Work at Home Now: The No-nonsense Guide to Finding
Your Perfect Home-based Job, Avoiding Scams, and Making a Great Living
 Co-written
by home-based career experts Christine Durst and Michael Haaren, this
timely book will help job seekers come out on the right side of the
60-to-1 scam ratio that plagues the work-at-home job arena, and quickly
navigate their way to a legitimate home-based career.
As the designers of the highly-successful Home-Based Career &
Telework Job Development Program for the US Department of State and the
US Armed Forces, Durst and Haaren have trained thousands of
work-at-home “wannabes.”
They know firsthand that
job seekers are not looking for heavy data and statistics about
telework, nor do they want to waste precious time reading vague
information about the types of work they “may want to
consider.”
Work
at Home Now
sets itself apart from other titles in the
field by touching only lightly on telework statistics and introductory
matter, and focusing instead on what job seekers want most – the fastest
and safest route to
an appropriate job.
Readers will find details on hundreds of companies that actively hire
home-based workers (including 400+ websites), interviews with key
personnel from hiring companies, resume-enhancement tips, Internet
job-search terms that actually work, the latest in scam-spotting
techniques, and other “immediate action”
information.
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The
2-Second Commute: Join
the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants
 In The
Two-Second Commute: Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual
Assistants,
readers discover a simple but empowering self-employment solution that
is fast becoming an international phenomenon—the Virtual
Assistance
industry.
As
recently featured in Business Week and Time
Magazine,
Virtual
Assistants (VAs) are home-based entrepreneurs—work-at-home
moms and
dads,
retirees, military and Foreign Service spouses, people with
disabilities,
homeschoolers, and aging boomers sick of the rat race—who are
running
their
own shows from spare rooms and basements, offering business support
services
to other small businesses via email, phone and fax. It's one of the
most
explosive industries of our time, with entrepreneurs helping other
entrepreneurs
around the globe—an incredible symbiosis! And it’s
all brought together
by the Internet.
But
most exciting of all, "VA'ing" is offering thousands of individuals
their
first chance to stretch their entrepreneurial wings.
The
runaway success of the co-authors' Portable Career &
Virtual
Assistant
Training Program™ (developed for active-duty US
Military Spouses
and
being delivered on military bases worldwide) demonstrates the strong
demand
for a quick and user-friendly "virtual career" program. The
Two-Second
Commute: Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants
is
based on this popular, groundbreaking training, and provides a complete
how-to guide that is liberally peppered with tips and pointers
submitted
by VAs from all walks of life.
Highlights
of the book include:
- Is
"VA'ing"
For You? Being a VA is not for everybody, and we'll tell you why! A
series
of exercises and self-assessments helps readers evaluate their
entrepreneurial
profile, identify pitfalls and potential trouble spots, and begin to
self-select
"in" or "out" of this challenging new career path before making serious
commitments.
- Special
Section! -- "Spouse with a Mouse™" [This segment is
phenomenally
popular
in Staffcentrix trainings!] -- Anticipating changes in the household
that
come with launching and growing a home-based business. Is your spouse
or
partner ready for you to have a Virtual Assistant business? Includes
exercises
for couples to help identify and spark discussion of core values and
goals
of the family as a team.
- Getting
That First Client, Launching & Marketing Your VA Business, Do I
Really
Need a Business Plan?, and Leveraging the Media to Grow Your Business
(plus
a hilarious communications exercise for two, with toddler-level Legos)
are just a few of the areas Durst and Haaren cover with their usual
panache,
a dash of sass, and their earned-it-in-the-trenches style!
- VA
Toolbox:
General Resources for VAs, plus special resources for work-at-home
moms,
entrepreneurs with disabilities, military and other "trailing" spouses,
and “cheapskates” (freebies for small businesses).
Readers
of The Two-Second Commute: Join the Exploding Ranks of
Freelance
Virtual
Assistants benefit in three key ways: They learn about their
individual
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT), and the role
these play in the successful launch and operation of a VA business.
They
are inspired throughout the book by the success stories and
“war
stories”
of those who have come before them. And they gain practical
information
and tools for building a business as a VA -- the home-based,
self-employed
professional they only dreamed they could be, leveraging the Internet
to
help small businesses grow rapidly, smoothly, and successfully.
CHAPTERS
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1
Why Become a Virtual
Assistant?
- personal
& professional reasons
to
explore this
industry
Chapter 2
Exploring Virtual
Assistance
- virtual
assistance defined
- industry
demographics
- services,
fees, and trends
- why
businesses work with VAs
- international
outlook
Chapter 3
Reality Checks
& Self-Assessments
- exploring
important considerations -
motives,
lifestyle,
family, children, etc.
- entrepreneurial
self-assessment
- VA
readiness self-assessment
- Spouse
With a Mouse™ - from our
Department of State
and US
Armed Forces training programs, a special section to help your
"significant other" understand what it will be like to have a business
in the house.
Developing a "Service
Menu" That You Can Live and Grow With
- inventory
your values, interests, and
skills to
determine
your most marketable skills
Chapter 5
Estimating Costs and
Setting Fees
- projecting
your costs, picking your
"salary", setting
your hour, and our special formula for calculating a reasonable
baseline fee
- comprehensive
fee survey (see what other
VAs are
charging)
- getting
paid -contracts, credit cards,
invoices,
retainers, etc.
Chapter 6
Setting Up Your
Business and Your Office
- naming and
registering your business
- forms of
business ownership
- permits
and licenses
- insurance
- home
office setup
Chapter 7
Building a Healthy
Foundation for Your Business
- defining
your ideal client, interviewing
clients,
partnering with clients
- the art of
virtual communications
- SWOT
analysis - discovering your
Strengths,
Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats
- the
benefits of "niche marketing" -
identifying your
target
market
Chapter 8
Let the Marketing
Begin!
- image is
everything
- talking
about what you "do"
- marketing
and email
- your Web
site - your "global billboard"
- press
releases
- harvesting
the local "business crop"
- leveraging
the media
- guest
lecturing
- our 5
favorite marketing techniques
- the
Strategic Marketing Plan - your
blueprint for
building
a successful business through effective marketing
Chapter 9
Pulling
It All
Together and
Keeping It There
- a
collection of tips, tool, techniques,
and pointers
for
making your business a success
Chapter 10
The VA Toolbox:
Resources and Information
- VA trade
groups, email lists,
certifications and
training
programs
- specialized
resources for homeschoolers,
"trailing
spouses", work at home parents, and people with disabilities
- resources
and other information for the
"frugal VA"
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