Q. What is Virtual Assistance?
Virtual Assistance is a new administrative profession, formalized in 1997 with the creation of AssistU-an online University and support community for virtual assistants-to meet the needs of small business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as the needs of any busy person who could use some great administrative support. The people who provide Virtual Assistance are called Virtual Assistants or VA's. What they do is no less than an art -- working long-term and closely with a successful client without needing to be physically in the clients office.

Developments in technology have made this new, innovative way of collaboration possible. Through the use of phone, fax, e-mail and Internet technologies, client and VA can work together as easily and efficiently as if they were sitting 20 feet from one another.

Its focus holds the relationship at its core, with both business owners being equals in the relationship and choosing each other. It requires a level of commitment and desire from both people to give the best they have to the relationship--to commingling talents and strengths, that surpasses anything the corporate world could currently imagine. First and foremost, it requires that both the VA and client fully understand, value, and desire a collaborative partnership.

Once the partnership is established, it works wonderfully well, skipping over geographical barriers easily. Virtual Assistance is on the cutting edge of business administration. Whether you're an independent contractor of CEO of a corporation, you can reap the benefits of working "virtually" with a professional VA.

Q. Who would work with a VA?
VA's work with smart, successful people of all kinds; authors, sales people, consultants, coaches, executives, professionals, entrepreneurs--anyone who wants to live a more balanced life with more free time to do the things he/she wants to do! The benefits are enormous to almost anyone who's busy and needs support.

Q. What's the point? I manage everything on my own!
As you grow a business, sooner or later, you'll find that you can do anything, but you simply can't do everything! And when you give away the stuff that doesn't need your personal attention, you gain space and time in your life for an abundance of other things. Those things might include:

• Growing your business
• More time with family, friends
• Responding to other opportunities and things you do best
• Balancing home and work responsibilities

Q. If I wanted an assistant, why would I hire one who's potentially hundreds of miles away?
Part of the benefit of having a VA is that you haven't 'hired' anyone. When you work with a VA, you get a partner, not an employee. You get someone who chooses to work with you as much as you choose to work with them. The VA's decision to work with you is based on being attracted to your work and on being interested in being your partner for success, rather than because they are looking for "some job." People work with VA's because they:

• Don't have the space or want someone in their office
• Don't have the equipment needed for someone to use and don't want to purchase it
• Don't want the associated work and cost of having an employee (Payroll, Benefits, Conforming to OSHA laws, etc.)

If what you want and need is the most basic office support, then you might want to work with a secretarial service. If, on the other hand, you want the benefit of working with someone who really wants to know you, your business, your customers, and who really wants to be deeply involved in your success, you'll want to work with a VA.

Q. Why wouldn't I want to give my secretarial work to a local company, and have a VA just working on bigger things?
You might. However, what people have found is that it doesn't really pay to do that.

True, secretarial services are a bit less expensive per hour. The problem is the people who work there don't know you, your business, or your customers. You have to do a lot of work, up front, before giving them the work, so they know what you want - and even then, sometimes you need to speak with them several times before your documents, faxes, messages, etc., represent you in your voice.

A VA can speak for you, and write in your voice. A VA, because they have learned you, can listen to you speak just a few words about what you want done, and make it happen - sometimes, even better than you could have done it yourself.

In addition, the more the VA knows about your needs, the less time it will take him or her to do your work.

So, even for the basic secretarial work, where do you really get your best value? The key is to remember - a VA becomes your partner for success. A secretarial service helps you for the short term.

Q. How long would I work with a VA?
Just as there are assistants who have worked for the same person in the corporate world for many years, it's possible that could happen with your VA.

Part of the power in this dynamic relationship comes in the synergy which happens between the people working together. There's a flow, a spark, an ease of working with a VA which turns days to weeks, weeks to months, months to years, all before you know it.

Q. What kinds of work might my VA do?
The beauty of this work is that the only things that can't be done are things which actually need to be touched in your office. Otherwise, you and your VA are only bound by imagination, need, skills and desire.

