What I Offered as a Beginner Virtual Assistant

When I started as a beginner virtual assistant, I offered exactly two things: social media posting and engagement, and bookkeeping. That’s it! No fancy services menu. No list of platforms I’d mastered. Just two things I knew I could do well. (Hello, accounting background.)

Why those two? Because I already knew how to do them. And if you’re wondering what services a virtual assistant can offer when you’re just starting out, that’s my first piece of advice: start with what you already know. You don’t need a long list. You need a starting point.

You’re probably already doing this work

Here’s something that surprised me. A lot of what business owners pay a virtual assistant to do, I’d been doing for years. For free.

Trae and I keep a Google Sheet of our three kids’ weekly activities (and they are in what seems like every activity someone could possibly sign up for). I update it from my phone while I’m sitting at practice. Guys, that’s project management. Business owners need those exact same skills. They just call them by fancier names.

Let’s be honest. If you’ve ever kept a ball team’s schedule straight, made the church bulletin or wrangled a group text full of parents, you’ve done virtual assistant work. Inbox management, scheduling, simple graphics, newsletters, following up so nobody falls through the cracks: you’ve probably done more of it than you think. You just never sent anyone an invoice.

Starting with what you know is just the beginning, though. Once you’re in, your list has a way of growing. I learned that from one client in particular.

The client who only wanted engagement (at first)

A client once hired me for engagement and nothing else. No strategy. No content creation. No posting. Just engagement: replying to comments and story replies, answering DMs, and commenting on the posts of their potential clients, current clients and colleagues.

Honestly, at first I wondered if that was even “enough” to be a real job. It was. Working with that client taught me just how much engagement matters, maybe even more than posting. And here’s the part that really stuck with me: they could have done it themselves. They just didn’t have the time. Their time was better spent somewhere else.

That’s the thing about virtual assistant work. Clients usually don’t hire you because they can’t do the task. They hire you because they shouldn’t be the one doing it. And once that client saw what I could do, my task list grew from there. Including something I had never done before.

Funny story. That same client asked if I could edit their social media reels in VEED. I had zero video editing experience. None.

I was slightly terrified. But that was my “yes year,” the year I decided to say yes to clients, yes to new tasks and yes to things that felt uncomfortable. So I said yes. The client walked me through a short tutorial, I figured out the rest, and now video editing is one of my favorite tasks!

I tell this story because you won’t know what you love until you try it. Some of the services you’ll end up enjoying most might not even be on your radar yet. That’s okay. Doing hard things is how you find them.

How my list of services grew

Those two little offers, social media and bookkeeping, turned into so much more. Today most of my days are spent in project management, admin and strategy. It’s not how I started out with clients, but it’s naturally where things led.

It grew one yes at a time, mostly with clients I was already working with, just like that one. The longer you work with someone, the more you learn their business, and the more you see where else you could help. And sometimes clients don’t even know what they need until you offer it. “Did you know I can organize your email so that instead of spending an hour a day in it, it takes 15 minutes?” That one little sentence has opened a lot of doors. You’ll be surprised how often clients say yes, because they don’t want to go through the interview process again either.

Along the way, I realized a lot of the jobs people search for are really virtual assistant services under a different name. A social media manager plans, posts and keeps up with comments for a business (and no, you don’t have to become an influencer to get paid for it; you’re working behind the scenes on someone else’s account). A Canva designer makes the graphics and flyers that keep a brand looking polished. A video editor turns raw clips into reels. An inbox manager keeps a busy inbox calm. And an online business manager, or OBM, keeps tasks, deadlines and teams on track, which is where I spend most of my time now.

Some virtual assistants pick one of those and go by that title. Others start with one and add more as they go, like I did. Either way, you’re doing the same thing: helping a business owner with the work they don’t have time for.

What I’d tell you over coffee

If we were sitting across the table from each other and you asked me how to choose your first services, here’s what I’d say.

Write it all down. Everything you do at home, at an old job, as a volunteer. Don’t judge the list yet. Just get it on paper. (Fellow list makers, this is our moment.)

Circle what you actually enjoy. Not just what you’re good at. What you’d be happy to do a few hours a week for someone else.

Pick two or three to start. That’s plenty. It’s better to do a few things really well than to list everything and feel stretched thin. Remember, I started with two.

You don’t have to be an expert. You only have to be about 10% ahead of your client in a particular skill to be a real help to them. Your client doesn’t need a professional graphic designer to make her Instagram posts. She needs someone who knows her way around Canva and will get it done.

You don’t have to offer it all. If something is outside what you do, like a full brand design, it’s okay to say so. Be honest, then offer what you can do.

Let it grow. Every time you learn something new, add it to your list. Mine has changed more times than I can count.

A few tools I use every day

You don’t need a pile of fancy software to start offering services. A reliable computer and good internet will get you going. But since we’re talking about what a virtual assistant actually does all day, here are the tools my team and I reach for constantly.

Canva Pro. My team and I are in Canva every single day. Graphics, flyers, PDFs, social posts, mockups for clients. Canva Pro is a must for me, mostly for the templates, photos and elements.

Google Drive. Let me be dramatic for a minute: you cannot live without Google Drive. This is where I live. As someone who loves all things organization, it speaks my love language. Shared folders, living documents and one place for everything a client needs.

Loom. My ultimate favorite. It records your screen and your face at the same time, so I can send a client a quick update or a walkthrough instead of a long email. Clients use it to train me, too.

Trello. Quickly becoming one of my favorite platforms. It’s a simple way to keep every client’s tasks and all my own to-do lists in one place. (Yes, it’s basically a list maker’s dream.)

The good news? Most of these have a free version, so you can practice before you ever take on a client.

Your homework (the fun kind)

This week, grab a notebook and write down everything you did for your family last week. All of it. The scheduling, the reminders, the group texts, the spreadsheet you swore was “just for fun.” I think you’ll be surprised by how much you already know how to do.

Then circle two or three things you’d enjoy doing for someone else. That’s your starting list. Remember, mine started with just two things.

When you’re ready to turn that list into real services, the Skills to Services Workbook in the VA Starter Kit walks you through it. And if you just want to start small, the free guide right below this post is a great first step.

I’m over here cheering you on! I hope you rock it today!

Jess