By the end of this blog post, you will have everything you need to create your portfolio and start your VA business with NO EXPERIENCE! Grab a pen and paper and let’s dive right in. Ready?

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1. Social Media Manager

Social media maintenance is very popular nowadays, and it is slightly different from social media management, management is a high-paying career.

It is creating the posts that you will share on your client's behalf.

It is branding.

It is managing replies and messages across platforms.

It is funneling traffic to buy certain products.

It is a lot.

So right off the bat, when discussing social media with clients, set clear, distinguishing lines between management and maintenance.

What you need to know:

If a client wants you, their illustrious virtual assistant, to create the content, meaning the person who's going to write the blurb that goes on Twitter or Facebook, or LinkedIn, brace yourself because that falls into management territory. If that's something that you're comfortable with, then come back with a very high rate to charge them.

It is a full-time job.

However, there are many things that you can do under the social media maintenance platform as a virtual assistant that won't take over your whole life and will help you and your client stay very happy.

What you need to do:

• Ask them to create the words that they want to share online.
• Manage it in terms of when you are posting it and what channels you are posting it to.
• Create a simple spreadsheet (Google Sheet) to help you track what you and your client are working on together, and get it approved.
• Get it scheduled or posted on the decided platforms and engage with the audience.

Email Management

Everyone has an inbox unless they live in the Stone Age!

Businesses must maintain an organized inbox and answer customers on time, but as a business owner, it’s not the best use of time.

What you need to know:

It is one of the hardest tasks as a VA because each inbox is as unique as each client. And unless your client is completely hands-off and lets you take over their inbox it can be incredibly challenging to create a system that works for you both. Having said that, some ways can help make the task easier.

What you need to do:

1. Begin by setting expectations for your client and yourself.

Take a look at their inbox and assess things like how does their inbox look?

Do they read all their incoming emails or do they have five thousand unread messages?

Do they use labels or folders?

Do they have a lot of subscription emails or junk mail?

Note specific problem areas or things that you know you can improve upon.

2. Hop on a call with your client.

   Ask them where they struggle, what the breakdown is, and how this system is failing them.

3. Get access to their inbox.

   Clients can certainly give you their password, but they can also choose to make you a delegate.

4. Step one for inbox management is to start eliminating.

   Eliminate emails after a certain date. You can just mass delete certain newsletters or you can go through and ask your client if they'd like to unsubscribe. When you click on a mailer, go ahead and unsubscribe, and remove some of that clutter. If your client hates to delete things you can archive them. Archive doesn't send emails to trash directly. It sends them into the All Mail folder so that if they did need to access something from back in the day, they can find it there.

5. Archive messages.

   It's a little bit related to step one but step two is to start archiving messages that they've either already responded to or you think maybe are important, but clogging up the inbox.

6. Step three is to start creating different subfolders.

   Scroll down on the left panel and click Create New Label. Once you create a label or a new folder, you'll see it listed on the side. There's no limitation on how many folders you can create. You can check and highlight the emails and click and drag them into their respective folders 

   Don't be afraid to tell your client that starting inbox management is a marathon and not a sprint.

7.  Step four is creating labels and priority systems.

   Labels help clients identify the content of the email right from their inbox. Some labels that you might consider creating for your clients include urgent, personal, etc. Labels and folders are quite similar. Create a new label and you will notice that there's a new folder. You could treat this like a folder and you could simply drag and drop the conversations into it but labels do differ a little bit and you'll see a label in the inbox as well.

8. You can color code.

   It has to be very specific to the client. You could come up with your own system like red for urgent, blue for personal news, etc.

9. Last but not least, if your client is perpetually struggling with their Inbox it helps to suggest email alternatives.

   Superhuman is a system that takes care of some of the email and inbox management for busy people. Other apps include Front app or Sandbox.

Appointment Scheduler/Calendar Management

Sales calls don’t schedule themselves!

Team meetings and interviews don’t either!

