Is It Even Worth Becoming A Virtual Assistant

It's 2026. We are in the fastest technological revolution we've ever seen. AI is moving so fast none of us can keep up. So, is there even a place for virtual assistants anymore?

Mmmm, my short answer is no, my long answer is...maybe.

Established virtual assistants are finding it tougher than ever to find clients. The global economy is being crushed, which means business owners are tightening their belts, so opportunities to find clients that are willing to buy, are few and far between.

If someone asked me right now if it's worth starting up as a virtual assistant, I would ask them one question first. "What's your skill set"?

Because if all you can do is admin, no marketing, no tech, no AI, your time as a VA is going to be limited. I literally cut my own assistants time in half this month, because Claude Co-Work has taken over some of the work she was doing, and everything else I've put into systems using AI.

Even if you have marketing skills, and want to work as a social media manager, a lot of small business owners are just going to get ChatGPT and Claude to do the work, which means really, the only virtual assistants likely to survive are the ones in tech and especially the ones utilising AI.

The main reason clients come to virtual assistants, is because they're time poor, and that's the one thing that hasn't changed...yet. Because clients are still so time poor, they need someone to implement the AI and tech systems for them. It's all well and good being told about the amazing capabilities, but it doesn't mean our clients and potential clients have time to learn and implement.

That's why right now, virtual assistants really need to be moving towards tech and AI. You can be the person that saves your client bags of time and money, by systemising their business, and that might sound counterintuitive because surely if you save clients loads of time and put systems in place that could potentially replace you, it's like giving yourself the sack, right?

Well, this is where getting really good at AI comes in. If you can specialise in an area of AI that makes YOU become the niche, your client is always going to need you. Take coding for example. If I code a bespoke system for a client, they are still going to need me to add updates, fix bugs and continue to operate the system. In essence, I create a role for myself that could last forever.

It's only when the client themselves get really good at these same skills themselves, you risk losing them. And, some will. But some inevitably won't. And that, my VA friend, is the sort of client you need to be looking for right now.

So, if you're not already learning AI skills beyond prompting, please, spend the weekend on YouTube and learn.

Good luck.