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Home-Secretarial
Business & Virtual Assistant
We are going to teach you how to open your own home secretarial business in this section. You will see that this opportunity has so much potential, as many members have found out for themselves.
You can also incorporate the other job programs we offer into your secretarial home business. By the time you are done with our program tutorial and have applied yourself to this program you will be an experienced secretarial-home entrepreneur.
Many members that start our program have little or no experience in any home job fields. After you have completed our tutorials in all our programs, you will have built a nice portfolio that will create several work-from-home opportunities to be successful.
If you have NO experience NOW, If you were to complete all the training programs we offer you will have many qualifications and will be able to offer them for your own home-secretarial business.
You will be able to offer the following tasks for outsourced work:
Word processing, typing forms and documents, promotional material, invoices, reports, proposals, letters, manuscripts, manuals, surveys, job applications, term papers, essays, price lists and much more.
You will be able to offer résumé typing, proofreading and editing. You will be able to design business cards and flyers for your clients. You will be able to become a notary to broaden your horizons of what you have to offer. These are only the start.
If you choose to take the additional certification courses offered, you can then add the following certifications to your portfolio:
CERTIFIED Typist lite transcription operator
CERTIFIED Numeric data input (10 Key)
CERTIFIED CEU Proofreader/Editor
So you see the value of what we are offering to the person who is dedicated and wants to have a work-from-home career, even if you have little or no experience.
In our training we will get you set up with what you will need to start your secretarial home business. We will cover what you will need to do to get organized. We will explain all the services you can offer your clients.
We will show you the best ways to promote your secretarial business. You will know what to charge your clients for the job tasks you perform. Also how you charge your clients. We will provide you with business invoice and promotional material templates you can use for your business.
And the possible additional income you can generate from being a virtual assistant.
Secretarial Home Business Program (Overview) - VIDEO
(To view in FULL SCREEN, click the arrows on lower right of video player)
Cant see video? CLICK HERE to view video in external link
Secretarial home business program cirriculum:
1. Set Up & Start Up
2. Getting Organized
3. Services You Can Offer
4. Your Potential Clients
5. Promoting Your Business
6. What To Charge For Your Services
7. How to Charge For Your Services
8. Business Invoices & Promotional Letters
9. Being a Virtual Assistant
1. Set Up & Start Up
Here is a few things you will need or eventually need for your home-secretarial business:
* Computer - You will not need a super computer to do the tasks you will be offering to your clients. Basically any computer will do. You can later upgrade as you start making money and you feel the need for a faster computer with more capabilities. You can also go to sites like eBay and pick up a new or used computer for very little money. Remember this is not only an investment --- it is also a write-off.
* Printer - A printer is a must have for your home-secretarial business. If you already have a working printer you are set; again it does not need to be an expensive printer as long as it works. If you do not have a printer, you can find new printers on ebay for as little as $40. If you can spend $80, you can pick up a combo Printer, Fax, Scanner and Copier.
* Software - Here is the list of software that will be needed for your home-secretarial busines:
A. Word Processor - To start your home-secretarial business, the only software you will need is a Word processor. If you already have a version of Microsoft Word, then you are set, If you do not we give you a 100% free Word processor in the "Online Data Entry" training and jobs program. We will also give you the training for this Word processor as well as Microsoft Word in that same training and jobs program.
B. Résumé Creator - We will give you an expensive résumé creator software as well. You will get a complete tutorial as well on how to create résumés. You will be able to offer your résumé skills to potential clients as just one more job opportunity. To learn how to create résumés and to download the résumé creator, go to "Résumé Builder"
C. Print Shop - You will also need software to create flyers, business cards, brochures, newsletters, reports, banners, signs & posters, stationary etc. We suggest going eBay and type a search for "Print Shop" and you will get several offers of different "Print Shop" options. You can select the software that best fits your needs for as little as $1.00 for a complete software package; YES $1.00 is all you will have to pay + reasonable shipping costs. This is the best deal you will find.
* Office Supplies - The only office supplies you will need to get started is a ream of plain paper in both standard and legal sizes. You will also need hard business card paper to print business cards for you and your clients. We suggest you go to OfficeMax or Office Depot; you should not spend more then $20 for everything we just mentioned.
