WAHM Forums

I have previously considered being a VA. I bought a good book about it, but what put me off was the fact that you have to maintain a lot of updated software, pretty much matching what your client has.

With things being the way they are, I am re-looking at this, primarily focusing on the legal community. I did ask my city's biggest law firm and they said they don't use temp work or even outsource it anymore because of client confidentiality issues.

I do have something of a legal background.

My question is there anyone here who has done this, is doing this, or does anyone know of a website about this.

Also has your regular VA work slacked off or increased? I am reading about some of the big firms letting legal secretaries go which I have never heard of ever.

Many thanks.

I am not a legal secretary but, many of the women in my neighborhood who recently retired, some of which stayed on as part timers, told me the same thing. Some law firms are laying off legal secretaries. Also, a young lawyer who lives across the street from me was also laid off. There are two young lawyers next door to me who are married. She works from home and he still goes to the office. He works for a very elite, exclusive law firm in NYC. He told me that they also laid off some lawyers and with them went the administrative staff. He also said he leaves later for work and comes home earlier but, does his remaining work from home. I think they are trying to economize on electricity usage.

I was in finance and the secretarial staff is practically all gone.

I also worked in medical but, most medical offices are looking for phsician assistants and not secretaries. They have outsourced their transcription and their medical billing.

I too am at my wits end.

Thanks Marie.

It's hard to know what to go into now. I am past the age of training to be a nurse, and even if I wasn't, its so competitive now with everyone wanting to get in.

My vet's office manager told me her friend had to leave medical transcription and become a legal secretary because there wasn't enough work.

Its funny to me that the top 10 most in demand jobs are things like engineers and physicians assistant. i think "doesn't the writer of the article know how long it takes to become one of these?" It's not really helpful info, is it?

Well, good luck to all of us.

I am not a legal secretary - I get at least one request per month for those services, I refer them to other VAs

As far as maintaining software/etc - yes I do have to keep my office relatively current but honestly, I haven't updated to Office 2007 yet, mainly because I've heard many of the functions I use aren't available in Excel and because 99% of my clients are still using Office 03 as well - I can open files created with 07 and they can open what I create, we're happy

Your city's largest firm may not outsource but what about the smaller firms that can't afford or justify the cost full-time help but need assistance?

My business picks up considerably in a bad economy with new business in a lot of new industries

Thanks for the information.

Aii Velshi, of CNN. stated that virtual assistant was a good business to start.

Maybe I am not marketing myself the right way. I am so frustrated. Many jobs are being lost every week and it seems like this will be a jobless recovery.

Do you advertise on the internet or do you do direct mailings. I tried direct mailing with no luck.

I was thinking of calling the companies that may need virtual assistants and asking for the email of their HR department. They may prefer a va in place of a temp staff.

Can you offer me any ideas.

Thanks,

I advertise online and direct mail post cards - At this point, though I get more business from referrals than ads

I'm not a good example of how to start, I'm very unconventional with my approach, it isn't for everybody (and I've been corrected once too often on this board to go there again).

If *I were starting today - *I would not target companies large enough to have HR departments, *I would target smaller companies (even one man operations) that need help but not a regular employee

Have you decided what services you want to offer? How many hours a day you want to devote to your business? etc.....

I am going to devote a full 8 hour day, Monday through Friday.

I would like to do travelarrangements, handle correspondence, maintain calendars, billing/accounting, research, event planning, proof reading, data entry, client/customer follow up, excel spreadsheet, invoicing, monitor emails, mantain a marketng list, process expenses,track expenses, maintain contact lists, schedule car service pick up, handle itineraries, and reconfirm reservations.

All things I did as an executivesecretary.

If you have any ideas please pm me even.

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Once again,

Thank you,

Marie

RE & Insurance agents, CPAs, financial advisors, etc.... hold a lot of seminars - handling arrangements/invites/attendees/etc.... could be popular. I don't enjoy it enough to offer it openly but will if a regular client asks.

Thank you,

Will look into this.