How Much Does It Cost To Start A Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria?

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

I blinked twice when I saw the minimum cost of starting a virtual assistant business on starter story.

According to starter story, it costs $7,466 minimum.

$7,466 is a lot of money for a Nigerian.

At the time of writing this, it is NGN 3,733,000

If I had over three million naira lying around in 2019, I wouldn’t have started my virtual assistant business.

I was already working as a Medical Laboratory scientist earning over 100k and still getting financial support from my parents.

My rent was paid by my parents and I got a steady supply of food stuff (sometimes cooked food).

I lived a stone throw from the hospital I worked, so I strolled to work on most days. So I spent most of my salary on roasted plantain (bole) and fish, data and fast food.

I was a baby girl and had no worries.

But When I started, I didn’t start from scratch.

I had two years blogging and digital marketing experience. And I knew how to save on tools and could do some things myself (like website creation and design). That saved cost.

So if you are considering starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria you’re in luck.

This is one of the reasons I started focusing on helping new and aspiring virtual assistants in Nigeria become VAs.

Generic information doesn’t work in these streets. It is probably normal for a virtual assistant in the US or UK to spend that. But in Nigeria, it is not realistic. 90% of Nigerians do not spend that on their entire university education.

According to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics, 40% Nigerians earn about NGN137,430 ($274.86) per year.

Which is very true.

A lot of ad hoc staff at my PPA worked 8-4 for 5 days a week for NGN10,000 ($20) a month

That further brings it down to NGN120,000 ($240) a year.

And they dress up everyday to work early. Pay their way to and fro every day and still smile at people.

I’d be devastated, to say the least.

Thankfully, you don’t need $7,466 to start a virtual assistant business.

Or a full fleshed virtual assistant agency in Nigeria even if you buy laptops for a team of 5 and provide data.

The cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria is not even a quarter of that amount.

Or up to 10%

Depending on your skills and what you already have, you might need 1% of that amount or zero naira.

I started with zero naira.

Recommended: Step by step process to become a Virtual Assistant in Nigeria

Here’s How Much It Cost To Start A Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria

Like I said earlier, your startup costs depend on your skills and what you already have. Most of the startup costs involve digital tools.

So, if you’re wondering exactly how much it cost to start your virtual assistant business in Nigeria pay attention.

First, let’s separate the most common expenses to two categories (compulsory and optional) so you know exactly what to expect.

Compulsory Expenses When You’re Starting Your Virtual Assistant Business

1. A Smart Phone

If you already have a smart phone, you can use it. If not, you need one immediately. You can get a good smart phone anywhere from NGN30,000. Even before you do anything, you need a smart phone. These days you can do everything from creating a free website to email marketing etc. All on your phone. If you provide a service like social media management or canva design, you can run your entire business from your smart phone.

2. Internet

You’ll be spending a lot of time online so you need good internet connection. As a virtual assistant in Nigeria, you already know how frustrating the network can be. It is important to choose the best service provider in your location. This is because when your internet service is down, it can make you lose business and slow down your turn around time for client work.

I spend about NGN15,000 to NGN20,000 on data every month. If I wasn’t a virtual assistant, I’d be spending a lot less. Depending on the VA services you provide, you might need a smaller or higher subscription.

3. Email

You need a separate work email. It doesn’t matter if it is Gmail or a custom email address. You can use Gmail for free

4. Invoicing System

How will you send invoices and receive payments? Paystack and Flutterwave are easy options. You can create invoices in 5 minutes or less and get paid easily. You can even set it to charge your clients automatically until they cancel. The more recent option I found is invoice.ng, you can create and send up to 5 invoices for free. It integrates with PayPal and other payment gateways which is great for receiving international payments.

5. Power bank

As a Nigerian, you already know you can’t bank on NEPA. You need to get a good power bank from a reputable brand like Chuvis. This is will serve better than getting a power bank that might end up draining your phone to charge itself. I got my new age power bank 18 months ago and it is good. A good power bank costs anywhere from NGN5,000.

Optional Expenses to Start Your Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria

In addition to the compulsory startup costs, you need the items below in the long run. I separated your startup costs this way because there are things you can implement over time and don’t need to cough up a lot of money upfront.

The things listed below are equally VERY important but they are just not an absolute MUST to start a VA business in Nigeria.

1. Laptop

Depending on the service you provide, a laptop might be a compulsory expense. So if you don’t already have a laptop, you may need to get one. All your work will be done online and some of them can’t be done with a smart phone.

The potential cost of this can be NGN150,000 or more. My laptop cost NGN250,000 in 2017, and it was a birthday present I got even before I started my virtual assistant business.

Buying a laptop for your virtual assistant business is an investment. So I don’t recommend anything “fairly used” or “UK used”. You need a strong laptop that will serve you for several years. If you must get a fairly used laptop, it is best to buy it from a reputable brand that offers a warranty period. Just to be safe.

2.      Website

Every virtual assistant business needs a website. But I understand that a lot of aspiring VAs in Nigeria don’t have the money for a website. So I offer helpful alternatives in my free email course for virtual assistants in Nigeria.

Although I recommend starting without a website, a website is very important in the long run. So you’d want to put it at the top of your to-do list once you start making any money.

There are two ways to get your virtual assistant website up and running in no time.

Outsource it:

A functional virtual assistant website costs anywhere fromNGN50,000 depending on the exchange rates. I charge NGN75,000 for a basic VA website.

Do It Yourself:

If you have experience creating websites, you can setup your VA website. Here are some of the actual expenses associated with your website:

Domain: Usually this will run you anywhere between $6 and about $11. You can get it for next to nothing if you catch a special sale like on black Friday. I use and recommend namecheap

Hosting: This starts at about $30/year. I use and recommend namecheap

SSL: A lot of hosting providers give this for free in the first year. It renews at $30 or more.

Content Management System: WordPress.org is free and I use and recommend it. It is idiot proof.

Theme: A theme is what gives the aesthetic part of your website. Depending on your budget you can get a free virtual assistant theme. There are lots of premium virtual assistant theme ranging from $15 to $350.

Page Builder: Getting a theme is not enough. You need page builders like Elementor and thrive architect to customize your pages and build awesome landing pages. I use and recommend both elementor and thrive architect.

Elementor starts at $49/year (I use the free version of elementor)

I got thrive architect when it was still a stand alone product. Now you have to spend $19/month for thrive suite (which is thrive architect plus many other useful plugins).

Want to learn how to create and design WordPress websites? Join the FREE waitlist for my course launching this July 2023.

3. MiFi/Router

You can get a MiFi or router to connect to multiple devices. I work with my phone and laptop at the same time so I got an airtel 4G pocket MiFi for NGN12,000 in 2019 (it is now NGN9,999 and comes with 25Gb data). It helps me keep my data costs minimal because I only have to do one subscription. I can connect with up to 10 devices.

4. Generator

You need one if you live in an area with inconsistent power supply. Even if you have consistent power supply, it is wise to have a standby generator for when NEPA disappoints and you have a deadline. The cost of generators has hit an all-time high since the pandemic. A basic tiger generator (aka I pass my neighbor) starts at NGN45,000. I bought a sumec firman 2900 generator in Port Harcourt in March 2022 for NGN129,000 and a family member got it in Calabar in November for NGN200,000. So factors like location, inflation etc. definitely affects these prices. You should research for what is affordable.

5. Virtual Assistant Training Costs

I started my business without taking any training. So it is not a compulsory thing. Howbeit, I would have paid to learn if I found a coach for Nigerian VAs. Because I could not afford to pay NGN 400,000 and upwards (when you convert to naira) for training. I eventually took trainings when I could afford them.

That said, training can be in a variety of ways, memberships, masterminds, coaching, e-courses, ebooks etc.

You can get a lot of free and affordable information to help you start your virtual assistant business in Nigeria online. I have provided

However, if you have a little money to invest and want to shorten the learning curve, avoid trial and error, costly mistakes, and grow faster, then training is a MUST.

One simple and affordable way you can get training is by working with me. I offer one-on-one, group coaching and courses to help you go pro fast.

One thing that training does is that is gives you step by step info. Consuming information online can lead to information overload very fast. A lot of aspiring virtual assistants never implement and enter into analysis paralysis mode. I highly recommend training if you can afford it. It will help you grow faster.

Read Also: 15 Common Mistakes Virtual Assistants Make (and how to avoid them)

6. Business Name/ Company Registration

You absolutely need to have this on your to-do list if you want to go far. You don’t want to build a business online and find out your competitor has registered your business and prohibits you from using the name all your clients you know by.

I recommend registering a company instead of a business name. It’s more cost effective. Registering a business name costs anywhere from NGN20,000 while a company costs anywhere from NGN70,000

7. Templates For Contracts, Getting Client, Getting paid Etc.

Templates have been a business saver for many virtual assistants. There’s just about a template for everything. You can get contract templates for virtual assistants in Nigeria, instead of hiring a lawyer every time you have a new client.

Recommended: Shop for templates to make your business processes a easier

8. Email service provider

Building an email list is a very important part of any digital business. An email service provider like sendfox is a great option for virtual assistants in Nigeria. It currently cost only $49 for a lifetime plan of 5,000 contacts (which is a steal and you should take advantage of before the price increases!). Other email service providers take up to $25 every single month.

9. Cloud storage

You need a secure place to store your important documents and google drive and drop box offer free versions. Both options store your info “in the cloud” which keeps your info secure and safe.

10. Booking system:

You need to get on discovery calls to close potential clients. A booking system will eliminate the back and forth emails to sync schedules. I use and highly recommend tidycal. It is very easy to use and very affordable. It cost only $29 for the lifetime plan. Calendly costs $8 every single month. Both tidycal and calendly have free versions for when you’re bootstrapping.

11. Social media management tools 

You’re going to need some tools for things like scheduling, hashtag research, fancy texts, graphics etc. Scheduling tools like preview and planoly are free to start with paid upgrade that range from $29/month to up to $100. The free version of canva is great for graphics.

12. Project management tools:

Project management tools like trello and asana, have the free versions. You can start with that and upgrade as your business grows.

13. Time trackers: 

You already know you need a time tracker if you bill hourly. Although I do not bill hourly, I use and recommend toogl just to see how much time it takes me to complete tasks. There are other time trackers that also have free versions you can start with.

14. Office Space Expenses

This depends on if you are building a one person business or an agency. You can set an office space in the spare room in your home or rent out a space. Costs to consider are rent, utilities, equipment, furniture etc.

Rent depends on your location. For an average space in a developing area in Port Harcourt you’ll be considering at least NGN200,000 for a single room. Sometimes without a toilet. Things like NEPA bill depends on if you are using pre-paid or flat rate, and the cost of equipment and furniture depends on the quality and quantity you need.

Depending on your budget, a workspace like kowork located in Port Harcourt and Lagos might be what you need. They provide furniture, stand-by generator etc. Their prices start at NGN10,000 and go up to NGN150,000 per month (which is very affordable). If you decide to start a full blown agency, there’ll still be room for you and your staff and you won’t have to worry about setting up a space, cleaning and all the tax (and tout) platforms that disturb businesses all the time.

