Loading ...This is probably one of THE most frequently asked questions I get, usually from folks who are starting to get an inkling that Virtual Assistance is something different from freelancing, telecommuting, secretarial services, virtual staffing and "team VAs."
Virtual Assistance is a brand of administrative support that is, in fact, different from all these things. It is a self-employed profession based on the concept of working in an ongoing, continuous, one-to-one relationship with clients in a right-hand professional capacity. It’s completely the opposite of working on a sporadic, occasional or one-time transactional basis, or as an employee or worker.
It’s also about working with clients in an across-the-board capacity. That doesn’t mean that you do EVERYTHING for clients; rather it means that you are providing some sort of package of administrative support to clients in an ongoing, collaborative basis.
The term "Virtual Assistant" is not a catch-all phrase to denote anyone who does anything virtually (e.g., someone who does web design is not a Virtual Assistant; that is a web designer). And a virtual worker or remote worker is also not the same thing as a Virtual Assistant.
What distinguishes the Virtual Assistance brand is that the support is:
- Administrative
- Collaborative (i.e., ongoing, continuous and not project-based)
- Across-the-board (i.e., a rounded package of support; not any one single, line-item, transactional service)
Single, line-item administrative services are not individually Virtual Assistance. Those are simply secretarial services. With Virtual Assistance, it’s the across-the-board, collaborative administrative support comprised of many different administrative functions that is the service. Get it?
If this is the brand and model of administrative service you are providing, you are a Virtual Assistant. 
