by Tina Hilton of Clerical Advantage
Last weeks post concerning time tracking software prompted a thought provoking comment by a reader. The comment said:
Clients can demand all they want. It’s extremely important for Virtual Assittants to make sure clients understand the nature of their relationship with a Virtual Assistant. VAs are not employees. They don’t keep hours or report time to clients in that manner. If a Virtual Assistant tracks hours, it should be only for their own business and billing purposes. And many Virtual Assistants these days don’t even track hours at all, but instead offer value-based retainer packages.
After reading this I noted quite a few blog posts from fellow Virtual Assistants on the topic of similar things, like the definition of what a Virtual Assistant does, is and/or isn’t. It seems that even among those calling themselves Virtual Assistants, the definition can be confusing. Take for instance one definition is found here, another here and yet more here. So if even the virtual assistance industry itself can’t get it together and come up with a definition that everyone can agree on, what’s a potential client to do?
How are they supposed to determine if it’s a virtual assistant they need, or a virtual bookkeeper, SEO assistant, etc.? And if some VA’s are willing to track time and provide timesheets to clients and others find it insulting to be asked to do so, how is a potential client going to know who they may insult with the request? Wouldn’t it be helpful if the industry could put down their own differences and present a united front in order to clear things up a little?
I’ve mentioned here before that there is no true ‘certification’ for Virtual Assistants. There are programs out there, certainly, but none of them truly carries much weight at the moment. The biggest reason for that appears to be, in my humble opinion, that there are several ‘factions’ out there in Virtual Assistant land, and these factions cannot agree on certain things.
One faction (Faction A) holds with the fact that a Virtual Assistant provides a range of administrative services in an ongoing business relationship. Faction A appears almost bourgeoisie in their adherence to their definition. For example, someone providing strictly bookkeeping services virtually should not fall under the Virtual Assistant umbrella. 5 years of experience in the upper level administrative world is a requirement as well as being a solo practice, no multi-VA practices here.
Another faction (Faction B) tends to be a little more lenient with the definition. Having a specialty is called a niche, but since those things can still be considered administrative in nature, one can still call themselves a Virtual Assistant. Things like providing timesheets to clients are acceptable practices. They still believe in the basic tenets of having several years of experience in the professional business administration world and that building an ongoing relationship with clients is the goal, although taking on a short-term project here or there is perfectly acceptable. Faction B still adheres strongly to the “a VA is not an employee but a business” mantra and adhere’s to guidelines for Independent Contractors such as the ones found on the IRS website.
And then we have the third faction (Faction C), this would be those for whom the term Virtual Assistant can be anyone providing any services from a home or remote office. Faction C blurs the line between employee and independent contractor by allowing the client to dictate how and when the work gets done. Many of those in Faction C have little if any upper level professional experience and basically see the term Virtual Assistant as an easy way to make money at home. Both Factions A and B pretty much discount those falling into Faction C, but unfortunately because Faction C seems to be able to charge less, potential clients are more apt to be drawn to them.
With three distinct schools of thought within what the business community bundles up under the Virtual Assistant category, you can see why it’s been difficult to come up with an authoritative body that governs the industry. Not to mention to get them all to agree on a definition.
Each faction seems to have formed their own ‘authority’, fracturing the industry into parts. While one such authority might require a fee to belong, another might require one to write an essay upon which they will be judged by someone as to whether they are ‘worthy’ to join or not. And yet another might require only that you post a link to their site to carry a ‘certified’ designation. As virtual assistants, can we truly question why the business world is still so confused concerning our industry?
I believe we are reaching a moment in time when those of us who seek to educate the community concerning virtual assistance are going to have to try to act together as a whole, no matter what faction we may fall into. The industry needs standards, not just for potential clients, but for our own purposes as well. I’m sure there is a great deal involved in this task, but I know that there is an unbelievably talented community of virtual assistants out there that could get it done.
