To help address some of the repeat questions we see, we have created this helpful go-to FAQ. If you think there is another helpful question we can add, please email us at [email protected].
A – That is all up to you! It’s completely possible to have your first paying client before you finish the course and many students do! A lot of it depends on how much time and effort you put into the course, your portfolio, and applications.
If you are putting a lot of time and effort into it and not getting results, we suggest having a few fellow students review your pitches, portfolio, resume, and application kit. Be sure that is all up to par!
If you are still not getting results, consider applying in a different way. For example, if you are only applying to job postings from just one FB group, you can try networking and providing value in other groups.
A – That all depends on your experience, your skills and services, and how much you want/need to make. Generally, you can expect to start around $15-$20/hour. This is however, not a guarantee.
You can increase your rates as you gain experience and level up your skills. This is an important part of raising your rates! Learn how to price your services in the course HERE.
Yes, it is completely possible to be fully booked out and replace your income. It will take time and dedication, but 100% can happen!
A – No, a website is not a necessity, especially when you are just getting started. You can get started perfectly fine with just an optimized Facebook business page and an application kit; we review how to properly set up both of these in Module 2 and the VA Starter Pack.
If you would like to have a website, check out our partnership with Julia from the Geek Pack. We’re pairing up aspiring VAs and aspiring web developers so they can get some good experience and you can get an inexpensive website!
A – Yes, we highly recommend having a Facebook Page for your business. It is free and a good alternative to a website. You can have your clients leave you reviews, which creates social credibility. It also provides you with a link should you ever need to submit your website on a job application.
A – Definitely not. You should instead create a Facebook Page for your business. If you create a second profile, you are risking being flagged for a spam account and getting shut down. Just to clarify, your personal profile is where people can add you as a friend. A business page is where people can ‘like’ and ‘follow’ your content, but cannot receive friend requests.
A – Even though you shouldn’t create a second profile, you should “clean up” your personal Facebook profile. When networking in Facebook groups, you want to present an approachable image.
For example, we recommend using a headshot as your profile picture as opposed to a picture of you drinking in a club. What you choose to leave public versus private is ultimately up to you, but we recommend keeping your public image professional.
It’s actually pretty simple to clean up your Facebook profile and shouldn’t take more than an hour. Rest assured, potential clients are not likely to scroll back several years in your profile! We suggest cleaning up the last few years by just changing your privacy settings. There are a few ways to do this.
A – The short answer is no, you can do what you feel is best!
But, having a side hustle is so common nowadays, so it really shouldn’t matter too much. As long as it’s not a conflict of interest, it’s not really even their business if you have a second job. My recommendation is to ask yourself, “Why don’t I want them to know?” And then go from there.
You are also welcome to wait to update your LinkedIn until you are ready to apply for clients. Waiting a few weeks or months is totally okay, but don’t forget about updating it!
A – The 90 Day VA program is designed to give you experience! You should be completing the homework assignments for each module. These homework assignments become your portfolio, which showcases your experience to potential clients.
You can also look for internship opportunities in the VAI Members Club. In addition, we see a lot of opportunities to gain experience in exchange for testimonials! Take advantage of these opportunities.
For some additional guidance on this topic, you can watch the REPLAY of the training “Landing Your First Client, without any prior experience” HERE.
A – We completely understand. It is common to run into a roadblock at some point, but it doesn’t have to prevent you from living the life you want!
A few things that are helpful during this time:
Whatever you do, do not give up! You can make this remote life work for you. Life will have challenges, but we are confident you can take them in stride, and find the success you are looking for.
A – The laptop to get is the one you can afford so you can get started. You can get VERY excellent, affordable laptops these days. Here is a helpful blog post all about choosing the right laptop.
A – If you can’t think of just the right name, we encourage you to use your name like Ann Smith Virtual or Ann Smith Creative and move on. Don’t let little things like this be a roadblock to your success. And, you can always change it later on!
A – We do not recommend using Upwork to find clients. Here is a quick video and a blog post about why we do not recommend using Upwork.
There are so many different avenues for finding clients. The networking videos in the VA Starter Pack are the best place to start to learn how to find clients. We also recommend watching the Landing Your First Client training video.
Each month we post 40-60 different job postings in the VAI Members Club. These can range from a corporate company hiring a social media manager to someone in my network hiring a virtual assistant. You can find these jobs by searching #jobposting, #internship, and #membersonly in the VAI Members Club.
One of the best things you can do is join the Facebook and LinkedIn groups where your ideal clients hang out. Then, provide value as often as possible. People will notice! Networking is a crucial part of finding clients.
Another important thing you can do is share about your new business with your own network! Be sure to tell your friends and family members!
A – Working online is still a fairly new thing, so there will be a lot of people who fear or doubt what they don’t know. It’s more likely that they care about you, but are afraid of the unknown. Educating them on the program and the industry is a great place to start. You can share stories of successful virtual assistants. Check out a few blog posts HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Just remember that you can do this! You can thank them for their concern and then prove them wrong. There isn’t one successful person in this world that hasn’t had haters. Remember that!
For good measure, here is a blog post on this exact topic.
A – Get started! Really, the most important thing you can do is to get started. As you move through the course, you will learn so much about how to be a successful virtual assistant, but without starting, you can’t get there.
My other tip is to be active in the VAI Members Club. As you interact with your fellow students you will naturally learn networking, how to provide value, etc. Use this as the valuable resource that it is!
A – You can find the branding information and the link to the logos on the Blog Submission Guidelines, which can be found in this lesson.
We do not provide a template for the podcast cover. You are welcome to recreate it using your fancy Canva skills! You can find the branding and logo information in the link above.
