I love talking to you about things I’m passionate about.

Today is one of those days.

In this article and podcast I’m going to talk to you about:

• What a Virtual Assistant is.
• Why I believe it has such a good future.
• My experience starting a Virtual Assistant company.
• How, since March 2020, I’ve been working with Pía, a Virtual Assistant from iWorker that helps me with a ton of things. 

I also talk a lot about iWorker, a company I really like and through which I met Pía.

You can listen to this podcast (spanish) on different podcasting platforms like iVoox, Spotify, Google Podcast, Youtube, iTunes and in the player just under this article as well. 

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant can be a lot of things.

I like to compare them to the classic image of a secretary that provides assistance with everyday tasks to someone who needs it.

The difference is that this person can be very far from the office of the person who hires them.

They could even be working from a beach somewhere.

It’s cool to think that this is possible, even if it’s not necessarily practical.

We’re lucky that nowadays you can do thousands of things with a simple computer with an internet connection.

Some of the most common tasks Virtual Assistants can do are:

• Managing social media.
• Answering emails.
• Creating images for different purposes.
• Creating content strategies.
• Finding new clients or sponsors.
• Providing support via webchat.
• Administrative tasks.
• Translating.
• Photo/video/audio editing.
• Sending flowers to your mother.

As you can see, they can do all kinds of things.

How did I get into the world of Virtual Assistants? 

I’ve talked about the book “The 4-Hour Work Week” several times.

That book talks a lot about delegating tasks so you can focus on what you’re really good at.

I just loved that concept.

That’s why one of the “failed” projects that I started was a website where I connected Virtual Assistants with people in need of help.

After building a website and investing a little in publicity, I noticed it wasn’t working, so I decided to move on.

I was lucky that I didn’t hire anybody because the plan (initially) was that I would be the Virtual Assistant all those busy people would hire.

Why do I like the Virtual Assistant job?

I believe this is a really cool job with a great future.

I’m convinced that, if I wasn’t an entrepreneur myself, I would be a Virtual Assistant helping out in a project that I like.

A few years ago, creating projects of my own was far removed from my mind.

I thought it would mean a lot of work and a lot of worries. And I wasn’t all that wrong.

If I tried to find an online job to make money from the back of my van without becoming an entrepreneur right now, I think it would be fun and easy to find.

How to find a Virtual Assistant job with no experience?

The first step would be to find a project or a small company or startup that you like.

Email or call them asking if you could “practice” with them for a while because you really like their project and would like to help them with some tasks like the ones mentioned above.

Work for free for about 3 months. You’ll learn a lot without having to pay for it.

After the free period is over, ask them to move you to a paid position or give you a good reference and recommendation.

If they can afford it and notice how big a help you have been, they will probably hire you.

If not… look for paid work in another project you like.

I really believe it’s that easy.

Do I need a Virtual Assistant?

After a year and a half of starting several projects, only a handful of them are still running. 

I think there were two options for making those projects grow:

1. 1. Work 80 hours a week (not attractive to me at all)

• Invest my earnings into my project (I’m “lucky” enough to barely need any money to get by).

So in March 2020, I decided to get in touch with a company that I had found recently and looked really good.

That company is iWorker, a company like the one I tried to create, but better made and with a social cause behind it.

They are trying to find Virtual Assistant positions for people in Venezuela, a country in dire need of help and full of excellent professionals.

I contacted them telling them what I needed.

Mainly, I needed someone who could help me have a presence on social media.

They put me in touch with Pía, a young, very professional Venezuelan.

I immediately realized that the oft-repeated statement of many entrepreneurs:

“Nobody is going to do that as well as I can.”

Is completely false. Unless you have studied or worked in the exact area you want to delegate.

In my case, I realized she knew a lot more about social media than I did.

What does Pía help me with?

There are many things and they keep changing every month. This is because I try out new ideas and drop others.

To this date, some tasks she’s helped me with are:

• Managing my e-shop.
• Uploading content to Pinterest
• Creating a lot of content for my @comotraviajar Instagram account.
• Editing podcasts.
• Creating images.
• Signing up and managing LinkedIn.
• Creating tweets based on previous articles or posts on other platforms.
• Managing Facebook
• Running raffles and giveaways
• Finding collaborators to write articles for viajandosimple.com

These are some of the tasks. But if you ask her, I’m sure she’ll mention a lot more.

Something she doesn’t do, although plenty of people believe she does, is answering messages.

That is something she proposed at first, but I didn’t like it.

I answer all messages and comments on my social media myself.

My conclusion on working with a Virtual Assistant since March 2020

Viajando Simple and Cómo Traviajar are growing a lot faster thanks to her help.

I’m aware that I’m helping a family in Venezuela.

Pía not only helps me create content. She also gives me ideas.

The project of launching on Patreon was, in most part, thanks to her.

After a period of very low book sales and almost no income, I asked Pía what other monetization options she could think of.

Among a lot of other stuff, she talked to me about Patreon. This was something that had crossed my mind in the past but had never followed through. 

Since I love trying different things, I set it up with her help.

iWorker

I want to take the opportunity to answer a few Frequently Asked Questions I had before hiring Pía’s services through iWorker.Pía fills out a shared daily spreadsheet where I can see what she’s worked on and how much time she’s spent on it.

I communicate with her via e-mail and very occasionally by WhatsApp or video chat.

iWorker bills me each week based on how many hours Pía worked. The average is around 10 hours a week.

I usually give her the usernames and passwords for the platforms she needs access to.

We change all passwords every once in a while.

iWorker has different profiles for Virtual Assistants. From people who do only basic admin tasks to professional video editors, website designers and mobile app developers.

If I’m not mistaken, hourly rates go from $5.95 to $11.95.

If you’re interested in contacting iWorker, tell them I referred you and I can get some hours for free.