As for what faction I fall into? As is usual for me, I’m a square peg who won’t fit into one of the nice round holes. I have opinions that would probably fall into both Faction A and B camps.
And what advice would I give to potential clients trying to figure the whole Virtual Assistance thing out. There is plenty of good advice out there. Some of the links I’ve provided in this post and many of my prior posts here, several Virtual Assistant Forums and materials like my own e-book, and other such learning materials are there for your reference. Doing a little homework can save you a big headache down the line.
Categories: Virtual Assistant
21 Comments
I’m so glad you mentioned virtual assistants. I am a VA and one of the things I stress to my clients is when you are freed from administrative tasks, you can do what you do best and not be mired in daily tasks that hold you back.
One really great product for those of you thinking of hiring a VA is http://tinyurl.com/26fbn8
Good thoughts Tina!
I think that as the internet develops and people find new and unique ways at which to make their livings from home (and to avoid high gas prices), that we are going to come across this quandary more often. Every day it seems as if there are new ways to make money from home.
I agree that they need to provide a united front. I feel that it will get to the point that if they do not, they will do more damage to their industry than they realize. If they can’t decide who they are and what they do, then it would raise doubts in potential customers as the quality of work and decisiveness that they can expect from them.
Well written article about office space. Thank you so much. I learnt a lot
I agree, man oh man do I agree!!
I’ve been a Virtual Assistant since 2002, and during this time, I’ve seen more and more people appropriate the Virtual Assistant moniker and redefining it to fit their own purpose.
What a Virtual Assistant is and is not is a thorny issue, one the industry has been struggling with since it’s founding in 1997. It would seem to make sense to me that the official definition should be the definition the founding women of the industry first verbalized. How to make this official in an international community is the big thorn in our collective sides.
I agree that it is time for the industry to come together and figure this out; otherwise, we’re just shooting ourselves in our collective feet.
Question: Is anyone out there in the Virtual Assistant industry interested in getting together to address this problem?
=>Donna Caissie, Virtual Assistant
ExtraOrdinary Assistance
www.extra-assist.com
www.dcaissie.wordpress.com
Very thought-provoking article, Tina.
I do see that VAs have their work cut out for them in proving their worth, but I disagree about the united front.
Here’s the thing. If I need a VA, I’ll need them for a specific task (like cataloging my receipts). If I find someone, they explain how they can do it, and the rate is reasonable, then that’s all I need.
I don’t really care or want to know how every other VA conducts business. I don’t have the time to keep up with the VA industry and worry about whether someone is certified to open up Excel and create a spreadsheet.
Bureaucracy is not necessary and, I believe, drive rates up. If every VA has to spend money to get “industry” training and become certified to keep up, they’ll have to raise rates.
How fun will that be for people like me who just want it simple and want a reliable pro to create my spreadsheet so I can draw stuff?
I see every VA as a different business entity. The reliable pros will rise to the top and the flakes who are riding the trend will disappear soon enough.
How will I know the difference? Like any other service or product I buy; word of mouth and referrals.
Then what you’re looking for isn’t a Virtual Assistant. What you’re looking for is called a secretarial service.
Of course, there are some VAs who take on small projects here and there as side income, but that’s not the business that Virtual Assistants are in.
Do you see the issue here? You want your “car repaired” when we are “plumbers.”
I agree with you on the issue of VA certification (which, just for the record, is a different topic than that one of definition). It’s so unnecessary and something contrived by private interests as personal sales vehicles. A lot of the programs are barely competent themselves and will dole out certifications to anyone willing to pay. It’s a joke.
Truly competent, experienced professional VAs will demonstrate their competence through their speaking and communication, on their websites, how they conduct their business and customer service and so forth. No certifications is going to demonstrate, prove or guarantee those things.
Hi,
Well David, if you’re looking for a VA then I’d be happy to help
I, too, am not that worried how others want to restrict the definition of a Virtual Assistant, thus restricting their list of potential clients.
