virtual assistant

Make Money as a Virtual Assistant

by Work at Home Magazine

Make Money as a Virtual Assistant

Did you know you can earn money as a virtual assistant, even from your kitchen table? A desk and/or an office is obviously preferred, but you can start at the kitchen table. With an internet connection and a computer, you can provide a much needed service to clients from around the world. Best of all, you can be online and working in just a few hours. You can be a virtual assistant!

1. What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is a person who provides administrative type help to clients online. Rather than working in an actual office environment, the virtual assistant works online instead. As a virtual assistant, you would communicate with your clients by email, Skype , or a project management system.

You can specialize the services you might offer. For example, you might manage a forum or an affiliate team, you might answer and send emails, you might update blogs, you might write content, you might answer support questions, etc. Also you might provide a variety of administrative services, such as handling the accounting needs of a client. You can also specialize in an industry, a particular niche topic, or a particular service.

2. What You Need to Get Started as a Virtual Assistant

Computer and AT&T internet connection
Software to support your administrative services (such as Microsoft Word)
Phone with a headset (so you can talk hands-free)
Website and/or blog to promote the services you offer (no free sites!)
Business PayPal account

You probably already have a computer and internet connection. The rest can be acquired quickly. You might not have a website or blog yet, so you will want to buy a domain name and get hosting. The best place to buy a domain name is GoDaddy.com and the best place to host a domain name is with HostGator.com. A simple website is all you need to get started. After you have clients, you might want to expand your website by adding a blog. You might also add content describing more in detail about your services to help grow your business.

3. How to Make Money as a Virtual Assistant

Most virtual assistants charge for their services by the hour. But you might consider charging by the service itself or by the project. If you are doing writing, blog posting, articles, or audio, you might consider charging by the minute, by the word, or by the post … depending on what type of service you are providing. For example, if you are providing transcription, you may wish to charge by the audio minute. Obviously, the more services you offer, the more money you could make. Be careful not to branch out so far that you overwhelm yourself.

4. Marketing and Promoting Your Administrative Business

Like most other businesses, it might be better for you if you chose to specialize in what services you provide clients. For example, you may promote yourself as a 24 hour transcriptionist – making sure clients know that you always turn around any transcription order in less than twenty four hours. You could specialize in managing affiliates, scheduling, or managing customer service. You could also specialize in a particular industry. For example, you may wish to focus on offering research for information marketers.

Your website and/or blog will be your main marketing tool. It will be where potential clients can check out your services, your rates, and view your work samples or testimonials from other clients. Because of this, you will want your website to look nice, professional, and neat (no icky clutter). This is also the reason you want to stay away from free sites and free blogs. They simply do not look professional.

You might consider being a partner with another virtual assistant, as this can be a smart way to help market your business. For example, you may consider being a partner with a website designer who specializes in the same industry you do, if you do not offer website designing as part of your business.

Social media, advertising, and content marketing all help to promote you, too. Have a Twitter account and a Facebook page for your business. Remember the idea is to get the word out about your virtual assistant business!

Last, some virtual assistants find wonderful success by offering memberships to their service, or being on retainer. For example, you could offer five, ten and fifteen hour memberships, or a even a lifetime retainer. Offer clients a discount for committing to ongoing regular work.

If you want to offer virtual administrative services and you want to work from home (even from your kitchen table), you can do it. Decide what services you want to offer, put your ideas down on paper, organize your ideas, get a website going, let people know about you and your services, and start making money in just a few hours.

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How to Provide Typing Services and Office Support Services from Your Home

by Work at Home Magazine

How to Provide Typing Services and Office Support Services from Your Home

An office support business or secretarial service business is one of the best home based businesses for people with administrative skills. Office support services can include typing services, secretarial services and virtual assisting. You will perform secretarial services, typing services and clerical functions similar to the work office assistants and secretaries perform every day in an office.

If you already have a computer and printer, it’s inexpensive to start an office support business from home.

