Thinking about starting a career as a virtual assistant? Before you rush in thinking that you are qualified you may want to reassess your basic skills. Not because you are not qualified, but because when you start to professionally compete with others who have been offering VA services for years it may be helpful to brush up on some fundamentals.
First of all, being familiar with Word and Access is not the same thing as being proficient at MS Office. You may be asked to do many tasks that include Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Outlook. If you are not prepared to work with these additional components you may quickly fall behind in a project and in the internet world one failed assignment can follow you for a long time.
Second, a virtual assistant job can be much more complicated than being a secretary if this is where your primary experience is based from. Given that a virtual assistant is based in the cyber world most people expect a few perks such as extensive surfing ease, web design, or SEO knowledge to name a few from their virtual assistants. Thus, it will help you immensely to figure out what special service you can offer clients that they will not find somewhere else.
Third, and this may be the most important to you, a virtual assistant generally receives payment online through virtual banking. Thus, if you have not yet registered for Paypal, Moneybookers, or another online banking system time you will have to if you expect a paycheck!