If I can support an individual or business on a ‘virtual’ basis, then I’m happy to take the work on - what’s more important to me are the ethics of the person/company I’m going to be working with and whether I have the skills and experience to carry the tasks out.
And contrary to the comment on Faction C in this blog’s post, I don’t come cheap and have 13 years experience in the real world of business - what I am is flexible in my use of the term Virtual Assistant. And being flexible is, in my opinion, one of the most useful qualities to have as a VA, along with initiative. VA certificates… you’re ‘avin’ a laugh… (I agree with you on that Danielle).
There is nothing in the term ’secretarial services’ that makes one firm in the knowledge that they only take on ad-hoc project work, it implies that they provide secretarial services, whether that be piecemeal or long-term.
Are you saying that, as a VA you don’t provide any secretarial support, such as typing, transcription, diary management - all typical tasks carried out by a secretarial service - to your clients?
The point of the word ‘virtual’ in the title stresses that we work virtually, ie remotely, off-site; the word ‘assistant’ encompasses many things — and is defined in the Cambridge dictionary as ’someone who helps someone else to do a job’ - and one can assist (or support) in various different ways. There is nothing in the term ‘virtual assistant’ that restricts what type of work we, as an industry, take on, what length of time the working relationship should be, or how we bill for that work.
I believe David wanted someone to take the work off his hands, but not a temp to come around to his studio. Therefore, he wanted someone with secretarial/bookkeeping skills to work with him ‘virtually’ (remotely).
It’s probably one of those differences of opinion that will be discussed on many a blog and forum.
In the meantime, if you search for ’secretarial services’, there are many VAs out there getting high rankings on Google by promoting themselves as such, so those of us in Faction B and C can pick up on all those prospective clients who search for that instead of ‘virtual assistant’… we’re all happy!!
Cheers,
Tracy
[In business since 2000]
I have to agree with Danielle.
Certification is not going to prove how competent of a PA you really are, the good ones will prove themselves and stay in business whilst the ‘incompetent’ ones will fall and perish in the industry.
Danielle, I understand your point about the secretarial service, but I don’t agree.
I hired someone called a Virtual Assistant who creates and maintains a spreadsheet for me. She calls herself a VA and took the work under the auspices of being a VA service. It’s a service she offers on her web site, as a VA.
She considers my little “secretarial” task part of her service as a VA. Other VAs may not agree with her, but there she is, doin’ business. I don’t care if she calls herself The Spreadsheet Lady.
Should I skip over her for future tasks and find a secretarial service because that’s the correct definition?
I guess that’s my point. Who decides who’s a VA and who’s not? Other VAs? The Pope? Donny Osmond?
If the guy fixing my car says he can also unclog my toilet, well…
…here’s the plunger, Buddy. Do you take PayPal?
I believe I fall into the ‘B’ camp, but I don’t really care what other VAs are doing. I operate my business the way I want to.
It would be nice if there were some industry regulations to be adhered to so people would stop having heart attacks at my pretty standard rate and the clients I get who have been treated badly by VAs who shouldn’t be in business weren’t so gun shy when they meet me!
I keep very detailed time logs which are available to my clients when they want to see them - I don’t have any reason not to show them. It’s their hard-earned money that’s being spent and I have nothing to hide.
I don’t have any certifications but I operate a thriving business and have many satisfied clients.
My business is made up of mostly retainer clients, but I do projects for people from time to time and still call myself a virtual assistant. I don’t believe that those VAs who primarily take on project pieces are not real VAs. They’re freeing up time for their clients doing administrative work, which makes them a VA. While a big benefit to partnering with a VA is that you build in an on-going collaborative relationship through a regular retainer, that can’t mean that someone who has yet to obtain that holy grail retainer client is not a VA.
I feel bad for those new to the industry who are looking for information about certifications, training, whether they need a resume, how they charge and so on and so forth…when there are so many different “rules” and “definitions” for what a VA is floating around out there.