There is plenty of work. Many business owners don’t have the time to handle the routine tasks involved in running their business. They use secretarial services, virtual assistants, administrative assistants and other office support people to perform routine computer work, typing work, and other repetitive tasks. That is why secretarial services, virtual assistant and other office support businesses can run profitable home businesses. The more skills you have, the more services you can provide and the more money you can make.

If you’re reading this article and are interested in an office support business, you probably already have the basic skills required of an office assistant, virtual assistant or home-based secretary.

To provide typing work from home, you must have typing skills, computer skills and be proficient with a major word processing program like Microsoft Word. You must have good organization skills and be able to prioritize the work you’ll be getting.

If you have been looking for typing work from home, have good typing skills and are interested in starting your own home business, here are a few tips to get you started.

You will need office equipment such as a computer, desk, printer and telephone. Having voice mail or an answering machine will help to get your messages when you’re away from your desk. Today, you can also get caller ID which will tell you who called and didn’t leave a message. I recommend having a telephone line you use exclusively for your business.

Most secretarial services and virtual assistants find their clients through word of mouth, networking, referrals and advertising in local newspapers and on the internet.

It’s easy to start a office support business, secretarial service, typing service or virtual assistant business. The start-up cost is low. If you’re serious about doing typing work from home, consider starting your own secretarial service business or virtual assistant business.

The Secretarial Business-in-a-Box provides everything you need to start and run a successful home-based secretarial business and cash in on the high demand for secretarial services. Visit www.startasecretarialservice.com.

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How to Make Money With Your Own Virtual Assistant Business

by Work at Home Magazine

How to Make Money With Your Own Virtual Assistant Business

So you want to start your own virtual assistant business. Great! I assume you want to start your own VA business not only to own your own business, but also to make money. More and more businesses are outsourcing and paying VA’s, and there is no reason why you can’t be one of them.

You’ve got your business name, all the office equipment you need, and you’ve got the determination to make your business a success. So now the big question is, how do you go about finding clients?

What Type of Services Will You Provide?

We all have certain areas where our talents and interests lie. You have so many choices as to what areas you want to special in. There’s a good chance you already have experience in some of the specialty areas. Maybe you don’t even realize all of the areas VA’s are working in.

Here’s just a small sampling of the services you could offer:

Administration
Writing services (technical or creative)
Proofreading and editing, research (online or traditional)
Scheduling
Bill paying
Simple website design
Newsletter distribution
Reminder services
Event planning
Concierge services
Research
Data processing/data management
Desktop publishing
Transcription services
Mail and email services
Telephone/fax services
Internet services
Bookkeeping
Purchasing services
Marketing services
Personal services

Once you know the types of services you are going to offer, it’s time to find you some clients.

What to Charge

It isn’t too hard to figure out what to charge. Start by contacting local support service businesses in your area. Ask them if they can send you a price list. Get several of these to learn what everyone else is charging. You don’t want to charge too much and you don’t want to under price yourself so you look like you don’t do great work. Find the happy medium and go with that amount. Prices are not set in stone. If you have to change your prices down the road, so be it.

Get Some Business Cards

If you want to look professional, make sure you get your business cards right away. You never know when you might meet someone who needs the services you’re offering. When that time comes, all you need to do is pull out your card and hand it to them. Never be without your business cards!

Here are some great sites where you can get business cards from free to as low as $10 for 250 cards.

(Click on FREE business cards – Professional business cards free)

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250 FREE Business Cards – Get your FREE Cards today!

Tell Your Circle of Friends and Family About Your Business

Since you already have a relationship with your family and friends, don’t forget to tell them about your new VA business. While your brother might not need your services, there’s a good chance that he might know someone who does. You can start networking right away with those you already know.

Think about designing a letter or oversized postcard about your service and send it to everyone you know. Maybe even include a picture of yourself, the name of your business, the services you offer and ask that if they can’t use your service, to please recommend your business to others who might.If you send a letter, include a couple of your business cards for passing on to your possible clients.

