Dear Gritty VA:
I can’t tell you the number of times that I have looked at another Virtual Assistant’s website, taken a deep breath, sighed, and just continued reading. But 5, 10, even 15 minutes later I will still be struggling with whether or not I should have emailed the VA and told them about the error. You see, I am an administrative professional who has been in the business for 20 years and am now starting my VA business. One of my special talents is proofreading. So I think…this person is NOT going to appreciate me, the newbie in town, emailing them to point out the spelling error, grammatical error or formatting problem on their VA website. Yet…it bothers me. This is our profession and our website represents who we are and the work that we do. I learned the hard way to review, review, and once again review. I worked in the actuarial field for the last 5 years and let me tell you…those folks are very difficult to communicate with and they demand perfection the first time that you return a document to them. I refused to make mistakes and be caught. So I walk away wondering if I should contact the VA and take a chance that they think that I am being rude by pointing out the errors or do I disregard it? I know that my work is NOT always perfect but if these websites had been reviewed these errors would have been caught because they are obvious errors. I prefer to do what I think is the right thing, take screen shots and send the VA the info. I have found three websites with errors in the last two weeks and the Virtual Assistants all appear to be well spoken and high level (some of these websites were created by Virtual Assistants who are members listed in the VACOC Directory – I found some of these errors while doing research for my own company). Personally, I think that these Virtual Assistants should hire me to proofread their websites (totally tongue in cheek there but I just had to say it). So…what do you think? Do I contact them, or not? By the way…I proofread this email several times before sending it (and pasted it in Word and performed a spellcheck on it). Yes, I am a perfectionist but my name is on this email after all. –KG
The first question that pops into my head is why are you spending so much time on other Virtual Assistant sites? The people and sites and businesses you should be studying and getting to know are those of your core target market.
What will be helpful in this situation is getting really honest and clear about the underlying intention. The danger here, as you suspect, is that your approach may engender resentment, rather than appreciation. And the reason it could is because there’s a different feeling and tone between a) randomly reading someone’s site, finding a typo and shooting off a quick, friendly email to let them know, and b) going out of your way to find every error, spending an inexplicable amount of time and energy taking screenshots, and doing what really amounts to free work for people who aren’t even your clients. All that effort and energy would be more productively focused on developing your own business and clients.
As you mention, no one is perfect. One of my mentors is a multi-millionaire consultant renowned the world over who takes great pride in his vocabulary and command of the language. He can be quite pedantic when it comes to grammar and even he has typos and misspellings on his websites and blog posts now and then. It doesn’t bother me. It’s certainly always the goal to “dress the part” as much as possible, but a few occasional typos here and there do not diminish his standing and wisdom nor detract from the message. Those are cosmetic things that are quickly and easily corrected.
Personally, I always appreciate someone who takes a moment of their valuable time to let me know of little innocuous errors (which can happen even when you have your own proofreaders) as long as it is done in the spirit of helpfulness. Yes, it is true that there are always a few people calling themselves Virtual Assistants who have very poor grammar and communication skills. But it’s probably safe to say that the last thing you’d want is to be viewed as a busy-body. There can be a very fine line between being helpful and being presumptuous. It’s one thing to discuss standards and expectations in an industry, entirely another to barge into someone’s house, so to speak, via an email pointing out their personal gaffs and shortcomings (which is what that might feel like to the recipient). Ultimately, their business is their responsibility.
If you have impeccable grammar and proofreading skills, emphasize those attributes to your own prospective clients. If you come across a typo on someone’s site, let them know about it as a friendly favor if you are so inclined. Beyond that? Let it go. It’s not your kettle of fish to fry. Save your energy and focus for your own business. 
4 Comments
I read every blog of yours that comes my way. If I don’t have the time to read it upon its arrival, I save it until I have time. I absolutely love your blogs. You have great style and are an amazing writer. You express things so clearly and eloquently. Please keep up the great work! I will be looking forward to the next entry. Signed, A future VA.
Even though I rarely agree 100% and without caveats with your advice, I have to say this one is right on. Since English is not my first language I do get that nagging feeling from time to time that I can benefit from a native speaker’s grammatical expertise. However, this person would not be the one I’d hire. It has nothing (ok, very little) to do with the “busy-body” factor. Instead, it’s the uneasy feeling I get reading over sentences such as ” Yes, I am a perfectionist but my name is on this email after all.” It seems there should be a comma before “but” in this sentence. If not, then this sentence would benefit greatly from a simple revision, such as “Since my name is on this email, it’s a good reason for me to be a perfectionist.”
I don’t think there is anything wrong with looking at other Virtual Assistant’s websites. I think we are a community in itself and sometimes, in the attempt to get everything together to assist customers, VAs may miss a word or two or bypass a typographical error. In my experience, people tend to be receptive to the information regarding possible oversights and accept them in the spirit in which they were given. Other times, there may be that person that is bitter and upset about what you have pointed out to them, but that doesn’t make it any less true, and even with resentment, they will probably go and correct the error.
Virtual Assistants, in my experience with them, tend to be happy about insight and want to share knowledge. The appreciate the qualities and skills in others and offer to their comrades, the quality and skills they have. In starting a business, it is not uncommon to go out and look at what other people in that business are doing and I think it takes a great heart to want to offer help regarding something that may have been missed.
I’m not the best speller. I will admit it freely. I use the dictionary a lot. Ironically, I’m very good at spotting typos in other people’s stuff. My own stuff – not so great
I am usually too close to it.
I always appreciate someone pointing out a blatant error. But believe me, if you are being kind or only showing off your superior proof reading skills, the intention will shine through.
Be gracious when you mention it. Usually if you copy and paste the section with the typo and include it in an email, that will suffice. And it always helps if you can find something nice to say about the site. “I never thought of using Red and Purple, but you have done it VERY effectively!”
Right or wrong, most VAs are very emotionally invested in their websites – so tread lightly.