How To Start A Virtual Assistant Agency: Complete Guide

Many Virtual Assistants go on to start their own agency, purely from the fact that they get so many referrals, are overbooked, and are left with no choice but to hire a subcontractor to join their team. Whether you set out from the start with a dream to own your own Virtual Assistant Agency one day, or you’re in the latter boat, overwhelmed, tired, but not wanting to turn down work from amazing clients, this is for you!

About 6 years ago, I was stuck in a government job that was crushing my soul, and I kept wondering if there was a better way to use my administrative skills, but at the time, I had no idea how to go about starting my own Virtual Assistant business.

This post is all about How To Start A Virtual Assistant Agency

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Virtual assistant services have exploded in the last few years, and for good reason. More and more small business owners are leaning on independent contractors for help, since it saves them from needing to pay employee benefits when hiring a full-time employee.

I remember sitting at my kitchen table during my daughter’s nap time, with my laptop open, wondering how the heck I was going to turn my administrative and data entry skills into my own business. With the guidance of a coach, she helped me see all the skills I obtained from working for the government as positive and guided me towards the Virtual Assistant industry.

If you’re feeling the same way right now, you’re in the right place. Starting a Virtual Assistant Agency isn’t just about being good at administrative tasks – it’s about creating a system that works, finding the right clients, and building something that gives you the freedom you’re looking for.

If you are new to the Virtual Assistant industry, I would recommend that you focus on building up your foundations first, by learning fundamental Virtual Assistant skills here: 5 Top Tips To Become A Virtual Assistant

Once you’ve built up your skills and your confidence, and want to increase your income without taking on even more work, then you may want to up-level your business by growing an agency. It’s all about building a business that works for you and aligns with your goals!

This post shares How to Start A Virtual Assistant Agency

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through exactly how you can start a successful Virtual Assistant Agency. I’ll share common mistakes, strategies that work, and how you can avoid some of the common pitfalls that make everyone want to quit in those first challenging months.

Identifying Your Niche and Services

When I first started out as a Virtual Assistant, I had no idea who I wanted to serve or what services I wanted to offer. Luckily, I signed on with a Virtual Assistant agency myself, and was able to experience working with multiple different types of clients, from Coaches, an Attorney, to Interior Designers, allowing me to figure out what I loved most to do, and what I excelled at. For that, I am truly grateful.

But, for years, when I first started, I said yes to everyone. Part of me didn’t want to disappoint anyone by refusing to work with them, and most of the time, it was ok, as I am a self-starter and have a figure-it-out attitude. However, there are a few instances where, I knew from the start I should never have agreed to work with a client because I either didn’t have the skills, or didn’t love the task, which only lead to disappointment in myself, and on the client’s part to have to have a new VA assigned to them.

From this experience, I learned that by offering too many different services, I was spreading myself too thin and wasn’t really exceptional at anything.

When I decided to focus specifically on helping Interior Designers with their Procurement and Expediting, that’s when things started clicking. It was something I enjoyed doing (hello, spending someone else’s money!) and excelled at since I am very organized and attentive to details.

Finding your niche is really important when starting your own VA Agency. By offering the same service to multiple clients, you’ll be able to build repeatable systems to streamline tasks, making managing multiple businesses easier.

Think about your previous experience and what specific skills you already have. Before becoming a virtual assistant, I worked for the Federal Government in the Employment Insurance Call Center, and in-person, so I had a good grasp of following and reading procedures, handling client enquiries, and providing administrative support.

What industries do you have experience in? What tasks do you genuinely enjoy doing? These questions are super important.

Some profitable services to consider for your Virtual Assistant Agency include:

Technical services (website maintenance, tech setup)
Social media management
Customer Service, Email Management, Calendar Management
Project Management and Systems Setup
Marketing strategy, content creation, and graphic design

Start with 3-5 core services that you can confidently deliver at a high level. For me, this looked like procurement and expediting for Interior Designers.

It’s better to be known as the go-to person for a few specific tasks than to be mediocre at twenty different things. As you gain experience and new skills, you can always change your offerings depending on what you love, an in-demand service you’ve identified, or specialize in a specific niche and part of a process, like me!

Creating A Growth Plan For Your Agency

I see many Virtual Assistant Agency owners who start off by winging it, taking on whatever clients come their way, and figuring things out as they go. While I admire their tenacity for getting started, this leads to a lot of unnecessary stress and hard work, like needing to decide how much to charge each individual client with their custom service needs, and needing to hire a wide team of VAs with varied skills.

With careful planning, creating a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated, but having a clear roadmap is essential to helping you make big decisions on where you want to go with your business.

Start by defining your business goals. Do you want to be the main contact/ face of your agency with a team that works under you? Or are you aiming to build a full-fledged agency with a team of VAs who are assigned clients?

Like anything else, there are Pros and Cons to both options.

