How To Start a Virtual Assistant Business

You have to start with the foundations of your business. Yes, it would be amazing to start with getting clients, but without the foundations, you can’t handle more than one or two clients. And we don’t want that. We want to earn a lot of money and ditch that energy-draining 9-5.

Step 1: Name, Logo, and Other Basics

Maybe you already thought of a name, or you have no idea yet. You can choose your own name, or you can be as creative as you want to be. Just make sure the business name doesn’t exist yet. I knew, because I wanted to go international, I couldn’t use my own name. Marit Verlaat, Virtual Assistant, just isn’t something any English-speaking person can pronounce right.

So, I had to be creative, and it became Wanderful Assistant.

You don’t need a professional logo right away. You can create one in Canva. The logo for my VA business is still my first Canva logo, btw.

You also can’t forget to check the legalities and taxes. Yes, not the most fun stuff to do. I was so glad I had a coach who told me that I had to do that because otherwise I would have forgotten it. 

Here are some sources you can use to find out which business structure works best for you:

• When you are in the US, you have, for instance, an LLC or Sole Proprietorship. If you want to know more, you can check here

• In Australia, you have, for example Sole trader and company. You can find the difference here.

• In Canada, you have Solo Proprietorship and Corporations. You find more info here.

• If you’re Irish, you can check here how to start a business. And if you’re in the UK, you can check here.

Step 2: Build Your Foundations

You need to have your foundations ready before you can support all the clients you want to support. I teach all this in the Couch Potato Clarity DIY course. That course takes you every step of the way to build a successful virtual assistant business.

So, get clarity on which services you want to offer. 

I started as an admin VA because that’s what I did in all my 9-5s. I thought that was the easiest way to make money. But for me, it didn’t work. I wasn’t excited about what I offered, and who wants to work with a virtual assistant that basically hates what she’s doing? Well, let me tell you absolutely freaking no one.

That’s why I pivoted to tech VA. Something I’d never done before. But I love it, and that is what people see.

So, offer services that give you ENERGY. 

When you know which services you want to offer, you have to create packages. Don’t be like me and offer hourly rates. I’m still using them, but I tell every person who asks me how to start a virtual assistant business to create packages and rates for those services. And no, don’t create a package with 10 hours for $400 a month. When you do that, you’re still working for an hourly rate. 

You also want your tools and processes ready before you smash go. The possibility to book a free call with me is something that really works for my virtual assistant business. So, set up tools so people can book a call automatically. In the VA Series, my free guide to get started, I have a whole explanation on how you do this.

You also want to have your boundaries thought out because one of the most important things of having your own virtual assistant business is taking care of yourself.

Not everybody, but some of the business owners who want to work with you want to see your portfolio. When you don’t have any experience yet, it might seem impossible.

But even then, you can create an amazing portfolio. You have to base it on fake businesses. Not businesses that exist and you want to work for, but come up with some business names and do the services that you offer for them. 

Here are some examples:

• When you offer graphic design services, create a logo, a couple of social media posts, etc. 

• When you’re a Squarespace VA, create your own website in Squarespace and create website mockups in, for instance, Canva.

• When you offer inbox management services, create a fake email address, send a couple of fake emails to that email address, and make a video of how you would organize that inbox.

Like I wrote before, I started offering admin services to my clients, but within a year, I pivoted to offering tech and process services. I love that I can support other business owners with setting up an online course, for instance.

So maybe you also don’t know exactly what you want to offer. Because you probably, just like me, don’t even know what is possible. 

That’s one of the reasons I created The WolfPack Membership. Every month, you can learn a new skill and add it to your portfolio. You can use that skill in your own virtual assistant business, but you can also offer it as a new service– and maybe drop a service that you’re just not into… 

Or specialize in that service and drop all your other services.

Because that’s the beauty of being your own boss. You decide what’s going to happen.

Step 3: Create Your Portfolio

Step 4: Look for Clients

Who do you want to support? If you’re a little bit like me, you want to help everybody. But when you talk to everybody, you’re not going to support anybody.

Because you’re going to be too vague.

So even when you niche down a little bit, you can focus on creating content for that specific business owner (women, introverts, ...) or niche (hair salons, restaurants, coaches, wedding planners, …).

Maybe you’re working in an industry that you really love, and you can focus on that specific industry in your VA business. Or you always wanted to work for a specific industry and completely focus on that.

You can be as specific as you want. 

So, now that you have that squared away, you can actually start to get clients. 

You have to decide what you want to do because you can’t do it all. It’s just not possible to be on all the social media platforms, write blog pages, be on YouTube, and go to network events (the horror, right? Trust me, you don’t have to go to network events).

I would choose one social media platform and focus on that. Decide how many times you WANT to post and stick to that. When I started, I did a couple of social media platforms and went all in. One month later, I quit it all. I was sooooo overwhelmed that I just had to stop creating content. 

You can better post once a week and be consistent than ghost your followers.

Step 5: Market Your Business

As an introvert, you have to guard your energy. When you love something, and I know you’re going to love starting a virtual assistant business, you can ‘talk’ about it all the time.

There are a couple of marketing strategies that work so well for an introvert:

• Website - because you have an online business and social media is a fickle bitch, you need a website. You own everything that you put on your website. 

• Writing blog posts - if writing is your thing, definitely start a blog on your website.

• Pinterest - slow social media. It isn’t even considered social media. 

• One social media platform - if you like to create graphics, go for Insta. If you like to create videos, go for TikTok if it’s still available (way better SEO than Insta). If you like to write, go for Threads.  

• Join Facebook groups - you can find a group for every niche.

What is next for you?

When you read this, you will know how to start a Virtual Assistant business.

But you’ve also spent a lifetime as an employee where you’ve been trained how to do everything ”right.”

So, I know from experience you want everything to be ready before you launch. 

If you feel like you need more support, you can join the Couch Potato Clarity, a virtual assistant course that will give you the confidence to start accepting clients

Even if you don’t have a portfolio yet!

FAQs

How much does it cost to start a virtual assistant business?

To start a Virtual Assistant business, you need yourself, a laptop, and wifi. You can work from home, so I would say invest in a good chair. Preferably, create a dedicated space for yourself to work so you can really end your workday. You need a website. I love Squarespace for this. But for most of the online tools you need, you can use the free version.

Do virtual assistants need an LLC?

When you are in the US, you can choose from a couple of business structures, for instance, an LLC or Sole Proprietorship. If you want to know more, you can check here. If you want to know more about setting up an LLC, click here.

What do virtual assistants charge per hour?

This depends on how much experience you have. I started with $45 per hour and now I charge $80 per hour. But like I wrote before, create packages and use the hourly rate to calculate how much you want to charge per package. I would never ever charge below $30 per hour.

How do I sell myself as a virtual assistant?

The most important part is to be yourself. When I just started my virtual assistant business, I forgot that. I was copying other people’s strategies, and that didn’t work for me. Everybody is their amazing self and has something else to offer. Entrepreneurs want to work with real people. They trust you to cherish their business.