So again, it would be nice to see some regulation, but I just don’t see that happening anytime soon and as long as a VA is working with lots of happy clients who send lots of happy referrals we’ll be able to hold our own and ignore the “politics” of the industry - remaining blissfully unaware.
David, I love where you say this:
“I see every VA as a different business entity. The reliable pros will rise to the top and the flakes who are riding the trend will disappear soon enough.
How will I know the difference? Like any other service or product I buy; word of mouth and referrals.”
Amen to that.
“…it would be nice to see some regulation”.
That’s the last thing we need - more bureaucracy and in our day-to-day lives!
No thanks. And really when has regulation ever worked - you still get cowboy builders and plumbers, and look at all the regulations they have to adhere to.
My worry is that these ‘virtual assistant’ universities and mentoring courses, yada, yada, yada, are encouraging people to go straight into being a ‘virtual assistant’ when really they should be going out and getting some real world experience first. A year temping would be far more useful than someone telling you how to be a VA in 3 weeks of tele-seminars or whatever.
Those that can ‘do’, and those that can’t ‘teach’, I believe is the old adage.
Cheers,
Tracy
Maybe regulations was a bad term. What would be awesome is if there was a set of standards somewhere so people could see that it’s not outrageous for VAs to charge $35-50/hour, for example…ya know?
The focus of a secretarial service is piecemeal administrative work. A Virtual Assistant, on the other hand, is in the business of ongoing administrative work. Is there some overlap? Sure. But it comes down to what the primary focus of the business is and their two different types of customers.
A secretarial service’s customer isn’t looking for the “partnership.” As mentioned, they just want the occasional task/piecemeal project completed.
A Virtual Assistant’s customer, on the other hand, is looking for ongoing, across-the-board right-hand type of administrative relationship.
There’s a different result the two are shooting for. The former just wants to get a task done and out of the way. The latter is looking for more long-term efficiencies as well as a partner of sorts in their business and understands that that goal is only achieved by working with someone in an ongoing capacity who gets to know their work and business almost as intimately as they do themselves.
With all due respect, this issue isn’t going to be resolved by customers who don’t understand the issue in the first place. It’s not their job to understand it. They just want their stuff done. It’s our role in the industry to point them in the right directions and educate them properly, and also to figure out what kind of business we’re in.
It is an issue of business and marketing and all the principles that go along with those things. There’s nothing wrong with piecemeal work. I’m glad there’s an entire industry of secretarial services to do that work because, personally, it’s just not worth my while. There is no money in one-off tasks and I would have to be running a business based on volume (an entirely different business model requiring a whole other set of resources) in order for a business based on project-work to get anywhere close to what I make as a VA.
The two are very different business models with different kinds of customers seeking different results.
Regarding the statement of having “a set of standards somewhere so people could see that it’s not outrageous for VAs to charge $35-50/hour,” this is exactly what this issue is all about. That range, of course, is not outrageous in any way; it’s a very normal (in fact, low-end) range for professional services.
Our industry, as a whole, just doesn’t know how to market itself. And that’s first and foremost because VAs (that is, people calling themselves VAs) don’t know themselves what business they’re in and who their customers are. Right now, it (the industry in general) is trying to be “all things to all people” and any one of you who has gained even the smallest degree of understanding of the principles of business and marketing knows that is the kiss of death.
I hear you!
I think one needs to explain the benefits of hiring a VA and mention things like the client not having to pay for extra equipment in their own office, etc.
By mentioning this and the fact that the VA pays for all these overheads, serious prospective clients should totally understand that we need to charge a rate that covers these overheads and leaves us with some money in the bank, not only to put a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, but to enable us to keep up-to-date with the latest technologies, IT equipment, and the continual upgrading of software (which is not cheap) that allows us to do our work effectively.
I still believe these charges should be reasonable and not inflated to such a degree whereby more companies outsource work to places like India, rather than looking at home in the UK (or wherever).
