Virtual Assistant Jobs

A virtual assistant is an administrative office assistant who provides general office management from a remote location. General office management duties include clerical duties like document filing, data collection and data storage. It can also extend to legal assistance and accounting services — basically any kind of office work that can be accomplished in the virtual world.

Often referred to as VAs, the career path of a virtual assistant became more common in the 1990s when technology advanced and corporate offices increasingly decentralized. As urban density and congestion helped boost suburbia over the years, fringe cities developed. Corporate business followed, prompting companies to open more branch offices in a variety of cities and states. Globalization is now an additional force driving companies overseas to tap into new markets and new consumers. The need to staff those offices arose but frequently was associated with a higher cost.

A virtual assistant can be an employee of the company he or she works for or he or she can be an independent contractor. A VA might telecommute from home, or he or she might work at the company's offices and manage one or more remote locations.

VA companies are increasingly popping up and contracting their virtual assistants out to companies. Virtual office providers typically have about 10 virtual assistants who manage the virtual offices of about 100 to 150 companies. For instance, if a company in New York City wants to have a virtual office in Los Angeles, using new technology, that company does not have to open a physical branch office on the west coast of the United States. The company can simply purchase a contract with a virtual office provider.

Virtual office providers give the client company a local address and local phone number. A virtual assistant is assigned to answer the calls for the client company at the local address, answering in the client company’s name, and forwarding calls to the company’s headquarters or assigned representative. The virtual assistant also helps the client company target consumers without having to be in that geographic area. This helps provide the impression that the company has a vibrant and active branch location in that remote city.

Virtual office providers may also collect the company’s mail, sort it and redirect it. The virtual assistant may oversee legal and business obligations for the client company so that it can function in another city, state or country. New Internet technology allows the virtual assistants to manage a range of companies or office locations through highly organized software. The technology also allows the virtual assistant to patch through calls to other cities or countries seamlessly.

25 Reasons to Work For Yourself Online

1. You get to stay home and catch up on Oprah episodes while breaking into your emergency bon bon stash.

2. Working in your underwear wont get you fired, although at the same time also wont get you promoted if you’re cute.

3. You get random checks in the mail that you weren’t expecting to get…it’s like an early Christmas without a fat guy in a red suit; unless Uncle Bob comes over.

4. You get to mess with all the telemarketers that you’d normally miss while at a regular job…”Oh, you want to sell me a long distance plan? Sounds intriguing, what are you wearing?”

5. You can go grocery shopping during the day when the place is empty…just watch out for that creepy stock person with the shifty eyes defending the bread isle.

6. There’s no stoplights on the information superhighway.

7. There’s only one assigned parking spot and you own it just inches from your garage until the CEO (wife) comes home.

8. Where else can you pair socks while selecting keywords for your new ad campaign?

9. You don’t have to keep rescheduling the plumber to fix that embarrassing toilet problem…How did that happen again?

10. Trips to Starbucks become tax write-offs, mmmmm coffee. Dear IRS, I’m kidding, really I am Smile

11. You can do business from anywhere, including the attic, but you might be a weirdo.

12. If you get lonely, the dog can easily replace a co-worker and they’re usually better behaved.

13. Once you meet your goals for the day you can concentrate on why the doorbell zaps people whenever they push it.

14. You can watch your once thriving stocks and 401k plummet in real time instead of waiting to get home from work each day.

15. Working from home on the Internet has allowed you to think of unique Halloween costumes like the Squidoo squid.

16. If you suddenly fall off your chair, no one will be around to laugh at you unless “they” are watching…

17. You’ll have “tough” decisions to make like which of the 3 Ferrari’s you should take to go to Staples for a ream of paper.

18. Eventually, you’ll start noticing you have conversations with those fax machine tones and it scares you that you understand them.

19. That mean boss from your old job will ask you to be their reference for a new job they applied to when they were laid-off.

20. You begin speaking to your baby using phrases like, “Google, Google, Google, eBay, eBay, aren’t oooh a cute widdle Twitter?”

21. When you close your eyes at night you have nightmares of ebay fees but remember that you’re a platinum level powerseller and fall right to sleep.

22. You wont ever have to listen to anyone say, “Looks like ya got a case of the Monday’s” first thing in the morning.

23. You can finally throw away the Chia money tree…it’s ok, it didn’t grow real cash and it’s embarrassing to have around.

24. Lunch doesn’t have to come in a truck anymore.

25. Allowing yourself to give you the freedom to live your life on your own terms.