The salary of a virtual assistant will depend on the skills they can offer, those who know software programming are the ones who earn the most
Do you want to be a virtual assistant? Since May 2021, Google searches for this new job have exploded, at the same time as remote work has grown after the global health crisis. This is the job with the highest current demand in the digital worldwho navigates between the responsibilities of a traditional secretary and customer service, technology and marketing functions.
the dominican Julia Chilin (@giuliachilin) is a virtual assistant since 2020a job he came to as a result of the need to reinvent himself when he lost his job in Morocco. “I was looking for how to make money online. My first job was a transcriptionist,” she recalled in an interview with Yahoo finance.
Trained in hotel administration Ibero-American University of Cap CanaChilin was part of the food and beverage coordination for a Moroccan hotel. “I discovered remote work platforms. I started reading the available job postings and saw a pattern in the postings. E-merchants who were looking for virtual assistants,” he says.
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His first contract was with a company that sold saunas, his responsibilities ranged from serving customers virtually to writing product descriptions that were offered on the web. “They gave me the opportunity with no experience. I made about $100 in a month, next to nothing, but I decided that was what I wanted to do.”.
His thing was training. chillin he knew that his level of income would vary depending on the skills he could offer to clients. “I took a lot of courses on Coursera. I even created an online store to understand how it works inside. I never made a sale, but from there I saw how I could help people,” he says.
With her hospitality background, she was able to demonstrate her ability to serve customers in person. “I sold it as a quality that I can use to benefit online stores,” he says. Also his fluency in English. It all adds up when it comes to getting offers and pricing your work..
“I started charging $5 an hour,” Chilin recalled. A figure that grew – first to $8, then to $10 – as he gained experience and new skills. Today, his work is listed at $25. “I have to earn $3,000 a month, but working 12 hours a day. It’s not healthy”.
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The highest charging virtual assistants on the market are those who focus on software programming, which can quote up to $50 per hour of work. “You’re going to progress based on what you learn,” Chilin says.
The job market is more focused on the US and Europe, although as remote work it breaks geographical boundaries. Businesses in the region are just beginning to request virtual assistants, according to Chilin’s experience. “It’s more focused on the marketing area, because most Latin American-born businesses have an Instagram before a webpage. Now there seems to be a growth in that direction.
“It’s not a one-task job. There are a lot of tasks together, it’s a bit of everything”. In attendee profiles there is also one that is more dedicated to administrative work, with functions similar to those of a traditional secretary: answer e-mails and keep the diary.
chillin suggests establishing a job niche if you want to get a job as an assistant, so you can specialize in the field. “I even learned how to create domains and make web pages, these are skills that I can now offer.” Also support yourself on websites that function as job boards, such as freelancer.es and upwork.com.
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The latter is Chilin’s favorite, as it provides greater security to guarantee payment to the employer. The platform has built-in tracking that takes work time and sends screenshots to the client to record that they are actually performing your tasks.
“We start with the fear of knowing if they will pay you. The platform I started ignored that part,” he recalls, although he cautions that in cases like Upwork, the website charges a commission for the work. “You have to be creative, they are looking for a contact. Take the risk of offering the service. The job won’t come until you make yourself known. The worst thing that can happen to you is that they tell you no, until you keep playing hard”.
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