch your business successfully
- How to come up with a price structure
- Putting in place a system to keep your business running
You’ll have access to three hours of video, mobile, and TV learning, one-hour audio, and 18 downloadable resources. Once you complete the course, you’ll get a certificate.
The course will cost you $49.99.
ii. Must-Have Tools for Virtual Assistants
Erin Booth, who started his VA business in 2012, will teach you about the tools you need for your virtual assistant business to succeed.
What you’ll learn:
- More than 20 must-have tools to manage business
- The importance of each tool
- Setting up accounts for these tools
- How to use the tools
Once you buy the course, you’ll have access to one downloadable resource, three hours of video, learning on mobile and TV, and four articles.
You’ll also get a certificate of completion.
The course will only set you back $39.99.
iii. Grow Your Virtual Assistant Business | Long Term Success
Another of Erin Booth’s virtual assistant courses, this class is not for beginners. If you’ve already started your business but are looking for tips to grow it, then this is perfect for you.
From this course, you’ll learn:
- The skills that keep your business afloat
- The importance of the 80/20 rule
- How to use the online space for marketing your business
- How to effectively use your time
- How to gently drop a client
What will you have access to?
- 1.5 hours of video
- Three resources to download
- Be able to learn on TV and mobile
Besides, you have a certificate of completion to show for all the work you’ll put in.
The course goes for $19.99.
iv. The Complete Canva Course
As a virtual assistant, having graphic design skills can make you more marketable. Businesses might require you to create visuals for their Pinterest, Facebook, and other social media pages.
Canva is one of the best graphic design platforms for your presentations due to the thousands of templates they have on the site.
What does The Complete Canva Course cover?
- Basic design skills
- How to create attractive designs on Canva
- Creation of videos and animations
- A practical project
After paying $129.99, you’ll have access to 51/2 hours of video and one resource. You can do this course on TV or mobile.
What’s more? There’s a certificate of completion.
v. Social Media Management – Complete Manager Bootcamp
Businesses have gone online, hence the growing demand for a virtual assistant who is social media savvy.
This course by Lottie Mosley will teach you:
- The ins and outs of business social media and how to use it for marketing
- Which social media platforms best suit your clients
- How to set up your freelance business
- What kind of content sells
- Creation of reports for your clients
For the $129.99 you pay, you get access to an eight-hour video, two articles, 11 resources, and assignments. You can also access this course on TV or mobile and get a certificate at the end.
4. Google Ads Academy – Free Google Ads Training
Like Facebook, Google has various marketing platforms that businesses use. Therefore, being able to navigate YouTube ads, Adwords, and the like can put you in a vantage position as a virtual assistant.
Some of the topics you can choose on the Google skill shop include Google marketing, YouTube courses, and Google My Business.
The great news is that it won’t cost you a dime to learn.
5. $10k VA – Learn How to Make a Consistent $10,000 Per Month as a Virtual Assistant!
As a virtual assistant, Kayla Sloan will show you how to make $10,000 per month.
The $10KVA course teaches you how to:
- Land your first client
- Pitch to potential clients
- Set the right prices
- Become efficient with proper systems
Also, she gives you access to a Facebook group where you can reach out and learn from other virtual assistants.
The course will cost you $497. At that cost, you can quickly recover your investment once you start earning $10,000 monthly.
6. Facebook Blueprint – Free Facebook Ads Courses
Business owners use Facebook ads to make money. So, your knowledge of Facebook ads could make you a valuable asset to clients.
The good news is, Facebook has several courses on its platform. What’s more? It offers free courses for free, including those inclined to virtual assistant training.
Fortunately, the courses also cover other social media platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
Some of the courses on Facebook Blueprint that can boost your virtual assistant career are:
- Taking your business online
- Attracting and retaining the right audience
- Creating ads
7. The VA Handbook – How to Become a Virtual Assistant
If you’re wondering whether being a virtual assistant is for you, The VA Handbook might come in handy.
Joanne Munro created The VA Handbook course after leaving her job in the hospitality industry.
At $597, the course includes lessons on:
- How to set up your business
- How to market your business
- Access to countless resources
- Access for life
- Support from a Facebook group for trainees
On top of all that, there are freebies once you become a member of the Society of Virtual Assistants. These include a newsletter and access to the blog, both for free.