Staying competitive whilst still feeling you’re being rewarded for your hard work, experience, and skills can be tricky, but you just need to negotiate a rate you and your client are happy with. As long as you set a minimum per-hour charge for yourself and not cave-in and accept something lower, then you should be fine.
Also, as in the real world, people pay more for experience. So shouldn’t this apply to the VA industry - those VAs starting out may struggle to find clients if they go in and immediately start charging the same rates as someone with, for example, a successful and established five-year-old business with clients who are happy to give glowing testimonials to the fact that they’ve been working with you for two years.
On the other side, you have a fledging sole-trader who’s struggling to keep a grip on their admin but who just can’t afford high rates while they’re getting their business off the ground. Help this client now by agreeing to a fair rate to be negotiated down the line, and you’ll have their business when they can afford to start paying more.
Some secretaries are paid more than others depending on the industry, size of business, or region they’re working in - for example salaries vary hugely between London and rural Staffordshire and between a large corporate and a one-man show.
I know my bottom line and I won’t cross it, but I am prepared to be flexible - that word again! I remember when I started Freelancealot back in 2000, it wasn’t easy to get clients and having a lower rate secured me enough work to at least keep me in beans on toast. I persevered and now charge what, I think, is the going rate for a VA.
I have also found the opposite to be true: charge too low and people won’t hire you because they think that by paying an expensive company they improve their own prestige. It’s particularly prevalent in the world of web development. I’ve known businesses spend thousands of pounds on a website, only to find it doesn’t work well… but hey, all the designers and consultants were driving sporty Audis and sporting the latest pair of designer sunglasses.
You can’t please all of the people all of the time!
Cheers,
Tracy
“I think one needs to explain the benefits of hiring a VA and mention things like the client not having to pay for extra equipment in their own office, etc.”
Well, see, that’s part of the problem, Tracy. That’s not a benefit, that’s a feature. Worse, it’s a ploy to, in essence, bribe clients to work with you. It says “I have no other value except that you can get off cheaply.” If focuses clients on all the wrong things, and that’s simply not where a Virtual Assistant’s value is.
A Virtual Assistant’s value (that is, a true Virtual Assistant) is in the results that are achieved for clients through their ongoing administrative support. That’s the benefit to working with a VA. And yet VAs insist on focusing clients on things like money and savings that only instill a mentality of “cheap.” So why should we be surprised when they think our rates are “outrageous” when it is the industry itself who has focused them there?
To put it bluntly, clients don’t give a rat’s ass about our bottom line. They are only concerned with their own bottom line. So arguments about why you need to charge what you do only fall on deaf ears. It’s a pointless conversation and not client-centered.
VAs need to begin focusing on the results they achieve for their clients. THOSE are the benefits. Focus clients on what you GIVE them and what they can accomplish by working with you. THAT’S the value.
Those who gain a deeper understanding about what business they are in, who their clients are and what results they achieve for clients (their value) have the ability to charge top dollar regardless of any other factors.
It’s nice to get so many opinions on my post! And while I very much agree with David about the reliable pros rising to the top, I also know that not all potential clients are as knowledgable as he appears to be concerning what they need a VA to do.
And heaven’s no! I’m not advocating ‘regulation’ of the industry, and I agree that experience in a professional business office is far superior to any certifications. And by experience I don’t mean someone’s six months answering phones and XYZ Corp..
As a self proclaimed computer geek who remembers computing in DOS and got my bumps and bruises in both the mortgage and title attorney arenas, I can’t imagine anyone being able to impart in a ‘course’ a fraction of the knowledge that I’ve learned by trial and error alone. That doesn’t mean that there is no place for learning materials to help those that have the experience, but would like a bit of direction.
I tend to disagree with with the ‘those that can do, those that can’t teach’ phrase as the teachers and people I’ve learned the most from over the years are those that have ‘done it’.