* Telephone Line - To start your business you will need a separate business phone line. You can actually use your cell phone as your business line to limit costs at start up. Then eventually add a second line in your home when you start making money and getting a larger client base; your business will absorb all the costs. So if you have a cell phone you can use that to start so you have no additional costs at start up, we would suggest changing your voice message to sound more professional. Once you do decide to set up a separate phone line in your home. We suggest getting a business line. It will be a little more expensive; however, you will get a free listing in the local yellow pages, you will notice an increase in work once you are listed.
* Business License - When you first start your business, you do not need to apply for a business license; however, once you get this going you will need to get your own business license for your home business. You will not need to get a business license for any of the jobs and training programs we offer except the home-secretarial business. Business licenses are inexpensive and easy to obtain, usually around $45-50, depending on your city or county.
* Taxes - If you are going to run your business as a sole proprietor, you will only need to file taxes under your social security number. If you decide to become an LLC or corporation, then you will need to apply for an EIN through the IRS. Sole proprietors can also file for an EIN if you choose, but it is not required for sole proprietors. I have a complete tutorial on how to set up an EIN HERE.
W are not certified to give you tax advice, so we would suggest you speak with a tax consultant once your business is off the ground and you are earning nice wages. You will be surprised on how many tax benefits you will have for doing a home business. Only a professional tax consultant can provide you with your options. Trust me it was worth the $100 I spent to learn how you will be able to save thousands.
* Business Name - You will need to choose a business name for your home-secretarial business. You can use your name followed by the type of service you are going to offer; for example:
"Laura Kauth's Reliable Word Processing"
or
"Laura Kauth's Professional Office Services"
or
"Laura Kauth's Fast Typing Services."
You can also create a professional name such as
"Allied Professional Typist"
or
"Dependable Office Help Of Texas" etc.
We always suggest using words like "Professional," "Reliable," "Dependable," "Fast," "Creative," and "Excellent" in your business name.
Once you have selected your name, you can register it with your city and county as required by local laws. You can contact your county clerk or your personal banker to find out how to register your name with your city/county. If you are using any name other than your own personal name as your business, you will need to register as a DBA (Doing Business As), e.g., Laura Kauth doing business as "Allied Professional Typist." Fees will vary and are very inexpensive in most cities or counties.
Get advice from friends and family. We suggest having a list of names of friends and family to get their input on your business name. Ask them what they think --- is it a catchy name? Would they think it sounds professional? Would they send work to you with the business name you have? It is always good to get additional opinions when it comes to choosing your business name; just have an open mind.
* Business Bank Account - To start your business you can use your own personal bank account to deposit your checks. Once you start building your business, you can then open a business banking account. The only requirement to open a business account will be to have a DBA set up as I mentioned previously. The advantages of a business banking account is you can get more tax write offs and benefits and better interest rates, lines of credits and loans. Again speak to a tax professional to find out more on the tax benefits.
* Basic Skills and Dedication
In addition to the jobs skills, you will need some basic skills to get started, such as:
- Basic computer skills - such as the ability to navigate through Windows programs and access the Internet.
- Simple typing tasks - Speed is not important right now. My typing training program will allow you to slowly increase your speed and also get you to be a certified typist.
- Decent English and Grammar - We will show give you some free courses on spelling and English if you have limited abilities with English and Grammar. These will improve your skills dramatically.
- Good organization skills - including the ability to schedule and meet self-determined deadlines.
- Self-dedication and determination to succeed and not give up because this will take an effort. In other words. if you are extremely lazy, We do not recommend this program or any of our programs.
You can find tutorial for any of the above basic skills in our "Home Business Center"
You will only need computer, printer, software and office supplies to get started. You will eventually need to address the remaining items in start-up once you get going and start building your home-secretarial business.
Get organized and start setting up your secretarial home business. Start with the following:
1) Set up a dedicated spot in your house for a desk, chair and your computer/printer. Try to find a place where you will have privacy from your kids and husband/wife. It will be important to let your family know that when you are in this dedicated space you are at work and minimum disturbance is required.