What you need to know:

• How to use Google Calendar, Outlook, ICal, or others.
• Simple skills to help someone schedule their business activities and stay organized.

What you need to do:

1. You need access to your client's calendars.

   It’s easier to adopt whatever platform your client is using. It could be Outlook or Gmail.

2. Create an event for your client.

   There are a few different ways to do that. You can look for the create button or you can single click.

3. Name your event or meeting.

   Once you have your subject header and it is crystal clear about what exactly is happening, make sure that our dates, time, & timezone are correct.

4. To make things easier you can have a downloaded zoom extension. (Optional)

   What it does is it links up with your calendar so that it makes it easy to click and add zoom details.

5. Add all the details.

   Here are a few tips:

• Be as specific as possible here.
• Include the attendees.
• Include their mobile phone.
• Include an agenda.

6. Add guests.

   If you were to save these details, it would only appear on your client's calendar to add guests. You can simply type in the third party's email address. If you have more attendees on the call or if this is a group call, for example, you would simply add everybody's email under the guest list.

7. Allow people to modify an event.

   There will be times that your client needs to make a change & rather than asking you to make the change, they can change it themselves. And everyone on this list, including you, will get a notification saying that the event has changed. However, if you want to be the only person who can make the changes, then make sure that this is left blank.

8. Add a notification.

   A good ten-minute warning before a meeting is happening is a pretty good option for clients.

9. Save the event.

   You'll have options to go back and edit if you've made a mistake and need to make changes or you can hit send. Gmail will automatically send notifications to everyone's inbox.

Online Community Moderator/Manager

Moderators post and comment in online communities such as Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, Discord, forum, etc. Many of us already have an online community we use and love - why not get paid to help the owner make it even better and keep it a friendly and productive place for their audience to be?

What you need to know:

There's a lot that goes into maintaining a good, healthy, active community. It can be incredibly overwhelming and time-consuming. Small business owners, especially those with massive groups struggle a lot. There has to be a solid purpose - why that group exists that benefits the business. Online communities can be incredibly powerful for business owners. They are here to stay.

What you need to do:

• You can run a Facebook group in a way that doesn't take up all of your time but also becomes a leverage tool that you can use to benefit a business.
• Some of your day-to-day tasks can look like accepting new people into a group or the paid community to make sure that they are active, paying members.
• You could be moderating the group for spam, answering questions, posting graphics, and posting engaging questions, it depends on how much your client wants you to engage.
• You could even be going live or scheduling guests to go live in the group.
• If it is a massive group and there are several moderators and admins in the group that help manage it so as a community manager you may be managing the other moderators. It may look different from client to client.

Blog/Website Content Manager

Most online business owners or bloggers spend tons of time uploading product photos, checking links, editing, etc. These are important tasks, however not the best use of time for the owner as they are repetitive.

What you need to know:

A Content Manager is an individual who manages a website that likely is updated with content often. You don't need to be highly trained but you do need to develop a variety of skill sets to successfully produce both textual and visual content. A basic understanding of grammar and spelling.

What you need to do:

• One of the main things will be writing. Whether or not you're specifically in charge of writing material you will find occasions in which writing is necessary.
• Writing content as well as editing for branding. SEO written content that is natural to read but also easily found through search engines.
• Run multiple social media platforms simultaneously across various brands.
• Use keywords and visually appealing images to keep consumers engaged and make brand information easy to find through search engines or hashtags.
• Understand how information and content will impact consumers; who the audience is; what is the age group; how much are they willing to spend on a product; are they going to be repeat customers; is it a one-time type of product; where the customer is located; consider this type of information and help your clients to build a brand.

Pin this post to your business planning board on Pinterest. By the way, I created this Calendar Template to help you manage tasks each week to keep you on your way to your first client!

I would also love to see you in Build Your Virtual Assistant Business Bootcamp before the price goes up this Fall 2022! Click below to learn more.