What Is Total Cost of Starting a Virtual Assistant Business In Nigeria

  • Minimum cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria= NGN 0.00
  • Maximum cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria= NGN 3,500,000
  • Average cost of starting a virtual assistant business in Nigeria= NGN 600,000

The total cost to start a virtual assistant business in Nigeria ranges from FREE to NGN3,500,000. It depends on a variety of factors like the digital assets you already have, the skills you have, the service(s) you want to provide and how big you want to start.

Bottom line is that you don’t need a lot of money to start your VA business in Nigeria. If you ask me how to prioritize to minimize the upfront cost of starting your virtual assistant business in Nigeria, I’d say:

Do all the compulsory things first. Then choose the recommendations in the optional category according to your budget.

I hope you found this post useful and actually take action to start your own virtual assistant business

Virtual Assistant Contract For VAs in Nigeria (why you need it and what to include)

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam
virtual assistant contract

An iron clad Virtual Assistant Contract is one of the must haves for every VA business. Regardless of if you’ve been in business for 100 years or you’re still in the start-up phase. This is so important that I made it a one day lesson in my free email course for virtual assistants in Nigeria.

When I started my business, I didn’t know I needed a contract and I regret not having one from day one.

And when I eventually got a contract, I felt like it was too rigid and would scare potential clients away. So I left it on my laptop until it gathered virtual dust.

I fell into the hands of wrong clients until I finally decided it was time to get a Virtual Assistant contract.

But I couldn’t afford one because all the great templates were too expensive for a new Virtual Assistant in Nigeria (exchange rate sucks).

So I settled for a free copy online and used it for some months.

And I was happy with it.

Until I showed it to a lawyer who was also helping out with my business CAC registration. The loop holes in my contract were too many.

That’s the thing with free stuff.

That’s why I decided to write this post.

So you’d know why you need a Virtual Assistant Contract as a VA in Nigeria, the things to include and how to get an affordable iron clad contract.

Why You Need a Virtual Assistant Contract As A VA in Nigeria

Your strategy to get clients to cooperate should NOT be to call them out on social media. In fact, it’s best to avoid them altogether with a contract instead of chasing them down for payments. The moment you start your VA business, you become a business owner.

As boring as a virtual assistant contract might sound to you, it is a very essential part of your business setup. It protects your interest at all times (even after you move on from the client). It also gives your clients peace of mind knowing that you are legally bond to not share their information among other things.

Asides protecting your interest, a virtual assistant contact will help manage expectations, set boundaries. And give your client the feeling that they are dealing with a professional.

10 Non-Negotiable Things to Include In Your Virtual Assistant Contract

#1: Names of both parties     

For obvious reasons you need the name of your client on your contract.

#2: Date the agreement commences     

The exact date your work relationship commences so that both parties know when they become legally bond.

#3: Outline of services to be provided:

This largely depends on the way you price your services. If you charge per hour, you need to set a time limit to how they’ll use their hours. Decide if un-used hours will roll over to the next month or expire. This sets expectations and a client doesn’t pay for 10 hours and goes without using it until after 6 months.

On the other hand, if you work with packages, things are a little different. You have to clearly state the service(s) you will provide at X amount of money to avoid the dreaded scope creep. Scope creep is what happens when a client ask you to do other things that were not originally agreed on. Without wanting to pay more. These things may be small but will add up in the end. Your virtual assistant contract should explicitly state that you’ll be charging for them separately.

#4: Payment terms And Processes

Are you going to invoice weekly, at the beginning of a project, at the end of a project, monthly, at the beginning and end of a project or it’s recurring so they’ll be charged automatically?

You need to state how you will receive payments, how you will invoice and when payments are due.

Will you accept direct bank transfer or use payment gateways like PayStack and Flutterwave?

Another important thing you must add is what will happen if a client pays late or refuses to pay. If you use the payment gateways above, you can send automated payment reminders to them.

If you want them to pay a late fee, then you’ll find the getting paid kit for VAs helpful. It contains templates to communicate this professionally.

#5: Termination/Cancellation policy:

Things don’t always go as planned so your termination policy helps you break up with a client that isn’t a good fit. You need to state who can terminate the contract, for what reason(s) and even what is expected of each party after the termination. You’ll find the breaking up with client kit useful

#6: Confidentiality Agreement

Your client needs to know their sensitive information is safe. They’ll give you access to their trade secrets, including their passwords and other private information. You need to outline how you will treat this information.

#7: Rush Job Policy

What happens if a client wants you to do something over the weekend or just needs something in a hurry. You’ll need to put away other client work or even your rest time to deliver. So you should charge more for it. Decide what timeframe fits into a rush job and how much you will charge. I use 48 business hours or less.

#8: Independent contractor agreement

Outline the kind of relationship you have. You are not your client’s employee so you must state that you are an independent contractor, along with some of the things that differentiates you from an in house employee

#9: Non solicitation agreement

Your Virtual Assistant Contract must clearly state that you are not there to steal your client’s clients when they give you access to sensitive information like their client’s contact.

#10: Contingency plan

You need to outline what happens when you are sick, or otherwise unable to complete your work as a result of circumstances beyond your control. This is essential so that you are not held liable for breach of contract if you miss a deadline.

You might also need time away like when I was on maternity leave. Clearly state when and how your client will be notified.

These are only a few of the terms that must be clearly outlined in your virtual assistant contract. A lot of free virtual assistant contracts do not have some of the things mentioned that’s why you need to move past freebies and get an iron clad contract that protects you and doesn’t leave a hole in your purse.

Where To Get Affordable Virtual Assistant Contract Specially Made For VAs In Nigeria?

To get a good virtual assistant contract template online costs from NGN 48,500 ($97). Some even go as high as NGN 225,000 ($450).

Getting one offline isn’t any better because Lawyers in Nigeria are required to put their seal on every document they create for you. You can’t afford to hire a lawyer to write a new contract every time you have a new client.

That’s where rinse and use templates come in. Together with a lawyer, I have prepared an iron clad virtual assistant contract for VAs in Nigeria. It is the contract I wish I had when I first started. You can use it to work with clients locally and internationally.

It’s tailored to Nigerian laws so it’s the perfect document. You just have to plug in your client’s detail every time you have a new client and send it to them to sign online. The best part? You’ll get all future updates for free.

Easy peasy!

Whenever, you’re ready, grab your virtual assistant contract for VAs in Nigeria.

How To Sign Your Virtual Assistant Contract Online     

There are a couple of free tools you can use to sign your contract online. The tool I love using is smallPDF. All I do is upload the PDF version of my contract, sign it and email it to my client to sign too. Once the client signs it, I am automatically notified and we can both download our copies.

What If Your Client Doesn’t Want To Sign A Contract?

Red flag!       

As long as your terms are reasonable, a good client will have no problem with signing it. In fact, clients will commend you for being very professional when you have a contract because it shows that you take your business (and their business) seriously.

Some clients may have a few good questions before they sign your virtual assistant contract which shows they actually read the thing. You should answer their questions as clearly as possible because they need the information to decide if signing will be to their detriment. Wise people understand a contract before they sign.

However, if a client doesn’t want to sign any contract. And wants you trust them or do their work in a hurry because they don’t have time to sign a contract, run very, very, far from them.

Recommended reading: Become a virtual assistant in Nigeria (use these exact steps)

Wrapping Up

I hope you now know why a virtual assistant contract is important, what you should include in your contract and how to get one at an affordable rate as a virtual assistant in Nigeria. Do you use a contract for your services?

Photo credit: freepik.com

How To Price Your Services As A Virtual Assistant In Nigeria

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

“How do I price my virtual assistant services?”

“What is the hourly rate for a virtual assistant in Nigeria?”

“Am I not getting clients because I am over charging?”

“How do I price my services as a new virtual assistant without cheating myself?”

“How much do virtual assistants in Nigeria earn?”

“Should I charge in naira or in dollars?”

“Hourly, packages, monthly salary, retainer, project based, value based pricing. What’s the best for me?”

If you’ve ever asked any of those questions, you’ll want to pay close attention to this blog post. I’ll answer all your questions about pricing your services as a virtual assistant in Nigeria.

Pricing is a very important part of setting up your virtual assistant business. It’s one of the things I talk about the most in my one hour strategy calls and private coaching for new and aspiring virtual assistants in Nigeria.

Before I get into the meat of this post, I must say that one of the worst things you can do for yourself, is copy what other people are charging.

Even if they are your mentors.

I say this because what you want your business (and life) to look like, could be completely different from someone else’s.

I might want to work 1 hour a day, 4 days a month and charge more (in fact this is my dream).

Someone else might want to work 8 hours for 6 days a week, charge less and totally love it.

You might like 6 hours a day for 5 days a week.

And we can all earn the same at the end of the month. Or I might work less and earn more.

If you’re like me, you want to make money but don’t want to be tied to your work all the time. That means that your pricing has to reflect your own personal needs and desires. You have to take a holistic look at your life, your skills, experience, and expertise.

And most importantly, your target client.

If you still don’t know who your target clients are you should not be reading this post. You can’t build a house without a foundation.

Even if you take all the right steps to price your services, you’ll still hit a brick wall when it comes to getting clients who’ll pay your rates. So you can’t be setting up your prices when you have no idea about the kind of client that will pay you that price.

That said,

There are many ways to determine your price as a virtual assistant.

In fact, if you ask 5 coaches you’ll get 10 different answers from them. And they’ll be likely great answers. But you don’t want “great” answers. You want to know the best way to price your services as a virtual assistant in Nigeria.

2 Easy Steps To Take Before Pricing Your Virtual Assistant Services

1.) Start With What You Know      

Don’t go offering copywriting services just because you heard you can make $10,000 monthly even as a new copywriter. Start with what you know and grow from there.

I remember when I just started using Canva. Someone needed a graphic designer and since I was posing as an “expert”, I got the job. I still cringe when I see the flier I designed for the brand. Needless to say, it wasn’t accepted.

Thank God it wasn’t. The godfathers of graphic design were turning in their graves (for sure!). While I wasn’t good at graphic design, I was great at writing SEO blog posts. I had experience writing on two blogs before I wrote my first paid blog post for a client. So things picked up really fast when I focused on what I knew. Now my canva skills are much, much, better and I design fliers, ebook, social media graphics etc for clients but it was a skill I needed to hone.

When you’re just starting out, start with what you know. You’ll price more confidently and know for sure that your work is not what is scaring clients away.

Yes. Your work might be scaring clients away even if you get your price right.

They may be able to afford your rates (and maybe more), but they won’t work with you because you’re not good at what you do.

2.) Understand That Low Doesn’t Always Equal More

If your strategy is to look at what your competitors or mentors are charging and charge the same or a little lower, you are shooting yourself in  the foot.

Some VAs lower their rates in an effort to take all the clients from competitors.

Wrong move.

