Switching from Employee to Business Mindset

I see many people posting on forums asking where they can find work at home jobs, because they want to be virtual assistants. First, let's clarify what you're looking for by working at home. When you work a job, you are an actual employee. If you are looking for a job to stay at home, you are going to be sorely disappointed. The few work at home job opportunities that do exist pay minimum wage or barely above. If that's what you're currently making outside the home or you just need to supplement another income that would be fine for you.

But if you are an experienced administrative assistant, you're probably used to making $8.00 per hour and up, depending the pay scale where you live. You're not going to get that kind of money being an employee from home, unless you manage to convince your current employer that it would be more beneficial to them for you to work from home.

However, you can find plenty of opportunities to work from home as an independent contractor. A virtual assistant is an independent contractor, not an employee. You are self-employed as a virtual assistant. You may or may not have an EIN (see my article on Safety and Your SSN), and you may be a sole proprietorship. But you will not be an employee. And you will not be looking for jobs, working jobs, or interviewing for jobs.
The biggest hurdle I see with most people starting is that they have a difficult time remembering they are a business selling products. Your products as a virtual assistant just happen to be your skills that you offer in the form of services. You have to think about how you want to market those skills. Here are some things to consider:

Why would someone want to purchase your ability to
- create newsletters?
- type quickly and efficiently?
- transcribe audio files?
- Invoice their customers?