She also has a free eBook – Tools You Need (And Don’t Need) to Set Up Your Virtual Assistant Business.
8. 90 Day VA with Esther Inman
If you want to learn the secrets of being a successful virtual assistant from an expert, this is an excellent choice.
The $497-course only takes 90 days to complete. If you’re a fast learner, you can take fewer days to learn from Esther Inman.
In her class, Esther who has been a virtual assistant for seven years will teach you:
- Who is a virtual assistant, and what they do
- How much money to expect from a virtual assistant career
- How to get work without experience
- The basics of setting up
The 90 Day VA also gives you access to mentorship and weekly job postings.
9. VA Ninja Pinterest Course with Megan Johnson
Do you want to become a Pinterest VA? Take the Pinterest VA Ninja course.
What does the course cover?
- Setting up a website or revamping an existing one
- Role of a Pinterest VA
- What services to offer
- Putting a price tag on your packages
- The legal and financial basics of your business
- Marketing your business
- Getting that first client
As a bonus, students who sign up for the course can list their services on Megan Johnson’s VA database without a charge. Non-students pay a membership fee of $100 annually to get similar services.
Besides, there is live training to help you with underperforming pins.
The training costs $125.
10. Laptop Lifestyle Bootcamp with Amanda Kolbye
Amanda Kolbye’s course runs for 12 weeks. Although this course is great for anybody who wishes to start an online business, you get useful virtual assistant skills.
The course helps you to:
- Think like a CEO
- Decide on what services to offer
- Select your target market
- Price your services correctly
- Pitch to potential clients
- Market your business using social media
- Make financial decisions
At $2,500, the course costs more than the rest. But you also learn from successful entrepreneurs in different fields like email marketing and copywriting. These are useful skills for a virtual assistant.
The Different Types of Virtual Assistant Training
All the virtual assistant training courses fall into one of these three categories:
1. The well-rounded graduate training
If you’re not a beginner, but you need more training, this is the course to choose.
It is for those who already know the basics of administrative work and tools. But the course will still show you how to get a client and charge your services.
Besides, there are exams at the end of the training.
However, if you want to specialize, you may have to go for a specific class, such as digital marketing.
2. The all-inclusive trainee program
If you’re already a virtual assistant but want an in-depth knowledge of the industry, this course is for you.
Still, even if you’re starting and want to learn everything related to the industry, you can take this course. The training will show you how to set up shop and what skills are in demand.
3. The beginner’s guide
If you don’t know anything about being a virtual assistant, this is the best course to start with.
Such a course will show you how to get started, decide on the services you offer, rate the services, pitch to clients, among other basic skills.
How to Choose the Best Virtual Assistant Course
Before settling on a virtual assistant course, you have to consider the following:
a. Cost – Although it’s important to put your budget into consideration, quality must also come into play. Choose a course that will give you value for money.
b. Training tools and materials – Apart from having a knowledgeable instructor, consider which materials are being used. Are there tests and reviews? If yes, these are a plus.
c. Engaging lessons – An excellent course should be interactive and based on feedback for quality learning.
d. Results-oriented – It’s crucial to check if the course will equip you with what the market needs. Will you be a successful virtual assistant by the time you finish learning? If yes, you’re in the right place.
How to Get Virtual Assistant Jobs for Beginners
With the risk skills, there are plenty of places to get jobs as a newbie.
Some platforms require you to do small tasks, while others give you time to build a portfolio.
Check out these sites if you’re a beginner:
- Upwork
- Fancy hands
- oDesk
- Indeed
- Belay
- Virtual Assistant Forums
- 99 Dollar Social
- Vicky Virtual
The Best Virtual Assistant Training in 2021
All the courses in this guide will help you get the virtual assistant job training you need.
That said, some of the courses might give you quality skills while saving you time and money.
For instance, the VA Ninja course will give you the specific skills you need for Pinterest.
If you want to build a virtual assistant agency, the $10k VA course might just be the one.
Those looking for hands-on training might find the Laptop Lifestyle Bootcamp helpful.
While those on a budget should head to Udemy for their discounted courses.
If you’re looking for free social media courses, try the Google Ads Academy and the Facebook Blueprint.
You have the information, so all you need to do now is sign up for a course.
