Starting Virtual Assistant Business?

I have years of experience in customer service and administartive assistance and I have my degree in Communicatiions and Sociology and I would like to own my business as a Virtual Office Assistant for small companies, real estate agencies etc. I have been doing research in the filed and I have seen that some websites have you pay to sign and up so that you can search and be found by people in need of virtual assistants and some sites have you go through a six month training program. My question is how can I markert myslef so that I do not go through a company to find clients and pay and is a Virtaul Assistant training very neccessary? I have seen people that say that they have just used their years of experience and degree qualifications. Can people tell me how to get started?
Thank You.

Associations may be a good avenue to explore. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet.

http://www.iavoa.com/ -- International Association of Virtual Office Assistants
http://www.vanetworking.com/ -- Virtual Assistant Network Forum
http://www.ivaa.org/ -- International Virtual Assistants Association

Research, research, research 鈥?this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* Virtual Assistant, The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA by Diana Ennen, Kelly Poelker
* Start Your Own Business Support Service (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) by Entrepreneur Press
* The 2-Second Commute: Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants by Christine Durst
* The Virtual Office Survival Handbook: What Telecommuters and Entrepreneurs Need to Succeed in Today's Nontraditional Workplace by Alice Bredin

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check out these articles:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Virtual-Office... 鈥?Virtual Office Services by Sharon Davis
http://www.ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Sta... 鈥?How to Start an Office Support Service by Randy Wilson
http://ezinearticles.com/?Virtual-Assist... 鈥?Virtual Assistant Tips to Success by Diana Ennen

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Your best bet - go visit your local Small Business Development Center -SBDC - they provide free counseling for start-ups.

You know the product/service - but you may need to learn about the business side of doing your own business. The SBDC can help - www.asbdc-us.org

Good for you.

Tags

　　Answering Service 　　Telephone Answering 　　Mail Forwarding 　　Virtual Address 　　Virtual Assistant 　　Virtual Business 　　Virtual Offices

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