The Ultimate Work at Home Opportunity: Start Your Own Virtual Assistance Business
One of the hottest business endeavors today is virtual assistance.
Starting your own virtual assistant business is relatively inexpensive,
and armed with the proper information and determination, you can
excel in this growing field.
Why start a virtual assistance business? Simple: With the everchanging
face of business in the 21st century, there is only one thing
that remains certain: businesses - particularly small businesses and
independent professionals - are always in need of high-quality
assistance ranging from data entry and transcription to legal advice
and tax counsel. Many times small businesses simply can't afford to
hire employees to take care of the nitty-gritty details for which they
don't have time, and oftentimes small businesses need help, just not
full-time help.
Also, if you've ever worked in business, you're aware that businesses
are always in search of ways to cut costs and save money. Virtual
assistants do just that. We'll look at how virtual assistants help save
businesses money in a few minutes, but first let's answer the
question: what exactly is a virtual assistant?
Quite simply, a virtual assistant is an individual who provides services
for businesses or professionals over the Internet. Communication is
generally done online-although there may be phone conversations
as well. Files are sent back and forth via email or fax, and completed
work is returned the same way.
Virtual assistants may have clients in their hometown and they may
have clients across the country or halfway around the world. There is
no limit to where a virtual assistant can work or what services she
can offer. Virtual assistants often never even meet their clients faceto-
face.
Finally, virtual assistants generally do not work for only one business
or one professional, instead working for numerous clients, whether
long-term or on a one-time basis.
As a virtual assistant, you can offer a plethora of services. Think
about your strong points. Are you an accomplished secretary? Is
desktop publishing your forte? Do you have a law background that
would allow you to offer legal assistance? The possibilities for the
services you can offer really are endless.
You can offer as many or as few services as you'd like. Just make
sure you are strong in the services you are going to offer. It's
obviously better to offer one service in which you excel rather than a
handful of services in which your expertise is only marginal.
Let's take a list of the services a Virtual Assistant can offer.
Remember this is only a partial list, and you may think of many more
services you can offer.
. Accounting
. Bookkeeping
. Data entry
. Desktop Publishing
. Dictation
. Event Planning
. Internet Research
. Legal
. Mailing
. Marketing
. Phone support
. Proofreading
. Secretarial
. Transcription (medical, legal, etc.)
. Translation
. Travel Arrangements
. Web site design and maintenance
. Word Processing
How much can you expect to earn?
How much you earn depends in large part on how much you will
charge. Some virtual assistants charge as little as $10 per hour while
others charge as high as $50 per hour. However, the current average
rate ranges from $25-$35 an hour. There are several factors you'll
want to consider when setting your rates.
First, do some market research. For example, if your virtual assistant
business is going to be offering data entry, research what other
virtual assistants in your area are charging clients per hour for data
entry. You can find other virtual assistant businesses by doing an
online search, using the phone book or checking with your local
Chamber of Commerce.
You also want to assess your level of experience. If you're a beginner
then you certainly won't want to charge as much as if you have ten
years of solid experience behind you. As you gain more and more
experience, you'll be able to raise your rates.
Once you determine the average going rate and factor in your
experience level, you'll want to set your own rates. The key is to find
a so-called happy medium. You don't want to set your rates too high,
or you'll price yourself out of the market. On the other hand, you
don't want to set your rates too low, otherwise you'll likely raise
some eyebrows. If you charge too low, potential clients are going to
wonder why? Are you inexperienced? Are you unreliable? Why are
your rates so low? Remember the old saying, "You get what you pay
for." Your potential clients will likely be thinking that as well.
If you're offering specialized services, such as legal or web design,
you'll likely charge much higher per hour rates.
Instead of charging a per hour rate, you may want to charge on a
per project basis. If you choose to do so, you'll want to consider
several factors including an estimated number of hours the project
will take, expenses (long distance phone calls, travel, etc.) and scope
of the project.