What Do You Need to Work as a Virtual Assistant?

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Passive Income for Virtual Assistants
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eBook written by a successful virtual assistant to help you get starting on your own business.

Some of what you need to work as a virtual assistant should be pretty obvious even to the person who is just beginning to research how to be a virtual assistant. Needing a computer and Internet connection, for example. There's not much virtual to virtual assistant without these.

And if you're here, you probably already have them.

But other things you may not think of right away. The need for a separate telephone line, for example. If you want to be professional, just being available by email is not enough, and just using your regular phone line is not enough. A second line, dedicated to your virtual assistant business, is necessary.

You will probably want a fax machine. This may sound old fashioned with email so readily available, but there are times when the fax will do a better job. Fortunately, you can go to Kinko's or use a scanner plus a service such as eFax so that you don't have to buy an actual fax machine if you don't want to.

You should have a website. You can use a service such as SiteBuildIt, or choose another reputable hosting company. Your website will be a major presence for you online, and can be one of your best sources of new clients if you design it well and market it wisely. A website really doesn't cost that much, fortunately.

I've mentioned email a lot. What I haven't said yet is that it should not be one of the free services. It just doesn't look professional. Fortunately, email addresses pretty much always come along with websites. Don't choose a name such as webmaster@yourdomain.com; use a name. A little personal touch can go a long way when you offer virtual services.

You will also need business cards. Your website is a good tool for bringing business, but you want to be able to talk to people and hand them a business card. Despite the virtual nature of your business, you can often do well with local businesses.

Your computer may also need a few things to help your business along. Some of this will depend on the services that you are offering. Bookkeeping software, for example. It will be useful for your own bookkeeping needs, but it can be vital if that's a service you intend to offer.

Similarly, you will probably also need a word processor. Most computers come with one, but you may need to consider if what you have is adequate. Microsoft Word is not on all computers, and it does have the advantage of being very commonly used by businesses. However, Open Office can be sufficient in certain cases. Just be prepared, as it doesn't make a good impression when you say you aren't ready to cope with a document from Microsoft products. It's just too common, no matter how you feel about Microsoft.

You may also need HTML editing software and/or image editing software. I much prefer Dreamweaver for HTML, but other people love CoffeeCup or other programs. I also use Fireworks for my image editing, but other programs can do well for other people. Often enough, it's more a matter of which one you learned on. So long as it does a good job and is generally compatible with your needs, go for it!

As you can see, you may well have to put some money into your virtual assistant business. It doesn't have to be a lot, but if you aren't prepared to spend a little bit of money on your new business it's going to be pretty hard to get things going.

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What Do You Need to Work as a Virtual Assistant?

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