However, it has helped me a lot in gaining experience and keeping my family together. Allthough, I do agree that it’s very concerning on how the virtual assistant profession is being treated. I thought it was just me feeling that way but I’m glad I found this site.

I’m not a professional as you are. I do not have an education in this field or anything like it. I do believe that I’m very capable of being a true virtual assistant and am trying to get the most knowledge and experience through research, self study and “bidding” jobs.

This site has brought some light to how clients should treat a virtual assistant though. My initial thoughts of the virtual assistant profession was exactly as you’re describing in your articles. I lost sight of these facts after being treated like someone they can push around all the time.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m in the learning stage so I realize I probable require more supervision. Therefore freelance sites are a gift to me. However, I do believe these so called clients on these sites should have a bit more respect for their workers and not push them around as if they have the upper hand and think they are the only reason that keeps us alive and working.

There is always someone out there that respects your work and services even if you’re still learning. They see the value in what can come out of it and the free time they are getting to relax or do more important things to grow their businesses even more. Those are the clients I’m trying to find and they are there even on freelance sites. You’ll need patience though that’s for sure.

Posts that start commanding you right from the start are skipped immediately. Posts that are asking for help to reduce their work load and want to discuss possibilities are being looked at more closely. There are not many of them left that are also willing to pay at least minimum wage though.

Anyway, my thoughts. Thanks for these articles. I’m loving them

Mieke

I appreciate your boldness in addressing so many of the issues that hinder our profession. I started my sixth year in business in February, and I can certainly attest to the fact that being a VA/CEO, and micro-business owner isn’t “easy, stay-at-home-work.” I’ve worked very hard over that last five plus years to present everything I do with the highest level of professionalism. Many times I will read over my clients’ endorsement letters and realize it really is all about what the client has to say about the VA, not what the VA has to say about herself/himself. I’ve had the privilege of serving one of my clients for the last two years, and we have “grown together” as a team. We’ve prayed with each other, we’ve comforted each other when Dr. Brandt moved on to Heaven, and we’ve encouraged each other in our respective businesses. He’s half-way across the United States (Montana, to be exact), and oddly enough, we’ve only met one time in our professional relationship for about 30 minutes. Because of our open line of communication, I understand what’s important to the success of his two businesses. The team approach is essential.

I agree with your identification of a precious gift–giving free time. Back in 2003, I gave away on-site time. Now I am giving away my virtual time. It is a precious gift, and it is one that the client will remember. The main goal in giving my gift is to “expose” the individual to the profession, so that THEY can benefit from my gifts and talents to enhance their business. The gratification for a true VA comes when you are able to improve the business of your client(s), so that they can be as productive as possible. The goal is never to see how much money you can make, to see how much you are worth an hour, or how many clients you can gain. We can’t loose sight of our mission. We’ve been equipped with remote office administration gifts and talents to help professionals improve their productivity. It’s a special gift, and we need to treat it as such.

As a relatively new “Twitter user,” and “LinkedIn” user, I had to do some self-evaluation when I read what you had to say. I know the value of our profession, and I long to see struggling business owners utilize our services and skills to help them succeed. I know on Twitter our marketing should be “subtle” in nature, so I generally try to tell the people “What I’m doing.” I’m building that relationship with my followers, but I’m cautious, too, not to come across too boldly. It was a good personal “check-up” on my Tweeting style. It certainly is not a platform for new-bies to look for “jobs,” because as you said, we don’t have “jobs.” I strive to educate, enlighten, and encourage others when I Tweet.

As for the websites by so-called-VAs, I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY! I search the Internet frequently to see what my fellow VAs are doing, and to see how I may be able to fine-tune my 25 years of experience. While searching, I’ve seen some “VA sites” that really concern me. It was very obvious on several of the sites that the individuals lacked professionalism, administrative “experience,” and there was no real “talent.” For example, I saw typos, I saw improper grammar, which REALLY bothered me, and improper formatting, punctuation, etc. That’s why I run my business the way I do. Being the CEO of a company that has your name, your reputation, and the reputation of an entire field of VAs is alot of weight to carry. Only the professionally strong will survive! It’s sad that the younger, less-experienced individuals tend to put a damper on our profession, which is why I continue to raise the standard for everything I put out for the world to see. I have a webmaster in Florida who manages my site, but I visit my website(s) frequently to make sure that the sites reflect my image–professionally polished.

Thanks again for addressing these issues. You did a nice job, and I appreciate the affirmation for what I do, as well.

Respectfully submitted,

Cindy Seip

I believe your quote, “It is more of a marriage between two business persons…” really defines what a virtual assistant really is as opposed to someone who simply works virtually. The latter can encompass even telecommuters and certainly this is not what a VA is all about.

VAs have a vested interested in a client’s business. Certainly, as the client is able to bring in more revenue by not having to handle those tasks which take him/her away from their specialities, the VA profits as well. Much of what I start out doing for a client in the first few months develops into other projects and activities as suggestions arise and processes either improve or expand to reach client markets. It takes time to develop this ‘marriage’. It takes patience.

You have a well-thought out post and this VA appreciates your information.

Janine Gregor

This is an excellent post. On various forums I frequent (not VA-related), there are constantly women who are looking to have a job at home and looking for “legit” opportunities. What I tell them is that they are few and far between. I think there are so many individuals looking at the world of virtual admin support as an easy way to work at home. Some of the VA sites (I use the VA term loosely here) are VERY scary…..like they were thrown together in 15 minutes.

I think for a prospective client, this should be an alarm. You can tell so much about a VA business by his/her website. If it’s chock full of spelling and/or grammatical errors, then there’s no doubt that they will make an error on a client job at some point. A website doesn’t need to be fancy, but it needs to be simple, clear and concise.

I’m still relatively new to Twitter and hadn’t known about all the things going on there that you mentioned in your post. It really does take some education on our parts to ensure that people know that we are professionals – not someone who decides on a whim that they will be a VA even if they don’t have the required skill set.

Your post will surely help to educate people on what we really ARE.