Home Based Secretarial Business

How And Where To Advertise Your Secretarial Skills...

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Running a home based secretarial business is a great idea for the many many secretaries out there who either want to earn some extra money working from home or want to go down the whole entrepreneurial route and run a fully blown home business.

I mean you already possess the skills such as typing, reception, general clerical / administrative duties, so why not use those skills to your own advantage and be your own boss!

You could do this type of work on a part-time basis at evenings and weekends, then you could eventually go full-time when your business takes off.

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People have been running home based secretarial businesses for years.  It has only become more popular over the last ten years or so with the popularity of the 'work from home' syndrome and of course the introduction of the Internet.

In the late 1990's when I ran my own secretarial business from home, the Internet had just got started so I relied totally on offline marketing to local businesses for my work.  But now I see that many entrepreneurial secretaries are using the Internet to their advantage and are calling themselves 'Virtual Secretaries' or 'Virtual Assistants' and doing most of their advertising and work online.

So, here we shall have a look at the different aspects of running a home based secretarial business and the best way to advertise and market your business both offline and online.

You also need to know which area to specialise in as you will want to put your advertising and marketing efforts into targeting the right people.

Offline Advertising 

In my view, I would still definitely advertise your home based secretarial business offline, as well as online.

Here are some offline advertising methods:

 

Yellow Pages #1: 

I would scout through your local Yellow Pages and find any small business who you think would require your secretarial service.

This could be any local business that may need general typing done, or a list of Solicitors that would require additional legal work carried out; a list of construction workers that may need invoices or letters typing up etc..

Once you have identified your list, simply write to this list letting them know about your services and how you can assist them.

Yellow Pages #2: 

Advertise your services in the YP.  Start off with a small advert and as your business and profit grows get a larger ad.  Look through the YP to find the most appropriate category for you.

Flyers::

You could type yourself up a small A5 flyer and either get it photocopied or send it to a local printer shop.  Distribute these flyers around Business Parks, Office Blocks etc.

When I was targeting the academic sector, I wrote a cover letter with a copy of an A4 flyer and put them in an A4 envelope.  This letter was addressed to the Departmental Secretary and was kindly asking her if she would put my A4 poster onto the students' notice board.

I found the address of each Department within the University where I worked then I put all the envelopes into the internal mail system.  This cost me zero in postage costs and I got a very good response from Dissertation and Thesis students.

Obviously I had an advantage with working in the University, but you could visit a local University website, find the names and addresses of the Departmental Secretaries and post your letters to them.

You could do this for local colleges too.

Website:

If you can build yourself a small website.  A 1-5 page website will do.  This will act as your 'online brochure'.  You cold then put your website address on all of your advertising materials.

Online Advertising

There are many forms of online advertising, but I would choose to advertise your services on a local level.  This can be achieved the best via pay per click advertising.  If you chose Google Adwords for your PPC, then you can narrow your advertising right down to your own City or Town if you so wish.

What To Say In Your Advertising

#1  Although most businesses do have employed secretarial help you could point out to them that you would be available for secretarial cover in the case of any absences, holiday leave or back-log or work.

Say that you run a home based secretarial business and you are available for regular or ad-hoc work (as and when needed).

#2  Let them know exactly what you do and how much you charge per job.  For example,

These are example prices only

A4 Business Letter     - £4.00

Dissertation/Thesis     - £8.00 Per Thousand Words

Major Corrections       - £10.00 Per Hour

Faxing

Database

Phone Calls

or

Charge by the hour only  - £12.00 Per Hour

#3  Let them know how you would like to receive the work.  Do they deliver it to your door; do they post it; do you collect it?  etc..;

#4  Do you require half of the fee up-front?  What payment do your accept? Cash, Cheque, Credit Card?

Hopefully this should give you a bit of a start if you are thinking of setting up your own home based secretarial business.  Do a bit of research online and find out what other secretarial / virtual assistant services are doing and offering, then do the same but with your own voice and your own 'slant' on things.

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