In my experience, on-the-job learning is the best way to acquire new skills as a Virtual Assistant. Creating solutions and working through issues is the best way to really get your head around what matters.
But what if you find yourself with more time than work and you want to improve your skill-set? Where should you start?
Here are four ideas for staying sharp:
- Follow your interests.?It’s important to build your Virtual Assistant business doing work you enjoy. If you look at the?list of services?I offer to my clients, while some offerings are more difficult to do than others, I enjoy them all. Don’t pursue learning something new that you don’t like to do.
- Leverage the skills you already have.?Make a list of the skills you have now and think about how you could take one of these skills to the next level. If you’re great (or even pretty good) at using?MailChimp, for example, look at some of the integration partners MailChimp works with to deepen your knowledge of how the product can serve your clients. I also recommend checking out how?Zapier?can connect together the applications you work with now in new ways.
- Learn one new thing at a time.?It’s tempting to start learning a lot of new things at once. But it’s generally not a good idea. Choose one new skill and dive in deep. So let’s say you want to learn WordPress (a great skill to have). Open a web hosting account and set up a test site that’s private. Install a theme, try out plugins, add images, and change the text. Get comfortable in an environment (your test site) where it’s ok if something breaks or doesn’t work as expected.?It’s a great way to learn.
- Set up a system to document your new skills.?This way, when it's time to do the work for a client, you don’t have to figure it out all over again. I find?Evernote?is great for this. I create a note for each new skill and write a very descriptive title for the notes so they are easy to search on later. Be sure to include screenshots when possible – they are great references when capturing settings for applications.
Learning new skills and refining the ones you already have are all part of being a successful Virtual Assistant. If you can find a way to make expanding your offerings a part of your routine, you’ll be able to serve more clients and charge higher rates as you grow your business.
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Belinda Sandor is the Founder of The VA Connection where she works with new, aspiring, and established Virtual Assistants to help them build thriving businesses through her free online community, courses, and coaching programs. You can learn more here:?https://www.thevaconnection.com/?