Send Out Press Releases

A press release is a great way to start your business off with a bang. I want to mention here though that a press release is not something you just send out when you open your business. I’ll talk more about this a little later.

Here is a sample of a press release template:

http://www.press-release-writing.com/press-release-template.htm

Where to send your press releases:

Local Newspapers
Local Business Publications
Local Radio Talk Shows
Local TV News Stations

PrWeb is a free online site that you can use to send out press releases and you can pick what area you want your press release to be distributed to.

Other reasons to send out a press release:

You’re offering a new service
Launching a website for your business
You’ve won a high profile client account or contract
You’ve had an unusual challenge or adversity and
overcome it; especially when others thought it couldn’t be done.
You participate in a fundraising event or you are to
serve in a charitable organization.
You’re offering or sponsoring a workshop, seminar, or conference
If you’re changing the company name, location, web
address, or product name

I’m The Answer to Your Problem

Convincing your future clients that they should hire you might seem a little scary at first. But once you build more clients, and they start telling you what a godsend you are, your confidence level is going to soar.

Here are some convincing ideas to consider…

Tell your future client why they need you. Maybe you work odd hours, or you have very reasonable rates. Go over the services you offer and why you are so good at what you do.

Explain to the client what skills you possess, your background, and your education.

You can help your client catch-up on a backlog of work that other employees aren’t able to get to.

You offer reduced costs and expenses for your client. They don’t have to pay you benefits or sick time.

You will help their business grow with your marketing techniques.

Thanks to the technology that is currently available, using your services will save the client money. Explain that you reduce overhead. They only pay you for work completed. They aren’t paying someone if there is no work to do. Plus your client doesn’t have to pay for sick or holiday time, or for health benefits.

It won’t be long until you’re confidence, strong and bright, shines through. You won’t have any problems explaining to a future client that you are the right person for the job, or that you are the solution to their problems.

So What Are You Waiting For?

Making money in a virtual assistant business can be done. Full time VA’s are making about $38.000 a year. This year, why can’t that VA be you?

For more information about this business visit: Bizymoms.com

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How to Become a Successful Virtual Assistant

by Work at Home Magazine

How to Become a Successful Virtual Assistant

Companies are using outsourcing as a way to lower their costs. This is good news for those who work from home. One opportunity it creates is for the virtual assistant.

What is a virtual assistant? Many might think of them as glorified secretaries but they are so much more than that. A virtual assistant is an entrepreneur that can do everything from sending out letters to managing websites to managing your marketing campaign. They do it all and operate away from the office.

If you are thinking about becoming a virtual assistant, consider a few things first. What is your working background? What skills can you offer that would be in high demand? Do you manage your time wisely?

All of these points are important for the virtual assistant. Your clients will not only be large companies but smaller ones, writers, self-employed individuals, website owners and an entire host of others. Your client base is dependent on the arsenal of skills at your command.

As with any business, you need a plan. Your plan will include what skills you hope to offer to your clients. There are basic skillsets that most virtual assistants offer such as those you would perform as an executive assistant: mailing correspondence, answering emails, organizing documents and such. But, beyond that, is where you will set your virtual assisting business apart from others.

The new virtual assistant offers his or her expertise in a number of growing fields. Companies or individuals with online enterprises need someone to run the website, compound data into various programs, deal with legal or tax issues and many other services. One road to success begins with specializing or nicheing into a specific area such as real estate, medical services, legal or financial services. With your knowledge of the jargon and workings of these industries you become a valuable asset to anyone looking for help.

Get credentialed. There are several reputable virtual assisting courses of study online to get you started on the right track. The programs teach how to set up a business, business ethics and the finer points of operating as a virtual assistant. Formal training lends credibility to your business and inspires trust in clients.

Make yourself visible. No one will hire you if they don’t know that you exist. The best thing about virtual assisting is that you can live thousands of miles away from your clients as long as you are connected in some way. As such, use the Internet to build your business base. Set up a website of your own to advertise your services.

