by Chinkee Tan
One of the best ways for you to earn money while you stay home is to enter the world of a virtual professional.
If you want to become a successful and sought-after virtual professional, here are the Top 10 skills that you need to have. The good thing about these skills is that you can easily learn and hone them yourself.
1. Communications skills
For virtual professionals, communication is key. This is especially because as a virtual professional, you will be working remotely. In other words, you will not be seeing your client face to face, so a lot of your communication will be via email, phone, or online messaging applications.
This means that you need to be able to communicate your thoughts well both in speaking and in writing.
Having good communication skills mean that you are able to put your thoughts into words and express it in a way that is concise and straight to the point. Having good communication skills also means that you are able to pay attention and listen well to what is being said to you.
2. Interpersonal skills
Clients are looking for people who are easy and pleasant to work with. To have good interpersonal skills means that you are able to build rapport not just with your clients but also with the other people that you are working with. This is something that you can achieve by communicating and relating to others in a friendly, kind, polite, and professional way.
3. Project management skills
Your client will assign different tasks to you, and you will need to have good management and organizational skills. In other words, you have to be able to monitor the progress of the different tasks and projects assigned to you, ensure their correct and effective implementation, keep track of deadlines, coordinate with the point-persons, and follow-up the deliverables needed for each task.
4. Time management skills
All of us just have 24 hours a day, but the tasks that we need to do can sometimes be unlimited.
As a virtual professional, you will be faced with many tasks. This is why it’s also very important for you to be able to prioritize which tasks you will need to do first.
Part of having good time management skills is being able to create a system that can help you work more efficiently, so that you can accomplish more even over a limited amount of time.
5. Computer skills
As a virtual professional, you will need some computer skills. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be an Information Technology or a computer science graduate to be an excellent virtual professional. You just have to make sure that you are familiar with doing research on the Internet, and using the usual computer programs like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
6. Netiquette skills
Have you heard of the term netiquette? It’s short for Internet etiquette. This means being professional and having good courtesy in all of your online communications.
As a virtual professional, you will need to learn good netiquette, whether it’s in making comments on social media, posting in forums, communicating with other team members online, and even sending out emails.
Did you know that there is an ideal time when it comes to responding to emails? If an email is sent to you, it is best to give a reply within 6 hours.
And when it comes to sending out emails, it’s considered rude to send multiple emails in one day. It’s ideal to send one email per day or every one to three days.
7. Troubleshooting skills
The reason why many clients are looking for a virtual professional is because they want to have more time. More free time to do bigger and more intensive tasks.
Just imagine if they will have to provide specific instructions for you when it comes to every single problem that you run into. Then it will defeat the purpose why they got you as a virtual professional in the first place.
This is why many clients are looking for virtual professionals that are able to troubleshoot problems on their own. And so, if you want to be an excellent virtual professional, you will need to take initiative and be creative in coming up with solutions.
Don’t want for instructions to be given to you. In the midst of a problem or a crisis, be the one to find a solution. In other words, be resourceful and proactive.
8. Encoding skills
Another skill that clients are looking for in a virtual professional is the ability to encode. Because you may need to encode numerical data in Microsoft Excel or other software, or type notes in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Powerpoint, you need to have good typing skills.
You also need to be attentive, observant, and have good eye for detail. There are times when the smallest typing mistakes or typographical errors can be costly, so you will need to avoid these at all cost.
9. Selling skills
If you’re good at sales, and you are considering to pursue a career as a virtual professional, then I have some good news for you!
This is a big, big plus! A lot of clients are actually looking for virtual professionals who have had experience in sales.
Your skill in generating leads and managing existing contacts and clients are skills that prove to be highly valuable and indispensable for virtual professionals.
10. Ideation skills
And last but not the least, many clients are also looking for virtual professionals who can help them generate ideas. Even when it comes to the day-to-day tasks, if you feel like you know of an easier, faster, and better way to accomplish a task, then suggest it to your client.
You’ll never know how your ideas and suggestions can help them create a more efficient system for their business or company.
Ka-Chink, if you feel like you have what it takes to be an excellent and successful virtual professional, I have a friend looking for virtual professionals. This could be the opportunity that you have been waiting for! Visit http://www.myoutdesk.com.ph/career/ or send an email to [email protected].