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Secretary's, Administrative Professional's Day Gifts?

Work from Home 
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Are you considering working from home?  What type of work could you do at home?  It is very easy to be lured into network marketing and the promises of making $2,000 plus per week.  Take my word, it is very difficult to make this type of money without spending oodles and oodles of your hard earned cash and savings, and not forgetting the endless hours you need to apply, all for little or no reward.

Starting your own Secretarial Service

Many secretaries at some time consider starting their own secretarial business  which is understandable because they have the skills and expertise to provide good service to the general public or those businesses who need part time staff from time to time to address a back-log of work or special project.

If you do decide this is a business opportunity for you, you need to do some research before taking the plunge.

Be confident using proven advice you need when starting your work from home business

Having an edge on other existing businesses 

You would need to see how many other secretarial services are already in existence in the area you are intending to operate and the type of work they are providing a service for.  For example, are they only taking in word processing, faxing, e-mail, mail redirecting, flyers.

If you feel your service could have an edge on those already existing because you have a special skill in office work that they are not covering, e.g. legal transcription, or maybe building web pages and websites, then this creates a special niche in the market for you.

Office Equipment and Supplies

You cannot run a business without office equipment that delivers a quality end product.  This is really important because it will make or break your business if you do not have reliable office equipment.

The question is should you lease, rent or buy?  There are advantages to all of these.  Leasing/Renting can be tax deductible and if you buy, you can claim depreciation.  The other consideration in this equation is if you buy and your equipment becomes faulty, can you afford to get professionals in to fix it and what do you do for equipment until then.  If you rent, you could have a contract where a replacement is brought in for you to use until your equipment is fixed.  Also another advantage is that you may be able to exchange and update your equipment every 2 years for the most current models available.  These are important aspects that need to be checked so you make the best decision for you.

Building your Customer Base

You need customers but just how are you going to start building your customer base.  You need to be competitive - you will need to know what services others are offering and at what price.  Do not under cut your competitor's rates  if you cannot do the task and make a 25% - 30% profit.

There are other ways to get business to come to you. 

Consider incentives for anyone using your secretarial agency.  Loyalty schemes have always worked well for cards, videos etc - maybe you could offer a similar scheme where you do work for the customer 4 times and you then give them the fifth one half price, or, you give them a discount after using your service 10 times.  Another example could be to offer a half hour free lesson on how to use the internet or e-mail, or computer, as these are skills you already have.  A freebie is a great draw card for your business.

Marketing your business

You also need to market your business and let them know who you are, where you are and what you do.   You may already have a network of friends and business colleagues you feel may have a need for your service.  There are lots of tricks you can acquire in this area.  You can also set up a website to draw further customers and this is something you can do yourself - all the worry is eliminated .

Friends and Family interruptions

You need to be firm with your friends and family and let them know your working hours.  You need to say you work from 9.00am until 5.00pm or 10.00am until 3.00pm, or whatever your hours are, otherwise they may feel they can phone or drop by for chats just because you work from home.  Of course you need to assure them you are always available in cases where its a family or friend emergency.

You also have to discipline yourself as you may tend to sneak some household chores in just because you are working at home.  If you start work at 9.00am make sure you treat it just as if you were going away from the house to work, be ready to start work at that time.

Reliability

Always do what you say you are going to do.  If you say you are open for business Monday - Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm - make sure you are.  If you use the family home phone for your business, make sure your phone is not being tied up by your teenager when they arrive home from school, or if you use a cell phone, make sure it is turned on and you also have a message bank.  

Your Passion or Hobby could generate income for you

If you have a passion or hobby or just an idea, there is only one tool that can turn it into an online business...this is great for anyone not confident and not knowing where to start.  Everything is taken care of from the tiniest thought to receiving the income and this is one reason professional webmasters are making the switch to this tool.  This is NOT a scam but a genuine opportunity to start an on-line business, learn the basics of a process that really does work and see some dollars come your way. 

And if you're still not convinced, put your questions to paper and get the answers you need.   BIG DISCOUNT available now

Thinking about selling on auctions?
maybe you're interested in starting to trade on e-bay or selling using dropshipping where you only purchase the stock after you've made the sale.  This is a great resource for anyone wanting to start an online business.

There is a book  you can purchase if you're serious about working from home and not quite sure where to start and it won't cost you the earth...only $9.95 - best buy on the net.
 

See below the type of information you can access right here:

What does the Role of a Secretary entail
The Secretarial role is not for everyone even though it is challenging and changing. See if you have the desired qualities.