2) Create a business plan - Start with the types of task you will offer for your clients, followed by the way you will market your secretarial home business. We will give you some marketing options you can apply later in this tutorial The task you offer will be determined by how many of our programs you decide to pursue.
3) Decide on your business name and start to create your promotional material, such as creating a business logo, flyers, brochures and business cards. You can also create invoices and proposal sheets. We suggest you create a nice letterhead for all your promotional letters. We will give you details on how to create this later in this tutorial.
4) Set-up your phone line or cell phone to begin receiving phone calls for your services. Once you have a phone number, be prepared to place that phone number on all your promotional materials.
5) Get a second e-mail account; try to use your business name in the e-mail address. You can get a free account through our eMail Account Set Up tutorial..
As an example of creating a e-mail business name might be "alliedprotyping@yahoo.com"
6) Web site - We will show you how to create your own Web page using a blog for FREE. You will learn how to do this in Creating Weblog program. You can use the method we show you of how to create Blogs for your own business. The only difference from that program is that you will be promoting your own business instead of the thousands of companies we show you in the program. Never will this cost you any money, and you can then add your blog URL address to your promotional materials. You can actually make money when prospective clients just visit your blog, as we show you how to do in the blog program as well.
7) Let everyone know you are in business and start handing out your business cards to you family and friends. Give them extra cards so they can pass them out to their family and friends. This is not the primary promotional method that will create you tons of clients, but you will be surprised how fast the word travels.
3. Services You Can Offer
We will tell you what type of services you can offer for your clients. The number of services that you will be able to offer will be determined by your skills. As we mentioned, you may not have any skills at the moment; however, by using our job programs we offer it will teach you the skills you need to perform many different jobs tasks for your home-secretarial business.
Here are some typical services you can offer:
Word processing, typing documents, promotional materials, invoices, letters, proposals, memos, articles, price lists, business plans, essays, term papers, transcribing documents, proofreading and editing, résumé creating, job applications, flyers, business cards, mailing lists, database mailings. You can even offer on-site services such as filing, answering phones, scheduling and faxing. We will only suggest offering on-site services at first as an option to get your foot in the door to some companies.
Most common services you will offer:
Desktop Publishing - This is the most common service to offer. You can provide it with your Print Shop software. Desktop publishing includes creating business cards, flyers, brochures, newsletters, postcards, gift certificates, menus and print advertising. With a few of my tutorials and programs such as "Typing Training" and "Online Data Entry" you can learn these skills to be able to provide these services with speed and accuracy.
Proofreading and Editing - We are going to give you a complete training program on how to become a certified proofreader. This will be a nice added service for your clients. You will learn everything in our "Proofreading Business" program. This program will teach you how to provide this service, not only for your outsourced off-line clients, but for thousands of clients online as well.
Resume' Writer - To offer a résumé-writing service has endless possibilities. You not only will be able to add this as a service offered in your promotional brochures or blog, but you can also get online work for these services. Résumé writers can make $100 - $200 per résumé. We will give you our chart on what to pay a little later. You will get all the software you need and training to become a professional résumé writer in our "Résumé Builder" program. We also have a separate program on how to start your own "Résumé Business"
Data Transcribing - Basically, doing transcription work is real simple; you simply transfer recorded data into textual documents. We have many online jobs you can receive; we offer a tutorial in my "General Audio Transcriber" program that will teach you the skills needed to perform these tasks.
Certified - You can become certified in typing and 10 key, as well as transcribing and more. We offer certificate programs you can do for free or for a small fee. If you go to my "Testing & Certification" section, you can learn additional skills online. You can also become certified in many fields including Typing, 10 key nd word processing. These are very inexpensive, and you can get certificates mailed directly to you for $9.95 for each course. This is not only a great additional feature to add to your promotional materials, but it can also get online work outsourced to you, as we will show you throughout a few of our programs.
Notary Public - A busy notary public can actually be the primary part of your home business; many part-time notary publics can make $300 + per day only working 4-5 hours a day. It is very easy to become a certified Notary Public with requirements of only a 6-hour course and a background check.
