Make money online as a virtual assistant
Does
it seem like everyone is finding success on the Internet except for you? Well,
there's an interesting thing that many of these successful webpreneurs have
in common. THEY NEED HELP!
Successful business owners (both online and offline) don't have enough hours in their day to do all the mundane tasks themselves. The only way they keep growing is by delegating more and more of their work to 3rd parties. And virtual assistants make money online by taking on a lot of that work.
A virtual assistant might help proof-read a press release, post a project, manage schedules, make travel reservations, cancel appointments, pay bills, arrange for a sitter, answer calls, relay messages... Do you get the idea? They might do anything -- any task that an owner/CEO/executive/entrepreneur doesn't have time for.
Check out this article from Entrepreneur.com for more info about starting a virtual assistant business, as well as VirtualAssistantStartups.com.
Providing online consulting services
Do you know something about anything? Or can you learn anything about something? If so, you can probably make money online as a "consultant". You yourself may be a resourceful self-learner, but you'd be surprised how many people prefer to have someone walk them through things. Consultants can save a lot of time/expense/frustration/uncertainty, etc.
Check out LivePerson.com, Bitwine.com and Ether.com to get a sense for some of the possibilities. In my recent search, some of the top contenders were:
- Life coaching
- Internet marketing advisor
- Phone-a-friend
- Weight loss / nutrition help
- Counseling / advising
- Web development
- Software assistance
- Spirituality
Don't limit your marketing to the sites I mentioned -- also offer your services via Craigslist, classifieds, etc.
Make money online as a Wordpress consultant
Earlier I told you that you don't need any HTML or web development knowledge in order to create a blog with Wordpress.com. That's true, and many people don't.
However, it's also true that you can do a lot more with some design/development skills. And if you know your stuff, you can charge for assisting other Wordpress users with configuring their blogs. For example, at some point, every successful Wordpress blogger will want to install special plugins, or switch to a custom theme. People that don't have the expertise will pay someone else (you!) to do make such changes for them.
Although you might only charge a few bucks for each update/modification that you perform, this can add up fast given that many upgrades only take a few minutes.
Get started by contacting bloggers directly, network through your own blog, or help local businesses/associations/individuals with getting their own blogs online.
Provide training and support for open source software
Open source software is basically free software, and in many cases its quality is comparable to, or even better than, commercial packages. Whether you're looking for a word processing application, spreadsheet, web hosting platform, database, or content management system, there's most likely a free and open-source solution available. The cost savings can be very attractive to businesses of all sizes.
So why aren't more businesses using open source? Often the reason is lack of support. People want to be able to call someone (e.g. Microsoft) when they're have trouble installing or using an application.
And that's where your opportunity to make only online arises!
How hard is it to convince a small business to switch from MS Office ($$$) to OpenOffice ($0) if you'll be there to help them. They'll save perhaps thousands of dollars, and no longer have to deal with costly, frequent, and inconvenient "upgrades". And they'll always have you for phone/TeamViewer consulting if they need you.
There's a vast array of open source packages that you might choose to specialize in:
- Open Office
- Server software (many linux platforms)
- Ecommerce shopping carts
- VOIP phone service
- MySQL database
- Linux PC operating systems
- Financial apps
- Security tools
- Web statistics
- Firewalls
- Proxy servers
- Mapping tools
- Discussion Forums
- Google apps
Open source experts market their services by bidding on freelance projects, convincing local businesses to switch to open source, participating frequently in relevant discussion/help forums, etc. There's probably no better potential customer than frustrated ones -- which are often found in help forums.
Along the same lines, many commercial software applications offer support that is either over-priced, or under-personal, for which 3rd party consulting may be sought. Fee or free, I'm sure you've encountered software that is complicated and frustrating to setup the first time. That's the type of software for which people will be willing to pay for assistance.
Offer remote support / training / instruction
You've probably heard of services like BestBuy's "Geek Squad" -- mobile technicians that come to your home or office to troubleshoot computer problems. Sometimes they're useful. However, they're also very expensive, and many of the problems that home and small business users encounter don't really require a live visit.
Fortunately for you, services like TeamViewer (free), Copilot and Bomgar have made it extremely easy to access, control, configure, and fix a customer's computer remotely. These tools enable you to make money online by providing troubleshooting and training services in real-time.
Some of the valuable skills being offered through remote access include:
- MS Office troubleshooting
- PC speed optimization
- Virus checking/removal
- Firewall installation / security
- Photo editing help
- Internet training
- Design software
Yes, it all seems easy to you, but think back to the last time you were trying to learn a new software, or trying to troubleshoot a computer problem. There will always be people for whom computers, software, or the Internet are causing trouble that you can help with. Older people, smaller businesses, and businesses that frequently hire new employees are good markets for training services.