Finding Success As A Virtual Assistant

Local Resident Finds Success As Virtual Assistant After Corporate Layoff.

Brighton, CO (PRWEB) May 1, 2005 -- Susan Marshall spent her final few years in the corporate world working from home for a boss who lived halfway across the country.

It was a perfect scenario, one that allowed her to keep doing a job she enjoyed and still be able to stay home with her children.

But when Marshall was victim of a huge layoff in 2003, she wasn't sure what to do. Then it dawned on her: become a virtual assistant. After all, that's what she had been doing for the previous three years anyway. I had essentially been a virtual assistant without even knowing it," said Marshall, who has grown her client list to six since landing her first customer in March, 2004. "Being a virtual assistant has offered me the opportunity to continue working in a field I enjoy and to be home to raise my children."

So what is a virtual assistant?
It's someone who provides administrative and personal support to small businesses, entrepreneurs and home-based businesses via electronic modes of communication (email, fax, internet, phone). Virtual assistants work from home with their own equipment, handling tasks the client either doesn't have the expertise or time to do.

Essentially, a virtual assistant allows the client to concentrate on what's important _ the moneymaking aspects of the business.

And because the virtual assistant is an independent contractor, the business owner only pays for the time he or she is actually working. That's right, no more administrative assistants sitting around reading or talking on instant messenger. Having a virtual assistant also cuts costs, as in no payroll taxes, vacations, sick days, employee benefits or use of office space, hardware and software.

Virtual assistants have been around for years and the profession continues to grow as more and more administrative assistants are being laid off from corporate jobs or are looking to work from home. They work best in a long-term business relationship with their clients and build a stake in the success of the client's business as they go.

Virtual assistants charge by the hour, starting around $30 an hour and going up from there, depending on the services offered. Services offered range from general administrative support, marketing assistance, web design, editing, business card and letterhead design, creation of flyers and newsletters, mail and e-mail services, internet research and much more.

For more information on virtual assistant services or becoming a virtual assistant, visit: www.SusanMarshallVA.com e-mail VirtualAssistant@SusanMarshallVA.com or call 303-655-1215.

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