Many virtual assistants love the freedom of their jobs, but feel like they are not particularly flexible when it comes to advancement. To some degree, this is true. After all, you may not have a lot of upward mobility within a company if you never meet the owner in person or even correspond directly with a supervisor, as is often the case with VAs who handle help desks and customer service. However, just because you are not going to move upward within a company does not mean that you cannot enhance and improve your resume and job skills while getting paid to do so.

Talk to your employer - or your direct supervisor - to see if there are responsibilities that you can assume that might make your job easier and expand your skill set. There may be software available that could smooth many administrative processes for you and make your work more easily accessible to your employer as well. Learning to use such software can make you more marketable even as it saves you time and effort in your current position. Usually you will not need to invest in the software yourself, either, which will save you additional money.

When you are working with clients, determine which of their problems or issues you believe that you could resolve on your own, if you had the authority to do so. This is a good way to expand your skills and experience as well while making your work life easier. After all, if you can close more cases or help tickets without assistance, then you will not have to field return calls from people who fear that they will not be helped or who think that they have been forgotten.

Finally, keep track of everything that you do. While this may not directly expand your knowledge and ability to use office tools or software, it will help you keep a close eye on your abilities as they stand currently. In many cases, you will see that you are selling yourself short on your resume by neglecting to list responsibilities that you fulfill every day in the course of your work.
 

One of the simplest and most effective ways to convey information in a document is by using a table. While many people believe that in order to make a table within a Microsoft Word document you have to first create a table in Excel, then move it into the document, in reality the process is much simpler. You can create basic tables right in a MS Word document without having to work first within another program.

First, click on the "Insert" button on the menu bar at the top of the MS Word screen. You will see a number of options come up, including "blank page," "page break" and "table." Click the "Table" option. When you do, you will see rows and columns of squares. These squares symbolize the rows and columns in your table. By passing your cursor over the squares, you can determine how many rows and columns your table will have. If you prefer, you can select the "draw" option and draw a table within the document. This is a good option if you need small sections of the table split up rather than needing a uniform table where all the rows and columns are the same.

Once you have determined how many rows and columns you need, simply click the cursor. The table will be inserted into the MS Word document. In some cases, it will appear as you run your cursor over the boxes so that you can determine how it will look in the document.

Once you have finished designing the table, you are ready to fill it with information. You can format text within the table just as you would format any other text, using MS Word keystrokes or by selecting options from the "font" section in the menu bar under the tab "Home."

If you want a slightly more customized table, instead of creating your own table click "Quick Tables" under the "table" option. This will enable you to select from a number of pre-designed tables, including calendars, matrices and visually appealing tables with colorful designs and subheadings. Take 20 minutes or so one day to experiment with the table options in MS Word. You will find that your documents benefit dramatically from the clear, clean look of your new tables.
 

When those days get long and your bosses start to get weird, here are three things to remind yourself that you already love - or are going to love once you starting VAing - about one of the best jobs around in the virtual world:

Flexible Hours
One of the best things about working from home as a VA is that you can be where you want, pretty much when you want. If there is a school event during the day, you can usually get up earlier or work later to make up for a mid-day absence. And when the kids are sick, you definitely get less done, but you know that you can be there to take care of them.

Time with Family
When I worked in an office, I often did not get home until 6 or 7pm. I would pick up dinner on the way home and we would all scarf it down before sending the kids off to shower and bed. By the time everything calmed down, my husband and I would also be beat. My VA job has meant that our pace has slowed a little, and we are all enjoying family time now instead of barreling through it as fast as possible.

Unlimited Income
One of the best things about VAing is that if you need more money, you take another job or you expand your skill set, then you charge more. With every skill you acquire, your value rises. While this is true in most jobs, it "shows" faster as a VA because you do not have to wait on conventional promotions.

I speak from experience when I tell you that working from home as a virtual assistant is has been one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. You will love the freedom and the massive growth potential of this fantastic career opportunity.
 

So here I am, having been working for a few solid months. I just looked back at my first journal entry, and I feel like I have accomplished what I've set out to do with this job, although I had no idea when I started that the acclimation process was going to be quite so stressful. It had been a long time since I'd done anything outside of caring for the kids and the house - a fulltime job in itself - and I think I didn't really remember how the mundane things can make job - even a flexible, part-time job - kind of stressful and wearing.

Now that I'm settled in, though, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love that I can work and still see my kids as much as I want, and I'm so grateful that Jake became accustomed to his new morning schedule as well as he did. I know I'm lucky in that regard, but I also think it has a lot to do with the fact that I was able to work my work around the morning things that he enjoys by himself anyway.

I can definitely see myself keeping this job for the long-term, and enjoying the ways that it grows and changes. I've even talked to Landers about taking an online course on using Facebook and Facebook advertising to drum up business, and we are also going to start working on the webpage a little more aggressively to make it more user-friendly. The referral program is up and running at this point, and a lot of our "fans" on Facebook actually have posted how excited they were to get good deals on work so we've gotten a lot of attention from local customers that way as well.

Elena and I have encountered a few difficulties since she used to write the checks and now I do, but we were able to work that out. Mainly, because she still has access to the bank account and was accustomed to helping pad their joint, personal account if she had to at the end of the month out of that account by writing an extra check, we had some small issues because I was losing track of money toward the end of each month! However, we were able to resolve them and I think they are on a more effective budget now that they do not feel like they can just "dip in" for extra whenever they need it.