Is Running an Answering Service For You?
There are many things to take into consideration when deciding whether running your own answering service is right for you or not. The first thing to consider is whether or not being self-employed is something that appeals to you. There are many advantages such as being your own boss, the satisfaction of achieving success, not having to answer to a boss, the prospect of financial freedom and many more.
There are, however, also certain disadvantages such as the risk of loss, uncertainty over having a paycheck, being tied to the business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and so on. You must be willing and able to risk not having any money for a while and possibly losing my start-up capital.
Once you have decided that owning a business is something you would like to do and feel you would be good at; you must decide whether an answering service is the right business for you.
Questions to ask yourself include: Do I enjoy talking on the phone? Do I like helping people? Do I have the ability to remain calm even while I am being yelled at or criticized? Can I survive several months without a paycheck, if need be?
You should be very confident and have a great phone voice. You should be the kind of person that other people would call a "people person". You should be very positive and have an attitude of finding solutions rather than the type of person who is always pointing our problems.
Having an organized personality type is also very important as is the ability to multi-task. You should also be the type of person that works well under stress and is able to not take things personally when either a caller or client is having a bad day.
You should be the kind of person everyone would like to have as their personal secretary, since that is exactly what you will be, on a grand scale. Organized, together, timely, these are all words that other would use to describe you.
Next, you should decide whether you can afford to get started. You can run a one-person at-home operation for pennies on the dollar, but you will be limited in the amount of clients you can handle and therefore, limited in the amount of money you can make. If you have a solid business plan and a winning personality, you should be able to secure a loan to get started.
If you meet the above qualities and are absolutely committed to running your answering service, you have a very good chance of succeeding. You will need to do your research and be able to market your business to any viable potential clients. Taking this self evaluation is a great way to decide if an answering service is the right business for you. Once you have taken the first step you are well on your way to financial freedom and the ability to make your dreams come true.
