Episode 2: Do I even have the skills? 😬

Looking for the links? 

📌 Free Training: Become a Booked Out Virtual Assistant

📌 Free VA Savvies Facebook Group

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

30 Transferable Job Skills for Virtual Assistants

Do you actually have the skills clients are looking for as a virtual assistant?

After training over 7,000 VAs, Abbey Ashley hears the same concern again and again:
 "I was a teacher."
 "I was a nurse."
 "I was a stay at home mom."
 "How does that translate into a virtual assistant business?"

In this episode, Abbey breaks down 30 different jobs that have highly transferable skills you can use to start your VA business.

If you are wondering whether your background qualifies you, this episode will help you see your experience in a whole new way.

Your Previous Job Might Be Your Biggest Advantage!

Whether you worked in:

• Teaching
• Nursing
• Administration
• Retail
• Customer service
• Real estate
• HR
• Marketing
• Bookkeeping
• IT
• Hospitality
• Sales
• Event planning
• PR
• Or even as a stay at home parent

You likely already have valuable skills clients need.

From communication and organization to data management, research, leadership, and customer support, these abilities transfer directly into virtual assistant services.

You do not need to start from scratch. You need to recognize what you already bring to the table.

What This Episode Will Help You Do

• Identify your transferable skills
• See how your past experience applies to virtual assistance
• Gain confidence in your ability to start
• Think strategically about niche opportunities
• Stop disqualifying yourself before you even begin

If you have ever thought, "I can't because I used to be a ___," this episode is your permission slip to rethink that belief.

📌 Free Training: Become a Booked Out Virtual Assistant

📌 Free VA Savvies Facebook Group

In this free training, Abbey shares her three favorite ways to find paying clients and how to market your virtual assistant business effectively.

Are you a VA who already has clients, but know you’re ready for higher rates, better services, and a more scalable business? If so, SavvySociety is for you - And is open at a very special rate thru April 27. Click the link below for more details! 👀

➡️ Learn more about SavvySociety. 

Transcript

After training over 7,000 virtual assistants, there's one question I get asked all the time, Abbey, do I really have the skills that paying clients want? And my answer is usually a resounding yes. The thing is, no matter what job you had previously, you likely have transferable skills that would make you a great virtual assistant.

So in this episode, I decided to break down 30 different jobs that have transferable skills that you could use in your upcoming virtual assistant business. And at the very end , I'm gonna give you exclusive access to a free training I created just for you on how to market your virtual assistant business in a way that will get you clients fast.

So make sure you stay tuned till the end.

I'm Abbey Ashley, founder of The Virtual Savvy, and I love helping people. Find their freedom life working from home. So whether you are a teacher or a stay at home mom or a nurse, or just late night Googling, not knowing what you are or what you do right now, that's okay. I'm gonna teach you all about virtual assistance and if that's something you wanna hear more about.

Make sure you subscribe to be notified every time I release new content. When I first started my virtual assistant business back in 2015, I wasn't a tech wizard or a marketing pro. I had been a stay at home mom, and I remember struggling with the thought, is a small business owner really gonna hire me to help them with things for their business?

Like I hadn't ran a small business before, so how could I do this? But what I didn't realize, especially as I started getting new clients and seeing what types of tasks they were asking for, is that. So many of the things that I was doing as a stay-at-home mom would transfer so easily into virtual assistance, and that's why I wanted to create this is because of all the objections we get.

I can't because. I can't because I was a blank. A teacher, a nurse, an admin, you know, a barista. I was X, how does that transfer to virtual assistant? So I said let's create an episode about it and we're gonna go through these kind of rapid fire. Okay. So let's start with number one teacher. I have so many students who are teachers, whether they retired from teaching or you know, they're looking for summer work.

Teachers make great VAs. And why is that? Well. You all know you teachers out there that you're great at multitasking, and you're great at communicating clearly, right? You're having to organize and create your own lesson plans, and that is a direct thing that you can transfer to working with clients, okay?

One for all the nurses out there, you. Know about record keeping. You can take data and you're having to do data management anyways, right? Also communicating whether it is to somebody who's hurting, you know, giving them good news or difficult news. You've had to learn communication, record keeping. You probably have some good attention to detail, which is gonna make you a great va.

Maybe you were a receptionist or had some kind of an admin position. I know that when I was younger, I worked as an admin for my church in the summers, answering phone calls. Looking at everybody's schedules. Guys, this is what a VA does. Of course you can transfer those skills. Let's talk to the stay at home moms.

Right? Hello? Scheduling. Hello Logistics. Hello. Helping keep people calm, right when things are crazy. We are the chaos Tamers. And I would also say you've likely done research. I know as a mom myself, I was googling things all the time about my kids, and so that's something with each of these positions, guys, I want you to realize is that you don't have to know it all.

You just have to know that you can learn, right? Virtual assistants, I'm just gonna throw it out there. are expert Googlers, we don't know all the information. We know how to find the information, so. If that sounds like you, you may be a great VA Retail associates. You guys wrote the book on customer service, right?

