In honor of Administrative Professionals’ Day, I would like to mention a home – based business idea that is always in demand – the Virtual Assistant. Virtual Assistants can work full time or part time, for one client or multiple clients, and on long term or short term assignments. Virtual Assistants answer phones, reply to emails, draft documents, enter data, create reports, and so much more. The best part is, they do it all from the comfort of their own homes.
If you work or have worked in an administrative capacity, becoming a Virtual Assistant is a great way to take the skills that you already have and turn them into a home – based business. If you have never worked in an administrative support role, you can learn how to become a Virtual Assistant by reading books or taking classes on the subject. People who become successful Virtual Assistants generally work well as part of a team, have good interpersonal skills, and are organized and detail oriented.
Depending upon the specific services that you decide to offer as a Virtual Assistant, your home office equipment could consist of as little as a computer and an internet connection. Many Virtual Assistants also need telephone equipment and a fax machine.
While it is best to start your Virtual Assistant business after much careful thought and writing a business plan, it is also good to know that you could get started as a Virtual Assistant very quickly if you wanted to. Thanks to freelance job web sites like Elance and oDesk, both new and experienced Virtual Assistants can find jobs and projects to bid on. If you think that you might want to work at home as a Virtual Assistant, you could start out small and try just one job or project to see how you like the work.
Photo by cohdra on morguefile.com.