Tips for Working Effectively as a Virtual Assistant

In this guide we will look at tips for working effectively as a Virtual Assistant. A virtual assistant is required to work both effectively and efficiently. There are special circumstances which are different to traditional work environment when you choose to work as virtual assistant. First, being a virtual assistant means that both your employer and you do not have direct contact. You may not know each other personally, as opposed to employers and employees commonly know each other in the real world. However both of you are still bound under contract just like when you choose to work in the real world.

Being effective is a crucial thing in work. Effective means you are successful in producing the desired or expected result of your work. It is not about how long you work or how much effort you spend. It is about the results you produce, especially when it comes to online work. Efficient on the other hand talks about the resources that you need to use or spend in producing the results.

It could be the time you need to finish a job, the efforts you have to spend or sometimes even the money that you need to pay to get the job done. Virtual assistant wise, employers are more concerned about you being effective rather than being efficient. But your efficiency will determine how many jobs you would be able to take – and hence how much money you can earn.

The following tips may help you to work more effectively as a VA in the beginning, but what follows next will solely depend on you. It is why learning is the most important thing in our life. We continuously learning to become better at what we do, the same thing applies when you choose to work as a virtual assistant.

1. Technical skills are the most important thing in being effective. You cannot ever replace know-how and experience in a job. That is why the more experienced someone is in a field, the higher their reward or salary is. An experienced worker can finish a job quicker than a non-experienced worker, and the quality of the work will also be in the higher par. It is thus very important to only apply for the jobs that you have the skills of, especially if the deadline is short.

Yes you can try your luck to apply for a job even if you are not skillful, and if you are hired then you quickly learn from Google how to finish the job. But the quality of the work would be questionable or of low quality. It is better to be an expert in a field rather than a Mr. Know-It-All. Do not apply for the jobs at a first place if you can’t or don’t know how to do it. A wise man once said “If you become a jack of all trades, you become a master of none”. Very true.

2. Communication skills become the second most important thing in determining how effective your work is. An effective worker is an effective communicator, especially when you apply for a job to assist someone. You need to keep communicating with your virtual employer, ask them what they think about your job and which area you could improve. Most employers would very happy to tell you which area you could use some improvements. No matter how skilled and experienced you are with your work, if you do not have good communication with your employers, then it would be hard to get a future job from the same employer.

Contact your employer regularly especially when you have a question in your mind about the job. Do not make assumptions if you are not clear about something. And also do not forget to make a routine report about the job so your employer knows what you are doing, and whether you have completed the job objective or not. In our life, communication may be a simple thing to do. Do not forget or ignore good communication, and good things will come to you in your journey as a successful VA.