7 Virtual Assistant Training Courses to Make You a Full Time VA - Best of Budgets (2024)

Want a job that lets you work from home or remotely laying on a beach? One that is stable and pays a full time income? How about a job that pushes you to continuously learn and grow, with skills that can later be applied to your own business online? If your answer to all these questions is a resounding “yes”, a virtual assistant is what you should look to become.

Show Me the Money: VA Salary Expectations

According to Payscale, the average wage of a virtual assistant in the US is $15.64, with those in the 90 percentile earning over $30/hour. Full time VAs in the US make an average of $4,000 mon, according to stats on VA earnings. The majority of virtual assistants report high levels of satisfaction.

Hidden Perk of Being a VA

There is one huge benefit of being a virtual assistant that isn’t often talked about (and should be).A protege of sorts, working as a VA gives you invaluable insights into the inner workings of a successful business while getting paid to do so. The potential knowledge you can gain can propel your own business to the moon.

I know at least two friends that used to work as a VA for successful entrepreneurs, and now run their own successful businesses.

How to Fast Track Your Way to Becoming a VA

There are two ways to becoming a virtual assistant- the slow painful way, and the fast way.

Many people spend weeks and months trying to break into the world of full time virtual assistance, only to fail.

The majority of aspiring VAs waste so much time applying for jobs in the wrong places, presenting themselves poorly, or not focusing on the skills that are in most demand with entrepreneurs and businesses today. In the end the most success these people achieve is working part time on monotonous, unrewarding gigs that give virtual assistants as a job a bad name.

To really break into the world of full time virtual assistants, and fast, what you need is a roadmap from successful VAs that have come before you.

Here are my 7 favorite virtual assistant training courses to fast track your new career as a VA.

All of them are created by actual successful VAs and specialists in their respective fields, which is critical. Would you listen to a plumber give you advice on how to become a web designer, or a chef tell you the best way to make money online? I hope not.

Seven Best virtual assistant training courses in 2021

1. The #FullyBookedVA System

Gina Horkey dove head first into virtual assistance in May 2014, and never looked back. Within 6 months she was earning $4,000/mon on the side as a VA, all the while maintaining a full time job and taking care ofa baby and toddler. Now that’s impressive.

The #TheFullyBookedVA System is Gina’s revamped VA program that provides the most comprehensive training on how to become a successful VA we’ve seen. Unlike other courses, the whole goal of #FullyBookedVA is to get you from zero to actually working with paying customers within 90 days. In fact, it’s not unusual for students to start earning after just 30 days:

Part of the amazing success of the #FullyBookedVA program are three revamped components of the program:

• 6 additional skill-specific courses on topics like social media management and email management with specialization coaches and additional resources and training.
• An interactive community with live weekly guest expert training sessions and weekly group coaching.
• A steady flow of her own proprietary high-quality job leads (business owners coming to Gina looking to hire HER graduates – she’s had over 500 to-date) and an on-going roundup of online job listings

Furthermore, Gina actually offers hands on support to all her students. It’s not unusual for Gina to actually hop on a call with a student to offer guidance. The system is set up to make it hard for you to actually fail.

For anyone looking to earn a full time income as a VA, #FullyBookedVA is probably your best bet.

2. $10K VA Training Course

I don’t know about you, but if I wanted to become a VA, I want to learn from someone that’s actually successful as a VA, and not just a business man or woman.

Well, Kayla Sloan certainly qualifies as that (making over $10k/mon as a VA for businesses in the personal finance space), which is why her $10k VA course is the real deal. It dispenses with theories to create a real blueprint for success that’s only possible by someone who has been there and done.

The $10K VA Training costs $497 (one time fee). Some of what you’ll learn in the program include:

• Learn the 7 simple skills you actually need to succeed as a VA (not a 100 skills)
• How to land your first client
• How to perfect your pitch (so important)
• Productivity hacks that will skyrocket your earnings
• Kayla’s field-tested worksheets and templates

Above all else, you also get access to Kayla’s closed facebook group and direct access to her large network of clients where you can pitch directly to and get a job. This is the missing link that can mean the difference between a career in VA, or just a freelancer picking up odd jobs on Upwork.

3. Work from Home as a Virtual Assistant

In the world ofvirtual assistants, Tina Marie is a heavy weight, having coached many businesses on how to hire and take advantage of VAs in their businesses.

In Tina’s best selling course “Work from Home as a VA“, she shows youhow to launch your own VA business, starting with yourself as employee #1. Learn the steps to go from being a virtual assistant to eventually running a VA business with other VAs working under you.

Tina’s time saving contract templates and timesheets alone are worth the price of the course. One student had this to say after going through the course:

“The course was enlightening. I thought that I knew much of what was needed to start my VA business but this course taught me information I was not aware of. This course will definitely help jump start me and I highly recommend it.”.

4. The Complete Canva Course

One of the most common jobs VA will be tasked to do is working with graphics. This includes everything from creating graphics for Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, to banner ads and blog images.

Canva is the undisputed king when it comes creating these types of images. As such, having an excellent working knowledge of Canva to create attractive images greatly enhances your appeal to potential customers.

In the Complete Canva Course, you design 9 fun projects that once completed, exposes you to all the important elements of Canva so you can go on to produce stunning graphics of every variety each time. 4.5 hours of video training leaves no stones unturned asJamie Smith turns you into one mean Canva Jedi.

5. Social Media Management – Complete Manager Bootcamp

Every business and even his dog needs a social media presence these days, which is why social media management is such a valuable skill these days. It greatly enhances your worth as a VA, opening up so many more job opportunities for you due to the ubiquity of social media.

This is one of the most complete, action based social media training courses I’ve come across. Lottie Mosley is the co-founder of Sweet Marketing, and leverages her vast experience working with all of the major brands such as Google and Tesco to show you the exact skills you should focus on as a freelance social media manager. 8 hours of video training will turn you from zero to a social media hero in less than 1 day of education.

Get platform specific training for all of the major social media networks, from Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, to Instagram and Youtube. Learn how to work with the most common social tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer that businesses are accustomed to. Lottie walks you over the business side of being a social media manager as well, such as how to find clients and set rates. One student had this to say after taking the course:

“I loved this course. It’s the first Udemy course I’ve actually cared enough to complete all the way through. SO much helpful information and I feel super equipped to start making some money with SM management. Definitely take this one if you’re on the fence.”

6. Facebook Blueprint– Free Facebook Ads Courses

Facebook is the most popular social media network on the planet, and to any online business, an indispensable marketing tool that simply cannot be ignored.

As a VA, having intimate knowledge of Facebook ads can greatly expand your potential list of clients, plus the amount you charge them. And what better way to learn Facebook advertising than from the source- Facebook itself. Facebook Blueprint offers a comprehensive collection of free mini courses on the platform. For those of you really serious, you can even choose to get certified and really take your VA resume to the next level.

7. Google Ads Academy– Free Google Ads Training

Similarly to Facebook ads, having knowledge of Google’s various marketing platforms- Adwords, Youtube ads, Display Network, and Google Analytics- can really bolster your credentials as a VA.

complete course to VA success is a free resource that walks you through all of these platforms and how to take advantage of them. You can also choose to get certified in a specific field from there.

Learn from the Best Virtual Assistants

Successful VAs have figured out the formula to breaking into this highly competitive but rewarding job market. It takes a combination of business savvy, networking, and technical skills to make it happen.

The training courses I’ve reviewed here are all designed to provide you with a roadmap from successful virtual assistants on what to do and learn to start working as a full time VA. Instead of wasting time trying to figure this all out on your own, it’s smart to just follow their blueprint.

Note:This article contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own, however.