Tips for VA Newbies: How to Earn More in Freelancing?

This is the best and the most challenging part after you accomplish your course and finally move your niche into actual applications. Virtual Assistance especially nowadays, is so in demand due to the massive shift of most businesses into the digital world. Here you will know what are the effective tips for VA newbies.

So getting a job online during this time, is more positive. How you earn more is the crucial part. So what might be the possibilities to take into consideration?

Read more below, I shall give you some of the most effective tips for VA newbies to achieve it.

1. Decide your Niche

If you are someone new into freelancing, you might overthink of everything and start getting anxious. Others would even feel the lack of confidence even if they finished freelancing courses.

In the face of digital jobs, competition is global. So as a virtual assistant, newbie, or not has to compete with people under his niche. With that, you have to be keen on deciding what you really want.

You can either specialize or become a generalist. In specializing a niche, make sure you love it. Because the more passion you have in your niche the faster you become an expert in your specific field. Thus, the level of confidence and knowledge that you have will surely improve your skills a lot and I am sure, clients will chase you.

In becoming a jack-of-all-trades, make sure your niches are in-line. Thus, it would be easier for you to get engaged with the niche that you really want to master as you go along being a generalist in your initial start in freelancing.

It is very important to decide and choose your niche before jumping into client targeting and landing a digital job. Clients cannot guide you in any way if you cannot even figure yourself by defining your niche.

2. Clarify on your specialization

As a freelancer or a Virtual Assistant, you have to be specific in what you do and what you do not. Don’t make your clients tell you to do something you can’t even figure out. They are not fortune-tellers who can predict everything for you. It’s only you who can tell them what you can do and what you can not. There are times that you are just hesitant to do something, but if you have the idea you just only need some push to give it a try. There’s always the first time. Besides, a newbie is usually hesitant and the confidence is expectedly low. Lucky if you can find a client who can stand that, how about those who don’t have much time and patience in dealing with your indecisiveness? So you have to be very careful.

The more specific you are, the more the client can figure who you are as a Virtual Assistant.

3. Balancing your target client with your niche

Pitch your services very well. You cannot have a client who is looking for a graphic artist and your specialization is the opposite and you lack the idea of graphics and tools used in making graphics.

Start yourself some questions so you can figure out what you want from a client and who is really your target to render your services to. You may draft some demographics or buyer persona, list down the services you can virtually offer, and include the types of businesses you are targeting in relation to your niche.

4. Advertise yourself and your niche

The best way to showcase yourself and what you got is to build your portfolios. Once you gather all your portfolios, you can start advertising yourself without making too much effort. How?

Have your own website. Own something that is uniquely yours where clients can say that you are legit and credible.

As a Virtual Assistant/Freelancer, you have to market yourself clean and neat. Only by having your own identity in Social Media, most especially on your own website, you can highlight everything that you have.

You may include things like:

• Your expertise – this will define your niche
• Include your work experiences especially those which are related to freelancing or virtual assistance.
• Include your resume and your contact information.
• Certificates you gain from Virtual Classes related to freelancing.
• Be creative in all your ideas and visual representation.

Once all of these are up in your site, connect them to your social media profiles. This will enhance more of your identity and information. Don’t forget to create your own signature inside your email as well. So when a client gets interested in you and contacts you through email, he can tell your reliability and legitimacy.

5. Start freelancing as a side job.

I have known a few people who quit their jobs first before jumping into freelancing but that was actually a softer kind of suicide I must say. So my piece of advice is to never jump into the waters with two feet. Test the water first with one foot, while you still have the other in your comfort zone.

You can start freelancing by making it as your part-time job. So when you decide not to pursue, you still have your full-time job with you. There’s a saying to never put all the eggs in one basket. So don’t ever do that.

6. Join online or offline classes to improve your skills

Let’s say you already made it to the freelancing career and that you are successful. Is there any way that you can still improve those skills more? The answer is YES. Never stop learning even if you have already mastered your niche. Learn by enrolling in a class related to your niche.

There are a lot of freelancers who are not even degree holders, but they mastered their niches because of freelancing classes and that they never stop learning more about it.

Also, learn from your client. Most clients help their VAs by introducing them to some new tools and applications which their businesses are using. Thus, most VAs can do their own research and studies to discover more about the tools and apps introduced to them. That’s another type of learning.

As you go along the way, never stop educating yourself.

7. Be more credible and reliable

Owning a website is an obvious example of this. Because this is where you can post all your articles, graphics, and videos which can really boost your credibility. It will, at the same time make you more and more visible especially if you are hitting the rightful keywords and audience.

You may also highlight client reviews for you and all your accomplishments including your certificates and awards.

8. Always be clear with your pricing

Freelancing and virtual assistance are global competitions when it comes to job offerings.

That’s why pricing is crucial. However, when you find a client, be specific with your price.

We encourage our newbies to start with $5/hr and always go for a client that considers their value. And make sure as you go along, you are also increasing your value from the initial price.

9. Networking

Always reach out to the rightful people who can balance your niche. But never forget your family and friends as they are the very people you can always run to and you can always start with. Connect with mutual contacts as well. Build impressions like a good marketer. Get nested with an audience whom you know might get interested in your services. Use your social media platforms or use the many tools that you have in reaching out to your target audience so you could build a strong network.

10. Become your own kind of blogger

If you can be yourself with your blogs, that is the best way you can start everything. Catch people’s attention by writing anything that makes you reach out personally to your audience.

While building yourself, you can write as often as you want so you will have ample amounts of blogs that can become your portfolios to your target clients.

11. Guest Posting

This is very effective. Get your articles published on blogs and publications. This manner you can be recognized by anyone. And you’ll never know, one of them might get interested in you and will get in touch with you because you never fail guest posting. Get noticed all the time. That’s how digital professionals work.

The listed above are just only a few of the many more tips experts can give you as a newbie in freelancing. But by following these few tips I shared, you can eventually earn more in freelancing because you have clarity, credibility, and noticeability.

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Reference: https://skillcrush.com/blog/earn-more-money-freelancing-for-beginners/