How to Start a Home Based Personal Assistant Business

Time is one thing we don’t have. We sometimes wish that we could be in two places at once but we can’t. If you want to help people make that wish come true, you can by starting your own home based personal assistant business.

The first thing you have to know is figure out what your home based personal assistant business should focus on. Studies show that a lot of people miss out on paying their bills on time, meetings, appointments, birthdays, anniversaries and errands.

So they don’t miss out on it again, your business is designed to remind them about it or be the one to do the legwork. For this to work, there are a few things you need namely your business setup, pricing and marketing.

When you setup  a business, naturally you must have an office, a computer, phone and mobile. You probably have this already in your house. The only thing you need to do is convert a small room. You also might want to invest in a fax machine so you can send or receive a quote. A filing cabinet may come later when you are already handling many clients.

Pricing can be done on an hourly or monthly rate. If you are starting out, it will be crazy to charge a monthly rate since people don’t know you yet so don’t be too greedy. The quality of your services will speak for itself and soon after, these clients of yours will even refer you to others.

The third is marketing your business. If you quit your old job to open this business, ask your friends and family members for help.

If you don’t have the budget to pay for a billboard but you can make posters and put this in community bulletin boards. You can also coordinate with your alma mater and post this in the alumni magazine or in other publications. Don’t forget to advertise on the web because a lot of people use it to access information.

When you are able to get more clients and you are not able to handle everything by yourself, this is the time that you hire people to work for you. It will be a good idea to provide them disability and insurance since you never know what could happen while you are on the job.

One of the things you should not forget to do is be bonded and insured. This will protect you if something happens to be damaged or missing when you are working with a client.

Credibility is important in any business and the same goes for your home based personal assistant business. To make this happen, you should get a bank reference and join a small business association, be part of the Better Business Bureau or the local Chamber of Commerce.

If business has been good for the past few months, use the names of your clients as references since a new client will probably ask about how well you worked for them in the past.

When you work for a client, remember that this is not a temporary or full time job but rather it is a contractual one. They don’t need you to be there everyday but you better be ready to respond  whenever they give you a call.

Celebrity Personal Assistant

A celebrity personal assistant generates money almost double than the normal personal assistant. Perhaps one of the rewards is discussing with this individual and conference other superstars in the procedure. But how do you become a high profile personal assistant?


One thing you should know is that celebrities rarely put an ad in the paper saying they are looking for a personal assistant. If you want to get your food in the door, you have to network with people who are in the entertainment industry so your name will come up if there is an opening.

If you want to keep your job as a celebrity personal assistant, you have to know everything. This means you have to be internet savvy and competent with the new technologies around because the person you may be working for does not know how to transfer files from the cellphone to the computer, send an email or keep track of their finances.

You may even need to go shopping sometimes for them if they don’t have the time to pick it up from the store.

One of the most important qualities of a celebrity personal assistant is to be trust worthy because there are things you know that must never get out into the public. Remember, there is an image to protect and part of your job is to keep it that way.

Before you decide to go to an interview with a certain celebrity, see to it that you like the person you are working for. Do some research because if you don’t think you are able to work with this person, you are just wasting your time when there is probably someone there that you would prefer to work for.

If someone refers you to a celebrity, come to the interview, be calm and explain what you can do for them. You may not meet the celebrity during the initial interview since this will be handled by their current assistant or a production company representative but if things go well, he or she will be the next person you will talk to.

But if you don’t get the job as a celebrity personal assistant, don’t give up and try working as a non-celebrity personal assistant first. Perhaps you need to develop some experience before trying again.

Should networking not get you anywhere, you can try talking to a celebrity to see if they have an opening. You can do this by calling up their publicist and even if they have no opening now, it wouldn’t hurt to leave your contact number or resume because there could be an opening in the future.

You may also join an agency that handles the personal assistant needs of celebrities. To increase your chances of landing a job, send your resume to as many agencies as possible.

Working as a celebrity personal assistant will be very hectic. Whenever they want something, you have to get it for them at once even if it is late at night or early in the morning. If the celebrity you happen to work for is a singer and goes on tour, you will also have to travel with them so if you can handle things like that, then you are in the right business.

One perk of being a celebrity personal assistant is meeting other celebrities and attending special events. If the celebrity you work for can’t make it, chances are you will so the ticket does not go to waste.

How Do You Become a Personal Assistant

Do you have what it takes to become a personal assistant? Some people do and others don’t. But if you are serious about working at this level, what do you need to do?

First of all, you don’t have to take a course in college to become a personal assistant because there aren’t any. You may have an advantage over others who apply if you have a business or accounting degree since some employers need someone who can do some budgeting.

In fact, anyone can become a personal assistant as long as they are willing to work long hours, be able to do multi-tasking, handle the pressure that goes with the job, internet savvy and very comfortable using modern technology.

You should also have people skills since you will relate to people both internally and externally in the organization. Some employers want their personal assistants to learn a second language so if they have to travel, he or she can act as a translator.

Given that you are working in the inner circle, certain information that is classified as confidential should remain that way. You should be able to keep this under lock and key. If people ask, don’t make the mistake of revealing what you know since this will cost you your job.

The first step in becoming a personal assistant is to apply for the position and hope you get it. This will give you the opportunity to learn how things work in a company because even if there are differences in various working environments, there are a few activities there that are very common.

During the interview, remain calm and highlight your assets. It will be a great if you can tell the interviewer your previous work experience if you had the chance of working as a personal assistant in the past.

However, if you just graduated, highlight other things like you are conversant in foreign language, you can type X number of words per minute, you are internet savvy and very familiar with the latest high tech gadgets in the market.

