There are many new small businesses today. These are businesses with less than 10 employees and many are home-based businesses that are operating as “virtual offices.” At times, these businesses need staffing assistance but have no physical office space.

Our featured guest in this Episode of The Small Business Trends Radio is Gayle Buske, Founder and CEO of Team Double-Click Inc., a service offering professional virtual assistants for small and home-based businesses. Gayle explains how to set up - and staff - your virtual office.

Here’s a sampling of information from the show:

• A virtual assistant — works independently from a remote location and can help you by performing a number of different tasks required to run your small business. Having an assistant perform daily tasks that may have taken you up to 20 hours a week to perform will now allow you to spend those 20 hours focusing on clients, sales, coaching, speaking or traveling.

• The only tools you need — to receive assistance are email, instant messenger and a telephone. There are also many online sites and services available for additional communication or file sharing.

• Costs for a virtual assistant — may vary, but an average of $25 per hour can be expected and many will also work on a retainer fee or under contract.

Virtual assistants can help your business prosper by saving you time and allowing you to focus on growing your business rather than spending the bulk of it performing the mundane daily tasks required to run it. Many small or home based business owners are so busy running their businesses that the lack of time available to them to focus on growth actually inhibits it.

If you’d like to learn more about the benefits a virtual assistant may be able to bring to your business, you can do so by clicking the red and yellow player below and listening to Gayle’s full interview.

Listen Now:

 How To Set Up A Virtual Office - Assistants And All [27:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Staci Wood | | Permalink

1. It always amazes me how many opportunities there are for people to work from home. It definitely sounds like virtual assistants are a win, win situation. Someone like a stay at home mom can work for a few hours a day or week and be of real benefit to a business owner saving time and effort. It is encouraging to know that the internet is creating more job opportunities too.

   Comment by Amanda — 4/3/2008 @ 12:38 pm

2. It never ceases to amaze me how many opportunities the Internet truly does provide. And Gayle makes a good point regarding their services. If the assistance gets you out of the office and on the road prospecting for clients or attending meetings, coaching, etc. - that’s where the real focus should be and a virtual assistant can get you there. I would think this would be extremely helpful to business owners who travel extensively.

   Comment by Chris — 4/4/2008 @ 9:46 am

3. I Want to mention that the guest’s (Gayle’s) sound quality was rather bad at the beginning of the show, due to being a cell phone. But if you can get past the initial few minutes it gets much better. So stick with it, please! Anita

   Comment by Anita Campbell — 4/4/2008 @ 12:01 pm

4. Home based business will an important part of the economy in the long-run. I look forward to the day when I could have virtual assistant.

   Comment by Martin Lindeskog — 4/6/2008 @ 4:04 pm

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