AssistU-trained VA's vary, in terms of the types of work they do...and some of them offer more specialized services, such as Marketing, Advertising, Web Design, etc. Of course, these skills are billed at a rate separate from and higher than the rate generally billed for assisting.

It's not so important that your VA knows how to do it all. What is important is they know how to get it all done. AssistU-trained VA's know how to do that. Plus, when you work with an AssistU-trained VA, you get the benefit of the expertise of our entire community - there are close to 300 VA's committed to the success of the VA profession and their relationships with their clients and we all help one other with knowledge when we can.

Q. What are some tips for working with a Virtual Assistant?

• Avoid misunderstandings by being clear about your expectations at the beginning of the relationship and for each project.
• Realize that a virtual assistant, unlike the office secretary you see every day, is a business owner whose perspective is that of a partner rather than an employee.
• Don't micromanage your VA. You're paying for someone who doesn't need a lot of supervision.
• Don't expect your VA to directly generate cash. VA's are not salespeople.

Q. Isn't it more expensive than hiring an employee?
No. The cost savings is twofold: financial and emotional.

When you hire an employee, on top of a salary or hourly wage, you have a ton of things you need to administer (payroll, benefits, etc.), many things to buy or lease (equipment, furniture, etc.), breaks and downtime, and you have to share space as well. It's expensive and can be grueling.

VA's are in private practice, and they price their services according to their skills, their desire to do certain work, their experience, and their reputation. You really need to speak with a VA, share your ideas and the vision for your success, and ask what it might cost to have them be a part of that. Generally speaking, however, you can expect to pay $30 - $70 plus, per hour either on a pay-as-you-go structure or a preset, and usually lower, retainer method. No muss, no fuss.

Ask yourself, what does cumulative fatigue and stress "cost"?

*Source U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Q. Now wait - you said that working with a VA isn't more expensive than hiring an employee, but I wouldn't pay an employee $30 per hour!
Not in straight time, perhaps. You're more likely to pay someone with this level of skills between $17 and $20 per hour if they were sitting in your office. However, when you add in the cost of administering payroll, your share of payroll taxes, having to pay insurance like worker's compensation and extra liability for having someone in your home or place of business, etc., and the cost of making sure that your location conforms to federal guidelines such as OSHA, you absolutely *do* pay that much per hour. And the more skilled and talented a worker, the more their time is worth, and the higher their fee.

If you are billing at hourly, then every hour you spend doing work that takes you off course, is work for which you are paying yourself, in essence, at YOUR HOURLY FEE. It doesn't take a lot to see the smarts behind paying someone to handle administrative work so that you can be out earning more and more!

The beauty is this. While you still have the expense, you have absolutely *none* of the hassle. One check per month. Simple. Easy. You can get on with the business of living your life on your terms. Working in partnership with a great VA makes that all possible!

Q. Does Virtual Assistance work better for any particular type of person or professional?
The benefits are enormous to almost anyone who's busy and needs support.

What we've found is that the only people who really aren't in a good position to work with a VA are:

• People who aren't online and who can't understand why this would work
• People who live in the urgent: If everything you do is last minute, if your style is to procrastinate and then rush to deadline, if you're not organized and centered, if you're in a high-pressure field where things run you instead of the other way around, if you want someone at your beck and call, you probably need an in-person employee, not a VA
• People who don't understand the power created in a relationship with a fantastic assistant
• People who aren't open to learning new ways of working and communicating
• People who aren't billing their own time at considerably more than $30/hour. If you aren't, paying a VA could create a hardship for you
• People who can't shift to seeing a VA as an equal. If you're stuck in the traditional boss/assistant paradigm, or if you need to be the boss, you need an employee, not a VA.

Q. How do I find the right VA and get started?
When deciding to work with a VA, it is imperative that you both: are excited about the prospect of working together, feel very comfortable with each other, and have similar work styles and personalities. Be prepared to have at least 2 conversations with that person: the first, for compatibility, and the second to explore means of communication and working together virtually.