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Q: What is a VA?
A. A Virtual Assistant is a highly-skilled, well-trained professional who specializes in assisting clients professionally and personally across the board in long-term collaborative relationships without being physically present in the same work space. A VA climbs into her client's business, developing a deep understanding of her client, his business and his goals and supports changes that will move him forward more quickly to where he wants to be. She offers a wide variety of services to her clients, either doing the work herself or knowing how to get it done. She is an independent business owner who specializes in the art of virtual assistance.
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Q: I currently do everything myself, why would I consider working with a VA?
A: Sooner or later you'll find you simply can't continue to do it all and have a great life. Something has to give! When you give work to a VA, and allow him or her to proactively support you in reaching your goals, you free up time and energy for an abundance of other things. Those things might include:
- Growing your business
- More time with family
- Responding to other opportunities (professional and personal)
- Balancing home and work responsibilities
Additionally, look at the dollar value of your time. Whatever that number is, that's how much it costs you to do your administrative work, and we're willing to bet you do it less effectively and efficiently than a VA could. There's no financial model on the planet in which doing that makes sense.
VAs are dedicated, driven, masterfully skilled administrative professionals who genuinely want to powerfully impact your life!
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Q: What kinds of people work with a VA ?
A: VAs work with successful people of all kinds. Authors, sales people, consultants, coaches, executives, professionals, entrepreneurs -- anyone who wants to live a more balanced life with more free time to do the things he/she wants to do!
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Q: It sounds wonderful to not have to share my office, but if I wanted an assistant, why would I hire one who is potentially hundreds of miles away?
A: Well, part of the benefit of having a VA is that you haven't hired anyone. When you work with a VA you get a partner (in the relationship sense, not the legal sense!) not an employee. You get someone who chooses to work with you as much as you choose to work with him or her. The VA's decision to work with you will be based on being attracted to your work and on being interested in being your partner for success, rather than because he or she is looking for "some job." People work with VA's because they:
- Don't have the space for someone in the office
- Don't want someone in the office
- Don't have the equipment needed for someone else to use
- Don't want to buy the equipment
- Don't want the associated work and cost of having an employee:
- Payroll
- Benefits
- Paying for someone else to administer payroll, benefits
- The cost of firing an employee
A recent study showed the cost of firing an hourly employee averages close to $1400, including costs for disciplinary warnings and actions taken, documentation, grievances, arbitration, litigation, and unemployment claims. Not included were damage to customer relationships, loss of assets, decreased productivity, or management time to handle the termination process.
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Q: Why wouldn't I want to give my secretarial work to a local company, and have a VA just working on bigger things?
A: You might. However, what people have found is that it doesn't really pay to do that.
Secretarial services are less expensive per hour. That's true. The problem is that the people who work there don't know you, or your business, or your customers. You have to do a lot of work upfront before giving them the work, so that they know what you want — and even then, sometimes you need to speak with them several times before your documents, faxes, messages, etc., represent you in your voice.
Once your VA gets to know you, you'll find he/she can speak for you and write in your voice. Your VA, because he/she has learned you (and you've made the investment in the relationship to let him/her get to know you!), can listen to you speak just a few words about what you want done, and make it happen.... sometimes even better than you could have done it yourself.
In addition, the more the VA knows about your needs, the less time it will take him or her to do your work --- you may actually save money over time when working with a VA!
So, even for the basic secretarial work, where do you really get your best value?
The key is to remember — a VA becomes your partner for success. A secretarial service helps you for the short term.
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Q: How long would I work with a VA?
A: Just as there are assistants who have worked for the same person in the corporate world for many years, it's possible that could happen with your VA. Part of the power in this dynamic relationship comes in the synergy which happens between the people working together. There's a flow, a spark, an ease of working with a VA which turns days to weeks, weeks to months, months to years, all before you know it.
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Q: Isn't it more expensive than hiring an employee?
A: No. The cost savings is two-fold: financial and emotional.
When you hire an employee, on top of a salary or hourly wage, you have a ton of things you need to administer (payroll, benefits), many things to buy or lease (equipment, furniture), you have to deal with a variety of insurances (workers' comp, unemployment), pay your share of taxes, conform to Federal mandates (OSHA, ERISSA), and you have to share space well (no more working in your pajamas!). It's expensive and can be grueling.
Virtual Assistance was never intended to be the low-cost alternative to getting administrative support. It was intended to be, and absolutely is, the most convenient alternative to having on-site employees provide that support. As a result, VAs set fees based on the value they create for clients; the higher the value, the better the VA's compensation.
Depending on the VA, you might pay-as-you-go, giving him or her only the amount of work you actually have during any week or month, or you might have him or her on retainer, buying a certain amount of the VA's time each month for a pre-set (and usually slightly lower) hourly rate.
One payment, once each month. No muss, no fuss. Just great support from someone dedicated to your success
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Q: Is there anything my Virtual Assistant can't do for me, or that I shouldn't ask for?
