| In a couple of weeks, I will be moving back to | | | | Ireland |
| Europe, Switzerland to be more precise. | | | | 40,000 |
| Everybody who has experienced an international | | | | 2.9% |
| move, will agree with me, that it is not an easy | | | | 6 |
| thing to do. Especially when there are children | | | | Germany |
| involved... But that story is for another time. | | | | 800,000 |
| Today I want to share with you my thoughts on | | | | 2.4% |
| the Virtual Assistance profession in Europe. | | | | 7 |
| I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to start | | | | Pays-Bas |
| my business in the US, benefiting of an immense | | | | 140,000 |
| networking system of Virtual Assistants and | | | | 1.9% |
| taking advantage of a plethora of tools and | | | | 8 |
| information material on how to start your own | | | | France |
| business. | | | | 300,000 |
| You see, in the United States, virtual work is | | | | 1.3% |
| extremely well developed. According to Kiplinger, | | | | In France and other Latin countries, there is still a |
| 12/00 It is estimated that 100 million U.S. workers | | | | big resistance to teleworking. The term |
| will Telecommute by 2010, that is over 30% of | | | | "assistante virtuelle" is not very common at all, |
| the population. Unfortunately this is not yet the | | | | and people often don't know what it entails. |
| case in most of the European countries. Here are | | | | In Germany, the percentage of teleworkers is |
| the numbers: | | | | slightly higher, but here again the term "Virtuelle |
| Total number of teleworkers to overall working | | | | Assistentin" is often misunderstood, sometimes as |
| population: | | | | a virtual helpdesk, sometimes as a cheap labor |
| Rank | | | | from India, China or the Philippines. |
| Country | | | | In the UK on the other hand, they are more |
| Teleworkers | | | | progressive when it comes to new working |
| % | | | | methods and Virtual Assistants are beginning to |
| 1 | | | | be recognized and their number is increasing. |
| UK | | | | "Bettina von Stamm of the London Business |
| 4 million | | | | School said self-confidence, devolved authority |
| 15% | | | | and autonomy were keys to successful |
| 2 | | | | teleworking and the British style of management |
| Finland | | | | fostered those qualities." |
| 300,000 | | | | The self-employed in Finland are generally |
| 13.6% | | | | classified as entrepreneurs, and it's no coincidence |
| 3 | | | | that this country has also a very high percentage |
| Norway | | | | of teleworkers. |
| 50,000 | | | | Switzerland probably fits in somewhere between |
| 11.4% | | | | France and Germany. There is a lot of prep work |
| 4 | | | | for us Virtual Assistants, informing potential clients |
| Sweden | | | | about our profession and showing them all the |
| 400,000 | | | | benefits a virtual business relationship has to offer. |
| 10.3% | | | | But when it finally does take off, I will be there! |
| 5 | | | | |