If you charge too low, you’ll scare some deep pocket clients away. Some clients would not want to work with you because they think cheap equals low standard. And that’s only the bad part.

The worst part is that you will attract the annoying category of clients.

The ones that will nickel and dime you till you go crazy. You probably know them. They’re the ones who’ll second guess you all the time, call you at 2am and stress you out.

Is that what you want?

No? I thought so

Now that we’ve agreed you don’t want to offer services you’re not good at. Or copy prices from your competitors/mentors, let’s get into 3 practical ways to price your services as a virtual assistant in Nigeria.

3 Practical Ways To Price Your Services As A Virtual Assistant In Nigeria.

1.) Start With The End In Mind And Work Backwards 

How much do you want to end in a month?

This isn’t a chance for you to write $1,000,000.

I want to earn $1,000,000 monthly too but we’ll get there some day.

Be realistic.

Look, when you start with the end in mind, you know your livelihood depends on it and it will keep you grounded. So let’s say you need NGN 100,000 every month

Then break that number down like this:

Monthly cost of living = NGN100,000

What I have to earn each day to cover my living cost (we’ll take an average of 22 business days per month) 100k / 22 = NGN 4,545 per day

If you are working for 6 hours

4,545 per day / 6 hours a day = NGN 757.5/hour.

Approximately NGN 760/hour.

You can do the break down according to your figures.

This immediately gives you an idea of how much you must earn each day (and hour) to meet up with your living costs.

However, the above method doesn’t consider your sick days.

What if you go on an impromptu trip or fall sick or have a family emergency?

In addition, it stresses you to do it every month because it changes as your needs for the month changes.

So if you want to remove the stress of figuring out what to charge every single month because of an unstable hourly rate (which your clients will HATE)

2.) Decide On A Pricing Method

“Hourly, packages, monthly salary, retainer, project based, value based pricing. What’s the best for me?”

A lot of experienced VAs would say you should price your virtual assistant services using the hourly rate when you’re just starting.

It is good advice but as a virtual assistant in Nigeria, my advice to you would this.

It depends on the location of your clients.

If your clients are Nigerian based, sorry o.

99.99% of Nigerian clients do not pay per hour.

If you like, take 7 red candles to your village river naked to pray

 E no go work

So what works instead?

Project based, value based or salary.

I’ve used all three methods so I’ll explain. But first let’s talk about hourly rate and why you should not work hourly after your first few projects as a virtual assistant.

Hourly rate:

Your hourly rate largely depends on the type of service you provide as a virtual assistant.  The hourly rate of a VA providing web design services is much higher than that of a VA offering data entry services.

Why I don’t recommend charging by the hour is because you get penalized for being an expert. When you’re just starting out, designing a graphic might take you 5 hours, but over time you might start doing it in 1 hour or even 30 minutes.

The client will pay you less than a rookie VA who is 5 times slower than you are.

But what if my clients are not based in Nigeria?

Then you’re in luck. Because you can not only afford to charge in dollars but also charge hourly (when you’re just starting out).

The odds are in your favor because of the exchange rate. Even if you charge as low as $5/hr and work for 6hrs a day you’ll be making as high as NGN 330,000 a month (if you work for 22days).

Project based:

This is when a client pays you for an entire project that may take a few hours, days or weeks. You’d look at the time it’d take, software you’ll use and other tools and the skills it requires before giving lump sum. This is usually charged at least 50% before the project starts and the balance after the project is completed.

Value based:

This is when you price your services based on the perceived value. For instance you ghost wrote an ebook for a client. This positions the client as an authority in that subject so the client is not only getting monetary benefits by selling the book, but also the recognition as an author that knows her onions. When you factor in what the client stands to gain, your pricing will be different.

Another example is when you write a sales letter for a client and the client sells a product worth NGN10,000.000 while you charged only NGN20,000. Value based pricing looks at the value your service will bring the client and charge based on that. Regardless of if it took you only one hour to complete and nothing else.

Salary:

Some virtual assistants are paid monthly. So the client enrolls you into their pay roll and you get paid X amount of money at the end of every month. I’ve been paid this way and don’t recommend this. Instead take at least 50% of your money at the beginning of the month (if it’s a recurring fee).

3.) Package Your Services

Before you even think about packaging, you have to have worked for a while. You need to know exactly what you do for clients (and what you DON’T do).

You need to know for sure how long it will take you to complete a task and the cost implications (if you’ll be paying for software to work with).

Because things could go south really fast. When you give a quote for a project, you have to be absolutely sure because if it ends up taking more time than anticipated or cost more, the client won’t pay you more.

So experience is what will help you set the right prices and know what goes into a package and what doesn’t. That why an hourly rate is recommended for when you’re jut starting.

Wrapping Up

You might have already learned the basics about pricing but you still want to know specific details like:

  • How to design a package that clients love (what goes in and what doesn’t) + sample packages to get your creative juices flowing even if you’re new
  • The only time you should negotiate on price and how to turn things to your advantage
  • Mistakes a lot of VAs make when pricing
  • Hidden expenses that keep a lot of VA businesses stagnant (most VAs don’t even know they are losing money)
  • Scripts to increase your prices if you realize you’ve been undercharging (if you’re just starting, you’ll still need this for later)
  • How to deal with scope creep and use it to increase your income
  • How to determine the exact amount to charge for your specific VA service(s)….even if your service is finding photos of poisonous spiders
  • The MPFN pricing framework that makes everything pricing make sense and will leave you saying omo × 1000 (you can’t even Google it because I created it)
  • The only time to factor in what other VAs are charging and what to do with the info

If that is you, then you absolutely need my pricing 101 for VAs mini course. You can join the waitlist to get first hand details and early bird price when it launches this October.

How to Write A Pillar Blog Post in 9 Easy Steps

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam
pillar blog post featured image of black woman with a laptop and dog
Photo by Samson Katt on Pexels.com

Are you wondering how some blog posts manage to stand out from the 7.5 million blog posts published every day? Do you want to upgrade from writing mediocre posts to writing posts packed with value? If your answer is yes, then this post will guide you on how to create really good, distinct posts. They are called pillar blog posts.

A pillar post, just like the common pillar you know, are tall, broad and strong. Those kind of posts stand as the tallest around a particular topic. It is packed with so much value that google can’t ignore it in the rank of top results on search pages. This is because the content is unique, amazing and outshines other posts.

Simply put, the post is epic and meaty. It is not just a 500-600-word blog post. It is a detailed 1,000 to 2,000-word post. They are useful, actionable, well-written, engaging, filled with relevant images, audio and video to support your points. In fact, pillar posts have what 99% of other posts don’t have – longevity.

So, if you want to write a pillar blog post, you have to be ready to prove to your audience that your posts are different and outstanding. If you do this, you will show them that you are an authority on the subject. I guess you now understand that a pillar post is not one you spend 30-40 minutes writing. In fact, you need to put in so much time and effort into writing it.

When you have finished writing, you should advertise it on your blog and share links to it. Also importantly, you have to keep updating your post so that it will stay relevant. When you do this, you will notice the rush of new readers and back-links to your blog. More readers will continue to be drawn to your post over time as you and other people refer (link) to it.

Sometimes, you write articles and they become pillars when you don’t expect. Another time, you pour your heart into another article and it doesn’t generate traffic. An important question you need to ask while writing is: Will it still be relevant in 12 months?

There is no particular way to produce a pillar blog post but your content should have some unique features.

Features of a Pillar Blog Post

a. It is Long: If your normal blog posts are 500-1000 words long, a pillar blog post should be at least 1500-2500 words. If yours is 2,000 words, a pillar post should be 4,000 words. Some pillar posts even look like small e-books.

 b. It is broad: Here, you should be careful to avoid going too broad or too narrow. A pillar post can be on Facebook marketing. If you write on social media marketing, it will be too broad. If you write on Facebook stories marketing, then you are going too narrow.

c. It is a hub: A pillar post covers a topic in detail.

d. It is updated: Things change every day and the information on your pillar blog post should reflect these changes. When you update a pillar blog post, it stands out as a real hub of value and knowledge.

e. Pillar Content is better: A pillar post is commonly referred to as 10x content. It is 10x better than any other post on that topic. So, it will have a better ranking among the results for a given key-word.

With these in mind, you should also be aware of what already exists. There is no topic that has not been written on. So, you need to know what has been written about a topic, identify missing information and provide it. You may also consider thinking about topics instead of keywords. Pillar content is meant to focus on the entire broad topic, so that you can be a good resource for everything related to that topic.

Now, let’s look at the steps to create a pillar post.

How to Create Pillar Blog Post in 9 Steps

By now, you know that creating pillar blog posts requires a lot of work. Content is everything! If you want to stand out, google the top 10 blog posts on the topic you are writing on. Then, create a content 10 times better than those.

1. Choose Your Topic

This is the first and most important step. Decide what you are going to talk about. Spend some time here and don’t be in a hurry. You need to think properly and come up with s topic that your audience will like to read. Think about their problem, what they want and the type of content that would be helpful to them. You should get into their thoughts when choosing a topic. It is easier to enter into the conversation they are already having in their head than starting a new one. So, ask yourself these questions:

What conversations are my audience/prospects having in their head? Here you need to dig into the minds of your prospect. For example, what do people who want to lose weight think about? Are they wondering if it is possible to lose weight?

What are they searching for when they want to solve their PRIORITY problem? I had to emphasize on priority. Why? Because if you are creating solutions to problems/questions that are not pressing, you might be out of business before the client is ready to hire you.

That said, assuming you want to write about your email marketing service or you are selling a course on that topic. You need to figure out the kind of things people research on before they hire a VA to do their email marketing. Are they searching for email marketing tips? Best email service providers? How to automate emails? These questions need to come up during your choice of topic.

What do they need to believe? Get your prospect to believe that is possible for them to lose weight no matter how fat they are. Make them believe that it is possible even if they have tried and failed. If they don’t believe you, your post won’t appeal to them and they won’t buy your course. So, you need to educate them and answer their questions. Put up a post like: “How to lose weight even if you weigh 200 Pounds”.

What questions do they have? These questions are all important because they help you get into the mind of your prospective reader. After identifying these questions, you have to become the answer to them. This will form the base for your pillar blog post.

One topic idea isn’t enough. You have to come up with a list of about 10 content ideas. From these, coin the perfect topic that hits your target prospect and makes them eager to read more.

2. Choose your Type of Post.

Now that you know what your content is about, the next thing is to choose how to present it. There are two best formats to use for pillar blog posts: the ‘how to’ and the ‘listicle’. The ‘how to’ shows the reader how to do something. For example, how to lose weight. If you choose this type of topic, make sure you are detailed on every step so that the process is very clear to the reader. ‘How to’ articles have a way of making you an authority in your niche.

Your ‘how to’ article should be popular and relevant to your audience. You should be able to explain very well. You can tell a story if you can!