And those are the same types of skills that you could use to help small business owners. Now, it may transfer from doing it face-to-face to doing it on a computer, but if you can write customer service emails, this is a super, super valuable skill. You could bring to virtual assistants. Maybe you've worked in some other administrative role.

Not necessarily a receptionist, but I had a summer job. I've had a lot of jobs by the way. I had a summer job once where I was an admin assistant in a design and development department. So I've literally. Just kind of working with whatever tasks that were thrown at me by the team, right? I was literally just there to assist, and I think that that type of flexibility that comes with any type of an assistant role is really what you're gonna be going into as a va.

Let's talk to the social workers. Empathy, discretion, right? Knowing how to navigate challenging or difficult situations. This has made you incredibly. Adaptable and being able to be adaptable is a great skill to have as a va. Let's talk to the paralegals or maybe you've, you know, held a role in some other legal field.

Guys, this is transferable. Not only will I mention that there are remote paralegals, so you could definitely do the same tasks virtually that you were doing in person. But that ability to research, the attention, to detail that you needed to be a paralegal, plus just your legal background is definitely gonna help you step into the world of virtual assistance.

Maybe you were a corporate executive and I think that, you know, sometimes we think, oh. You know, maybe I did too much to be a va, right? Like I had this really high position and now like how does it transfer into the day-to-day admin task, right? Well, if you held that corporate higher role, you're already used to leading people, leading teams.

And so I don't want you to think like, oh, now I have to go and I have to do admin work, right? Maybe you start day one with a team and because that is your skillset. So if you are great at leadership. Then go ahead and start with a virtual assistant agency. You don't have to necessarily start with just the one-to-one work.

Where are my customer service reps at? You guys know that you are skilled, right? Whether you were doing this via phone or via email, that can transfer. Now, I will say that I did customer service remotely in my virtual assistant business at the very beginning, and I definitely continue doing it. Virtually via email.

I had a client who wanted me to do phone calls, and I very quickly realized like, this is not why I did it. I also had two young kids at home, so I didn't want a baby crying in the background. So that's the beauty of this guys. If you loved something from your previous job, continue to do that. Offer it as a service.

If you're like, Ugh, yes, I can answer customer service phone calls, but I hated it, then don't do it. Right? Go ahead and use that attention to detail or your customer service to work an inbox or to schedule social media or to do data entry. There's so many other types of skills that you can do. So just find what you love.

Let's talk to the real estate agents out there, right? I know so many real estate agents that look to virtual assistance as just another side income in between their real estate clients, and so you know how to get out there, right? Relationship building is so much of a part virtual assistance and that's what's gonna make you great at getting out there and telling people about your VA business.

You're great at lead generation. You know how to organize data. There are real estate VAs, and so maybe you take your real estate background, the fact that you already can do maybe transaction coordination, and you do that for other real estate agents. This is a great way to transfer your skills. Let's talk to the HR specialists out there, right?

Did you work in human resources? If so, you probably know a lot about policy and following compliance issues. And let me tell you, that is something that small business owners need. And so that ability to take complex data and simplify it is really, really going to help you as well as the relational aspect.

So. All of this is definitely transferrable to your role as a virtual assistant. All right. Let's talk to the marketing coordinators out there. Are you working in the marketing realm?

Guys? Of course you can transfer those skills and there's so many different parts to marketing, right? That's maybe. Writing email campaigns or creating graphics or a brand board or social media, that marketing experience is gonna put you one step ahead to be able to help your clients with their own marketing needs.

Alright, any event planners in the room, you know how to coordinate people, you know how to make all the logistics happen, you know how to keep everybody on track and an event coordinator. Ends up transferring great to a virtual assistant. In fact, there are remote events that you could even handle, right, virtual summits or you could handle a physical event, but just in a remote capacity.

And so definitely being able to transfer that skill. I also see a lot of event planners end up. Making great like online business managers, right? They're just really good at keeping the whole team on task, and so you can definitely transfer these skills. Are you a bookkeeper? Well, did you know that there is an increasing need for virtual bookkeepers?

You do not need to be in person anymore. With email, with Zoom calls, you can handle somebody's books from the comfort of your own home. Are you in the fitness industry? Maybe you're a personal trainer. You know how to motivate and keep people on task, right? And that ability to motivate people and keep them on track.

Will probably make you really good working with other fitness trainers or with coaches. There are so many in the fitness space that have created online content, so why not bring your expertise to the field, but help people in a remote capacity. Now, if you're a graphic designer, you already know how to work on the computer, right?

So. Yes, you can use your graphic design skills that maybe you've been working inside of an agency and start doing this on your own. It is time, you know, you can do it. You know, you can create beauty. You know that you can create graphics or branding boards or social media posts. So why don't go out on your own and do it yourself.

Maybe you're a photographer and you know how to market your business. You know how to edit. The photos, you know how to capture something beautiful. Did you know that remote photo editing is even something that you could do for other photographers? If you want to get out of the industry you're in, that's fine.

