How to Become a Virtual Assistant in 2024

With the onset of remote work, virtual assistants are in demand more than ever. Becoming a virtual assistant can grant you flexibility and freedom to offer your services and earn an income from anywhere in the world (with an internet connection).

Continue reading to learn what a virtual assistant is, what one does, and how to become one. If you're ready to start this career path now, consider enrolling in Coursera Plus and building the skills you need to attract top clients.

What is a virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant (VA) is someone who offers support to businesses and professionals. A virtual assistant uses technology to perform tasks remotely rather than commuting to a physical location.

There are several reasons why business owners hire virtual assistants. These include:  

• Making business operations run more smoothly

• Scaling business growth 

• Ensuring that tasks outside of the business owner’s core competency areas get done

For example, a virtual assistant can take on administrative tasks such as data entry, email management, or appointment scheduling, enabling a business owner to focus on serving customers, developing new products, and planning the next growth phase. 

Read more: The Executive Assistant Guide: Skills, Guides, Courses

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Becoming a virtual assistant: What to know in 2024

The virtual assistant economy continues to evolve and serve businesses in various industries, including health care, online education, interior decorating, sustainability software, publishing, banking and finance, e-commerce, mortgage and lending, IT, and more. Statista refers to this industry as "business process outsourcing, ... the transfer of entire business processes or individual activities from a company to a third party.” Statista predicts that industry revenue will reach $134 billion in 2024 and exceed $152 billion by 2028 [1].

Here’s a look at some of the trends and opportunities: 

Virtual assistant talent marketplaces

Various talent pools are available for virtual assistants to source clients and businesses to find the right support. Fiverr and Upwork are among the more popular and well-known pools. 

Other talent pools include: 

• Belay Solutions

• VirtuDesk

• The Virtual Hub

• The VA Hub

• MyOutDesk

• Intelligent Office

• MyTasker

• The ROOM

• Wing

Some advantages these talent pools offer are secure payments, client matching, the ability to build a detailed profile and description of your services, and access to success tips and educational resources. In addition, VAs on these talent marketplaces can find work at companies such as GE, Microsoft, Airbnb, COTY, Meta, Google, and AWS.

Popular virtual assistant services 

While virtual assistants traditionally provide administrative services, today’s VAs also offer a wide range of services that require specialized knowledge and skills, as we will cover in more detail in the next section. 

For example, as of March 2024 there are over 33,000 virtual assistant profiles on Fiverr. The virtual assistant tasks and services offered most frequently include: 

• General assistance

• E-commerce management

• Data entry

• E-commerce store management 

• Data typing

• Web research

• Copy paste

• Social media marketing

• Research assistant

What do virtual assistants do? 

Virtual assistants help startups, entrepreneurs, and companies of all sizes improve their operations. VAs can work as freelancers, running their own virtual assistant businesses, taking on several clients at once, and completing short-term projects that last varying amounts of time. They can also find long-term employment opportunities.  

We reviewed virtual assistant service offerings on the talent marketplaces listed above to show the range of possibilities in the table below.   

Read more: 11 Side Hustles from Home and How to Get Started

How much do virtual assistants make?

As you consider launching a virtual assistant career, it's important to reflect on your earning potential. Your income depends on several factors, including:

• The services you offer

• The prices you charge

• The country you live in

• The number of clients you serve at a given time

• Your skills and expertise

• The methods you use to promote your services to potential clients

It’s a good idea to research average virtual assistant salaries and hourly rates on different job sites, as follows: 

• Glassdoor: $53,074 per year in the US [2]

• Indeed: $24.44 per hour in the US [3]

• Zip Recruiter: $50,749 per year/$24 per hour in the US [4]

Another useful strategy for estimating how much you can make is to click through virtual assistant profiles on different marketplaces. How much do other VAs charge for their services? Here are some examples of information you can gather: 

• On Fiverr, you keep 80 percent of your earnings. 

• On Upwork, you can set hourly rates or project rates, depending on the kind of services you offer.  

How to become a virtual assistant

In this section, you will discover how to become a virtual assistant from home or anywhere.

1. Decide what types of services you will offer. 

Answer these questions to gain clarity: 

• What kinds of businesses, start-ups, or entrepreneurs do you want to help?

• What business core competencies do they need to focus on? 

• In what areas of business operations do they need the most support? 

• What holds their business back from growing and scaling?  

• What services can you offer to allow businesses to focus time and energy on their core competencies?

• How would your service save them time, increase efficiency, and improve their operations? 

• How will you package and price your services?  

2. Build relevant skills.

Once you know who you can help and how to help them, assess your skills and experience. What skills are your ideal clients looking for in a virtual assistant? What skills do you possess that can help you offer value to clients? What skill gaps will you need to fill?  

To build virtual assistant skills, consider taking online courses you can complete at your own pace. For example, you can prepare to help businesses improve their marketing efforts with skills developed in the Google Digital Marketing and E-commerce Professional Certificate and the Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate. 

To gain experience, consider finding an entry-level position in your skill area, remote or onsite, or completing short-term projects on a freelance basis. Be sure to gather letters of recommendation and testimonials from satisfied clients.

Reflect on your growing skills and experience to deepen your understanding of potential clients and their needs so that you can tailor your services accordingly. 

3. Create an online presence.

An online presence can make it easier to promote your virtual assistant services, display your skills and experience, and finding new clients. Review your services, skills, experiences, letters of recommendation, and testimonials. Draft clear, compelling copy, such as a value proposition, mission statement, services list, and About Me paragraph. Then, set up any or all of the following: 

• Website 

• Online portfolio

• Profiles on virtual assistant talent marketplace sites

• Social media accounts specifically for promoting your VA services  

Read more: How to Create a Striking LinkedIn Profile: Guide + Tips

You may also find value in joining professional organizations, attending networking events, and connecting with businesses that need your services. 

4. Look for virtual assistant jobs.

There are several ways you can earn income as a VA, including:

• Part-time virtual assistant jobs 

• Temporary VA gigs

• Remove virtual assistant jobs 

• A long-term VA position

• Starting your own VA business 

As you look for potential clients or employers, update your online presence, enhance your resume, and hone your interviewing skills.

To get ideas on how to get potential clients to notice your work, watch this short video, "Get Found by Buyers," from the CalArts Building Your Freelancing Career Specialization.

Start your virtual assistant career with Coursera 

Taking online courses can lead to a rewarding VA career.

To focus on the business-building aspects of becoming a VA, consider enrolling in the CalArts Building Your Freelancing Career Specialization. This program covers how to stand out among the competition, how to price and package your services, how to present your work, and more. It takes about a month to complete.

To delve deeper into a skill area and earn a credential, check out our Professional Certificates in tech, marketing, project management, business intelligence, sales, and more.