How To Become A Virtual Assistant In Kenya – Part 1

You are probably tired of struggling to get a job locally and want to start working for international clients remotely. Or maybe you want to quit your job and get more control over your work schedule. Regardless of the reason, you may have come across this career in your search for remote job opportunities and decided to become a virtual assistant. But now you are caught in limbo; you have absolutely no idea where to start or what requirements are needed. If this resonates with you, get comfortable because you are in the right space.

A VA is an individual who works remotely to offer technical, creative, or administrative assistance to busy professionals, business owners, content creators, or a company's team. The VA streamlines operations to ensure clients can focus on their major goals without spending too much time on every little task.

For instance, a busy therapist may hire a VA to respond to inquiries, manage bookings, send emails to business partners and relevant stakeholders, and plan her trips abroad. Consequently, the therapist has more time and energy to expand her client base while consistently providing high-quality services. This therapist is not doing everything on her own. The VA's support protects her from burnout and medical-related errors, which could be detrimental to her clients' well-being.

1. Passion: Do you enjoy helping others? If so, this career is suitable for you. If not, you might spend days on end feeling overwhelmed by the constant support your clients will need from you. Over time, you may feel like it is too much pressure and quit.
2. Tech-savviness: Since you will be working remotely, you should familiarize yourself with tools that will help you perform your duties effectively. In most cases, your clients will be in different time zones. Consequently, you'll need to ensure you do not make time-related mistakes that could have dire consequences for your client.
   
   For instance, you may need to update your client's calendar with information about a meeting she will have on Thursday at 5 PM EAT. Therefore, you need to know what time that should be in her specific time zone. If you just input 5 PM on her calendar, obviously, the client will miss the meeting thinking it is set for 5 PM. This will harm her brand and business at large. To avoid such mistakes, you will need to use a tool like Savvy Time World Clock, which will make it easier for you to update accurate time-related information.
3. People skills: You must understand your clients' personalities, communication style, way of doing things, triggers, and preferences to enhance your virtual assistance experience. For example, if your client prefers to receive information in a visually appealing way and you prefer to send documents in Word despite the client correcting you numerous times, you might not retain the job for too long. Clients prefer to work with VAs who understand their style of doing things and adjust accordingly.
4. Attention to Detail: A virtual assistant must be detail-oriented. Your client does not have to explain every single thing to you. Use your observation skills to identify what is important to them in every task and the expected outcome. If you are not sure about something, never assume. It is best practice to seek clarification from the client.
5. Proactiveness: Clients prefer to work with VAs who can anticipate issues and address them without waiting to be told. For example, one of your clients is planning to travel to Italy in two months, and they ask you to prepare their itinerary. Upon close inspection of their passport, you notice that it will expire in four months. After doing your research, you find out that Italy is in the Schengen zone, which requires a passport to be valid at least three months after the departure date. As a proactive VA, you should immediately notify your client about your findings.
6. Willingness To Learn: No matter how smart you are, there is always something new to learn. Every client you work with has their unique preferences. Inability to learn could negatively impact your productivity, and you may end up losing your job as a result.

1. Managing emails: This entails cleaning and organizing your client's inbox so that they can find information easily. Your client may also require you to respond to emails and highlight important messages.
2. Managing Your Client's Calendar: This involves scheduling your client's meetings and appointments and making sure schedules align.
3. Data Entry: Inputting and organizing data in spreadsheets. For example, your client may be a lecturer who needs you to transfer data from handwritten forms into one spreadsheet.
4. Administrative support: Clients may require admin support VAs to prepare documents, organize files, create invoices, and prepare reports.
5. Customer support: This entails receiving calls from customers, making follow-up calls, and responding to email inquiries or social media messages.
6. Research: This involves conducting internet research on certain topics and then creating presentations to report their findings. Therefore, you will need to be skilled in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
7. Travel Planning: Creating travel itineraries for your clients ensures they have a seamless travel experience.

Watch the following movie during to see if being a VA is really the career for you: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352. Although this movie is about an on-site assistant rather than a virtual assistant, it is still quite eye-opening..