You can use those transferable skills that you learned in running, you know, your own photography business or doing photography for a company. You can transfer that and actually do those things remotely, right? Maybe you were a journalist or a writer. There is online content being created. All the time, so you can transfer that to writing blog posts or eBooks, or even physical books.

I had a friend who launched her own ghost writing company, where she would work with one client at a time, really get to know them and charge them $10,000 per ghost written book, capturing their story, and then writing it down. In a way that people would love. So definitely those are valuable skills that business owners need and want.

Do you have experience in sales? Well then you've likely worked with some kind of a CRM, right? You had some kind of a system or a structure that you had to do that. Your outgoing nature is already gonna make you wonderful at selling your own services. So what services would you love to do? That you did in your sales capacity, and then how can you use that sales experience to put fuel on the flame of marketing your own business?

Maybe you're not as good at the admin. Sometimes salespeople aren't as good at the admin tasks, guys. You do know that you can build a team, hire in your weaknesses, you sell the services, and then transfer it on to other people to actually complete the work, who love doing the admin tasks, right? This is a great way to start an agency from day one if that's something you want to do.

If you worked in the insurance field, you know a lot about customer service, a lot about data and compliance. You know how to reach out to people to keep in touch with them. You're great at handling documentation, so can you transfer that to virtual assistants? An absolute yes. In addition, insurance agents themselves often hire virtual assistants so you can bring in your industry experience and help other insurance agents as they're growing their business.

Maybe you worked in it, you can use that IT technology. To become a technical virtual assistant. Not all virtual assistants is around admin or marketing, right? We need people to come in and fix the website. We need people to come in and technically figure out this problem. And so if you have that tech background and experience and just the ability to figure it out, maybe you would make a great tech va.

Maybe you worked in hospitality, possibly at a hotel, or you know, you were the hostess for a restaurant. That ability to handle sometimes high stress people and situations is gonna make you great as a va. Again, you can come in with that positivity, with that sense of calm and take tasks off of their plate and say, I've got this to all of the flight attendants out there, you know how to multitask, right?

You're great at dealing with people. You can handle multiple things at once. And so being able to use those same skills. Now, can I do maybe data entry with that? Customer service, emails, you know, research, blogging. What other skills that you're like, okay, maybe I don't know that, but I could learn it and I could use my multitasking abilities and my customer service.

That ability to handle high pressure situations sometimes. How can I transfer that and learn a couple of these admin skills to go along with it? You've got it. Maybe you've sold things on Etsy or ran some other kind of online store. Well, why not use that same industry experience and the things that you were doing, providing listings, writing descriptions, possibly social media, and do it for other small business owners, especially physical product sellers.

You can do the things that you were doing for your own side, hustle, your own business, and do that for other small business owners in an agency capacity. Maybe you worked in the beauty industry as a stylist or doing makeup. You know how to do scheduling, right? And can you use those scheduling abilities for other small business owners?

Absolutely. Yes. You know how to handle clients. You love probably talking with people and engaging with them, and so. That definitely transfers to customer service as well. If you are a wedding planner, well your ability to work within timelines, right, to organize things, to keep people on track, to make sure everyone is hitting the mark, but also bringing in your creative side.

Wow. What an asset to a small business owner. That would be, if you can organize a wedding, you can organize a business, and so definitely you can use those skills. They're completely transferable. Maybe you were a fundraising coordinator. That could be building relationships, organizing events. Doing the admin in the background in order to organize and reach out to potential donors.

All that you did in the admin and financial tracking realm of fundraising can definitely be transferable to your new role as a va. Maybe you were a therapist or worked in the mental health field. That empathy is going to help you tremendously. The ability to schedule people, client communication, all of that is definitely transferable.

And because you already understand, you know, privacy concerns, you might even want to consider working with other therapists. I know that we get requests all the time inside of our VA Savvy's community. I'll put a link to it because we do post job opportunities there in the group. Sometimes we get postings in that group by a therapist that really wants somebody that has familiarity with the mental health field.

And so you can definitely transfer your knowledge there. And then lastly, pr. I actually just worked with a good. Who was transitioning from working a full-time job. She got pregnant for her first little baby and said, I don't wanna go back into the office. And so while she was on maternity leave, we decided let's build your own PR services agency.

And so she took all the things she was doing in office and she actually put them into her own packages and was able to sell them. She actually sold her services to her past employer. They're now paying her more to work remotely than when she was in the office and she can have other clients as well.

I'm so excited for her. Those skills are a hundred percent transferable. Shout out to Jasmine. Alright, it did something spark your attention. Did I talk about your job? If not, let me know and my team and I will tell you the transferable skills you have. Now, I promised a free training at the end, and I'm definitely going to deliver on that.

If you've not watched my Become a booked Out virtual assistant free training, you've got to check it out. It talks about my favorite three places to find paying clients, and I break it down super simply for you. So go to the shownotes below and you can access that free training. Alright, that's all I have for you today.

Have an awesome, awesome day. Go start your business.

I'll see you in the next episode.