Hi Marietuc
I am actually in a very similar position to you!
My "day" job is that of a legal secretary. As my firm basically specialises in conveyancing work we had a meeting about 6 weeks ago where the boss said there may be a possibility that because of the current climate our hours may be reduced.
This panicked me because I'm living (like most of us) on a very tight budget and the thought of bring home less money was quite upsetting! When I calmed down I sat and thought about it and thought what I could do as a "plan B" should it come to that happening and that's when I thought about being a freelance secretary/VA.
The boss wanted to talk to each of us individually to assess what our financial situation was before making a decision (!) So rightly or wrongly I told him that I if my hours were to be cut I would need to earn money in another way and that I was going to do some freelance work. I had to assure him that this work would be keep strictly "out of hours" (i.e. when he wasn't going to pay me) and that it wouldn't impact on my main job which will come first.
He was a little worried about the conflict of interest issues so what I have done on my web-site's T & C's was to write in that if I was doing legal work that all parties needed to be identified before I could take on the work.
I am lucky that I do not live too far away from work so I can go home and check my emails etc. in my lunch break. The Office Manager is aware that I have a "Plan B" but to be honest I have kept it fairly quiet.
I am hoping to build up a client list (I'm still awaiting the first one) so that I will then be able to use them as referees and not my boss. Although he wasn't against the idea I think it would be better protocol not to ask him!
Gosh! That was a much longer answer than I expected to give!! LOL!
Avocet