Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

We also have an area where you put in a Request For Proposal at our Virtual Assistant Network http://www.vanetworking.com/RFP/RFP.htm 

Here`s one of our most recent testmonials about our RFP System:

"We received over 35 responses to our posting on Virtual Assistant Networking for a VA. There were so many qualified candidates that responded within hours of our posting. I believe we made the right decision in hiring a VA with years of experience and a wonderful personality! Thank you so much for having this forum for Virtual Assistants." - Anita Larson, President, The Web Muse & Co., www.thewebmuse.com

There is a directory of over 700 Virtual Assistant websites you can leaf through on your own too.

Its been great discussing virtual assistance at SuN and hope you all have more of an open mind now when it comes to your administrative overflow problems.

 

Hello All,

As I see the postings about virtual assistants, I thought it might be helpful to give you the website of our company www.mysmartstaff.com where you will find allot of information on virtual receptionist and virtual assistants and allot of other virtual business solutions, feel free to contact me for more info.

Thanks

Meny

 

I was thinking about how some VA experiences report having no intellectual questionning, where others define the VA as being an integral part of the business.

Maybe something for both VAs and business people to consider is some sort of up-front statement as to how much input the VA would hope to provide, and how much input the business person is willing to accept.

In my case, the job called for simply formatting a PPT file, dropping some slides into Word, and that was the end of it. A simple task for a basic office person. I took a major gamble, when I actually read what was in the presentation, and edited the content to make grammatical sense, and clarify the content. I was really nervous, assuming I`d likely get fired, or never asked to help with that company again.

Instead, I found out the company was just waiting to find someone....anyone!...who would take on the task of actually reading, editing, and proofing their documents. They also knew they had very limited PPT skills, but had no idea how to go about getting knowledgable help in PowerPoint and Word.

The job grew into something very different from the original order, but mostly because one or two people in the company were willing to explain the existing situation, then ask for help. That requires presenting a sort of vulnerability I think many business people prefer to keep hidden.

Maybe the growing VA "nation" might come up with a scale of measure for "intellectual and judgemental input" on the part of the "hired help?" I have no idea what that measure or scale would be, but it`s pretty clear that SOMEthing is differentiating an Executive Secretary, Office Manager, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, and Office Coordinator.

Hi, Craig,

That`s actually a very good point, and a clarification that my organization is working hard to make for business owners. Too many have coopted the Virtual Assistant term without understanding what it means, and in the process caused confusion in the marketplace.

Virtual Assistance, as the model was conceived to be by Stacy Brice, is by definition a profession of administrative support professionals (Virtual Assistants) who partner with clients to act as their assistant. By definition, Virtual Assistants work in an ongoing, collaborative capacity. When a business owner wants that kind of support in their business, someone who can not only perform administrative services in their business, they should look for a Virtual Assistant.

If a business owner is only looking for task-based support, which is transactional rather than relational, then they should seek out a secretarial service.

Business owners can use our client guide which includes the article "How to Hire a Virtual Assistant," to assist them in interviewing Virtual Assistants and discerning who is qualified. That guide is located here:

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/client-guide.htm

We also have a glossary that is very helpful in understanding different outsourcing terms which are often confused as Virtual Assistance, but which are actually something different. Knowing these terms helps business owners look for exactly the kind of service they need. The glossary is located here:  http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/glossary.htm

Hope that helps.

-------------------------

Danielle Keister, The Relief Virtual Assistance
Administrative Support Services for Business Consultants and PR Professionals | Founder, Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce

Hi everyone.

I have already introduced myself elsewhere on SuN, so I won`t do it again.  There are a lot of us out there with varying levels of skills and experience.  I just want to re-iterate that it is important to shop around and find the best fit for you and your business.  I am a member at VANA (created by fllow SuN member Tawnya Sutherland) and it is a great place to learn about the VA industry and if you need a virtual assistant (I think everyone does) you can post an RFP at VANA to find a VA.

I also thought I would mention that I recently started the Blog Carnival of Virtual Assistants.  It is posted on the first Sunday of each month on a different VA Blog.  A link for each month`s edition will be posted at my blog.  You can check out the first edition at: Carnival of Virtual Assistants - #1

-------------------------

Right-Hand-Man
Virtual Assistant Services
www.righthandmanva.com

"Partnering with you for YOUR SUCCESS!"

Speaking of the Virtual Assistant Networking Association or VANA as everyone calls it for short, we have put together a survey on Virtual Assistants for the Media (The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How surrounding VAs).  If you are a Virtual Assistant please take a moment and join in on our Virtual Assistant Survey.   Results will be publicly displayed after August 30th.  We have had over 400 VAs take the survey and the more that take it, the better our results will be.

And, if you need to find a VA, please submit your RFP at our network.     We have a network of over 6500 members at our  Virtual Assistant Networking Association

Definitely Craig and as a member of the VA Standards Steering Committee, globally we are working on VA standardization.  You can read more about it here:   Core Competencies for Emerging VAs. 

This document  can serve as a starting point for prospective VAs considering launching a Virtual Assistant business. The intent is to identify the competencies a VA should exhibit as a basic foundation when operating a business and working with clients. From time-to-time we will review these competencies and revise them, in an effort to strengthen the foundation of the Virtual Assistant Industry and its practitioners.

At this webpage you can read the Reasons for Core Competencies which provides background information regarding the formulation of these Core Competencies. The Core Competencies Committee membership and VA Organizations and Training Programs that support and endorse these criteria are provided on a supplemental page.

Hope this helps.

I`ve posted another topic regarding a "Free Idea in the Office Admin field," partly based on my remembering this thread.

What I wish would happen is a consolidation between virtual and physical assistants. I`ve recently taken on the task of organizing a small office, where the needs are more like a "personal manager," as I saw it in the entertainment industry. Back before computers, "personal assistant" was another term.

From what I see happening in the VA world, spearheaded by people like Tawnya, there`s no question that the only difference is "remote" working. Either way, we need a central site, much like Startup Nation, which acts as a consolidated resource for "how to" and peer-to-peer support in the administrative side of business.

What used to be a standard career path, nowadays is starting to get strange. Who takes "typing" in school these days? Is it different from "keyboarding?" And what about the similarities between HTML and a 1940s typewriter? Then there are basics as to how to write correspondence, formatting letters, and what sort of database tracking systems would work well.

VANA might be the starting point, but I guess I`m saying let`s not leave out the physical assistants who actually are in the office each day, not working remotely.

Craig,

There`s actually quite a significant difference between physical assistants and Virtual Assistants.

Physical assistants are employees.

Virtual Assistants belong to the administrative profession known as Virtual Assistance. They are business owners--not employees, and provide administrative services at a professional level that exceeds traditional administrative support. Many Virtual Assistants also provide additional technical and creative services.

It was actually my organization, the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce (http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com), that spearheaded the standards movement in our industry and established the minimum qualification standard of at least 5 years upper level administrative support experience that the industry has adopted.

-------------------------

Danielle Keister, The Relief Virtual Assistance
Administrative Support Services for Business Consultants and PR Professionals | Founder, Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce

I understand the employee-contractor distinction. My focus was/is on the actual work and the complexities involved in any sort of admin and organizational work.