A: Of course! If each of us learned 500 new things each day, there would still always be things we didn't know how to do. So it stands to reason that there will be things each VA can't do -- what those will vary from VA to VA. The thing is--it doesn't matter, really, what your VA can do. What matters is what she can get done...what she can make happen for you. And great VAs can get absolutely anything and everything done (as long as it's not illegal, immoral, or impossible!). Great VAs have the ready resources to handle it all... to be your one-stop shop, as it were. Whatever you need (and we mean that quite literally!), you should go to your VA for it.
We mentioned that VAs will not do things that are illegal, immoral, and impossible. Those are the kinds of things you shouldn't ask your VA to do. Additionally, you shouldn't ask your VA to do things you really need a different sort of professional to do. For instance, there are many marketing functions that VAs can handle for you. But if what you really need is a publicist or a marketing consultant, and you expect your VA to perform at the levels of those professionals, your expectations are completely unrealistic, and you'll be horribly disappointed. Don't ask your VA to be something she's not qualified to be.
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Q: Does Virtual Assistance work better for any particular type of person or professional?
A: Generally speaking, the benefits are enormous to almost anyone who's busy and needs support. What we've found, however, is that some people are better prepared to work in these kinds of relationships.
The people who are generally in a good position to work with VAs are:
- People who value relationships
- People who easily see VAs as pros and equals in the relationship
- People who have big goals
- People who are somewhat cyber savvy, and well-organized
- People who can articulate needs and desires
- People who can let go of things easily
- People who are trusting and trustworthy
- People who are focused, centered, and organized
People who aren't in a good position to work with a VA are:
- People who aren't online and who can't understand why this would work
- People with big egos, who are controlling, and/or arrogant
- People who can't let go, who have to micromanage
- People who think VAs are task-oriented, low-level employees types, rather than equals in the relationships they form with clients
- People who live in the urgent, where everything is last minute, where they procrastinate then rush to deadline, where they need people at their beck and call because the work is the driver, rather than their driving the work
- People who thrive on drama and who have to have drama surrounding them at all times.
- People who don't understand the power created in a relationship with a fantastic assistant
- People who aren't easily trusting, or have issues with trusting others
- People who aren't open to learning new ways of working and communicating
- People interested in finding cheap laborers to provide high-end assistance
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Q: Why would I want to choose an AssistU trained VA?
A: Simply stated, AssistU trained VAs are the best in the business. They are the only people who have had specific training in their profession; lots of it, as a matter of fact. They uniquely understand working in partnerships and can add tremendous value to your work and life. AssistU holds them to the highest standards in the Virtual Assistance profession, and they have high standards of their own.
AssistU graduates have completed nearly 250 hours of training and independent study. You can feel certain that by choosing someone from the AssistU Registry you’ll find a partner for your success. All AssistU VAs are very well trained and building successful practices. The only thing you’ll really need to find out is if there’s a fit in terms of personalities, workstyles, and work objectives.
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Q: What is the process for finding out if you’re the right VA for me?
First we’ll set up a convenient time to have an initial conversation. We’ll both have lots of questions, so I normally allot 30 minutes for this phone call. I’ll want to hear all about you and your business, your challenges, what’s sapping your time and energy, what your expectations are for a VA. Then I’ll tell you how I think I might be able to help (and if I don’t think I’m the right VA for you, I’ll give you some great resources for finding someone who’s a better fit). I’ll also explain how my practice works and how I like to assist my clients. If we agree we’re both interested in pursuing a potential partnership, I like to set up a second meeting in which we can go a little deeper into finding out if I’m a good fit for you and you for me. We can talk a bit more about our individual work styles, our expectations and answer any questions we might have about each other. If everything falls into place and we agree that we’re a great match we’ll move forward to the intake process and get started!
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Q: How will we communicate?
When working virtually, communication is key to the success of our partnership. I’ll want us to communicate often by phone, email or instant message. I schedule a weekly phone call with my clients to touch base, talk about what I’m working on, find out what’s on your radar and look at our progress. Aside from that, I work with several online collaboration tools that allow us to work together and communicate as if we’re just down the hall from each other! No matter how you communicate with me, know that I’ll always get back to you quickly.
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Q: What about security and confidentiality?
Security is of utmost importance in my business practices. All of my computers run automated virus and malware protection which is updated daily and includes a scan of incoming and outgoing email. I backup all data to both a network hard drive (in house) and an online backup service daily. In the world of technology it’s not a matter of if a failure will happen, but when. I take every precaution to make sure your data is safe.
When it comes to confidentiality, rest assured that what is discussed in our work together will be held in the strictest of confidence. I will not discuss our relationship, or your personal or professional life, with anyone unless you’ve specifically asked me to do so on your behalf.
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Still need some help researching whether or not a VA is for you? Here are some great articles from AssistU that might help:
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