In this post I am going to tell you how much it will cost you to run your virtual office - But first let's just go over a few things in some depth and then I will break down the monthly cost:If you have read previous posts on this blog and looked at the resource pages then you know all the tools you need to start working from your virtual office.
Now it's time to act and make sure that you have those tools and have signed up for your Free Membership of all of the employment resources I have mentioned; you need to do this so you make sure you are giving yourself the very best chance to earn money working from home as quickly as possible.
And it does not matter if you want to work from home in the UK, work from home in the USA or work from home absolutely anywhere in the world.
Firstly, you already own a computer and you already have an internet connection; so that business expense has already been dealt with and doesn't concern you anymore.
You can start working from home for free - It is true that at some stage you will definitely want to have at least one premium membership with an employment site eventually to increase the number of different work from home jobs that you are able to apply for; you should not do this straight away as it's wise to see which employment site works best for you (in other words, which one you get the most work from) before upgrading any of your free memberships.
However; even with more than one premium membership and hopefully you are successful enough to need it; being a virtual assistant working from home can always be done with a very cheap virtual office. This is perfect if you have been laid off, are long term unemployed or are a mom looking for work at home jobs for moms that fit into your family schedule.
So let's look go through that list of stuff that is essential and look at the cost:
File sharing, file exchange and file storage - You will need a way of receiving large files from clients and of course delivering large files to them; email has it's limits so sign up for a free account with 4shared or Dropbox. Both these resources allow you to send and receive files of up to 500MB at a time and 10GB of storage space - this should be plenty to get you started and keep you going for quite some time before you need to upgrade to a premium membership that gives you 100GB of storage space and the ability to transfer files of 2GB and more.
The month to month cost of either of these file sharing and file transfer options does not exceed $9.99 per month with reductions for annual membership options.
Website and your own domain name and email: Okay you do not need a website straight away but I strongly recommend that you purchase your desired business domain so that you can at least present a professional look to your virtual office company; it makes you far more appealing as a virtual assistant to potential employers than if you use a free email account such as Gmail and Hotmail for example.
There are plenty of great deals out there for web hosting and domain name packages with a domain name costing as little as $1.99 and some really great web hosting packages for less than $9.99 a month.
Unlimited phone calls for your virtual office: Having the ability to make phone calls is something that is sometimes taken for granted; but unless you want to use your own home telephone number or pay for an additional landline; a virtual phone system is really the best option - to make actual phone calls from your computer you will need to pay for these; but systems such as Skype and Virtual office phone have domestic and international calling packages that range from $8.99 to $14.99 a month.
Their fair use policy is commonly in the region of 10,000 calling minutes; so ample for the busiest of virtual offices
Other than all these things I have mentioned that involve a cost either now or later on down the road as you build your work from home business are mostly software that you should already have or can acquire with free downloads - all of these are available on the Home office resources page of this site.
Okay so let's break down that recipe for your work from home virtual office and the ongoing monthly cost of being a virtual assistant earning money working from home.
Broadband or DSL internet - average monthly cost of $39.99
File sharing and file storage - average monthly cost of $9.99 (free account sufficient at start-up)
Domain name and web hosting - average monthly cost of $9.99
Virtual office phone - average monthly cost of $14.99
Virtual employment membership sites - average monthly cost $19.99
So there you have it; no matter whether you are a work from home mom, recently laid off or long term unemployed and want to turn your prospects around; you can be a virtual assistant working from home in your virtual office for less than $100 per month. And if you are on a very tight budget getting off the ground you can even start off and working at home for free.
Looking forward to helping anyone that wants to try out being a virtual assistant and I look forward to your comments
You can earn steady income online from the comfort of your own armchair.
[http://www.yourarmchairoffice.com]
[http://www.yourarmchairoffice.com]
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