Working as a Virtual Assistant (VA), there will be a time when you realize just how much work needs to be done. You know you can do more, but there are just too many. However, fear not! As there are numerous sites and apps out there designed to ease your workload as a VA and the best part is that most of them are totally free!
Hence, in this article, I will be outlining the different tasks that VA’s commonly handle and the best site that I have found to be useful for the job. Take note, there will, of course, be other sites or apps that are similar to the ones that I will recommend and you are totally free to use them! The sites and apps that I’ll be sharing with you here in this article are simply the ones that I found to work best in different task categories so let’s get started.
Graphic Design
As VA’s, we are familiar with projects that involve making posters, banners, Facebook ads and etc. To do these kinds of projects, we need a good handle on graphic design, but did you know that you do not have to be a Photoshop guru to do these tasks well? Canva is a site that offers a variety of services such as making posters, PowerPoint slides, Facebook slides, and many more! This site is quite generous with the creativity that they allow users to have, and it’s even better because most templates are free! There are some that require you to have a premium membership though, but overall Canva is a great tool for VA’s.
Stock Photos and Photo Editing
Stock photos have a wide variety of applications for VA’s. It may be used for building a website, editing a video, and even making posters! That is why for getting stock photos, you can always count on Pexels and Unsplash to provide you with a wide selection of stock photos ready for your use, and what’s better is that it is mostly free. On the other hand, if you want to remove the background for a photo for future use, Experte and Remove.bg are hassle-free ways to do it.
Time Management and Scheduling
As VA’s, time is one of our most precious resources. Thus, managing and tracking it is such an important activity. For this, I use Toggl because not only is it absolutely free, but it also allows for a categorizing of time and allows you to start your business without any hidden fees. With Toggl, you can be sure that you won’t miss that meeting with a client even when your schedule is jam-packed. For picking a time to meet a client, it might also be helpful to use Calendly as it also allows you to set up automatic emails to send to your clients about your meeting. For social media scheduling, however, I recommend Hootsuite as an easy way of managing multiple social media accounts to keep track of things that you need to post and engage with as a social media manager.
Communication
As they say, communication is key and it really is the key when sealing that sweet deal for your project with your next client or when discussing project details with your team to get a clearer scope on how you can approach a certain project. With this in mind, Slack is the one to go to. Creating a channel with your clients and/or your team on this site is such a breeze. Thereby enabling you to handle communication better to finish that project more efficiently.
Storing Files
Storage has always been a key part of projects as a VA. Having a reliable storage system allows us to save files conveniently. safely, and remotely. Dropbox has always been a reliable tool for me to accomplish these as my favorite storage tool. It also fosters collaboration between users as files can be shared easily.
Signing Documents and PDF Tools
Do you know the most important thing that needs to be signed for us VA’s? Contracts—the proof of our relationship with our clients. This is why having a reliable tool for signing documents is a must for VA’s. For this, I recommend using DocuSign as it is easily one of the most convenient tools that I have come across. You simply need to send a PDF version of your document, mark the places that need to be signed, and they’ll need to simply check a box that says that it counts as their official signature. While we’re on the topic of creating a PDF file, the tool I Love PDF is a convenient way of creating and customizing your PDF files.
Invoicing
For invoicing, PayPal Invoice’s service is a must-have as it is easily one of the most popular of its kind for a reason. PayPal allows for a quicker and more convenient way of invoicing. A study by ComScore has recently found that 78% of the invoice sent through this service is paid for within a day.
Document and Forms Creation
Another awesome tool that you need to have as a VA is Google Docs. With it, you can easily create documents and share them with someone such as a team member. Additionally, you can even see each other edit and make changes in real-time. A partner tool this time for forms creation is Google forms. With this, you can easily gather data by making questionnaires and surveys that you can conveniently send as a link to your respondents.
Client Search
Want to be able to find clients more easily? Onlinejobs.ph is the place to go. With this tool, you can easily find jobs specific to the ones that you are catering to as a VA. It didn’t always have a good reputation, but now it is easily one of the most useful places to visit when searching for a client as there are multitudes of jobs posted every single day.
As was mentioned before, there are tons of other tools that you can use as a VA for different purposes such as Virtual Savvy for VA resources, and the tools that have been laid out here are just some of the top recommendations that you can put to good use in order to help expand your business as a VA. It is entirely up to you on how to put these into good use and we all hope that this article has helped you in your search for tools to equip to get you going in your quest as a VA.
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