A Virtual Administrative Assistant is sometimes often called just a Virtual Assistant, this being because they accomplish and in summary to basically the same thing. A growing number of businesses are hiring virtual assistants to ease their stress and get work done quickly and efficiently.
There are online associations which provide educational opportunities for virtual assistants, lists of virtual assistant businesses, and helpful information for the virtual assistant community. There are large web-based companies that will match up virtual assistant's to businesses looking for assistants, or smaller localized virtual assistant firms looking to hire assistants.
Being a VA requires numerous hard and soft skills, including:
Writing: "The world is sloppy when it comes to grammar," says Brice. And a lack of solid language skills can be a great detriment to a VA. "Even if a client is a poor writer or speller, she won't accept that in a VA."
Organization: Being a VA involves juggling numerous clients. Being able to put your hands on the right files when a client calls is crucial.
Technological Savvy: A VA must also be comfortable with technology, since the job requires working in a virtual world. "Your primary tools are technological, so if you're not comfortable in that environment, you'll have trouble," says Brice.
Fast on Your Feet: "You must be able to quickly take in information, synthesize it and logically spit it back out," says Brice.
Emotional Responsibility: A VA must be entrepreneurial and self-disciplined, since no one is watching over your shoulder, notes Brice. "One thing that comes with the VA territory is you're playing at a different level," says Brice. "You're not sitting in an office being told how, what and when to do things, with set lunch times and the inability to say no to a project. You must be able to transition to the thinking that you're a business owner, you get to say what you want to do, and you get to pick your clients and set your rates."
Good Communication: Setting business standards and sticking to them can be a rough transition for many VAs. "Sometimes you have to have hard conversations with your clients if things aren't going the way you initially expected," says Brice. "You may have to speak frankly that when you started out with the client, you expected X, but Y is happening, and that you two need to discuss how to make things better. Those aren't easy conversations to have." The upside to such frank discussions is VAs generally build long-term, collaborative relationships with their clients, she says.
Vision: While many admins want to work from home, many are not willing to do the hard work to make it happen. "The fear of success keeps many people down," says Brice. "They sabotage their actions, because they may think that if they're as successful as they want to be, their lives might change -- and that frightens them."
How often does your heart sink when a colleague plumps down in her chair armed with 27 packs of holiday snaps and proceeds to talk to you through the first half-hour of your busy day?
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