How and Why I Became a Pinterest Virtual Assistant

What is Pinterest and who needs it? And why?

I think everyone who lives on planet earth already knows what Pinterest is, but allow me to elaborate with some specific details (and make sure you stay to read my tips at the end of the post!):

• Pinterest is a search engine, but what makes it so powerful is that it’s a visual search engine. We live in a visual world, peeps. And it’s not so much for social purposes, it’s more of a personal user platform. Which is great for businesses because people go to Pinterest looking for ideas and solutions.
• Pinterest has over 200 million active monthly users, and that number is growing every day. This platform isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
• While women still dominate Pinterest, men are slowly but surely coming around. The most recent stat I can find shows that men account for about 50% of new sign ups. So it really is a great tool for everyone, regardless of gender, age or profession.

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Why and how I became a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.

Being a stay at home mom is a full time job (and a half) that nobody pays you for. Unless you count all the ridiculously cute giggles and hugs, then I’m a pretty rich gal.

But as my children got older I started to feel like I had more time on my hands, and I wanted to do something financially productive with it. But for me to go out and work just wasn’t a good option for our family, so I created a blog and started looking for more ways to earn money working online form home.

I’m constantly hearing and reading about how Pinterest is by far the number one traffic driver for people who use it correctly. It’s no wonder that Pinterest virtual assistants are becoming more and more in demand.

A Pinterest VA is a person who helps bloggers, business owners, entrepreneurs and creatives grow their online presence, brick and mortar store or freelance services through the Pinterest platform.

When I first heard about the Become a Pinterest VA Today course, I immediately saw it as an opportunity. And a fun one at that! Like, who wouldn’t want to make money with Pinterest? So I went out on a limb and took the course (hands down one of the best investments I ever made).

I started out by practicing with my own Pinterest account, using it to drive traffic to my blog. The more I pinned strategically and consistently, the more clicks I saw.

The next step for me was to offer Pinterest services to someone for free, in exchange for a testimonial. This was a great way for me to get started, and I even landed paying clients with this approach. It’s been over 2 years now and I’m still loving it! I’ve had several clients and I’m at the point now where I can easily earn about $500/month, about 20-30 hours of work altogether. So as you can imagine this is a pretty great side hustle that has loads of opportunity to become a full fledged work from home career!

UPDATE: I’ve since almost doubled my clients and income, and I currently have a short wait list! And I’m still only working part time. 🙂 And let me just add, having a source of consistent income during the uncertainty of this pandemic has been HUGE! I’m so glad I got started when I did, but if I hadn’t I sure as heck would do so now!

What does the course offer?

First of all it includes a comprehensive guide on how to use the Pinterest platform. You don’t even need any experience. You’ll learn how to create pins, book clients and grow your business. They’ve got you covered with videos, audio, text points AND workbooks! It never expires and you always get all the course updates for free, so you’ll never have to purchase another course. However, you do have the option of purchasing other incredible resources that’ll help get your Pinterest VA business up and running faster and more smoothly.

My success tips.

Over the months I’ve done a lot of different things to grow my Pinterest VA business. If you want more in depth advice on how I get clients, check out this post. But first, read on for some of my best success tips!

Get educated.

I’ve already mentioned the Become a Pinterest VA Today course, and I honestly believe that’s the best place to start.

The next obvious thing would be to periodically visit the Pinterest blog. They often update stats and trends, and have even started incorporating advice for businesses with their best practices. The Tailwind blog is also a wonderful resource.

Another place I go to get the latest Pinterest insights is Simple Pin Media. Kate is super knowledgeable and probably gives the best day to day Pinterest Advice. I especially love her podcasts, they’re so informative!

Finally, I’m a huge fan of Kyla Sims at Dish it out Social. She’s a brilliant Pinterest Strategist, and she’s not stingy with her knowledge. I follow her Facebook group and I love it. One particular course of hers that I’ve participated in is called Manual Pinning Simplified. It’s inexpensive and super helpful, especially when it comes to pinning for clients and getting good results.

Facebook Groups.

The Become A Pinterest VA Today course used to have a Facebook group for members, but that got deleted and now they run a paid Facebook page. I was really bummed when this happened. I think being able to connect with other Pinterest VAs and bounce ideas off each other is invaluable. I’m sure the paid page is absolutely amazing, but as a Canadian this would cost me about $50/month! If you don’t want to go that route, there are other ways to connect and stay up to date on everything Pinterest.

My two favourite Facebook groups are Kate’s Simple Pin Pinterest Strategy Group, Kyla’s The Secret Pinners Club, and Virtual Assistant Savvies. Honestly though, there are so many wonderful groups where you can build relationships, get advice and even sometimes get clients! I totally recommend trying out a few and choosing at least one or two where you feel like you fit in.

Instagram.

Instagram is like a goldmine where I’ve found most of my clients. I’m not going to go too much into detail (maybe in another post), but I want to outline the essentials.

Instagram is also a visual platform, so your pictures MUST look appealing. It also helps to have a cohesive feed that’s on brand. Make sure you have a stellar profile pic and that your handle is simple yet catchy. Also, I recommend putting Pinterest Virtual Assistant/Manager somewhere in your bio.
Post consistently and don’t be too salesy. Your posts should be mostly helpful/inspiring/entartaining (but don’t go “off brand” too much).
Hashtags. Hashtags hashtags hashtags. Use good hashtags. You’re allowed 30, but I like to use about 20. The important thing is that they’re GOOD hashtags. I’m always asking myself what my potential clients would actually be searching for when on IG. Probably not #catsofinstagram. Not to mention hashtags like that have so many posts, that unless you have a trillion followers, no one will see your post under that hashtag. Some better examples might be #pinterestmanager or #growyourbusiness.
Use as many of Instagram features as you can (I find Instagram “likes” me better when I do this), including IG stories!
Remember to be professional yet genuine, don’t be afraid to let your unique personality sine!

Pssst – you can follow me here! Let me know if you’re a Pinterest VA, and I’ll follow you back! Also, you can follow me on Pinterest, and journey with me as I completely rebrand my business!

If you feel like this opportunity is calling you, I absolutely think you should go for it. It takes work, but be encouraged, there’s enough room for all of us Pinterest VAs to be successful. It’s exactly like they say, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” ♥