When you're running a home-based business, whether as a Virtual Assistant or any other sort of freelancing, it's vital to keep your overhead low. Paying exhorbitant fees for a land-line should be a thing of the past with today's modern VOIP and WIFI options.

I personally use a Skype In line that costs me just $60 per year and it's fantastic. Since the kids like to use the phone as well, I also have kept my old phone and use a Magicjack for them and it's nice to have an extra number for personal stuff.

I don't practice what I preach, I don't blog often enough but this situation really lit a fire under me. I just had to add my $0.02.

Whew, okay now on to the post!

Nobody likes a bully. Bullying is often defined as an inefficient way of working, resulting in disenchantment, demoralisation, demotivation, disaffection, and alienation. What's more, it's a stupid way to conduct your business. There's a reason that bullies like Biff Tannon from Back to the Future are often represented as dumb or ignorant. Biff has lines like, "Now, make like a tree and get outta here!" It's 'leave,' Biff. Bullying is ugly, stupid, and it's certainly no way to conduct your business online. So, who's the big bully today?

As a 10 year veteran of working as a highly sought after Virtual Assistant, I've experienced the ups and downs of client work and billable hours. Sometimes, the perfect storm hits. You roll out of bed one day, land at the computer only to realize that you have zero client work pending.

There are two ways to minimize or eliminate this situation from happening to your Virtual Assistant business - the first is to ensure you're spending at least one hour per day on your own marketing to ensure you always have clients. The other method is to create a plan to generate passive income to tide you over during those lull periods.

Passive income, as defined by Wikipedia, is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it. Usually, it's generated when you sell a product that you create once yet sell over and over again such as an eBook, template, checklist, etc.

In the list below, I'll describe 7 terrific ways to generate passive income as a Virtual Assistant. These are just a few ideas to get you started. If you take some time and examine some of the tasks you've been doing for clients lately, you may be able to come up with some ideas of your own!

Editor's Note: Guest author Barbara Sehr is a critically acclaimed writer, journalist and comedienne. In this post, she argues the need of freelancers to maintain a partnership mindset rather than an employee "clock in, clock out" philosophy. View Barbara's profile and portfolio.

The great American poet, Robert Frost, once said “the world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.” Things have changed a lot since the mid-20^th century when Frost pointed us to the Road Not Taken. Just a decade ago, when sock puppets ruled the airwaves, many little startups that could engaged their employees with the draw of stock options. Stock options would make even the lowest-level employee think about what sweat, blood, and tears they could give to bring the company store closer to the public option trough.

Today, many of us have elegant calligraphies gathering dust in a file drawer as memories of a time when we owned a little bit of a now-extinct company. Options would gives us, well, options. We had a reason to work hard and do everything in our power to make sure that our workplace was successful. We were partners in this enterprise, and we would get rich along with the executives — or even in spite of the executives. We knew that one day we would dance on streets paved with gold.

I read over 200 blogs in my Feedly every day and often share some of the best gems via Twitter, Facebook and Google Buzz. What I really love is finding a post so meaty and juicy that I'm compelled to savor it over several days and keep coming back for more. Often, it's a designer blog or a freelancer blog but sometimes it's a funny comic, youtube video or a post wholly unrelated to business that flips a switch for me and gives me a great insight or "out of the box" idea.

Quite by accident, I stumbled upon a terrific blog today and I just had to share with all of you. Sandra of ProVA by Design has her finger on the pulse and I highly recommend you go grab her RSS feed so you can enjoy her posts. Today, she posted a terrific article on how to become a life-long learner by subscribing to the 5 best podcasts for business.

Maybe you've considered working with a Virtual Assistant but you just weren't sure how to use one or what to have one do for you. A savvy Virtual Assistant can take on any and all of those tasks that keep you from your core competency - those tasks that drive you crazy and often get neglected or rushed.

Starting this Tuesday, just a simple tweet on Twitter could win you a free block of 10 Virtual Assistant hours!

Sometimes I'll run across a blog post that makes me laugh out loud and today is no exception... Now, not all clients will be this rotten, but if you've ever had just one bad egg then this post over at Web Designer Depot will surely make you LOL.

5 Rotten Things No One Else Has Told You About the Clients You’ll Work For

Ever had a rotten client say any of these 5 things to you? Tell us more about it in the comments!

Today, Mashable had a stunning 'how to' post on building your thought capital with Twitter. After soaking up the juicy knowledge shared in this post, I thought it might be nice to share how I think Virtual Assistants specifically can utilize Twitter more effectively to build their own thought capital.

Twitter has planted the magic beans and is growing in massive proportions and for any Virtual Assistant to truly utilize it to the fullest, it will be critical to build your reputation and increase your perceived value with a few simple suggestions. First, go read Mashable's post linked above and then come back.... Go ahead, I'll wait.

Just what is a Virtual Assistant and how can a Virtual Assistant save you time and money? Virtual Assistants are independent contractors who partner with you to take all that busy work off your plate and get you back out doing what you love - your core competency isn't dealing with adminitrative headaches! That's our core competency!

A Virtual Assistant provides clients administrative support from their home office, all the services you would expect from an ‘in office' secretary or assistant, plus a whole lot more. With a Virtual Assistant, you never cover payroll taxes, insurance or buy additional equipment or office space, plus most Virtual Assistants bill only for ‘time on task,' saving your bottom line.

With a Virtual Assistant, you get a support professional that can hit the ground running. By taking on several clients, a Virtual Assistant works as an independent entrepreneur partner - they've already grown their skills, thus you don't need to train them. Plus, you can be assured that their success is a direct result of your success - if you're not happy, they're not in business long.