Must-Have Skills (Training) for Virtual Assistants

Virtual Assistance is a popular industry and demand is only growing. But there’s no formal training required to become a VA - which also means there’s no industry standard in terms of the quality of our work.

That's where this course comes in. Whether you're a brand new VA or have a few months under your belt, this course aims to help you create a standard of work for the most commonly requested tasks. 

Check out this list of the most common questions asked by other Udemy students.

Who the heck am I and why should you trust what I have to say?

Before we do anything in this course, we have to talk about data security. We have access to our client’s lifelines: all of their login details to websites - from Netflix to their bank accounts. You’ll have access to their credit cards, social security numbers, addresses, emails - you name it - we have it.

That’s why it’s a great idea to invest in a password manager. A service like Dashlane, Bitwarden (which is 100% FREE) or 1Password combines a local password manager with cloud-based storage.

Update: When I initially made this course, I suggested that you use LastPass. While I've been a LastPass user for nearly a decade, they've recently had two back-to-back data breaches. I can no longer trust, nor suggest that you use LastPass either.

So let's take a look at 3 more PW manager options!

Test your knowledge with this short quiz!

Learn how to access a client's calendar. Note, this requires some light work on your client's part.

Now that we have access to our client's calendars, let's learn how to create, edit, and delete events on their behalf.

Check out the downloadable photo of our calendar template to help you create future events, faster.

It's time to arrange a call (or meeting, zoom, etc.) on your client's behalf.

Check out the downloadable photo for reference to the script that we'll use.

Is it appropriate to keep your client on an email chain? How do you let them know you're working on calendar arrangements? Meet Bcc - blind carbon copy. It's about to become your best friend.

Buffer time, blocks, color coding, and group meetings, oh my! Let's cover some tips and tools to help make calendar management a little easier.

Test your knowledge with these questions!

Learn how to access a client's inbox as a delegate, and start organizing in just 4-steps.

Bulk deleting emails is perhaps to the most underrated trick of the century (er...however old "email" is). If a client asks you to clear out hundreds of thousands of emails from their inbox, this tip will save you hours.

What is inbox zero, and how might the concept help both you and your clients?

While we're on the subject on inboxes, let's learn how to add multiple email signatures to your emails automatically.

Test your knowledge with a few inbox related questions!

Let's cover 4 steps to create an expense reporting system that keeps both you and your client on the same page.

Test your knowledge with a few questions!

Learn the difference between social media maintenance and management. Also, download or bookmark your checklist, Airtable, and Google Sheets spreadsheets.

Tracking content, copy, and metrics is a must. This spreadsheet makes it easy to share your social media pipeline with clients.

If you and your client are more visual and looking for a more robust tool than Google Docs, Airtable might be a good option. The template that I've created for you is locked, so you'll need to save a copy to your own Airtable account (called a base) to begin editing.

There are many great (and free) visual tools available to us on the web! We'll cover a few of the best tools to create visuals for social media, including Canva and an AI tool that removes backgrounds of photos in seconds.

Investing in (or using a) scheduling tool is a must when it comes to social media posting. We'll cover 2 of the best tools, as well as how to schedule posts directly from certain platforms, like Twitter.

You may have heard of Later before, it's popular among the Instagram crowd. While Later started predominantly as an Instagram scheduling tool and layout planner, it's become so much more robust.

I've been using Later so much over the last several months that it's replaced my usage of my old trusty platform, Hootsuite.

In this quick video, we'll cover how the Later dashboard works, how to link social media accounts, and how to schedule up to 30 free posts per month.

Metrics help you and your client understand what's working, what's not working, what content resonates with your audiences, and if you're targeting the right audience. Let's learn about how to incorporate these numbers into our trackers.

Twitter created a free 2022 planner to help plan your / your client's content and reflect on initiatives that are working (and those that need to be dropped). Download your copy now!

Test your social media skills with these questions.

Canva remains one of the best (and hottest) free platforms for creating graphics. If social media and design are something you're interested in offering as part of your business, then test your skills with this Canva training video!

Comparative research is exactly what it sounds like: comparing the best options. For example, you may be asked to find a deli near your client's office that delivers sandwiches for a team lunch or research the best house painters in their city.

Be sure to download the Comparative research template.

