They don’t seem to go together, do they? That’s what I thought too until I researched the history of Earth Day (April 22nd). It just so happens that Earth Day was born in 1970, which was also the year of Apollo 13, NASA’s infamous successful failure. Where does teleworking or virtual assisting come in and how does it relate to our space program? I’m so glad you asked!

Several weeks ago we watched a Discovery Channel piece on Apollo 13. As we watched, it occurred to me that our very own space program is managed virtually! Our space shuttles lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. And where is Mission Control Center located? At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. If NASA can manage our space missions virtually, why can’t just about any business in the world be managed virtually and employ virtual assistants and teleworkers?

It’s pretty amazing what can be done without the confines of a bricks and mortar office. NASA manages multi-million dollar space shuttles from thousands of miles away, helps the astronauts through difficulties in space, instructs and guides them, all by employing modern technology. Most of that technology is available in one form or another to businesses of all sizes. The shuttle astronauts communicate with Mission Control via a radio system. We communicate with our virtual assistants and teleworkers via the telephone and instant messenger. If the folks at Mission Control can show the folks on Apollo 13, virtually, how to save their lives by putting a square peg in a round hole, can’t you show your virtual assistant how to answer your telephones, virtually? Piece of cake!

Of course, it takes the right kind of people to work your company’s Mission Control, and it takes the right kind of people to work your company’s shuttle mission. But that’s where virtual staffing agencies like Team Double-Click® come in – to find just the right people to work your shuttle mission so you don’t have a successful failure like NASA’s Apollo 13.

Working virtually, teleworking, telecommuting, hiring a virtual assistant, whatever you prefer to call it, is one of the best things we can do for our planet Earth and for the environment. If the Greenies hadn’t warned us enough times over the last decade or two, Al Gore came along to drive home our impacts on the environment with “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Recently, I’ve been working with a wonderful woman, Kate Lister, of www.undress4success.com and interviewed for her upcoming book by the same name. I asked her to run some numbers for me to see what teleworking and virtual assistants do to positively impact our environment. Here’s what she told me:

On average, each Team Double-Click® at-home worker saves:

· 23 days per year by not playing in traffic
· 203 gallons of gasoline, or $710 per year (at $3.50 per gallon)
· 1.785 metric tons of CO2 per year

Earth Day is a great occasion to hire a virtual assistant or teleworkers, but why not do it all year ‘round? Imagine the impact you will make on the environment as a business owner or executive who hires virtually. For every virtual assistant or teleworker you hire, you will save 203 gallons of gasoline and 1.785 metric tons of CO2 per year. This makes an impact on our dependency on foreign oil to boot!

Team Double-Click®’s very existence, by maintaining a 100% virtual status, saves nearly $150,000 a year in annual fuel purchases, reduces our country’s oil usage by 2,071 barrels of crude oil per year, and slashes CO2 (the principal greenhouse gas) output by 357 metric tons per year. And these numbers grow exponentially each and every week.

If you haven’t done so already, join us in using teleworkers and virtual assistants and improving our planet for the next generation. If NASA can manage those space missions virtually, you can surely manage your company using virtual assistants. And we’d be happy to show you how.