Virtual Assistants – Must Have Tools and Skills To be the Best VA you can be.

I have been a VA for a little over 8 months now and I have gained so much knowledge and useful tips and secrets along the way from my clients as well as from doing my own research on the field of work I am in.  I must say that for the most important thing as a VA is to ensure my time management skills are tip top as this for me, as a work from home mom with a new baby and a toddler, is what will make or break my career.  So, time management, what is this exactly? Well, exactly that, management of time efficiently so as to ensure that all tasks allocated by your clients on a daily basis are completed.  Now in the beginning of my journey believe me I fell off the bus on the task list once off twice and found myself having to work extra hours in order to get certain tasks done which really should have been done during my normal working hours, but now I am proud to say after implementing some changes I am fully in charge of the daily schedule and get everything done before close of business.

One big tip is to write yourself a task list at the beginning of each day and tick off as you go along, this way you can stay completely on top of things and if anything else gets allocated, add it to the list and tick off once done.  My clients like to also give me a task and a deadline in which to complete it so when I put it on the list I ensure to include the date, this also helps to prioritise tasks from very important to not so important.

I also like to make sure I am giving summaries and notes to my client throughout the day so that I know that we are both on the same page with everything which means smoother working for me and smoother running of their business for them.  Something else I have picked up along the way is to do a lot of research on things pertaining to tasks handed out as this allows me to be able to discuss strategies with my clients and give my input as well instead of it just being a one way conversation so to speak….which brings me to my next point….

Be proactive and give input where you can as this shows a great deal of initiative, confidence and also shows that you actually enjoy what  you’re doing and it makes the client happy and feel more confident having you virtually run their business.

That said, I think the most important thing when choosing this as a career path is to keep learning, keep researching, up your game by gaining new skills and I guess like with any job enjoy it and have fun at the same time.

Being a VA is great, I love it and am so glad I chose to go this path.