The New Year looks like it's getting better every day. I have just secured another client which is fantastic.
Now as a working mum of 4 children, I know that balancing my home/work life is going to be one of my major tasks this year. But that is one of the best things about being a Virtual Office Assistant and working freelance for myself. I get to set my working hours, I get to choose which projects to take on and which ones are beyond my capabilities. Having this amount of freedom is so rewarding I get the best of both worlds. If home life is going through some hard times and I need to concentrate more on my family I can just cut back at will and put my efforts into my family. Likely for me at the moment my family life is running just as smoothly as it could be, so I am able to put all my efforts into my work.
Being a Virtual Office Assistant and being able to balance things is incredibly important when working from home; you need to set ridged boundaries between work and family, sometimes these boundaries get a little blurred and family life can suffer. Knowing when to turn off the phones and laptop and have quality time with your kids can become a major battle, especially in the beginning stages of setting up as you can get so involved in what you’re doing.
Thankfully for me after having a year of setting up and establishing boundaries, this year should be a little easier for me. I have now set my boundaries and worked out my time schedule, now all I have to do is stick to it and this year could be a great year.
Having been a Virtual Office Assistant for exactly a year now, I thought it was time to sit back and reflect on how the past year has gone the ups and downs, gains and losses. It has been an eventful year with some very tough times but also some very rewarding times too.
When I first decided to do this in December 2008 I think I was seen as a little mad by friends and relatives as I think they thought that setting up a business in the middle of a recession was not the best idea that I have ever had. However this is exactly the reason why I thought it would be a good idea. Other business would be struggling and having to cut cost and everyone knows that when businesses cut costs staff get laid off, but that work that those members of staff do still needs to be done and that’s where the idea of hiring a freelance virtual office assistant because appealing to employers. No overhead costs but the job still gets done.
This was my inspiration for setting up.
The first six months were filled up mainly by buying equipment advertising and basically getting my name and face out there. This became very tiresome and hard work with what felt like very little reward. I was spending every given moment I had on my laptop trying to find my first client; I had joined every online networking group and all the online freelance agency where I could bid for projects.
Eventually after about 9 months my break came and I finally secured my first client. It was such a relief.
After a huge learning curve and a lot of wasted money on things I didn't really need and advertising that didn't work, things are now looking up.
It has been a tough year but a very exciting adventure and I am very pleased I made the decision to become a Virtual Office Assistant.
Here is to a prosperous New Year!
Running your own successful business can bring with it a tiresome amount of administrative duties. These duties take up the precious time you could be spending generating new revenue and growing your business.
The answer of course is to employ a Personal Assistant or an Admin/Clerical Assistants to take over these duties so you can then manage your time working on your business.
Sometimes however, with small businesses either established or just starting out this is not a viable option, you may have numerous reason as to why you do not wish to employ an assistant, such as no office space or not a big enough budget, but what then can you do to stop yourself getting bogged down with all the admin tasks running a business brings?
The solution to your problem is to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA).
Virtual Assistants could be the way forward for you.
VA’s offer a wide range of virtual services and skills from general Clerical and Admin tasks to Web-based Marketing, Writing, Book-keeping and much more.
Virtual Assistant’s are self-employed, freelance workers; they usually work on a ‘fee for the project’ basis or ‘pay by the hour’ basis. This is good as it means that you only ever have to pay your VA for the work he/she completes for you. You don’t have to worry about sickness pay, holiday pay, insurance or any of those extra responsibilities that come with having an employee.
Virtual Assistants are efficient and professional and aim to deliver a first class service to you, their client.
All VA services are conducted via telephone or email basically all correspondence is carried out electronically, this means that you can hire a VA from anywhere in the world.
In addition you don’t have to provide any workspace or equipment. When hiring a VA.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is cost effective easy way of getting those extra tasks done and all round money saver for any growing business.
Finding a reputable Virtual Assistant couldn’t be easier, there are thousands to choose from, there are many VAs to be found on the internet many having particular areas they specialize in, where as some VAs offer a more general clerical and administrative service
and many freelance sites where VA’s advertise... www.getafreelancer.com, www.elance.com , www.guru.com and many more. These sites are a platform for job providers and job seekers to interact and communicate.
Why go through all the trouble of interviewing and hiring an employee, when you could easily save time and money and have a professional Virtual Assistant to do those tasks only if and when they are needed.
So you have made the decision to start your own small business.
First of all congratulations on knowing your goal!
What Kind of Small business do you want to have?
Deciding on what kind of business you want to start up can be tricky, whether you wish it to be solely a virtual business or whether you wish it to be part virtual and part face to face will depend on the type of product you will be selling. If you not too good at face to face stuff then it would be safe to assume that you would probably be going for a virtually based business, and there are plenty of them out there to choose from.
For your business venture to thrive you MUST make sure there is a market for your product or service. Internet research is a good and sufficient way of doing this. Once you know your product/service has a viable market the planning can begin.
Building Your Website
Creating your own website is achievable and doesn’t necessarily need to be expensive. Make sure your website is simple, clean and to the point, presenting your product or service in the best possible light.
You also want to have a friendly site which is easy to navigate and where contact information is clear concise and easily reached.
If however, you are unable to create your own website you can easily search online for Web Designers, find a reputable company with fantastic testimonials that you feel you can trust or ask friends and family for advice and recommendations.
Next Step: Marketing
Marketing is of the utmost importance if you want your business to succeed, I cannot stress enough how important this is!
Marketing is the tool that gets your business seen and heard, without marketing you will find yourself struggling with no customers or clients.
Sites like Google Ad words are a great way of advertising these types of sites manage on a ‘pay per click’ basis which is great as you only have to pay when someone clicks on the link to your website.
It is also a good idea to navigate your way through different discussion forums, these are a great place to introduce yourself, your business and your website, you can build your contacts to network with which is always a great help. Always inform family and friends of your business, you never know if they might be interested or even know someone else who may benefit from the product or service you are offering.
There is also the option of finding a company that specialize in search engine optimization (SEO) Basically their job is to improve the volume of traffic to your website from search engines such as Yahoo and Google.
Have Patience
No business succeeds over night. Be sure to have patience and be realistic about what you expect.
Determination and passion is key as well as lots of enthusiasm when starting your own small business.
That said, starting your small business from scratch can be hard work but it could also be one of the most rewarding things you have ever done!