Working as Virtual Assistant is a Lucrative Option for Freelancers

If you have the right skills and the willingness to work hard, you can comfortably take home an attractive paycheck by working as a Virtual Assistant Work at Home Opportunities. Find out more whether you have the required skills for becoming a VA and how much you can earn as VA.

1. What are the essential and preferable skills?

• Besides possessing a PC or a laptop and high speed broadband connection, VAs must be fluent in English.
• VA should ideally have the skills and knowledge in office and general administration.
• VA must have hands-on experience in handling Microsoft-Office Suit (excel, word, outlook, power point and access).
• VA should be able to do online web research, data entry work and handle emails.
• VAs must have the willingness to work as per USA local timings.
• Chat through Skype, MSN, Yahoo or Google.
• Fluency in spoken English with USA and UK accents.
• Basic knowledge of software and programming and web designing.
• Database management.
• Creating mail-merge files.
• Link submissions.
• Image editing.

2. What type of jobs are required to be done?

• Data entry, office and general administration work
• Travel planning and handling financial information
• Development and management of mailing list
• Transcription of recorded interviews and minutes of the meetings from audio files
• Occasional or regular telecommunication through Skype or Internet enabled overseas calls
• Contacting clients and follow up with clients
• Collecting email addresses from websites and sending pre-written sales letters

3. What are the compensations?

• VAs are generally paid hourly compensation, which might range from minimum $5 per hour and up to even $10-20 per hour depending upon the type of work handled and the employer.
• Usually, VAs are expected to put in minimum 20 hours per week.
• On an average, an Indian VA can easily earn $500-1000 (Rs.20,000 to 40,000 at current exchange rates) per month per employer.

4. Where to find the opportunities for VA?

GetAFreelancer, and Elance are the best places to look out for hundreds of well-paying opportunities as Virtual Assistants.