As word of your professional virtual corporation spreads,

As word of your professional virtual corporation spreads, your company will expand to match the illusion you've created. Make sure you're prepared for additional business-you are laying the foundation for a successful company that will satisfy your career dreams.

HELP WANTED

Whether you're running your virtual corporation alone or you plan to hire some extra hands, at some point you will need to know how to find help-or at least make it look like you have some.

This section will cover everything you need to know about finding and managing virtual employees, even if the only person you're managing is yourself.

Going it Alone: How to Clone Yourself Online

By now you know the importance of making your company seem bigger than it is, especially if you're the one pulling all the strings. One way to create the illusion of more employees is maintaining multiple e-mail addresses from your domain, as discussed in the previous section. Another is to enlist the services of an inbound call center to handle business calls 24/7. This frees you from phone duty-but it can be expensive, particularly if you're just starting out.

If you're wearing all the business hats yourself, accomplishing the many tasks associated with running a virtual corporation can become confusing. One technique that can help you keep your "departments" separated is to set aside blocks of your business day and use that time to deal with specific functions. For example, you can spend the first hour answering customer correspondence; the next few fulfilling orders; the following time balancing your books. Schedule separate times to update your web site, deal with suppliers and creditors, and manage your business advertising. It's easier to manage multiple departments if you know what type of tasks you'll be handling ahead of times. You can even give yourself different titles for each portion of your workday-just take care not to refer to yourself as "Zorgo, Sovereign Ruler of Accounting" when you answer a call to place an order!

When you're flying solo, you should automate as many tasks as possible. One of the benefits of running a virtual corporation is the ability to set many of your business functions on auto-pilot using autoresponders. These little pieces of internet magic are e-mail programs that send out an instant, pre-programmed message in response to every e-mail sent to that particular address. You can use autoresponders to send out preset e-mails in response to customer requests for information on your product or service; and if your product is in an electronic format, you can set up an autoresponder to provide instant delivery as soon as a customer places an order.

You'll find further information on using autoresponders in the following section on Tools of the Trade.

Virtual Assistants: The Magic of Telecommuting and Distance Employment

At some point in the formation and development of your virtual corporation, you will need help. Since you're running an online company, the best way to hire employees or contractors is to find them online.