At Home Typing Work

If you consider providing secretarial or typing services, you’ve probably wondered what the difference is between a secretarial service business and a virtual assistant business.

These terms are often interchanged. Busy professionals, businesses, and entrepreneurs are using secretarial services and virtual assistants for the same reasons:

- They need help with administrative work, office support services, routine tasks, and other time-consuming projects.
- They don’t want to hire a full-time in-house secretary and provide employee benefits, office space and equipment.
- They don’t have time to do all the work themselves and use outside help to take some of the workload off their shoulders.

Here are some similarities between secretarial services and VAs:

- They provide administrative support to businesses and entrepreneurs and a variety of office support services that may include typing, word processing, data entry, Internet research, email services, correspondence, and clerical tasks typically performed by an office secretary.
- They are self-employed entrepreneurs and independent contractors.
- They work from their own office and use their own equipment.

By using the Internet, email, phone, and mailing services, businesses can outsource any work that can be done from a remote location, and virtual assistants and secretarial services can assist businesses from anywhere in the world.

What are the differences between a secretarial service operator and a virtual assistant?

- Secretarial services are perceived as typists and word processors. VAs are portrayed as highly skilled and trained professionals.
- Secretarial services are typically providing typing, word processing, data entry and other office support services. In addition to typical secretarial services, VAs often provide specialized services. These may include graphic design, web design, bookkeeping, realtor assistance, writing, event planning, and programming. The services VAs and secretarial services can provide are endless depending upon their knowledge and skills.
- Secretarial services were traditionally working with local clients but today they are also working with distance clients and can therefore call themselves virtual assistants. Most VAs assist both local and long-distance clients.
- In the past, clients dropped off work to secretarial services but today they often work through email, phone, fax and mail. VAs get work assignments through the Internet, telephone, fax, and email.
- VAs need a web site, must be Internet savvy, and must be proficient with Internet marketing to promote their services online and get nationwide and global clients.

Your prospective clients often interchange the terms secretarial services and virtual assistant depending on their industry, location, country, and cultural background.

Secretarial services can present themselves as virtual assistants to provide a wider range of services and reach a larger market. If you are working or are planning to work with long-distance clients, you can call yourself a VA. You can even consider a local client “virtual” if you don’t meet regularly. If you want to be perceived as a skilled office support professional instead of a typist, start calling yourself a VA. But if you want to provide typing services only, call yourself a word processing service.

If you’re not sure if you want to start a secretarial service or become a virtual assistant, consider starting as a secretarial business. It’s easier to get local clients. To get long-distance clients, you’ll have to promote yourself online. Internet advertising can be costly and requires a steep learning curve.

Your prospects may be searching the Internet for different keywords depending on their needs. Their searches may include the keywords secretarial service, secretary, typist, word processor, VA, virtual assistant, administrative assistant, or transcriptionist. Make sure to mention your location in your search engine advertising as business owners prefer working with local people when available. When promoting your services, use whatever terms your clients are using.

The best solution? Incorporate both the keywords secretarial and VA services in your business name so you can expand your business nationwide when you’re ready.

Looking for legitimate work at home?  Find out how to start a secretarial service or become a virtual assistant.  Free report: Avoid typing and data entry scams.
Visit http://www.typing-and-data-entry-scams.com

 By Leva Duell 

Are you interested in freelance typing, transcription or secretarial work but don’t know how to get work? Are you afraid of home business scams?

The Internet has facilitated working from home. Modern technology such as email, cell phones, and fax machines makes it easy to communicate with employers. Work is often delivered through email or mailed by Priority mail and other specialized mailing services. Anyone with a computer, internet connection and computer skills can now telecommute, work from home and provide freelance services for global entrepreneurs and business owners.

You can find an abundance of at home jobs and freelance work at home on the internet. But online home work opportunities demand close scrutiny. Although many web sites provide legitimate work at home, many are scams. Be skeptical, educate yourself on how to avoid scams, and learn to distinguish work at home scams from legitimate work at home.

Avoid Ads That Promise Easy Money

Avoid enticing ads promising “easy money” and “no experience necessary” home work and vague offers that don’t explain what work you’ll be doing from home or what information you’ll be getting.
Medical transcription provides legitimate work from home but you have to know medical terminology. And to make a good living from medical transcription, you have to be able to transcribe or type fast and set up shortcuts.

To provide secretarial services or VA services, you need to have a decent knowledge of a major word processing program like Word, have typing skills and good spelling and grammar skills.
Here are some ways to find legitimate work from home

• Ask your current or previous employers for at home work. Your employer already knows you and knows your experience and skills.

• Consider starting your own business. Look for a home-based business that matches your skills, experience, and interests. This is the best way to create at home work.

• Provide freelance services. Look at freelance job boards like Elance and Guru.

• Check classified ads sites like Craigslist an others who list thousands of telecommuting and work at home jobs.

Freelance work is often associated with freelance writing but today you can provide a wide range of freelance services from home. Analyze your experience and skills when considering what freelance work or home business is right for you. What skills do you already have that you could use in a home business? What skills did you use in previous jobs? Do you have computer, accounting, graphic design, word processing or secretarial experience? Start a home business around those skills!

Here are some freelance services you can provide from home if you have typing skills: home-based secretarial services, virtual assistant or VA services, medical transcription from home. Secretarial services often provide business transcription or legal transcription if they have worked in the legal or paralegal field.

