Most small business owners are very busy people who don’t have a lot of extra time on their hands. They will happily outsource some of their daily time-consuming tasks to a telecommuter. One of these time consuming tasks is setting appointments. Appointment setting is a perfect occupation for a telecommuter. The employer doesn’t necessarily need a full-time employee to set his appointments, but at the same time needs someone that is available the majority of business hours in case his clients call in, or to make calls at different times of the day.

A telecommuter is the perfect candidate for this position. As a telecommuting appointment setter you can work with your employer’s schedule. If he needs a few calls made in the morning and then wants you to be available for callbacks in the afternoon, you are there to help. Best of all, you are not limited to just one employer or client. You can easily work as an appointment setter for several business owners at the same time. This will allow you to make a fulltime income while allowing each employer to only pay you for a few hours per day or week.

Setting appointments is something you can easily do from home. All you need is a phone and some way to organize yourself. A computer with Microsoft Outlook, or an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your clients’ schedules would work well. You could even do this with a good paper calendar at first.

You should have good telephone and written skills to work as an appointment setter. Previous experience as an administrative assistant or secretary is not necessary, but is definitely a plus when it comes to the skills you need and when you are approaching prospective employers or clients. You should also be fairly organized to be able to keep up with multiple appointments for multiple clients each day.

As an appointment setter you will be spending a lot of time both on the phone and on email. You will be checking in with your clients (the small business owners) on a daily basis and then spend the rest of your time contacting their clients, setting up and later confirming appointments. Of course you will also keep your own clients or employers informed of any changes or cancellations throughout the day.

If this is something you are interested in doing, here’s how to start. Determine your hourly rate. You should take the going rate for a task like this in an office setting into consideration and then up it from there. Your employer does not have to provide you with an office, a computer, telephone or any other equipment. You are also most likely going to be an independent contractor, which means he does not have to pay for any of your benefits or taxes. You will be responsible for all this, keep that in mind when determining your rate.

Now it’s time to approach small business owners in your area with what you have to offer and start building a client base. Once you have a few happy clients, word of mouth advertising should start to bring you even more business.