Starting a business isn’t easy, and it can seem overwhelming. But it’s easier than you think when broken down into small steps. This article will walk you through starting a new business in 10 simple steps.

1. Evaluate your business goals

Begin by asking yourself a few basic questions about your small business idea to refine it:

• Why? Think about the purpose of your business and what needs it fills. (Be clear enough about why you’re starting your business so that you can describe its purpose in one sentence.)
• What? What is the product or service you’ll be offering?
• Who? Who is your target customer base or audience? Be specific in describing demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, income level, location, and other factors.
• How? Describe your plan for developing your product or service and delivering it to your customers or clients.

Feel free to brainstorm business names at this stage, but you probably don’t want to get too attached to anything now. Later, you can consult with a marketing professional to help you decide on a name, website domain, and tagline.

2. Start writing your business plan

When starting a small business, it’s never too early to write your business plan. A business plan serves as a guide for every aspect of your new business — a road map that takes you from a simple inspiring idea to a successful company.

Make sure your business plan answers the why who, what and how questions above. In addition, consider including a business description, market strategies, competitive analysis, design and development, operations and management, and financial data. 

3. Conduct market research

Market research is critical to help you determine whether your business idea has legs. It examines customer behaviors and economic trends to help you hone your business strategy. Competitive research looks at product demand, demographic data, market size, economic indicators, location appeal, and pricing.

Through careful market research, you’ll be able to figure out who your target customer base is and how to develop products and services that will sell. Market research can also help you determine the name of your business, logo(s), design color schemes, and other branding elements.

4. Business structure and logistics

At this stage, you’ll need to make some important decisions that define your business:

Business name and domain: During the market research stage, you should have chosen a relevant, unique business name. Purchase website domains if you haven’t already secured them. Domains are often inexpensive, so buy as many as you need to ensure that potential customers find you online.

Business structure: Decide what kind of structure is best for your business, such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), or corporation. This is an important step as it can impact taxes, personal liability, your ability to get funding, and more.

Business Location: You’ll not only have to decide where your business headquarters is located but its style of operation — whether that’s a retail outlet or a home office. In addition to your online presence, will it also be brick-and-mortar? If so, you’ll need to think about issues like foot traffic, parking, ordinances, utilities, crime, convenience, and nearby competition.

Once you’ve figured out those key components to starting a business, take care of these remaining tasks:

• Register your business
• Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN)
• Get federal and state tax IDs
• Apply for a business license and permits, if applicable
• Open a business bank account
• Apply for appropriate trademarks, copyrights, or patents
• Purchase insurance policies

5. Get funding for your small business

One of the most important steps to starting a business is getting funding. Start by figuring out how much money you need. Your business plan should contain a budget for operating for one year. Using a spreadsheet or budget software, include every expense you anticipate, including costs for overhead, production, and marketing.

One way to figure out how much money you need is by performing a break-even analysis. The formula for the break-even point is Fixed costs ÷ (Item price – Variable costs). This analysis can help you determine profitability, how to price products and services, and how much you have to sell to make a profit.

6. Design prototypes and get feedback

Work with freelance designers and engineers to create product prototypes. If your business is service-oriented, this may include designing proprietary products used only by your employees in the field. Then test your designs by setting up focus groups or scenarios where randomly chosen individuals can put your product to the test and complete surveys about their experience. If you’re selling a service, enlist the help of individuals who agree to try it out for free and then give anonymous, unbiased feedback.

7. Put together your leadership team

Put together a team of people who will make your operation flourish. It could include partners, employees, freelancers, contractors, and consultants. Your team should decide on an accounting system and develop a plan for manufacturing, choosing vendors, and hiring workers and independent contractors. You should also establish protocols for communication reporting and responding to harassment and other complaints by employees. Much of this planning will determine what kind of culture your company fosters.

8. Develop Your Product

Here is where you see the fruits of your efforts. Once you’ve finalized the design of your product, make purchases necessary to produce. That could mean setting up a manufacturing process to create a physical product or installing computers to create software. Hire specialists, managers, and workers necessary to make the operation run smoothly. Develop policies for quality control and safety.

9. Get The word Out

How will you get the word out so your target audience gets the message? What social media platforms should you jump on? What kinds of ads will sell your product and where should they appear? How can you appeal to the media so that the public learns about what you’re offering? These are the kinds of questions you’ll need to answer to make sure you’re connecting with potential customers through sales, marketing, advertising, and public relations.

