Virtual assistants provide online secretarial and administrative services to businesses big and small.

As a virtual assistant, you might tackle:

• Day-to-day correspondence
  
• Billing and bookkeeping
  
• Internet research
  
• Coordinating of mailing lists
  
• Event planning
  
• Sorting and answering email
  

Everything is done electronically, so you can work exclusively from your home office. Meetings and conversations are conducted by email, phone or fax, and business assignments are often sent back and forth via email.

The virtual assistant field is becoming one of most popular work-from-home job options today, particularly if you have administrative assistant experience.

Today's individual entrepreneurs, small business owners and owners of home-based businesses are relying on virtual assistants to handle jobs that they don't have time for.

Sound like a field that appeals to you? Here are some strategies to help you get started:

Sharpen Your Skills: According to the Global Association of Virtual Assistants (GAVA), most VAs have experience in word processing, desktop publishing, data processing, database management, dictation and transcription. If you've been out of the workforce awhile, a refresher course on the latest office software can help keep your skills on the cutting edge. Being ultra-organized and Internet-savvy are also prerequisites for success.

Zone in on a Specialty: Don't try to be a VA of all trades. Instead, zoom in on the types of administrative tasks you'd like to target. What secretarial skills do you excel in and enjoy? Are you whiz at desktop publishing? Then concentrate on creating clients' brochures and marketing materials. Maybe you're a pro at Microsoft Power Point, making client presentations the focus of your business. If you're an expert at HTML, you might specialize in helping a client update and promote her Website.

In researching our upcoming book, Mompreneurs® Online, we met many virtual assistants who had narrowed their niches to focus on highly specialized services --from translation of foreign languages to human resources assistance to legal and medical transcription.

Maximize Your Market: To find clients, you'll need to use a combination of online and off-line marketing. Start by creating some professional marketing materials such as business cards, letterheads and flyers or brochures. Then determine your potential clients.

Besides cold calls and mass mailings, there are lots of wonderfully creative and affordable ways to spread the word about your business. You could offer a workshop for local business groups on the topic of saving time and delegating. (Of course, you'd bring along plenty of business cards and brochures to distribute at the end of your presentation!) Or you could write an article on time-saving holiday tips for business owners and submit it to your local community newspaper and online publications and sites specializing in home and small businesses.

Tap Into the VA Network: As the VA profession explodes in growth, there are a number of organizations and Websites dedicated to growing the business. The sites below provide information on training, job leads and advice from others in the field:

iVillage Virtual Services message board on the Work-from-Home channel:
Virtual assistants share their strategies, successes and friendship in this popular community.

AssistU.com
Information, referrals and training for virtual assistants.