Is starting a business as a Virtual Assistant the right option for you? With the recession came a great amount of stress and desperation for all types of workers; from the career executive professional to the labor, and many financial advisors responding to the crisis suggested starting a business. One industry that is still fairly new is Virtual Assistant (VA).
The VA, for the most part, does the exact same work as an assistant working for a large company or organization, however, the major difference is the VA is running their business. Services industries can be a great avenue for starting a business because often time larger corporations have to outsource some work because they are growing and simply do not have the workers or the department to fulfill their needed tasks at an affordable rate.
VA’s or virtual assistants work with business owners on a wide variety of administrative and organizational tasks. Learn more about Mark McCool here.
The challenge of becoming a VA is you can’t just take all of those skills and experience you gained working in a corporate environment and start making the same income you were earning; you have to set-up your business like anyone else. The VA needs to have a home office set-up with full telecommunication tools and office equipment. Also, the VA should have a website, as that is one of the services most VA’s offer. The most important part of creating a VA business is getting clients. Most new VAs won’t see the same income they once had until they’ve acquired enough clients to pay their hourly rates, usually much higher than a traditional assistant to cover overhead costs and insurance.
The benefits can be enormously rewarding, as VAs are business owners. As a business owner, they get to decide how things are done for the business; the marketing, the website design, and they can choose to concentrate in a specific industry, such as technology, law, or real estate. Also, the cost of start-up is very low for a business, and can quickly be recouped within the first two years. The greatest benefit to starting a VA assistant is they get to work from home and be closer to their families. You can find out more about becoming a VA.
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