Working Virtually Anywhere

Skilled people find themselves a click, a phone call and a fax away from any job

Jane C. Parikh, Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO MI, February 11, 2007--Paula Wooley has formed close relationships with her three primary bosses. But she wouldn't know any of them if they passed her on the street. One is in California. Another is in New York. The third is in Texas. Woolley is in Vicksburg.

She starts work most days in her pajamas in front of a computer in her home office. Her relationship with her clients is limited to communication via the computer--without a Webcam--or in rara instances, the telephone.

"My goal every day is to have my shower and have my teeth brushed before my husband gets home," said Woolley, who founded her Progressive Office Solutions in 2005.

By 8 a.m. on most weekdays, she's in her home office checking emails and determining what tasks need to be completed for her client base, which includes a nonprofit legal group in California, an architect in New York City, and an Internet development company in Texas.

"I just like to get up early and get started," Woolley said. "Sometimes I work later because I have clients in California who need something done in their early afternoon, which is my early evenings."

Worldwide Profession

Woolley is one of an estimated 8,000 people worldwide who have found niches providing services to businesses that require administrative help on a limited basis, according to Danielle Keister, found of the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce, of Tacoma, Wash. They are making livings at home or from remote offices by marrying the skills they have acquired in the working world with technology that connects them with people anywhere.

The tools of their trade are computers with high-speed Internet connections, printers and reliable telephones and fax machines.

"It's hard for some businesses to find someone with the level of skills that (Virtual Assistants) have who is willing to work for 10 hours a month," Woolley said.

Virtual Assisting may include anything from setting up meetings and conferences to designing Web sites for clients, Woolley said.

Keister estimates that by the end of this year the number of Virtual Assistants will grow to about 10,000 worldwide. By 2010, she said, she expects that 10,000 to have doubled. Some of that growth may come from states such as Michigan, as layoffs by manufacturers and job reductions by others force skilled people who don't want to relocate to find other ways to work.

Of Michigan's 4.5 million employed residents who were 16 years of age or older, 127,765 were counted in Census 2000 as people who work from home. Almost 75,000 of those home-based workers were female.

A Workable Solution

Woolley is a relative newcomer to Michigan and its economy. A native of Louisville, KY, who worked as an information technology project manager for the state of Kentucky, she said she found herself in need of a job when she relocated to the area in 2002 after marrying her high school sweetheart.

The 42-year-old, whose two children and two stepchildren are grown, said she'd always wanted to run her own business, and found that the information technology skills she built during her 12 years in state government were well-suited to the Virtual Assistant arena.

She said she learned about Virtual Assistant work while searching Web sites on the Internet.

"I was at the point where I had to make a life decision about what I wanted to be when I grew up," Woolley said. "I came across information about Virtual Assisting on the Internet."

Like the majority of Virtual Assistants, Woolley has several clients, some of whom have put her on retainer.

"They basically pay me in advance for a certain number of hours, and if I work more than that, I bill them for it," Woolley said.

Juggling Needs

A typical week finds Woolley putting in about 50 hours, 20 of which are devoted to running her own business, which includes marketing Progressive Office Solutions and writing proposals for prospective clients.

The work she does for her clients depends on their needs. But she said there is no such thing as a typical workday or workweek, because she never knows what her clients may need.

Form 8 to 8:30 a.m. each morning, she said, she's looking at email and mapping out her day. Throughout the day, she frequently finds herself multitasking or juggling various needs for her clients.

"I may work six hours a day for one client, and then do nothing for them for a couple of days," Woolley said.

For the nonprofit legal group, she handles membership renewals. That includes answering emailed questions from prospective members about the Los Angeles-based organization and its membership fees. Woolley said she also coordinates events for the group and facilitates and records minutes from conference-call meetings.

"For the nonprofit, I am working for them every day, frequently answering questions," Woolley said.

Her duties with Idea Catchers Group LLC, the Internet development compnay in Plano, Texas, focus on interaction with clients via email that includes project management and pulling together monthly reports.

"The biggest benefit to us of having Paula is that she's given us a lot of flexibility to be able to shift different projects around," said Larissa Church, president of Idea Catchers. "She is often the administrative support for entire projects for us."

Woolley said her New York archiect, Michael Bogdanffy-Kreigh, relies on her for client billing and meeting scheduling.

Leaning on Each Other

The hourly rate for Virtual Assistants is anywhere from $35 to $70, the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce's Keister said.

Keister established her own Virtual Assistant business in 1997 after working as a private investigator. Her client roster includes private investigators, attorneys, marketing and public relations consultants.

"I started doing (Virtual Assistant) work before I realized there was an entire industry out there doing what I was doing," Keister said. "I began my business as a secretarial service, and my practice evolved into a Virtual Assistant practice."

Keister said she has four clients, all of whom have put her on retainers.

"You do a lot better if you determine a target market or two or a niche to focus on," Keister said.

She said she founded the VACOC in 2005 to provide a resource for other Virtual Assistance and potential clients.

Virtual Assistants establish networks amongst themselves. Keister said her organization serves them by offering advice, education and information on the latest trends in the industry.

Locally, Woolley said, she provides administrative assistant services to Auto-Tech, an automotive-diagnostic business, and for a reflexologist, both in Kalamazoo. She also produces a newsletter for a Mary Kay cosmetics distribution director in Schoolcraft.

Woolley said the newsletter is designed by another at-home worker, a woman in Alaska whom Woolley found via the Internet.

Keeping It Virtual

While her national clients don't seem to mind that they've never met her face-to-face, Woolley said her local clients do.

"The local clients think they have to see me," Woolley said. "The other clients were already aware that I work remotely."

Keister said the ability to serve clients anywhere in the world successfully depends on the "virtual" aspect of the job.

"You learn quickly that it's not effective or efficient to meet (clients) in person," Keister said. "Most of us find out that you get a lot more done if you stick around the office."

Woolley said the advantages of her profession are flexibility and the ability to run a business based on her own morals, ethics and standards.

"People say that working at home can be very isolating," she said. "But I've met so many interesting people."

For those interested in exploring the world of Virtual Assistantship, more information is available at http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com