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| The Fastest Growing Career You Can Do From Home |
Virtual Assistants (or VAs) are one of the fastest growing forms of self-employment in the UK and now in Europe as result of the many women who are choosing to set up from home to be with their children or create a work/life balance. A VA is a Virtual Assistant, who works from their own home office, handling many of the tasks a PA takes care of in the office world. These could include providing professional business support from administration, call minding, marketing, PR and book-keeping. However, they have the added appeal to clients of not needing national insurance, tax, holiday and sickness pay, employment rights or even office space and equipment. Clients also only pay for the time that they use making this an extremely cost effective service. Using the services of a VA allows companies or the self-employed more time to focus on what they do well. The VA communicates with their clients is via telephone, email and on some occasions face-to-face. It’s a fast increasing phenomenon as people decide to work around their families, downsize or move out from the city to follow their dreams of a rural idyll. Typical VA hourly rates range from £20-25 per hour or more dependent on the work provided. Working as a VA means that they can utilise all the skills and experience gained from previous employment within a time frame and environment that suits them and around their other commitments. For mothers it means that they can keep childcare costs low and be there to collect their children from school/nursery. It also allows the flexibility to work anywhere in the country (or world!). But it’s not just a case of buying a PC and getting started. Becoming a VA and building up a practice that supports you financially comes with as many pitfalls as setting up any other business. And we all know the gloomy statistics for the failure of business in their first year. One way that many VAs have learnt how to build a successful and thriving practice is through participating on the Virtual Assistant Mastery Course, run by Carmen Macdougall of www.cmacoaching.com.. The course, now in its fifth year, answers essential questions such as: · How to set up a VA business and find new clients · Focussing on a niche market · Personal and business boundaries · Deciding on fees · Marketing your practice · Confidence in networking and presenting · Work/life balance and much more… Above all, the course will help you build the VA business that suits you – whether you want a busy schedule with a number of clients, or a small but reliable practice that fits in with your lifestyle or family commitments. Courses are run via residential and conference call with a combination of weekly assignments, phone support and business coaching – participants can access the courses nationally and internationally. Read here how one of the course participants, Lilach Bullock, a mother of one, has achieved her business start-up…  My name is Lilach Bullock and I am a VA. I was a PA for many years, working in various different sectors, and my last permanent role was as a training manager for a very successful food hygiene company in London. When I had my daughter, Emily now aged 2. I decided I definitely didn’t want to go back full time, the thought of being away from Emily for such long hours just made me cry! Plus the commuting was a ridiculous time wasting thought. I asked my company if I could work part time but was declined. I had been thinking about becoming a VA for a while. I felt that it was a perfect solution as I could do work that I enjoyed but work around Emily whilst earning a good income. It also meant that I could maintain and update my skills that I had worked and studied so hard for. One day I was speaking to my sister about it. She mentioned that she had met a lady called Carmen MacDougall at the Times Crème show and had remembered her as running a VA course. She had luckily kept her details. After speaking with Carmen on the telephone I found it v. difficult to sleep that night as I was so excited about the prospect of running my own business. There were various courses I could take, from e-course to weekend course to one to one courses. I decided to do a one to one course as I wanted to concentrate on my personal ambitions and work through my ideas without any distractions. The course was fantastic. It gave me so much motivation and I left feeling truly inspired and extremely excited about setting up my business. The course entails 6 modules of assignments ranging from marketing, money, networking, client care etc. The assignments were time consuming and hard work, particularly after a full day of running after a 2 year old as well as working part time. However I really enjoyed doing them and they taught me so much. Sometimes I look back and wonder where I got the energy from, but when you are focused on achieving your dreams you can do anything. Nearly 3 months on and I am absolutely loving it. My website is now up and running together with my marketing material. I have some fantastic associates working with me so that I can not only provide PA services but have also branched out into website design, marketing and also business training. I have been to several networking events and have more lined up this month. Initially I was absolutely petrified of the thought of not only going to a networking event but of standing up and talking for 1 minute about my company but I am gradually overcoming my fears and by meeting so many lovely people it has given me so much confidence that I am now the chair of my local women’s networking group. I have had to overcome my terrible fears of speaking in public but facing my fears has opened up so many opportunities for me. I am very lucky that my mum looks after Emily 2 days a week and also whenever I need to go to networking groups/meetings etc. I spend a lot of my evenings working, which I don’t mind as it means I can spend more time with Emily in the day. I also have a fantastic childminder on hand when extra work occurs. I feel very fortunate to be able to spend quality time with my daughter as well as doing something I love every day. My confidence has grown enormously and if I’m honest I wish I’d done this years ago! If you are a budding female entrepreneur and would like to experience business coaching to get you started, please do contact Carmen for a discussion and how you can take that step forward with her support from a range of programmes to suit all budgets and timescales. Carmen MacDougall can be reached on 01785 224 577, or 07967 332915, or email Carmenmacdougall@aol.com. www.cmacoaching.com c/o The Virtual Assistant Training Academy |
| Posted: 29/12/2006 09:38:23 Last Updated: 29/12/2006 09:47:12 |
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