Working from home - secretarial/pa work

[mummyandbaby]

I am a secretary/pa but have not worked since my first son was born 6 years ago. Thinking of returning to some kind of work and wondered if there was anything I could do from home. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Hi

Good luck with this - my advice would be (if you feel happy and ready to do so..)

1)Google 'virtual pa' and look at their websites, take ideas from how they present themselves. If you are feeling brave, phone one and ask them how much they charge and how they charge for work..or get a friend to do so!

2. Create a cheap, but visible website on Easily.co.uk ...which is very, very simple to use, follow their templates if you are not whizzy on a pc and voila, you have a description of your services and a way to contact you.

3. Go to vistaprint.com and create some very cheap business cards (about 20 pounds I think) and have these in your wallet. Drive round any small industrial units near to your home (so you can drive to potential clients easily) and take in your business card and a flyer of your services. Decide if you are going to do a special introductory offer to new customers. Be brave- for every ten 'no thanks' there may be a 'come in for a chat'. PRACTISE this first with a good friend if you have not done a sales meeting for a while- they are brilliant and ask harder questions than real business people!

4. Contact Business link in your area (google them) they are free small business support (govt sponsored so don't be shy about asking for their help as indirectly you are paying for it). Ask if you can be put onto their database of local suppliers which means all members in the area will know about you. I'd guess your main clientel would be small businesses without the time to do their own secretarial work. Also contact call servicing organisations (who take calls on behalf of small businesses ..google or yell.co.uk them to find them in your area and offer to provide secretarial to their clients (they do not usually do this - but check in advance!) and offer them a commission on new customers.

5. Don't forget to set up an invoice structure ...you can do it on Word for the first year or so..but Business Link websites have SO much info on every aspect of setting up a business you can look here also.

6. Decide how many clients you want and how much time you can give to it and do not overload yourself ....

Come back to me if you need more help - most of all enjoy as, having been a consultant for many years for big companies, the most pleasure I have had is running my own (albeit small) business - due to two small girls.

All the best
x

Hi

Forgot to say this is mainly if you wish to work for yourself from home...if you wish to work for a large organisation from home then there are some call centres that field out work to home workers eg BT ...however a lot of this is telephone work and not always great with small children and school runs.

Hence the idea to be a virtual PA...

All the best,
M

Wow, brilliant advice from Melanie, which I can't add to, but there is a website called 'people per hour' on which you bid for work. May be worth a try.

Hi mummyandbaby, saw this post and know exactly how you feel. I had my first child 6 years ago and went back to work part time. However, in 2007 I decided to set up my own Virtual Assistant business so that I could work from home and be there for the school run, etc. I've never looked back.

I'm currently on maternity leave having had my second child in December.

I really just wanted to say that if you're seriously considering starting up your own VA business, I also run training courses for PAs, Secretaries, Administrators and Office Managers. I am a self-employed VA trainer for the Virtual Assistant Coaching and Training company and hold the license for the North of England.

I benefited hugely by attending one of our courses before I set up my business and it gave me all the tools and information I needed to run it successfully.

We are holding a free conference call on the 2nd February at 7.45pm whereby we give loads of information about the VA industry and the courses that we offer. If you're interested please let me know and I can email you the conference call details.

I know I'm new to this forum and please don't see this as blatant advertising, I'm simply just trying to help PAs and Secretaries to do what I did and basically work and be there for your family.

Thanks for all your replies. Lots of interesting advice. Will have to have a good long think. Have never had my own business, have always worked for someone else so it would be very new ground. Thanks dawson for info on the call - will come back to you if interested.