ALT-2 Working as a Virtual Assistant
Want to start a home based business? Are you wondering what skills you have that will enable you to support yourself by working from home? If you have administrative skills, you just might be cut out to work as a virtual assistant!
Have you worked in an office providing clerical or administrative support responsibilities to executives or at the departmental level? Just as professionals in office environments need skilled assistants to handle administrative duties for them, the same is true for people who run virtual business empires.
Who Hires Virtual Assistants?
With no bricks and mortar offices to house administrative support team members, internet entrepreneurs turn to the virtual workforce to find people who have the skills they need to run their businesses. Instead of hiring a full time employee, most who own virtual businesses hire one or more virtual assistants to handle important tasks like scheduling appointments, handling publicity, bookkeeping and collections, prospecting, editing, and other functions as needed.
By hiring a professional to handle these types of tasks, business owners are able to turn their attention to performing the business operations and sales tasks that require their attention if the business is to grow. Those who understand the need to hire administrative help recognize that they're better off paying a professional to work in their business so that they are free to work on growing their businesses.
What Will You Do as a Virtual Assistant?
Instead of being a dedicated assistant for one boss, if you choose to become a virtual assistant, you'll be your own boss, in charge of your own virtual assisting business. You'll decide what services you will offer and what your rate will be, and you'll be responsible for marketing yourself to clients. You'll be able to select what types of services you offer and how many clients you'll work with at any given time.
Basically, you'll become a home based business owner whose job involves providing support functions to others who are running different types of home businesses. Being a virtual assistant requires organizational ability, customer service skills, marketing savvy, and the ability to juggle tasks. Additionally, you must have in-demand skills that others are willing to pay for.
If sounds appealing to you, it may be time for you to decide if you're ready to become self employed and take the leap to becoming a self employed virtual assistant. You'll need to make decisions about your hourly rate, what type of assisting packages you may want to offer to clients who use your services on an ongoing basis, and start marketing your services. Before you take the leap, it's a good time to spend some more time investigating the field and to complete a training program designed to prepare individuals for success in this field, such as the ones available from www.vatraining.com and www.vaclassroom.com.