If you decide to be the main face of your Agency and simply outsource the tasks to be completed by someone else, your potential for growth will ultimately be capped by how many hours per day you are able to work. While outsourcing tasks to an independent contractor will free up your time to sign and manage more clients, there is still a maximum threshold to be considered. On the flip side, by being the sole person communicating with your clients, you are better able to control the quality of work being delivered and to make sure that all of your clients’ needs are met.

If you decide to build a full-fledged Agency, with a team of VAs who are assigned clients, you are giving up some of the control but gaining freedom in time, and growth potential. However, the flip side of this is, it will ultimately happen at some point, you will have a client approach you, unhappy with the services your VA has been delivering and you will need to decide how to rectify the issue, either by reassigning that client to another VA, or doing the work yourself to ensure your client is happy.

As you can see, there are lots of things to consider, and not one right-or-wrong answer to building a successful Virtual Assistant business.

You’ll also need to figure out the practical aspects of running your business to keep yourself and the VAs you hire legal.

This includes:

Creating contracts
Setting up a business bank account to keep finances separate
Establishing your payment processes (I use a combination of PayPal, Wise, and Melio)
Determining your working hours and availability
Creating policies for communication, revisions, and scope creep

Don’t forget about the legal stuff either.

Depending on where you live, you might need a business license or to register your business name. I also highly recommend having clients sign a service agreement that clearly outlines what you will and won’t do, payment terms, and confidentiality clauses.

Setting Up Your Online Presence

Having a professional online presence is non-negotiable in any business and part of a good marketing strategy. After all, if you’re offering to help clients with their online tasks, you’d better look like you know what you’re doing online yourself!

Here are some key things you should consider investing in when building out your Agency.

You’ll need a professional website. My friend Chris from Blog Tech Support is who I use to set up this blog, and it’s monthly maintenance.

Your first website doesn’t need to be complicated, a simple one-page site that clearly states who you help and what services you offer.

Key elements that should be included on your website are:

Your business name and tagline
Services you offer with clear descriptions
Pricing (or at least a “starting at” price point)
Your background and qualifications
Contact information
Testimonials (once you have them)

I highly recommend that you start with WordPress; it’s often made to be scarier than it looks! As your business grows, you’ll be able to do a lot more with WordPress than you would with any other website building platform, but if you want to start out with Wix or Square Space that’s ok too, I just know that I quickly outgrew those platforms with my own business and am thankful to have made the switch.

Next up: social media accounts. You DO NOT need to be on every platform!

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be on every platform, and I actually to this day still despise Instagram (did I just write that out loud?), as an introvert, I find it exhausting needing to show up in all the places. I focus primarily on Facebook Groups and Pinterest, because that’s where my ideal clients hang out.

Figure out where your target audience spends their time online and concentrate your efforts there.

When it comes to social media content, consistency matters more than frequency. It’s totally fine to start posting 2-3 times per week, and growing from there once you have capacity.

You’ll also need professional email addresses. While using a personal Gmail account for business communications is ok, it’s not a professional look. For a Virtual Assistant Agency that wants to hire a team, using Google Workspace will allow you to create email addresses with your business domain name, which adds credibility and professionalism for each of your team members.

Finding and Attracting Your First Clients

My first paying client was actually the coach I had hired to help me start an online business, funny how that worked out! From there, I made some meaningful connections that helped me get signed on as a Virtual Assistant with an Agency.

Now that I am shifting to my own Pinterest Management business, most of my clients come from a Blogging Facebook group. Most of the time, potential clients come to me. I regularly show up in various blogging Facebook groups, answer questions about Pinterest, and generally show up as the expert I am on this topic.

Because I am showing up consistently in these groups, small business owners often reach out via DM or book a call with me via my website contact form.

It really can be this easy!

I go into more detail about my daily marketing efforts in this post: 13 Must-Join Facebook Groups for Virtual Assistants

You can also leverage your existing network by sending out a simple email to past clients announcing your new business model, services being offered, and how many clients you are able to take on for the current month.

Sometimes, former clients will come back and want to work with your agency now that you have bigger capacity, and may even spread the word to other business owners they know who could benefit from your services.

Word of mouth truly is that powerful!

Another great method is cold pitching. I know it sounds scary, but it can be really effective if done right.

I’ve personally identified local businesses that seemed like they could benefit from my services and sent personalized emails explaining how I could solve specific problems I noticed they were having.

For example, there’s a local to me cabinet maker who I noticed spends hundreds of dollars a month to play ads on our local radio station to advertise their business. But when I looked at their website, half of their images are missing or outdated, they don’t have testimonials, and there is no way to contact them.

Paying for ads on the radio is a bit of a waste of money since their funnel drives warm leads to a website with incomplete information.

If I wanted to remodel my kitchen, I probably wouldn’t be going with them after having seen their website, it’s that bad!

Managing Client Relationships and Workflow

Managing client relationships effectively is what separates successful Virtual Assistant Agencies from those that struggle to retain clients.

It’s really important to establish clear communication channels and expectations. If this isn’t done correctly, it can be a painful but valuable lesson.

