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Do you know where you are on the virtual assistant career path? Why does it matter? In my tenure as a virtual assistant, I have noticed that there is a career trajectory for VAs. Many are happy at one place or another along the path – but knowing where you are and what you need to do to get to the next place on the path can save a lot of worry and frustration. As a client, knowing who you want as a virtual assistant and where they might be on the virtual assistant career path can help you hire the right person for know – but also know how you might both grow your businesses together.

Step 1 – Training/Apprenticeship

Although you can open your practice and possibly be very successful using just your pre-virtual assistant skills – most virtual assistants find that the virtual world has its own culture, expectation, communications and skills that need to be learned to truly succeed. A good way to start as a VA is to either invest in a training program or to spend some time working for another (either as an intern or as a subcontractor). Subcontractors often get paid less than primary virtual assistants- but the business owner does all the marketing, billing, troubleshooting and project management. Working as a sub or interning will give you great experience – and often with the added benefit of getting mentored and a chance to see how another practice runs. You can also work with different types of clients to see who might be the best fit for you. Some assistants like doing subcontract work because they don’t want to market or really like working in a team – so they stay at step one.

Step 2 – Hanging Out Your VA Shingle

Once you feel confident as a VA – it is time to start getting your own clients. You can charge more because you are doing the marketing for yourself. You have your own website (don’t be afraid to outsource this if you don’t have web skills) and do your own follow up. At this point, you’ll probably have a good feel for the type of clients you like to work with. You begin to find that systems and things you learn with one client might apply to others. You also have products that you recommend to clients over and over and may have joined those product’s affiliate programs.

After you work solo for a while – careers tend to move into one of these two (or a combination) directions.

Step 3A – Niche Expert You become the go to expert for virtual assistance in a specific niche. You might even do your own products on working within that niche. For example – the coaches’ guide to article marketing. You can command higher fees because you are deeply entrenched in your niche. You may decide at this point, to take on a VA or two of your own to manage your workload.

Step 3B – Technical Expert You may decide that you are very good at one or more aspects of being a VA (i.e. WordPress, E-commerce, Web Design, Graphic Design, Butterfly Marketing). At this point, you could become a technical expert and charge for doing your specialized tasks. At this point though, I would change your practice so that you label yourself as an expert in blogging rather than a VA who does blogging. You will get higher rates if you do this.

Step 4 – Executive – Eventually, you may decide to grow your VA business and hire on a team. VA Executives are usually in charge of a multi-VA operation and concentrate on business development and bigger picture. They hire online business managers to handle the projects for cleints. Or, they have very successful solo-VA practices but have a team to support non-client contact parts of their business. They also usually have other divisions of their company (besides pure VA work) to bring in multiple streams of income.

Of course, there are happy and successful virtual assistants at all of these steps. Many will find their niche and stay there. But, knowing where you are on the above scale, can help you plan for future business growth.