Starting a Virtual Assistant Business

Good clear details on how to start a VA business. This is a not a new or very young business as 'Teleworking' has been in existence for many years in the UK and more and more companies are allowing their staff to work from home. 'REAL' VAs are true businesses who work from home or rented offices and give a highly professional service - when you do not meet your client face to face you have to give that little extra to keep a client and that is what VAs certainly do.

by Audrey Hoffman

If you're organized, smart, capable and willing to work with deadlines, you could start a virtual assistance business and cash in on your skills without having to commit to an employer (you'd be your own boss instead) or the "cube life". A VA (virtual assistant) is basically like an administrative assistant (or whatever duties need to be filled, such as writing, link building etc) that serves in a virtual capacity. What this means is that they are independent contractors, and not employees of individual companies.

VA's get to set their own rates, their own hours and most importantly, get to pick and choose as to who they will and won't take as clients. They can choose what duties they are willing to perform and what duties are not in the repertoire. They can start their own VA firms or gain business through those already established. And with the boom of the Internet, virtual assistants are in becoming more and more utilized by companies around the globe.

According to the Virtual Business Alliance, virtual assisting (of whom most are female) will be a 130 billion dollar industry before the year 2008. In fact, many women see the trend and are entering the field with high hopes of where they can be a few years from now.

Christina Cole is the owner of http://www.virtualcontentandmore.com/ - a virtual assisting business who caters primarily to webmasters looking for content and link development services - and has found being a VA to be very rewarding. "I started my business by doing odd services for friends of mine who owned multiple websites and became overwhelmed due to too many things needing to be done and not enough time. I liked the work and before I knew it, those friends had referred me to friends and I had a full time booming business."

<< Previous    [1]  2    Next >>