Are you an over worked entrepreneur? Or are you a full time office assistant stressed under the work load office and wants to have some extra time to relax? Then the solution to your problems is virtual office assistant. By outsourcing your work load to the virtual assistants you can take out the time for your personal life. Virtual assistants can help to take burden off your shoulders while you can concentrate on more important things for your business. And if you yourself want to take up the job of a virtual office assistant, it would enable you to have power and control over your working hours, while earning more. A home based business allows you flexibility and variety in work.




A virtual office assistant is supposed to handle almost same tasks which are handled by the regular full time office secretary or manager. But he or she handle all the office business from his or her home based office by making use of all the latest communication equipment which includes computers, internet, phone, fax machines, printers and scanners. The general responsibilities of the virtual office assistant include;

• Management of client’s contact lists and customers database.
• Maintenance of schedule calendar and setting up meetings.
• Taking transcriptions and handling correspondences.
• Arranging traveling trips.
• Handling bills, finances and accounts.
• Preparing and sending emails and newsletters to clients and customers.
• Preparation of presentations and other meeting material.
• Handling of clients and customers inquiries and answering them appropriately.

This type of work is paid at $20 to $45 per hours in the market. Some businesses may commit the services of virtual office assistant on monthly basis while others may commit them for certain number of hours in a week. This allows the virtual assistant to work for more than one business at one time. The rate is generally decided and negotiated on the basis of the complexity of the task and the time required for specific project. The project which has tight deadlines is paid more as compared to regular tasks.

The payment set up also varies from industry to industry. For example, a real estate agent may pay his virtual office assistants on commission basis by the end of the month instead of hourly rates. It also varies from location to location. A virtual office assistant based in some other state of US will charge more as compared to the virtual assistant in India.

If virtual office assistants specialize and have experience in providing particular services, they can charge much more even up to $100 per hour. The areas which pay such higher rate include;

• Translation of bilingual work or some online materials.
• Writing medical transcriptions.
• Doing research for marketing and setting up campaigns.
• Doing specialized research on internet.
• Developing and maintaining websites for better results.
• Understanding and knowledge in the technology, financial services, law or health care industry.

So if you want to earn higher, specialization in a particular field will yield more with less time and energy.