Living in the countryside used to mean quitting your job, and trying to find a way to earn money in a small town where the only jobs are minimum wage, or tiny little businesses barely making it on a few customers a day.  Not an ideal way to raise a family, and couldn't we all use a little extra money?

What if you could earn money right from your kitchen table?  

We've all heard these "work from home" scams, where you make money on some kind of pyramid scheme, but did you know that there are hundreds of thousands of people making money working from inside their home?  

The position of Virtual assistant is something that I had never even heard of until I started building an ECommerce store, and I realized that much of the "grunt work" of building things on the internet was something I would rather let someone else do!

Just like the boss who doesn't answer his own phone, a virtual assistant takes on the more mundane tasks behind the scenes, and completes them.  They need to be well aquainted with certain types of software, and the ability to learn new skills is very important as well.

The earning potential for Virtual Assistants can vary quite a bit, it tends to be based on the difficulty of the jobs that need to be done, and how fast the Assistant can get the work done.  VA jobs tend to pay based on the work completed, not the time spent doing the work.  That means that the faster and better you are, the more you can earn!

Finding VA jobs isn't tough, just click on this link to see thousands of posted jobs, but many of the require special skills.  The good part is, you might already have these skills!  Here are a few skills that you might want to learn, improve, or promote.

 - Good speaking skills - You wouldn't believe how many business owners HATE talking on the phone!  You can connect a "virtual phone line" to your home computer

 - Good "copywriting" skills - Creating vivid and compelling product descriptions is a skill that many people lack.  Learn how to do this, and advertise it!

 - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Many business owners see this as being wizard magic, but it's easy to learn, and gives your writing more value!

 - Photo editing - Crop, resize, remove blemishes, make collages, text overlays etc.  Easy to learn, and very important for online businesses who need good quality product images.

 - Fulfilling orders - Click, click, click.  Sending orders is boring, but needs to be done.  You can get very fast at this, and being fast means making more money!

 - Translation - Speaking another language is a valuable skill you might already have.  Despite the fact that we have google translate, we still need the human touch, or someone might need real-time translation over the phone.

 - Research - I'm amazed at how difficult it is for people to find the answers to questions, but if you can master this, your skills are needed!

 - Writing - Articles, blog posts, or proofreading the writing of another person.  A VA who is a good proofreader is a HUGE value, especially for a person who's native language is not english, but is trying to sell to English speaking people.  You can also proofread articles, blogs, product descriptions, or books.  

 - Voice over work - Not really an "assistant" job, but having a pleasant sounding voice might earn you a few $$$!

Have I made my point yet?  This isn't even an exhaustive list, and I'm already at 600 words for this episode!

Hopefully this information is of value to you, the hopeful homesteader, the budding farmer, or the stay at home mom who would like to try making a little side income.

Good luck, and remember, we've got a great tip like this one every Friday!