Virtual Assistant / Project Manager - could it work?

[NotNob]

Hi

Have posted on start ups to.

I've been a SAHM for nearly 3 years and am looking to set up my own business. I'm stuck on ideas and low on confidence, probably because I've been out of the workplace for a while. My background is IT project management (public sector) but would not want to return. My youngest is now in nursery for a few mornings a week and I would like to set up my own business.
Logically I should use my skills: project management (would need to refresh due to length of time), admin, PA, minutes etc.
My questions are:

Are there any virtual assistants/PMs out there and/is there a demand for such like?
Would I need to bid for work?
How would I price myself? Obviously I would be new to the virtual work but am well skilled in a non-virtual environment.

Plus, as mentioned, my self-belief is a little low right now so I'm guessing this would be a relatively low risk start up?

Thanks

There are quite a few virtual PAs out there. Round here I think they charge about £25 per hour.
Your start up costs would be low but the tricky part would be getting yr first few clients as you wouldn't have references.
I mentor a virtual PA and she did admin for a couple of schools governing bodies very cheaply to get refs, she also contacted some larger virtual
PA companies to ask if they would use her on an adhoc basis.

Thank you Hopping

I do something like this, project management, admin, consultancy type work. As Hoppinggreen says, it's getting started that's the hard part. I went from working in the not for profit sector to setting up on my own, and most of my clients are from those networks. That said, my biggest client is a charity I never knew about before I saw their ad! It's fairly low risk, and minimal investment, all you need is your kitchen table and a laptop and mobile. I would suggest investing in a domain name and a basic website, so you have a "professional" email address - ie [email protected] rather than [email protected].

Re pricing, I sort of took a suck it and see approach...I worked out what I'd ideally earn annually, how many hours I'd ideally work and how they fit together. I also underbid on the first few contracts I got, partly to get the win and partly so I had some "work I've done" for references and the following year put up my prices without any comment or query from clients.