Hey guys. For a while, I’ve been thinking a lot about home businesses. I don’t have kids yet, but I do have hopes of being a stay at home mom. My mother stayed home with me when I was a kid, and I feel that it’s important, and it’s just something I want to do.
At the same time, I’d like the opportunity to make money. Money isn’t everything, but in this day and age, it’s just about the closest thing to air. So over the past several months I’ve been contemplating & considering different business ideas. I’ve come up with several ideas, some of which I may try if I can get the money & “stuff” I need (& assuming I have the time). But for right now I’ve decided to try this one.
I enjoy writing and I’ve had a lot of experience with writing & I’ve also worked in business for several years, so I decided to set up a website (actually a blog) to market my skills as a writer and an virtual assistant. I’m still in the process of working out all the details and deciding exactly what I’m going to do. (in fact I haven’t even posted all my virtual assistant information yet) But I wanted to go ahead and sort of introduce the concept here and hopefully get some input from you guys.
For more details on this, visit http://simplysweetconsultants.blogspot.com
If you need help with anything for your home office, your small business, or your personal blog/website, I’d love for you to hire me. Or if you know somebody that’s looking to hire a virtual assistant (for online or offline tasks), a copywriter, or anything along those lines, please send them my way. (and I’ll come up with some way to thank you later!)
When I have more details up on the website, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I invite you to check out and let me know what you think.
5 Minutes for Mom is looking for a Virtual Assistant…
http://www.5minutesformom.com/3278/va/
I think this is an awesome idea and it just gave ME an idea, too! I love research (so much that I’ve even been known to read the dictionary!) and hiring myself out to do other people’s research and then writing up a report would be perfect for me. The only problem I’d have is how to charge for services. Any ideas for that?
Thank you, fritz facts. I’ve sent them a message, introducing myself. I execpt there will be a lot of competition. But it can’t hurt to apply.
Valleygirl – I’m glad you like the idea. I think there are a lot of people that need these kinds of services; it’s just a matter of actually finding them. And I can tell you from experience and judging from people that I’ve talked to as well, that people hate researching, and many find it to be the most grueling part of writing.
Pay is an issue for me as well. For most office positions you can get at least $10/hr (or around there). So it might be beneficial to work for an hourly wage. You could also base your pay on a “per project” basis, but on this kind of work (especially with research) you never know exactly how long the job will take, and you’re at risk of underestimating how long the job will take (and thus the pay as well).
That’s what I thought. My fear is that people would think I hadn’t actually spent as much time as I claimed I had. How can clients know they’re actually getting what they pay for?
Jerri, sorry I have no leads but wanted to wish you luck 🙂
Dell xo
Tough question, but you’ve got me thinking here, so please excuse the long answer.
I think it in the end it just comes down to trust. Obviously people wouldn’t hire you if they didn’t trust you, just as you wouldn’t do the work unless you trusted that the person would keep up there end of the deal to pay you.
Actually it wouldn’t hurt to have a signed agreement about the job terms before you do it. This way there will be no unpleasant surprises when it comes time for them to pay you.
Here’s something you might consider. I used to process invoices for a company (that is, people were billing our company, and I would determine whether we’d actually recieved the goods and services and whether we should pay that bill) And some of the invoices I got were for labor. And often before the vendor ever sent anyone out to do a job, there would be an agreement that the job should not exceed X number of hours. And then of course, if something came up, and the job was going to take longer than the time agreed upon in the contract, then they would just add that time on and bill for it later.
Anyway as this relates to research – again, it’s hard to say how long a project will take, but you can estimate and come up with an agreement based on the estimation of time and then go from there. (just a suggestion)
As far as them not “believing” that you spent a certain amount of time on something…obviously we all work at our own paces. I know some days I work slower than others. In school, I was always one of the last to finish with my test, and yet I made A’s in the majority of my classes. I think the bottom line here is quality. As long as the quality of your work is good, I don’t see how they would ever question you.
Well, I hope that helps. And I apologize for my long-windedness.
You certainly don’t need to apologize!! Thanks so much for taking the time to think about it and answer! I really appreciate it. I was thinking (if I ever actually do this), there would be an agreement whereby I’d state my commitment to x-number of hours of research, regardless of the topic, for a flat rate. Anything beyond that would be billed on a per-hour basis.
You’ve given me much to think about, Jerri. Thanks so much!
No problem. I’m glad I could be of help. I enjoy thinking about issues, and coming up with solutions to problems. It’s fun. You had some good questions that really got me to thinking, and that’s good. (i’m a bit of nerd)
Thank you for reading my blog. I’ve noticed that you’ve left me several comments in the past, I don’t always get around to replying to all of them, but I do read them, and I appreciate it. I wish you luck if you decide to try out your researching venture.
Congratulations on taking this step, and best of luck!