The ‘listicle’ is appropriate when there are many ways to achieve what your reader is trying to do. You simply create a list of anything (books, tools, resources) your audience finds useful. Articles with lots of list and compelling headline pull so much traffic. Lists are easy to consume, especially for people with who can’t read wordy articles. Lists also have direct actionable lessons that people love to share. So they are usually linked to by other bloggers and added to social bookmarking sites that drive traffic. Most lists that have original content, problem solving and applicable to audience become pillars.

If these two formats don’t fit, you can choose others like definition, theory argument, free-report-whitepaper or technical blueprint.

3. Find Your Angle

Now that you have a topic and have chosen a format, you need a kind of angle. This is simply a way of presenting your topic to grab your readers’ attention. Your angle is what makes them want to click and read that post. Let me remind you that there is no new topic under the sun. So you have to find a way to make yours unique by making it more interesting. Don’t skip this step! Your post may be really great and helpful but it won’t get the attraction it deserves. Why? because it isn’t unique and doesn’t grab attention.

5 post angles for your pillar blog post.

Benefits: Present your topic in a way that will be of benefit to the reader. Everything about that post, from title to layout, has to focus on the benefit. This angle is kind of straightforward and has to tell the reader what they will gain or learn. For example, Benefits: 5 Reasons why you should take a loan.

New: You know people love new and exciting things right? This angle is cool when you want to reveal a new thing or something the reader doesn’t know. It can be technology, development, announcement or something people haven’t seen before. This angle will interest even people who are well read in your niche.

Threat: This is like the inverse of benefit. This time, you are writing about ways in which not taking action harms the reader. Threat: Why your virtual assistant business will fail this year. This angle aims to help the reader avoid pain.

Piggyback: A piggy-back simply means when you use a well-known thing to add extra interest and credibility to your topic. For example: How to go from zero to 150,000 subscribers like Noah Kagan. Noah didn’t write that post but it is taking advantage of his popularity.

Curiosity: This is when you write a post that makes people curious to read more. You pique the interest of your readers without providing direct information, to draw as many people into your content. Example: How to Double Your Virtual Assistant Income (Without a Single New Client).

You can also combine some of these angles. If you combine benefit and new, you can get something like “Research shows that a new recipe reduces heart disease by 60%”.

4. Decide the Goal of the Post

This may sound weird to you but you need to start writing your pillar blog post (and basically all posts) backwards. When you do this, you keep the post focused and streamlined.

3 types of goals you could have for your pillar blog post:

Generate Leads: You should opt in for a lead magnet, register for a webinar, respond for a live event or request a coupon. Your pillar blog posts can generate these leads.

Acquire New Customers: A pillar blog post can help you get customers looking for the exact service or product you are offering.

Create Awareness for an Offer: A pillar blog post can help your readers learn more about an offer, especially for expensive, high ticket items.

After determining your goal, move to the call of action.

5. Write The Call to Action

This can come in various ways depending on the type of action you want the readers to take. E.g. Buy, attend, call, download, get more info, learn more, etc. Makes sense right? Without a call to action, your reader has nowhere else to go after reading your post. If you don’t provide a clear-cut call to action, they will simply hit the back button and go their way.

6. Choose the Keyword

Keywords are phrases people use to search for things on search engines. These words and phrases identify what people are searching for and the topic you are writing about. Choose long-tail keywords because they are more specific to what people are searching for when they dive into a google search. The fewer keywords you use, the greater the amount of searches conducted. Long tail SEO targets highly specific niche search items (long-tail keywords). Long tail keywords have 3+ words and are easier to rank due to low competition.

7. Write the Outline

So far, so strong. The pillar is almost completely built! If you want a coherent post and don’t want to leave anything out, it is good you write an outline. For a ‘how to’ post, write out all the points or steps you want to explain to readers. For a listicle, list every item on the outline.

8. Write the Pillar Content

It’s time to now write your pillar blog post. It may take your time and prove difficult, but you will be happy when the post ranks very high on google. So, get to work!

Write a good introduction that draws in and hooks your readers. A P.A.E.S opening can be used. Identify the Problem, Agitate the problem (add salt to the wound), Empathize with the reader, give the Solution. The P.A.E.S. starts out negative but turns out positive. For example, you can use the following empathy statements for your introduction: “I used to be like you…”, “I get it” etc.

Identify opportunities to add quality images, video and audio to make your post spectacular. Add an info graphic to make the pillar blog post more visually engaging. You can use screenshots to support your ideas or use a big number graphic that matches your listicle.

After writing the content, smooth out the edges, correct typos and the formatting. Make sure that your post is consumable (readable), complete and consistent with your brand or your other posts. Keep in mind that people don’t want to look at big, chunky texts to read. Your reader doesn’t want intimidating content.

9. Create a Content Upgrade

Finally, create a resource that is downloadable like a pdf. All these may take you a lot of time but the result will be worth it and far better than regular posts. It will be 10 times better than other posts.

Final Words

There are very few people willing to take these pains and those who do stand out. So go ahead, take these steps. You will be seen as an expert in your field and you will get rewarded with more leads and readers.

These are some of the tips I use when writing pillar blog posts for myself and my clients. For confidentiality sake, I can’t share content I’ve written for my clients but you can see my blog post on How to become a virtual assistant in Nigeria ranks number one. If that looks like something you’d like to have you can learn all about my SEO blog writing service.

Needless to say, if you’re a virtual assistant, you could use these tips to write content for your clients.

How to Double Your Virtual Assistant Income (Without a Single New Client)

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Want to double your virtual assistant income without signing on new clients? I get it.

Finding clients all the time is not fun for anyone. Time you should spend building your career or upgrading your skills can be spent chasing clients and doing everything everyone swears has helped them gain clients.

Don’t do it. You’ll burnt out.

I have never had to find clients for my VA business. They have always come to me through word of the mouth referrals. I do my best to maintain a 70% client retention rate because I understand that it is more difficult to sell your services to a new client than an old one.

Having 3 to 4 clients in a month means I am fully booked. That means 150K-400K per month and this is my side hustle. That’s just how it is for me.

So even if I have only two clients in a month, I can still meet my income goal.

How I do it?                        

Strategies, baby, strategies.

That’s what I’ll share with you in this post.

I’d say I’m lucky to have discovered this early on in my virtual assistant career. It has made me proactive when it comes to business and I don’t just sit back and wait for instructions.

I’ve had a client go from calling for a 10k service to hiring me for 100k just because I played my cards right.

Let’s dive right into it.

5 Ways To Double Your Virtual Assistant Income Without A Single New Client

Using these strategies, I get to choose who I work with and what type I work I want to do. Because not every job appeals to me (even if I can do it and someone is willing to pay me for it). Don’t worry you’ll understand why at the end of this post.

1.) Target Clients Who Stand To Gain A Lot From Your Services In The Long Run

It’s like wanting a long term relationship. If you read my blog or emails consistently, you already know I’m head over heels in love with retainers.

If you are a fan of retainers, then you should seriously consider only signing on long term clients. When I see that a brand has a lot of aspects they need help with, I know there’s room for an upsell. Even if they aren’t contacting me about all the aspects they need help with.

For example, if a brand has a website, I know that spells a lot. I can design their landing pages, write blog posts, do on-page SEO, redesign their website, create lead magnets, do their email marketing etc.

Sometimes they don’t know they need to do some of the things in the example above. So that’s where my subtle upsell pitch comes in.

And if they don’t have a website, then are they ready to?

I’m always ready to build one for clients. When I build a website, there’s potential for all of the above services I mentioned above. See where I’m going with this?

This means finding clients that I could provide more solutions to after the initial project and potentially keep working with for months/years. And rather than waiting for them to come to me for these solutions, I proactively propose my services to them.

Why?

Because most times a client may contact you and not know they need a service that works in synergy with what they called you for. And even if they do, they may not know the huge difference it will make for their business if they let you handle it.

It is in your place to let them know how much better the solution will be if they could get the add-on. Now this add-on AKA upsell never ends.

As you learn more about their business, there’ll always be something you can do to help.

I always have a brilliant idea for my clients’ business because I take time to study them.

If you want to double your virtual assistant income, you must go out of your way to find the clients who will gain a lot from working with you for the long haul, and turn down or refer the clients that will not.

Read also: How To Onboard Clients As A Virtual Assistant

2.) Make It A Habit To Learn About Your Client’s Business and Goals

If you have the employee mindset, you’ll be stuck here even if you get number one right.

I had this mindset early on in my business and it didn’t work out well. A virtual assistant with the mindset of an employee almost never takes initiative. They just sit and wait for instructions to be dished out to them by their boss.

I was this way because I was placed on a monthly salary regardless of how much work I did or didn’t do. I was complacent because I felt I would still get paid at the end of the month. It took a lot of growing to realize I was making myself become useless.

If you are really serious about doubling your virtual assistant income, be prepared to bring your best ideas to the table.

I’ve had clients ask me my opinion about a lot of things they wanted to do in their business. Because I built a relationship that brings results. Initially, I felt like my ideas were sacred and since they weren’t paying for my ideas, they couldn’t milk me for free.

I couldn’t be more wrong. When you help a client gain clarity and give advice that actually brings the results they want, you become like a sacred cow. They know you and your ideas are an essential part of their business and it is essentially a win-win.

Look at it from this angle. If you allow you clients make all the wrong business decisions while you hoard your killer ideas, you’ll go out of business too!

That’s why I take time to learn about every business I work with because I want it to grow. I read up, ask questions, search for ideas and even pray for them. Because anything that affects their business positively or negatively also affects me indirectly.

As you build trust with your client, you will soon be discussing their strategic plans, marketing goals, and other information relevant to how the projects you work on affect their business.

I’ll tell you for free, once you understand what a client is actually trying to achieve, you can now move from simply following what they think the solution is, to proposing a solution that may actually serve them a lot better!

Granted, some clients may be strong headed. I’ve had one like that. I kept telling her what needed to be done and she kept telling me what her friend did and why it was important to do exactly what her friend did. Even if it wasn’t going to bring in the results she needed. We did it her way and oh well, she realized I was right when she had spent too much time, money and energy on the wrong things.

Take the time to really listen to what the client responds with. Find out what their goals are.

Is it to increase sales?

Save money?

Deliver an amazing new product to their customers?

This does take practice. You might not have really thought too much about how specifically your services drive business results. But the great news is that you can learn just by asking the right questions and letting the client do the talking.

Some clients might claim they are too be busy to give you the information you need to get your job done.

That sucks.

I always ask for a brand fact sheet. If they don’t have one, I ask for a voice note on WhatsApp. This way it takes little time and effort to have it done and I can listen to it multiple times.

Whatever you do, be sure to make things easy for them.

3.) Proactively Use Your Skills to Help Your Clients Reach Their Goals

By understanding of your clients’ goals, you can continuously determine how your skills can help them reach their goals. Not just on the initial project, but with future projects. By practicing points one and two above.

These results aren’t impossible or something only “gurus” can pull off.  Providing real value doesn’t mean you have to spend weeks/months making it happen.

