Comments on: How to Ask for Sick Days http://www.grittyva.com/2008/12/03/how-to-ask-for-sick-days/ Straight-Shooting Business Savvy for Administrative Support Consultants Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:24:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Danielle Keister http://www.grittyva.com/2008/12/03/how-to-ask-for-sick-days/comment-page-1/#comment-49381 Danielle Keister Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:10:15 +0000 http://www.grittyva.com/?p=1054#comment-49381 I'm so glad you commented, Trudy! Many new Virtual Assistants don't understand this advice because they think it's their "job" to respond immediately to every client request. But once they have more than one client, as you've found, they begin to understand why that kind of operating model is unsustainable. Because the irony is that working in that kind of immediate, on-demand, instant capacity actually makes it impossible to be responsive to clients. A rushed, stressed Virtual Assistant makes more and frequent mistakes--dumb ones that would never happen under more reasonable, business-like operating conditions. Quality of work goes down. Quality of service goes down. Client trust and confidence is eroded. And a rushed, stressed-out Virtual Assistant becomes cranky, resentful and ultimately burns out. It doesn't serve clients one bit for Virtual Assistants to operate in that manner. So it's important for other Virtual Assistants to hear from folks like you who've been there and know what it means now. Your feedback will help them shape their own policies which ultimately are in the best overall, long-term interests of their clients. :) I’m so glad you commented, Trudy! Many new Virtual Assistants don’t understand this advice because they think it’s their “job” to respond immediately to every client request. But once they have more than one client, as you’ve found, they begin to understand why that kind of operating model is unsustainable. Because the irony is that working in that kind of immediate, on-demand, instant capacity actually makes it impossible to be responsive to clients. A rushed, stressed Virtual Assistant makes more and frequent mistakes–dumb ones that would never happen under more reasonable, business-like operating conditions. Quality of work goes down. Quality of service goes down. Client trust and confidence is eroded. And a rushed, stressed-out Virtual Assistant becomes cranky, resentful and ultimately burns out. It doesn’t serve clients one bit for Virtual Assistants to operate in that manner. So it’s important for other Virtual Assistants to hear from folks like you who’ve been there and know what it means now. Your feedback will help them shape their own policies which ultimately are in the best overall, long-term interests of their clients. :)

]]> By: Trudy http://www.grittyva.com/2008/12/03/how-to-ask-for-sick-days/comment-page-1/#comment-49380 Trudy Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:28:16 +0000 http://www.grittyva.com/?p=1054#comment-49380 You have managed to amaze me yet again! Excellent advice for new VA's!! I totally agree with what you wrote especially the part about on-demand work. I was guilty of this at first. Now, I just schedule the assignment into my calendar to where it allows me to work on my time without being rushed or chained to my desk for hours. It sure eliminates the stress. You have managed to amaze me yet again! Excellent advice for new VA’s!!

I totally agree with what you wrote especially the part about on-demand work. I was guilty of this at first. Now, I just schedule the assignment into my calendar to where it allows me to work on my time without being rushed or chained to my desk for hours. It sure eliminates the stress.

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