Since my post last Friday, several people emailed me with the usual questions: “What is a Virtual Assistant?” “What can a Virtual Assistant do for me?” “How much does it cost?” Starting today, I am going to do a series of posts to attempt to answer these and other basic questions about Virtual Assistance.
First things first: the back-story:
Virtual Assistance is a relatively new profession. It was founded by Stacy Brice, who was working virtually when it was unheard of. Take a moment to read Stacy’s story here.
A Virtual Assistant (VA) is:
Simply stated, a Virtual Assistant is a home-based professional who provides across-the-board administrative services in a long-term collaborative relationship with his or her clients. These services are all done remotely using the latest technology (and a little creativity).
VAs are expert assistants; most having years of experience in the “real world” as executive level of assistants.
A Virtual Assistant is not:
A Virtual Assistant is not a telecommuter. A telecommuter is an employee that works from home several (or all) days a week. A Virtual Assistant is a self-employed Entrepreneur who decides his or her own hours and polices, pays his or her own taxes and so forth. The VA is equal to the client in all respects.
Also, a Virtual Assistant does not offer one service exclusively. For example: A VA may offer proofreading services; however, if that is her only service, than she is a proofreader, not a VA. Or, a VA may offer accounting services; however, if that is all she offers, than she is a virtual accountant, not a VA.
Having said that, many VAs do offer other services as a companion to their VA practice. There are VAs who offer web design or copy writing or other services according to their expertise alongside their VA practice. These side services have their own prices and policies that are different from the VA business.
The heart of Virtual Assistance:
The heart of Virtual Assistance is relationships. That is why Virtual Assistance works best in long-term collaborative relationships. Some VAs do project work; however, the synergy created in the VA/client relationship does not lend itself well to project work. It is in the long-term that the benefits of Virtual Assistance shine through most brightly.
In conclusion.
A quick search on Google produces various definitions of Virtual Assistance. However, the best, in-depth discussion on Virtual Assistance is found here on the AssistU website.
In the next installment, I will give a sampling of services offered by VAs. For now, if you have questions about this post or Virtual Assistance in general, feel free to leave it in the comments or contact me privately.
Your definition and explanations are quite helpful. I never understood it this way before. Looking forward to your subsequent posts on this.
Thank you for your comment. I’m so glad you found the information helpful.
[...] Missed part one? You can find it here. [...]
Your definition is pretty good even to me, a professional Virtual Assistant!
Do you think of hiring a VA, not from India or Philipine, but China.
BPOVIA is much better virtual assistant provider compare to Getfriday.
We compared the Cost, Signup Process, Payment Process, Cancellation of Service, Refund Policy of 2 companies.
Please read the full article here:
http://www.bpovia.com/blog/china-outsourcing/bpovia-vs-getfriday.html
Thank you for your comment, Jimmy.
Personally, I am against outsourcing overseas on so many levels. I don’t have the time or space to elaborate on this now; so, look for a blog post on this topic in the near future.
Hi Carol, good to see your blog. I want your readers to know though, that not all VAs work from home – most do, but not all. Some actually choose to have an office away from home but they still work virtually for their clients.
Like Stacey, I’ve been working from home since the early 1990s too – here in Australia and slowly came to a realisation that there were others working just like me in various pockets of the world. We’ve come a long way since those days!
Hi Katie, thank you for reading my blog and for your comment.