Whether you are an administrative assistant who is tired of working in a cubicle, or a small business that cannot afford a fulltime administrative employee, you might consider an emerging model of freelance work: the Virtual Assistant.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
Unlike multinationals, small companies often do not have the means to afford dedicated administrative staff. The Virtual Assistant (or VA for short) provides administrative assistance remotely to multiple clients.
Instead of receiving a regular salary, Virtual Assistants work on a freelance basis and are paid per hour or per task, which allows SMEs to benefit from their expertise without hiring a fulltime employee.
Why become one?
Demand for Virtual Assistants is rapidly growing. There are many perks to this work model for someone who wishes to try a new career path in this expanding market.
Virtual Assistants usually work from home. Telecommuting gives VAs more control over their schedules. They also get to work with many different clients instead of one single company. Most importantly, they are able to make use of a very wide array of skills. Indeed, they do not restrict themselves to pure administrative work. VAs tend to provide a great variety of services, including research, social media management and website updates, to name but a few.
What are the challenges?
While there are numerous advantages for launching one’s own Virtual Assistant business, it is not necessarily an easy task.
As with all freelance work, finding clients and establishing oneself in a competitive market can be difficult. For a VA, the ability to network and to market oneself is crucial. The absence of teamwork or workplace social interaction can also be a challenge for some, as VAs mostly work on their own throughout the week. Finally, managing one’s own business and time requires discipline and dedication.
How to become a Virtual Assistant
Virtual Assistance is a flourishing work model thanks to the Internet. A wealth of resources and networking opportunities are available online. Communities such as the International Virtual Assistants Association, VANetworking and WeAreVirtualAssistants provide advice and support for VAs all over the world. Dedicated blogs and websites – like The VA Handbook – are also a great source of information. For the aspiring Virtual Assistant, there has never been a better time to create one’s own business.
Sources:
https://scottalanturner.com/how-to-become-a-virtual-assistant/
http://money.howstuffworks.com/business-communications/virtual-office-assistant.htm
http://www.thevahandbook.com/can-i-be-a-virtual-assistant/
Photo credit: Syda Production via shutterstock.com
Very interesting article! Particularly relevant in this modern area for small businesses. There is also a current trend, in certain professional fields, to downsize the 'onsite' administrative staff, mostly to avoid facilities costs. Food for thought...
I just want to tell you that I am very new to blogging and honestly savored this web blog. More than likely I’m want to bookmark your website . You really come with very good well written articles. Many thanks for sharing your web-site.
"the one problem I (and many others have) with the logitech brio which I would like to add is that every time you reset your camera/PC all your personal camera settings (gain,exposure/white balance) resets itself. Now if you know what you're doing and can remember your settings every time you want to stream etc then you'll be fine. Great video comparison dude.
"