Hi, Tina,
I don’t know if my comments are not being published intentionally or not, but I see that the comments of others who posted after me have been approved.
If you do intend to approve them, would you mind letting me know? If that’s the case, I won’t bother posting them to my own blog.
Thanks
‘It’s a pointless conversation and not client-centered.’
A bit like the who and who can’t call themselves a virtual assistant issue.
‘Worse, it’s a ploy to, in essence, bribe clients to work with you.’
I don’t quite follow your reasoning here. You call it a feature, I call it one of the many benefits to the client — a benefit is something intended to help, is that not what a feature is when related to a service/product, otherwise why shout about it? If telling someone about the benefits of your service is a ploy, a bribe, so is every advert or piece of marketing material that’s put out — for who does not proclaim the benefits, such as more time and increased profits, when selling themselves as a VA?
‘It says “I have no other value except that you can get off cheaply.”’
I don’t see how you infer this from my statement: ‘By mentioning this and the fact that the VA pays for all these overheads, serious prospective clients should totally understand that we need to charge a rate that covers these overheads.’ At what point did ‘cheap’ come into that?
‘A Virtual Assistant’s value (that is, a true Virtual Assistant) is in the results that are achieved for clients through their ongoing administrative support.’
There’s that ‘ongoing’ support again. There is just as much ‘value’ in giving support to an individual or business when they require help for a one-off project. And have you considered that by taking a one-off project off their hands, you’re proving your worth to that business and therefore they’re likely to come back when they do realise they need ongoing support — or does that also fall into the category of bribing clients…
‘They [clients] just want their stuff done. It’s our role in the industry to point them in the right directions and educate them properly, and also to figure out what kind of business we’re in.’
By ‘educating’ do you mean persuading them to sign-up for ongoing support when they only wanted a one-off project done…? I’m quite happy with the kind of business I’m in and I don’t see the necessity to restrict the type of client it supports.
I think I’ll agree to disagree at this point.
Cheers,
Tracy
Well, Tracy, you can keep your mind closed to maybe learning a little something that might benefit you if you want to. That’s your prerogative, obviously. My comments are more for the benefit of those who might like to see their own business and marketing improved.
‘A bit like the who and who can’t call themselves a virtual assistant issue.’
Actually, it’s not. The two are completely different issues. One is about understanding what business you’re in and who the customers are in that business (because secretarial services and Virtual Assistance are two different businesses with each having two different customers who are seeking two separate kinds of solutions and results). The other doesn’t have anything to do with who “can” or “can’t” call themselves a Virtual Assistant. It has everything to do with improving understanding for the marketplace and maintaining an established brand that increases perceived value. It does no one any good to be calling themselves something they aren’t and only serves to create even further confusion in the marketplace and division of the community.
“I don’t quite follow your reasoning here. You call it a feature, I call it one of the many benefits to the client — a benefit is something intended to help, is that not what a feature is when related to a service/product, otherwise why shout about it? If telling someone about the benefits of your service is a ploy, a bribe, so is every advert or piece of marketing material that’s put out — for who does not proclaim the benefits, such as more time and increased profits, when selling themselves as a VA?”
Well, first, I can’t answer this question if you are lumping secretarial services in with Virtual Assistants because the benefits and results that the customers of each are seeking are different. One wants one-off work, typically quick in/out kind of service and that’s it. The other is looking for something more in-depth, across-the-board and ongoing (an alternative to the in-house employee they don’t have). But let’s say we’re talking about Virtual Assistance, where the solution that the customer is seeking is ongoing, collaborative administrative support across-the-board… Do you think all you have to offer those clients is the fact that they don’t have to pay taxes on your service and they don’t pay for your office equipment and so forth? That’s the only value you offer them? There are no other results they are able to achieve through the work you do for them?
