You Too Can Be A Virtual Assistant!

If you are looking for a business that can be run from home, financially rewarding and intellectually gratifying, try setting up a Virtual Office and becoming a Virtual Assistant. It is estimated that there are between 5,000 to 35,000 virtual assistants all over the world and the number is growing fast. Retrenched employees who were forced by the current economic downturn to set up their own business welcome the opportunity that virtual assistants offer. They also welcome the help that virtual assistants provide in running their business. Aside from giving them enormous savings in overhead expense and personnel cost, virtual assistants provide these entrepreneurs a jumpstart in their business by tapping the instant expertise that their pool of virtual workers provides.

It does not take much to set up a virtual office. A personal computer with the latest applications and a good internet connection can already launch you into business. Of course you also need a decent website to announce your presence in the market. A good business plan and well thought out marketing campaigns should be able to bring you your initial clients. Don’t hesitate to tap the services of a virtual assistant at the early stage of your business.

You do not need to be an expert in every field that your client will need services in because you can tap virtual workers. These are professionals and experts, both retired and actively employed, who are just too glad to contribute their expertise, for a fee of course.They work on a contractual basis and a long-lasting professional relationship is normal. Typically 5 years of administrative experience in such areas as executive assistant, office manager/supervisor, secretary, legal assistant, paralegal, legal secretary, real estate assistant, etc. is already adequate to meaningfully contribute to a virtual office.

You should cultivate a healthy relationship with these virtual workers because in a larger sense they are your business partners. As your business grows, their roles will become crucial. You will need a team of trusted virtual workers to entrust work overflow to. The standards of a good virtual assistant are not that easy to meet if his final products are to be acceptable to his international clients. Establishing a virtual network of quality workers is likewise not an easy task. Managing professionals and experts is never a straightforward formula. Any work overflow that you outsource from them must bear the same care and quality as your own if you want to keep your existing clients. A perceived deterioration in quality is the easiest way to lose them to your competitors.

Virtual offices create an enormous amount of personal freedom, independence and gratification for its owner and his virtual workers. The dedication and commitment that virtual workers demonstrate testify to the satisfaction derived from a home office setting. And sometimes, virtual workers look up to the virtual office for that job satisfaction that their job fails to provide simply because they are not given the opportunity to do what they want to do.

To gain and retain clients, you need to maintain your professionalism in all of your dealings with them. If it has been a leap of faith for you to give up the security of a monthly salary, it is as much a leap of faith for the business owners to embrace this new concept of outsourcing tasks to a team of virtual workers who they may not even see face-to-face. A great amount of trust is needed in this relationship and your professionalism in correspondence and phone calls will go a long way in securing their trust.

You will also have to pay meticulous attention to the accuracy of the final product that you submit to your clients even if it is produced by your best virtual worker. Meet all your deadlines, and know at least two days ahead of time if you are not going to be able to meet them. Communicate that to your client before the project is late. When something goes wrong, honesty rather than cover up is still the best policy. Keep in touch daily from the beginning to the end of all projects with brief status reports ever careful not to waste your clients’ time.

If setting up a virtual office looks daunting to you, you can start out as a virtual worker until you are able to grasp the intricacies of a virtual assistant business. Then you can go into it yourself, more confidently this time. Outsourcing as a business option is here to stay.

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