Informational research is for when you just want to know more about something. Interested in Elvis? Want to know more about the benefits of hot yoga? Wonder what the history of sneakers is? Or need some information on a particular product or industry?

The information on any topic imaginable is out there, the trick is finding it, and sifting through what is true and false, what is relevant, and what is the most up-to-date information available.

Data research is especially useful for putting together contact lists. Data in this sense doesn’t need to mean numbers only. For example, your client might ask for a list of book publishing agents in their state.

Test your knowledge with these questions!

My YouTube tutorial walks you through 4 methods to find virtually any email address. We'll use these skills to help us generate leads for clients in the next lecture.

Lead generation is essentially when clients need your help finding qualified leads that may lead to future business. For example, let’s say your client is starting their own consulting business and they need clients. With a few details, we can build lists of leads - or people who are a good fit for your client’s consulting business.

Learn about what CRM stands for and how you might be asked to help input details.

Test your knowledge!

Should you ever book vacation homes, flights, etc. using your own accounts and credentials?

Travel planning goes way beyond just booking flights from point a to point b. Travel can be quite stressful for clients, and it’s our job to help ensure that their trip from door to door is as painless and stress-free as possible. A refreshed client is a happy client!

Let's learn the basics of booking, building itineraries, and inputting details into calendars.

Researching and booking flights require attention to details from us, but fortunately, there are free tools to help make our searches a little easier.

Some of my favorite tools for searching for flights include Kayak (for their price indicator) and Skyscanner (best for flexibility).

When it comes to booking flights, however, I prefer to book directly through the airline for three reasons: a federally mandated 24-hour cancellation policy (in the US), no change fees, and generally better customer service.

Let's dive in!

Welcome...to the great rental car shortage of 2021! Renting cars used to be an afterthought, but post (mid?) COVID-19, it's become much harder to find them.

We'll cover my favorite rental agency, as well as some hot tips to secure memberships with perks for clients. 

What are your options if you absolutely cannot find a car?

There's no shortage of sites to book hotels through, but I have a clear favorite (and I'll show you all the reasons why). We'll also cover some tips to help make booking on sites like Airbnb and VRBO even easier.

Now that you've found travel options, it's time to run them by your client.

Save these scripts and templates! They'll make copying and pasting travel details into an email much faster.

Like one of our first lessons on calendar management, we want to be as details as possible when inputting travel details. A few things to keep in mind:

• Include relevant details like confirmation numbers, facility phone numbers in the calendar details.

• Add buffer time before and after travel to allow for time to get to the airport, or the train station, etc.

• Be sure to reschedule any appointments or meetings that overlap with travel plans.

Travel can be quite stressful! Luckily, you're a super-VA. There are certain things we can do to ensure client travel is as smooth as possible:

• Check clients into flights (or hotels, when applicable) at least 24 hours in advance.

• Send clients their boarding passes ahead of departure.

• Send clients itineraries ahead of time and ensure all details are on their calendars.

• Consider tracking their flights/train/ferries etc. to ensure everything's on time.

Test your knowledge with a few questions!

Learn a quick tip to help make purchases easier on both you and your client. Download your Purchase Authorization form now.

Awesome planning requires greater preparation and organization - as such I’ve also included a checklist for events as well as the ULTIMATE event tracker. Let's look at how all of our skills culminate to help plan an epic event.

Content repurposing is not only the rage in 2024, but it's NECESSARY to keep up w/ the various platforms these days!

Back-office skills are typically non-billable but crucial to running an efficient VA business. Here are a few to keep in mind as a new VA:

1. Client response time: As a general rule of thumb, try to respond to clients within 2 hours.

2. Be mindful of working with hourly timers: Timers like Harvest and Toggl are great, but it's far too easy to forget to start (or turn off) timers when hopping from task to task. If you are charging by the hour, be sure to keep your timers on - or better yet - install a timer extension so it's easy to start/stop.

3. Be consistent with your invoices and payments: Invoicing regularly not only shows that you value your own time but that you value your client’s time and money. Consider creating a template in your inbox and schedule emails to go out regularly.

How often should you be checking in with your clients? Let's explore your options (and don't forget to download the script)!

To track or not to track, that is the question.

While tracking tasks might seem upfront, questions like "is a phone call a billable task?" inevitably arise. This quick lecture helps break down what items are typically tracked and what items are not.

I've thrown a few curve balls in here! Give them a try.