I can use one hour or less to complete some tasks because of practice/experience. They aren’t paying for one hour, they are paying for the time I spent perfecting my skills so I can solve their problems in little or no time.

So don’t let the idea of being an expert cause you to freak out.

Don’t forget that the basic skills you have now will seem almost magical to anyone.

Most people can’t use canva, design websites, or write copy.

Things that may seem embarrassingly basic for you can actually be mind-blowing for your clients.

For example, I could tell a client they desperately need to have a welcome email autoresponder and that would sound like a very huge task to them.

But it is something that takes me an hour or less to set up and earn 5 figures per month. In return, it saves them the stress of doing everything manually and helps them connect with their customers which ultimately increases conversion.

When their investment in working with you generates a return on investment for their business, it makes retaining your services a no-brainer.

4.) Raise Your Rates

If you’re doing points 1-3 above and are still struggling to get by financially, then maybe you need to raise your rates. This one way to easily double your virtual assistant income without getting a single new client.

I can hear you saying “But Rose, no one will pay more”.

Honestly, I have made peace with the fact that not everyone can afford to hire me.

You see, pricing has been a major problem since I started my business. Impostor syndrome made me price myself so low I had to constantly think about getting clients to keep up with my income targets in my business.

Needlessly to say, I was burnt out from over working myself in my 8-5job and VA business. This went on until I realized something had to give.

I was growing resentful about the work I was doing and felt cheated all the time. At a point I almost quit.

After I had a long chat with my husband, I raised my rates, I doubled my virtual assistant income and got job satisfaction.

Since making that decision, I have not had to worry about getting more clients to meet up with my income goals.

See, pricing your services is a tricky thing. While some people will not hire you because you are too expensive, others won’t hire you because you are too cheap and they feel cheap equals substandard.

A client that might have been fine with paying you 100K for a job will pay the 35K you asked for but pay another VA the full price.

It’s largely a mindset thing and I won’t bore you with the details in this post.

Want my advice?

Charge your happy price!

5.) Offer High Value Services

The kind of services you offer as a VA affects your earning potential. Sometimes you need to specialize in offering high-end services to earn more. For example, a VA who offers website design services will earn more than a VA offering data entry services. This is why I encourage VAs to constantly upgrade their skills to stay relevant. If you’d like to expand your suit of skills or learn other skills like website design, course creation etc. check out my courses.

How To Remain Top Of Mind If A Client Eventually Leaves

You might do everything in the book and the client will still move on from you. Be sure to stay in touch and maintain an open dialogue with your client about their goals. These follow-ups might be as simple as bringing information or ideas that the client might find valuable to them. That way you’ll be the first to come to mind when something comes up. Or perhaps when their friend is hiring.

I told you I have never had to find clients, right? Because I get referrals from clients all the time. At least 85% of all the brands I’ve worked with came via past and current client referrals.

Final Words

You can easily double your virtual assistant income just by targeting clients that need your services for the long haul, learning about their business and goals, connecting their business goals with the skills you have to offer. If  you do that as well as offering high-end services and then increasing your rates. So you don’t end up trading hours for naira.  As the client relationship grows, the work done can grow to many times the size of that initial project you were hired for.

Over To You

Do you use any of the strategies I shared above to double your virtual assistant income? Are there any strategies you use that I don’t know about? Kind share with me in the comment section below and I would be happy to try them out and upgrade the information in this post.

How To Overcome Impostor Syndrome As A Virtual Assistant

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Learning how to overcome impostor syndrome as a virtual assistant is key to a successful business. Feel free to call it what you’re familiar with- self-doubt, fear of putting yourself out there, etc.

A huge percentage of virtual assistants in Nigeria have had to deal with this feeling in the early stages of their business.

It’s not a nice feeling.

The constant self-doubt.

You are always second guessing yourself and your ability to build your own business and feel like virtual assistants in the diaspora are more qualified

Worrying that you aren’t good enough or skilled enough to charge in dollars or be trusted with responsibility.

So you charge very low and accept whatever you are offered because you feel you don’t deserve better.

I know this because I used to feel this way.

I still second guess myself sometimes. Up until now I still worry about every new product or service I put out. If people are going to sign up for it. If it is worth it or just another crappy piece of content on the web.

But what I’ve realized is that it doesn’t really matter what you feel.

What matters is how you overcome impostor syndrome.

You can’t let it ruin your life and business. You have to move forward regardless. In this post, I share ways I overcome impostor syndrome as a virtual assistant all the time and how you can too.

5 Ways To Overcome Imposter Syndrome As A Virtual Assistant in Nigeria

1.) Stop Comparing Yourself

You know what they say, comparison is a thief of joy. While it is natural to compare yourself to others you have to be sure that it is done in a healthy way.

We live in an era when everyone shows the cool and exciting parts of their businesses. More like the highlights of their lives.

So constantly comparing someone’s carefully edited and curated content to your reality is bad. It always ends badly.

Bear in mind that some VAs are making more money than you and they’ve been doing this for a shorter amount of time. Some are making way less than you and have been doing it for longer than you.

Spending your time worrying about what every other VA is doing isn’t going to help you grow your business. People lie. People over hype things.

Instead, stay focused on your own business and look for ways to grow. The only time comparison is advisable is when you’re doing a SWOT analysis.

2.) Talk About It

Sharing my feeling and concerns with my partner is really helpful. On days when I felt really low and undeserving of the success I was getting, he was there to listen and advice.

Sometimes all we need is someone to talk to. Someone to cheer us on and tell us we’ll be alright. That’s why I say talk to your friends, family and other VAs that support you. I receive emails and calls from BAs in my network all the time and we just talk about dealing with business.

If you’d like to jump on one of these calls you can apply for a free consultation.

From talking to hundreds of virtual assistants and small business owners, I’ve realized one thing. A lot of times we’re all going through the same difficulties and you can learn how other people overcame.

It’s great to know that you’re not alone and to have people to talk to. They’ll be there to encourage you and lift you up as you step out of your comfort zone and face your fears.

3.) Remember Why You Started

You started your virtual assistant business to help your clients’ complete tasks. You are actually offering them value in exchange for a fee. You’re not just going around asking people for money without giving anything in return.

Think about how helpful what you do is/will be to your client.

You are making their lives easier and should be proud of that! Now remember that a skill you learned in 5minutes and don’t think is worth much might be invaluable to your client.

In your lowest of times when you’re experiencing self-doubt and feel like you should give up and retreat to safety, remembering why you started is what will keep you pushing through.

4.) Admit What You’re Feeling

You can’t overcome imposter syndrome by ignoring your feelings and acting like everything is okay. It’s okay to acknowledge your emotions

Even very established entrepreneurs feel this way when they venture into something new. You have to be honest with yourself about how you’re feeling.

Then ask yourself this simple question- What’s the worst that could happen?

Let’s imagine for a moment.  

Seriously, what is the absolute worst thing that can happen if you faced your fears?

Are you afraid some people will laugh at you? Or That you’ll make a fool of yourself and never get a client?

Once you’ve gotten your worst case scenario, think about what you’d do if that actually happened.

Now let’s be realistic. What are the chances of your worst case scenario actually happening?

Most likely, the chances aren’t very high. Even if it did happen, it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world. Would it?

I remember when I wanted to teach my first WhatsApp class. I had feelings of self-doubt and constantly worried that people would scoff at the thought of me teaching something.

Then I thought; what’s the worst that could happen?

I quickly realized that when you really think about it, the worst is not that bad.

So what if no one hired you three months after you launched your business? There are many things you could do to still get attention and attract the right clients in your fourth month.

Yes, you don’t feel great about it. Things could be better. But you’re moving on and doing your best to make sure you position yourself for success.

Read also: How to Onboard Clients as a Virtual Assistant (in 6 easy steps).

5.) Work Through It (Baby Steps)

Getting your VA business off the ground can feel overwhelming. But you need to stay focused and get the job done. It might not be pretty at first, but every little task you complete will add up.

My advice is that you break the big tasks down into smaller and smaller steps until your to-do list becomes doable.

Commit to taking one baby step or two each day and you’ll be amazed how quickly you’ll find success.

Your self-doubt will blur away as you constantly take baby steps to achieve your goals.

Your Turn

I hope you found this post helpful and the information makes you feel less alone as you try to overcome impostor syndrome as a virtual assistant. Have you ever dealt with impostor syndrome aka self-doubt? How did you overcome it?

How to Onboard Clients as a Virtual Assistant In 6 Easy Steps

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Knowing how to properly onboard clients as a virtual assistant is a very important aspect of structuring your business. Sadly, many virtual assistants in Nigeria make this mistake and there’s no organized flow of things.

What is a “client onboarding process”?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

It is simply everything you do immediately after a prospective client inquires about working with you.

You don’t have to wait till this happens before get organized.

Steps You Need To Take To Onboard Clients As A Virtual Assistant

By taking the steps I’ll discuss in this post, you’ll start displaying your professionalism from the start. This is makes a good impression of you to your client. And ensures you take necessary steps to protect your business while working for others.

Step 1: Set Up A Discovery Call

A discovery call is important to get clear on what your potential client needs. It provides an avenue for you to get to know your client’s core frustrations. And how to match your services to give them the solutions they desire.

However, it is important to have an idea about what the client needs before scheduling a call. For my business, I have a quick and easy to fill form that collects basic information about the client; what they need help with; and their budget. This helps me prepare for the call beforehand.

When I receive their completed form, I immediately review and send them an email. The email contains a link to my booking system on tidycal (you can use other alternatives like calendly).

Using an automated booking system is important because it allows you to set your availability ahead of time.

This ensures your potential client views, and confirms a time that works for them without the need for the back and forth emails about picking a time that works for the two of you.

As soon as you get the booking out of the way, be sure to schedule a reminder for your prospect. The location of your meeting may be Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype etc. Whatever you choose, your booking system will display this on your booking page and your client will get the info in an automated email immediately their book the call.

Step 2: Prepare And Show Up For The Call

Once your client picks a time, you’ll get an email from your preferred appointment booking system (in my case, tidycal). When you get this confirmation email, it is important that you set aside time to do your homework.

Remember the form they filled in step one above? Use the details they provided to do background work like, check out their website, social media etc.  And be sure to jot down important notes because these will be your talking points during the call.

Carrying out this simple task will take 20-30 minutes of your time but it is worth it. Why? Because when you are finally on the call with your potential client, you’d know exactly what to say; what questions to ask and how to advise them.

Before you end the call let them know you’ll be sending them a proposal based on your call. This is when some clients would want to put you on a spot and ask for a quote. It is best to take your time and craft your proposal. This is because that’s when you’ll truly know the workload and price correctly. You can however give a price range.

Never leave them guessing what the next step is. 

My client discovery call workbook does a good job of walking you through what to do before, during and after your discovery calls including templates I use in my business. The discovery call workbook is part of my client onboarding kit which is a must have for every serious virtual assistant.

Step 3: Send In Your Proposal

Take out time to craft your proposal. For this I have a proposal template I use. It will get pretty tiring to craft a new proposal from scratch every time you have a new client. So, have one template so that you can easily edit based on the client’s needs.

