*This post can now be found at this location on the Virtual Assistant Information site.
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Author bio: Taryn Merrick is a Professional Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager (OBM). As Principal of Merrick Management And Media Services, she has over 20 years of administrative management experience. Taryn works to promote the Virtual Assistant industry and to make it stand out as a true profession of excellence. Her style is easy going, yet precise, with emphasis placed on exceeding customer expectations, client communication and satisfaction.
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Thank you so much for posting this expose, so to speak, of the VA problems out there. As an experienced assistant and mentor I can say without a doubt that the low balling has scared me away.
Any suggestions as to how and where to seek out professional and dignified clients who will pay a reasonable fee for projects?
Thank you.
I advise you to continue to educate the public about what a Virtual Assistant is and what we are not! Use social networking to meet people who fit your niche and what you enjoy doing. Also, make sure you website is optimized to attract the right clients for *you*! Beware of people who are just looking for the lowest rate versus potential clients who seek quality and a lasting relationship.
Taryn:
Thank you for this blog entry. I wholeheartedly agree. VAs must be part of a team effort to be successful as we function independently and nobody is looking over our shoulder 8 hours a day.
Additionally, I have spent years pointing out that having a computer, printer and fax machine does not a VA make. Virtual Assistants must have great professional experience behind them. So much of what I am seeing lately is VAism viewed as the ultimate in easy home businesses for folks who who have no experience and want to work from home.
Add to this the tendency to outsource work overseas due to the low hourly rates offered by folks in Indonesia, China and India, and you have a disaster in the making. Not only does it promote abuse of really professional VAs, but poorly performing VAs give the experienced ones a bad name.
There is NO replacement for conventional office experience. Perhaps more than other solopreneurs, VAs must have the ability to make decisions on their own about what is appropriate professionally and what is not. How else can they possibly help their clients compete with other professionals in their field when their public interaction lacks that same level of professional saavy?
I hope folks will serious consider your points — we must be professional and we must work as a team. Otherwise, you might be better off calling a temp agency.
Regards,
Karalyn Eckerle
Dear Karalyn,
Oh, so well said! Thank you for commenting. The “EZ home biz” and “Work At Home” stuff you see floating around on social media is most disheartening. That is NOT NOT NOT a VA! To know that people think that is what a Virtual Assistant does means we have our work cut out for us 🙂
Another “ism” to look out for is when you see “I’m looking for a Virtual Assistant job, do you know of any”? 🙂
Job? We have careers, professions, etc. We are CEOs and business owners. We once had jobs, but are now entrepreneurs.
There are other types of virtual workers besides VAs. There are web designers who work virtually, copyrighters, etc. But I think the principles are the same, we are experienced individuals and not people who think being a Virtual Assistant is an easy way to earn some extra cash for Christmas shopping! LOL.
As far as outsourcing, I don’t comment much on that. I guess if it works for some people, so be it. There are just as experienced Virtual Professionals overseas, regardless of the country of origin. However, I feel that the standards should be global.
Taryn,
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.
Taryn,
Great post!
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
Taryn:
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