productive virtual assistant
productive virtual assistant
As physical workplaces are becoming saturated, many organizations are opting for a more efficient way to recruit people. Thanks to the Internet as we are now able to work from any part of the world alongside various agencies as Virtual Assistants, or VA in short. Their responsibilities may vary, including their pay scale that fluctuates according to your skill sets. This process has added efficiency to workflow and the growth of self-motivated staff that now contribute to their business while sitting at home, sometimes even thousands of kilometres away. This flexibility allows organizations to focus on other important matters besides staff accommodation; however, the case isn’t easy since finding the right talent for the job can get tricky. VA’s are hired either part-time, full-time or even based on projects, and to keep track of their contribution into your cause, check out HubStaff’s time tracking software.

Here are the top six amazing tips on becoming a more productive virtual assistant.

Create your work environment:

As a virtual assistant, you know you’d be working from home and that means there will be distractions. Being the eldest sibling and a full-time VA, I often have to work late nights right after putting my siblings at sleep (one is a four, and the other is a six-year-old).

The best practices would be:

  • Lock yourself into a room with all necessities and refreshments
  • Pick the room with an attached washroom, if possible
  • Invest in a proper work table as well as chair
  • Spend more time on YouTube and learn courses on different skillsets
The more skills you know, the greater will be your salary.

Familiarize yourselves with tools:

Let’s say you’ve made that sweet work environment and you’ve settled down to work. There could be multiple agendas to be covered, and that’s how VA’s entirely forget about living a social lifestyle.

To prioritize work, there are tools you should be using such as
  • GSuite
  • HubStaff
  • Trello
  • Slack
  • Calendly
  • Skype
These are some tools I have personally used over the course as a virtual assistant. Most importantly, one must have a mindset willing to learn anything and master the task eventually.

Meanwhile, developers are coming up with tools for turning a VA’s life easier.

Essentials for an ideal workspace:

When you’re working as a VA, you’re not self-reliant completely. A productive VA will need to make sure he has his essentials in place before getting started.
  • You must ensure a perfectly functioning laptop
  • Reliable internet connection
  • An abundant supply of coffee
Keep in mind that the majority of software utilizes the cloud integration support, meaning, you really don’t have to invest in an external hard-drive or even software packages.

However, there are added functionalities in software if you choose to opt for the paid version of an app. Address all these to have an uninterrupted workflow whenever you need to work.

Self-motivation is the key:

When you’re working from home there isn’t going to be anybody to monitor your work, except HubStaff’s time tracking software if you’re working on an hourly basis.
  • Hit the gym routinely
  • Read, read and read again!
  • Must realize that inefficiency will lead to unemployment
  • Have proper sleep
  • Set goals and achieve them
Remember that while working as a VA, you need to be self-motivating enough so you could show the progress of your work to the supervisor, whenever inquired.

Set goals, improve yourself to attain them, and set higher goals again so you’re able to reach greater heights for a successful career.

Read emails carefully:

Emails will become the next most frequently used means of communication once you get hired as a virtual assistant.

Clients will often state crucial details regarding projects in the form of emails; therefore, you need to be patiently reading through the lines for understanding their requirements better.

Read emails at least twice to make sure that you haven’t missed out anything. As a result, do not hesitate to ask questions while replying/responding to the person’s message.

Sleep is NOT for the weak:

The most productive work comes from properly rested minds.

Virtual assistants don’t usually work around the clock as they have to be working at the same timezone as their supervisor. Therefore, make sure you have adequately rested before initiating the next shift.

Seven hours of sleep is mandatory for a perfectly calculative mind; otherwise, it’ll be very likely that you’d be forgetting your core responsibilities.

The sum of it all:

Virtual assistants are on demand from both sides, but the right skilled individual is more preferred by organizations as well as agencies. Since they don’t have staff managers, it is up to the assistant to make sure everything is in order. So, start by focusing on one particular skill, could be graphic designing or coding, just select one and continue to learn as much as possible. Eventually, you will notice how your work will begin to speak for you while evolving you into a perfect virtual assistant.