Margate, FL (February 2007) Business opportunities are everywhere today. You can work at home doing anything from selling the latest and greatest kitchen tools to being the personal assistant virtually to authors, businesses, and anyone who needs more assistance in running their business. Most entrepreneurs look for a business that offers them not only financial security and independence, but also pride in the work they will be doing. That’s one of the reasons that the Virtual Assistant Industry is growing in leads and bounds. Today, former secretaries, administrative assistants, word processors, and legal or medical transcriptionsists, are turning in the 9 to 5 to work at home. There’s never been a better time to succeed.
Diana Ennen has been working at home since 1985. Ennen was among one of the pioneers in the work at home industry when starting her word processing business specializing in legal and medical transcription. In 1996 Ennen wrote her first book, Words From Home: Start, Run and Profit from a Home-Based Word Processing Business. (http://www.wordsfromhome.com) Ennen’s book, which was recently updated, has enabled thousands to succeed in their own business. Ennen states, “Most just need the proper tools to succeed. Learning how to find clients who want your services as well as determining the right price to charge, can be the decisive factor in a successful business. The key to success is doing it right the first time and avoiding costly mistakes.�
In the late 1990s, came the advent of the Virtual Assistant Industry. That’s when word processors determined that not only could they work from home, but they would work at home globally. Ennen’s second book, Virtual Assistant – The Series: Become a Highly Successful Sought After VA was born and written with another true Industry Leader Kelly Poelker. This book paved the way to being a successful VA and it also helped thousands start their business. The recent addition of their accompanying Workbook helped even more to give the virtual assistant everything they needed to get started or revamp their existing business.
Ennen provides the following tips to be successful in your own virtual assistant/word processing business:
1) Determine your rates to make a good profit and continue to modify those rates throughout the years as your skills increase and your benefits to clients grow. Today’s virtual assistants make between $30.00 and $100+ an hour depending on their specialty, location, and skills. Clients are willing to pay these rates because the benefits they receive not only make them more money, but also ensure a smoother running business.
2) The planning and development stage is just as important as landing that first client or getting the next one. You need both a business plan and a marketing plan, and most importantly, you need to review these constantly to see how you can improve upon them. A well laid out plan, followed up by aggressive action steps, will ensure your success as an entrepreneur, solo-preneur, or va-preneur.
3) Integrity. To be successful today, a business owner needs to be trusted. A client needs to know that when they have work to be done, it will be done in the most professional manner possible. Clients need to know that you will be there for them when they need you. Build that confidence right from the beginning.
4) Another important factor in the success of a home-based business is having the proper tools. Ennen’s recent book, Corel WordPerfect OfficeReady Virtual Assistant Solution Pack (http://www.corel.com) offers not only a detailed 81 page e-book, but over 70 templates of start-up forms needed to operate a successful business. These include: a contract, marketing letters, daily operational procedure forms, sample brochures, etc. Everything one needs to get started and keep successful is included.
So if you’re ready to take the plunge and really take your business to the next level, or finally take the road home and work from home, stop by Virtual Word Publishing today. https://virtualwordpublishing.com and find out how you can start your own business.
