Author Topic: Part-time/flex virtual work - virtual assistant, tutor, accounting, etc...  (Read 1795 times)

jeromedawg

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Hi all,

My wife has been contemplating the idea of getting back into the workforce but on a part-time or flex basis. Wanted to get some feedback and or ideas on how to get her started with all this.

Some background on her:
- worked for a couple years doing accounts payable at a small food management company that owns a number of Jack In the Box chains in the LA area
- after we got married in 2010, she started working for a large real estate company in OC as an accountant until the beginning of 2016 (various roles but she started in AP, then did some AR, then went into general accounting role).
- she stopped working at the beginning of 2016 to be a full-time SAHM.
- since mid-2018 she has been helping a financial advisor/friend of ours who needed a general assistant (filing in the office [when it was safe to go in], sending out communications/cards/letters to clients, entering expenses from receipts into QuickBooks, etc). This is fully flexible remote work with some appearances at the office a few times a year, and she can generally work as much as she wants and with very flexible timelines. On a monthly basis she works anywhere from 7-10 hours and is paid $25/hour as a contractor
- overall, she has about 3.5 years or so of experience doing accounts payable, about 3 years of regular/general accounting, about half a year of accounts receivable, and a couple years now of doing admin assistant type stuff


Considered a number of things she could do remotely:
- Tutoring: She majored in math in college and seems to enjoy and most confident doing the lower level math like Algebra and below. Geometry and Calculus are two she doesn't particularly enjoy. Trigonometry/Alg II she enjoyed but is pretty rusty at it.
- Elder/senior care: mostly just companionship/spending time with/simple tasks not at a nursing level. She has a natural affinity for elderly/seniors.
- Virtual Assistant: the work she does now for her friend/the financial advisor would likely translate pretty well here
- Part-time/flex Accounting work: she feels more confident with and enjoys AP work the most. General accounting she doesn't feel comfortable with and I think was just getting her feet wet.
- organizer: she hasn't done anything like this before but likes the thought of helping do this. Not sure what taking on this kind of work is actually like though or what the expectations would be at a higher level (e.g. "I need you to reorganize my garage without any guidance" vs "I want you to organize my garage - I'll tell you generally where to put stuff" vs "I just need you to put this in this bin here, and this in that bin there, and this in the other bin there, etc" - I think she'd probably feel most comfortable with the second option)
- editing/proof-reading for articles, resumes, etc: she has a knack for pointing out typos/spelling errors/grammar errors, etc

Some thoughts/questions:
1) We were looking at Taskrabbit but the fee is slightly off-putting for something she's not even sure she'd want to commit to (wish they had some sort of 'trial' type deal for interested people/potential taskers). Are there other better avenues?
2) We've looked at the job classifieds on Craigslist but I generally haven't heard great things about job postings on CL, so am slightly hesitant.
3) Facebook and Nextdoor seem like good avenues to 'advertise' any of the above services but not sure. How about Linkedin?
4) Ideally, she'd want to be able to take on work that fits into her schedule or that she can set (rather than being mandated to show up between specific hours)
5) Would it be weird or inappropriate for my wife to ask her friend (the financial advisor) if she knows anyone who is in need of help? 


Any suggestions, advice or thoughts on how to help get her started/feet wet would be appreciated!
« Last Edit: February 05, 2021, 05:46:47 PM by jeromedawg »

FurtherJourneys

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Re: Part-time/flex virtual work - virtual assistant, tutor, accounting, etc...
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2021, 06:18:31 AM »
Hi!
Your wife and I have a similar path, I started out with exploring possible side hustles, and 5 years later it has turned into a passion project business (shelovesherbiz.com) helping women entrepreneurs start, grow, and pivot their business.

So, here are my suggestions based on my own experience and that of helping lots of other women build businesses.

- Any of the options that you listed can be a great way to earn money on a part-time, flexible basis.
 
- Facebook, LinkedIn, NextDoor can be great places to find clients and talk about what you are doing. I advise my clients to first leverage the network they already have. So, if she is active on FB already, just talk about what she's doing, what kind of people she'd like to work with, and ask her network if they know of anyone who could use her help.

-I think it's 100% appropriate to ask the financial advisor if there is anyone in their network who is looking for help.

-In terms of earning potential, I think being a VA specifically for financial firms would be a great niche. $25 an hour isn't horrible, but I think she could (and should) raise her prices if she focused on building an offer for that specific niche. Remember that out of that hourly wage comes retirement, taxes, health care, etc. that an employer would normally have to provide to an employee. There are some great VA and OBM programs, Tasha Booth is who I would recommend if your wife wants to explore one of those options. Of course, I'd also be happy to talk to her to sort through her options based on ideal lifestyle and what feels most aligned.

