Starting a virtual assistant business can be a very good way to make money in South Africa. This is a guide on how to start a virtual assistant business in South Africa.
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Overview
Virtual assistants are not that popular in South Africa, the idea and concept might seem a bit strange to some people. However, it’s something that will likely gain a lot of traction as time goes on so it’s a safe business to bet on for the future.
The barriers to entry are very low, you just have to be skilled in a certain area, you certainly don’t need an office. You can work directly from home, you only need a few office supplies like an internet connection, software and a telephone.
Choose a niche
Virtual assistants often offer administrative services to their clients, like scheduling appointments, making phone calls, managing email accounts and making travel arrangements. Some virtual assistants also offer blogging, marketing and social media management services.
You may choose to focus on a specific niche, especially when your business gets bigger, you will find it hard to juggle all these tasks. However, you can offer all services when you are just starting out, this will allow you to tap into a large customer base. You can niche up as your business gets bigger.
Operating premises
This is a business that you can start from home, we highly recommend that you do that. It may take a while before you get your first clients, most South African startups are still getting used to the idea of having a virtual assistant.
An office may come with overhead costs that are really hard to justify, there is nothing more that an office will give you compared to your own house. Most of your clients will never want to come to your office.
Register your business
It’s always a good practice to register your business, it only costs R125. Some people will want to run background checks before trusting you with their money, it’s better to always be on the safe side, larger companies won’t want to work with an unregistered business.
Market your services
Marketing is definitely going to be the hardest part; most virtual clients say it’s super difficult to get their first clients and that might end up making you to question yourself. The best way to go around is to have enough budget for market, both social media marketing and Google ads will work just fine. Without those, it’s going to be super hard to get clients.
Conclusion
This is a guide on how to start a virtual assistant business in South Africa. Do you have any thoughts or questions? Comment below.
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Shanaaz Magerman
11 May 2022Good day
I need to know what is the legal process to work for a client in either USA or UK but home-based in South Africa, Cape Town?
How do I register my company with CIPC and be valid to work for an international company?
I hope you can help me with this query.
Kind regards
Shanaaz
sibabalwe
12 May 2022Hi Shanaaz, from my experience working in the gig economy in general, there are no special requirements. What normally happens is that your clients will pay you in dollars or euros and the government will pickup on that and will just ask you to fill a form stating why you are getting paid from overseas. It’s nothing difficult, it’s a form you will have to fill at the start of every year. Don’t worry, they will contact you when they pickup that you are being paid in dollars. Even us at mysouthafrica.co.za have to fill it because we work with international advertisers.
Hope that was helpful.