If you have basic Web design skills, you can start an internet business. Popular internet businesses include promoting affiliate programs and selling on eBay.

The possibilities to provide freelance services and work from home are endless. Be creative.

Are you a secretary, word processor, data entry processor or typist? Are you interested in typing from home? Providing secretarial services? Running a secretarial business?

By knowing the challenges involved in running a home-based secretarial business and learning from other people’s mistakes, you can increase your profits and become successful faster.

Mistake 1: Spending too much start-up money.

Don’t spend thousands of dollars before you’re getting secretarial work and clients. Start your secretarial business on a shoestring. Spend as little money as possible when getting started to minimize costs and maximize profits. Only buy equipment and supplies that are essential. Start with a computer, printer and a ream of paper. Buy small amounts of supplies. Then, when you start getting regular clients and are making money, you can buy additional equipment and supplies. When you start to get clients, then you can buy additional equipment and supplies.

Consider buying used equipment. You can find used equipment for your secretarial business in your local newspapers and computer publications, at garage sales, second-hand stores, and at message boards. Check eBay to find low-priced business supplies and equipment. Look for sales and specials at local stores.

Mistake 2: Untargeted business name.

Your business name should clearly indicate what kind of secretarial services you’re providing. If your business name doesn’t describe the nature of your secretarial business or typing services or has an unclear meaning, it won’t catch the attention of prospective clients and they may not realize that you offer services they need.

Your business name can also help you differentiate your secretarial services and convey your unique selling proposition. For example, HyperTyper tells what this typing service does. Not only does this home-based secretary type, but she types fast. Express Legal Secretarial Services and Accurate Medical Transcription both indicate their secretarial specialties in addition to indicating that they offer a fast turnaround and accurate transcription work.

Mistake 3: Not charging enough for your secretarial services.

Pricing is often a challenge for home-based secretarial services. Some secretarial services think that if they charge less than their competition they will get more work. This is not true. Don’t be tempted to reduce your fees to get the sale. Don’t underestimate the value of your secretarial, word processing, typing and transcription services, and commit to asking your full fee.

Charging too little for your secretarial services reduces your profits and can leave you resentful. Have confidence in yourself and in the secretarial services you are providing.

Mistake 4: Not specializing.

Successful secretarial services specialize. Do you want to target academia, legal, medical clients? Do you want to provide word processing and transcription services? For example, Ann Johnson’s Legal Transcription or Creative Designs immediately indicates what those people specialize in. Specializing does not mean that you have to turn down other secretarial work or word processing work. But you can reach your market better if you appear to be a specialist in a particular field. For example, if you put an ad in the Yellow Pages with a name like “A Winning Resume” you’ll be taken more seriously as a resume writer than if your ad says “Tina’s Typing Services.” Determine what sets you apart from other secretarial services, and then emphasize your uniqueness.

Mistake 5: Failing to market or marketing inconsistently.

Lack of marketing is the biggest mistake secretarial service businesses make. They may send out flyers, postcards or letters once, or call a prospect once, or place one ad once, and then they’ll expect the phone to ring off the hook. The key to marketing is repetition. It usually takes more than one contact for a customer to start using your secretarial services. In fact, it typically takes 5 to 7 contacts. You want your name to be in front of your customers and prospects on an ongoing basis. You want them to think of you when they have a problem and need word processing or secretarial services. If your prospects have seen your name only once, and your competitor is sending them a mailing every month, your competitor will get their word processing and secretarial work.

Mistake 6: Untargeted marketing.

Many home based secretarial services think that every business or entrepreneur is their market. You don’t want to advertise to everyone hoping that someone out there will need your secretarial services.

Your marketing and advertising has to be targeted to your goals to generate sales. Untargeted marketing is ineffective and will cost you money. Target your promotions and messages to the type of clients you want to work with and the kind of secretarial work you want to do. For example, if you want to provide medical transcription to doctors, you should go to medical facilities instead of putting flyers on bulletin boards at grocery stores. If you are targeting students, go to colleges.

Be sure to know your preferred audience. Then advertise in publications your customers will read. Research which advertising medium will be effective for your secretarial business.

Mistake 7: Trying to reinvent the wheel

Learn from other people’s mistakes. Great marketing strategies work over and over again. Look at proven marketing strategies that are successful for other secretarial services and copy their success instead of trying to create new ones.

There is a high demand for secretarial services. If you having typing skills, consider running your own home based secretarial service business.

Fortunately for you, you have the opportunities to learn from others’ mistakes, and avoid making the same mistakes yourself in your own secretarial business. Do your home work and find out as much as possible about starting a secretarial service business. Then, dive in and get started.

At home typing is a blog exploring typing work at home.

You will learn about the different kinds of at home typing work that is available. If you are considering typing at home, you’ ll find out which at home typing offers you should try and which at home typing web sites are scams.

We’ll review at home typing work and web sites. You’ll find many at home typing offers. Find out about the good ones and how to avoid the typing at home scams.

To get legitimate typing business at home work, visit Start a Secretarial Service.

Here are the three best ways to make money typing at home. I’ll discuss them in more details in future posts.

1. Start a secretarial service. Visit http://www.startasecretarialbusiness.com/

2. Become a virtual assistant. Visit http://www.startasecretarialbusiness.com/va.htm

3. Provide medical transcription. Visit http://www.startasecretarialbusiness.com/medical-transcription.html

We’ll review those typing jobs in more details in the At Home Typing Reviews category.