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My Honest Review : 4.5 / 5
Quality
ease of use
support
Cost
Looking to jumpstart your freelancing career? This review of Filipino Virtual Assistance (FVA) and its freelancing courses was made way back 2020. Since then, the company has rebranded as SURGE and expanded its services. It's time for a revisit to reflect on their core strengths and commitment in freelance training.
FVA in a nutshell:
- Offers online courses in various freelancing skills like social media management, SEO, and e-commerce.
- Provides training and coaching to help you build your freelance portfolio and secure online jobs.
- Transitions successful graduates to their freelance apprenticeship program, offering real-world experience.
- Recently rebranded as SURGE.
Founder: JAY AND GRACE LOCSIN
Check my updated review of Surge >>> Surge Academy Online Courses and Enrollment: A Comprehensive Review of FVA
About the founders
Couple Jay and Grace Locsin are the Co-Founders, and owners of Filipino Virtual Assistance. They are from Davao City, Philippines and are also both coaches of FVA. They founded FVA in August 2016.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
What is filipino virtual assistance(FVA)
FVA (now SURGE ) offers online courses to freelancers, virtual assistance services to brands and businesses and franchising opportunities. They have more than 15 trainers and they are now expanding globally. Having more than ten franchisees, they are also offering services to both local and international clients.
What's offered:
- Freelancing courses: A diverse range of courses from basics to specialized skills. They offer In-depth courses that dives into specific freelancing areas like Amazon course, Facebook ads, and web development and more.
- Virtual assistance services: SURGE provides assistance to diverse clients.
- Apprenticeship program: Gain hands-on experience working with FVA clients remotely
- Work opportunities: Graduates can apply for freelance gigs with FVA clients.
The Academy
After enrolling a course with FVA, you'll be given access to the academy site where a coaching lounge is sited. Coaching lounge contains the pre-recorded video lessons, notes, tools to be used and the portfolios. A separate file will be sent to you for the attendance record.
You are also advised to join their community via Facebook - FVA Family and Filipino Virtual Assistance. You can get all the updates here, support and job opportunities.
A free apprenticeship program is offered to those who completed the course. If you wish to pursue on this stage, You will get the best opportunity to work with their clients.
Firstly, you'll have a trial phase wherein you will work for the FVA business consultancy doing hands-on task. Later on, you will be working with their brands and businesses that FVA monitors and will rate your performance. The apprenticeship program lasts for a month with no pay.
Filipino Virtual Assistance offers the following courses at minimal costs.
In-Depth Courses: List of Courses Offered
Services:
Filipino Virtual Assistance assists brands and businesses of all types of virtual assistance needs. They offer virtual services to clients and business owners and work opportunities to FVA graduates.
After finishing the academy course and the apprenticeship program, you can apply as a virtual assistant and start a career with FVA. Salary starts at $3 per hour on probation for three months and will grow after with benefits like HMO, insurance, SSS, Pag-ibig and more.
Freelancing course guide:
Week 1: Virtual Assistance Set-up
Week 2: Social Media Management and Marketing
Week 3: Simple Web-site Creation, Optimization and Management
Online Writing and Marketing
SEO
Week 4: Bonus Lessons
HOW does the FVA Courses works
Course Structure:
- Live & pre-recorded sessions: Weekly live sessions plus access to 20 pre-recorded lessons and portfolios.
- Attendance tracking: Live sessions are tracked, but recordings are available for missed sessions.
- Deadlines & assignments: Submit portfolios within the given timeframe.
- Course completion: Finish in one month for a gold certificate, with extensions available for silver and bronze certifications.
1. Sessions
There are two kinds of sessions provided in the course. One is a live session using GoToWebinar which happens every week on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm, and the other one is pre-recorded sessions accompanied by 20 lessons and portfolios available at the academy site which can be accessed anytime. Sessions are grouped by batch and by the course taken. A group usually consist of more than 100 students depending on the number of enrollees they have.
2. Attendance is checked
Once a week, you will receive an email with a link to join the live sessions with your designated coach. The online meeting happens once a week every Tuesday. It is a one-hour session that starts at 9:00 pm. Attendance is checked and recorded online on a shared file with limited access to enrollees per batch only. Sessions are recorded and posted after 24 hours at the "coaching lounge" in the online academy site for students who cannot attend the live sessions.
3. Assignments with deadlines
The course is composed of 20 lessons that correlate to 20 portfolios or assignments to be submitted on certain deadlines. These portfolios are your output for every lesson learned in the course. Assignments are submitted by sending your output file through the coach/mentors email address. Sample portfolios and guides are available at the academy site for your reference.
4. Course completion
It takes one month to finish the course. With the 20 portfolios given, 15 are required to complete the course and get certification from FVA. The other five portfolios are optional but are very useful for every aspiring freelancer. If you're able to finish the course in one month, you will receive a gold certificate. If not, you will still be given a chance to submit it within three weeks to get the gold certificate otherwise you'll receive silver for four weeks and bronze for five weeks after the given deadline.
5. Apprenticeship and possible work opportunities
After completing the course, you have the option to join the apprenticeship program of FVA. While in the program, you will be assisting FVA Business Consultancy and other businesses with hands-on tasks. You will work remotely just like a real freelancer giving you more exposure and possible work opportunities. You are required to devote 20 hours per week for one month to earn an apprenticeship certificate.
6. One year free access to the Academy site
You have one year access to the enrolled course in the academy site. After a year, you can continue to gain access by paying a re-access fee.
Enrolling to a freelancing course at Filipino Virtual Assitance(FVA) is very helpful to new aspiring freelancers. If you want to start it right and invest in learning, this the right place to grow. It's all worth it.
If you're looking to start working from home and become a freelancer, FVA is an excellent starting point. With their guidance and support, you can build the skills and confidence to succeed in the freelance world.
Remember: Check their website for more reviews and testimonials to get a deeper understanding of FVA's impact on its students.
From FVA to SURGE - check our latest review of SURGE to reflect the changes and offer a fresh perspective on what they offer now.
Here are some alternative online platforms that also offer quality freelancing courses.
- Skillshare
- Udemy
- Fiverr
Here are some useful articles that you might like:
1. How to Start Working from Home and Do Freelancing
2. The Pros and Cons of Freelancing
3. Ultimate Home Office Setup Checklist
4. Exploring the Diverse World of Freelancing: 11 Best Freelance Jobs to Kickstart Your
Career in 2024
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