Do you think anyone can be a Virtual Assistant? Why or why not? What skills, knowledge or aptitudes are necessary as a professional Virtual Assistant?
-
Never miss another post!
-
June 2007 M T W T F S S « May Jul » 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 -
Recent Comments
- Danielle Keister: Nope, it’s a bunch of bullshit. It amounts to working on speculation without any guarantee...
- Geri: I think if the incentive is big enough it could work — it would have to be MORE than what you would have...
- Danielle Keister: Hi Farah
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, the virtual assistant term is really completely idiotic to... - Farah: Hey, Danielle! I haven’t had the pleasure to read your blog in a while, but I’m always pleasantly...
- Barbara Shoemaker: I am just starting my virtual business and I think Admisitrative Consultant is far more accurate...
- Arlene: Hey Danielle. Sounds awesome. Yes, this year sure has flown. I am already preparing for my 2nd...
- Danielle Keister: Oh wow! That is a huge number of moves. You totally deserve a break, lol! Yeah, I’m not...
- Carol: Thanks, Danielle, that means a lot to me! Between client work, homeschooling, working on my new website and...
-
Copyright Notice
DESCRIPTION: Creative Commons License For Non-Commercial Re-Publishing of Blog Posts With Proper Attribution.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.Posts to this blog are the intellectual property of Danielle Keister. However, you are authorized to make certain use of them pursuant to a Creative Commons License. Under the terms of that license, you can copy or republish any post, for any non-commercial purpose, so long as you attribute the post to this blog.
NOTE: The terms "Gritty VA," "Gritty Virtual Assistant," and "Saucy business savvy for clients and colleagues from a Virtual Assistant industry veteran" did not exist in the public domain when this blog was launched August 2005. The author claims exclusive right to use those terms as identifying marks for this weblog and other written, digitized or electronic use, pursuant to U.S. and International copyright and trademark laws.
This weblog is published by Danielle Keister, The Relief Virtual Assistance and Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce. If you would like permission to reprint any of my published columns, please contact me at word@grittyva.com. At all times you may provide the link to these copyrighted columns when referencing them in any form.
-
Users
-
-
Twitter Updates
- No public Twitter messages.
4 Comments
Personally, I don’t think just anyone can be a Virtual Assistant. Not only would a person need to possess a high level of administrative skill in order to be in this profession, but they would need to be excellent communicators, have superb customer service skills and be a successful business operator. Everyone doesn’t have that composite gift so VA’nce wouldn’t be the ideal career direction for them.
I think anyone probably can be a VA, but I don’t think everyone can be a great VA.
I believe some people have that intuitiveness, vision and level of competence that others just don’t have and probably never will. It’s about more than just being able to format a document or answer a phone call.
With so many of us out there looking for clients, I think that those that have that extra special “something” are going to have the edge in the long run.
No ! Its start with the simple fact that not everyone enjoy’s working alone at home and not to have co-workers around. Yes, working from your home office gives you more freedom and you can indeed make your own schedule BUT . . . you have to take your work seriously! You have to be disciplined, get organized and find your routine.
In addition to that you have to be professional e.g. stick to promised deadlines, be friendly , treat your customer with respect etc.
You need to have experience and a certain skill set you can rely on as well as technology skills…Make sure you educate yourself on programs which are out there.
Bottom line is if you don’t have the knowledge, stamina ,the will and determination to succeed you most probably won’t and it isn’t alway’s easy to start up your own business.
Anyone can be a VA, but not everyone will be successful at it. There’s no question, top notch administrative and technical skills are a must. But there’s also the necessary business sense – how to think and act like a business owner. Unfortunately, this was not something we acquired during our many years of corporate experience. I believe success for any VA depends largely on our ability to transform our thinking from employee to entrepreneur. Sadly, this is not easy for many of us.