There may be more you can offer if you have any specialized skills such as tax preparation, computer consulting, Web site designing, medical or legal coding.
We are now going to tell you who your potential clients will be, how to find them and how to get their business. All of the businesses we will list will be in need of some of your services. What services you decide to offer will determine how many of these businesses you will be able to acquire. Some different markets you will be able to target are:
A. Business & Industries
B. Academic Agencies
C. Government Organizations
D. General Public
A. Businesses & Industries
When selecting businesses and industries, we suggest you target smaller companies with employees of 40-50 or less. The problem we found with larger companies is that they are harder to get assignments from, due to the seemingly unlimited resources they have.
The best businesses to get desktop-publishing work from are retail, service and sales businesses. You will find many assignments for business cards, flyers, mailing lists, newsletters and brochures for these types of companies.
Here are some other types of businesses you can target and the types of work you can expect.
Ad Agencies - You can type overflow work of ad copies and brochures.
Banks - You will receive contracts, newsletters and brochures.
Beauty Salons - You can do business cards, flyers, brochures, price lists, coupons, and gift certificates.
Car Dealers - You can get business cards, flyers and other promotional assignments. You can also get correspondence and mailing work as well.
Caterers - Type up menus, invoices, flyers and brochures.
Construction Companies and Contractors - You can do almost every type of work for these companies from invoices, letter, mailings, letters, flyers, business cards and proposals.
Conventions - You can offer your services for dictation, posters, flyers and transcribing. Many exhibitors will need a transcriber to take notes from potential clients.
Consultants - Letters, contracts, presentations and reports will be common assignments.
Engineers - Reports, graphs and charts.
Escrow Companies - These are great for notary publics and miscellaneous outsourced work.
Insurance Agents - You can type notices, letters, proposals, manuals, flyers, policies and reports.
Manufacturers - Training and operation manuals, brochures, reports, letters and catalogs.
Marketing Companies - Brochures, flyers, handouts and letters.
New Businesses - You can get a list of new businesses from your city; also check the public notices that will give details of new business licenses. This is a great way to get your foot in the door right away for business cards, flyers, brochures, letterheads etc.
Photographers - Brochures and flyers.
Politicians - Type speeches, create mailings and brochures.
Print Shops & Mailbox Stores - These are great places to leave your business cards and ask them if you can post a flyer to any bulletin boards they may have. They might even have some outsourced work themselves.
Real Estate Agents - Here is another place to get some work for a notary public, also flyer, brochures and contracts.
Restaurants - You can create gift certificates, coupons, flyers and displays.
Transportation Companies - Invoices and forms.
Temp Agencies - You can refer work to them in exchange for referrals to you.
Virtual Assistant Agencies - We will give you a list of some good virtual assistant agencies you can get work from onine. This will be presented in the last section of this program tutorial.
Traveling Business People - Go to local hotels and tell management about your services for guests of their hotel. Leave them with your business cards and flyers to hand out to their guests that request your service.
Become an active member of your local Chamber Of Commerce; attend meetings and introduce yourself with the services you provide.
Check you local newspaper for ads for secretaries. You can contact these companies and offer your services as an alternative to them hiring another secretary.
Go through the yellow pages and gather addresses to send you brochures and business cards out to.
B. Academic Agencies
If you are near a university, state or community college you can get many assignments from them. Many professors, students and faculty do not have the time to do the services you can provide.
Teachers And Faculty - Type research material, mailing lists, grants, textbooks, essays and resumes.
College Students - Theses, résumés, term papers, essays, letters and book Reports will be common requests from students.
To get work from Academic Agencies you can place flyers and business cards on student bulletin boards at school, libraries and housing dorms. Place flyers on windshields in college parking lots. make a special flyer for students advertising services you can provide them; make it catchy with bright colors, etc. Contact faculty and introduce yourself; leave them with flyers for your services. Ask if you can leave flyers in mail slots of professors or other staff.
Offer the students the that after they create their own work you will provide clean-up work and proofreading.
You will find that if you are reasonable in price, the word will get around campus very quickly thus producing an endless supply of work for students and faculty.