What will your proposal contain?

I’m glad you asked.

Two must haves for every proposal include; the tasks included in your service (based on what you discussed in the discovery call), and pricing.

Need a copy of the proposal template I use to win clients? It’s one of the resources available in the client onboarding kit.

Step 4: Follow Up (Just In Case)

After sending your proposal, be sure to follow up if you don’t receive a reply after 2-3 business days. I made this mistake early in my career. I sent in a proposal to a client and didn’t follow up because I felt like I’d come off as desperate.

That couldn’t be more wrong!

Following up actually tells your client you are ready to work and are proactive about working with them. You are aiming to impress. Right?

Not to mention, your proposal email might have gone directly to spam or gotten lost in your potential clients’ inbox. So it is your duty to stay top of mind. Most times the client may not contact you again and feel like you’re not interested in working with them.

Step 5: Send In Your Contract, Invoice And Welcome Packet

  • Contract: Your virtual assistant contract is an essential part of your onboarding process. This is what protects you and your business. A good virtual assistant contract must contain a confidentiality agreement (also known as a non-disclosure agreement); an independent contractor agreement, payment terms, etc. This must be duely signed by the client before any other steps are taken. I use small PDF  or Signwell to sign my contracts.
  • Invoice: Use free platforms like Paystack or zoho invoice to send your client an invoice. Of course this will be based on the amount agreed on in your proposal.
  • Welcome Packet: In my business, I send a welcome email that contains the welcome packet in PDF format. A welcome packet typically contains basic information about your work processes. How you will be contacted, business days, how you will receive payments and what you require to start work. Requirements usually include things like Client Logos, fonts, login details, photos etc. Requirement may also be collected with the help of a form.

PRO TIP: Never send an invoice to a prospective client before your contract/agreement is signed. 

Related: How to Create a Welcome Packet for your business.

Be sure to follow up with your client to ensure your client sends in the details you need to start work. 

Over time I’ve found that some clients delay this step because they either have no idea what basic things their brand colors, fonts are or they are too busy to gather all the information you need. Be patient, reasonable and help them make your work easier.

Side note: Get a copy of my client onboarding checklist, onboarding toolkit etc. inside the client onboarding kit. 

Step 6: Schedule A Kick Off Call

You’re almost done now. This call is necessary to confirm all the final details, timelines etc that weren’t clear. You can ask each other questions to get on the same page and even make a plan of action.

Your Turn

Taking these 6 simple steps to onboard clients as a virtual assistant is all you need to look professional, be organized, confident and get only the right kind of clients.

I hope this information will help you structure your virtual assistant business better.

Do you already take these steps to onboard clients? Reply in the comments and let me know.

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire A Virtual Assistant

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

This is weird. I’m giving you reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. For obvious reasons, it is bad for business. In fact, I should be writing about why you should hire a virtual assistant or burn in hell. That would make more sense, right?

Chill. I’m going somewhere

I love being a virtual assistant and may have toyed with the idea of quitting my 8-4 and working from home full time. So the business is good. And you really should consider it as your side hustle if you are looking to make more money.

However, I don’t think some people should hire virtual assistants for a couple of reasons. I’ll tell you why in a minute.

Recently, I had an experience with a prospect that led me to recommend they just hire someone full time. Why? Because sometimes what you need isn’t a virtual assistant. But a personal assistant that shows up nose to nose every day and picks up your dry cleaning after work.

My Top 4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire A Virtual Assistant.

I think it’s really important for you to know this. It’ll save you time and money so please, don’t hire me or any virtual assistant out there if you:

  1. Don’t know what you need
  2. Are a dinosaur
  3. You love breathing down people’s necks
  4. Can’t afford one right now

I’ll take each point I’ve mentioned one after the other and explain to you using my experiences why you really shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant.

#1.) You Don’t Know What You Need:

I’ve worked with a client that made me re-do an eBook 12 times. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to become an author and basically tripled my work.

Time equals money in the virtual business world and there’s no time to waste. You need to be sure of what you need before hiring a virtual assistant, if not you’ll pay for time not spent.

A lot of virtual assistants are more than willing to brainstorm and find out ways they can help you grow your business and solve your problems. However, it is your duty to recognize your problems and present them to your virtual assistant.

You might need to hire someone full time if you’re going to be stabbing in the dark until something sticks. If you don’t know what you need, you might end up hiring a virtual assistant with a wrong expertise that can’t help you.

#2.) You’re A Dinosaur:

It is 2020 and the world is going digital. However, not everyone has been able to catch up. A virtual assistant works online and this is clearly spelled out. But some clients would rather have the virtual assistant come in every day. Thereby removing the ‘virtual’ from the virtual assistant. If this is you, then you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. What you need is an assistant.

This is why I tell people looking to start their virtual assistant business to decide if they’d want to commute back and forth. How often they will. And who’ll pay for it. This is very important because I lost a social media management gig some months ago just because the prospect wanted to sit out with me and talk about his brand before hiring me. I just didn’t have the time to meet him.

But I get it.

Some people would like to have a face to face discussion with a VA before entrusting their business to them. But that’s not always possible. So if you are stuck on a face-to-face meeting then maybe you shouldn’t be hiring a virtual assistant in the first place! A full-time employee will have more face-to-face time with you so that seems like a better deal.

#3.) You Love Breathing Down People’s Necks:

I’ve had clients sending me messages at 3:00Am on Sunday morning and others calling at 11:00Pm on a work week. A virtual assistant that only speaks with you a couple of times a week or month might not be what you need. This is if you like monitoring your workers. A virtual assistant can decide to quit and leave you hanging just because you are being too domineering and breathing down their necks. That’s just the way it is.

They have their business and you have yours.

They aren’t working for you. They are working with you. Believe it or not, there’s a difference. They probably became virtual assistants because they didn’t like their boss breathing down their necks.

Every serious virtual assistant has something called a welcome packet. In this document, they tell you their business hours and how you can contact them. It is rude to call outside business hours and throw fit if they don’t answer. If you have a rush-job, I’m sure they’d do their best to help you out with an additional fee.

Side note: I make an exception with my monthly retainer clients. I give them my personal phone number and have them send me WhatsApp messages at 2pm or 2am and they know I’ll reply ASAP.

They know not to voice or video call me without scheduling a call. That’s just how it works. But if you need someone to be there for you 24/7, then you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant.

#4.) Your Business Can’t Bear The Expense:

Virtual assistants deserve to not only get paid, but get paid on time. Please dear, if you can’t pay, you shouldn’t hire a Virtual Assistant. This isn’t rocket science. Working for you takes time, energy and money (because we pay subscription fees outside mobile data).

I’m giving this advice because I have been owed by a lot of people and some of them never paid. Usually because I couldn’t ask for my pay and was sympathetic when they complained about how their business wasn’t yielding as much income as they expected and needed me to take a chance on them and ‘invest in their business’. I did this in my early days forgetting that my own VA business needed investing too. Phew!

The great thing about hiring a virtual assistant is that you can do it for a limited time. You can hire a VA for a year, month, week or even a project and when that is completed, you go your separate ways. So if you know your revenue isn’t consistent and can’t afford to pay a virtual assistant, please don’t hire a virtual assistant.

A laborer deserves his wages.

Is It Getting Clearer?

I’ve given you key reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. But I am a virtual assistant and I know how important VAs are to entrepreneurs. So if none of the reasons I shared above applies to you, then by all means necessary- YOU SHOULD HIRE A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Here Are Some Of The Reasons Why You Should Hire A Virtual Assistant Right Now

#1.) You Want To Save Money:

Hiring a virtual assistant saves you money. You don’t have to pay them when they are on maternity or terminal leave. You are not going to organize/pay for any employee development courses or hire someone full-time when you only need them for a limited time. Their health care insurance isn’t also your responsibility. You can finally be stingy in peace.

Lastly, your secret fear that someone is downloading movies with your office Wifi will be put to rest because you won’t be responsible for data costs.

#2.) You Don’t Have Office Space:

A lot of small business owners don’t have a lot of space for employees. Instead of getting a larger space, you could hire someone to work remotely and not have to pay a higher rent for a bigger space. Remember that with office space comes furniture and electronics and they cost money.

#3.) You Need Someone To Work Weird Hours:

It is common for people to have a full time job during the day, and work on their side hustle at night. You can’t employ someone to come in at that time for obvious reasons.

Instead, you should hire a virtual assistant to help out because they have flexible work hours. They can hold a meeting at 1am just because it is in their schedule and they don’t have to get out of bed and hurry to work at 7am.

#4.) You Need Flexibility:

You may decide to launch a business at any point. A virtual assistant can be ready with all the skills you need. There’ll be no need to train someone which will delay you. Instead hire someone who’s already an expert.

One of the key reasons I’m considering working as a virtual assistant full-time is- flexibility. Whenever I visit my husband, Cee, I don’t get as much work as I’d have liked done. So I work in advance. I do a marathon and complete weeks’ worth of work in the days leading to when I’d travel. That way, I can clear my schedule and actually enjoy the time I spend in his company. My clients don’t need to know I had a baecation/vacation. Everyone is happy.

#5.) You Need Someone With The Latest Skills:

Like I said earlier, virtual assistants are business owners. They invest in their education a lot. Take me for instance, I have gathered over 15 certificates on health and digital marketing so I am not only building myself as a Medical Laboratory Scientist but as a virtual assistant.

Asides constantly upgrading my knowledge, I also have experience working with a variety of clients that I can use to improve your business if required.

But don’t take my word for it, according to a study by upwork, freelancers are much more likely to update their skills than full-time employees

So Should You Hire A Virtual Assistant or Not?

I don’t know. It depends on you- your needs, experiences, type of business etc. Although I’d want to sign up another client and would love to tell Cee I just sent my welcome packet and estimate to you, I have to let you make this decision.

It’s really not something you want to rush into.

Full-time employees are great especially when you are a dinosaur, need to see your work done in real time. Virtual assistants are perfect when you need more flexibility, updated skills and want to save money.

It’s really your decision. I’ve told you reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant and reasons why you may want to hire one.

Now the ball is in your court.

Next Steps                                

If you are looking for an experienced Virtual assistant to work with, I’m still taking clients. You can see some of the services I provide here.

If you want to start or grow your virtual assistant business and make money from home, Go here and get help

How to Become a Virtual Assistant in Nigeria (Use these exact steps)

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

I accidentally became a Virtual Assistant in 2019. Now, I want to teach you how to become a virtual assistant in Nigeria with no experience, using free tools. I had started blogging two years before that and knew that a lot of people made money from home. It appealed to me and I set up my content shop to sell products online from articles, email series, e-book templates etc.

I knew I wanted to make money online like other bloggers. So, I stalked other Nigerian bloggers to learn how they were making money and everything was about beauty, skincare, fashion, books or natural hair. I wasn’t really interested in writing about all that and could not bring myself to consistently post on Instagram so I could gain popularity.

