The Gritty Virtual Assistant

I want to thank everyone who has participated in the 2008 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey so far. I’m so excited! As of this writing, we have 425 participants. We are *this* close to making our goal of a good, solid 500. We got a late start last year and had to extend the survey period a few more weeks. This year, I think we just might have everything on track. Yea!

Which brings me to what I wanted to ask you… With your help, we can meet that goal of 500. When surveys have high numbers of participation, the results are way more meaningful and interesting. I’ve been looking at the results occasionally and let me tell you, after already doing two previous surveys, this one is proving to be the most informative yet. I can’t wait to share with you!

(Of course, in order to get the free survey results report, you have to participate and then sign up for the survey report mailing list at the end).

So here’s how you can help spread the word, get those reminders out to folks who might have intended to participate but forgot, and get that last participation boost in the door before the end of the month:

1. Add some survey flair to your website and blog: http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/surveyflair.htm 

2. Add some survey flair to your Facebook account. I’m not Facebook savvy myself, but if you send me a Friend Request, I’ll add you and then send you the survey flair I created there. My Facebook account is (I think, LOL): http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=697172996 (Someone let me know if that’s not it, LOL). 
3. If you Twitter, post a link to the survey and tell your Twitter followers and friends. Here’s the survey link: http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/survey.htm 
4. Post an announcement/reminder on your Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn accounts (as well as any other social networking sites you frequent). 
5. Post a reminder to your Virtual Assistant buddies in the forums and listservs you participate in. We know the survey has a lot of questions and many folks will appreciate the reminder to go back and complete the survey before the survey period ends (and so they can get their free report). 
6. If you belong to other biz forums, boards and listservs, post an announcement there as well. Virtual Assistants are business owners, too, and there are bound to be some colleagues there who haven’t yet heard about the survey.

I’m really looking forward to sharing the results with you once the survey period is over. Your assistance in spreading the word is most appreciated! And if you have other ideas for promoting the survey and where, please do let me know so we can implement them next year.

Wow! The Virtual Assistant Industry Survey is going like gangbusters so far. I came back from a little mini get-away and found the responses have been pouring in over the weekend.

Every once in awhile I’ll take a peek at the results thus far. It’s so interesting and fascinating to see the diversity in our businesses. I also love reading the comments to the open-ended questions. One that came in over the weekend is just so on-the-money and very representative, I think, of what we Virtual Assistants deal with in a large part of our marketplace’s current mentality:

“That experienced, US-based VAs are charging way too much, but at the same time we should be able to do everything under the sun. That we should just do what we’re told to do and not think for ourselves, and in the next breath that we’re not proactive enough.”

I think crappy articles about Virtual Assistants like this are a huge part of the problem. For God’s sake, it’s over 10 years now and they are still using terms like “wages” and phrases like “connecting with employers.” When are these reporters going to get it right?! It’s also up to Virtual Assistants to stop using wrong terminology like this, the kind of terminology that creates an “employer” expectation in clients (and when they think like that, of course, they are going to think we charge “too much”), and start correcting journalists when they get it wrong and demand retractions and corrections.

So what are the other solutions? Is there anything we can do? Once a cheapskate, always a cheapskate? Are there things we ways we can explain and illustrate our true value that can help getting those market segments thinking in different ways about what we do for them?

Does profiling our ideal clients and being more circumspect about our target markets help us more easily look for and find our right clients, instead of “cheapo” clients? Are there industries in particular (especially on the Internet) that seem to predominately have that cheapskate, “I-want-everything-but-I-don’t-want-pay-for-it” mentality? Are there some industries that Virtual Assistants have just spoiled? What about standing firm for our standards and rates and not giving in?