by Anna Mattingly

The more we do our own clerical work independently for our small business, more we see how great need is for virtual assistants who can cater to small business community on web. We have also noticed at our employment site a great surge in internet traffic indicating another need for stay at home mother's and women in general to perform clerical duties in their homes. And what's really interesting is that men need this work as well today. Many who pass through our virtual door simply want to start their own business or to be hired as an administrative assistant of an existing business. But for years we struggled with answer of how to do this successfully. Many said they tried to do this but just simply could not find work.

Frustrating as it has been, we see a new frontier emerging. The Information Highway, as some call it, or internet has created a home for new home business owner's. Over past 3-5 years many entrepreneurs have been developing and establishing their own small businesses just as we did. We see many store fronts that are bringing in daily income for their owners which in turn is creating more and more administrative work and a new opportunity for administrative assistant's. Good news for struggling stay at home secretary. Although it will take a bit of ingenuity and hard work to get started it's no longer impossible for women to stay home and perform same office and administrative duties they used to perform traditionally in office.

Since small business is still in it's infancy via internet, a new VA has added job of enlightening small business owners of their need for strong administrative support. We've taken liberty here of incorperating this process into few simple steps needed to get started.........

Obviously you have a connection to internet if you are reading this. If you have your small home office set up and you have experience and you're ready to work at home here's all you will need to do.

1. Decide which services you will provide

Visit: http://www.abcsvcs.com/service.htm

2. Decide what rates you will charge.

Visit http://www.abcsvcs.com/rates.htm

3. Find a nice home on web for your new business. There are plenty of nice places to open a "VR" business. A simple one page website is more than sufficient.

------Visit: http://www.hypermart.net for one example of a free virtual community that will assist you with just about any need you have.

4. Set your business up. Basically you would just be advertising yourself to small business community on web with your website.

------Tell small business owners why they need you. You might want to mention how EXTREMELY reasonable your rates are.

A mentor does not buy, sell or negotiate. A mentor provides a service. In essence, mentoring is simply helping someone else play their cards right and become successful in their home business or other endeavour.

Thus defined, mentoring has been a business practice for a long time. Recent estimates indicate that a large majority of successful people have used a mentor as a standard business practice. Mentors choose to help others reach their goals for various reasons, most common reason being to gain support and help for their own projects and from a true desire to assist others. After all, what good is information if you don't share it with someone who needs a mentor?

Many mentors help a peer or friend move up ladder in order to achieve personal satisfaction and develop friendships. Also, you've probably experienced a friend saying, "I helped you, and now I need help too..." Basically, being or having a mentor is an exchange of services and friendship.

One reason mentoring is popular, especially in today's economy, is that it provides free training that normally would be provided at special training classes costing a lot of money. Mentors willingly provide this service, as it is simply bottom line method of training with little or no cash. In times of little or no cash flow, mentoring is a highly desirable commodity, and mentoring is becoming even more widespread. Mentoring offers a way to hold onto cash while continuing to get advice and training.