By Christine Durst and Michael Haaren,
Military.com Contributiing Experts

Most people interested in home-based careers have probably heard about the growing "homeshoring" trend with call centers such as WillowCSN and LiveOps. While that work can appeal to military spouses, virtual careers now go far beyond customer-service functions.

Now, virtual assistants—home-based independent contractors providing business support via email, phone and fax—offer expertise ranging from event planning to concierge services to private-investigator support.

So maybe it sounds like something for you, but how do you learn more and approach this wisely? In many cases, there's free training for military spouses. More than 40 bases offer a no-cost, comprehensive virtual-career training program. Contact your base family center to see if you can access the program.

More and more people such as lawyers, nurses, doctors and those holding MBAs and Ph.Ds are hanging out their shingles in the virtual marketplace. Though the trend has been a long time in growing, law firms are now using remote lawyers to write briefs and motions, insurance companies hire medical professionals for patient data analysis, innovative young companies engage virtual marketing consultants and educational institutions use remote teachers, tutors and curriculum developers.

In our ongoing research in virtual work, which we began in 1995, we're also finding more positions for translators, editors, interpreters and resume writers, along with opportunities for medical and commercial transcriptionists. Hirers are also using the Internet to staff tasks in unexpected ways. A good example is virtual mock jurors; we find law firms using home-based individuals and collaborative Internet-based software to predict the verdict a real jury might render in a developing case.

The good news for miliary spouses, of course, is that almost all of the businesses or careers associated with remote services—particularly virtual assistance—are usually not affected by local economic conditions and they are portable. A Permanent Change of Station (PCS) or a remote assignment need not cause long unemployment gaps, lost income or the end of meaningful work.

And for good reason, that's the best news of all.


About the writers: Christine Durst and Michael Haaren are the co-founders of Staffcentrix, which developed the Portable Career & Virtual Assistant Training Program for Military Spouses™. Staffcentrix also publishes a weekly bulletin of screened home-based jobs, "The Rat Race Rebellion." Chris and Mike are the authors of The 2-Second Commute: Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistance..