• Job: Virtual administrative assistant, Woodstock

KARL W. RITZLER/Special (ENLARGE)

Libby McIntyre can work at her laptop from the kitchen of her home, eliminating the need for a daily commute. She doesn't miss the traffic and high expense of driving to work.

• What I do: Libby McIntyre makes telephone calls, writes letters, sends thank-you notes and confirms appointments for people she's never met. She is a virtual administrative assistant, doing most of the tasks that an on-site administrative assistant would do — but without leaving home.

It saves a lot of gas, she says.

"I do off-site support work for small or start-up businesses that need an assistant but not a full-time one," she said.

McIntyre, 52, has shelves stacked with printers, fax machines and office software. Working from a desktop computer in her bedroom or a laptop downstairs, McIntyre does desktop publishing, spreadsheets and word processing.

She uses the phone to attend to customer service — such as following up with clients' customers — as well as to a client's personal needs, such as confirming a doctor's appointment. She'll even act as a personal assistant — running errands, booking airline tickets or planning events.

After about a year as a virtual assistant, she has five or six clients at a time, but not all of them have constant requirements.

"They call when they need a project done," she said. Many times, she is called on to help out in busy times, send a large number of e-mails or electronic newsletters, or produce a report on a short deadline.

McIntyre said the number of virtual assistants is growing because of the benefits to business owners. Businesses don't need to hire full-time workers, buy equipment or pay payroll taxes.

The assistants can set their own hours, freeing time to care for children, run their own errands or attend to other family matters. They also get to avoid time-consuming, gas-guzzling commutes.

"I work Sunday through Sunday," McIntyre joked, adding that most of her work is done during customary Monday-through-

Friday business hours.

The downside, she said, is loneliness. But McIntyre keeps up to date with chats, forums and online seminars on the latest in virtual assisting and software.

Whether a client is in the same city or half a world away, McIntyre said it's "important for the client and virtual assistant to mesh with each other, to build a relationship. They get to know they can trust me."

McIntyre is self-employed and finds clients through word of mouth, referrals and some marketing efforts.

• What got me interested in this: "Traffic," McIntyre said.

She had been an administrative assistant for 15 years, and, when her employer moved from Roswell to Chamblee, her commute grew to more than an hour each way through some of the worst rush-hour traffic in metro Atlanta.

When a business contact mentioned working from home as a virtual assistant, "the seed was planted," she said. She researched the field and got encouragement from her husband, Kevin, a computer networker for a plastics company, who also occasionally works from home. She decided to go out on her own.

• Best part of my job: "The flexibility of my day," McIntyre said. "I can plan my day around other things."

• Most challenging part: "Educating the public about what virtual assistants do," she said. "We save the small-business owner money."

Unlike a temporary worker, she said, a virtual assistant has a long-term relationship with a business. "I can learn about the business and be more of a help."

• What people don't know about my job: "How much time I put in, even though it's not billable hours," McIntyre said. "I spend most of my days in front of a computer."

• What keeps me going: "Believing in myself and the industry," she said.

• Preparation needed for this job: "You need the experience of being an administrative assistant," she said. "Some clients don't know what they need; you have to assess what they need."

She also said a person needs to be proficient in various types of business software and have training in administrative services and tasks. A potential virtual assistant also has to be able to work independently and to set up a work space free of distractions.

McIntyre has an associate's degree in secretarial science from Triton College in River Grove, Ill.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.