Virtual Assistant Skills 2020 (MEGA LIST)

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Abbey Ashley

Are you thinking about starting a Virtual Assistant business but have NO idea what skills you could offer as a service?

Don’t worry, I’m bringing you the top Virtual Assistant skills for 2020!

 

As a Virtual Assistant Mentor, I often see aspiring Virtual Assistants stressed out because they don’t know where they’re going to find clients. They don’t know if they have marketable skills they can really use to build a business.

Guys, I’m here to tell you there are jobs freaking everywhere.

Don’t believe me?

Try this quick experiment to see if I’m right:

1.Open a new tab in your browser and join a couple of entrepreneurial groups on Facebook (stop reading right now and go do this).

2. Go to Facebook and type words like “entrepreneur,” “boss,” and “business” in the search bar.3. Click the Groups tab. You’re going to see a list of entrepreneurial groups there that you can join. Pick 3 groups to join.4. After you join the groups, go to the search bar on the left side of the group and type in words like, “VA,” “help,” and “hire.”

The results will be a list of posts from individual small business owners ready to hire someone for their business, looking for help in a certain area, or saying they’re ready to bring on a Virtual Assistant for their business.

The jobs are out there.

Starting a real, legitimate Virtual Assistant business always boils down to this—do you have what it takes?

Do you have the virtual assistant skills and services available to do what these individuals need?

I was stalking one of my favorite Facebook groups (as I do on the usual) and I saw a post from an individual saying, “If you were to outsource something in your business, what is the first thing you would outsource?”

I went and looked through the responses on the post, and I also looked at the job opportunities that are posted in some of these groups and the job opportunities that are posted in MY group.

(Shameless plug: You should be a part of my Virtual Assistant Savvies Facebook group. We literally post tons of Virtual Assistant job opportunities every single day.)

I took a look at these different jobs and decided to come up with a list of the top 7 services that I see requested by small business owners all the time.

THE TOP VIRTUAL ASSISTANT SKILLS TO OFFER IN 2020

1. Customer Service and Inbox Management

customer service inbox management virtual assistant skill

This is the top requested service that I see!

Seriously guys, you need to give the people what they want, and this is what people want—customer service and inbox management. It’s literally the very top thing.

We could just stop this post right now.

You might think that you don’t have any skills to offer but think about it. When a business owner gets very busy, what’s the very first thing they want to outsource?

The stuff that’s taking up all their time, am I right?

Inbox management is one of the top things that gets outsourced the quickest. If you can write a good email (if you can’t, use a tool like Grammarly which will help you write a better email) and can be responsive to the needs of these business owners as clients, go for it.

Again, this is one of the top requested services that I see out there. Can you offer it? Awesome.

(Keep in mind that I’m going from the least difficult skill to one of the most difficult skills and each skill will vary in difficulty level inside this list. I totally understand this is a major leap, but I’m just going in order of what I see requested most, so bear with me here.)

2. Expert-Level Social Media

If you’re not an expert yet, it’s okay. Stay with me.

I’m looking at people who are Pinterest managers, Instagram managers, YouTube managers, podcast editors—people who are really specialized in one area.

Many business owners don’t want to have to learn and handle a new strategy or service for their business.

I don’t want to have to look, research, and figure out how to manage Pinterest on my own. I just want to outsource the whole thing—I want to bring in somebody who’s an expert and I want them to handle it for me.

But here’s what you have to remember—nobody started out as an expert.

My son wasn’t born coming out of the womb with Pinterest strategy knowledge.

(That’d be really weird). This is kind of a really weird example, but we’ll just go with it.

Nobody was born knowing how to do this stuff, right? Virtual Assistants are already smart people and we can learn how to become an expert in certain things.

This is the exact reason we created SavvyVault. SavvyVault is a tech membership that teaches you these different tech tools. Check it out if you’re interested in becoming an expert level at social media or tech.

3. Social Media Manager

A social media manager isn’t necessarily an expert or social media growth strategist.

I see a lot of people that just want help maintaining and maybe introducing a few new strategies for their social media.

A business owner might say, “I’m spending all my time posting three times a day to Facebook and Instagram.”

I just need somebody to take over that for me!

Often for these types of positions, you’ll be doing many of the processes and procedures that they’re already doing. You’re just kind of taking it over for them. Maybe a manager starts to research and introduce some new growth hacks as well, but social media managers are more for keeping things running on the social media front.  Check out this post to learn some quick tips about social media schedulers.

4. Funnel Expert

funnel expert virtual assistant skill

Business owners looking for funnel experts are people who have something they want to sell. They have an amazing jewelry business or an amazing online course, but they need someone to help them sell it.

Now, I do have a mini-rant that you’re going to get from me about this. It drives me CRAZY when I see business owners trying to put all of their marketing on somebody else.

One of the top requested things I see from people is that they need help with marketing.

At the end of the day, somebody else shouldn’t be your savior on how to sell your own stuff, right? At the end of the day, a business owner should have to figure out how to sell their own product. /end-rant

With that said, it doesn’t mean a business owner can’t bring somebody in with marketing expertise, especially in a certain area.

This is where things like funnel expertise come into play. Becoming a funnel expert, if you will, is definitely a top requested service that I’m seeing.

You know I have some great tips on tools for this HERE.

5. Bookkeeping

I see bookkeeping requested as a service a LOT.