I knew it had to be a product or service for me.

Then I thought maybe Nigeria is the cause of my problem. If I were abroad things would have been different. I would have been able to make money from home and even make money while I sleep. Trust me, it’s easy to get sucked up in the hole of self-pity.

I decided to keep learning until I figured things out. That was the best decision I made for myself and it lead me to becoming a virtual assistant in Nigeria.

So when the opportunity rose, I offered my service for free. Someone needed an ebook and I volunteered to do it for free. After I submitted the job, she went on to a platform of over 200 bloggers and sang my praises. Honestly, it made me feel good. I neither recognized the impact I had made nor the fact that I had just gotten my very first testimonial.

I got a few inquires and jobs from other content creators on the platform before it was short down.

About two months later, I got a direct message from a stranger. It was a pleasant surprise.

When she talked about needing a virtual assistant, I told her I didn’t know what that meant and had no experience. She explained a little and I immediately knew it was a fancy name for what I was already doing. And in the next couple of hours, I signed up my first retainer client. We’ve been working together for over two years now.

Truth is, I didn’t know what to expect or how to do a lot of things. I wasn’t even tech savvy but I was determined to learn quickly.

I started googling about virtual assistance and how to make something out of it. I checked out a lot of online courses but they cost anywhere from $300. They weren’t even courses by Nigerians for Nigerians.

I started putting myself out there and telling people what I did and word spread. I started making enough money to sustain me for the month working from the comfort of my bed.

For me, virtual assistance sort of clicked.

In the last year I have learned a lot, built this website by myself, packaged my services etc. It sounds so easy to say now but it did take a lot of hard work, grit, costly mistakes and learning to get to where I am now.

But I know that if someone was willing to teach me how to start the right way and sell my services better and most importantly price the right way, I would have signed up without a second thought!

About six months after starting my virtual assistance business, I started getting a lot of questions about how to make money online. Like me, most of them didn’t know what a virtual assistant was or what they can do to make money online and I spend a lot of time explaining things to everyone individually. That can be tiring.

So I decided to create a segment on this blog dedicated to teaching people how to make money online. I do this with the free blog posts I publish on this website and my free email course.

If you are still reading this, then you might really be interested in becoming a virtual assistant and making money online.

I’m here to help as much as I can.                       

Who Is A Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is someone who works virtually (online) to help people achieve their personal and business goals. Virtual assistants can work from anywhere and don’t all fit into one box.

Related: Benefits of becoming a virtual assistant in Nigeria

What Services Can You Offer As A Virtual Assistant In Nigeria?

The services provided by virtual assistants vary greatly. In fact, there are more than 100 services you can offer as a virtual assistant. So there’s a lot for you to choose from and you can easily find something that you are passionate about and good at.

Services You Can Provide As A Virtual Assistant In Nigeria 

  • Copy writing
  • Book keeping
  • Editing
  • General research
  • Web design
  • Email management
  • Blog management
  • Calendar management
  • Community management
  • Graphic design
  • Ghost writing
  • Social media management
  • Customer Service

So from this you know that a virtual assistant can provide any service, as long as they’re willing to learn it.

From my experience, I’ll say this- you really don’t have to know the exact services you want to provide at least before you start. With time you’d surely discover what you like and build on that.

If you’re like me, you’d want to try out a couple of services and pick your strong points. You can always switch when something is just not working for you.

virtual assistant business in nigeria

8 Easy Steps To Become A Virtual Assistant In Nigeria (Without Experience)

The good thing about becoming a virtual assistant is that you don’t need to have a degree or be a guru. A lot of people think you need to be tech savvy in order to become a virtual assistant. That’s so wrong. If it were that difficult, I would never have become one.

All you need to be is self-motivated and organized. I said self-motivated because it is super simple to get carried away with a lot of things these days. From working as a social media manager, you might find yourself scrolling through the profile of your secondary crush and stalking all the girls that have liked his recent photos.

It’s easy for you to lie on your bed all day doing nothing. You have to be disciplined enough to set a schedule to work and rest. Becoming a virtual assistant doesn’t mean you get to be lazy. You’d have to pick your lazy days.

1.) Decide To Start

Really. It’s that simple. All you need to do is decide to start making money online. It’s easy to get caught up with worrying about how you’ll make it work because the only thing you know how to do is update your WhatsApp status. You can take all the time you need to plan and give yourself numerous reasons why you’d fail. Or you can simply decide to start and see where it goes.

Take it from someone with zero tech background. I don’t even know how to type with all my fingers on the keyboard. Even Marvis Beckon was unable to teach me typing.

But I type a lot of blog posts and documents for my clients anyways.

So if I am doing it, then anyone can. Literally.

Except my great grandmother, because she’s dead.

So what’s your excuse?

Are you dead too?

Okay, I’m not saying becoming a virtual assistant is as easy as pie. It will actually require effort especially at the beginning.

You’ll have to invest your time and money into learning new skills and improving the ones you already have. It’s like that with every kind of business.

If you aren’t willing to do the work but want to make money in your sleep, then you will fail even before you start.

What’s your decision? Have you decided to start or you’d rather rest because you can’t kill yourself?

2.)     Choose The Services You Want To Offer

Remember I mentioned that you can offer a variety of services as a virtual assistant? Trick is, it is better to offer a variety of services especially when you are just starting out. What you are trying to do is test the waters and see what you like and what you should build on.

Whatever you choose, there’s always a market for it. All you have to do it put yourself out there and tell people what you do.

Note: In my free email course I go into detail and tell you the exact virtual assistant services that are currently selling in Nigeria so you can narrow down more easily.

3.)    Get The Tools You Need To Work As A Virtual Assistant

I know everyone talks about how you can start your virtual assistant business for free. However, you’ll need some basic things like a phone/laptop, internet and a working email.

Note: In my free email course I share a list of some of the FREE tools (20+) I use in my VA business. These apps make my job easier and help me look like a pro at everything I do.

4.)    Legally Protect Your Business Or Get Screwed

When I just started working as a virtual assistant, I didn’t know that it was important to protect my business legally and I lost a lot of money. Now I have an iron clad virtual assistant contract clients sign before working with me.

This isn’t a long document and I recommend hiring a lawyer to write one for you instead of writing one yourself. The free versions available online are either too lengthy (clients are looking to hire you to save time, you won’t be helping with your textbook sized contract) or just not comprehensive enough.

You can get some good virtual assistant contracts online anywhere from $200 and above. Or take advantage of my contract template. I got a lawyer with more than 10 years experience to co-write it for virtual assistants in Nigeria. I understand that you are trying to make money online and don’t have $200 (or more) lying around. Your contract should contain the key points below and a dozen more:

Recommended Reading: Virtual Assistant Contract For VAs in Nigeria (what to include and why you need it)

·         Work Overview

I did this wrong from the beginning. This made me do a lot of work for free. Don’t make the mistake of not explicitly explaining what you’ll be doing. Don’t leave room for assumptions please. You’ll regret it like I did. Take time to give a description of the work you are going to do for your client so they know what they are paying for and not pass on extra work to you.

·         Payment Terms

Don’t play with this please. You need to clearly state how much you will be paid for each service you provide, how you will get paid (payment structure and details), When they’ll get your invoice and when payment is due.

Note: I share the free tool I use to create invoices for my clients and how I set up my payment structure in my e-course

·         Non-Disclosure Agreement

There’s no doubt that working as a virtual assistant might require your client to give you access to sensitive information like their passwords, marketing strategy, and clients personal information. As a virtual assistant, you’ll need to clearly inform your client about how you store their information and basically create a non-disclosure agreement so they can have their peace of mind.

·         Termination notice

Like every relationship, working with some clients might not be possible. You might need to part ways with some clients and it isn’t pretty if you don’t plan in advance. You’d need to have what is called a termination notice in your document. This notice includes information on payment at the time of termination, who can file for a termination, and how it will be delivered. Trust me, you don’t want to complete your work and your client decides to terminate your appointment because they don’t want to pay (True story, it happened to me).

·         Independent Contractor Agreement

Emphasis on independent. You need to be treated as a business owner because you work with clients and not for them. You’re not their employee but an independent business partner meeting their needs, so you need to be treated as such.

·         Non-Solicitation Clause

This is an important document you need to take seriously. Some clients will not want you to market your services to their clients. Even if you aren’t in the same niche.

So they might present you with a non-solicitation clause and ask you to sign. It is important to read it carefully and have a lawyer vet it before you do. Why? Because it may sometimes be too broad. So if you include one in your own welcome packet, you’d put them at peace and they might not need to present you with their own more rigid documents.

5.)    Price Your Services

I assume you have chosen the services you want to provide. Now you want to choose how much you’ll charge for each service. Well done!

If you read materials online about how much to charge for your services you’d see anywhere between $15 to $100/hr. That would be easy if your business wasn’t based in Nigeria or if you aren’t looking to work with Nigerians. But I assume you are (that’s why you’re reading this). My blog is focused on becoming a virtual assistant in Nigeria.

So I’ll say this; people really don’t like paying per hour in Nigeria. They pay per project, week or month (retainer).

PS: You’d want to sign on more retainer clients even if you’d be required to charge less (I explain why in my course).

That said, there’s no single price that covers all the services you can provide once you become a virtual assistant in Nigeria. But you’ll find my post on how to price your services as a virtual assistant in Nigeria useful. So you don’t cheat yourself like I did when I first started.

6.) Create Your Virtual Assistant Portfolio

A VA portfolio contains samples of your best work as a virtual assistant. If you have no experience, or have no work samples to show, all hope isn’t lost.

The easiest way to gain experience and work to flaunt on your portfolio is working for yourself. It doesn’t have to be work for an actual client. Just make up a name, do the work and add it to your portfolio. All potential clients care about is that you have work experience.

For example, if you offer Canva graphic design services, you could create some fancy Canva graphics to display on your portfolio.

You might also decide to work for free. All you have to do is pitch your services to your ideal client. If it is something they need help with, they’ll be happy to have you take care of things, especially since they won’t be paying you.

Recommended Reading: How to build your virtual assistant portfolio even if you have no experience

7.)    Market Your Business And Get Your First Client           

Market your business on social media- Facebook and WhatsApp groups are good places to start. Try cold emailing and asking people in your network. It might look like nobody is listening but keep getting the word out. Something will eventually click.

I can’t emphasize how much having a website for your VA business helps you position yourself as an expert. Although I had a blog when I started, it as a health/wellness blog. I hated it and eventually shut it down and started this blog. (Long story for another day).

However, I still made it work and looked professional even without a website. Hiring someone to start a website for you in Nigeria cost an average of 50k (I charge a minimum of 50K). I know that might be on the high side for you especially if you aren’t working yet, so I have lots of alternatives. (Of course I’ll share them only in my email course).

Be sure to send clients a welcome packet before you start working together because it is part of your onboarding process. (I provide a FREE welcome packet template for my email course students).

Ready To Become A Virtual Assistant In Nigeria?

