Incubator Training for web Businesses
at Azaleas Virtual Assistants

Saskatoon, SK. If you have dreams of an online business you will be interested in Ruth Marlene Friesen's newly set up Azaleas Virtual Assistants, with a goal of training just four students at a time in the details of running a web business of their own from their computer. She will use non-profit web sites she handles gratis as training ground, but is committed to spending half-days in helping her students brainstorm, plan and set up their own website and business.

We'll grow your business in an incubator setting, with over-the-shoulder guidance to make sure it will fly," says Friesen, who wrote books, while caring for her parents over the last 24 years. "In four months these new business owners will be begging to quit paying me so as to run their online business at home. Most should be turning a profit by then; I will graduate them and take on new students every four months."

She plans to start this unique training service May 1, but is also offering one-week Basic Computer Skills courses, in April. These are aimed at seniors or those who are new to computers and need some basics skills, like handling emails, and other basic tasks. The shorter courses will be run Monday through Friday from 1 - 4 p.m. for just $75 for the week.

Friesen taught herself everything she knows online over the past ten years while she was her father's caregiver, living in his home at Hague, SK. "He did not need nursing care except the last couple of months in early 2007. He did need a cook, housekeeper, chauffeur and someone to just be there. So I was free to spend hours learning how to do business on the Internet." There is plenty of free information on the net, she points out, but not everyone has the time or perseverance to learn it that way. A lot of it can be condensed into these shorter courses.

Alert and fast-talking, Friesen says, "Although I could do lectures or weekend seminars on these topics, people generally can't remember how to do things until their own fingers have gone through the paces a number of times. This is why the tutoring approach will be more effective."

Her business, Azaleas Virtual Assistants, is located in a second story suite in the Western Tract Mission building at 401 33rd Street and Ave. D. Here she has set up her four computer stations and prepared for the business she used to daydream about back in Hague.

"Though I will give out graduation certificates," says Friesen, who has four sites of her own and a dozen clients, "My courses are not geared for those seeking higher learning accreditation. Rather, for those who would like to have a business up and paying them an income, or to have the basic skills they need to do virtual tasks for other entrepreneurs who have not the time or inclination to handle administrative tasks or to maintain their websites."

Her emphasis will be on high ethical standards, and she will introduce students to Open Source operating systems and programs. Why Open Source? "Because of the security and the freedom in knowing you are master of your computer - not the other way around," Friesen said.

Prospective students do not need to have a lot of knowledge of computers or the Internet, as long as they willing to learn and ascribe to high ethical standards. Friesen is going to start the courses from the ground up, including the installation of an operating system, and to be able to do basic troubleshooting themselves. More information can be found on Friesen's Azaleas web pages; http://BouquetofEnterprises.biz/Az/index.shtml

For more information/interviews;
Call (306)653-2417 Azaleas Virtual Assistants
Call (306)956-7785 (home)
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