Sometimes a business owners wants both bookkeeping and accounting, but a lot of times it’s just the bookkeeping they want help with. (Inside of SavvyVault, which I mentioned earlier, we recently created a QuickBooks course so you can start to learn bookkeeping.)

This is a perfect skill for you if you’re already a numbers person.

Numbers are not my forte, but if they’re your forte, then being a virtual bookkeeper is growing in popularity. It’s an awesome service to offer.

6. Copywriting

copywriting virtual assistant skill

Just like some people have a natural knack for numbers, there are other people who have a natural knack for writing and for grammar.

If that’s you, copywriting is so needed. Some business owners just don’t have that natural talent, so they need help with writing sales pages or emails or blog posts.

Blog post writing is an amaaaaazing service to offer!

Going down the copywriting path is a great high-end service if that is something you’re interested in. You can definitely charge more per hour doing things like copywriting than you can for general admin skills.

Copywriting is a skill I definitely recommend learning and putting into some packages if that’s something you’re naturally good at.

7. Website Maintenance and Tech Assistance

website maintenance and tech assistance virtual assistant skill

This service is good for those techie people out there.

If you love tinkering and figuring out difficult things, then tech assistance and website maintenance are for you.

I see people all the time creating website maintenance packages where they’re just going into the backend to run backups, update plugins, etc. These packages are sold to small business owners on a reoccurring monthly basis.

Again, this service is all about taking things off of the small business owner’s plate. That’s your goal here because that’s what Virtual Assistants are for.

There you have it!

These are the top 7 requested service trends I am seeing, especially in 2020.

Ready to discover your high-end service?

I’ve created a free guide, “The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Virtual Assistant Rates” that I want to give you for FREE! This is an interactive workbook with videos & fillable forms to help you discover what high-end service you should add to your service offerings as a Virtual Assistant.

Download the free guide here! 

 

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Meet Abbey

Abbey Ashley is the Founder of The Virtual Savvy. She helps aspiring virtual assistants launch and grow their own at-home business from scratch. She's since gone on to grow a multi-six figure business and retire her husband ALL from her at-home business. It's now her passion to help others start their own VA business so they can taste the freedom and flexibility of entrepreneurship as well.

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21 Comments

  1. Nhyirah on February 21, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    Great information. Thank you.

    • Abbey Ashley on March 3, 2020 at 10:30 pm

      Thank you so much, I am glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

  2. Cheri on February 21, 2020 at 3:18 pm

    Social media manager

    • Abbey Ashley on March 3, 2020 at 10:32 pm

      Social Media Management is EVERYTHING these days! Seriously, so important!

  3. Vicki on February 21, 2020 at 5:02 pm

    Wow, really fantastic post with useful advice! This has given me some confidence, as a beginner who hasn’t figured out exactly what I can offer. Thank you. I am saving this one.

    • Abbey Ashley on March 3, 2020 at 10:31 pm

      Vicki, YAY! That is what we like to hear. Confidence is half the battle 😉 Thank you so much for the feedback, we appreciate you!

  4. Rebecca Russell on February 22, 2020 at 10:46 am

    Bookkeeping

    • Abbey Ashley on March 3, 2020 at 10:32 pm

      YES! This is a great skill that is so important!

  5. Annemette on March 10, 2020 at 12:25 am

    Great information, just what I needed, Thanks. Copy-writing and bookkeeping stood out for me and I’m currently studying accounting and bookkeeping certificate IV.

    • Abbey Ashley on March 11, 2020 at 10:09 am

      Yes! Great skills! Best of luck 🙂

  6. Gazelle dela Pena on March 21, 2020 at 4:40 pm

    Thanks for this article, Abbey. I’ve heard about Clickfunnels and it’s interesting to me because my client is into e-commerce. I just didn’t realize its importance until I read your article, so thanks!

    • Abbey Ashley on March 27, 2020 at 8:56 pm

      You are so welcome! Thank you for the feedback! Good luck 🙂

  7. Kattiah West on April 1, 2020 at 2:26 pm

    Abbey! I was searching through your Facebook, and came across this post. I NEEDED this right now, thank you so much!

    • Abbey Ashley on April 24, 2020 at 10:46 am

      Kattiah, I LOVE THIS! Thank you so much for letting me know. You rock!

  8. Mary Jane Estacio on June 20, 2020 at 10:28 am

    Whoa! Thanks for this! I think I’m gonna look for some video tutorials too and having to add new skills.

    • Abbey Ashley on June 29, 2020 at 5:19 pm

      Hooray! You are so welcome, Mary! I really appreciate your feedback. Good luck!

  9. Christian Vibar on June 29, 2020 at 8:39 pm

    Hi Abbey,

    Great content! To also add to the skills, I believe is vendor management. Knowing how to communicate with vendors, being organized, and knowing how to properly document inventories are skills that businesses needs. Again, thanks for your insights!

    • Abbey Ashley on July 10, 2020 at 2:00 pm

      Christian, great feedback! Thank you!

  10. Vivian on July 13, 2022 at 1:11 pm

    Hello there! This is great information. I’m a copywriter and, for example, we need other skills, such as excellent time management and discipline. These abilities make a huge difference for us and our clients. Also, we become more competitive in the labor market. Thank you for your post.

    • Abbey Ashley on August 4, 2022 at 11:18 am

      Thank you! So glad this was helpful!

  11. Mark on November 11, 2022 at 3:41 am

    Hey, Great thank you very much for this very insightful and extremely helpful info… I look forward to more as I am about to begin the journey of the VA…

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