This is your window on the world. Showcase your work experience. Use testimonials from past clients. List what services you plan to offer.

Virtual assisting is a booming business. As an entrepreneur, you are providing a much needed service to others.

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What is a Virtual Assistant?

by Work at Home Magazine

A virtual assistant, or VA, is an administrative professional who outsources his or her administrative talents and experience to small business, individuals and corporations for a long or short-term period. Most virtual assistants have several years of experience in the corporate world, and bring to their business the training and experience accumulated during those years. Many administrators who leave the corporate world to start their own virtual assistant business do so because they are motivated to achieve and want to influence how their talents are used and developed. Virtual assistants are known for continually developing their administrative skills, business knowledge, and keeping up with leading edge technology to provide you, the client, with professional and reliable virtual service.

Virtual Assistants In Business

Virtual assistants are not employees. VAs are small business owners who work with you to support your business goals and needs. When you contract a virtual assistant, you receive expert and flexible administrative support, provided through popular and leading edge technology. VAs are business owners themselves and understand why you and your business need professional, timely, reasonably priced service. Because the client’s satisfaction is key to the success of a virtual assistant business, you can expect solid and reliable performance on a continuing basis.

Though virtual assistants can be engaged for an occasional project, their potential is best realized in ongoing business relationships with their clients. Over time, your virtual assistant will become more familiar with the workings of your business, so he or she can better support you and add to your success.

History of Virtual Assistants

The history of virtual assistants, as they are defined today, is only a few years old. Though “work-at-home secretaries” existed in the 1980s, the technology was not available for the industry to be truly virtual. The true virtual assistant began to emerge in 1995, after the explosive growth of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the mid-1990s. Through the Internet, faxes, and the telephone, these pioneers proved time and again that they could fully support their clientele virtually, from their home offices.

Virtual Assistants Today

The virtual assistant industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The many small businesses and entrepreneurs of today’s business world have found virtual assistants to be an invaluable resource.

Virtual assistants have come a long way from being “work at home” secretaries. They can be writers, proofreaders, editors, database creators, researchers, marketers, web designers … The list of possibilities is as diverse as the people who enter the VA industry. Business owners and independent professionals are realizing they no longer have to do everything on their own and are hiring virtual assistants to take care of tasks they no longer have time for, or that they don’t enjoy doing.

Where Is The VA Industry Going?

At one time, a common question was, “What’s a virtual assistant?” Now people are asking, “Who’s your virtual assistant?”

The current trend in business outsourcing means that the role of virtual assistants will become more significant in the future. As technology develops and business need grows, a virtual assistant may become a vital part of every successful business.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

D. L. Willms works from her home as a virtual assistant. Visit her blog Virtual Assistant Resources to find virtual assistant articles, tools, news and resources.

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Virtual Assistant: How To Find Virtual Assisting Gigs

by Work at Home Magazine

By: Stacey Wockenfuss

Today I am going to tell you a couple quick resources for finding virtual assisting and other WAH gigs whether you are just starting out or established in your niche market.

I always tell my coaching clients that it’s important to spend as much time looking for VA gigs or WAH jobs as you would be putting into your business. That means, if you want to work 20 hours a week, then you should be spending 20 hours a week looking for clients, gigs, and promoting and advertising yourself.

It’s that simple. Trust me I know how hard it can be to stay motivated when you aren’t getting any bites or offers (I have been there many times). I have also found myself in unwanted predicaments where I have had a client flake on payments, ect. I have been able to replace them quickly and easily by implementing my own promotional methods detailed below. If you put in the effort you will get a huge return.

Where do you get your clients?

This is by far the question I get asked the most by email and phone. It’s really easy to find clients if you know the right places to look and how to promote yourself. Here are a few tips and tricks you should always follow:

1. Have a Website

If you don’t have website then you are way behind everyone else in the game. This is by far the most important thing to consider when opening up your VA practice.

A website shows that you are a professional, you mean business, and you have established yourself in the industry. It also gives potential clients a starting place to check out your rates, abilities, and overall skill set.

