#VAin30 - Day 7: A Day in the Life of a Virtual Assistant

It is often quite difficult for people to understand what a typical day looks like for someone who works from home. People seem to always have it in their mind that if you are home, you are lounging around in your pajamas, binge watching Netflix and eating potato chips and ice cream. Boy is that far from the truth!

Working from home as a virtual assistant definitely has its perks-- hello, afternoons off! But with that it also has its very own set of challenges. In order to take the next, very vital steps toward building your business, you'll want to start imagining what your day will look like. Here is some inspiration of what your day could look like, written from the perspective of a successful VA. We hope it gives you some ideas!

Wake Up & Get Going!

Just like any other job outside of the home, you first have to get up and get going. For me, I find it beneficial to think of my job as a virtual assistant the same as I would one that I drive to everyday. I’m usually up and ready to start my work day by 7 am, which allows for me to end my day earlier than a typical workday, too. I wouldn’t attempt to go to work in my pajamas, so I try not to do that from home, either. There are days, though, where pajamas are definitely acceptable attire! That is a perk of the job, right?

Check Email and Facebook

I usually check my email before I get started so I know whether or not a client needs a task finished soon or if there is a new client that needs my attention before I begin my everyday tasks.

Social Media also plays a pretty big role in my business, not only how I gain new clients, but in the services I provide and how some of my clients wish to communicate. I always make sure that there aren’t any looming questions or issues that came about in the night that need to be addressed before I start checking items off of the day’s to-do list.

Attack the To-Do List

Most days my to-do list is exactly the same as the day before, which makes it fairly easy when planning my days out. I try to make sure that my daily To-Do List is created the night before so that I know just how much extra time I have in the day to take on any additional projects that might come about. However, there are weeks when I have clients who have bigger projects for me to complete, such as eBook formatting, spreadsheet creation, creating Printable guides and so on.

Those tasks I try to divide up across multiple days, with detailed benchmarks for each day. This makes it easier for me to make sure that I am on track to get the project finished so that I’m not strapped for time to complete the project and end up doing it hastily. I always make sure to communicate with the client if the project is taking longer than I anticipated so that they aren’t left stressing about whether it is being completed or not. Since I’m hired on to help make their lives easier, the last thing I want to do is bring them additional stress!

Close the Day Out

I always go back through my To-Do List, email, and social media channels before the end of the day to make sure that I didn’t leave an essential task undone. While it might seem tedious to go back through everything you just did, it definitely pays off in the long run and proves your value and reliability to your clients.

Fridays are the one day of the week that look a little bit different from the rest. For my business I choose not to work on the weekends, so all of the weekend tasks must be scheduled out and completed by Friday afternoon. Friday is also the day that I send out invoices to my clients, through Paypal, for any work performed that week, unless they are on a monthly package. For the clients who choose a discounted monthly package, I send them invoices on the last Friday of the month.

Every virtual assistant is going to have a different “day in the life” depending on their personal and professional goals, their family situation, their specialties, and how busy their business is. The great part of being a VA, however, is that there is always an opportunity to improve and change things that aren’t working. Today’s “day in the life” will hopefully not look like a day next year!

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