From the steps I’ve laid out it’s really simple to become a virtual assistant in Nigeria or anywhere! A lot of people have taken the first step even when they weren’t sure it would work out. Remember, I got my first VA job even before I knew who a virtual assistant was and have grown since. I currently make a 6 figure monthly income from my side hustle and it is growing. I work only one week in an entire month because I have a full time job.

Choosing to start my VA business and improving my skills is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. And all you really need to replicate my success, is data and the resolve to start right now.

8.)    Take Action Now

What’s that thing they say? Erm… you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it sing. Or something.

If you’re interested in becoming a virtual assistant in Nigeria, but still need guidance and knowledge, I highly encourage you to sign up for my email course

I’ll walk you through the process of becoming a virtual assistant in Nigeria, step-by-step, so you don’t have to worry about missing or forgetting anything.

If you’re wondering about how much it costs to start a VA business in Nigeria, don’t be. I shared all the details here

If you prefer the option of working with me one-on-one to get your VA business up and running successfully in no time, feel free to contact me

Have you thought about becoming a virtual assistant? Need to bounce a few ideas off me? I’m ready.

virtual assistant business in nigeria

How to Create a Welcome Packet

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

When I started my business, I didn’t know what a welcome packet was. I had no idea how to create a welcome packet and when I learned about it and the stress it could save me from, I regretted not having one earlier on.

I accidentally became a virtual assistant so I was just winging it for a long time. One time I designed an e-book with a 3D cover that had over 10 revisions for a client who decided she didn’t really want to become an author and so never paid.

Bad experiences left a sour taste in my mouth and I honestly almost threw in the towel. Then I got some advice. My blogger friend advised me to have clear terms and conditions, always take a deposit before commencing any job and receive full payment before delivering the finished product.

And I did….

I wrote some terms down and had it saved on WhatsApp. I was excited at first and shared these terms whenever I remembered, which wasn’t very often. After a while, I knew it just wasn’t working.

I am constantly trying to improve myself so I constantly research on how I can be a better virtual assistant. Then I found out about creating a welcome packet. I read up and realized that it was just what I needed. I have been using welcome packets since and it has saved me a lot of headache. My clients are happy and I am happier.

So if you are a virtual assistant or create content at any level that requires you to work with people online, I recommend you create a welcome packet to protect yourself and your business.

What is a Welcome Packet?

A welcome packet is basically a road-map that leads your client through your services, your policies, and your work processes.

Your Welcome Packet will transform your clients into amazing ones who know exactly what to expect and what they need to do in order to get the results they want.

You can use your welcome packet to communicate important and necessary details. Too much information can make the welcome packet tedious to read. Strive for a maximum of ten pages. Your client is hiring you in order to save time and you don’t want them spending all their free time reading your textbook sized welcome packet

How To Get Information For Your Welcome Packet

Getting the information you need to create a winning welcome packet is very easy and I do it in any of the ways listed below.

  • Google forms: Use a Google form to ask a couple of questions. You can share the link with prospects
  • Embedded form on website: If you have a website, you can create an embedded form to collect information from prospects
  • Free discovery or clarity call: you may decide to do a clarity call for 20-45 minutes to get clear on what your prospect needs and how you can be of service.

I do a free 30 minutes discovery call after reviewing the details on the pre-call form my prospective clients fill on my website. During the discovery call, I get clear on what the client needs. The call gives me all the information I need about the prospect and helps me prepare a mutually beneficial proposal (if required). Sometimes all the details are agreed on the call and a proposal isn’t required. This is important because it is only after your proposal is accepted, contract signed and invoice paid, that you can send a welcome packet.

10 Things to Include In Your Virtual Assistant Welcome Packet

1.) Welcome Letter To Your Client

A warm welcome and the simple act of saying thank you can go a long way when starting your new client relationship. Reassure them that they’ve made the right decision and provide a brief summary of the services you’ll provide.

Your welcome letter should also have your branding on it in a visible place. Having a distinctive and established brand will not only look memorable, it will also help you look more professional to clients and will solidify their trust in you as an expert.

This should be brief, but intentional.

2.) Services You’ll Be Providing

Restate the client’s goals and how you’re going to help them achieve them.

Have you ever worked for a client and they think you were supposed to do something else too? A welcome packet clears all that. It is a document you can always refer your client to if the client is trying to pass on more work than you originally agreed on. Some clients will milk you dry.

If you are a social media manager how many times are you going to post in a week? Are you going to run promotions? If yes, who’s going to cover the cost? Getting all these details in your welcome packet (and contract) prevents difficult clients from overworking you.

3.) Activities, Timelines, Deadlines.

It’s great if you can say a few words about how each one of these connects back to your client’s goals. You may call this an activity log or workflow. Based on the client’s demand, I list out each task and schedule a date for completion so that the client already knows when everything is supposed to go out and is kept in the know about how I am assisting them.

For example, if I write an SEO blog post for a client that also requires me to create a pin for Pinterest and publish it on their WordPress website, I send a scheduled date for completion of the task in my welcome packet. This helps me finish in advance and schedule the post to go out on the set date whether I remember or not.

It’s also important to specify whether you’re working singly, working for an agency, or subcontracting certain parts of the work that you don’t specialize in.

4.) Communication Details

You must include your contact details, preferred method of communication, when you can be reached, how frequently they can expect to hear from you, how you’re going to meet (phone, zoom, zoho, Google meet etc), any necessary details (software, phone numbers, directions), and how you are going to share project updates.

Just because you work online doesn’t mean you’re available at all hours. Clearly state your service hours and your time zone. For example: “I’m available Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM WAT. Public holidays are off.”

This way, clients know when to expect replies and won’t be disappointed if they don’t hear back on weekends or at midnight. Listing out your work hours clearly will prevent a client from throwing a tantrum because you didn’t reply the email they sent you at 2:00am on Sunday. If you are virtual assistant to the core like me, you’d only meet your clients online. You should state it clearly that your meetings will only be online and if you are open to meeting in person you should also state how frequently this will be and who will cover the cost of commuting back and forth.

I remember a client who wanted to meet me in person for a social media management gig. I was open to calls, emails, chats but somehow the person could not get over why I was too busy to meet him in person. I immediately knew I couldn’t work with him.

5.) Client Responsibilities & Tools You’ll Use

Explain what your client needs to do if he/she needs to cancel an appointment (e.g a strategy call) and if there’s any preparation that he/she needs to complete prior to your sessions (and how to submit it).

You might also want to share basic tools you’ll be using and quick tutorials on how to use them with your clients. This doesn’t mean you’d have to create tutorials from scratch. You can link to a good one you find on the internet. I’m sure the creator will be happy about the traffic you are sending their way.

Tutorials to basic apps like Zoom if you’d be using it for video calls, Google sheets, Asana if you’d be using it for project management etc. will be helpful.

6.) Payment Details.

Clarify how (and how often) clients are going to be billed, identify installment amounts, and explain how/when you’re going to get approval if expenses pop up that weren’t calculated into the original package. Your contract is going to have some of these details but there is no harm in adding them to your welcome packet too.

When it comes to project based jobs, it is best to take a certain percentage before you start a job. You can take the balance after the job is completed. And before you hand over the final product.

On the other hand, you may collect at least 50% of the total cost and collect the balance two weeks later. This is to avoid completing a job before client decides they no longer need it. You can easily create an invoice with paystack, zoho invoice or wave. This way, you can see how much you’re expecting, when it is due etc. These are free to use and a complete timesaver.

7.) Privacy Policy

This is where you should reassure your client that you take their security seriously. Let them know if you are willing to sign a non-disclosure. As a virtual assistant, clients are required to share sensitive information like passwords with you. You have to do everything in your power to not only keep them safe, but ensure that you put their minds at rest.

I highly recommend you have this in your contract but as always, there is no harm in stating it in your welcome packet.

8.) Rush Job Policy

Sometimes clients will need things urgently. That’s fine—but it should come with a clear policy. Define what qualifies as a rush job (e.g., any task due in less than 48 business hours) and explain the extra charge. For instance: “Rush jobs will be billed at 1.5× the regular rate. A ₦100,000 project needed urgently becomes ₦150,000.”

This ensures you’re compensated for rearranging your schedule and keeps last-minute requests from overwhelming you.

9.) Vacation and Sick Leave Policy

Life happens. Vacations, rest days, and even emergencies. Clients will appreciate knowing how you handle time off. You might say: “I provide at least two weeks’ notice before vacations and share the dates in advance. If I’m sick, I’ll notify you as soon as possible and let you know how it may affect deliverables.” This reassures clients that you’re organized and transparent, while also reminding them you’re human with boundaries.

10.) Referral Policy

Word of mouth is one of the fastest ways to grow your virtual assistant business. That’s why it’s smart to include a simple referral policy in your welcome packet. It’s very simple to do. When a client refers someone who becomes a paying client, they earn a reward. For example: “You’ll get 5% of your referral’s first invoice applied as a discount to your next service with me.”

11.) Conclusion and Next Steps

This is where you reaffirm how much you’re looking forward to working with them, how their goals get you excited and you are ready to help them. They will see no need for buyer’s remorse when they see your eagerness to please. Tell your client what the next steps will be. Will you need any document/information from the client? Will you like to set up a Zoom/WhatsApp meeting to solidify project details before you start?

You must make sure your client knows what is going to happen next and what he/she needs to do right away.

The first ever welcome packet I created wasn’t effective just because I missed this step. The client claimed that he didn’t read it. You can imagine working for the entire month only to find out you weren’t on the same page.

Now, I ask them to acknowledge that they have properly read the welcome packet and either agree to the terms have questions etc. They must have a reaction. I include that going on to work with me means that they fully agreed and are bond by the welcome packet.

How to Design Your Welcome Packet

The goal of a welcome packet is to aid in clear communication and leave your client with all of the information they need to confidently go forth in this new relationship and to save you both loads of time in the process.

Designing a welcome packet for new clients takes a little time and effort but it is well worth it. You may use any of the following apps to design one for yourself;

  • Canva
  • Google Docs
  • Microsoft Word
  • PowerPoint
  • Google Slides

Don’t have time to create from scratch? You now have two easy options. If you just need something simple to get started, you can grab my free Google Docs welcome packet template here. It’s straightforward and will get the job done.

But if you want to wow your clients, look polished, and stand out as a true professional even if you are on a budget, then the Canva Welcome Packet Template is for you.

  • Fully customizable in 30 minutes or less (even on your phone).

  • Drag-and-drop editing—no design skills needed.

  • Sleek, modern design that instantly elevates your brand.

  • Comes with a how-to-edit guide, so you can confidently make it yours.

While most premium welcome packet templates sell for $9 or more, you can get this one for just ₦3,500 (about $3). That’s less than the price of a cup of coffee but it will completely change how clients see your business.

So do you want to look like every other beginner VA, or do you want your clients to instantly trust you and feel confident in your professionalism?

Your Turn

Do you have a welcome packet for your business? Have you learned anything you’ll like to add to your Welcome Packet? Let me know in the comment section.