i would like to become a virtual assistant- where to begin and does it work?

[sarahmikeharryandrosie]

I have two small children- Ds aged 3 and a DD aged just 7 weeks, i have looked into going back to work and childcare is going to cost so much money-and we need to bring another income in now

So have decided i would like to become a virtual assistant and work from home whilst Ds is at nursery and when DH is home in the evening- I have read all info about it from various websites, but i am looking for people who actually do this or similar roles to tell me their experiences and whether it works, can you get ehough work? etc!!

Hope someone can advise me!

Thanks

Sarah

[WallOfSilence]

What is a 'virtual assistant' & what do they do?

[tearinghairout]

I read about this in Readers Digest & it looked interesting to me too. So sorry I can't add anything, I'm just lurking to see if you get any good info. tum ti tum...

[sarahmikeharryandrosie]

a Virtual Assistant is someone who has secretarial or admin skills that can work from home- a company would employ a virtual assistant to complete the admin/secreterial work from home or other place of work. Completing typing, spreadsheets, checking data etc.

[LaComtesse]

Would you be self-employed or employed?

There could be tax implications if you run a business from your house even it's all done online. Sounds interesting.

[annh]

The only problem I see is that with most work-from-home jobs you still need childcare. I presume your son will only be at nursery a few hours a day and the baby will soon be crawling and chewing the cables! There was a good thread on this recently where someone asked about working from home, being on the phone etc and everyone agreed that it is next to impossible without childcare. There could be an issue if companies are giving you work which is time-critical e.g. they email you a request to type and mail a couple of dozen standard letters that day and get them in the post that evening and if you are working around nap times you just may not be able to do it. If you could find companies who need work done but not within a tight time frame then it could work because you could do evenings and weekends.

[alfiesbabe]

Agree with annh. Unless a company is prepared for you to do the work in the evenings, and doesnt expect a quick response with things, then it's going to be very difficult to find work i would think. And anyway, if you try to pack all the work into evenings, you won't get time with your dh. Sorry - that sounds a bit negative! But I'm sure if it was as simple as it sounds, there'd be thousands of people doing it already!!

[CeciC]

Hi Sarah,
One of the mums in DD1 class, has been a PA working from home for quite a long time. I thing she had the same employer before having kids. She always says that it is very difficult to do when the girls are at home, and I know she has help with the childcare. Somedays, her parents will look after her youngest. Working from home is very good, but unless you do something that can be done when the kids are in bed, is very difficult to do, as you will have your kids around, and they might not understand that is working time for you,and they just want to play

[sarahmikeharryandrosie]

bump

[sarahmikeharryandrosie]

thanks everyone- your words are wise!!! but still want to hear from people actually doing this!!! or anything similar

[llareggub]

Do you have any experience in this field? What sort of business would require services of a virtual PA? If you can answer the latter question then you should be able to put together some sort of package and market yourself locally. Why not set up on your own and test the market? I would imagine there would be fairly low set-up costs.

[missiesparkles]

my sister is a VA and if you want I can ask her to pass on some details if you email me?
[email protected]

[sarahmikeharryandrosie]

Have emailed you missiesparkles- thanks