Virtual assistance made easy

Home-based business offers offsite support

No matter what industry they might work in, all business professionals would agree on one thing they could use to help them through the daily grind -- a little extra time.

Summerlin resident Kasey Zanolli recognized that, and now she's providing all types of clients with extra assistance to free up their schedules. And she's doing it all without leaving her own home.

Zanolli is the owner of Ivy Virtual Assistance, an administrative support business she started in February. Through Ivy, she offers offsite but high-level help to small business and home-based business owners by providing traditional services in an innovative way. Tasks as simple as returning phone calls and managing a schedule, or detail work like research, marketing assistance and vendor relations are all part of what Zanolli does.

A graduate of Cornell University and experienced worker in the hotel administration industry, Zanolli decided a while back that she needed some more time to work with as well.

"I was expecting my second child when I thought I should look into doing a home-based business," she said. "I needed more flexibility than my corporate job was providing to spend time with my kids and family, so I did a little research."

She found that while many professionals had also made the move to working in a home office, they were still looking for the additional assistance that a traditional office with administrative assistants on staff offers.

"I haven't limited my practice to any one type of client although I focus on event planning, since that's kind of my expertise," Zanolli said. "But I have all different types of clients, from financial planners to marketing specialists."

The business owners she supports do not have to provide the equipment or office space normally needed for an assistant, since Zanolli provides the services from her own home office, complete with Internet, telephone and fax. And her clients, which also include life coaches, Web designers and real estate agents, don't have to handle the normal payroll duties or taxes associated with an assistant because she works as an independent contractor and charges by the hour.

"There are a lot of businesses out there that just turned out to be ideal for a virtual relationship," she said.

Zanolli said she admits that working at home has changed her schedule around a bit, as she's prone to working late hours to get ahead on a client's project. But the flexibility she gains -- and her customers, in turn, do also -- makes the balance worthwhile.

"You have to have a little self-discipline to work this way," she says.

Soon Zanolli hopes to have a full client roster consisting of 30 to 40 billable hours per week, but for now she's content to build up her business.

More information about Ivy Virtual Assistance can be found online at www.ivyvirtualassistance.com, or by calling 233-9903.


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