Archived Posts from July 2008
Maybe I am the only one left in the Silicon Valley who has not yet heard of Virtual Assistants. But until last Friday, I was completely unaware that the old profession of a personal assistant, or secretary, has taken a new, virtual twist.
While trying to arrange a meeting with one of my clients, I was referred to his virtual assistant. I dialed the number, and a nice woman’s voice with a mild Southern accent answered. I was so curious about the “virtual” part of her job that I almost forgot why I had called her in the first place.
We chatted for a few minutes, and it turned out that the phenomenon of virtual personal assistants is not all that unusual. There are at least 4000 people in the US working as virtual assistants. My client’s secretary – Katie was her name - helps 5 different businesses around the country, and has never met any of her bosses. She gets online at 6am, works for a couple of hours for her California clients, then drives the kids to school and runs errands on the farm before returning to work on the Eastern Time Zone. Katie bills her bosses by the hour, and everyone is very satisfied with the situation. The clients feel that they get a great deal with the dedicated helped for a few hours a day without the expense of benefits, office equipment or a water cooler. And Katie sure enjoys the fact that she doesn’t have to make coffee for her boss, has the flexibility of working from home and is free of office politics.
Katie’s clients are all small businesses – and not at all high tech. She arranges appointments for a door installation company, sends gifts on behalf of an event planner, keeps track of business appointments and e-mails for a travel agent and even helps a medical professional with scheduling his patients. I thought this was a great example of online collaboration for not-so-high-tech businesses. Maybe someday I too can have a virtual assistant – somewhere on the other side of the world – to help me take care of my clients and appointments. Wouldn’t it be nice – you wake up in the morning, and your work for the day is all done!