Congratulations to you if you’re looking into a Virtual Assistant Training Course to invest in yourself and your professional future. It’s a step in the right direction if you’re looking to build a profitable and sustainable business. I hope this guide will help you make a decision you won’t regret and move you closer to your VA dream.
Choosing The Right Virtual Assistant Training Course Tip 1: Be A Little Skeptical
With the recent explosion of online businesses many people who have either never been a Virtual Assistant before OR were NOT successful as one are throwing their hat in the VA Training and Coaching ring. Many of these people promise you the moon in their Virtual Assistant Training Course and don’t deliver.
Plus, how can you teach something you’ve never done? Or why would you teach people your methods if you weren’t successfully using them? Unfortunately, that’s what many of these so-called VA Trainers and Coaches do. They end up taking your hard-earned money and you have nothing to show for it when you’re done either working with them directly or when you’ve completed their Virtual Assistant Training Course. To me, it’s just wrong and unethical to boot.
I’m sorry but you’re not qualified to be a coach or trainer if you’ve not run a successful VA business for at least 3 years (the bare minimum in my opinion). Experience is MOST important when teaching or coaching others – NOT being book smart (or by purchasing a DIY program, slapping your logo on it, and then teaching it).
In my post 5 Signs That You’re About To Invest In the Wrong Virtual Assistant Coaching Or Training I share what to look out for and more details including:
- The lies you’ll see in marketing
- Doing your homework
- Tips to help you find the right training for you
Choosing The Right Virtual Assistant Training Course Tip 2: Be Aware Of Bad Advice
Since the online business world including the VA industry is growing more than ever thanks to the pandemic there are certain things to watch out for when you’re about to invest in a Virtual Assistant Training Course. These are what I call “bad advice” since many times they either don’t work or set you up for failure instead of success.
How do I know this? Because many of my own students have shared their stories with me about their bad experiences when they were starting their VA business and didn’t know what they didn’t know. In my blog post The 12 Virtual Assistant Mistakes You Should Avoid At All Costs – Especially If You’re A New VA! I share the most common things to watch out for including:
- The fake it until you make it strategy
- Why you don’t need a VA Certification to be successful or even work as a VA
- Working for free
- Why most people can’t make $5k in their first 30 days
Choosing The Right Virtual Assistant Training Course Tip 3: Do Your Homework
When you’re ready to invest in yourself and your future be sure you do your homework to find the right Virtual Assistant Training Course for you. There are hundreds of programs out there, so how do you find the right one for you and know it actually gets results.
Research The Trainer Or Coach
Here are few steps I highly recommend you do before investing your hard-earned money in a Virtual Assistant Training Course or VA Coaching.
- Check out their website and social media profiles. Look for:
- How long they’ve been in business.
- Are they successful?
- Do they offer a money-back guarantee or refund?
- Do they have testimonials from current or former students?
- If they have a Facebook or a LinkedIn Group join it.
- Grab one of their free offers and get on their email list.
- Read their blogs, watch their YouTube videos or listen to their podcast.
- Reach out and ask to talk to them or someone who has taken their training before.
- Find out as much as you can about them and the training.
- You want to be sure the person and the training are legitimate.
- Invest with someone who resonates with you.
- Be careful of Virtual Assistant Training Programs that promise you the moon – like you’ll earn X amount in X days. No one can guarantee that.
Research The Program Or Training
What to look for in the training – well that’s up to what you’re trying to achieve. Here are a few recommendations:
- If you’re someone who craves structure and systems, be sure they teach that, because many programs don’t.
- Do they have a money-back guarantee if you don’t like the Virtual Assistant Training Course or it’s just not for you?
- A program that teaches you marketable skills such as:
- Technology
- Digital marketing (Email marketing, creating content, sales funnels…)
- On-going support so you’re not left high and dry after you purchase the program
- Look for training that teaches you how to be self-sufficient and not rely on that program for clients (aka Job Boards, Facebook Groups, etc.)
- You want a course that teaches you how to market your business online (Digital Marketing).
