subject: Being a Virtual Assistant [print this page] Being a Virtual Assistant Being a Virtual Assistant
It is more and more common these days to hear of people who work as virtual assistants. The job description is vague but for a lot of people the advantages are worth at least their consideration. Flexible hours, work from home, save on travel costs, clothing costs; and potential for a lot more free time. As a whole, there is a lot less stress involved with being a virtual assistant than with regular office jobs. The problem with being a virtual assistant, is that very few people actually make good money doing it, which is why many virtual assistants still hang on to their regular jobs.
Many people don't realize how much harder it is to get "real work"done at home. We are hard wired to work at an office, and most people simply can't muster the self discipline to work at home. What takes a typical person an hour to do at the office, can take up to three hours to do at home. There are simply too many distractions and temptations at home, and no supervisor or manager to keep you "honest".The equipment is tough too; you'll need at least two personal computers, and a good file backup system. Time management and the setting of concrete goals is the key to success.
Virtual assistant work is not hard to find at all, advances in communication technology have insured that this type of job is here to stay. If you want to be a good virtual assistant though, you should invest in your skills. Brush up on your writing skills and your computer skills; take short courses if you can. Virtual assistant jobs are not famous for being high earning, but you can get more if you do your job well. If you could make a lot of money being a virtual assistant, it could well be a dream job given that is already a low stress, relatively laid back job.