-Things always evolve and change in business, but I recommend sitting down and listing out what she really wants. What are the hours she is generally available? How many hours a week does she want to work? How much does she want to charge hourly? How will she accept payment? How will she communicate with her clients? What will her onboarding process with a new client look like? It doesn't have to be "perfect" or complicated, but before she starts talking about her services she needs to know the basic way she wants to provide them. Then, when opportunities come along she can decide if it's a good fit.

I only pop in occasionally here on the forums, but I'm on FB and Instagram under @shelovesherbiz if you would like to connect on the socials.

Best of luck! Starting my own business has brought me much joy and abundance.



KathrinS

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Re: Part-time/flex virtual work - virtual assistant, tutor, accounting, etc...
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2021, 12:45:50 PM »
Hi jeromedawg, I am a self employed teacher/tutor and this is a great part-time career because it's relatively easy to break into and you can be well paid. My hourly wage is anywhere from $35-55, depending on client and platform fees. Once you've built up a reputation among your clients, you are likely to get referrals from them, and these new clients can be billed directly without any platform fee.

If she decides to go this route, I suggest looking at different tutoring websites and signing up for a few. Not all of them will work out, but if she signs up to 5-6, one is bound to lead to high quality clients.

Feel free to DM if she decides to try this and needs some assistance.

jeromedawg

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Hi jeromedawg, I am a self employed teacher/tutor and this is a great part-time career because it's relatively easy to break into and you can be well paid. My hourly wage is anywhere from $35-55, depending on client and platform fees. Once you've built up a reputation among your clients, you are likely to get referrals from them, and these new clients can be billed directly without any platform fee.

If she decides to go this route, I suggest looking at different tutoring websites and signing up for a few. Not all of them will work out, but if she signs up to 5-6, one is bound to lead to high quality clients.

Feel free to DM if she decides to try this and needs some assistance.

Thanks! What subjects and or grade levels are you teaching? One thing I've previously learned about is VIP Kids (teaching Chinese kids English). This is particularly of interest because my wife can speak simple conversational Mandarin (she wouldn't consider herself advanced or fully fluent but is probably beginner to beginner-intermediate and can definitely get by in most cases). So I wonder, especially with platforms like VIP Kids, if being able to communicate in Chinese is actually even more 'desirable' in terms of teaching English

Hi!
Your wife and I have a similar path, I started out with exploring possible side hustles, and 5 years later it has turned into a passion project business (shelovesherbiz.com) helping women entrepreneurs start, grow, and pivot their business.

So, here are my suggestions based on my own experience and that of helping lots of other women build businesses.

- Any of the options that you listed can be a great way to earn money on a part-time, flexible basis.
 
- Facebook, LinkedIn, NextDoor can be great places to find clients and talk about what you are doing. I advise my clients to first leverage the network they already have. So, if she is active on FB already, just talk about what she's doing, what kind of people she'd like to work with, and ask her network if they know of anyone who could use her help.

-I think it's 100% appropriate to ask the financial advisor if there is anyone in their network who is looking for help.

-In terms of earning potential, I think being a VA specifically for financial firms would be a great niche. $25 an hour isn't horrible, but I think she could (and should) raise her prices if she focused on building an offer for that specific niche. Remember that out of that hourly wage comes retirement, taxes, health care, etc. that an employer would normally have to provide to an employee. There are some great VA and OBM programs, Tasha Booth is who I would recommend if your wife wants to explore one of those options. Of course, I'd also be happy to talk to her to sort through her options based on ideal lifestyle and what feels most aligned.

-Things always evolve and change in business, but I recommend sitting down and listing out what she really wants. What are the hours she is generally available? How many hours a week does she want to work? How much does she want to charge hourly? How will she accept payment? How will she communicate with her clients? What will her onboarding process with a new client look like? It doesn't have to be "perfect" or complicated, but before she starts talking about her services she needs to know the basic way she wants to provide them. Then, when opportunities come along she can decide if it's a good fit.

I only pop in occasionally here on the forums, but I'm on FB and Instagram under @shelovesherbiz if you would like to connect on the socials.

Best of luck! Starting my own business has brought me much joy and abundance.




Thanks for the input! We're starting to think more about a few different options that she can consider... I am curious if it's OK to take on multiple different avenues of things such as:
1) Teaching kids English
2) Tutoring kids at math
3) Continuing assisting our CFP friend
4) Picking up part-time accounting/AP/AR/office assistant clerk type work

While it's great having options, we also don't want her to get burnt out. I'd imagine the fact these are part-time would mitigate that but I suppose it depends on how time-consuming each option is outside of what she's already doing. She is caring for the kids at home already which is a full-time job in of itself hahaha.  But once our oldest starts school in person in the Fall, I think she'll have a bit more time to pursue some ventures. Once both kids are in school full time, even more so. However, we are considering trying for a third so that may put a damper on some of this.
« Last Edit: March 01, 2021, 04:23:20 PM by jeromedawg »

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!