A website doesn’t have to be fancy. I started off with a simple one page site hosted FREE by my ISP. If you don’t have the funds to get a hosted site, check out your ISP they usually have free pages you can use.

2. Check Out the Online Bidding Sites

I know there are a lot of established VA’s out there that suggest you steer clear of elance and guru.com. But let me tell you something…Guru.com is one of my best friends J. Without the clients that I have gotten from there, I would not have such a thriving business.

It’s a great way to get established in the industry and get some great paying clients. And the fees aren’t over the top. I personally have never used elance, but I have known a few VA’s who have received work from the site.

You aren’t going to get any clients if you don’t have any experience. And you aren’t going to have an experience if you can’t land a client. You know what I am saying?

A word to the wise: These are bidding sites, so be careful with the rates that you charge. That’s not saying that you can’t make $20 or even $30 + an hour with clients from these sites (because I have and do). But realize that there is higher competition out there and most people who post projects on here are going to want to pay between $8-$15 dollars an hour.

I have been on both sides of the picture posting jobs and bidding on gigs, so I have a pretty good understanding of going rates and how the process works.

3. Craigslist

I absolutely love Craigslist. If I could kiss Craig, I would, LOL Not only can you find clients, but you can promote your services as well. So you are probably asking, just how do I do that?

Simple, you post ads under the “services” and “small business ads” section talking about who you are, the services you offer, and your contact info.

Note: Make yourself stand out. You need to look and act like a professional at all times. What usually works for me is something similar to a cover letter stating who I am, why I am in the industry, my skill set, and my contact info.

Don’t post only 1 to 2 sentences saying something like “I am a stay at home mom that wants VA clients, please contact me blah blah blah. Clients and business won’t hire you or contract your services. They want to know you are a professional, you know what you are doing, and that you mean business.

I will give you a few secrets that I use when looking for clients, search in gigs, ecetera, computer jobs, admin jobs, ect. Use terms like work at home, virtual assisting, contract work, ect. You will get really good at coming up with search terms and spotting scams.

4. CrazedList.org

Crazedlist.org is an awesome resource when searching Craigslist. You can search all the cities in the US on the same terms. Like I stated above, be creative when using search terms and learn how to spot a scam. If there is very little detail given in the ad, it’s probably a scam. If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Remember, nothing ever comes easy. Sometimes it takes a whole lot of effort to get where you want to be and that includes tears, frustration, and sometimes the desire to give up. But if you continue on your path, and keep your eye on the prize, you will eventually get to where you want to be…Even if you have to get scratched and bruised along the way.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

About the Author: Stacey Wockenfuss is a professional virtual assistant who specializes in the advancement of internet marketers and online businesses. She can be reached at stacey@TheSuccessfulInternetMarketer.com or by visiting her website at www.freelanceclericalservices.com or www.thesuccessfulinternetmarketer.com

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Virtual Assistant Starter Kit

by Work at Home Magazine

Have you been searching for the right business idea and haven’t found anything that really suits you? Maybe you don’t like product sales or you don’t have the schedule and support to work weekends as a party planner or photographer.

There is one home business that can be done by anyone with basic computer skills and great office and communication skills. That’s a Virtual Assistant.

There are people around the world working as Virtual Assistants. Small businesses love contracting out work and they don’t mind that you’re not local.

But, how do you get started in this business?

All the information you need to get started is in the “VA Starter Pack”.

When you order and receive your guide you’ll have an easy plan of action to get started with a business you really love. You’ll also have the benefit of running a business that you can do from home, around YOUR schedule.

Visit the site now to check out the Guide.

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Making Money as a Virtual Assistant: Having a Work at Home Business as a Virtual Assistant

by Work at Home Magazine Businesses

The internet has made being a virtual assistant one of the hottest new work at home businesses. The low startup cost and great income potential make being a virtual assistant one of the easiest home business to break into. A virtual assistant is someone that works out of their home to do work for their [...]

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