A New Career for 2010

Are you an experienced administrator or Personal Assistant looking for a new challenge, or are you struggling to get into the field. If so, you could consider becoming a Virtual Assistant (VA). There are many different definitions for what a Virtual Assistant actually is but a broad definition as taken from the Virtual Assistant Networking website is as follows: A Virtual Assistant (or VA) is a solopreneur who specializes in providing ongoing, one-on-one, collaborative-style administrative support. Like other professional service providers, Virtual Assistants operate remotely from their own places of business and utilize today's technology to deliver their services and communicate with clients. Virtual Assistants are first and foremost administrative experts. Virtual Assistants sometimes offer additional, separate specialties that fall under creative and/or technical services. Having a look at this definition it is clear that not all VA’s are equal. All VA’s will carry with them a different set of skills that they are able to provide to their clients. Among the many services that are offered routinely by VA’s are transcription and typing services, data entry, web site design and maintenance, drafting of presentations, diary management, project management, internet research, proof reading and many more. The skills and services that you offer as a VA are directly linked to the skills that you have and are comfortable offering. It is possible, and many VA’s do start their business as a part time, additional business while holding down a full time job. This obviously initially places limitations on the services that they are able to offer. Once comfortable it is possible to increase the size of your business and also ultimately say goodbye to your existing full time job. While working from home as your own boss may seem idyllic there are many considerations that you need to take into account. The first and foremost thing that you need to consider is your own ability to manage your own time. If you are capable of ignoring the glorious day outside when you have a deadline to make then you can consider the option of working as a VA. If you get distracted at the drop of a hat then you may wish to consider doing a time management course before considering this as a career.