There’s that ‘ongoing’ support again. There is just as much ‘value’ in giving support to an individual or business when they require help for a one-off project. And have you considered that by taking a one-off project off their hands, you’re proving your worth to that business and therefore they’re likely to come back when they do realize they need ongoing support — or does that also fall into the category of bribing clients…
Sorry if you don’t like that, Tracy, but that’s what Virtual Assistance is—it’s ongoing administrative support. That’s very different from one-off, occasional, transactional piecework. Sure, lots of people, especially newer Virtual Assistants commonly take on one-off projects in order to convince clients to work with them further. But many folks, after a few years in business, are able to improve their message and networking to a level that conveys all the confidence and competence a client needs in order to decide to work together and better attracts their ready-to-go, ideal clients. That ol’ “dangling carrot” promise of future work syndrome can keep people in second-rate VA businesses (and profits) for a lifetime if they aren’t able to move past thinking to the next level. The trick is to save your time and energy for those who have a need for what a VA offers and are ready to commit. That leaves you in a position of strength in order to accept or decline side projects on the basis of preference, rather than need. You won’t ever get won’t you don’t expect and hold out for.
By ‘educating’ do you mean persuading them to sign-up for ongoing support when they only wanted a one-off project done…? I’m quite happy with the kind of business I’m in and I don’t see the necessity to restrict the type of client it supports.
No, you don’t have that quite right. It’s not about persuading anyone to buy anything they don’t want or need. If someone doesn’t want ongoing administrative support, then they aren’t seeking what a Virtual Assistant is in business to provide. What they are looking for is a secretarial service. And it isn’t about restricting anyone from anything. A Virtual Assistant might see fit to take on their project. But they don’t lose sight of what their true business is and their interest is in ultimately having a full roster of clients they work together with in ongoing support.
This really isn’t that difficult, Tracy. It sounds like you’re in a secretarial service and that’s great. I might even throw some project clients your way. Just because we’re in two different kinds of businesses doesn’t mean we can’t still get along and be friends.
Hi again,
“If someone doesn’t want ongoing administrative support, then they aren’t seeking what a Virtual Assistant is in business to provide. What they are looking for is a secretarial service. And it isn’t about restricting anyone from anything. A Virtual Assistant might see fit to take on their project. But they don’t lose sight of what their true business is and their interest is in ultimately having a full roster of clients they work together with in ongoing support.”
That’s pretty much what I’ve been saying all along, Danielle. At no point have I suggested that virtual assistants don’t (or shouldn’t) taken on long-term clients. A virtual assistant can do both: take on a short-term projects as well as have their long-term clients. Quite often these one-off clients come back and turn into long-term clients, in my case up to five years and going strong. If that’s not looking towards the future of your business, what is?
“That leaves you in a position of strength in order to accept or decline side projects on the basis of preference, rather than need. You won’t ever get won’t you don’t expect and hold out for.”
You’re assuming a lot in that sentence. I’ll just leave it there…
And sure, I’d be happy to take on any project clients that you ‘throw’ away… if I have the time.
Cheers,
Tracy
hi there,
i think certification is just a way of transforming the “least-strings-attached” job more bureaucratic. Where would be the added value? does a paper prove what is in my brain?
i am one of those that don’t want to make a common front and have a definition of their own for this VA concept. I call it “online support” and is meant to be anything that makes you useful for your client and brings him/her more added value to his/her business. It can be administrative work (though i am not such a big fan of it but if it is in a field i am interested in, like processing data in SPSS…i am fine with it because i will improve my skills in SPSS and also get to see some interesting psych profiles), it can be finding an apartment at the other end of the world, making the best brochure ever, or staying up all night waiting for a call because he is a totally different timezone than you are. Even writing books can be a cool task, or making translations. It depends at what you are good at and how good you are to find clients in your field of expertise and in my view…above all: it should be fun! If it ain’t fun, you shouldn’t be doing it…and don’t tell me working in quickbooks is fun…you could very well sit in a normal office and do that. if you are working online, you should take advantage of all the cool things that are out there and can be done online…and why not…only online:)
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