Start working as a freelance virtual assistant

Use this guide if you are organised, reliable with a computer and want to sell admin, inbox, diary or online support to small businesses from home. Have a list of tasks you have done well in jobs or volunteering, the hours you can genuinely offer each week and a computer you can keep secure. This is general information, not legal or tax advice; check anything you are unsure about with HMRC, the ICO or a qualified adviser.

Step by step

1. Build a narrow service menu and a one-line offer

   List every admin task you have done without supervision, then keep only the three to five you can deliver confidently from day one, such as inbox and diary management, replying to customer enquiries, scheduling social media posts, tidying spreadsheets and data entry, booking travel, or preparing and chasing invoices. Pick a type of client as well as a task list, because 'VA for independent therapists' or 'VA for trades businesses' is far easier for people to remember and refer than 'general admin'. Leave out regulated work until you are set up for it: doing bookkeeping for clients brings anti-money laundering supervision duties, and giving financial, legal or tax advice is outside a VA's role. Write your offer in one line, for example: 'I look after the inbox, diary and invoicing for busy [type of business] owners, so they get [number] hours a week back for paid work.' Test it on two people who run small businesses and ask which part they would pay for first.