Work At Home As A Virtual Assistant
Work At Home As A Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is anyone who provides assistance to a company or individual from his or her home or alternate location via the internet. Virtual assistants is a growing trend in these tough economic times, even though the cost of fuel is falling the recent economic problems have alerted companies that they need to cut costs and become more efficient.
A virtual assistant helps to control costs in many ways. The company or individual may not need more than a few hours of administrative assistance each week, therefore employing a person working from home means they are only paying for those few hours instead of a full time employee. This leads to reduction in benefits and vacation expenses as well.
The position of a virtual assistant also has many benefits for the assistant. They can work around other schedules, such as doctor's appointments, school conferences and even furthering education while still maintaining a fair income.
Rates will depend on your area of expertise and your experience. A sample wage range is $20 - $40 per hour. Not bad considering you are working from your home with no commuting costs and in some cases you can work in your pjs.
What your duties consist of will of course depend on the area you are working in. The job you would do as a virtual assistant for an attorney will vary greatly from a corporate executive. The important thing to remember is stick to what you know. If you are not skilled in any particular area there are training programs cropping up in many diverse places.
Getting started may be as close as your current job. Have you noticed that you could do most of your duties from your home computer? Take the idea to your boss, but have a clear picture of it before you do.
Know what you can do, how long it will take you, how you will communicate with the company, compensation, and any other concerns your boss may have. Have all the answers to the questions before they are asked and you could wake up tomorrow as a virtual assistant.
Starting from scratch will be a bit tougher but it is possible. The first thing to do is take an honest evaluation of your skill set. What are you good at and what do you enjoy doing? This is commonly called a niche. Restaurants, small business, and lawyers all are niche businesses.
Now that you know what and who, you will need to market your skills. If you have prior experience in the field ask for referrals from a previous boss, which can get your foot in the door. You will want to name your business, create a webpage and begin to sell your skills. You can do this with cold call type letters, advertising, and referral programs. Anything and everything that would get your name out there in a positive light.
The going may be slow at first, but when you have built a reputation for great service, you will be in high demand. At this point, you will be able to be choosier when it comes to clients, as well as your compensation.
Work At Home As A Virtual Assistant - To learn more about this author, visit Chris Simpson's Website.
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What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is anyone who provides assistance to a company or individual from his or her home or alternate location via the internet. Virtual assistants is a growing trend in these tough economic times, even though the cost of fuel is falling the recent economic problems have alerted companies that they need to cut costs and become more efficient.
A virtual assistant helps to control costs in many ways. The company or individual may not need more than a few hours of administrative assistance each week, therefore employing a person working from home means they are only paying for those few hours instead of a full time employee. This leads to reduction in benefits and vacation expenses as well.
The position of a virtual assistant also has many benefits for the assistant. They can work around other schedules, such as doctor's appointments, school conferences and even furthering education while still maintaining a fair income.
Rates will depend on your area of expertise and your experience. A sample wage range is $20 - $40 per hour. Not bad considering you are working from your home with no commuting costs and in some cases you can work in your pjs.
What your duties consist of will of course depend on the area you are working in. The job you would do as a virtual assistant for an attorney will vary greatly from a corporate executive. The important thing to remember is stick to what you know. If you are not skilled in any particular area there are training programs cropping up in many diverse places.
Getting started may be as close as your current job. Have you noticed that you could do most of your duties from your home computer? Take the idea to your boss, but have a clear picture of it before you do.
Know what you can do, how long it will take you, how you will communicate with the company, compensation, and any other concerns your boss may have. Have all the answers to the questions before they are asked and you could wake up tomorrow as a virtual assistant.
Starting from scratch will be a bit tougher but it is possible. The first thing to do is take an honest evaluation of your skill set. What are you good at and what do you enjoy doing? This is commonly called a niche. Restaurants, small business, and lawyers all are niche businesses.
Now that you know what and who, you will need to market your skills. If you have prior experience in the field ask for referrals from a previous boss, which can get your foot in the door. You will want to name your business, create a webpage and begin to sell your skills. You can do this with cold call type letters, advertising, and referral programs. Anything and everything that would get your name out there in a positive light.
The going may be slow at first, but when you have built a reputation for great service, you will be in high demand. At this point, you will be able to be choosier when it comes to clients, as well as your compensation.
Work At Home As A Virtual Assistant - To learn more about this author, visit Chris Simpson's Website.
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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