One of the least business opportunities that is yet to be explored particularly in Nigeria is the virtual assistant venture, especially as several firms were forced to ‘downsize’ or rather, ‘right-size’ due to current economy recession.
A virtual assistant is an independent entrepreneur that works remotely to deliver services to clients globally. Most virtual assistants work from their home-turned-office and receive their project instructions from individuals or companies across different sectors of the economy via phone, fax, e-mail or even, instant messages.
So, instead of crying over job loss or sitting at home waiting for another white collar job, all you need is to re-strategise and take up a virtual assistant job.
The attraction, especially from the side of companies, is that it is cheaper to hire a virtual assistant than employing a secretary or an assistant on a full-time basis.
All you need is a laptop or desktop and internet facility. The virtual assistant business is becoming popular because it helps women, especially housewives, to become entrepreneurs; yet, it also achieves a work/life balance.
Marketing Executive with Global Marketing Alliance Plc, Mrs. Anike Lawson, says as a virtual assistant, you may offer executive secretarial services or turn out as a marketing manager, freelance writer, real estate assistant, web designer, author assistant, you name it, so far you are doing it virtually.
According to her, all you need to do is to look for a client like a business owner, who is looking for someone to handle his or her e-mails, scheduling and travel arrangements or, a busy executive officer that wants you to schedule her business appointments.
She says, “In a situation where you may want to quit your job and become a full, virtual assistant, it is essential that you know that to become successful, you need a good marketing strategy in addition to your phone, PC and Internet connection. Since it is flexible, you can work between 14 and 18 hours a day, especially during your startup phase. Even after you have established your business fully, that does not stop you from working non-traditional hours, including weekends and holidays.”
While starting out, you must decide the type of services or sector you prefer and analyse your background to ensure you have adequate experience in such service, including your business niche, such as considering specialising in just two to three services.
You must try to determine how much time and energy you have to commit to your venture- maybe you will work part or full time.
In doing this, Lawson added that all you need is to apply some administrative experience such as excellent organisational and time-management skills so that you can juggle a multitude of tasks.
It also helps if you know how to use the Microsoft Office effectively, as many industries such as the real estate, financial, accounting and legal segments, most times, hire virtual assistants with expertise in Microsoft Office.
The good thing about this venture is that it is flexible in nature as you will determine the working hours that best suit your schedule and also the startup cost is minimal and the profit potential is attractive. You may earn about N350 per hour at a staffing agency or up to N400 per hour if you work directly with your clients.
To start off your business, try and contact businesses in your area or advertise on social media or you can even register with online recruitment agencies, which assign clients to you. Also, try to conduct a thorough industry research to determine a need for your services in your local area and outline who your clients are, where they are and how to access them.
Make sure that you market your services round the clock.
In case you built a website or placed an advert on news platform, it doesn’t mean clients will come knocking on your door all times; so you need to market as well.
As per charges, there is no general standard for pricing. Your charges may vary widely, depending on the individual and the services offered, and depending on the service or skill level. As a general rule, common administrative tasks are on the lower end of the scale, and graphic or website design are at the higher end.
But to establish an effective charging rate for your business, you need to remember to factor in things like self-employment taxes, sick days, vacation days, slow business periods, business expenses, such as printer, ink, website hosting, business cards, telephone costs, internet costs, etc. All of these are expenses against your earnings.
