| Very often when I attend networking events, one of | | | | Two of the major concerns that VA's often face |
| the questions I nearly always get asked after I have | | | | from prospective clients are the issues of trust and |
| told people what I do is "Oh, you're a Virtual Assistant, | | | | cost. For example, a client may need reassurance that |
| so how does that work?". So to answer that question, | | | | the VA will handle any confidential information |
| here is some background as to what a Virtual | | | | sensitively and will do the tasks within a realistic |
| Assistant does and how they work with clients. | | | | timeframe. The VA can explain that, as a fellow |
| A Virtual Assistant (or VA) is a self-employed PA | | | | business owner, they fully understand the need for |
| who provides professional secretarial and admin | | | | client confidentiality and will have a confidentiality |
| support to businesses and individuals. They work from | | | | agreement in place. Also, there is no benefit to the VA |
| their own premises, often as home-based businesses, | | | | to be other than scrupulously honest with their clients |
| and support their clients virtually via phone, email and | | | | when it comes to charging for their time - otherwise |
| fax. An increasing number of VA's also use cloud | | | | they are not going to be in business for very long! |
| computing applications to collaborate on documents, | | | | Regarding cost, a Virtual Assistant is far cheaper than |
| and manage diaries and emails on behalf of their | | | | hiring permanent staff as there is no tax, NI or |
| clients. | | | | overheads to pay. They may sometimes be more |
| The majority of Virtual Assistants come from a | | | | expensive than temporary staff but, unlike them, a VA |
| secretarial background and have at least 5 years | | | | provides continuity of care as and when the client |
| experience working as a senior secretary | | | | needs it. Also, a VA is only hired when the client has |
| administrator. They tend to work alone, but some work | | | | work for them so there is no downtime to pay as |
| with other VAs as associates to provide services that | | | | there is for permanent and temporary staff. |
| they either cannot or do not want to do themselves. | | | | Therefore, a Virtual Assistant can provide a |
| A Virtual Assistant will often provide the same kind of | | | | cost-effective solution to businesses that need |
| secretarial services that you would expect from a | | | | secretarial support but don't have the budget or |
| traditional PA, such as copy and audio typing, diary and | | | | facilities to hire someone full time. However, the main |
| email management, call handling, meeting arrangements | | | | benefit for business owners is that by outsourcing their |
| and travel co-ordination. However, VA's are | | | | essential but non-fee earning admin tasks, they have |
| increasingly offering a wider range of more specialized | | | | more time and energy to focus on the work that they |
| services such as web design, email marketing, blog | | | | enjoy doing, and which will increase their income and |
| and social media management to name but a few. | | | | grow their business. |