If you are not able to get a job yet because the employer wants someone who is experienced, try to become a personal assistant through an apprentice program or offer your services for free.

There are also some agencies that help applicants look for a job so you can also consider sending your resume to them.

It is also possible to get the job by working first for a non-profit organization and building your network so when there is an opening, your name will be on top of the list.

Some people don’t sign up to become a personal assistant first. They enter the organization working in one position and then when there is an opening, they decide to apply for it since most employers are likely to hire within the company before putting an ad in the newspaper.

There are many ways to become a personal assistant. You can apply for the job directly or making your way to that position. Whatever happens, expect to work longer hours because your job does not end at 5PM. There will be times you will have to travel and stay up late longer than usual so don’t expect to have a social life.

Benefits of Having a Personal Assistant

People who have personal assistants such as politicians, business tycoons, entertainment moguls, company executives and celebrities are literally free from doing daily tasks and can fully concentrate on their jobs and routine because there is somebody who takes care of everything they need.

But, aside from having somebody who can do all the errands, there is more to having a personal assistant. This is having the peace of mind that everything that you need to do and everything that should be done is taken cared of without you doing a single thing except giving out specific instructions.

What do you get from a personal assistant?

Depending on the description of their job, a personal assistant can be considered as the most reliable person around an employer or a boss. This is because he or she does everything in order to make the employer feel less stressed and can concentrate more on the task ahead. The personal assistant does this by ensuring that everything—from office works and other menial tasks—are properly taken cared of.

A personal assistant (PA) is expected to maintain the business, the household, and the social calendar of his or her employer. The PA is expected to do all the scheduling in all appointments for the boss be it in the business or personal life. He or she is also in-charge in making all travel arrangements in local and international destinations while handling all the events and functions of the employer. Since the personal assistant is one of the closest people in the boss's circle, he or she takes charge in various social planning and meetings.

Aside from overseeing personal, office, home and business affairs, the personal assistant is also expected to do public relations and media works for the employer. He or she is also handles all mail matters, writes the correspondences to different people, does the money-matter affairs such as paying the bills, bookkeeping, and maintaining the account, as well as maintaining personal or business files.

The personal assistant also handles the maintenance of private contact database and does the coordination for various business conferences and meetings. She or he also takes charge of menial jobs such as monitoring computer and office supplies, and writing personal invitations, greeting cards and even thank-you notes.

For a personal assistant to become effective, he or she must have at least two to three years of experience as a personal PA either in a home or office set up. The PA must also have at least a Bachelor's Degree, knowledge in computers especially in running basic programs in the computer such as Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, and others, and should possess a strong communication skills, have keen organization skills and displays people skills.

Extra requirements especially for those who will be working with prominent business people is extensive knowledge in the etiquette when it comes to social, business, and personal aspects, have a strong professional attitude and moral outlook, must have professional bearing and should be fit to travel in case the boss needs to send him or her to a certain destination.

Other benefit of having a personal assistant is that you can rely on somebody on the things that need to be done. And if you are nice enough to the PA, you might have a personal companion and a friend who you can trust in times of need.

What You Need to Know About a Personal Digital Assistant

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are handheld computers that are small in size so it can be brought when a person needs to go places. Also known as a "small computer," "palmtop computers," "palm tops," "palms" and "palm pilots," the PDA enables someone to do things that can be done using a personal computer.

Today, more and more manufacturers come up with newer models that have modern and updated features. These changes come in sizes, colors, and audio capabilities of the PDA. In fact, in the market today, most of the models have colored touch screens, higher definition of and audio components, and lighter, slimmer appearance.

Majority of which can also be double as a mobile phone, a portable media player with high storage capacity, and can even serve as a web browser because they can have access to the Internet through built-in intranets and extranets, through wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), and through Wireless Wide-Area Networks (WWANs).

PDA 101 

Although there are so many guides in using PDA, it greatly helps a lot if the user finds time to know its history and the movement of its progression. Did you know that the very first PDA was released 21 years ago? In May 1983, the CASIO PF-3000 released by GO Corp. penetrated the market and made the breakthrough. But, its fame did not materialize until John Sculley, the Chief Executive Officer of Apple used the term "PDA" at the Consumer Electronics Show which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1992, referring to the "Apple Newton."

What makes that PDA a hit is that its touch screen means of entering any data, the large capacity of data storage through the memory card, and wireless connectivity such Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and IrDA. One unique feature about PDAs is that its software enables it to have a customized calendar for appointments and scheduled activities, an organized "to-do-list", an easy to use address book that has large capacity of memory for saving names and other details of contacts as well as a program that lets you take down some notes.

But, what makes it truly a hit for many people is its touch screen feature. Even the first batches of palms have touch screens for user interaction. This feature only has a few numbers of buttons that serve as shortcuts for specific programs. Although touch screen phones can operate using the bare hands, manufacturers came up with a "stylus" to make the touch screen feature more effective. Here, interaction is made easier and faster by just tapping the screen itself for the menu choices to appear. And just by tapping the screen, the stylus can easily activate the buttons you need for any program to work.

Aside from the touch screen feature, PDAs also have stroke recognition wherein there are a predetermined number of strokes which corresponds to the characters needed to be used. Other PDAs—especially those that are being used purely for business purposes—offer thumb or scroll wheels as well as full keyboards to make entering the data and navigation easier and more accurate.

For the personal digital assistant to work, it needs an operating system or OS. This is predetermined depending on the maker of the PDA.

Common PDA operating systems include the PalmSource's "Palm OS", Microsoft's "Windows Mobile Professional" and "Classic" for Pocket PCs, Apple Inc.'s "iPhone OS", and Research In Motion's "BlackBerry OS" among others.