A – Everything except the resume and cover letter templates are included. If you’d like to purchase the templates, you can do so HERE for $27. No need to purchase any of the add-ons at checkout as that is all included in 90 Day VA.
A – Great question! We’ve prepared a ‘Are You Ready to Apply to Jobs’ Checklist in the “Homework & Downloads” button of this lesson you can refer to.
Make sure you have completed all the items on the checklist before you send out any applications!
A – First of all – YAY. Congrats! That’s so exciting. :) The VA Starter Pack is where you need to start. We go through all of this!
A – Yes! You can sign up to be an affiliate HERE. Once you sign up and login to your dashboard, you will see several different links. We recommend sending your referrals to the free class first! They will be tracked so you get credit once they sign up.
For further information, ideas, and graphics for sharing links, you can click on Assets in the top right corner.
Yes, 90 Day VA is a great fit for both women and men. But, as you already know, our branding and language are feminine and refer to women most often. We usually make sure the men know this before joining!
A – For the blog, you will work specifically on repurposing content. You can use a video from the Virtual Assistant Internship Facebook page. Or, you can use a video from the Help Me Work Online, Esther! YouTube channel.
In addition to all of the video options, you can also practice repurposing a podcast! You can find all of the podcast episodes HERE.
A – This is a great question! Before you add anything to your portfolio, we recommend having your work reviewed by 2-3 people. This can be made up of an accountability partner, other students in the course, friends, family members, etc. This will require you to be proactive! Just posting it as a comment in the HW thread may not yield a result, so here are some tips:
A – Networking in a Facebook group is about much more than just promoting your services. The key is to interact regularly in these groups, which in turn will get you noticed. You want to build relationships.
I recommend interacting with the mindset of providing value rather than solely getting a client your first time in the group. Regularly comment and make suggestions when people present problems or pain points. As you do this, you may find people asking you about your services!
Most groups also have a specific day of the week they allow self-promotion. It’s usually a specific thread where you can post. I recommend setting a reminder in your phone or calendar for each group, so you can promptly comment on the self-promotion threads.
A – The amazing Deya recorded a video about how to best prepare. You can watch it HERE. Remember that you are interviewing them just the same as they are interviewing you. Consider what you want out of the relationship and consider what you will be able to provide.
A few of the basics are:
I’m so passionate about helping as many men and women work online as possible that when you hit that JOIN NOW button I want it to be a resounding YAS!!
So here’s the deal, take 14 days to check out this whole VA thing.
If after 14 days you still don’t feel like the skills in this program are useful to help you land the online job of your dreams or you find yourself wanting to stick to the commuting and cubicle routine, then simply email our customer support with your 2 modules of homework and verification of attending a weekly call for a full refund at [email protected]
If this refund policy seems a little “too good to be true” it’s because I am THAT confident the 2,000 students I’ve helped launch their online careers weren’t special. They were just regular ol’ moms, military spouses, sads, former corporate commuters, travel lovers, caregivers, and college dropouts that knew they were made for more and used 90 Day VA to make it happen.
If they could do it, and this little mom + military spouse on food stamps could do it, then I am confident you will too.
Subscriptions
For Facebook Group Monthly Membership subscriptions, there is no refund for months already paid but email [email protected] to get the future months turned off at any time.
Remember, payment plans are NOT subscriptions and after the 14 day refund request time period, you will be responsible for all future payments. You cannot cancel your payment plan after the 14 day refund period.
If refund guidelines are not met as outlined above then a refund will not be granted within the 14 days or afterwards unless otherwise provided by the law.
“How are you working online?!”
If you are getting asked this question all the time then we’d love to have you sign up for your own unique affiliate link!
Whenever someone joins 90 Day VA through your special link, we send you a $100 thank you gift straight to your Paypal!
Sign up here for your own unique link and let’s help more women work online!
STOP before you start working on your portfolio items or submitting them for feedback, watch this video! Esther goes step by step in how to properly create and share your portfolio for both the program AND future clients. Have a look!
Your mentor will send feedback via email or Loom videos individually back to you. You can expect responses within 1-2 weeks depending on the backlog.
If you get a response from [email protected], then we have received your items and you don’t need to worry!
Submissions must be sent as Google Doc (docs.google.com) documents and the sharing settings must be ‘editable’ or ‘allow comments’ (if you don’t know how to do this there are some guidelines HERE).
If you want to edit and then submit your items again for review after receiving feedback, that’s okay! Otherwise, you can also just edit and add the items to your portfolio if the revision notes you receive are minor.
Every month, Esther holds a Q&A call for the US/Asia time zone and Deya, our COO and program manager, holds a Q&A call for the EU/Asia time zone.
Our monthly group calls are for answering any questions that you have, discussing any common issues that we are seeing and conducting mini-trainings.
Feel free to join us live on the monthly group call or if you can’t make it, watch the call recordings at your convenience.
The recordings will be posted to the Units tab of the Facebook Group within 2-3 days of the call.
Monthly Call Information:
See Our Current Call Schedule HERE it’ll always be in the ‘Events’ of our Facebook Group.
Before The Call:
1) Download and Install the ZOOM App
2) Submit any questions you want answered on Esther/Deya’s monthly Q&A calls here: [email protected] or [email protected]
To Join The Call:
1) Add the upcoming dates found HERE and the dial in and login information to your phone with an alarm NOW
2) Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/2253931749
Or iPhone one-tap : US: +16699006833,,2253931749# or +16465588656,,2253931749#
Or Telephone (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location) : US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656
International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/h8E6P
Meeting ID: 225 393 1749
