How to Be a Part-Time Virtual Assistant

In many ways, being at your desk all day can be easier, because when your clients are working, you are too. But with some forethought you can successfully be a part-time VA. In this episode of The RocketGirl Show, I'll share three things to consider when working as a Virtual Assistant part-time.

Transcript

I'm Belinda Wasser, also known as RocketGirl, and today we're going to talk about how to be a part time virtual assistant.

I've always been a full-time virtual assistant, but I really believe for a lot of people, the big draw is being part time, because you can set your own hours, you can set your schedule and you can decide how much you want to work.

There are a few things that need to be considered before you take the plunge and become a part time virtual assistant and today I'm going to talk about what those things are.

The first thing to consider is the type of work. If you're only working on evenings or certain afternoons, you want to make sure that you don't sign up for projects with clients that require you to be in a moment and on the hook for something that you're not able to deliver.

It's easy to think, "Oh, I can just make that work," or, "I can just fit that in." But I think that that can lead to trouble down the road. I encourage you to really think about the type of work that's appropriate.

Setting the expectations is also critical. You want to be upfront with your client about turnaround times, when they can expect to be in touch with you, and really make sure that it's a match, what they expect for your schedule. Remember that there are lots of clients out there, so you don't have to twist yourself around or change your schedule all the time to suit them. You really can find clients that are a match for you.

Speaking of the schedule, the schedule is very important. And what I mean by this is, we're virtual assistants, which means that we set our own schedule. However, if we relay to our clients that we will be available on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:00 until noon, it's critical that we do everything we can to create that consistency and accountability, so our clients will know that even though we are part time, they can depend on us.

I think that working part time is a great solution for so many people and it's important to just think through the different pieces of the work, and how you can make the best of it for both you and your client.

I'm going to pop over to the comments quickly, and see if anybody has anything to say. And I also, I want to let you know about our Facebook group. Our Facebook group, The Virtual Assistant Connection is an online community for virtual assistants, with the commitment of educating and connecting virtual assistants all over the world. We have almost, I think we're going to cross the line today, 700 members, which is very exciting, and we'd love to have you join us.

There's two ways to find us. One is to go to Facebook and type "The Virtual Assistant Connection" in the search bar at the top. And the other is to follow this bit.ly link, bit.ly.vaconnection.com. Once you join us, you'll find all kinds of educational videos, articles, posts, and things to help you get started. The group is for people who are thinking about being a virtual assistant, people who have been one for a little while, or someone like me, who's been doing this for a very long time.

I hope you'll join us, I'd love to see you in there.

Have a great afternoon. I'm Belinda Wasser, RocketGirl, signing off until next time. Bye bye.