C. Organizations
Government Organizations - Local government organizations can provide you with a steady flow of work, not to mention that they might also let you use their public bulletin boards. To get a list of local government organizations, go to your phone book; you will see them located in the front city offices, public health, parks and recreation, clinics, and public libraries. You can mail them or visit them in person. You can get a variety of types of work from these organizations. With government cutbacks you really can get a steady flow of work.
Professional Organizations - Mailing lists and brochures are common work you will get from these organizations. You can also find these in your local phone book.
Charitable Organizations - The work you will get from these are usually for free or at best they pay very little. The point of doing this work is to get references and exposure, not to mention it is a very nice gesture to give back to the community.
Home Owners Associations - You can get a steady flow of work from these associations mailings, brochures and newsletters are very common. Offer to maintain their newsletters, brochures and mailings at a reasonable price. You can get a list at your local library or yellow pages of local home-owners associations.
D. General Public
We suggest you post your flyers, business cards and brochures on public bulletin boards, coffee shops, movie theaters, libraries, super markets etc. You will slowly get your name out to the public which can get referrals for the services you offer.
5. Promoting Your Business
Here are some great way to promote your secretarial-home business:
1.) Word of mouth will be the best way to promote your business.
2.) Visit small businesses within a 5-10 mile radius of your home. Offer a free or discounted trial to try your services.
3.) Leave your business cards and flyers everywhere you go. We suggest investing in placing magnets on your business cards so you can place them on metal objects where it is appropriate.
4.) Visit every copy shop, office supply, mailbox store with in a 5-10 mile radius of your home. Ask them if you can leave business cards, place flyers on bulletin boards and if they could refer any work to you. Don't be shy about bringing in a dozen donuts or coffee in when you visit, place your card on the box and let them know you were there.
5.) Send several mailings with newsletters, flyers, and business cards to local businesses on a regular basis usually once a month, especially to companies that have shown interest or have sent you work in the past. You can get a list of companies from the yellow pages of your local phone book.
6.) Visit your local post office; usually you will find a public bulletin board to post your flyers and business cards.
7.) Try to locate other colleagues in your area that are not your immediate competitors, and ask them if they have clients in your area that they cannot service. In return, you will do the same for them.
8.) Contact temp agencies, not only to see if they have assignments for home-work, but to let them know of clients of yours that are looking for in-office workers. If you refer companies to them, they sure will go out of their way to get you work in return.
9.) Make sure to ask your current clients for additional referrals and a testimonial as a reference.
10.) Try to locate a secretarial association in your area so you can network with other home secretaries. You can use this to do co-op advertising with colleagues to save costs.
11.) Place small ads in local newspaper and community newsletters under "Services Offered."
12.) Make up or purchase promotional materials when you are able to afford it, such as calenders, pens and notepad. These are great to hand out to current and potential clients.
13.) When you have a budget, place an ad in the yellow pages of your phone book under "Temp Agencies."
14.) Contact very small businesses that are usually located in industrial areas. I found that a small 3 - 4-person office will have a variety of needs.
15.) When contacting any businesses in person, always ask to speak to the owner or office manager. Never just speak with a receptionist or secretary. They will more than likely just throw out your flyers and business cards because they may feel threatened.
16.) Use the following service which will list you in their "Secretarial Home Services" directory. Register your business with this site and they will lead you to potential clients in your area. Below is a link to register your company:
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6. What To Charge For Your Services
We will give you rate sheets on the going rates for home-secretarial services:
Rates:
Word Processing: $30/hr.
Desktop Publishing: $45/hr.
(applies to flyers, newsletters, brochures, business cards and postcards)
Résumés
Writing a cover letter: $50.
Consultation, writing, or rewriting: $50/hr.
Keyboarding résumé: $30 for one page, $45 for two pages + add $15 for each additional page (résumé, cover letter, salary history).
+ hourly word processing rates for changes.
Turnaround time is 24 hours.