The first step to managing client relationships is to create a solid onboarding process. It can be overwhelming for new clients starting out with a VA Agency in the beginning as there are lots of moving pieces to get correct to set the foundation for a healthy relationship.

Here’s what a great onboarding process should look like:

A welcome packet with your policies, working hours, and communication preferences. What to Include In Your New Client Welcome Packet
A detailed questionnaire to gather all necessary account information and passwords
A 30-minute kick-off call to clarify expectations and answer questions
A clear outline of deliverables and timelines

Having this process in place makes clients feel confident that they’re working with a professional, and it saves me tons of headaches down the road.

Communication is absolutely critical when working remotely. I’ve made the mistake of being too flexible with how clients could reach me, and found myself answering Slack messages at 10 PM on a Saturday! While I do understand that there are sometimes genuine emergencies, most of the time, things can wait until Monday.

I like to clearly outline my communication preferences and response times upfront. I use Slack for quick questions, email for formal requests, and schedule regular check-in calls to make sure we are on the same page and to get any questions answered.

You’ll also want to use a project management tool to keep track of deadlines. I like to use Asana, but I have clients who prefer to use Trello, Monday.com, etc, and I am flexible with that. The important thing is having a central place where tasks are documented and tracked.

Time tracking is another essential, especially if you charge hourly and hire Virtual Assistant team members. I use Clockify (it’s Free!) to track my time, and my subcontractors’ time spent on different client projects.

This helps me be transparent with billing and also allows me to bill my contractors fairly.

Creating systems and templates is also crucial for scaling your agency workflow.

I have email templates for common responses, checklist templates for recurring tasks, and documented processes for everything from social media posting to inbox management. These systems save me time, make sure the work is done consistently, and prevent me from needing to reinvent the wheel for similar tasks from client to client.

Not to mention that if another VA needed to jump in and do the work for me, they would have a detailed process on how to do so, minimizing the number of questions needing to be asked.

Regular check-ins with clients help prevent issues before they arise. Depending on the client’s retainer, I like to schedule either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly calls. These calls often lead to deeper client relationships and sometimes even expanded service agreements.

What Should You Do If You Aren’t Ready To Start An Agency?

After reading all of this, you might be thinking, gosh, I really don’t want to have to manage other people, and I totally get that.

So, what should you do if you are overwhelmed and have too much work but don’t want to hire more people?

There are ways to optimize and scale your business without needing to add new team members. I see it as you having three choices: you can either raise your rates, put people on a waitlist, or start building a team.

When first starting out as a Virtual Assistant, you likely undercharge your value, we all do it, because we really just want to land our first clients!

But with time, and especially if you are good. There will come a time when you have more work than you have time to get done on a daily basis.

This is when you know it’s time to raise your rates, with your current clients and potential clients wanting to work with you. This may mean you lose a few clients, which always sucks, but it just means they weren’t your ideal client or don’t value the time you put into their business anyway.

On the flip side, it makes room for clients who are serious about their businesses and want to work with you.

By raising your hourly rate, you will ultimately ‘weed out’ some of the people that aren’t able to afford your services at the moment, and that’s ok, you’ve grown your skills, and there are numerous other beginner VAs with whom they can work.

Or, you can create a wait list. Which is also a good approach, but not one that scales your business or narrows your client base, and if clients have to wait too long for your services, they’ll probably go somewhere else.

You also have the freedom to be more selective about the clients you truly want to work with. You no longer need to say yes to everyone who shows an interest; you’ve proven your worth time and time again, therefore, you have the flexibility now of working with prime clients. Having 4-5 ideal clients is far better than juggling 10-12 challenging ones.

Specializing in a specific industry and offering a focused set of high-value services is much more profitable than trying to be everything to everyone. Now that I am shifting to offering Pinterest Management services, I’ve created specific service packages that position me as the expert Pinterest VA that I am, instead of just another general VA.

For now, I’ve found that my workflow as a one-person virtual assistant provides the perfect balance of income, flexibility, and work-life balance. I’m able to earn more than I did at my government job by offering specific services, while working fewer hours and maintaining complete control over my business.

There were definitely moments in the early days when I questioned whether I’d made the right decision to become a Virtual Assistant. There were times when I was working long hours for too little pay and struggling to figure everything out through trial and error. But looking back now, I wouldn’t change a thing, even the mistakes taught me valuable lessons.

The beauty of starting a virtual assistant business is that you can begin with low startup costs and decide exactly how you want it to evolve. You also don’t need specialized equipment, just your skills, a reliable internet connection, and the hard work and determination to make it.

My first client was only 10 hours a week, but one thing led to another, and I made valuable connections and was eventually hired by a Virtual Assistant agency.

If you’re just beginning your virtual assistant journey, remember that everyone starts somewhere. My experience working for the government gave me valuable administrative skills that translated perfectly to VA work.

Focus on providing quality services to those first few clients, and word will spread. Be patient with yourself as you learn the ropes of running a business; it’s a skill set that develops over time.

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