If you have any administrative skills that you feel you could be putting to better use, why not find some work via your home computer?
The beauty of the internet is that you can actually work for people in lots of different countries without leaving your own home. Work is sent via email and so long as you are quick and efficient you will have a deluge of clients who are desperate to find someone who can do the job they need doing.
Why work in a stuffy office when you can work from home doing exactly the same kind of thing for a wide range of people, choosing when you want to work and taking control of your own life?
Virtual assistants are everywhere nowadays. The combination of email, online messaging systems and telephones has made it easy to keep in touch with people from all over the world. You don’t need to be able to hand someone a solid document anymore – you simply attach it to an email and off it goes, arriving in the inbox of your recipient in just a few seconds.
Virtual assistants have a wide range of skills so it doesn’t matter if you don’t have all of them; in fact it can often work in your favor if you can demonstrate that you have extensive experience in one area. For example it may be that you are an exceedingly fast typist, or a good researcher, or you have passed all your bookkeeping exams and you are qualified to help people with keeping their own records.
But how do you find the work in the first place?
The best thing to do is to visit one of the many online job sites that invite freelancers to sign up and look for work. Employers (often self employed freelancers themselves) post the work they have available and if you like the look of the job and you want to bid on it you do so, making sure you post a realistic bid and you are happy to do the work for that amount should you win the job.
Be persistent to begin with, since it may take a short while to get that first contract, but once you are off and running you will soon start winning other assignments. Most sites offer a feedback rating tool and once your feedback starts going up more people will give you the chance to work for them.
It is a good idea to join more than one site since there are a number of them around and you may find you like one more than another, or you get more work from one as compared to another. Make sure you keep accurate records of everything you do and take the time to develop a good personal profile, listing your talents, achievements and skills so that other people can read them and make a decision on whether or not to hire you.
You will often find that once you get a few paying clients they will come back to you for more work in the future. While these websites take a small commission for essentially matching clients with freelancers, in the future you will be able to work for them directly, which will make a difference to your profits.
So think about all the skills you could offer to people from home. No matter what they are, you are certain to find someone somewhere who is in dire need of them.
Before you rush off in search of those freelance sites, leave a comment below to tell us what you think of this idea. It could change your life!
I first heard about virtual assistants from the book 4 Hour Work Week and it was a cool concept. However, I imagine the prices have since climbed a bit. That’s good for those becoming VAs and not good for bloggers requiring services. Is there a generally accepted fees-for-service schedule for VAs?
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Please send or post some of the websites that offer this type of work and aren’t scams. This post could have been very beneficial to people with names of sites… Please help us if you know how.
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Thank you for giving a golden idea. As some of the above comments suggest, put some genuine and authentic websites also in the article.
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Can you list website that can help with finding this kind of work? i think this is great idea.
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Virtual assistant has been at the top of my potential biz list for a while now, and I was happy to see you write about it. Your pointers were helpful and now I will move even more in that direction. Your blog rocks… thanks.
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I would also like to receive some authentic websites for the virtual assistant position. Scams are plentiful on the web nowadays. Thanks!
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This is actually a smart idea of working. Please send some genuine web sites which helps doing this type of job.
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With widespread use of internet and more and more people willing to work from home, the scope to earn as virtual assistant will increase a lot. The employer will also get their work done for a low cost and they are not to keep employees on their pay roll.
Can you please provide some good and reliable sites where one can work as virtual assistant? It would be a lot of help for the first timers.
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Really it is a very excellent idea. Thanks for your golden idea!
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i am glad to read thi note ,it makes me thrill and to get a tension free job
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Mika Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Yep I strongly believe its the way of the future, so why not embrace it now.
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Virtual assistants are the way of the future in my field of work. No more solid bricks-and-mortar offices required – I think this is going to explode soon.
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Excellent idea!I’ve heard of this but didn’t know how to get started. Thanks for outlining the steps to go through!
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Really amazing idea. Married women like me can enjoy both office work at home and the home work too. It seems tension free too. I have good educational backgrounds and I think it can be put into use more effectively and efficiently by this way.
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I never though about becoming a virtual assistant im glad I read this. The best part is I can work from home and never have to worry about a 40 hr week job again.
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