Same day service is considered RUSH. Extra fees are billed for rush jobs, same day service, after hours, and weekends.Minimum charge:
A minimum of $20 is billed for all tasks.Express Service:
Less than 8 hours + 30%
Less than 4 hours + 75%
Less than 1 hour + 100%
While you wait + 100%
Evenings + 50%
Weekend + 100%
Rate Calculation:
The rate-calculation sheet makes it easy to calculate charges for your services in 5-minute increments. Here's how it works.
For example, if you charge $30/hr for word processing and it takes you 80 minutes to do the work, then you should charge $40. If you charge $40/hr for advanced word processing and it takes you 80 minutes to do the work, then you should charge $53.33.
You should charge a minimum amount. My minimum amount for any work is $20 even if you just change a phone number or address on a Résumé.
Use the lower amounts to add them up to longer times. For example, here's how you calculate 2 hours and 15 minutes. 2 hours. at $30/hr = $60. Then look at the table below and you'll see that you should add $7.50 for 15 min. work. So, your charge for 2 hours 15 minutes of work will be $67.50.
7. How to Charge For Your Services
How to Charge for Business Transcription
The guidelines below were published by the National Association of Secretarial Services and are based on the average time it takes an experienced transcriptionist to transcribe business transcription.
Those ratios apply to business transcription in ideal conditions. If you are new at transcription, you will be slower.
These guidelines do not apply to medical transcription, which is usually charged by the line. If you are interested in providing medical transcription, we highly recommend Michele Miller’s book about starting a medical transcription business. You can get more information at http://www.startasecretarialbusiness.com/medical-transcription.html.
Standard ratio of dictation time to transcription time:
1 person speaks: 1 to 4 (it takes 4 hours to transcribe a 1-hour dictation)
2 people are speaking: 1 to 6
Multiple voices: 1 to 7-8
If one person speaks, you can expect to spend 4 hours transcribing 1 hour of dictation. When two people conduct an interview, expect to spend 6 hours for each hour of dictation. Then charge your hourly rate.
These guidelines make it easy to provide a price estimate to your clients. Give an estimate based on the length of the recording and number of people speaking on the tape.
Make sure to inform your clients that the transcription time may vary due to increased transcribing difficulty resulting from specialized terminology, bad quality recording, background noise, voice clarity, foreign accents, special instructions, or lack of information provided.
Use those guidelines to bill clients too.
How to Charge for Data Entry (Typing Names and Addresses),
Mailing Lists and Mailing Labels
People often ask me how to charge for mailing labels.
How long it will take to input addresses will depend on how the addresses are provided and how legible the addresses are. Will you get a handwritten list, a phone list with small text, pieces of paper with addresses, or business cards?
Below are guidelines to help you calculate your fees for creating mailing lists and labels.
Set up cost
Set-up cost to set up mail merge: $20.
Labor
If you can type 80 labels/hour, your labor cost is .38/label
70 labels/hour- your labor cost is.43 /label ($43 for 100 labels)
60 labels/hour - your labor cost is.50/label ($50 for 100 labels)
I charge $.50 for each address change (3-4 lines), 10 ¢ per additional field (tel. #'s, etc.)
Cost of clear labels
$53 for 1500 = 3.6 cents/label
$56 for 2310 = 2 cents/label
Printing
- $.30/clear label printing
Charge a minimum of $1 for a label sheet.
Charge the cost of the complete box when using non-standard labels.
Here we have some business documents you can use for your business. Just fill in your home-secretarial business information where applicable. You can save these and use them when needed.
Transcript Quote Sheet [DOWNLOAD]
Fax Cover Sheet [DOWNLOAD]
Invoice [DOWNLOAD]
Promotion Letter #1 [DOWNLOAD]
Promotion Letter #2 [DOWNLOAD]
Promotion Letter #3 [DOWNLOAD]
Promotion Letter #4 [DOWNLOAD]
Promotional Post Cards [DOWNLOAD]
Business Agreement [DOWNLOAD]
9. Being a Virtual Assistant
I will give you a list of potential online clients using virtual office assistance companies. Along with promoting your own secretarial home business you can use these agencies to get some additional work. These virtual assitant agencies are a great way to help you get started by doing some simple tasks for your secretarial home business.
Here are some good virtual assistant agencies to work with:
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