Figure Out What’s Important To You
Before making your decision to purchase a Virtual Assistant Training Course or Coaching take a few moments to consider what is important to you, such as:
- Video training that actually walks you through what they’re teaching.
- Transcriptions and audios of the training too.
- Done-for-you documents such as checklists, templates, guides, etc.
- Action items or homework to help you implement what you’re learning.
- Community of students where you can get support and motivation.
- Live calls with the trainer.
- If you’re learning a techie tool, do they include a sandbox where you can practice?
- Access to the instructor or trainer (this one is key for me – if they don’t include it I don’t invest)
These are just a few ideas of what to look for but as I said it’s what’s important to you. Take the time to create your list before you start looking for a Virtual Assistant Training Course or Coaching. It just might save you time, energy, and money.
Example A: Training For Setting Up Your VA Biz
As I’ve mentioned there are hundreds of programs available and it’s all about finding the right Virtual Assistant Training Course for you. For example, I designed my VA Success System for anyone who wants to build a profitable and sustainable business that includes structure, systems, and rinse & repeat processes.
As pointed out earlier, many VA training programs don’t include systems or any real structure in their training. But your business can’t survive long term without them. What do I mean by systems or structure? I mean step by step instructions for:
- Setting up your key business systems
- Setting your rates
- Packaging your services
- Getting clients
- Niching down
- Digital marketing
The other thing I think is important is to teach marketable skills as part of any Virtual Assistant Training Course. This helps you learn skills you can easily market plus you understand how to run an online business which makes you an asset to your clients.
So, I would say my VA Success System is for system junkies that want to set up and run a long-term VA business and learn marketable skills that they can charge premium rates for.
Example B: Training To Learn VA Skills
If you’re looking to invest in a Virtual Assistant Training Course that teaches you skills, I would say focus on marketable skills that can earn you up to 4x more than typical admin skills. Admin skills are not in-demand and are harder to market since most online business owners need help with the technology that runs their business. The best investment is training on:
- Techie tools
- WordPress
- Aweber
- Lead Pages
- Digital marketing
- Email marketing
- Content marketing
- Sales funnels
Actually, Techie and Digital Marketing training go hand in hand and if you learn to offer both services, you’re a consultant who can charge premium rates for their services. You want to be sure that any techie training includes:
- Access to a practice sandbox
- Step by step video instruction
- How to price, package and sell it as a service
Ok, we’re done with The Ultimate VA Success Guide: How To Choose The Right Virtual Assistant Training Course For You. Please let me know in the comments below if this post has been useful and if it makes you feel more confident about making the right decision when selecting your VA training program.
Thank You – Susan
P.S. If you want to specialize in in-demand skills, learn how to package and offer them as a service to become a known Specialist and get those higher-paying clients, I recommend you have a look at my TechieU Training. You can try it for 5 USD for 5 days and see if it’s for you!
I appreciate the tips on how to research a trainer. This may be a silly question, but how much of an obstacle is it if I only have a minimal to intermediate proficiency with things like Microsoft Office? I can write letters and create documents, and very minimal spreadsheets (but I rely on tutorials a lot for certain things). Are there people who learn the specialized skills, but get by with less than expert level skills in some of the more basic areas? Also, will the tech trainings in “techie U” take a person from zero expertise in those platforms/applications to being able to offer those things as a service, as long as I properly learn the material and practice what I’ve learned? I realize I get out what I put in, but I’ve purchased a couple other courses and found that the trainings were more of an overview, sometimes with a sales pitch for the real course if you really want to be able to offer the service. I’m looking for a one-stop shop where I can learn everything I need in order to at least get started offfering some services and know that I’m competent at it.
Hi Tara, thank you for taking the time to comment and it’s not a silly question at all. Let me ask you what types of services you want to offer? Is Office one of those; if not then I wouldn’t worry about it. As for TechieU you can try it out and see for yourself by purchasing a 5-day trial for $5.00. The program is designed to teach you everything from zero knowledge about the topics. There are sandboxes available to get hands on training too. Here’s the link for the TechieU https://programs.thetechiementor.com/tu-sales
Great advice and comments. Thank for this info! Much appreciated.
Thank you Patty for taking the time to comment!