10. Plan For Business Growth

We’ve all heard stories about wildly successful companies that lose sales or even go out of business because they took off too fast and weren’t prepared for success. Learn to delegate roles and responsibilities. That may mean deciding to hire your first employee. You’ll need to look ahead and make decisions so that you’re not caught off-guard when your business takes off. Such plans could include:

• Studying market trends
• Testing new ideas
• Acquiring another business
• Growing into new markets
• Expanding product lines and services

Starting a virtual assistant business is the key to financial freedom for many people. It’s the ability to do what you love, have a flexible schedule, and grow your own business. To learn how to start a virtual assistant business and get everything you need to know, just keep reading.

How Much Can You Make As A Virtual Assistant?

The average rate for a virtual assistant is about $35 per hour. Rates can vary based on the type of work you do and your skillset. The more specialized your skills, the more you can charge. That being said, some services are pretty simple to offer (like social media management) that will still allow you to earn a decent hourly pay rate.

How much you can earn as a VA depends on:

• How many clients that you take on
• The services that you provide
• Your level of experience
• Your hourly rate
• How many hours worked each week

Virtual assistants can earn up to $100 an hour, although most will charge less. VAs are independent contractors and set the rates for the services they offer. If you want to make more money as a virtual assistant, charge more per hour and get better clients who value what you do and are willing to pay for it.

Make More Money By Niching Down

General virtual assistants can earn anywhere from $25 to $75 per hour, depending on their skills and experience.

Virtual assistants that niche down can make $2,000 a month for 10 hours of work per client by being a specialist.

There’s a huge opportunity for niche virtual assistants — the kind of people who help other entrepreneurs with tasks such as:

• Sales Funnel Strategist
• WordPress Expert
• Content Writer or Copywriter
• Facebook Ad Manager
• Launch Strategist
• Pinterest Manager

The key to making good money as a VA is to be a specialist. If you’re a generalist, there are plenty of low-paying gigs out there — but you’ll have to compete with lots of other people. By specializing, you can charge more and secure more clients easily.

What Skills Are Needed To Be A Great Virtual Assistant?

Most virtual assistants start their business by performing one service (such as data entry) for one client. As they build a reputation and get more experience, they can add additional services and clients, allowing them to charge higher rates.

Virtual assistants work in many different industries, so the requirements vary depending on the clients you want to serve. In general, here are the skills you’ll need:

• Technical skills — You don’t need to be an I.T. expert, but some degree of technical literacy is necessary. Most virtual assistants use software such as Microsoft Office or Google Docs, which are widely used by businesses of all kinds.
• Administrative skills — Virtual assistants are often described as “virtual secretaries,” so knowledge of administrative skills is important. This includes things like scheduling, email management, and appointment setting.
• Communication skills — Whether it’s emailing clients or writing blog posts for your website, effective communication is essential for a virtual assistant.
• Interpersonal skills — Although most communication is done via email and phone calls, you’ll also encounter face-to-face interactions with clients at conferences or other events, so strong interpersonal skills are important.

To become a VA, you’ll need to know how to provide the following services:

• Email management — organize inboxes by reading and responding to emails
• Calendar management — schedule meetings, appointments, and travel arrangements
• Data entry — enter data into Excel spreadsheets or customer relationship management platforms
• Research — conduct research related to client businesses
• Customer service — communicate with customers on behalf of clients via email and over the phone
• Social media management — manage social media accounts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or other web-based programs. This involves creating or curating content, creating promotions, answering questions and comments

10 Steps To Start Your Virtual Assistant Business

Starting a virtual assistant business is fairly simple. Here are the steps to follow to start your virtual assistant business today.

1. Pick Your Virtual Assistant Business Name

Keep this simple and use your name, most people want a catchy name and title for their virtual assistant business. But If you do the catchy route, make sure that it is easy to pronounce and lookup. You don’t want a name that’s too confusing for people to lookup

2. Choose Your Services & Rates

What are you good at? Are there any specific services that you’d prefer to offer? 

There are many services to offer such as:

• General Virtual Assistance.
• Content Writing & Management.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Digital Marketing.
• Social Media Management.
• Web Development.
• Audio & Video Editing.
• Pinterest Assistant

When you first start, choose what you’re comfortable with. You can always change it later!

The same goes for setting your rates. I’ve seen many VAs start out charging $15-$20 per hour and then later changing to $45-50 per hour! Just remember that as a business owner, you have to cover your overhead, technology, taxes, and more. Make sure you add an extra $5-$10 an hour to help cover other necessities like these if you didn’t factor them into your rates already.

