Faith Farris
- Freelance Virtual Assistant
- $25 – $55 per hour
- Published October 12, 2022 by Emilija Milicevic
- Contributor: Niall Doherty
How does Faith make money online?
According to the above January 2022 video, Faith decided to become a virtual assistant in January 2021.
I was really interested in becoming a VA because I wanted something I could do on the side of my full-time job and earn some extra income. I also liked the idea that it’s remote because I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.
Her aim was to earn a full-time income through part-time work, something that people around her seemed to be doing. The following year Faith was able to replace her full-time job income by working as a VA.
As a virtual assistant, Faith offers services in copywriting, website design, video editing, and social media marketing. However, she has recently opted to focus on photography and website design. 1
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How much money does Faith make?
In the following October 2021 video, Faith reveals her income earned during her first 3 months as a VA…
My first big client paid me $350 for 10 hours of work. We had a discovery call in January but I was hired by the company owner in February. I did a lot of social media management. I also got paid $17.50 per hour for this client when she was looking to hire me for a test marketing plan.
For another client, I got paid $50 to do some copywriting and consequently was asked to redo the copy on the entire business website. I charged $70 for the website redo and $50 to do copywriting for her LinkedIn bio profile. In February 2021 I made $537.50 in total.
In the same video, Faith breaks down her profit for those first three months working as a VA.
She reports earning a total of $932.50, about 30% of which went to taxes and PayPal fees. Faith also put away $466 as savings for future business expenses, leaving her with a profit of $155.65.
During the next four months, Faith didn’t earn any money from her virtual assistant business. She was taking a marketing course at the time, doing two grad courses, and then she became pregnant in the summer. 2
I basically put zero time into virtual assisting during this period, which is not something I’m really proud of. Still, I was more motivated to learn about pregnancy than try to find VA work.
In August 2021 Faith was contacted by a client whom she interviewed with in April. They asked if she was still interested in working for them as a content writer for a blog for 2 months. Faith got on board with that marketing agency in September and completed a paid training the same month. She got paid $210 in September 2021. In October she received $80 for a blog post, but eventually decided not to continue working as a VA for this client.
It was a good learning experience, but I could tell that I was not a good fit for them, and they were not a good fit for me. Even though it didn’t work out well, I still got paid, so that’s nice.
Eventually, by the end of October, Faith found a client through a personal contact. A non-profit organization hired her to re-do their website and a brochure. Faith charged them $700 for that project.
In the below video from July 2022, Faith describes her experience as a stay-at-home mom and virtual assistant…
In July 2022, three months after her son was born, she had three clients: two project-based and one hourly-based client.
Since then, Faith has been more concentrated on building up her photography and web design business than on virtual assistance.
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What’s Faith’s background?
Faith has a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Filmmaking. She worked for her church as a Media Communications Director, then moved on to being a photographer, data entry associate, and teacher.
Finally, she landed at a nonprofit organization as a Community Outreach Coordinator in Oklahoma. That’s when she realized her love for the nonprofit world and for using her creativity to help outstanding organizations reach more people. 3
Faith is currently focused on building her own photography and website design business, alongside creating vlogs on budget friendly travel, budget friendly living, and motherhood.
How does Faith find clients?
As she mentions in her October 2021 video, Faith booked her first client through a local network.
I got my first client on Facebook when I posted on my page: “Hey, I’m a virtual assistant. If anybody’s interested, this is what I do. I could help you with this and this.”
My proposal included $10 per hour of virtual assisting up to 5 hours per day. It was some sort of a special deal that I was doing to get people interested in hiring me. Eventually, one of my Facebook friends took me up on that offer.
Faith also talked about the possibility of working for VA agencies, another popular method for finding clients.
I talked to 3 or 4 VA agencies and they sent me offers of wanting to be a virtual assistant, but the payment was so low. However, at that time I had a full-time job, so I could be choosy.
However, Faith’s most lucrative way of finding clients is through her local network by word-of-mouth. Her very first client was a referral from one of her Facebook friends and the next one came through her parents’ acquaintance.
Don’t be afraid to look locally. Just because you are a virtual assistant, that doesn’t mean that you only have to work with clients who are far away. There are probably a lot of local businesses who would love to take on a remote worker, but want someone who is local.
What tools / resources does Faith use?
As she mentions in the above video, Faith frequently uses the following tools in her VA business.
- Calendly – scheduling automation platform
It’s very important to figure out how clients will set appointments with you. If a client wants to meet with me on Zoom, they can see my calendar and set an appointment. You can also integrate it with other apps, e.g. Zoom, so it automatically sends a Zoom link to the client. I currently use the free version of Calendly.
- HoneyBook – Client management software for small businesses
I use HoneyBook because it’s an all-in-one platform. I do all of my invoices, contact forms, and contracts through one platform instead of a bunch of different apps. That way I keep everything organized and all in one place.
- Novo Bank
I recommend opening a separate bank account for your VA income because it will make your accounting easier. I opted for a business banking platform called Novo. It didn’t cost me any money to open a bank account with them.
- Mailchimp – Marketing automation platform and email marketing service
Faith uses this platform for her email marketing campaign and to share “The Nonprofit Leaders’ Guide to Finding the Perfect Virtual Assistant”.
Starting out as a VA, I was on the Virtual Assistant Savvy page. I didn’t take Abbey’s course because I wanted to do everything as free as possible, but I did get all of her free resources and I joined her Facebook group. I was constantly in the Savvy group looking for people who were hiring.
- Business Boutique by Christy Wright
If you really want to understand business, I highly recommend reading Christy Wright’s book called Business Boutique, a step-by-step guide on how to set up your business. She also has some free resources that you can use, like a business plan template.
- Digital Marketing course by Oklahoma State
In spring 2021 I took this intense, 10-week marketing course which was awesome. It was really helpful, but also a lot of work.
- Related: Best Virtual Assistant Courses
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Other ways to make money online
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