3. Do All Of The Legal Work

Depending on your state, county, and city, you may need a business license to run your virtual assistant business. Be sure to check with all three to see what you need or don’t need. Also, if you do decide to name your business differently from your name, you’ll most likely need to fill out a DBA (doing business as) form as well.

While you’re figuring all of that out, it’s also the perfect time to decide how you want to structure your business. This step may be best decided with the help of a lawyer and CPA because setting up the right business structure will help as far as legalities, taxes, and more.

For more information on the legality of starting a business, check out my blog: How To Start A Business In 10 Steps

4. Create A Business Plan

A business plan doesn’t have to be a long, boring document. Your business plan only needs a few points, including the services you’ll provide, the contract you’ll give potential clients, how you’ll pay for your business, and what you can offer that sets you apart from other VAs.

5. Develop A Marketing Strategy

How will you market your business to get new clients?

Will you use social media as a tool to gain new clients? Do you have a blog and email list? These are questions you need to ask and answer so you can pitch yourself and your services a little easier.

6. Tap In With Your Network

This is the best way to get your first client.

Once you’ve done the above steps, it’s time to reach out to your existing everyone that you know! Even if they don’t fall within your virtual assistant business niche, they may need your help or know someone who does.

7. Start To Advertise Your Virtual Assistant Business

If you don’t find a client from your network, or if you want to branch out, it’s time to advertise your services! Post on social media, write a blog post, create a YouTube video. Do whatever you need to do to gain a new client. Part of doing business is advertising what you have to offer.

Also, don’t forget to create a “Hire Me” page or even a portfolio of work that you’ve done, so people can message you or book a call to hire you.

8. Excellent Customer Service

Once you’ve found your first clients, or even once your business starts growing, it’s important to continue doing good business

Complete your tasks on time, communicate and go above and beyond for your clients. They’ll appreciate that you care about their businesses and companies, and will be more willing to continue working with you and refer you to others.

9. Referrals & Testimonials Keep The Business Going

Along with keeping your clients, Ask for referrals and testimonials! Don’t be afraid of leveraging the work you’ve done for your current clients.

Ask them if they’d be willing to put a testimonial on your site or social media. Record a video of them stating all that you’ve helped with. And ask them to refer you to people in their network if they’re satisfied with the work you do.

10. Automate and Systemize Your Business

As with all businesses, there is great importance for tools and systems 

On the “must-have list”:

• An accounting tool, like QuickBooks.
• Also use Asana as a task management system, so that you never forget anything that you need to do.
• Slack to communicate with clients.
• Dubsado as a Customer Relationship Management Tool to track clients as well as automatically send calendar invites, emails, invoices, and contracts over to them
• Simple Booklet  is an awesome tool to show off your portfolio to clients

Final Thoughts on Becoming A Virtual Assistant

There are so many great reasons why starting a virtual assistant business can be a fantastic entrepreneurial opportunity, but the most important one that is often overlooked is the core reason for starting any business: creating freedom—financial freedom and freedom from an office.

Investing in working with a coach, or taking a course can speed up your business growth and help you grow your revenue faster. I know I could’ve avoided a lot of mistakes as a beginner entrepreneur if I had gotten help when I first started. That’s why I recommend the Ultimate Virtual Assistant Bootcamp course, to help you have the blueprint to start your own Virtual Assistant Business!

Step 1: Sign in to Google Business Profile Manager

If you’re already logged into a Google account, you will automatically be logged into Google Business Profile Manager. If not, log in with your businesses Google email

Step 2: Add your business

Enter the name of your business. If it does not appear in the drop-down menu, select Add your business to Google. Then select the right category for your business and click Next.

Step 3: Enter your location

If you have a physical location that customers can come to, select Yes. Then add your business address. You may also be asked to position a marker for the location on a map. If your business does not have a location customers can visit but offers in-person services or deliveries, list your service areas. Then click Next.

If you didn’t put a physical address, Google will ask you to specify which region you’re based in. Choose from the drop-down menu and click Next.

Step 4: Fill in your contact information

Enter your business phone number and website address so customers can contact you, click Next.

Step 5: Verify your business

Enter your real physical address, not a post office box. This information is only used to verify your business and will not be shown on your Google Business Profile or shared publicly. 

Enter your address and click Next.

Within the next 5 days, you will receive your five-digit code, enter it on the next screen (or go to https://business.google.com/), and click Verify or Verify business.

You’ll get a screen showing you’re verified. On that screen, click Next.

Step 6: Customize your profile

Enter your business hours, messaging preferences, business description, and photos click Continue. You will be then taken to the Business Profile Manager dashboard.

Here, you can manage your business profile, view insights, create Google ads, manage reviews and messages